贪新忘旧

贪新 忘旧...

I need a remedie for that!!!

City

In this tasteless and cold city.

What to do?

So what am I going to do?
A-)Be nice and not honest?
B-)Be mean and honest?
C-)Disappear without a word?

The answer is obvious...
What I am doing is A,
What I should do is B,
What is easiest to do is C, but that would mean that I have to be mean and not honest.

Why do people always do what they shouldn't do when they actually know what they should do?

Stuff that people are careless about, words that people forget to say are actually those things that we should cherish the most…

...Not being able to resist smiling stupidly for some little things in the subway, at the library while “studying” and even during a final exam is really some kind of blessing or luck.

Do I make sense? If you think I make sense then you must be one lucky person.

I feel lucky too!

不怕不怕

HELLO！看我！
你在害怕什么？
是我错，
没能够啊 把自己变得成熟
伤口 那么多
已经不怕再痛
没什么 转身以后
我会练成护体神功!
看见蟑螂
我不怕不怕啦
我神经比较大
不怕不怕不怕啦
胆怯只会让自己更憔悴
麻痹也是勇敢表现
一个人睡也不怕不怕啦
勇气当棉被
不怕不怕不怕啦
夜晚再黑我就当看不见
太阳一定就快出现

-小尾

I am obsessed with...

...and it feels good! :):):)

Life after China

My parents came to the airport to pick me up and I was glad to see them. However, as they ask me if I’ll miss Hangzhou, I wanted to cry again, but of course I had to hold back. The first few weeks after I got back to Montreal was difficult, I felt entirely misplaced. I still thought I was in China, and I couldn't believe all this became part of yesterday. Is this what we call reverse cultural shock? It feels odd to not see Chinese faces on the streets. I miss my bed in China, I miss the view from my dormitory, I miss the stinky smell of the public bathrooms, I miss the tasty Muslim noodles, and I miss…China. I felt completely disconnected and only wanted to stay home on my own, couldn’t help but think backwards even though life goes on and I should probably look frontward. I wonder, if that feeling of detachment did not happen when I first got to China, what would that mean? I am not sure whether it is because I found better or that I am a complete loser who just woke up from the escape of reality.

Perhaps “meaningful” is the word I am looking for. For example, if you haven’t seen a friend for a week, that’s a hella long time in China, this is simply because Chinese live for the moment. Countless technologies today, that is supposed to bring us closer, is actually creating barriers, but it makes our life so much “easier” that we don’t think about it, and along side, things lose their meanings. Are we actually improving or unconsciously regressing? It seems like life is harder for Chinese because conditions in China are not as good compared to here, but life is definitely more fulfilling and meaningful in China, because they truly cherish what they have. That sense of being full…of being alive is difficult describe, but I can feel it. Maybe many Chinese who grew up in China seek to immigrate to America, but after seeing both sides, I dream I could be part of them.

As the days go by, I hoped to get back in place and do my best at school and just anything for the time I am here. At the same time, it always seems like my body is here but my heart is elsewhere and constantly thinking of leaving. How would you feel if you changed, but people around you didn't? Once upon a time, getting wasted every night seemed like lots of fun and was all I wanted, but that can no longer satisfy me. I read an interesting article called “Sigmoid Curve” written by Charles Handy. It essentially says that as some summits are attained, one must find a higher summit in order to remain motivated and that becomes our driving force or inspiration. He used the sigmoid curve to maily describe organizations, but I think that applies to anyone.

Life can be viewed as a learning experience, learning about ourselves. In order to do so, we first learn about others. The more we know about others and see the differences and similarities; we get to understand ourselves better. As we learn about other cultures, we get to know ours’ better. On the other hand, the more we see, the more it gets unclear and we continually search answers to that unclearness. Hence, new and more complex questions are the higher summits that inspire us. What’s the purpose of all this? To grow, to be a better person, to be happy I guess? Maybe we are living in the hope to find those answers, answers to those never-ending questions.

Miss you, always.

