The Morning After...

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After a firecracker filled night I woke up to more firecrackers. I got out of bed at nine since my eldest aunt and uncle (da jiu ma & da jiujiu) were taking me to their relatives' house for lunch. Haha actually, I had no idea where I was going or why I was there. All I knew was that I didn't know these people and I didn't want to eat. But it's gotten to the point where I eat out of fear. Conversations usually go something like this: Eat! Quickly, eat! No thank you I'm full. Ok, just a little bit. You try it! Here (places heaping chopstick full of food into my bowl) this is very tasty! Ok, thank you (lungs give way to expanding stomach). Anyways, the rest of the day was quite fun. After lunch we all went to Tiyu Park (Sports Park) which is just west of the Shanghai Zoo. It looked new and true to its name people were engaging in all sorts of sports related activities. My da jiujiu and da jiuma rented a bicycle buggie thingie and it was great fun riding around the packed park lanes warning people to get out of the way (though not as fun as the time Sam and I rode one together and we went over a speed bump at top speed). It turned out to be terribly tiring and the unusually warm weather didn't help the fact that I was wearing 5 layers of clothing. I wanted to take off my sweater, but seeing as how my long underwear (i never thought I would use my track spandex this much) was up to my friggin' armpits it wasn't really an option. After wiping the sweat from out faces we returned the buggy and got ready to leave. Keeping with my tradition of including animals, I saw the cutest little puppy as we left the park. Afterwards we went to Qibao, an old style market place similar to the Old City in Shanghai. It's also just west of the Shanghai zoo (fyi since it wasn't listed in the travel guide or accompanying map). It was crowded as hell since everybody takes off from work for about a week after the new year, but I got some good pictures of the dwindling population of old style houses. After Qibao I met up with my youngest uncle and my cousin to have dinner at my xiao jiu ma's relative's house. It was pretty much the same deal as mentioned above so I'll skip the details. In conclusion, I had a great time being touristy with my aunt and uncle. It was especially fun since my aunt has the youngest, most light-hearted personality even though she's one of the most senior members of the family. Oh yes one last thing, somebody work out a way for me to lose weight in a city that doesn't stop eating and gym memberships essentially don't exist.

*waving my increasingly pudgy hands goodbye*
-jeanette

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Photos

Let's go fly a kite...
Kite flyers at Tiyu Park (and yes, I was as excited as you think ;)

Bicycle Buggy
Riding the buggy in tiyu park.

Puppy
The cutest little thing!

Qibao's gorgeous entrance
Qibao, where you can step into the past after a sweaty bike ride and some chocolate ice cream (that's right,it's the middle of January)

At the entrance
A pagoda at Qibao's entrance. Ignore the campy painted background. I assure you the place is lovely.

Jade's many forms
Jade and red things for sale at the markets of Qibao

Crossing the bridge
A view from the bridge. See, I told you it was pretty.

Lost in the crowd
Ah! After the new year is not a good time to go sightseeing! Oh ok, so all the vendors as far as you can possibly see in this picture are selling food. ALL of them.

Bubble Tea!
For all my bubble tea enthusiasts back at U of I. Man, i can't believe how much money I've given that stinky EVO cafe. And if you're wondering (which I'm sure you're not) I didn't indulge.

Selling sugar cane
A man selling sugar can on the street. He cuts of a peice and skins it. Then people chew on mouthfuls of the stuff and spit it all over the street once they've sucked it dry. Yummy, no?

Old style houses
Becoming rarer and rarer as more apartment complexes are being built. I dunno, they have a certain charm despite their dilapidatedness

Ah, Aqua
These painted houses really stuck out from their comparatively bleak surroundings.

Comments

[nilofer]

pretty
is it sad that i am absolutely addicted to this blog? once again, the pics are gorgeous. i've decided you and i must fly kites when you come home. that would be super fun. and enjoy the eating. you've always been too skinny anyway. you can always buy new pants and donate your old ones to salma. :o) time for me to nap and then work, study, and lovely mcat class. bye, babe!