update...

Ok so just an update.. school is ok... i am just taking chinese courses this semester.

My listening professor apparently has lived in canada (toronto.) and she is by far the worst chinese professor ever... sort of reminds me of my accounting professor back in ottawa... holy macaroni do these professors think that we know what the hell they are talking about??... just because the freaking koreans and japs know what is going on, doesnt mean all the other students who btw are not asians know.... honestly... on the other hand my writing and reading professor is the cutest man ever (in a non sexual way... more like a grandpa way) and a damn good teacher! i really enjoy his class, even if that means memorizing like 25 ''words'' for every next class..

so technically this semester is supposed to be my 'slack' ease pathway where i can actually have fun and go out more often... and drink more wine and dirty martinis (which i havent in a looooong time)... i am also planning to join some sports dance and\or art clubs (hopefully they have more art clubs).... I have been searching for information for literally a week, but is impossible to find anything so quickly in this university as no one is informed!... however today i found out some emails and telephone numbers for some sports (basketball, tennis, soccer and badminton).. i am thinking of joining badminton and tennis... or badminton and soccer... although, i did hear a rumor about the badminton gym being in reparations... which i hope is not true, in which case i would take tennis and soccer....
I also found a club of calligraphy, which btw I hope is calligraphy,... i may actually join that if i dont find any painting classes or anything more art-y....

Anyways that has been my update so far… I really hope I can join some of these clubs, as I haven’t been active in a long time, and I actually enjoy doing exercise in that manner.

you can find more photos here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/paolaisinchina

The Philippines

Cambodia


Vietnam (comming soon..)

a quick cath up....

ok i am so sorry.. i know i haven't written in like for ever!!!
i have finally no computer problems, that is because i bought a new one in Sweden. and it has cool letters and symbols added to the keyboard.. for ex. öööö ååå ääää etc... lol...

so what has happened since nov.19th....

-my bday was on the 25th of nov. it was an unexpected bday because i didn't think i was going to do anything due to the amount of school work i had. It went great, i went out to ktv with some Chinese friends and two other non Chinese friends the day before my bday :)... and then the 25th i was going to go for dinner to the cafeteria with a couple of girls, and *¨surprise* there were more than a couple of people who joined me for dinner... i also got 2 cakes, not counting the one the day before my bday.. so it went pretty well...

-early december i went to Sweden, and stayed there for about 2/3 weeks, i then came back and had chinese exams, which i was not ready for.. lol... really not ready...

-we finished school/exams on jan 14th. Catherine and i went to travel for our one month spring break, we first went to shanghai we then took a flight to manila (Philippines) and traveled through the north of the Philippines for about a month, we went to beaches, rice terraces and malls lol. We stayed in the Philippines for about a week. After our trip to the Philippines we took a plane to Saigon/Ho Chi Min cCity (Vietnam) and went around the city. From Saigon we took a bus to Cambodia, we travelled through Phnom Penh, and Siam Reap (where Angkor Wat is). After seeing these amazing cities we went back to Vietnam (Saigon) and took a bus to Nha Trang, which by the way is one of my favourite places. The beach in Nha trang was beautiful, the water the sand.. everything was so relaxing and pretty. After leaving Nha Trang we went to Hoi An, where we got some clothes tailored. From Hoi An we took a sleeper bus to Hue, we spent the day in Hue (as there isnt really anything there, other than the Ancient Citadel) and continued our trip to Hanoi. After spending several days in Hanoi we went to HaLong Bay, where we took a boat around halong bay and some caves for 2days and one night. This was my other favourite city in vietnam\our trip, it was sooo beautiful!!! there are thousands of limestones coming out of the water, the view is just great!... we then went back to hanoi and took the train to Laocai, which is a city near on the border of china and vietnam, we walked through the border... and took a bus to kunming, where we stayed a couple of days and took a flight back to beijing. This was basically my trip for a month, in a very non detail description.

-now i am back in school and tomorrow classes start.. not looking forward for that, although this semester i decided not to take any business courses and actually have more time to travel around beijing and join clubs and sports.

Some highlights of my trip:'
-Shanghai:
*We went to a Chinese dance show, which was so traditional and so beautiful!
*We took the maglev train (a magnetic levitation train) to the airport

-Philippines:
*by far the cheapest country.. i love shopping there is amazing!!!!
*people are very nice
*i was shocked at how undeveloped the country was
*the heat was just right, not too hot not too cold.. not too humid
*Batangas (a city) was really pretty, although we only went to a resort. Snorkeling was also fun, and the view of course very beautiful!
*Banaue (another city), the rice terraces were so amazingly pretty, i havent seen so many mountains since i moved out of colombia.
*we got to see an old man's grandfather's bones..lol... who afterwards wanted a donation... and i though a donation was optional haha
*i have never seen so many gay (gay as in homosexual men) people in my life

-Cambodia:
*Angkor wat was phisically super tiering
*i got a really cool painting
*just like vietnam, it has a lot of french architecture influence
*the Royal palace and te Silver Pagoda were really pretty

-Vietnam:
*there are too many electricity cables going to pole to pole in Saigon.
*i never seen so many motorbikes in my life
*my first experiences driving a motorbike on my own (i am now an expert!)
*the meat is non Chinese flavored... finally...
*i have now had a mud bath, which also included a bath in mineral water with herbs and foot massage by professionals.
*i can now get my expertice certificate for snorkeling haha and i have now gone para-sailing
*i have gotten clothes tailored for the 1st time in my life (by someone other than family members haha)
*i never gone to so many Spas! in my whole life! not that i had been to any before that... lol
*after catherine and i went to vietnam we found a very rude side to us, which we had not found in china. This is because you have to yell\get angry at people so that they dont offer you a ride in motorbikes, taxis etc... this is because every time we were nice they kept asking, though if we answered rudely they would just stop immediately.

So, i cant get this song off my head.. and i even put it as my ringtone because i have no life lol...
I dont really like their dancing here as much as i do in other videos though...

Podria estar mas atrazada en clase? no lo creo... supuestamente iba a ir a clase hoy.. y que paso? me quede dormida.. bueno, en verdad preferi quedarme durmiendo jaja... ya sabes donde estan mis prioridades... un poco perdidas...
ya me siento mejor, muchisimo mejor... Tengo muchisimas cosas que hacer, proyectos salen de todos lados, y fuera de eso estoy super atrazada en la clase de Chino.

I think i am in a 'xeric' state, trying to get used to beijing, perhaps thats why i am sick?..hmm...
Estoy enferma y tengo mamitis :(... (i'm sick and I miss my mommy)...
.
.
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This is my mommy and i....

And this is my mommy and me again.... though for some reason i look like a boy :( ...

I'll have to say i have a cold and i don't feel too good :(.. stupid cough!!!!
my roommate got me some medicine, how sweet of her.. i guess she realized how bad it was :$... I'm supposed to study for a test tomorrow but i don't think is gonna happen, i can't concentrate with this ganmao (cold) :P... I can't believe my birthday is coming :S.. it feels like there is still 6 months for it to come haha... i donno...