好久不见!
今天受到你的E-mail真的很开心。
你最近怎么样? 你会说韩语吗? 学习韩语进步得很快啊。哈哈。
在中国的生活中认识你的事对我来说最开心的，最宝贵的事。我可能永远忘不了你。
过去的内容好还是不好对现在的我都是珍贵的回忆。我真的谢谢你!
听说你明年夏天来韩国学习吧。我当然希望再见你的面，当然欢迎我们做朋友的关系。但是问题是明年3月16日我去当兵。如果你来到韩国以后留下你的电话号码的话，我休假其间一定联系你吧。我想你! 哈哈。再见!

이원우(李元友)

Solitude

From love grows happiness
From happiness grows greed
From greed grows jealousy
From jealousy grows anger
From anger grows pain
From pain grows distrust
From distrust grows solitude...

Come on down with me

Let's ignore time's existence
Let's forget the world's being

Come on down with me

China: If there were no tomorrow

A question that many people like to ask：If tomorrow was the end of the world, then what would you do today? See things that you didn't get the chance to see? Do things that you were not game to do? No matter how certain you are now…If there were really no tomorrow, then a lot of things would not matter anymore and it is at that time that you realize what is most important to you and you get to understand what kind of person you really are underneath it all.

That last day in China, I just wanted to be with you. The West Lake is attractive indeed, but I didn't want to be there. I would be the happiest girl alive if I could stay with you and make a living in China. I’d wait for you every night until you finish work and we’d go for walks in the park at 5 am when everyone else is sleeping. Did I just borrow you to build that perfect dream? As for all dreams, we must wake up someday. Tomorrow, I'll be heading towards a different direction and you'll continue in your direction...but that moment we spent together meant forever to me.

It fascinates me how two totally different persons can come together, especially for two persons who live on opposite sides of the world. Maybe everything seemed so perfect because the time we spent together was so short that we didn’t see the bad sides of each other, but isn’t it better like that? The good times were short but enough to still unconsciously smile when reminisced.

I don’t care how cheesy this is, I’m happy!

Ordinariness

Being able to accept ordinariness can be a form of blessing

中国

Love & Pride

Annoying dudes on facebook...Get a life~!

Please, Pease, Get a life. That's just pathetic... Let me laugh. There are so many others just like you and I'm probably wasting my time reading your messages.

you are gorgeous, would love to get to know you.I work near Concordia. Write me if you want...Bye sexy,P.

je vaut 40000 par semaine. J'aimerais bien essayer. tu me communiquera.

tu est tres chixx, eille je t'aime

salut,aimerais-tu sortir à l'occasion?a+

salue dsl de te deranger mais je me demandais si c t pas toi que javais rencontré au casino mardi soir...je me rappelle plus trop de ton nom au complet lolrépond moi vite :)Charles.

your the cutest girl ive ever seen. your a very sexy asian.

How much time god took to create your pretty face?

hey there elaine...u know i love asian women...when i look at you it gives me the reason why,....u are the type of girl i'm looking for...u have everything i'm looking for...beauty and the smarts to go with it....if your interested in talking a little more just get back to me...my e-mail is cavalluzzisav@hotmail.com if u have msn you can just add me and we can chat more...see ya beautiful...xoxo

Hi beautifulI just thought that I would say hi while your online right now. I thing you are very sexy and smart. But I'm blocked out of your profile so, let me in and I could get to know you bettter.Peace Beautiful.

hi there sexy couldnt help but notice u u wanna chat

Hey I was just browsing here and i saw your profile... i dont normally do this but i would love to chat.you have some gorgeous pics!Eric

Hey hows it going/? U dont know me but i was trying to find a friend i went to school with when i seen ur pic and just about fell over LOL.. Your unreal beautiful.. I would love to talk to you but if not its cool Take care anyway

how are you my dear :))you are appearing very swettI wan to bite you :)))

hi how r u addm e on msn if u want nickotheory@hotmail.com bye sexy

girl i want you !

Hello,I just want to let you know that I think you look hot in your picture. Add me to MSN and we can chat...sirenstonight@hotmail.com

just want to say you look alil' bit like Utada Hikaru in the pic with you and the teddy bears.A Japanese singer if you didnt know...So what does that mean?? you are very beautiful just like her...

hi just wanna tell u that ur really cute and hey i was thinking if u wanna talk some time.hit me upbye take care

chirie,tu es tres belle comme une rose,j'aimerais de te connaitre la prochaine fois,lorsque je visite Monterial.

