Week One.Five

My latest posts have all been very image heavy rather than reflective, mainly because the last year has just been the same recurring theme (with slightly different packaging each time) of "curious/poor student-traveler in China". From the beginning of 2009 until mid-2011, 2.5 years, I feel like I've just been practicing Chinese just in theory, Chinese as in the language, and Chinese as in the culture. I've read so much about Chinese political thought, chatted so much about Chinese youth culture with my classmates, even traveled to my Chinese ancestral hometown. In learning about China I've been able to clarify my own position in the world, which is that I am firmly American in thought, personality, and reflection... but yes, it's a blessing to be able to understand Chinese as well. :)

CHINA CHINA CHINA, BLAH BLAH BLAH.

So glad to be going back to the States soon.

Now I've clearly entered a new phase in my life where I finally feel like I can tangibly collect all my efforts, step back, and wonder in amazement at how much I've changed in the last 2.5 years. I remember when my ex teased me just a few years ago because I misread Chinese characters outloud in Vegas (I was trying to read the name of some Chinese buffet, haha). Now, my job in Shanghai requires actual cross-cultural maneuvering and business sense -- I help my boss navigate deals in both languages, in varying industries, with multiple parties... and it's been very manageable so far. She makes me feel like I'm really important in her project's success, which gives me a sense of ownership and even freedom. And I get to wear whatever I want, which means no button-down non-iron shirts... FTW!

Shanghai is an amazing city, and I can envision living here for awhile. I've been eating out with friends all week -- it's pure heaven! There's really nothing lacking material-wise, except for a good running trail. :p I did find a decent road though, and been waking up at 6:00am to to run while the car exhaust hasn't reached a critical level yet (morning air is way cleaner than evening air). I don't know what's happened to me, but I've suddenly become a morning person and don't like sleeping in anymore???

I live right by Suzhou Creek in a nice apartment with 1 Italian dude and 1 German guy, both the most sweet, hilarious, and benign people you could find. We watch The Big Bang Theory together, and it's amazing that they get all the geeky jokes. It's a hilarious cultural exchange, for example Ronnie the Italian and I talked about The Jersey Shore today. David the German talked about Haribo Gummies. Yea, stereotype much? :)

Almost done with week 2, time has flown by so quickly. There's a lot of things that I don't want to think about anymore, some things that I don't want to deal with anymore, a few things that don't mean much to me anymore. Life is a constant evolution -- I just want to get better with time. Victory is mine!

Summer Resolution

I'm moving to Shanghai on Saturday!!!

There's so much to do, places to explore, yummy things to eat, people to meet... just can't wait. :)

My summer resolution is to keep on moving forward. Time only moves in one direction, after all... there's only so much that can be done. Everything I do is so I can live and die without regrets. If perchance we have enough 缘分 then we can orbit around each other again.

Looking for Where the Wild Things Are.

HNC Block Party

Kegs of local microbrewed Pilsner and IPA for 10元/cup ($1.5USD)

+ Burgers without tomatoes or lettuce

+ Tea eggs (茶葉蛋) by Madame Huang

+ Chinese girls all dolled up

+ SBE Soulja Boy dancemoves

+ Luke bellyflop into the koi pond

+ Windsor KTV & Jay Chou

+ 一晚的發洩機會

____________________等於 =____________________

HNC Block Party

Carlos Casanova (that's his real name, no joke) and the girls of Fashionista.

Watch out for cooch!

Love how her arms are flapping helplessly as I apply deadweight to the piggyback, ha!

Yes, it is what you think it is. The Macarena.

Peace out homeslices!

One more 3000+ character paper to write (about Chinese Rural Elections) and I'm OUT!

Great Wall Half-Marathon

A team of HNCers and I ran the Great Wall Half-Marathon (2 ran the full marathon!) last week. It was such an amazing experience... probably Top 3. We couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather, and the wall was simply breathtaking (winding through the forest and very well maintained too). I think it was on a portion that doesn't usually have much tourism since it was a 3 hour busride outside Beijing city, in Tianjin county.

