love is...

A cute bento box filled with animal shaped rice:


Adventures in Bentomaking is one of my new favorite food blogs. I wish I had a kitchen so I could make all kinds of adorable bento lunches, but for the time being I'll just live vicariously through Pikko's posts.

Happy Valentine's Day! It's weird, this is the first year I haven't been hyper aware of the holiday. My parents own a flower shop so for as long as I can remember Valentine's Day played a huge role in my life. As a child it meant baby sitters for a whole week, when we got old enough to watch ourselves it meant TV dinners for a whole week, and when we were old enough to drive it meant working at the flower shop for a whole week.

Walking around in Shanghai today I would have totally forgotten that it was Valentine's Day at all but then I spotted a woman selling roses on the street and it sparked my memory. I figured I should treat myself to something, y'know, a sort of self love version of the holiday, so I booked it over to the DVD store and bought the second season of Gossip Girls and three new movies (The Reader, Changeling, and Madagascar 2). I was surprised that Valentine's Day wasn't nearly as hyped up as other American holidays have been (like Thanksgiving and Christmas), but I didn't mind too much since I have yet to find my Korean Valentine. I wonder how Easter in China is going to pan out.

friday the 13th

Friday the 13th isn't scary or unlucky here in China, but since I'm still very much American at heart I couldn't help but feel an itty bitty flutter of nervousness when Romy scheduled our flight from Hong Kong to Shanghai for the superstitious date. As luck would have it, we were so exhausted (and totally slightly broke) from traveling, so we switched our flight to the 12th and avoided flying on the unluckiest day of the year.

I saw some incredible things during my four weeks of travel through South East Asia. It was the most different and exciting vacation I've ever taken, and while I had an awesome time with Romy and all of the friends we met up with in Cambodia and Thailand, it felt so good to get back to Shanghai, to my little corner of China.

Classes begin on Monday which means I need to start lesson planning some time before then. I'm trying to hold on to my vacation for as long as possible, so I'll probably procrastinate until Sunday night and then whip something up for each of my classes. I also need to go through my GoogleReader (I have over 600 unread entries from all the blogs I subscribe to) and get caught up with everyone out there in BlogWorld. I've missed you all and can't wait to read about what you've all been up to over the last month. Hopefully I'll be able to write a few stories about my travels over the next few days.

Physically I'm back in Shanghai, but mentally I'm still relaxing in a hammock on a beach in southern Thailand.

thailand: surf, sand, and sun burns

I'm alive and very badly sunburned (or is it "sunburnt"?) in Thailand. Tomorrow is my last day and I'm spending it learning how to cook 10 different vegetarian Thai dishes at a 5-hour long cooking class. I can't wait!

Romy and I will be stupidly spending the night in the airport which we both realize we will regret, but our flight leaves so early in the morning we couldn't bring ourselves to justify spending any more baht (Thai's currency) on a hostel for only a few hours of sleep. We'll arrive in Hong Kong around noon and we'll be there for three or four days, we haven't decided yet. My only real Hong Kong traveling goal is to go to Hong Kong Disney.

I'll be home (weird, Shanghai is now my home) on February 14th for sure, also known as Valentine's Day for all you Americans out there that celebrate that very American holiday which is not such a big deal here in Asia. Funny, I'm kind of looking forward to going back to China. Is it possible I'm starting to actually feel that I belong in the PRC?

cambodia: kingdom of trash

All over Cambodia there are vendors selling stacks of postcards that all say "Kingdom of Cambodia" over a scenic photograph of a temple or some cows grazing in a lush green field. In reality, though, Cambodia is a kingdom built on trash. Singapore has its signature Merlion statue, Cambodia has its signature piles of garbage everywhere.

My trip to Cambodia was eye opening to say the least. I've seen poverty in the banlieues of Paris or along the stretch of Baja highway that runs from Cabo San Lucas to California, but never before have I seen a country covered in poverty, absolutely saturated to its core.
Yet, there were plenty of Land Rovers, Range Rovers, and Lexus SUVs riding along the dirt roads, weaving to avoid children begging for food and the stray dogs that roam the streets. Angelina Jolie donated a lot of money to Cambodia when she adopted her son a few years ago, but seeing the country really made me wonder where her money went to. Perhaps to the people driving the luxury vehicles?