Ok I gotta stop here. Are you guys tired of reading this? Because I am. Sexy, attractive, cute, chix and all those blablas, I have no time to care about what you can think of me...And most of you don't even know how to spell in english or french. Is that what you guys do instead of going to school? PATHETIC! I'm sorry for acting like a diva and I'm sorry for the fact that I don't even actually feel sorry.

By the way, I am very nice, I do respond to nice, meaningful and interesting messages.

Goodnight!

Where are you?

How much is the sunshine worth if you do not reappear?

Time and space

Perhaps somewhere in time and space
Some feelings mistakenly interchanged

I am promiscuous

So am I promiscuous? Am I a beast that no one would like? Everytime we argue, I tell myself that you don't know what you are talking about and that I don't need to care because it is not worth it. But how do you want me to not care? I am not "beast" enough to be careless. Don't you know you're hurting me? Aren't you are more fucked up than I am? Are you going to be happier if no one likes me?

New day

New Day
New Hope

One day there will be hope for us

I'm sorry for being a wild beast, but I really wish you will die soon...

and as that day finally comes, I will regret until the end...

because no one on Earth will possibly love a wild beast as much as you did.

Let's go EJ! You can do it!
...

Ethical Slut

I read a very interesting book that I would like to share with you guys. It is titled The Ethical Slut: A guide to Infinite Sexual Possibilities written by the famous Dossie Easton and Catherine A. Liszt. I don't know if you read it but I strongly recommend it. This blog entry contains relevant quotes from the article and my very own personal opinions.

I've been called nympho or slut several times for various reasons. I laugh when I hear those comments, it tells a lot about our culture and society. "Sluts are evil, uncaring, amoral and destructive". Honestly, I used to think that way when I was younger, I was afraid to be dirtied. This is how I was taught by society. My asian parents are, of course, the typical type so that does not help.

I see many people who are not open about sex and I can understand that sex is better kept private. Some other people would say that sex is only after marriage, which i totally respect as well. They have their sense of ethics. But here is my point of view: I do not see the point of restricting ourselves to pleasure. I would feel so bad if I wasn't able to admit things I love and to restrict myself to those rules. That's for the religious folks: "To believe that God doesn't like sex is like believing that God doesn't like you" "We have never met anyone who had low self-esteem at the moment of orgasm".

Ethical Sluts' core values is pleasure. I believe that life is an opportunity to experience as much as we can, to taste all the flavours of life, to do things we like, things that make us feel good! I do not care about my GPA, credit cards, money, status and all that stuff. Did you know that if you were at about 100 km above Earth's surface, you might be able to see two things: China's great wall that looks like a snake and Vegas that looks like a star. If you are on the moon, you don't see anything constructed by Human Beings. You might see clouds, oceans, the north/south poles...Would you still worry about other people's critiques? would you still care about those unwritten social rules?

We cherish pleasure but that doesn't mean that we will do whatever we want even though it hurts people around us. "We are ethical people, ethical sluts. It is very important to us to treat people well and not hurt anyone. Our ethical come from our own sense of rightness, and from the empathy and love we hold for those around us." Another very important value for ethical sluts is consent.

We are honest, we recognize the ramifications of our sexual choices, we are respectful, we are realistic and we do not try to be everything we cannot be.

In our society...or in most of societies i should say, people value monogamy. People assume that this is the only right way because it has always been that way. This is not wrong because it is not against your will. However, I think that all types of relationships should be valued for what they really are and we can achieve the same things in every type. But sex is about pleasure, this is the primary goal..."there is nothing wrong with sex for sex's sake." Secondary goals include much more such as romantic love and other stuff like reproduction, but pleasure is the most basic goal.

"Longevity is not a good criterion by which to judge the success or failure of a relationship." Did you learn something out of it? Did you get the pleasure you wanted, did you feel good about yourself ? If you answer yes, then do not regret it. The word "always" could describe a short moment...Cherish every moment of your life. "One-night stands can be intense, life-enhancing and fulfilling; so can lifetime love affairs. While ethical sluts may choose to have some kinds of relationships and not others, we believe that all relationships have the potential to teach us, move us. and above all give us pleasure."

"You don't need a lot of "thou shalt nots" to be an ethical person. Honesty, empathy, foresight, integrity, intelligence and respect will do just fine."