.

.

This are the medicine's instructions. I can read how often you have to take it! sick!

The medicine, looks like i was going to drink paint, or smth hazardous.

These are the instructions on the other side... after a while i realized they were also in english!

Today we have started to plan our trip!.... We decided we will be going to Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Hainan, and if we have time Hongkong and Taiwan. It should be an interesting trip. im so excited. I have also decided i will skip class and go to Europe for two weeks for xmas and new years. =)

I bought a tea bottle, or what ever it would be called today. I can finally drink tea anytime! haha. (see photo bellow)... Its green tea :).... although it probably looks nasty, its actually quite good.



Yesterday i had my volunteer job for the second time. It was better than last time as the children were controlled by my chinese friend Popeye (who by the way, is the best 'teacher' ever... he is so given for that!!! applause!!). This time though, there were 49 kids. yes FORTY NINE! it was very interesting, i taught them about Canada, i also though them the Hockey Pockey song (see bellow for a YouTube presentation if you don't know what hockey pockey is)


Me and the Class Teacher. by the way, the class' name is Beethoven. Last week's calss was called 明星 (super stars)


This is a Photo if what the classroom looks like...


All the students, my chinese helper and me :)

Here is a video of 'hockey pockey'



and a cool dance video, of one of my favourite shows back home.. I <3 to dance! :D
the song is Toma by Pitbull, and yes its in spanglish

I want to wish a Happy Singles Day to every single hottie out there. Today is 11.11 (Oct.11) and in China they celebrate 'single's' day. And apparently just for today MBA means "Married But Available" not that the married part applies to me haha...

This is my Organizational Behaviour in Chinese Context class. I believe we are only missing Jasmine (who by the way i helped her look for a name in English!).. Professor Lynda is the one in red.

Today we finished our OB class!! I actually didn't know it was the last class until 5 minutes before the class was over. Clearly i am keeping on top of things lolz...

This next few weeks will be a hastle.. boo... i hope i can manage with all these courses... too many things to do!.. i'm also wondering about my ecommerce exam. i havent read one thing about that class, and i usually don't pay any attention in class either.. all i know is that the exam is 60% and i have no idea how to study for it because i slacked the whole semester haha... oh god....

tomorrow i will have a very busy day, i have chinese class from 8-11:30. I then have to leave for my volunteer job, and i wont be back until about 5ish, then i will eat, and apparently i am going out with some friends for girl's night out. sick.. maybe i meet someone interesting haha...

Oh i also need to add that since our trip to the great wall i got a new nickname. 'Paola Bear' (sometimes is smth around that Poala Bear, Palola bear, Panda Bear, Paolar bear..etc) I think the first 5 sec of it i didnt like it, but now i really like it, i feel special and cuddly like a teddy bear hehe!

Perhaps we look a like?.... ya we do.. lmao


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Ok, sorry but i feel the need of writting in spanish, so you can ignore this section...


La verdad no se que me a estado pasando, estoy super confundida, rompi con mi novio y no se que es lo que quiero en este mundo... me ciento sola y aun mas cuando mis amigos mas cercanos estan tan lejos, la verdad nunca me e sentido tan sola y 'deprimida', me siento como 'afuera' de todos los grupos, todos tienen sus amigos cercanos y con los que siempre ven peliculas, hablan sobre la vida, etc. espero que alguien llegue el otro semestre, alguien con el cual pueda tener una relacion mas cercana. Yo se que tengo amigas/os para salir, pero como todo ser humano, necesito a alguien con quier pueda hablar de mi vida cara a cara, y de como me siento, y que me cuenten de su vida tambien. no lo se depronto solo estoy extranando a mi pais (canada).....

Yesterday we had our chinese class dinner, lots of yummy food, and we got taught how to make dumplings :D... i really tried but they were not the best looking dumplings ever! haha..

These are my classmates, there is about 5 who didn't come though :(

I'm actually a little worried here because my parents are sending me all my money and the exchange rate is not its best. I calculated how much i will get approx, and it turns out i will lose 2000 yuan (about $300!!!!), compared if i would have gotten my money in september :P... . !!!AGH!!! its really frustrating.. i loose so much money!- i could travel with that money!! duh!

Talking about traveling, a couple of friends and i are planning to go to south east asia for our spring holiday. We are thinking of going to the countries around Thailand; in other words, to Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and perhaps Burma and Malaysia. We also plan to end our trip in Hainan, which is an island in the south of China (its supposed to be beautiful!). I'm supposed to get together with Catherine later this week to plan our trip, im so excited, i've always wanted to go to Vietnam and Thailand! :D... wiee..!!

Yesterday was a very long day for me. I had a 感冒 (cold) and i so many things to do. My day started at 7:30 am... yes i know, it was Sunday, but i had to go and teach (as a substitute teacher) English. The class started at 8am, I was nervous because never in my life had I taught 4/5 year old children. Although there were supposed to be six students, only four came (how convenient..).. At the beginning it wasn't so bad, they seemed to listen. We learned the colours and some animals (monkey, mouse, elephant, rabbit, etc). The problem came when one hour went by and I was running out of ideas on how to teach the same things in a fun way (because I can only teach those two things for THREE hours???)… Anyways, they were starting to get tired and I didn't want to ‘lose them’… I had a Chinese teacher assistant, who helped me a lot, I mean she had more experience than me, so thankfully she had more ideas. After a while they had a little eating break, and the chinese teacher assistant left me for a while (where I took the photo bellow lol… muahaha) the children were speaking to me in Chinese (because they have limited English, as in… totally limited) and I understood some things, and others I had no clue what they were saying…. They were really nice, and seemed to like me, which made me happy. To be honest, I don't know how 3 hours passed and we were able to manage these energized creatures as well as we were able to teach them some words, and play lots of games. This was by far the most exhausting class in my life. When it was over I wanted to pass out.. I ran and played with them so much… I also sang some songs with them.. it was crazy –now I understand/admire kindergarten teachers- Anyhow, when they were leaving, a couple of them said to me “我喜欢你” which means “I like you”.. I was so happy!! Omg my heart was like booming… I mean, I really like kids, always have, and to know they like me makes me feel better! :)…

I can only remember the names of the ones on the right Kevin, and Angel
(they are not as Angelic as it looks like, specially the two in the middle!!!!!, they are nuts!!!)