If you're interested in also running in GWM, here is my take:

It's very doable... I've only been running 4x a week for 3 months, and haven't done any stretches longer than ~6 miles. That's less than half of a half-marathon (13.1 miles), but since the first 1/4 of the race is on the wall, people don't actually "run" it... it's very steep and everyone ends up walking/crawling up and down. I'm not a very sure-footed gal, so I was very careful on the descending steps. There are also some portions of the wall that are missing a railing, so it's a bit dangerous and everyone crosses this part slowly. I think we took maybe 1 1/2 hours just on the wall! The last 9 miles are flat and through the nearby villages, so that's when your training really comes into use. My knees were killing me by the final few miles, but so long as you're blasting Britney in your iPod you can definitely carry yourself over the finish line no problem. ;) Also, there were a ton of water stations, and the later portions had bananas, cold water sponges, electrolyte drinks... so it was a very well-run operation. It was also so nice interacting with the locals, all those little kids lining the streets with their hands outstretched for a high-five. ^_^ It was definitely a morale booster, but you don't need much of that when all you see such beautiful scenery all around you. I'd say don't run TOO fast... enjoy yourself and take it all in.

A HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL MY WONDERFUL FRIENDS, YOUR SUPPORT DURING TRAINING AND AT THE RACE MEANS THE WORLD TO ME. I love running now... on the lookout for my next conquest! ;)

Sorry if these photos are more grainy than usual, had to use my dinky old point-and-shoot camera (stuffed into my fanny pack, hahahaa).

Crossed the finish line, and here comes the cameraman!

My wonderful running partner, Laura. She's my roadrunner, I'm the coyote. ;)

Luke comes in 19th in the entire (WHOLE) marathon, and he barely trained... god! I think the most he ran was around Xuanwu Lake 2x, which is only 13 miles total. What a freak, haha.

Relaxing. :) Brewskies for everyone.

An epic Beijing duck dinner... can you imagine how hungry we all were?

Planned to go out that night and get plastered, but I had been up for almost 24 hours and my feet did not feel like it could stand in heels for much longer. Then we took a Sunday morning train back to Nanjing (which I will never do again b/c it took 9 hours).

The end!

Ah..... :) It feels good.

Running up Purple Mountain

AHHHHHH OMG, it's only T-minus 1 week before the Great Hall Half-Marathon!!! Laura, Chynna, Stan, and I went for a 6-7 mile run up Purple Mountain (紫金山), which ended at this spectacular reservoir where we all went for a nice cool dip. :) The park was simply gorgeous and there weren't many tourists even on a Saturday. Wonderful day, let's do it again soon.

Wish me luck for the marathon... I've been training a lot but haven't done any runs longer than 6 miles at this point, but I believe I can definitely do 13... hahaha mind over matter?

Giving a little boy flying high-fives.

Yes, this is part of marathon training, haha.

The water was AMAZING (and clean!), the perfect treat for a hard workout.

Laura and I played on the animals lining the path towards the Ming Tombs... they're actually quite slippery! I think I tried hopping on (and sliding off) at least 10+ times, quite sad and hilarious, hahaha. We chose the lions because we liked their wicked perm. :)

ROAR.

I'm in Darnassus!

It's quite amazing how I'm starting to really love Nanjing just when I only have a couple of weeks left. I'm an nature-y kind of gal (surprising even to myself since I grew up in NYC), so all this great weather + Xuanwu Lake (玄武湖) + Purple Mountain has made me feel much better about this place. Running has also made me much more fit and able to enjoy long excursions outdoors too... I really hope I can keep this up even after next week's race!

Yearbook Photo

I'm a HUGE fan of The Office, thank you to my fellow Business Club board members for making my dream into reality, muhahahaha! It's been a great year. :)

We're thinking about doing a little skit for HNC's Block Party that would detail a typical board meeting at SBE, the following written by Luke: "It would involve 3-4 of us showing up to the skit late, which would then set off a series of star jumps to be performed by the offenders. Then we would press Kwang about the week's coffee shop profits, simultaneously munching on some baked treats that one of us brought. Thereafter Stan and Jasmine would get into some weird conversational black hole of misunderstanding and it would get slightly awkward, but not really, and then we would all laugh about it and talk about how our next event could possibly involve any form of booze." Ha, classic... it could be an episode from The Office!

My Little Dude

I want to introduce my little dude to everyone -- he's a tadpole who is as happy as he could be. He was born in Taiwan and was meant to live out his life as a chopsticks holder (his ceramic lily pad broke so now he's relaxing under my hydroponic plant). I snatched him up almost 2 years ago because I was so inspired by how happy and chill he looks. Even now I look at him and I feel more grounded instantly. Silly? Maybe. I just aspire to feel as content as my little dude. :)

You're stuck in a pot and you're STILL happy?