Everyone is wonderful, there is no need to be ashamed of anything because if you do, it will cost you your happiness. Respect yourself and people around you.

China: Part III

Last time, I said I was going to Xitang, but I'll not talk about that in this post, maybe later...
Let's continue with the third week, which is probably the worst of all, or maybe the best after all.

What happened? One day, I came back to my room and saw my roomate lying on the bed with his sunglasses on, he was probably crying. He told me that his girlfriend in Canada is mad that he's sharing a room with a girl and she'd rather break up than to let this continue. In my head it was like, I feel sorry for you but this is not my fault, so if someone has to move out, that person is not me. Then, he went to talk with Antoine and Eric to see if they could switch so that he stays with Antoine and I stay with Eric. Then all three came in my room to "talk" but it was more like forcing, not physically but mentally. I felt like they are all against me, as if it was my fault and that I should help william...It's because, william is just my roomate, and who's gonna help me then? I didn't even wanna talk and just walked out.

If I had to be in the same room as Eric...really i'd have nightmares...It's like a punishment. Girls, here's my advice, if you wanna pretend that you are not jealous, then pretend until the end, if you cannot, then just admit that you are jealous, you will make people's life easier. And Boys, I have a piece of advice for you too, do not trust your girlfriend if she says that she trust you, this statement is only true when you are in her field of vision. Sad but true!

During that week, I just went out a few times with Kevin (the guy I met last week). My roomate came back late everynight, probably trying avoid me. So I felt kind of bad for him and I cannot live like this for two months seeing his stupid crybaby face everyday. So in the end, I agreed to change roomate and my new roomate is...Eric. It was thursday I think and luckily Eric was going to Beijing for the whole weekend. I heard he steals shampoo and stuff like that so imagine how I am going to live! When he was away, I tortured his bed and his clothes and I'd put weird products in the shampoo in case he steals mine (I have another one for myself obviously).

That weekend, I went to Coco again and I met another guy! His name is Jay, a korean student at the same university but in another campus. Nothing special happened with him, but I felt bad for Kevin (the guy I met last week). Kevin thinks that I'm his girlfriend and I cannot blame him for that. He is a good guy, he's sweet and innocent. I really didn't wanna hurt him, but I did it, that's how stupid I am.

Back to Jay, that's him:

He is so cute with his small little eyes. That night, I went home really late, or really early I should say, around 5-6 am (the clubs close around 5). He promised to call me, but waited until the last week, he was probably shy...most asian guys I met in China are pretty shy. We met again at SOS and I did something really wrong. It happens often, but that time, I was TOO stupid. But that's not the point of this post so I'll skip this for now.

I think it was on sunday night, Eric came back from Beijing and we had a fight (not physically of course). Here’s what happened. I came back to the dorm and he wasn't even studying, he was talking to someone. So I just decided to watch TV and 2 minutes later he says that he wants to study and tells me to turn the TV off. It's like hello, you think you're the king or what! If you need to study, I need to entertain myself too. The TV can't be moved but you can, so who's gonna move? Then, he just went to unplug the cable. I was so mad, so I said to turn the light off because I wanted to sleep even though it wasn't true, I just wanted to piss him off. In the end I lost my temper and threw his stuff outside and blah-blah-blah so I had to call Duan Laoshi and he said that he'll find me another room tomorrow. God...that's what he should've done since the beginning. After, I heard Teedah saying that I'm rude. I only yelled at Eric, not at her. Plus, I don't even remember talking to this girl before. Teedah, are you trying to make yourself sound more interesting? Maybe you can just say that you're jealous, you'll might get more attention.

The next day, I moved to the international building, the one where Kevin lives. By coincidence, my room is not only on the same floor as Kevin, but in the same wing too! I don't know what to think, because that would mean that I'd probably see him everyday. The room is tiny but there's everything exept annoying canadians and cockroaches. Honestly, I was a bit scared to sleep alone, maybe not scared, but I'm not so used to that. Oh, but I love it because I can sleep NAKED!