After that very tiring class I came back home, and had a ‘one hour nap’ which ended up being three and half; that’s how tired I was, and I would have slept more, if it wasn’t because I had to teach another class at 4:30. I though that class was going to be 4/5 year olds as well, so I was prepared, but as usual in china, everything gets ‘switched’, it was actually a class for 6/7 year olds, they were A LOT easier to handle. They actually listened, and sat for longer!! Alleluia! Haha.. I had to teach math, more specifically adding. And yes, for three hours, I find that way to long for just adding. I had to make my imagination glow, and try to make more games and more exciting things for them, so that they wouldn't get bored/started to talk. They were pretty good students, and a lot unproblematic.. At the beginning the parents were watching the class from outside, which was a little intimidating, but after they left…. Oh ya! And I was writing something on the board, and when I turned around I was getting filmed, haha. I was like.. “oh hello..*wtf*”, but it wasn't just any camera, it was like those cameras for T.V. films…. That happened for a little while, and they finally left.. haha.. it was crazy. It was an interesting experience, and I got offered a job right a way, they were really pushy though, and really wanted me to teach there, I told them I would think about it because I was also going to start a volunteer teaching English. Yes I start this Wednesday :S… For the volunteer one I don’t know what to expect because
1. They are 12/13 years old
2. I don't know how good their lever of English is
3. Yesterday I asked how many students there were in my class, and the answer was: about 40 kids! I was like .. Holy macaroni…
so I’m very nervous for that class because I have no idea if what I will teach they will know, or if it will be too hard, or if they will pay attention because there are so many of them and so few of me. Though thankfully I also have a Chinese assistant which will help me so much, I hope….

The six to seven year old students, who now know how to add in english because of me!
and who know now, 100, 1000, and 10000 in english.. makes me feel happy.

Oh! By the way! I got molested twice by two different students in each class. On the first class one of the boys grabbed my BOOB! On purpose!!!! And on the second one the other boy grabbed my ASS! ON purpose too!! And he said “屁股” which means ‘butt’ … haha… This shows how obsessive men are with these body parts, even when they are like 5!! Or 6!! Lol….

Ps: i hope this week ends soon, i hate exam.midterm period.. :P...

Our trip to 怀柔莲花池 (HuaiRou LianHuaChi) - The Great Wall

ok, so i haven’t said anything since last Monday, sorry about that, I just have had a rough week… I went to the hairdresser beginning of this past week -yes I dared- I needed a haircut really bad… I got my hair straighten :D finally after like 5 months, I now look a little more decent.. I also decided I should stop wearing those baggy clothes that I barely wear back home, unless I’m chilaxing.. ok, maybe I wear them once in a while, but I have to start looking more decent hehe… I also had quite a couple of encounters with Chinese men flirting(?) with me.. lol? This never happens that often back home haha… even my hair dresser was flirting with me… I don't know why haha, maybe they were bored..
This weekend I went to the great wall with some friends –including like 27chinese! Haha minority or what?- Yes finally I got to go! I was so excited… it was very nice, the trees and the beautiful weather made it look even prettier, I’m not sure which part we went to, but it was on the outskirts of Beijing [exact location: 怀柔 (HuaiRou) district, 莲花池 (lianhuachi) village]. Its not touristy at all, and so the Great Wall is actually in a really bad shape, barely any walkthroughs, but I mean, they were built like 2000 yrs ago?…. hmm maybe in Jesus’ time? Hehe.. but i like that we went to a place where there has not been any renovations made, in other words, a part of the REAL Great wall... I really enjoyed it! And I stole a stone from the great wall !what! !what!.. the ‘hotel’ where we stayed was called 山里人家 (Shanlirenjia), it was really close, maybe a 5 min walk to the great wall.. well plus the time consumed climbing the mountain (the mountain is very steep, uneven and lots of stones and rocks everywhere, so is challenging, specially when you carry a purse that weights 10 punds lol… I didn't know ok?.. I though they meant climbing as in ‘walking on the great wall’ I didn't think it was literally… but a guy helped me carry it once in a while, he was very nice! :) and that helped a lot, then I was able to use my hands :D… at night we played truth or dare.. yes we did, I missed that game, its actually fun… I haven’t played it for like 5 years.. well I did played it like2 yrs ago, but what happens in Edmonton stays in Edmonton.. lol…
I was really happy to finally see stars at night, I love them so much, they are so romantic and so calming :).. I missed them! ! ! ! ! ! I think I was looking at them for like about 20 minutes :).
I came back from dinner like 45 min ago, I bumped into my friend Cinderella –yes a Chinese girl..- and we had dinner together with these other Chinese people, some which I met on the Great wall trip. I had Chinese hot soymilk –don't recommend it- and tried some fresh tomatoes with sugar? Haha, I was really impressed when I tasted it and it wasn't salty as I would anticipate haha… oh ya, the soymilk was really really hot, so this Chinese guy said to me “this soymilk is so hot, like you” I was thinking.. ahmm?? What do I reply to this ‘shameful pickup line?’.. so I just pretended he said my soymilk is very warm too, because nothing came to mind to answer haha.. then I changed subject lol… men…
Anyways after that trip my muscles on the top part of my legs hurts :( (where the femur is..) and I realized that I need to be active, so I will go and search for some dance courses, I need to get back into my dancing routine :)…

Me and the 2000yr oldie..

This will be the only foreigners in the whole trip
(Sam, Me and Lars)

I forgot to mention that since the gov't wants to control the traffic in Beijing -because there are wayy to many cars- a new law was passed and depending on your car's license plate you can't drive one day of the week. So since we had that problem, we put these stickers on the license plates to avoid problems.. it says 'just married' and only on these occasions is ok to drive your car hehe.. we have very clever Chinese friends ;)

These were our rides for the road trip, 6 cars, lots of asians and a great time!

Ps: FELIZ CUMPLEANOS MAMI! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! 生日快乐妈妈!! (eventhough she doesnt read this i wanted to say it!)

Ps2: Apparently is not true that the great wall can be seen from outer-space.. i have been lied all these years!!...

This weekend was pretty fun. I was finally able to have a fun weekend. after a loooong time I decided not to study or do any work at all!!! WIEEE… and it was worth it! (perhaps short-term wise)Friday afternoon I went on a hunt for shoes, and I found this place very near from Renmin, where I can bargain for cheap shoes, its actually nice, and cheap.. (though of course not good quality)… later on that night I went out with some classmates –we were in total 8 Chinese and 3 non Chinese (??)…. First we went to eat at a restaurant, the food was pretty good i was satisfied… even if we ate chicken intestines… I think it was, I don't remember (I don't think I even want to know as a matter of fact… lolz)… we played a drinking game while we were finishing eating, it was pretty fun, except –as usual- I was in the final “losers round” haha.. but it was pretty cool!... we then went to a club called ‘baby face’ which was nice, but I imagined it to be bigger and with CHEAPER drinks… I paid like 35RMB/beer!! I feel robbed.. but its ok… after a while we left babyface -bc 1.it was a little empty 2. it was expensive.- and we headed off to KTV (Karaoke)… oh by the way we took an illegal taxi/van there hehe, it was a pretty sick experience, maybe u should have taken a photo with the ‘cab’ driver!! Aghh I forgot.. next time! Karaoke was fun! I was so happy to see Chinese grls drinking hehe, it was cute! Even if they drank one bottle of bacardi the whole night lol…we (by we I mean the foreigners) sang some abba, bastreetboys songs, Britney spears, and nsync –it wasn’t as bad as it seems then hehe- while the Chinese sang some Chinese pop (some were VERY into these songs haha.. ) I’m glad we did that, I had a lot of fun! And the karaoke place was very nice, both times I have been to karaoke the rooms are sooo nice, makes me feel rich hehe… and that's basically how our Friday night ended :)…