I arrived in Phnom Penh and stayed there for a day before hopping on a bus and making a 5-hour trip to Siem Reap, where the world famous Angkor Wat is located. The bus driver had his hand on the horn for at least 4 1/2 out of those 5 hours, and he had to continually slam on his breaks to avoid hitting the cows that kept crossing the road.

The roads were bumpy and few of them were even paved. After we finally arrived in Siem Reap my head felt like I had been riding a boat in the middle of an oceanic thunderstorm instead of sitting in an air-conditioned charter bus.

It was all worth it after seeing the temple grounds in Angkor, though:


It was all worth it. The stench of the garbage on every street corner, the dirt, dust, and gasoline fumes being filtered through my nose constantly, the heartwrenching scenes of orphaned children forced to live on the filthy streets. I could deal with all of that. That is, until, I got food posioning. Twice.

Funny thing is, I didn't even eat that much, and definitely nothing out of the ordinary (my friend ate a grasshopper and a tarantula from a street vendor, yet her stomach was unphased). I packed a bunch of Luna bars and trail mix in order to travel on the cheap, and when we did go out I always ordered simple non-spicy dishes like white rice or noodles in vegetable broth.

Except...when I ordered fresh spring rolls. I thought I was making the healthy decision, choosing "fresh" over "fried", but in a country notorious for poor sanitation practices, it's probably better to never order anything that has not been cooked thoroughly.

If only I had known that sooner.

The food posioning was mild, though, so I was mostly just tired and grumpy but not completely bedridden, which is a good thing when you're traveling. Romy got a little sick, too. You'd think the two vegetarians would be the ones who would be the "safest" when it comes to food since meat can be undercooked or tainted with e. coli or salmonella. But no, it was the veg heads who got sick. Serves us right for inconviencing everyone whenever we try to pick a restaurant.

wtf?! wednesday: singapore edition

I wanted to start this before I left on my trip, but as usual I waited until the last minute to complete everything on my pre-vacation "to do" list so I didn't get the chance to make any posts, but insomnia and free hostel internet can be a wonderful so I bring you the newest StrawberrySays gimmick: wtf?! wednesday.

wtf?! wednesday will be a new weekly addition here on my blog. If the name isn't clear enough for you, I'll explain a bit. I've been trying, eating, seeing, hearing, and experiencing all sorts of crazy stuff during my time in China and my travels around Asia. I thought to myself, hey, why not capitalize on this craziness and do a series of "wtf?!" blog posts? So every week I will be bringing you things from my life in Asia that made me say, think, mumble, or scream "WHAT THE EFF???"

I figured it would be fitting to bring you something Singaporean since that's where I am currently located. And so, here is the Merlion, the national symbol of Singapore in all its glory:

Yup. That's pretty much the coolest thing in Singapore. A statue with the head of a lion and the body of fish.

It was as underwhelming in person as it is in the photograph. In my opinion, if you're going to use a made-up creature as your national symbol, you might as well make it an awesome made-up creature, not a lame wanna-be Disney character. Singapore, wtf?! were you thinking.

vacation time

I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off all morning. Because of yesterday's events I got pretty much none of my pre-vacation errands done, so I had to fit them all in this morning. I'm leaving in 15 minutes for the airport and still need to finish packing, but I didn't want to leave without saying a quick goodbye to everyone in the blog world!

I'll be gone until February 13th and while I'm not going to be actively avoiding internet activity, I don't know how available it's going to be/how much time I'll have to actually get online. My rough itinerary is: January 16-21 Singapore, January 21-26 Cambodia, January 26-30 MAYBE Laos (this isn't for sure yet), January 30-February 10 Thailand, February 10-13 Hong Kong.

Have a Happy Chinese New Year everyone!!

life lessons usually suck

You know how people always say "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger"? Well, I think that's total bullshit, excuse my French. Sure, maybe it hardens you and makes you less susceptible to pain and suffering, like a callous that forms around your heart, but I don't think it makes you stronger. Wiser, perhaps, but not stronger, it just makes you realize what a cruel world we live in and how short life really is.

