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Surviving China: Days 1-5
13 years ago
General
So I decided to do a really informal journal on what’s going on here in China right now. It’s all just so strange and vivid that I can’t help but. It’s weird. Really weird, especially starting day 3. This is partly just to keep myself together and sane because everything just happens so fast.
A note to
Hellshadow65: I'm really glad I decided not to pack my sanity.
Day 1
Okay, I’m feeling pretty confident. I’ve got my 3DS and my iPod touch and some writing material. I’ve got on my dark flannels, black jeans and a pair of Vans. Dad sends Mom and me off at the airport and he goes off to work, so I’m alone with her. We don’t really do anything at the airport except sit around. I’m on the plane at 3pm and we take off. I got to sleep for a bit, but my 1 hour nap isn’t really going to put much of a dent in this 16 hour flight.. The plane food is actually kind of decent and the movies are interesting enough to distract me from writing a little.
Day 2
The day changed some time in the middle of the ocean. Time zones, yeah! I’m getting sick of just sitting here, so I’m going to go ahead and do a little walking around. Then there’s the turbulence and then I’m back to my seat. I take out my tunes and my writing stuff, so I’m prepared to sit there and do some writing. Mom’s bitching at me to read that book on whatever, but I don’t care. “Nothing really matters in a club/ Nothing really matters in a club/ Nothing really matters in a club/ Nothing really matters but the beat.” – “Nothing Really Matters” by David Guetta featuring will.i.am. I proceed to sit on my ass for the next 9 hours of the flight and just write.
I get off at Beijing and have a two hour layover, but that’s not enough time to go cruising around. So Mom and I just go check in again. The first thing I notice after getting off the plane is how sticky it is. I know there’s a 30% humidity, but whatever. I’m not exposing too much skin. Funny, though, the fact that it’s raining and there’s thunder and lightning. The plane is scheduled on a delay due to lightning storms. We get on the plane to Zheng Zhou at roughly 10pm and I sleep through the entire flight. I miss the complimentary Kool-Aid and get sad.
My cousins pick us up from the flight and bring us to my grandparents’ house. I’m on the car as the clock passes 12am.
Day 3
We get to my grandparents’ house at around 12:30 and I sleep until 7 when we get there. We eat breakfast and nothing really interesting happens. We get company from my uncles and they sound like they’re yelling a lot, but that’s because this is “the South,” if China could be compared to America in any way at all. The river by the house is still as dirty as ever and there’s definitely enough water to go around (I love sarcasm). It’s practically dry.
The Great Firewall of China. http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3604949/
I spend most of the morning talking to relatives. After lunch, I proceed to sleep for five hours before waking up because my mom wanted me to go get a haircut. It was 16 Chinese dollars, which is roughly $2.50 American currency. Not bad. Too bad this haircut is a little shitty. There’s this little shopping mall thing there and Mom and I decide to go in. Nike was advertising LeBron James and I was disappoint. I ogled the iced drink stand because it was hot outside, but didn’t buy anything at the mall. It was really, really small, too.
Day 4
We’re planning on going to the famous Shaolin Temple today with my oldest cousin and his family. My nephew once removed comes with us and he calls me the “stinky uncle.” I’m saddened because I feel old. (My cousin is 37; like 20 years older than I am.) I ride shotgun in the car and it’s about an hour drive there. The speedometer says that we’re going 100 and I have to tell myself that measurements are in metric. It’s km/h, not mi/h. We nearly run over 23 people on the way there and nearly get into 14 accidents with other cars. I’m a little scared the whole way there, but there’s nothing I can do about that. Oh, and my cousin has used the horn at least 150 times. My nephew is trying to steal my glasses and is tugging at my hair and clothes.