That's the room:

Here's something I don't like from the Concordia Program, it leaves us little chance to interact with other students because Concordia student all live on the same floor and take the same classes...I know that's the most logical thing to do, but...there is something missing in the whole experience. So yeah, I was saying that it was probably the best week, because I got away from it. The international building has a different atmosphere that I really like. Ok, both buildings are for international students but one's for americans (mostly) and one's for asians (mostly). In the american building, even if they can speak chinese, they'd still communicate with you in english. In the asian building, people only speak their native language and Chinese, so I was able to interact in Chinese a lot more and meet other students. I felt like I was becoming Asian on the inside. Even though my skin is yellow, that was the very first time I felt the asian part of me and I absolutely love it!

China: Part II

So let’s start from where I left off last time. We arrived there on Saturday night I think? Or maybe Sunday…I met a guy named Lucky on the first few days; we went to eat at a seafood restaurant. I don’t know anything about that guy, he seems nice but I always felt that he had bad intentions. Once at Coco, I said I wanted vodka and he bought me a whole bottle. So you see why I am suspicious? But whatever, it doesn’t matter because nothing happened. We went out a few times and had a few beers together during these 2 months, but I was never game to drink too much in case something bad would happen haha.

So during the first 2 weeks, I mostly hung out with William and Antoine. Antoine liked to wake up very early and go jogging with his roommate Eric. Sometimes, they would come to my room and ask William to join them, but that lazy guy only joined them once. Then, we would go for breakfast somewhere in the campus. Antoine is a very nice guy, he is very ambitious. William is a nice guy too; he has a girlfriend and seems to be very nice to her. He is also very simple is his head…I’m not saying that he is stupid, but he really thinks life is that easy, maybe it is because he is not from the city. And Eric, no comments.

From my balcony:

Antoine and Eric

I was placed in the second level of Chinese, but I didn’t know any pinyin (which is the base), so I couldn't even read. However, that level wasn’t too difficult for me. So someone decided to be a hero and told the teacher that this was unfair to me and to let me be in the first level. Then I thought, that wouldn’t be a bad thing, I won't need to study and get an A, it would also help me review. You might think that would not be as meaningful because I would learn less, but there is a lot that can’t be taught in a classroom. Also, there are many options for Chinese courses in Montreal, I didn't go to Hangzhou just for to learn Chinese. Plus, if I always had to study, how would I be able to enjoy my stay? I do not regret my decision because while they were studying in their room, I was having fun.

The first week went just fine, I was very happy to be there and I was enjoying it at 100% (except for the fact that I got lost a few times and that I had to wait until I get back to the dorm to pee). During the first weekend, we went to shop. We got our bikes from the Prada mall of downtown. I got a pink one with a basket in the front. We shopped around and William got a few things for his girlfriend. I think I got a few things too. Oh, and in China, we have to bargain especially for foreigners. One time, we got 2 belts for 45 Yuans in total but they were trying to get us pay something like 200 Yuan for only 1. Bargaining can be lots of fun!

That's the place we went to: The Night Market


If you wonder where the cute chinese guys are, they are usually there and at other market places selling stuff. I don't think those guys go to school:









During the second week, things went a bit awkward. Once, when I came back to my room, I saw that b*tch Cielo on my bed. Maybe it is animal instinct or something like that, I just hate it when other girls sit on my bed, unless they are close friends. Plus, this girl always says “Hi Elaine...” with that attitude…That is just so annoying. It’s okay if they chill in my room, since it is also William’s room, but not on my bed!

Then I just went to Raphael and Alex’s room to chill. Later, we went to the Mexicans’ room on the 3rd floor to drink more. That was the first time I got drunk in China. I drank a lot that night.

The boys and the girls:




Then I got back to my room and accidently hit my head on the corner of the table. I was bleeding so badly, I thought I ruined my face. Luckily, our doctor William was there with his magic plasters to rescue me. That guy is really not that bad.

What I did that weekend? I believe I went to Coco with Raphael, John and Alex. Alex is the most handsome guy of the trip and he is very tall, so of course I had naughty thoughts. John is a Chinese guy we met at the pools in the village next to our campus. Supposely, he does not make a lot of money but he bought us 200 Yuan of beer and paid the taxi. I find that very weird and didn’t trust that guy so much. I know he is very nice to me, but sometimes I feel like he is lying. He even gave me cakes and made me jello in form of apple.

So about Coco, it is a club frequented by many foreigners, Mexicans, Russians, Arabs, Koreans, Japanese, Africans, Americans, etc. That night I just wanted to get a guy honestly. I saw a cute one but there was girl next to him, I still got this picture so I could show to my friends in Montreal hehe.