One of my students is in critical condition in the ICU at a hospital in Pudong. Her name is Saemi and she's in my 12th grade essay writing class. We talked a lot outside of class and she helped me plan my trip to South Korea with Romy. Her best friend Big Amy (she's very tall and there are two "Amy"s in the 12th grade, hence the appellation) is also in my essay writing class. The three of us have spent a lot of time together outside of school and they see me as more of a friend than a teacher (though they speak to me with respect and always refer to me as "Miss Strawberry"). Last week Saemi and Big Amy helped me pick out a cake for their home room teacher's birthday. On Tuesday the pair walked by my classroom and blew me kisses and made hearts with their hands. We've all gotten very close and I consider these girls my Chinese meimeis (little sisters).

Saemi and Big Amy went out last night to celebrate finals being over. I'm sure drinking was involved, but Saemi is a free spirit anyway and at some point in the evening she thought it would be a good idea to climb on the railing of the balcony of a three story club. Somehow she lost her footing, Big Amy tried to grab her but Saemi slipped through her hands and plummeted to the sidewalk below. Her skull was immediately crushed and she has been unconscious ever since. The club refused to call an ambulance and Big Amy was forced to take Saemi to the hospital in a taxi.

As soon as I found out the situation this morning I called Big Amy but her phone was off. She spent the evening alternating between the hospital and the police station. When she arrived back on campus I took care of her a bit: made her eat some granola bars and stayed with her while she took a short nap (she didn't want to be alone).

At around 3:00 we went to the police station where they wanted to question her some more. She was very upset and the police wouldn't let her leave, luckily they were distracted by another officer who came in with supplies so we left and took a taxi to the hospital so we could see Saemi before visiting hours ended at 4:00.

The hallway was filled with students and some administrators from our school. Visitors were allowed in one at a time and they had to put on a gown and cover their shoes with little bootie things. Tears were streaming down each person's face as they rounded the corner from the ICU to the waiting room. I knew things weren't good; the doctor had told us Saemi has a 1% chance of survival. I had to see her, though, so I suited up and went into the ICU.

Saemi is in a coma still and her skin wasn't the usual glowing pink it is in class due to the massive loss of blood she has endured both externally and internally. I held her hand for a minute and talked to her, telling her she needed to promise to get better since she told me she would draw me a picture for my room in California. I also told her how she did in class, since she was very worried about not knowing the answers on the final she took for essay writing yesterday morning.

When I left I told her "See you later, Saemi" and I really hope I do.

arrrr arrrr arrrr!

My totem animal is a walrus. I took an East Asian religions course for about 1 and 1/2 weeks before I dropped it, but in that time we learned about Shamanistic power animals and how to figure out what yours is (it involves some mediation and a lot of just making crap up).

For various reasons, I was able to determine that my power animal is a walrus. I even have a stuffed animal walrus (I got it as a gift last Christmas) named Wall*E who I sleep with every night. I also really enjoy screaming "arrr arrr arrr!" and clapping my hands together like fins.

So imagine my surprise and pure unadultered happiness when I stumbled upon these glorious creations from Blempgorf:


I've been sticking to my No-Dessert-09 rule, but if these cute little guys were in front of me I might just cave. Well, probably not, but I'd really really want to cave and then I would take a bunch of pictures with the cupcakes in all kinds of cute poses.

Check out Blempgorf's blog where she describes how to make these majestic culinary creatures!

interview: take five

Today is my last interview question from Andy! Thanks again for interviewing me, you chose some great questions!

The Rules

1. If you want to participate, leave me a comment saying, "Interview
me." (And your e-mail address, please.)
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone
else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them
five questions.


The Questions:

5. Looking at the list of the foods you've actually tried, I was surprised you've eaten pretty much everything! Where have you eaten so many... exotic things?

Andy is referring THE food list that has been making its rounds in the blog world, 100 things that apparently all omnivores should try at least once.