At the temple, we walk around and sight see for a bit before stopping for a break. It’s freaking hot now because it hasn’t been raining. It’s an interesting place, though, and there’s a bunch of kids doing their kung fu shit, so we watch that for a bit, too. There’s a show on at 2pm, so we watch that and it’s amazing. At one point, they ask for volunteers from the crowd and one guy who goes up is clearly American. He ends up winning whatever prize they were going for because he was the best in demonstrating his skills in the game. It was actually an instructive humiliation of the contestants because they were trying to get these common people to do backflips ‘n shit. I laugh my ass off because it’s just so entertaining. I congratulate the American bro and he’s hella fucking amazed that I speak perfect English. When we get thirsty, we go for water and there’s this big container full of water and people just giving it away for free, so hell yes. Unfortunately, we had to complete a 6 page survey for drinking there, so oh, hell no.
We eat noodles for lunch and we get back in the car. Another hour drive home and more close calls and honks happen. I fall asleep on the way back. I fall asleep when we get home, too.
Day 5
Nothing planned for today, but I get an alternative charger for my 3DS; the voltage output in China is 220, but the 3DS charger is only 120. It would burn out my gameboy if I didn’t have the alternative charger. I spend a while playing video games and eating. (SO MUCH FOOD.) During my video game session, I hear glass and bricks shattering over and over again, so I look out the window and there’s people THROWING SHIT OUT OF A WINDOW FROM THE SECOND FLOOR. My grandma goes out to see what’s going on and they tell her that they’re cleaning up and sweeping the house. She yells at them for a good half hour and they stop. I love my grandma.
At night, my grandpa takes me out to the local market and I am absolutely amazed. They’re selling stuff from shoes to spit roast. There’re people everywhere. There’re puppies everywhere. There’re puppies making puppies, EVERYWHERE. They’re so cute (well, the puppies are) and it’s hard to resist just taking them all home. Anyways, it’s dirty there because of it and we don’t end up buying much, just a couple steamed buns and fried pancakes because they were the only things that were actually clean. I nearly get run over by bikes or cars over a hundred times while I’m there. The market is so large that it makes the farmer’s market back home look like the size of Chinatown to the whole of San Francisco.
Oh yeah, PUPPIES. EVERYWHERE. SAMOYEDS. LION DOG THINGIES. CHOU CHOUS. *squeals because they’re so cute, then collapses*
A note to
Hellshadow65: I'm really glad I decided not to pack my sanity. Day 1
Okay, I’m feeling pretty confident. I’ve got my 3DS and my iPod touch and some writing material. I’ve got on my dark flannels, black jeans and a pair of Vans. Dad sends Mom and me off at the airport and he goes off to work, so I’m alone with her. We don’t really do anything at the airport except sit around. I’m on the plane at 3pm and we take off. I got to sleep for a bit, but my 1 hour nap isn’t really going to put much of a dent in this 16 hour flight.. The plane food is actually kind of decent and the movies are interesting enough to distract me from writing a little.
Day 2
The day changed some time in the middle of the ocean. Time zones, yeah! I’m getting sick of just sitting here, so I’m going to go ahead and do a little walking around. Then there’s the turbulence and then I’m back to my seat. I take out my tunes and my writing stuff, so I’m prepared to sit there and do some writing. Mom’s bitching at me to read that book on whatever, but I don’t care. “Nothing really matters in a club/ Nothing really matters in a club/ Nothing really matters in a club/ Nothing really matters but the beat.” – “Nothing Really Matters” by David Guetta featuring will.i.am. I proceed to sit on my ass for the next 9 hours of the flight and just write.
I get off at Beijing and have a two hour layover, but that’s not enough time to go cruising around. So Mom and I just go check in again. The first thing I notice after getting off the plane is how sticky it is. I know there’s a 30% humidity, but whatever. I’m not exposing too much skin. Funny, though, the fact that it’s raining and there’s thunder and lightning. The plane is scheduled on a delay due to lightning storms. We get on the plane to Zheng Zhou at roughly 10pm and I sleep through the entire flight. I miss the complimentary Kool-Aid and get sad.
My cousins pick us up from the flight and bring us to my grandparents’ house. I’m on the car as the clock passes 12am.
