Saturday, June 7
Photo 1: My Host Family
Photo 2: Professional photography skills
Photo 3: Conley and Molly attempting to break Alvin's back
Photo 4: On the Bund
I don't think I've ever gotten 7 hours of continuous sleep since coming to China. This morning, during that time when I'm too awake to fall asleep but too tired to get up, I started wondering how I would write my blog today. It seems like whenever I write blogs I turn in my journals late. And the extra credit from writing blogs (so Alex doesn't have to) probably doesn't make up for my lower quality journals. But I enjoy writing these.
I started looking for my iPod in my bed somewhere, because I wanted to fall asleep while listening to music last night, which I haven't done in a while. I couldn't find it though, and figured it fell through the crack between the bed and the wall. My search bore no fruit though. I didn't find my iPod either. So I got up for some of that typical morning relief that we humans often partake in.
While writing, I was watching a cat directly across from me in the window. It seemed so surreal; the way it moved was so snappy. It was wondering, "Hello, sir, may I come in for a chat?" But I said, "Sorry Mr. Cat, I'm allergic to your feline-ness." I started singing One Direction's What Makes You Beautiful to him. That didn't make him run, but after I finished the song he slowly walked away…
My host brother dropped down his head and greeted me from above, as he likes to do. We exchanged 早s.
I've now been under the care of my host family for nearly 168 hours. Kudos to them for putting up with me for that long, but as any sensible person would do, they finally kicked me out. I packed up my bags and stumbled out onto the street, bawling my eyes out. As I dragged myself along through the streets, making a scene, the Chinese people watched me thinking, "Look at that 外国人 overreacting because he brought too much luggage and can't handle carrying it! 哈哈哈!" I'm just kidding, they only stared at me silently.
Not knowing what to do, I made my way to our old classroom building that has chairs in the lobby. It was all about the chairs. To my surprise, my fellow 同学们 were there too. They had all suffered a similar fate. Hochiang was lying on his side wailing and running in full circles on the floor, impressively managing to swing both of his arms even though one was pinned down. Seong graced us with some spectacular piano playing that appropriately fit the mood. Alex and Dong Laoshi had overstayed their welcome in the Xiyuan Hotel as well, and were sporting some crazy haircuts. Maybe that's why they got kicked out. After a 1-hour group therapy session reflecting on why our behavior during the past week had led to this moment, we decided it was time to leave Nanjing, and set out on our journey to Shanghai.
We returned to Nanjing Railway Station via coach bus, and were immensely fortunate to experience Waiting Area 2. We'd waited in Waiting Area 3 when we were going to Anhui, but I'd already had enough of that. If we had the misfortune of having to wait in Waiting Area 3 again, I would have waited in Waiting Area 1 instead. If anyone tried to stop me I would have waited for them to stop trying to stop me and waited there anyway. And if that didn't work I wouldn't have waited at all, so that nobody could have stopped me from waiting in any of the waiting areas.
We were in train car 1, which was not an indication of luxury. It meant we had to walk to the farthest end of the train. But that was okay because I waited in Waiting Area 2. And I had the pleasure of sitting next to Bobo, who was twice startled by trains passing by next to us going the opposite way. When I say startled I mean slightly petrified. She insisted she wasn't crazy. Life is amusing sometimes.
We arrived in Shanghai relatively quickly, and over packed another coach bus with our luggage before going to the Magnificent International Hotel. I can't stand how big and nice our rooms are; it makes me sick.
After dropping off our bags, we sluggishly congregated in the lobby to talk to Wang Wenhao, a travel agent helping us with post-trip arrangements. Hochiang, Molly, Dong Laoshi, and Mr. Wang put in most of the work. Some people went out to explore a bit while others stuck around. Then at 6 we walked to the Zilanmen restaurant for a 2000+ Yuan meal. I could handle not being able to eat at Hai Di Lao, but tonight my heart and stomach were filled with sorrow watching all of the food disappear into peoples' mouths.
After dinner, we had a dialogue with Jin Ge, an ethnographer, documentary filmmaker, writer, and Senior Design Researcher at IDEO global design consultancy. After the discussion, Tyler and Luther wanted to sell their souls to him. Conley also wanted to see how much the remaining pieces of her soul could get her. It was likely because of his astounding creativity and bottomless depth of analytical thought. He certainly left me speechless, a rare happening indeed.
On our way out of the building, Molly and Alvin went through that phase I think all of us go through at some point in our lives: the balancing a water bottle on top of your head phase. But I guess that's not common here, as they quickly gained a large Chinese fan base. But soon they had to stop since they were slowing us down.
Walking down Nanjing Lu, we caught sight of Alex and Dong Laoshi walking on the opposite side. Bobo and I decided to work on our stalking skills and tailed them for a while. Our ultimate goal was to get a picture to submit with the blog and creep them out a bit, not that we're creepy or anything. Getting a good picture was notably difficult. We've both decided not to become private investigators.
Soon after Alex and Dong Laoshi slipped out of our sights, everyone caught up with us and we continued heading towards the Bund. Before getting a group picture, there was a conversation about asking someone who couldn't outrun us to take it. Then we kept walking around and soon started returning to the hotel. Molly honed her bargaining skills on the street.
Late in the evening, many of us hung around at the hotel. Hochiang pulled off some pretty awful card tricks. Tyler made it rain on Bobo with cards and money. Conley and Seong tortured her trying to get her to go out with them. Tyler showed me his puppy-dog face and my heart shattered into a million pieces. Other stuff happened.
Now that we're in Shanghai, the end of our time together as a group seems way too close. It's very sad :(
- Jimmy
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