Well, considering one of my personal heroes (and biggest celebrity crush) is Anthony Bourdain, I have this "try anything once" attitude regarding food. Okay, not quite anything, but even good ol' Tony can't stomach all the stuff they throw at him on his show, so I can't be expected to either since I don't even get paid for my culinary adventures.

I tried a lot of the more exotic things on the list during my 9 month stint in Europe in 2006. I was mostly in Pau (south western France) and Paris, but I traveled extensively through Italy, Ireland, London, Greece, Spain, Poland, and Germany and tried a lot of things during my trip. I didn't have any food restrictions back then, so it was easier to cross things like "head cheese" off the list. To be truthful, I ordered that on accident and didn't find out what the heck I was eating until I was already half-way finished with it. I lost my appetite once my meal's identity was revealed, though.

Other exotic things I've eaten include: crocodile (in my hometown in California, it was very mild tasting), foie gras (I lived in France, this is a requirement. Plus, I went to college in the same town as the biggest foie gras company West of the Mississippi), eel (tried it my first week in China, it was slimy and extremely difficult to pick up using chopsticks but the texture was nice and the sauce was yummy), and hare and horse, both of which were considered delicacies in Pau and were featured on most restaurant menus. Oh, and frogs legs.

Now, the only things I won't try for the time being are meat-related products. I'm sort of interested in drinking snake blood in Thailand, though. I hear people do that there.

interview: take four

The Rules

1. If you want to participate, leave me a comment saying, "Interview
me." (And your e-mail address, please.)
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone
else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them
five questions.

The Questions:

4. We know you have a twin sister, how was it to grow up with her? Did you fight all the time or were you always great friends?

We fought. ALL. THE. TIME. You know how they say whatever hell you put your parents through you'll be put through 10 times worse when you have kids? Ya, the possibility of that being true has frightened me enough to never want children. Well, maybe not never, but definitely not until I can afford a full time nanny to take care of the brats.

The most memorable twin battle I can remember happened in high school, our junior year I think. Twin seems to have no recollection of this happening, isn't selective memory a wonderful thing?

I came home from school at around 2 or 3 in the afternoon and both of my parents were home, sitting on the couch. Automatically I knew something was up because both of my parents own businesses and worked during the day so both of them being at the house in the middle of the day was unusual.

The details of what exactly went down are fuzzy, but I walk in the door, shout a "Sup?" to my parents, and they tell me they need to talk to me. It was one of those situations where you know you're about to get in trouble but you don't really know what for, so your mind starts racing through all the potential things it could be. Did they find out I had been forging their signatures on notes I used to get me out of school? Oh shit, did I cheat on an exam recently? Wait, did I spend too much on my cell phone bill this month? My mind was racing with ideas of what I could have done that would require both of my parents to spend the afternoon away from work to talk to me about.

"We heard you were selling drugs."

Um, what? Me? Selling drugs? I started laughing because I thought it was a joke, except my parents didn't so much as crack a smile.

"This is very serious."

After I was composed enough to talk and managed to pick myself up off the floor where I had been rolling with laughter, I let my parents explain why they would ever think that I was a drug dealer. Me. Miss straight A golf playing pomeranian loving whitest white girl in the world. Twin had told them that she heard (from her best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend who heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with a girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night) that I was selling drugs. The whole idea was so ridiculous to me, I didn't even know any drug dealers, much less how a person would go about becoming a drug dealer.

I'm not sure how long the conversation went on, but from my memory it wasn't very long because I kept laughing so hard that it was difficult to even talk. Eventually, my parents realized that I was innocent of any crimes. Except for maybe that whole forging of signatures thing, but they never found out about that.

I called my mom today to verify that this did indeed happen and wasn't just a crazy dream I had in high school like Twin would want me to believe. She remembered it, alright, but then started complaining about stuff that she remembers me doing in high school that I have insisted never happened.

"Mom, this isn't about me being wrong, this is about Twin being wrong. Let's not lose focus of that."