Saturday I slept quite a bit!... well quite a lot! It was amazing.. hehe.. and at night I went to a volunteer orientation, where we played games, this was fun. I also found out that some Chinese girls are not as shy as they seem to be, there was this girl who was SUPER shy, she was pretty too btw. Anyways, her group lost one of the final games and she had to do a penitence (I think that's how is called) where she had to dance with this guy, and oh my, this was pretty wild, pretty good to be Chinese (I mean her rhythm was a little off, and her movements were not too smooth, they were a little sharp, but it was still pretty hot… ) that's when I realized not to judge a book by its cover haha.. my group lost after them, and they made me stand and dance –though it apparently had to be seductively???- and I’m sorry but when I have no alcohol in me I can’t just dance sexy in public –not that I can very well with alcohol…- so I just danced the Macarena (that's the only thing that came to mind at the moment hahaha) and they were really trying to make me dance seductive, but I really cant when I don't even know these people haha… I also got to put makeup blindfolded on a guy haha it was fun! He looked like a clown, but its ok haha… I left at 8though because I had an “appointment” called beer and partei muahahaha… So at 8 I took a cab to BeiShiDa XiMer, and it turned out to be the wrong address (My friend told me the wrong address) it was actually BeiDa XiMer. So I took two cabs, but its ok can’t really blame my friend because no one is perfect, and everyone makes mistakes. Anyhow, we went to this pizza place and drank some beer, and later we went to a nightclub in Sanliton (I forget the name), it was a fun night! Then we went back home, though I didn't come back home till this morning at 12:30pm worried that there was no hot water to shower hhahha, but I made it! (and I didn't get back till 12:30 since I slept at my friends room because I didn't want to disturb my roommate two nights in a row… sorry no sexy news :(… sadly enough hehe..)…
I’ll post some photos of my nights later on, when I get my hand on those photos hehe! I'm happy about my weekend, i miss going out every weekend back home and having a fun time! :)

So its true... my roommate is a 40 years old virgin.. yes she is, i asked (not the virgin part)! and she is 40, that’s TWICE my age, and almost my mothers age.. bahaha.... nonetheless she is super nice so i don’t have a problem. Just now we talked for maybe 1hr and 30 minutes? (yes in Chinese) and i understood most of it (I'm so proud of me!). She speaks Chinese and Korean, and a little bit Tibetan (sp?)... She has a brother and a sister apparently. I asked her where she learned Chinese, and she said that here in china, apparently she studied here in Beijing (for 6 years) and has been here for 10 years -that doesn't give me much hope for improving my Chinese lol, specially since i am not planning to live here later on.. should i concider learning another language? what do you think? French? German? suggestions? haha..
Friday i am supposed to go out with some friends, our goal is to get some alcohol in us, and be a bad influence for some Chinese people... haha.. sick! I’m so excited for this, i haven’t gone out in a while and i haven’t been drunk for even longer! I want to go dancing, but 1. Since is mostly guys I don’t think they will enjoy it that much, and 2. I don’t think my Chinese classmates can dance haha… we are also planning to go for some karaoke (to experience the Chinese culture.. because that’s how we roll in china..)... I’m just a little vexed about how Chinese people behave when drunk? I don’t know…
I‘m a little hyper right now, and I want some chocolate very badly…ahh I want a kitkat! Or maybe go to Williams and have some cake! Haha china makes me crazy like this… you know, my appetite tripled while being in china, ever since I set foot on this country! Why? I don’t know? But I’m hungry all the time!!!!! Duh! At this rate I will have to contact some dietician because every time I become more and more fat! (越来越胖 yue lai yue pang - as we learned in Chinese “more and more fat”)..

Ps: i;m in a dancing mood, so if anybody wants to join me, come to room 612 at 留学生楼 building one.. i wish... where is Henrik, Rachel, Michelle, Adriana, May, Lindsay, Jason, Kathrina, Alina, etc.. when i need them???? i need my hyper buddies!

Last night I was the banquet for A mosquito feast… yes I was… I mean, it means that I have sweet blood = I’m sweet… then on the other hand, it means I want to itch like 8 mosquito bites at the same time and I cant!!.. Its like a camping trip, just at home.. And not pleasant.. If only I could find that bastard mosquito.. Then I will get my blood back! Sorta..Anyhow, I just though I would write smth *ni hao*…. Oh yes, today I had a marketing midterm/quiz it actually wasn’t that hard, that is, only if I would have actually memorized things. I mean it was misleading because the professor said the quiz was going to be 13Multiple Choice and 2/3 short answer last week, so it thought I was going to ace it by the 10 min study time I had, ok fine it was a little longer… but anyway they point is, those 13 multiple choice Qns ended up being 5 matching questions, and the 2/3 short answer questions ended up being 6 short answer questions… wtf? In Canada we would protest for this, but here students just stay quiet?? Hehe they respect professors too much, or maybe we are just lazy to learn and want to get good grades the easy way? .. Jag vet inte… Anyways I should go and have a lovely shower, and let my roommate sleep! Tata!

Ps: haha i just checked my mail and i got an email on my Junk box that says: "Subject: Over 40? Single? Still looking?".. should i forward this to my roommate?? haha jk!

New surroundings

Well I moved yesterday morning. I made my room nice and organized and my side looks nice.. I didn’t meet my roommate until I came back home at night. She is really nice, she is Korean and knows perfect Chinese, and has an interest towards Tibet. She is doing her Phd, and writing her thesis, but she has no classes (I donno how this works?.. I would be home hehe… ) anyhow, she seems very studious (she has like a million books- 90% in chinese), and is basically set with everything needed (she even has a rice maker.. I think that’s what it is.. )… I have already forgotten her name and had to look it up on a note she left.. Her name is Yoona. -who btw is sleeping already.. hmm… is 10?-…. I really wonder how old she is, because I think she is like 30? I don’t know.. I hope I am not living with a 40 yr old virgin haha… jk.. But she is nice, and minds her own business which is what matters. She also talks to me in Chinese even though I know she speaks a little English, which will be very beneficial.
I do miss my old bed which was like twice the size and had a softer mattress .. Well, that is if what I am sleeping on is considered a mattress… haha… I also miss my flat screen television. But those are all commodities, not necessities so I know I can deal without them.

Tomorrow I have a marketing midterm at 8am… I didn’t really study so much.. I don’t know id that was even studying.. I don’t know why.. But I just couldn’t sit still and study.. So I just read over all the slides and key words and that was my studying, which took me for ever because I kept doing other things.. Haha.. But the test shouldn’t be too hard.. Well, I hope…
I still need to get a couple of things from my apt… this is kinda kool, I can say I have two places at once.. Sick.. Well, not so sick when I need to find someone to move asap!! Haaha..