That's him:


Then I saw another guy, he was tall and wasn't bad looking. I went to him and just said Hi. Then I danced on the stage and asked him to join me. At first he didn’t want to, but his friends kept pushing him so, he did. He looked so shy.

That's him:


It was the perfect chance since my roommate is in Shanghai. Oh, by the way, his name is Lee Won Woo or Kevin, an exchange student from Korea. He’s been studying in China for a year and he is in the fifth level. I dragged him outside to talk and found out that we study in the same campus and he lives in the building right in front of mine, the one where most of Koreans live. It was hard to communicate with him because my Chinese is not very good, and I don’t understand a word Korean. But his English is better than most of the Koreans I met during that trip so it wasn’t that bad. So in the end, he left with his friends. It's asian culture...I didn't want to act like a slut.

I went home with Alex and I asked him if he was hungry and we decided we wanted to go to McDonald’s. He came to my room to take William’s bike. I should’ve pushed him on the bed and he wouldn’t been able to resist. But no, we went in front of the international building to get my bike and guess who we bumped into... Kevin and his friends -_-! So just naturally, I asked Kevin to come with us, and Alex decided to not bother us. So yeah, after we ate, we went back to the dorm and I kissed him on the cheek before I left...and yes only on the cheek. When I looked back, he was turning around and he was still looking and confused. He looked like those guys in Korean movies, he is a good guy and the boyfriend that every girl wishes to have, but after a while, I realized that he was not for me.

When I got back into my room, I saw Eric lying on William’s bed. I was so angry! It’s like, no one gave him the permission. I felt like someone invaded my territory...probably animal instinct again! That day I didn’t sleep and went to Xitang with the group. I was so exhausted!

China: Part I

Today we are the 26th of august and it’s already been 2 months since the end of my trip to China. It would be so unfortunate to forget about that beautiful place, all the stories and the people involved. I remember on the day before the trip, I didn’t sleep (May 1, 2008). It was just impossible to do so for some reasons. I was going to be on the other side of the world the next day! I wasn’t exactly scared, I was uncertain I guess. However, I was sure that I wouldn't regret. My mom asked me to talk to my dad before I go, which I did. I cannot forget about the past but I know how much he cares about me. Maybe what he did wasn’t right, but he is still my dad. He drove me to the airport and as I left, I almost saw tears coming out from his eyes. I told myself…why am I so harsh with this poor guy, just let him be happy…but that doesn’t mean that he can control me, I’m old enough to know what I need. I’ll just let him talk and not argument…by doing so, everyone will be happy right?

…14 hours flight is quite a pain in the ass! I was sitting next to Tania, she was nice and fortunately she didn’t talk a lot and didn’t stink. I would die if I had to sit next to a fat ass guy for 14 hours. I sat next to the window, it was good because I could enjoy the view, but I hate to bother people to go to the bathroom. The worst is that I had my period! I kept the window closed during most of the flight since I got to sleep/watch movies. When I decided to open the window…guess what I saw…the Verkhoyansk Mountains! They looked like a flat surface at first but of course they are gigantic. It looked like there were no end to this snowy and icy place. It was simply beautiful, I instantly thought…life is so beautiful and there is just so much to discover. I want to be everywhere and see what life has to offer!

I often hear people say that the most beautiful and precious things/people are already by our side…but I don’t think that it is true. I think those people just prefer the confort and the safety of a familiar surronding.

An hour or two later, I saw China’s yellow earth. I was getting tired and my back hurted so much! I’m glad we finally arrived to Shanghai! We took the bus for another 2 hours to Hangzhou’s Zhejiang University Yuquan Campus. I met my roomate, mister William Daigle. I went straight to the bathroom and took a shower…ahhhh…I still remember how bad I wanted to shower. Then we went to the international students’ cafeteria to eat. When we arrived there, we didn’t even know how to order. I was with william and annie I think, I don’t even remember but we looked lost and "laowai". Then we saw two white guys laughing at us and guess what! They are from Concordia too, but arrived a day earlier, they are Raphael and Alex. We had a beer each. It was the big bottles of Tsing Dao…I read 10P of the label and I was like…danggg. But strangely, I didn’t even feel tipsy. Because guess what, it wasn’t 10 percent but something less than 3.6 percent! I still don't get what the P stands for, but whatever. Apparently, Chinese get drunk easily. Ok so after the dinner I went to the store with Raph to get a telephone card so I could tell my mom...I got to China safe and sound!.. but it was so complicated because we need 2 phone cards to make international calls, so the mission was unaccomplished. I went back to the dorm to pee and my roomate went for a walk. I was so tired that I felt asleep within 10 minutes!