"i love you, dad"

"I love you, dad" has to be my favorite quote from Old School. Only a guy like Will Ferrell could make that sentence hilarious. Plus, I think it's hilarious in general to tell people you love and/or miss them. In college I was the president of a film club (there were 3 members, including me, and we didn't want/allow anyone else to join), and we always used to tell each other "I miss you" because we thought it was funny.

...I guess you had to be there.

Anyway, my dad is pretty legit. In his youth he moved to Hawaii and drove a pedicab for a living. He and his brothers started a "fire dance" tradition in my family that has been carried on at all big events, the men wear hand-made (usually poorly hand-made) masks, no shirts, and dance around with large planks of wood that are on fire at both ends. Don't worry, there's always a hose nearby. He dressed up like a woman one April Fool's Day (it was part of a bigger prank he was playing on his employees) and picked me up from school when I was in 7th grade. Actually, that was the first time I ever told my father "I hate you", but looking back on it makes me laugh. When he turned 50 he shaved his head and got his ear pierced to be funny. He showed up at his 40 year high school reunion in an A&W bear costume with two Elvis impersonators as sidekicks. This year he decided to get his first tattoo ever in Cabo San Lucas, a heart with my mom's name.

Okay, that last one he didn't mean to be funny, but it was definitely surprising. When he showed it to me before I left for China I thought I was going to vomit, which I realize is a strange reaction, but my dad? With a tattoo? What kind of alternate world was I living in that that could even be a possible reality? Mostly I was worried that he didn't like it, because he kept saying how he wished it was bigger.

Well, yesterday he decided to make it bigger by adding to the heart and putting the names of me and my sisters on it. Initially he wanted some lame barbed wire thing (a little too Pam Anderson for my liking), but after a few drawings by his tattoo artist and some coaxing from my anchor-loving twin, he decided to go for a whole nautical theme. I think it's suiting, considering he got the first one done right by the beach. Plus, it's very sailor of him, which I find amusing.

It's pretty damn awesome to have my name tattooed on someone's body. I worked some of my non-existent photoshop skills to blur my name out since I have a blogosphere identity to uphold, duh. I went ahead and blurred Twin's name out too, since it's practically the same as mine. Not that my identity is really even a secret, but my whole Strawberry alter-ego thing is one of the few consistent pleasures I have in my life, so I'm willing to spend 45 seconds to edit my name out of a picture in order to keep the whole thing going.

the stache is back!

HELL MOTHER-EFFING YES!

A couple of days ago The New York Times published this article about mustaches "inching their way back onto the lip". The article is short and a fun read (so go read it!), my favorite part:

“You got to wear it with this attitude,” Mr. Della Valle said. “Your mustache is always there, saying, ‘Yeah, I have a mustache, so bring it on.’ If you have a sense of humility connected to your mustache, it doesn’t look as good as it should.”

But for all its reclaimed machismo, he added, “The bottom line is this: The best response to the question, ‘Why the mustache?’ is, because it’s fun.”

In other words, why should you grow a mustache? Because it’s not there.

Take note, fellas. Start the year off right and begin working on your stache now, that way you can enjoy it in its full glory all spring and summer long.

But Strawberry, why in the world do you love mustaches so much? you may ask. I just have an appreciation for finely sculpted facial hair, is all. I think it all goes back to my childhood when my dad had a mustache, which is weird to even think about since he hasn't had facial hair of any kind since I was about 5 or 6. I don't really even remember him having a mustache so much as I've seen photographs of him donning a mustache. Either way, it was awesome. Mustaches are always awesome.

Something inside me says 2009 will be the year of the stache. At least I friggin' hope it is.

VIVE LA MUSTACHE!

interview: take three

The Rules

1. If you want to participate, leave me a comment saying, "Interview
me." (And your e-mail address, please.)
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone
else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them
five questions.


The Questions:

3. If you were given the opportunity, would you stay to live in China?

Define "opportunity".

There will always be teaching positions available in China, so me staying is definitely an option, though not a very appealing one for me at this point. Being in China makes sense for me right now: I'm working on my masters degree, I'm getting international experience, I don't have bills to pay or responsibilities to worry about back at home. However, in six months, I'll be done with my masters coursework and soon after that I'll need to start paying back my student loans. Living on an English teacher salary in China isn't a problem if your only expenses are eating and getting a ridiculous amount of clothes made at the fabric market, but if you have bills piling up in the United States, 900 bucks a month just won't cut it.

