hello, goodbye

Ah! I haven't updated in a while since blogging is banned in China! along with facebook and youtube...but I've found my way around that! :P... so this is my first post in China and probably my last...

It was bittersweet leaving Singapore. I got to hang out a lot with my cousins, going to a water park and going karaoke-ing and just hanging out. We even caused a blackout in my grandma's apartment building... The elevator in her apartment is super small and only carries around 11 people but since we had like 14 people, we decided to just squeeze and ride up to the 13th floor where our aunts and uncles were waiting for us. So we all got in, and as soon as it went up like a foot, it jolted and stopped. So we opened the elevator door and stepped down from the elevator...and the entire first floor was dark! The weird thing is that the elevators still worked. So we split up into two groups and went upstairs. But as soon as we got upstairs, we found out that the whole apartment building had no electricity. So we just sat around in the dark and played games until the lights came back on. That's the first time I've ever caused a blackout! Hopefully the last... :P

After leaving China, my parents, sisters, and I flew off to Shanghai. It wasn't as hot as I had been told it would be, but I hadn't thought Singapore was very hot this year either (probably because of the heat in Seattle!). After settling in at our friends' place, we got to skype with Sam who's researching in Greece during August and September. It was nice to see him again and have a mini family reunion over the internet. Since I've been here, it's been lots of food (especially KFC and McDonalds, which I'm going to miss cause it's A LOT better than in the US!), lots of shopping and bargaining, and lots of walking. Also, the temperature has definitely shot up since we started out here. My dad brought us to Suzhou and Hangzhou, to other areas close by to Shanghai. Basically it was a lot of walking around lakes and gardens. Not exactly my favorite, especially when the weather is in the 90s.

But some things that have been fun here...karaoke-ing with just the fam, shopping a lot! :P eating a lot of kfc and mcdonalds (taro pie and ice cream is the best! :D), hanging out with my aunt and uncle who we've never really hung out with before :) ummmmm shopping and eating are such a reoccurrence in my blogs...i think that's probably what i do best :(

I'm not exactly a huge fan of China, but I think I'm learning to tolerate it. In particular, I really dislike how people are really rude here, just pushing and not waiting their turn, littering and spitting everywhere, letting their kids go to the bathroom on the side of the street (some of the kids wear pants that don't have a front and a back so it's easier to do their business...), etc. For my first time in China, I was both impressed and not so impressed... I really love some of the food here, especially xiao long baos! I love bargaining at the little shops, even though I'm probably getting ripped off still... and I love the prices here! It's SO much cheaper than in the US! At McDonalds, my ice cream cone cost less than 50 cents! And a burger and coke is about 2 dollars! Ahh....I'm definitely going to miss the prices here.

Tomorrow morning, my parents and little sister are flying back to the States, while my sister and I spend one more day in Shanghai. Then it's off to Seattle for my sister and off to Seoul for me! At the same time that I'm super excited to go to Korea, I'm going to miss hanging out with my family, sans Sam... It's been pretty much a year since we did something like this, and it's always bittersweet leaving them again.

Well, it's my last night with my parents here in Shanghai and I probably won't see them again for another month....so, until Seoul!

:( no pictures for this blog post because my proxies won't allow it :( I guess next time then!