(Building 31, Room 419)

The room's not bad right? There's even a balcony, a television and a queen size bed!

(may 5th, 2008): That day I got up at 7am. I thought, I don’t even need a clock or alarm to get up now that I am in China, but it’s probably jet lag. So that morning, me and william went out to eat since we did not like the food from the cafeteria. We walked on Xixi Lu but didn’t find anything since we don’t read chinese and didn’t want to risk our lives in suspicious places, but at least, we found a store to take passport photos for my roomate. Then we just walked around and discovered a few places like the gate to the mountain.

Me and Antoine decided to climb to the top. It only took something like 1 hour. The view was good, hangzhou is like a city built in the nature, it is something that montreal doesn’t have and that I really like. Everything is so beautiful and green.

Then we went to the orientation session and that guy explained everything pretty much. We then went to shop at a market near to our campus. I wanted to look for bikes, we didn’t find but I almost got killed a few times by bikes. My roomate was so tired that he went to sleep and he slept for 14 hours haha.

I only wrote about the first few days and I already wrote that much...seriously, I don't know how am I going to write about 2 months...so I will stop here for now. Hangzhou is very beautiful, especially the West Lake, but what makes a place attractive is its people I think. I still miss Hangzhou so much because of the people I met. I also loved the culture and I wish montreal was like that but that's just not possible. People are very kind. Westerners might say that they are noisy, dirty and all, but I think chinese people feel good in their own skin and they are simply the way they are, they are confident. They don't care whether they "look"/act weird or cool, that's how they are confortable with themselves and they actually care about each other, they make me feel home. The world is really upside down. Montrealers are too individualist and cold. The guys of montreal...Pffff seriously, I don't need to say how perverted and gay you guys are. Life was so different in China, I was just living my life the way I wanted it...I was happy. I didn't think a second of that stupid asshole, there's a lot more than useless shit like him. You see those are just little problems in life and once you step out of that bubble, you'll discover that there's more in life and you'd wonder why you were so stupid to not move on.

If you think you can't live without XYZ...it's just because you're living in a bubble so please step out. Honestly, I thought about him, I mean it's impossible to not, but it was more like...oh yeah there's him in Montreal, so what.

I met a girl and she said that she didn't want to go back to her country because she didn't want to go back to reality, which means to get a job and all. And I thought, does this mean that I am trying to escape the reality? I thought about it and the conclusion is no. Is what I am living not real? Do I have to go back to Canada, get my bachelor degree, be an accountant and get married? Is that "more" real? It's about how I choose to live my life and make what i like become real. I don't know if that's because I'm immature but that's really how I feel.

Shanghai: Part I

Date: June 14th, 2008

Part I:
-Din Tai Feng @ Xin Tian Di
-Old City of Shanghai
-Yuyuan

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One day in Shanghai. Yes 1 day only. We had to get up at 6 to catch the train...I was so tired because I went out the night before even if I knew I had to get up early -__- Sorry if I look like shit in every picture, but it was too early! We didn't even club in Shanghai because we had class the next day so we had to go back to Hangzhou...

First of all, Shanghai is 2 hours away from Hangzhou by train. The trains are just so dirty...people eat and drink and throw their garbage on the floor...eww it was just nasty.

Hehe I look like I lack of vitamin

We went to this very famous restaurant called 鼎泰丰 (Ding Tai Feng) to have breakfast. When you go to Ding Tai Feng, you gotta make sure that you try their 小笼包（Xiao Long Bao） because they have the BEST! It's so juicy and you can't compare that with those you eat at Dim Sum places in Montreal which are completely disgusting! It would be like comparing heaven and hell...

Hmmm...Yum Yum =)
Without exageration, I never ate something sooooo fuckin good!!