I was recently offered a teaching assistant position that would begin in Irvine some time in July, so I will for sure be home for that if all goes according to plan. Then I have a cousin who is having her second baby some time in August and another cousin who is getting married in November, two events I'd like to be in America to see. Okay, maybe I don't want to actually SEE the birthing of the child, but maybe after a day or two I'd go check the little dude/lady out.

Ultimately, unless I get a marriage proposal from a very rich and sexy Chinese man, no "opportunity" in China would really seem worth staying longer in Shanghai at this point in my life. But check back with me in six months, I might feel differently then.

"you are being a total 'C-word' right now"

I must have been throwing around a few too many "C-words" recently because my site is once again blocked for me. How annoying is that? To have your own blog be inaccessible.

I guess I'm more political than I thought I was.

Other than longing stares at my golden locks, I'm pretty much ignored by most Chinese people. Ignored is the wrong word I guess, perhaps "misunderstood" is better, or just plain not understood. English isn't as widespread as I would have imagined it would be in such an international city as Shanghai, but it's actually convenient for me because I can say whatever I want, whenever I want, to whoever I want, with none of the social repercussions I would get if they actually understood what I was saying. Usually my freedom of speech is limited to insults ("Hurry up and ring up my groceries, bitch" or "Excuse me, twatface"), but sometimes I throw in a few sexual advances (this is mostly reserved for visiting Korean men). Maybe they do understand me and just don't care, I guess I'll never really know for sure since I can't exactly ask them.

Amazingly, though, if I happen to say something that begins with a C and ends in "ommunism" or "ultural revolution", everyone knows what I'm talking about and will turn and stare, waiting to see what words will come out of my mouth next. This is usually when I shut up and try to look as innocent and sweet as possible. I'm not looking to leave China in a body bag, thankyouverymuch.

interview: take two

The Rules

1. If you want to participate, leave me a comment saying, "Interview
me." (And your e-mail address, please.)
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone
else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them
five questions.


The Questions:

2. What are the things you enjoyed back in California that you haven't been able to find in China?

Woah. This could potentially be a huge list. It's strange considering that everything in the United States is MADE in China, yet I can't find half of that stuff here. Or if I can find it, it's super expensive. Perhaps I've just been looking in the wrong places, or maybe living in Shanghai has something to do with it, but Walmart and Target have cheaper stuff (clothes, houseware, etc) than what I've seen in China.

I miss a lot of edible things that I took for granted in California. The fruits and vegetables here are all pretty sad looking, and berries are nearly impossible to find. They have strawberries at the market right now, but a small container of them is 35RMB, which is an outrageous price. I miss Trader Joe's a lot. I miss cheap and semi-healthy frozen foods. I miss salad so much. Salad here is a luxury, it's cheaper to buy an entree at a restaurant than it is to buy a side salad.

I think if a person looks hard enough, they could find anything in China, but it all comes at a price. Sure, maybe I could find pop-tarts (City Shop, an import grocery store, carries all kinds of American goods), but they will cost me more than it costs to get a massage, and at that point I'd rather just have a massage and call it a day sans strawberry filled toaster treat goodness.

Perhaps the thing I enjoyed most in California that I haven't been able to find in China at all is a pair of shoes that fit. There was a good week back in November where I was on a mission to find some cute winter boots, and every shopkeeper I told my size to laughed in my face. Literally laughed. And then pointed. It was all pretty embarrassing, but in a country where a size 7 1/2 is considered big, a size 9 1/2 is gigantic. I eventually gave up hope. Every once in a while I'll ask out of curiosity if a shoe store has my size and have yet to receive a yes from anyone.

interview: take one

I've seen this interview on a few blogs I lurk on and never asked to be interviewed (okay I did once but then didn't answer the questions, sorry!), but when Andy at Life Isn't So Terrible After All posted it, I just had to jump on board. She asked me some good questions, so in order to do them justice I'm going to be posting the answer to one question per day for the next five days. That way, it's more likely that you'll actually read it.

