Song and her family were in China for a visit and we were able to meet up one weekend to hangout. Rather than stay in Shanghai, we all made the train trip out to Hangzhou. We left Shanghai on Saturday morning and came back early Sunday afternoon. A quick trip out to West Lake.
First off, it was so hot Saturday. Like majorly hot. Like unbelievable-my face is melting off-hot. We arrived at about 9am and we were already sweating like crazy. And the plan was to visit West Lake and be outdoors all day long. After dropping off our luggage at the hotel we made our way to Lingyin Temple. There we visited one of the large temples as well as make a climb up to Fei Lai Feng 飞来峰. Because it was just a stone stairs path up the side of a hill, we would ask people how much further up was the location. People just told us that “it is a few more minutes up” and thus we kept climbing. Little did we know that a lot of “few more minutes” add up to a longer than anticipated hike up. Add hot and humidity to this and you can imagine how wet we were by the time we got to the top.
Our reward? There was a rock with the words “Fei Lai Feng” (in Chinese) painted on it. And a guy selling cold drinks. There wasn’t even an impressive view since trees blocked any view that might have been achieved. So we started the climb back down the hill. Every once in awhile I would stumble and slip a little. I apparently have lost all sense of balance since arriving in China.
At the base we found a cave that felt like it had A/C blasting through it, but it was all natural. We also saw some of the buddhas carved into the side of the hill. Then the freak storm arrived and we all ran for cover. But it cooled down the rest of the day so that we were able to continue our trip without dying of heat. Relief!
We took a boat ride into the middle of the lake to view some of the little islands and walk around. More walking ensued and then we decided that it was the right time to grab dinner. We ate a place and ordered all the Hangzhou “delicacies”. SO GOOD!! Everything was delicious! Yum! After dinner we took a stroll down a pedestrian street to take a look at more little items to buy. Exhausted, we headed back to our hotel to shower and fall asleep quickly.
On Sunday, we made another trip out to West Lake to walk around another section. We stopped for a rest at the water show area and ate ice cream as we took in the show. Walked some more until it was about time to head back to the train station. Grabbed a quick lunch, got on the train and all fell asleep until we arrived in Shanghai. Home sweet home.
We rested in the afternoon, grabbed an early dinner and then Song and I went to get a Chinese haircut. Afterwards she came to spend the night at my apartment (which was super close to their hotel. They were staying right next to the Xujiahui Cathedral which is like a short 15 minutes walk from my apartment). We just spend the rest of the night chatting and reminiscing. She wanted to try to play AOE but I knew that the attempt would be an epic_fail. It was so good to see Song again. The last time was when we were all busy moving out of Apt 304 after UCLA graduation. It was all just a quick goodbye and then that was it. To be able to hang out with her again felt like only a short vacation had passed between the time. Of course things had changed but some of the same behaviors, habits and other little things that come from knowing and living with each other for 4 years returned as if second nature. When you see someone everyday of your life for years you really get used to and learn a lot about that person. You all know what I mean.
Song, thanks for making time out of your trip to visit me! It was definitely great to see you again. Our friendship has made it from the hills of Westwood to the hills of China.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Chinese Glasses
Last weekend, Michelle (W.) and I ventured out to find the Eyeglass Wholesale Market of Shanghai. Our sources from Chinese people and the Internet told us that it would be located “at the Shanghai Railway Station.” That’s it. We were told to take the metro to the railway station (not the south station!) and look for it.
We got out, asked some people and eventually found it. Apparently they had relocated to a new location. Indoors and with air conditioning. It was legit.
So we first did a walk through and had people ask us whether we wanted to buy eyeglasses and to please take a look at their inventory. Eventually, I just walked into a random store and started looking through their glasses. The saleslady pulled out various pairs saying to me, “When I saw you, I already had an idea of what style you would like.”
After picking out a pair that I liked enough to buy, I had my eyes rechecked in a small back room. It was all the usual machines you would see at any other eyeglass place. Put your chin and forehead against the bracket and look at the tree/house in the distance. They rip out a printout and then you put on sample prescriptions and look at an eye chart to confirm your prescription. Best part? It’s basically a free (or included) eye check up. Back home, you pay extra for that!
After the prescription is good, you pick out a pair of glasses, bargain the price down they send the order to be made. The glasses are made rather quickly. I didn’t even know they had gone to make the lenses when the guy comes back and says “take a look to confirm that we used the high-index lenses.” I confirmed. They set another guy to shape the lenses to fit the selected frames. You test them out when they are done, you pay and you are ready to leave.
The whole process of selecting eyewear, eye check up, making the glasses and testing them out took about 2.5 hours. It probably would have been faster if I wasn’t so picky about picking out a pair either. The process is so fast! Back home it would take about a week for them to send the order to a factory or something to make it. In China, there is no need for that since everything is ready already.
I have been wearing my new glasses for a few days now and have had no problems with them. New glasses within a few hours for 180RMB (US $26.33) for frames, lenses and eye checkup. I think that I can try to bargain that price down a little more if I go back for another pair!
We got out, asked some people and eventually found it. Apparently they had relocated to a new location. Indoors and with air conditioning. It was legit.
So we first did a walk through and had people ask us whether we wanted to buy eyeglasses and to please take a look at their inventory. Eventually, I just walked into a random store and started looking through their glasses. The saleslady pulled out various pairs saying to me, “When I saw you, I already had an idea of what style you would like.”