You can find my new place’s photos on this website (I‘ll add some photos of school and the rest of my rez area later on):
http://picasaweb.google.com/paolaisinchina/RenminUniversityAndMyDormitory
And my old apt here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/paolaisinchina/MyOldAparment

Anyways I am going to take a shower [in the communal girls showers room] and yaaaa lol
XoxO

Ps: This friday two of my 'foreign' friends (Lars and Sam) and i will attemp to get some chinese drunk... haha.. wieee.... makes me happy to be a bad influence...

Ps2: i also selected some photos to put around my room and decorate it!. i just need to find a way to not break the paint off the wall when i take them off... hehe... suggestions?

ok, i am going to write before is midnight and so that i also have no other reason to procrastinate...
I had chinese class this morning, but i sortaaaa slept in, i also had organizational behavour, which reminds me of a question the professor asked: "would you want your children to follow their footsteps? (work wise)" I just though i would write what i think... In my opinion, I have a different philosophy of ‘happiness’ than other people-specially chinese- I mean, it would be great if my children follow my footsteps, I would support them. However I think that they should follow their dreams and desires, which is what will make them feel happy in the future, I can't impose their future. If they want to be a kindergarten teacher, or a doctor, I will support them either way, no matter what. Well... unless they are bums, and dont want to do anything, just sit ans sleep and eat.. perhaps then i will have a problem.

you want to know something interesting/funny?? I have two friends from Taiwan ( I think I have talked about them before), they are in my ‘organizational behaviour in Chinese context’ class. A couple of weeks ago we had to separate into groups, and they are in a group together with other people. Each group had to find a group name, their name was smth like CanadaChinaTaiwan group, and you know what the professor said? She said they had to change their name because it was too long… well she said that.. But the real reason is because Chinese are very/overly annoying with the whole Taiwan china issue, and she just wanted the group to have a different name because mainland Chinese believe that Taiwan is part of china. To be honest I think this is so ridiculous, there is really no need for that… haha… is kind of funny actually… sometimes even professors act childish in a way...

This reminds me of when professors talk about the whole difference of western and Chinese culture, for example collectivism vs. individualism, they always tend to make it sound like the western countries are ‘bad’ lol.. I don’t know, that may just be my perception, but it just seems like it in all my classes!! haha

Today someone came to see my apt, it was actually a girl from south africa, so she spoke english. She seemed very interested in my place, i hope she rents it. The thing is, today they were going to see other places, so i hope there wasn't anotherone that she liked better. oh god, help!! ahh... oh well, things happen for a reason??..

ok, i have to go and finish some school work. i have a whole pile.
tataa!

Unforgettable...

Today i went to get my room in residence, and I was roomed with a girl from Mongolia on the third floor. After I got my keys I went to check out this room and roommate -who apparently doesn’t speak English- .. And what a surprise when I got there.. OMG I think I almost instantly died when I met my roommate, she was SOO scary, she looked so mean! all I could think of was “am I going to die before the year ends?” She was twice my size -at least twice, I’m serious.. And I am not thin, so imagine this…- she had dark skin (I really though Mongolian people were either Russian looking or Chineseish looking, these were DEF not my expectations when I encounter someone who looks from a Caribbean country… just, mean looking) and I was so scared, my heart was beating so fast (and I though this only happened in movies).. Anyways I presented myself and I told her I was her new roommate, then she told me that someone else was living where I was supposed to live and that they will move asap… I told her that I was moving tomorrow morning and then I left.. When I closed the door, I didn’t know what to do.. All I knew is that I needed to MOVE FROM THAT ROOM.. So as I was walking downstairs trying to not only think of smth to say, but also how to say it in Chinese -not easy-.. So I went to the reception and I said if they could move me to another room, they asked me why, and I couldn’t really say “oh you roomed me with my biggest nightmare”.. so I just said that this girl spoke perfect English -which she did- and that I wanted someone that didn’t speak any English… Then they told me they didn’t have any other free rooms… but I know that Chinese people always say ‘no’ and it doesn’t necessarily mean ‘no’, is just that they are so lazy do their job.. So I insisted that they help and look, and that I really was not going to improve my Chinese this way.. So then they finally looked and I got another room on the sixth floor -no rooms eh?- so then I went to that room to meet my future roommate but she was not there, I think she is Korean, but I am not sure. The room had a much better atmosphere, and it was cleaner, so I hope she is nice… I think by this time my heart was still beating 100x/sec from my ‘almost’ roommate… God probably had a good laugh about this with all the angels.. Oh my.. So then I though I should tell this other girl on the third floor that I am not really moving to that room after all… so I went back downstairs, and knocked on the door, and she said “who is it?” so I didn’t really want to say my name, and I responded “oh! Is me!”, she replied “who?”, and I was like damn what do I say?.. So I just said “the girl that was just here”, and she said “why don’t you open the door yourself?”, so I explained, and she DIDN’T EVEN OPEN THE DOOR, in other words, we had a conversation with the door closed. I just told her that I got moved to another room, and I didn’t know why -I mean what else do I say?- and that was encounter with Caribbean Hulk… so then I went to class. Anyways, tomorrow morning I should move into residence, and I cross my fingers and hope this girl is nice. I think it may be a little challenging (maybe..) to move into the double room residence because I have been living alone for two months in a much bigger place where I can do as I wish. On the other hand, it will be a great experience, I will save lots of money, and perhaps if she is Korean I may learn some Korean, like a couple of words? Haha..

Ps: i really need to get a hair dryer! I can't stand looking so bad everyday...

its late, but lets procrastinate from bed a little more...

Today i had the two group meetings, the marketing one went well... It stated to go well when I said (in a very serious way) "ok, I’m sorry, but you have to speak in ENGLISH because i don’t know what you are saying and this is very frustrating since it is supposed to be a GROUP assignment".. i didn’t say that verbatim, but it was pretty much something very close to that...

At night I had my ecommerce group meeting and it went better than expected, both guys were really nice and we planned how to do the assignment, which I though it was going to be harder (as I mentioned yesterday).

My friend River -that’s his English name… and yes I know what you are thinking… I though the same- is helping me look for someone to stay at my apt, apparently someone called him today regarding an advertisement he put on Chinese on the web, and this person will come to see my apt tomorrow morning (well today), please cross your fingers and pray this person likes it and decides to move in here… I really want the deposit money back!!! I don’t want to lose it! I need it, I’m a student!

I forgot to mention that last weekend 2 of my friends and I were on a cab to a pub, and my friends were talking to the bad driver (their Chinese is good!).. As I was trying my best to understand this is what happened:
The bad driver thought “is better to have boys as children than girls”
And my friends thought “both are just as good”
Anyways so they had a debate the whole way on the cab. It was kinda funny actually just sitting and hearing this.. Haha… you can see that there are still some ‘traditional’ Beijingers. Haha

I realized something this week. All my friends are at least 5 yrs older than me. The ones on the language side (well the closer ones) are bout 24/25, the ones on my business classes are about 24/25 as well (that is foreigners) and then the Chinese in my business classes who I am friends with are like 27/30/24 lol… I feel young… then sometimes I wonder if im more mature than some of these Chinese ppl.. Hmm… but I don’t mind to feel younger, they are all nice and it doesn’t seem they were that much older, that is thinking wise and fun wise… hehe….
Anyways that’s just a minor update, I should go to bed since I have class in 6/½ hrs..

