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Published: February 7th 2006
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The Ladies
Left to right: Kiki, me, Jiawei, Kiki's friend and her daughter. Hiiiiii finally!! Ok just to warn you in advance, this one is gonna be long and possibly pointless.
So note to people lacking in common sense, don't attempt to use a computer set to a language you can't read. It just leads to breakage of internet connections and jeanette being desperate for email access.
Since I missed a few fun-filled days I'll back track to the 22. Let's see Jan. 22...I sat around all day updating the blog then I sat around some more. For dinner my oldest cousin Shenkan took me and my other cousin Jiawei out to dinner. The food was delicious, but the conversation was...well lacking. I feel so bad, I can't understand anything. I think I also had my first AWESOME shower that night. Ok that's sounds really weird but understand it's cold all the time since people keep their windows open all winter. (Manaal, I thought my life was cold at school, ha!) It's not as cold as Chicago i'm sure, but it's just never warm. The first few days i couldn't figure out the damn hot water so my showers would be FREEZING one minute and scalding the next. So anyways that hot
Rollerskating funskies
Fun stuff. Why was this harder than ice skating? shower was worthy of mentioning...at least to me.
Jan 23. - I went rollerskating with my cousin Junxian and her father, my uncle Hefu jiujiu. The place was pretty ghetto, and I didn't even want to think about how many feet had been in my skates but it was fun anyways. My uncle turned out to be like Hal from Malcom in the Middle, a rollerskating king! Haha it was really funny watchinf him trying to teach my cousin to skate backwards. On our way back I finally realized that I had my watch set a day ahead...I had been wondering why everyone went to work on Sunday! At dinner the silence was killing me so I asked what all the dishes were called. It turned into a game of memory but I'm proud to say that I remembered most of them so now I can order like 6 dishes at a restaurant!
Jan 24. - Oh this was a fun one. I even wrote it down so wouldn't forget when I was updating this. I went to visit my Aunt's neice on her husband's side. In other words, we're not related. Sounds not that exciting, but it's
Ooh la la
Man, you're lucky I don't like chinese guys cuz you know I would have gone home with this one! :p all about the journey...The bus ride was pretty dull except at the end when the TVs on the bus switched on (why don't our busses have TVs?) and there was some broadcast about Harry Potter. They showed clips from the movies in English so I was happily pulled out of my world of complete oblivion for about 2 minutes (I don't think I've ever been so happy to see Harry Potter). When we got off the bus we ran into my cousin Peicheng's mother. I haven't seen her in a while so it was nice running into her. She was rosy and well doing something official looking. Anyways, the visit with my aunt's neice was pleasant. Her english is very good. She's studying to be a nurse. Afterwards my Aunt took me to do a little shopping. On our way, we walked through a chicken (live ones!) market, so much for dismissing my avian flu fears! After that we saw a man walking down the sidewalk leading a monkey on a leash, and as if that wasn't crazy enough the next man was carrying his monkey in his arms. That was really the most exciting part of my day.
Authentic Chinese food
Only in China...or not. Jan 25 - My HURF (summer research program) personal statement was due on the 25 Chicago time and I had barely started it. Unfortunately I was going to Junxian's relatives house for the day, but they had internet so I took my laptop along and hoped for the best. Her mother's family is very nice. They used to take care of my brother while me and the parents partied it up in Beijing back in '89. All the men in their family are or were professional chefs so the food was soooo good. The only thing that sucked was that I had to finish that personal statement, and I finally did after dinner. Oh it felt so good to get that off my mind. Oh and the internet was fixed when I got back to my cousin's house so yay!
Right now I'm listening to music with nothing planned for the day (maybe some shopping. I haven't spend a...yuan of my own money since I got here : ) I just finished off 3 slices of bread for breakfast. Their bread is sooo good, sweeter then ours. I bet it makes for some good french toast...but I haven't got
Supermarket
Supermarkets are HUGE and so are the crowds (this was in the middle of a weekday too!) any maple syrup. That's all for now.
Missing everyone,
jeanette
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nilofer
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i love you
honestly jeanette. my heart is brimming with love for you. first of all, you are keeping a journal! this is the best thing ever. i know it'll be online for all of eternity, but i'm going to print out all of these pages one day when you're back at work ( b/c i get free printing there heheh) and you'll have a hardcopy! i signed up for email updates from this blog so i'll always know when you update. i love it! it sounds like you're having a super time! and your uncle that can roller skate! wow. that is so awesome! anywho babe. time to study. i love you lots. and i miss you. and yay to your blog and yay to you! toodles!