The Rules

1. If you want to participate, leave me a comment saying, "Interview
me." (And your e-mail address, please.)
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone
else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them
five questions.


The Questions:

1. Do you think you've grown (figuratively) during your time in China? If so, in what aspect is it more evident?

China has FOR SURE been the biggest growing experience in my life to date.

I've been abroad before and consider myself a very independent person, but my notions of "abroad" and "independence" were completely thrown out the window when I landed in Shanghai back in August. I love Europe, I feel at home in Europe, and maybe that's why I don't feel like I grew as much there. Being in Europe is sort of like being in America, except everyone dresses better and eats less. That's pretty much the only significant difference I encountered during my many European travels. Sure, you'll run into a native once in a while that doesn't know English, but that's rare. At least it was for me during my 9 month stint in France and subsequent summer European road trips. Besides, no matter what country you're visiting in the EU, you can sort of guess what signs, menus, and labels say because English has borrowed so many words from other countries. In China? Not a chance. You have to know a ridiculous amount of characters (something like 2,000 or 3,000) just to read a newspaper here, so being able to "guess" what you're ordering isn't going to happen. Unless, of course, there's a picture.

Strangely enough, the most significant lesson I've learned in this chaotic, topsy turvy, bordering on anarchism country is to be more patient. I have to credit a lot of that to Romy, who introduced me to Eckart Tolle's concept of living in the present moment, but I've also made a lot of life changes in order to accept life for how it is and not expect anything, good or bad. Living in such a fast-paced and cut throat society like China, a person needs to made a conscious decision to stay grounded. It's easy to get caught up in it all and let it either drive you mad or change you into someone you don't want to be.

Right now, I'm happy with me. I don't let negativity into my life and have stopped defending myself when/if I am criticized ("Is that so?" said the Zen master). I don't let anyone pressure me into doing anything I don't want to do and I don't feel bad saying "No" to invitations or requests. I stopped eating all meat but fish and have focused on eating lots of fresh vegetables and fruit and plenty of fiber and whole grains. I eliminated dessert (for the third time) from my diet and have made an effort to keep my alcohol consumption to a minimum. I stretch every day and meditate several times a day. I try to go to the gym as often as possible.

Maybe I would have made this changes if I had stayed in America, but maybe not. It's easy to get into a routine and just drift from day to day without really having any kind of self awareness. In China, drifting is pretty hard. Everything is changing too rapidly for a routine to ever really set in. There's positives and negatives to that, but at least it keeps life interesting.

nobody likes you when you're 23

I'm pretty sure I've had a blog post that was titled "nobody likes you when you're 23" over summer of last year when I met Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker, but whatever, it's appropriate now, too.

Friday was my 24th birthday. I love my birthday. Love it. It's my favorite holiday of the year that isn't actually a holiday (but should be). After 21, birthdays for some people stop being fun. They feel like they don't have anything cool to celebrate anymore. I hope I never reach that point. Birthdays are always cool to celebrate!

24 is definitely another year older, another year closer to the big three-oh, but you know what? I'm okay with that. I actually really like it. I'm older, things are happening in my life, I'm making a difference in people's lives. On Friday each time someone asked me how old I was (after I drunkenly shouted "It's my birthday!" in their faces), I screamed "24!" because it rules being 24.

You know what else rules? My birthday headware:
This is pretty much how every conversation I had with a guy went that night:
Dude at bar: What is that?
Strawberry: What is what?
Dude at bar: That thing on your head.
Strawberry: It's a flower.
Dude at bar: Ya, but is it a hat or headband or what?
Strawberry: TODAY'S MY BIRTHDAY!!! WOOO!

I didn't have any altercations with cab drivers, thank gawd, but I did muster up the courage to take a solo cab ride home. Even though I know my out and out brawl with a cabbie was a complete fluke, I've been hesitant to take cabs anywhere by myself, especially when I'm three sheets to the wind. At around 5AM, after 5 jello shots, 6 martinis, and I don't even know how much plum wine, I couldn't wait another hour for the subway to open, I had to get home.