*yawn*

xoxo

Ps: i will post some photos of my current apt this week sometime.. remind me if i forget!

hellooooo

ok.. so i finally got the internet to work!! wahooo for me!!


SO what have i been up to lately? well, let me sum it up in one word.. School.


Today i had a group meeting for marketing, and lets say, 20%of the time i knew what was happening, and 80% i didnt, me = lalala ahmm??.... in other words, my chinese group members, who apparently know english -which is why they are taking marketing in english!!- were basically speaking in chinese... it was a little -VERY- frustrating, but after a while i got tired and decided i should make this work, so i made them talk in english, and so, then they were talking 80% english and 20% chinese = much better!!... i just wish they could understand how it feels sometimes...


I have another group meeting tomorrow, for an ECommerce group project. I'm not really looking forward for it because the other 3 students in my group dont speak very good english.... duh! God have mercy on me...




Ok there are a few things i forgot to mention on my trip last week:



@Harbin:

-Some Chinese construction Workers:

(notice they are on 'sticks' and there is no safety at all!!)







-We visited an Orthodox Church/Museum, Let us check the souvenir Shop:


(Note: there is alcohol being sold, as well as packages of cigarettes?? i dont know what to say about this...)







On our way to DaJin, before the bus took off...

Are they selling 'real' silver rings? -which no one buys btw-

i just wanted to say that i miss all my friends!! and that i wish you could allbe here with me!!!
i also wanted to say that i may not be able to write as much because i don't have an internet connection! sorry!!

XoXo

right now i seat at a“网吧” which literally translates to "internet bar".... why?? well before i left for my trip last week smth happened to my comp, so there was really no other way to fix it than to insert the 'recovery' disk..and so i did ... and what happened you ask? well i lost all my information, photos, documents, etc.. the comp reset itself completly :( oh well there really was nothing i could do, and now i have no internet because i need to install smth which i have no idea how to do.... and somehow i have to call my 'agent' so he helps me call the intenet company so they come fix it... though now i have a problem :\ "how do i communicate in chinese with him and explain?"... that should be interesting...

anyways other than that, my trip to ManZhouLi was great, i had lots of fun, even if it was freeeeeeezin cold, and the hotel was pretty crappy -not that it shouldnt be when i paid less than 10 dollars for the 2 nights, so less than 40 dollars for four of us-..... my trip home was better than i expected it to be. Although somehow we got home at 10pm instead of 8pm, so it was actually 33 hrs, instead of 31 hrs traveling... i am really proud of myself/friends to have made it on these train seats you can't even move back to 'lie down'... and although i want to say i wont do it again, i wont say it because i may have to...

Today i had marketing class at 8am, i was wondering the whole class.. thinking and clearly procrastinating... I decided i want to move into rez, i just need to find someone to take over my contract (sounds really easy, but is really not), i just need a more convinience environment, specially in the winter... i dont really want to bike 10 min in the winter, which i know will seem like 40.... I don't know how easy it will be, but hopefully with the help of some chinese friends i can somehow do this. Plus, if i go into rez i will be savin loads of money!... hehe

anyways i really have to make good use of time, and do some reasearch for my marketing group assignment.

I hope i dont bore anyone with my writting! xoxo and have a good monday!

满洲里 (ManZhouLi)

ManZhouLi is a city located in inner Mongolia. It is super close to Russia. We arrived yesterday morning at about 9am. It is super cold and it doesnt seem like i was in either china or russia... its kind weird... the architecture itself is very Russian, but the people are chinese. There are Russians everywhere (they dont live here, they only come for shopping, and seem to look down on chinese... i donno at least it seems like it) and chinese. Its funny because when we walk on the street these blonde tall Russians looks at us with wonder, as so do Chinese. My expectations were completly different, i though that we were going to blend in more (i though that maybe chinese here had more white physical features, and were more russian like)that they were not going to look at us all the time -as they always do-...
This city is basically a big shopping mall for Russians. Its funny because when we approach a store, the chinese start to speak to us in Russian, and we have no idea what they are saying.. they say "____ cona"... i just know 'cona' is woman, or lady, but that is because we asked a chinese man what it meant haha... interesting...
Today we went to the Prairies, we also went to a big lake (which i forget what is called), it was very nice.. but VERY cold and VERY windy... we also went to this Manzhouli's man house who the taxi driver knew, and he showed us his house. He had 5 dogs -one was a super small and cute puppy- a cat with kittens -1mnth old!!!-, cows and sheeps. His house walls and bed are made of some sort of ceramic, and he uses his old style stove to somehow generate heat that you can feel on the ceramic walls. It was really cool. it was super small but enough for him apparently. It was quite interesting. I like this city, though not as much as Harbin, and just for a 'one time' visit.
Oh i forgot to tell ya.... the day we arrived we immediately went to the ticket window to buy our ticket back to Beijing, and guess what??? they didnt have any tickets other than the ones on the seating wagons... neither on sat, sun, or monday... so we had to buy those.. It may not sound so bad... not until you realize how far it is from Beijing in train... its about 30hours.... yes 30!
anyways my internet time is comming to an end, i shall say bye bye till next time.. xoxo

哈尔滨和大襟 (Harbin y dajin)

Hello my dear friends i hope you are all doing great!
This past sunday three friends and i went to Harbin, a city in the north east of China. we took a train there which was supposed to last 8 hours and ended up being 15 hours... because the train we were in apparently was a slow one... i dono... mi expectations about the train were totally different... we took the economy class, to sum it up there were A LOT of people, literally everywhere. People who didnt even have seats.. they were in the aisles (apparently you can buy tickets to stand on the aisles, some people actually buy a folding chair and put it on the aisle and sit there the whole way), there were poeple that would go under seats to sleep, anyways you get the point.. people everywhere.... The seats were very compressed and unconfortable. Somehow the train attendant could pass with a little car sellng food. There was also another guy that would go by once in a while sweeping the aisle .. LOL... etc... crazy things in that train ride.. anyhow... we arrived in Harbin at 3am, and we didnt even have a hotel; if it wasnt for this chinese guy who showed us a hotel where we could stay.. which btw was really cheap (50RMB per person per night.. about 10 dollars), and it was a very nice hotel, a lot better than i thought...
On monday we went around the city, and we realised our hotel was in downtown. This city is really nice.. is very fashion like.. there are pasarellas (sp?) everywhere on the street, and models doing the catwalk... there was this clothing store (armani i think it was) where instead of having maniquies, they had real models posing for about 30min.. it was pretty sick...
haha.. now that i remember.. we were taking a photo of us and this guy on the back takes a photo of us with his own camera... i was like.. omg... this ppl really need to get outside this continent.. then again this happens a lot in china since they dont see a lot of foreigners.. bastards...jk.. well not really jk... at night we walked by a river, there were lots of lights, lots of poeple, lots of food stands.. it was quite nice, i really like harbin.
Today tuesday we came to Dajin which is two hours north east of harbin, we came to visit a friend we made in the train haha... well my friends made because their chinese is much better than mine hehe... im always saying "what did they say?" haha im such a loser... This city is also nice, it doesnt really look like i am in china, is a lot cleaner than beijing and resembles more like home. Now we are waiting for out bus back to Harbin (this was an unplanned trip...) where all our things are and all... tomorrow night we will be heading to ManZhouLi (so close to russia!!!) where our new adventure will await for us... and this time we bought the bed train tickets, where we dont have to deal with claustrophobia and sleep through our trip which is about 10 hours...
anyways i will go now since our bus will leave soon.. i hope it all made sense i had to write really fast
Tata!
xoxo