Day 3
We get to my grandparents’ house at around 12:30 and I sleep until 7 when we get there. We eat breakfast and nothing really interesting happens. We get company from my uncles and they sound like they’re yelling a lot, but that’s because this is “the South,” if China could be compared to America in any way at all. The river by the house is still as dirty as ever and there’s definitely enough water to go around (I love sarcasm). It’s practically dry.
The Great Firewall of China. http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3604949/
I spend most of the morning talking to relatives. After lunch, I proceed to sleep for five hours before waking up because my mom wanted me to go get a haircut. It was 16 Chinese dollars, which is roughly $2.50 American currency. Not bad. Too bad this haircut is a little shitty. There’s this little shopping mall thing there and Mom and I decide to go in. Nike was advertising LeBron James and I was disappoint. I ogled the iced drink stand because it was hot outside, but didn’t buy anything at the mall. It was really, really small, too.
Day 4
We’re planning on going to the famous Shaolin Temple today with my oldest cousin and his family. My nephew once removed comes with us and he calls me the “stinky uncle.” I’m saddened because I feel old. (My cousin is 37; like 20 years older than I am.) I ride shotgun in the car and it’s about an hour drive there. The speedometer says that we’re going 100 and I have to tell myself that measurements are in metric. It’s km/h, not mi/h. We nearly run over 23 people on the way there and nearly get into 14 accidents with other cars. I’m a little scared the whole way there, but there’s nothing I can do about that. Oh, and my cousin has used the horn at least 150 times. My nephew is trying to steal my glasses and is tugging at my hair and clothes.
At the temple, we walk around and sight see for a bit before stopping for a break. It’s freaking hot now because it hasn’t been raining. It’s an interesting place, though, and there’s a bunch of kids doing their kung fu shit, so we watch that for a bit, too. There’s a show on at 2pm, so we watch that and it’s amazing. At one point, they ask for volunteers from the crowd and one guy who goes up is clearly American. He ends up winning whatever prize they were going for because he was the best in demonstrating his skills in the game. It was actually an instructive humiliation of the contestants because they were trying to get these common people to do backflips ‘n shit. I laugh my ass off because it’s just so entertaining. I congratulate the American bro and he’s hella fucking amazed that I speak perfect English. When we get thirsty, we go for water and there’s this big container full of water and people just giving it away for free, so hell yes. Unfortunately, we had to complete a 6 page survey for drinking there, so oh, hell no.
We eat noodles for lunch and we get back in the car. Another hour drive home and more close calls and honks happen. I fall asleep on the way back. I fall asleep when we get home, too.
Day 5
Nothing planned for today, but I get an alternative charger for my 3DS; the voltage output in China is 220, but the 3DS charger is only 120. It would burn out my gameboy if I didn’t have the alternative charger. I spend a while playing video games and eating. (SO MUCH FOOD.) During my video game session, I hear glass and bricks shattering over and over again, so I look out the window and there’s people THROWING SHIT OUT OF A WINDOW FROM THE SECOND FLOOR. My grandma goes out to see what’s going on and they tell her that they’re cleaning up and sweeping the house. She yells at them for a good half hour and they stop. I love my grandma.
At night, my grandpa takes me out to the local market and I am absolutely amazed. They’re selling stuff from shoes to spit roast. There’re people everywhere. There’re puppies everywhere. There’re puppies making puppies, EVERYWHERE. They’re so cute (well, the puppies are) and it’s hard to resist just taking them all home. Anyways, it’s dirty there because of it and we don’t end up buying much, just a couple steamed buns and fried pancakes because they were the only things that were actually clean. I nearly get run over by bikes or cars over a hundred times while I’m there. The market is so large that it makes the farmer’s market back home look like the size of Chinatown to the whole of San Francisco.
Oh yeah, PUPPIES. EVERYWHERE. SAMOYEDS. LION DOG THINGIES. CHOU CHOUS. *squeals because they’re so cute, then collapses*
Hellshadow65
~hellshadow65
Glad ya didn't take your sanity, I'm sure ya would have dropped it on Day 1. XD
ZB_Zingy
~zbzingy
OP
Every damn hour is an adventure. @_@ I'm seriously going crazy, here.