I hailed a cab and tried to relax even though like every other cab driver in Shanghai, this dude was flirting with disaster at pretty much every intersection. But I survived. The driver was actually really nice, I wish I knew Chinese, or at least enough to have told him it was my birthday. I could tell he wanted to talk, but since he knew no English and I know no Mandarin, he kept smiling and asking "Ding Xiang Lu?" (the street where I live) to which I kept responding "Dui" ("correct"). I'm not much of a talker that early in the morning, anyway.

things people say

Romy on why she wasn't impressed with the new James Bond movie: "Maybe I just can't get into a guy who drinks martinis."

the case of the missing wallet: part 2

I went into the foreign teachers office today to ask about my wallet again, on the off chance that the gate guards happened to find it since I last had it right near their guard booth/hang out. Before I could even open my mouth to ask, I saw it sitting on my desk in all it's black and pink Roxy logo glory.

All the money was missing out of it, but that's to be expected I guess, lame as it is. In their hurry to nab all my cash the thief rifled through the pockets of the wallet so all my credit cards and IDs were in the money area. A bunch of business cards were missing, I'm assuming they fell out while the thief was going through my stuff. A few wallet-sized pictures are missing (prom circa 2003, senior portrait with Twin), and I'm hoping it's because they fell out and not because some creeper is slowly creating a shrine to me. Though, on second thought, that might be pretty sweet.

Despite the missing stuff, I'm super happy to have my wallet back, mostly because I had my social security card in it. Yeah, I left that detail out yesterday, because, dude, how stupid was that of me to have my social security card in my wallet? Pretty damn stupid. So I'm very glad to have it back, and I'm hoping the thief didn't even see it since it doesn't look like it was unfolded or tampered with.

If I had to lose my wallet in China, I'm glad it happened this week and not next week. At least now I have time to get my new credit cards and ATM card shipped to me because they take about a week I think...and I'm going on a month vacation to South East Asia on the 16th! WOOHOO! So far on the very rough itinerary are: Singapore, Cambodia, Malaysia, Laos, Thailand, and Hong Kong.

Trust me, this vacation is very much deserved. I have a whole new appreciation for every teacher I've ever had after teaching a semester of high school kids.

what a loser

Generally I'm a very organized person. Occasionally my closet can get a bit messy with my clothes sitting in a pile on the bottom (sometimes I'm too lazy to hang them up), but for the most part I'm tidy and neat, with everything thing in its place and a place for everything.

I even have a little coat hanger thing stuck to my wall for me to hang up my keys as soon as I get into my room. I really like maintaining order in my life and have a strict daily routine.

Which is why I'm so shocked I lost my wallet. I remember exactly the last time I had it out. I was paying for the cab ride back to school and the driver acted like he wasn't going to take my subway card (you can pay for cabs with the same card as you use on the subway), so I got out my wallet to pay him in cash but then he grabbed the card from me and just used that as payment.

That's where my memory gets fuzzy.

Obviously I didn't put the wallet back in my purse, but what did I do with it? Did I set it on the seat of the cab? Did I drop it on the street as I left? Did I carry it with me to the dorms where it fell along the way?

I guess none of those questions really matter since the thing is gone. I've never lost a wallet before and it definitely SUCKS. Surprisingly, I didn't cry. I've turned into such a hard ass here in China. I just called my credit card companies and reported the cards lost and they're sending me new ones. I had maybe 120RMB in there, so that's not much of a loss. I'm going to miss my CA driver's license, mostly because the picture on it is so old and funny (I was 15 1/2 and had a pixie hair cut).

Friday was my birthday and I stayed out until 5 in the morning, came home slept for two hours and then went shopping all day with Romy and some other friends. I was pretty exhausted and also drunk/hungover the entire day, so if I was going to lose my wallet some time, it makes sense that it would have been last night when I was a total zombie.

Well, now I have a legitimate excuse to buy a cute new fake designer wallet. I guess that's the silver lining to all of this.