Ps: #1 i hate that when i say im from colombia they have to bring up the drugs thing.. WTF even chinese ppl know this... by far if smth bothers me is when the first thing ppl say about me being colombian is drugs.. ignorant fuckers.. thats not the only thing there is in colombia, plus it is not everywhere.. just in these remote areas that i dont even know... and even then... we sell it to you retards, we make money of dumnbies like you! duh!.. sorry i had to take off my anger....

A quick catch up...

Ok lets catch up with my week....
Friday 19th:
Some international students and i went to celebrate Ted's bday. It was actually quite fun. First we went to a tepinyake restaurant (a type of Japanese restaurant, which you should def try!!) --> the food was exquisite, i was actually really impressed, even if we had to eat weird things... The only fallback was the bill... we had to pay like 170RMB (which is about $25 dollars....!!!!), and i find that super expensive, specially when you are used to school meals which cost about $2.... LOL.... well anyways after the Tepinyake restaurant we went to this sick place for karaoke.. it was sooo nice… I honestly felt we were at the wrong place… I was thinking “why are we in a hotel??”... and the washrooms had NORMAL toilets (which is very hard to find here in china!!!) … apparently what we paid for one private karaoke room was about 1000RMB (approx $200) for the three hours we were there (of course if we would have stayed less it would have been cheaper), so is a good deal when lots of ppl come... afterwards we went to this club, which I forget the name… the entrance which was 50RMB (just under $10CAD) – which I couldn’t afford because I didn’t know the Tepinyake restaurant was going to cost me so much!, so my friend covered for me, which was very nice of him— the club itself inside was pretty modern and nice. And on the way home we stopped at McDonalds (of course, we had to eat after all this alcohol consumption)…. I ended up getting home about 5:30am…

Saturday 20th:
I had planned to go to the zoo with some friends at 9… haha…. After the night before I was not only totally trashed, but I was sooooooo tired… in all that tiredness and still feeling intoxicated I went to the zoo (yes I was late for our meeting time like 15 min, but I really couldn’t help it)… it was not until like 11 I felt sober and fully awoken… apart from the cruelty to some of these animals, it was undeniably the highlight of the weekend/week… I love animals so much!!! And I got to see PANDAS for the first time in my life!!! I also got to take a photo with a REAL chimpanzee!!... it was so kewl!
The zoo is located in downtown Beijing, and the zoo itself was bigger than I expected… That is until I was told it was the biggest one in China, and all I could think of was: WHAT??? This is the smallest zoo I have been too!... some animals have really limited space –even some of the pandas— specially the wolfs and some of the canines. It made me feel really bad…
We paid a fee of 10RMB to see approx 10 penguins… it was by far the biggest rip-off…. Yes I know it is only $1.50 but when you live in China it seems like a lot more money. These penguins were not only in an area which had no ice, but the swimming water they had was a thick whitish blue colour that does not seem swimmable… poor little creatures… so sad.. I mean if we have to pay extra cover to see the penguins, shouldn’t they have a more suitable area for them??? I think so….
Before we were finished seeing all these creatures it started to rain like crazyyyyy… (thank God I remembered to bring my umbrella just in case) and it didn’t stop until I got home... btw I had left my bike at the university (that was the meeting point) so I rode my bike home… yes in the pouring rain, so when I got home I was basically showered…

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday:
Sunday and Monday were basically the same routine… go to Chinese courses and business courses… go home, and do some homework/procrastinate….
Tuesday night on the other hand Sam (USA)/, Lars (Germany), and I went to have dinner at like 9pm at a western pizza place… the pizza was actually pretty good, I was delighted that for once the western food didn’t have a Chinese seasoning twist to it… We also drank some beer and I had a martini (symbolizing the ‘Skyy cinematic moments’—a video we saw in class about the company Skyy), I also learned how to say martini in Chinese 马提你就 –matini jiu- it will be very useful for next time.

Wednesday 24th :
Due to the alcohol consumed the night before and the fact I arrived ‘late’ home, I decided to not go to class… so I just slept the whole morning pretty much and in the afternoon I went shopping for some necessities. I got a winterish jacket, two pairs of sneakers, and a backpack.

Thursday 25th:
I didn’t have classes because the only class I had was cancelled, so I went shopping again with Bianca. I got some other things I needed and some extras lol. I spent about $120 CAD, and I got: two hoodies, a pair of boots (I was supposed to buy winterish boots to keep me warm, and I ended up buying something fancy instead.. haha on my..), a belt, and three very nice scarves. Sick eh? All that for such little money.. it was beyond doubt a win-win situation.

Friday 26th:
Today I wasn’t feeling very good.. I had to stay home and not go to school. It was unquestionably something I ate yesterday!! :(… my poor stomach and my poor self… but its ok, I got to sleep quite a bit… now I keep procrastinating and I really should be doing some catching up/business homework… so I’m going to discipline myself and actually do it… so tata…

XoXo








My favourite animal -jaguar- in
a 2mX2mX2m cage!!! :( ... so cruel!!

Smth i forgot to mention. There were people throwing food inside the bear's cage IN PLASTIC WRAPPING!! hello?? are these ppl retarded???

Hello my homies out there!

I am so sorry to not have written anything in so long!!! but:
#1. my computer broke down, and i just got it recently
#2. i have so much work to do............................ freaking school!!
#3. my 肚子 (stomach) is a little sick right now and i really want to finish my work so i can lay down and relax

But i promise i will right as soon as i can, tonight or tomorrow or smth like that and let you know what is going on with my life :) <3...
XoXo

Yesterday we did the presentation, and it went ok.. i mean we had little time notice so we couldn't really have done any better.. so im proud of our group :)... I feel bad because it was a little boring, and i hate sitting through boring presentations in school... but we couldn’t really help it.... ALSO.. for some strange reason i was really nervous in the presentation... haha... i don't know why??? i'm usually pretty good with presentations, and i don't know why this time i was nervous.. have i changed????

Ok, so i am a little stressed out because i really want to travel on national week (we have a week break in two weeks because is China's national day), but i don't have enough money to go somewhere, since my Canadian money hasn't been transferred yet... I'm just a little stressed because is not everyday you get to travel around Asia... duh!