After having breakfast, we went to visit the old city of Shanghai. There were so many tourists and it makes me hate tourists so much, but it's a classic tourist point of Shanghai so we still went just so that we can tell others we went to Shanghai. It's like...you haven't really been to Toronto if you didn't visit the CN tower and you can't say you've been to New York if you never seen the statue of liberty, obviously!

Oh, if you're a woman travelling alone, try to not look lost by acting like a tourist because some people will try to take advantage of you. I was approached by at least 10 random guys trying to sell me fake stuff. And they don't go "Hi miss, would you like some X and Y? no? okay thanks". They are really annoying and they won't let you go until you get mad and push them away.

Here's an example of things you should never do:
EXAMPLE #1: Taking a map or travel guide out!

I was obviously just pretending!

EXAMPLE #2: Taking pictures of random things in the middle of a street!

...not pretending

That's how the streets looked like. Many tourists and many shops with all kinds of stuff , you can find anything...like really anything you can think of.

Then, we went to Yuyuan which is one of the finest Chinese garden, but if you want my opinion, I'd say if you saw one, you saw them all...a bridge here, a temple there...

At that same place, you can find..... temples, DUH! It's nothing exciting, but we still checked it out. I actually never saw anything like that before except on TV.

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Part II:
-Nanjing Road
-The bund
-Oriental Pearl

Shanghai: Part II

Part II:
-Nanjing Road
-The bund
-Oriental Pearl

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This is the second part of this post. We went to Nanjing road which is the main shopping street of Shanghai and of China. Everything is so damn cool, it's like a shopping heaven...and they don't sell fake stuff so sorry for cheap people!
Let's start:
Nanjing road is 3.4 miles long, so we decided to take a train for a few cents.

Here's a building in construction. It's all supported with bamboo sticks

That's part of Nanjing road

Chinese Nike:

Kevin in front of Shanghai Fashion store, we didn't even go inside because we only had one day so we had to keep moving...

15 minutes break =)

It's time for some food! We decided to eat at subway because ohhh I missed fastfood and Kevin never ate at subway's before...poor guy.

Chinese Subway is not tasty at all!!!
...but he enjoyed it.

Yarkk excuse my hair color....I wanted to go to a hair salon in China, but my hair is equal to my life and my chinese is not so good so I didn't wanna risk my life.

After Nanjing, we went to the Bund. It's a nice place to hangout and you got a nice view of the oriental pearl. Unfortunately, the weather was really bad so we couldn't really see:

Me and the pearl:

Kevin's turn:

There were people selling stuff, couples and friends hanging around, delicious food, and more delicious food, yummy~~

We heard the night view is even better so we decided to take a coffee break and wait =) Everything is cheap in China except coffee.

There was this lady trying to sell us flowers, she insisted for at least 15 minutes. She was trying to convince Kevin to buy me a rose, so I told him that I didn't want, but she insisted that I meant yes even if I said no. She was right, I wanted that rose because no one ever gave me flowers before. That's Kevin, he'll do whatever I tell him to do, but he'll wait until I ask...*sigh*

Reading the famous guide hehe, I would've been so lost without him. It was even complicated to buy a train ticket.

Yay! Here's the Oriental Pearl Tower, the tallest TV tower in China and third in the world after Canada and Russia.

As I said, the weather sucked, so we couldn't see anything because of the stupid fog.

Me at my lowest point. I didn't realize until I saw that picture:

WHOAA! We are 1230 Km away from Hong Kong!

Having fun with the mirror attached to the ceiling:

Asian Peace!

Kevin somewhere in Europe, what a cute immigrant =)

Me in Beijing, what a hot laowai (foreigner)!!

Egypt too!

Next and last but not the least: Shanghai Municipal History Museum! I always thought museums are boring and hate all museums, I even hate the nasty Insectarium and Biodome, but I abosolutely love that one. It was a bit freaky because it was late and there were only a few people in that HUGE museum... and I kept thinking about that movie House of Wax...
You see why I was scared? That's why:

found another lover:

Life's hard, eh!

Find the fake one:

Pretending to be good with children:

Find Charlie:

That's freaky too:

The giant!!

I got no idea what they are doing but that looks weird...

Chinese opera?

What a long post!

So that was 1 day in Shanghai! I might be able to go back next year with a friend if all goes well and if I don't need to take any summer classes, cool right?! =)