I'm also thinking of getting a job at an english/spanish school, where i could teach English or Spanish.. i just don't know which ones are liable and which ones would accept me without a working visa ..shh.. hehe...

I’m a little excited about this weekend because I get to go to the Beijing zoo with some friends.. and I LOVE ZOOS and animals [ask my mother if you don’t believe me.. right now she is stuck with my cat, which by the way I adopted from the street (it was a lost inside cat without a tag).. one of my lovely animal stories bahaha] … so stay toned and I’ll add some photos :)..

You know.. last couple of days I have realized China is not really for me (other than vacations), I mean, its ok to be on an exchange, but if I have to deal with this every day of my life/work life I will go insane.. I’m thinking Europe and the Americas are more for me.. But I am happy I realized that now than later… Though I shouldn’t say Asia is not for me, because I have only been in china. Hehe… I really miss my family and friends, no one has the smallest idea how much I miss them… its hard to be in a country where you have no real friends, where everyone you know is more or less acquaintance (at least so far I don’t have any ‘good’ friends).. and to know that back home I take them for granted… now I realize this.. on the other side of the world.. haha.. oh my.. nonetheless I like all the friends I have made so far :)…

Anyways i am going go go now and watch some TV -which btw is all in chinese-

Thank you! Xiexie! Gracias :)

I just realized some people commented on my blogs, thank you!.. i'm happy that some of you actually read these :)

Four days without a cell phone was too much!! i felt lost in the boonies... lol
Anyways i borrowed a cell phone from one of my Chinese friend yesterday… well Taiwanese. Anyhow, now I have a phone!! :D… I got a 100RMB phone card last night to charge my phone, and after i charged it, it said my balance was 35RMB.. i was so baffled. So today Jessie (a Taiwanese friend) called the cell phone company for me, and it turns out that the taxi driver who stole my cell phone, not only stole my cell phone but my minutes, and even over used them!! So what ever he ‘over used’ I ended up paying…. Little bastard.. Then again this may be a good thing because maybe I can find him through the calling history… muahaha

Tomorrow I have a group presentation, I can’t wait to get it over with... and hopefully the whole class wont fall asleep (it’s a pretty boring subject… but the professor picked it for us.. so there is nothing we can do)… meh… “Shit happens”…

I’m counting the days for the Chinese national holiday (we get a week off) I really want to go somewhere, outside of china that is… I don’t know where... but I do know that I don’t want to pay much and I want to travel… Ahh decisions… decisions… decisions… Any recommendations? ? ?...

"free" for the day

So today we had the day off from school.. yay!
I went to buy a new SIM card, and went to the Uni to eat lunch :).. yes i biked! I tried to do some homework but i procrastinated most of the time, i am so inefficient sometimes...
You know, there is something i really don't understand: Chinese students going to classes they are not registered in.... WHY???? in every other country we go to classes because we have to, because we need the credits... why do these people do the opposite!!!!... well one thing is for sure, they really want to learn. In fact yesterday i met this girl who is taking 13 courses in university.. YES 13!!!... Don’t these people have a life? wow... oh my...
Last Monday in my marketing class the professor asked how many people are registered for the class, and half the classes raised their hands, the other half are just 'viewers'... interesting...

Also, in another one of my classes [Chinese culture and management] the professor asked how many support communism.. and guess what?? half of the students in the class raised their hand, i was a little scared for a minute[specially because the other day i saw Nazi bracelets being sold at a store....]... i don't even know man...

Haha, Chinese people REALLY love their ex president Mao Zedong (a Chinese military and political leader who led the communist party of china until 1976) i mean it is ok if they really liked the president because he stopped the Chinese civil war, i mean.. why not?.... but it is a different thing when they idolize him.. i believe i have heard about him in most of my business courses.. they always like to quote him... honestly i think Chinese talk more about him than we talk about God.. its quite scary.... And he died more than 30 years ago, imagine it was 1977.... OH YES… and I forgot to mention, apparently most Chinese homes have a photo of him with flowers and all… like a ‘god’ ….


Anyways, i have to finish my Chinese homework.. i really need to concentrate here... specially when the professor makes us read these things that have a lot of characters we don’t know, i mean.. Honestly, is not like we can look them up in the dictionary... at least i can’t...
but yes i stop my talking....
XoXo
Ps: I miss my lovely family and friends....

Happy Moon Festival!

Happy moon festival! today i had moon cake for the 1st time in my life.. and to be honest, it wasnt very good.... :P.... yucky...
Today i went with two Chinese and two Taiwanese friends for dinner at a Brazilian Buffet. We had BBQ meat and other yummy stuff... it feels like heaven after this Chinese food... no offense to Chinese, but i miss my mommy's food...
It was pretty fun going to this restaurant, its impressive how much i keep learning about the cultural differences every time i go out with Chinese people. It makes me look at the world in a different way... and sometimes makes me think of how fortunate i am in this world, and how i shouldn't complain so much about things...

(this is the restaurant/buffet we went to)

As most people know, i love making new friends... and yes i have made lots of friends here in Beijing. Friends from USA, Ireland, England, Germany, Stonia, Japan, Taiwan, China (of course), Spain, etc... they are all great people i really like them :).. I just.. i donno.. i feel kinda lonely in a way, everyone seems to have their own groups (specially because they are all in rez), and its a little frustrating for example when i want to go or do something (tourist place) and they already have gone and not interested...and i dont really want to go alone to ex./ the forbidden city.... I kinda feel a little left out sometimes, as i said people already have their little group of friends and do things among eachother.. and then there is me.. who is basically alone... its a little frustrating and makes me feel like i have no friends, this is by far the thing i miss the most... The thing that probably hits me the most.. in canada everyone had me in mind for a plan, and here is like... i dono.. different... i think i just need more time, i mean, its only september!!!

Anyways changing the conversation... saturday morning i lost my cellphone. I took a cab from school to my house (i was really tired), i got of the cab and u know what i fogot... so with all this frustration all i can think of doing is going to the store on the 1st floor (i know the ppl that work there, they are very nice) and ask them if i can borrow their phone to call my cellphone, in the hope that the taxi driver picks up.. now.. my chinese is really bad.. and how am i supposed to ask this???.... so after 10 minutes of explaining with my crappy chinese i am able to borrow their phone. We call my phone like 3 times and they dont answer (by this time i'm getting so frustrated and losing hope on this cab driver) the 4th time the operator says that the phone has been turned off... and thats how i realize my phone has been stolen by a cab driver.... bastard!! it was a nice nokia!!! ... So now i have to buy a new cellphone.... and although is cheaper than in Canada i don't have the money right now... I mean, is either i buy a crapy cellphone or i eat these next couple of weeks. So i choose eating, and when i get more money i will get a super sick phone (i like to dream...)......

Hello!

Hello everyone and welcome to my Blog!

I decided to make a blog on my adventure in China.

Sooo here it is!

XoXo

Ps: i will try to write as often as i can!