After picking out a pair that I liked enough to buy, I had my eyes rechecked in a small back room. It was all the usual machines you would see at any other eyeglass place. Put your chin and forehead against the bracket and look at the tree/house in the distance. They rip out a printout and then you put on sample prescriptions and look at an eye chart to confirm your prescription. Best part? It’s basically a free (or included) eye check up. Back home, you pay extra for that!
After the prescription is good, you pick out a pair of glasses, bargain the price down they send the order to be made. The glasses are made rather quickly. I didn’t even know they had gone to make the lenses when the guy comes back and says “take a look to confirm that we used the high-index lenses.” I confirmed. They set another guy to shape the lenses to fit the selected frames. You test them out when they are done, you pay and you are ready to leave.
The whole process of selecting eyewear, eye check up, making the glasses and testing them out took about 2.5 hours. It probably would have been faster if I wasn’t so picky about picking out a pair either. The process is so fast! Back home it would take about a week for them to send the order to a factory or something to make it. In China, there is no need for that since everything is ready already.
I have been wearing my new glasses for a few days now and have had no problems with them. New glasses within a few hours for 180RMB (US $26.33) for frames, lenses and eye checkup. I think that I can try to bargain that price down a little more if I go back for another pair!
Saturday, June 13, 2009
One Year Ago...
This weekend marks UCLA’s graduation ceremonies for the class of 2009. First of all, congratulations to all my friends from all universities who are walking this weekend (or already just walked)!!! Yay! You guys did it!
Second of all, has it seriously been a year already?! A year since I walked, smiled for the camera, hugged the last hugs, said the final goodbyes and then left the place I had lived the last 4 years of my life? Yeah, it seems that it all really did happen. Time passes by so quickly. It is hard to believe that that life was all just a mere 365ish days ago. Plus, I’m a sap.
So much has happened during the year in between that in all honesty, it feels like a lifetime ago. My life as a Bruin was great, it was fantastic and amazing. But the growth and emotions of the past year has in a way turned my UCLA memories into something that just happened ... but a long time ago. If that makes sense. Kinda. Life is marked by stages and phases. You chop it all up and mix it in a giant bowl to create who you are at any given moment.
I replay those final few days of Westwood. In the span of about a week, final exams were taken, final course grader work was completed, final work things were tidied up, final dinners/lunches/hang outs were had, final hugs were hugged, final boxes were packed up to be moved out of the apartment, a lot of final things going on. Somehow it was squeezed in, I even remember that Calvin had to drive me somewhere to drop off Murphy’s graded exams so that the next proctor could grade his portion of it. I remember hanging out at Calvin and Lydia’s the night before and then saying that I should probably go home (like at 4am or something) so that I can finish grading. But I had such a hard time staying awake, but graded some, walked at the college commencement, taking pictures and going to K-town for dinner, and more grading throughout the night and then econ graduation the day after. Maybe I didn’t get much sleep those final days. Seriously, all a blur.
In the end, time flies. And it flies by really quickly. We always say that we’ll see each other soon and we’ll keep in touch. But somehow, time flying by makes it hard to do so. We all become consumed with our own lives and before we know it, holidays are the times we try to reclaim fragments of those promises. I would love to be able to say that I have a good track record of maintaining contact with all those that have had a significant impact on my life. But I would be lying. I could only wish for a better record of maintaining contact. I really wish that I have at least kept up with emails but the reality is that they have been sporadic. There are so many people I wish that I had been able to keep in touch with but one thing leads to another, one excuse leads to another and before I knew it, all attempts to catch up somehow always start with the words “what’s up? how are things?” Because the sad truth is that I don’t know “what’s up” and how things have been with you. Sorry for being a lame friend.
But the fact that I can pick up conversations with old friends as if little time has passed since the last time, well that is pretty amazing as well. We all lead different lives now, and that is a part of growing up, but it is a beautiful thing when we all just come back to each other and fall back into the dance of life together. Maybe I’m not such a lame friend after all.
As one of my precious students greets me at the beginning of every lesson: Amy! Happy face!
Second of all, has it seriously been a year already?! A year since I walked, smiled for the camera, hugged the last hugs, said the final goodbyes and then left the place I had lived the last 4 years of my life? Yeah, it seems that it all really did happen. Time passes by so quickly. It is hard to believe that that life was all just a mere 365ish days ago. Plus, I’m a sap.
So much has happened during the year in between that in all honesty, it feels like a lifetime ago. My life as a Bruin was great, it was fantastic and amazing. But the growth and emotions of the past year has in a way turned my UCLA memories into something that just happened ... but a long time ago. If that makes sense. Kinda. Life is marked by stages and phases. You chop it all up and mix it in a giant bowl to create who you are at any given moment.
I replay those final few days of Westwood. In the span of about a week, final exams were taken, final course grader work was completed, final work things were tidied up, final dinners/lunches/hang outs were had, final hugs were hugged, final boxes were packed up to be moved out of the apartment, a lot of final things going on. Somehow it was squeezed in, I even remember that Calvin had to drive me somewhere to drop off Murphy’s graded exams so that the next proctor could grade his portion of it. I remember hanging out at Calvin and Lydia’s the night before and then saying that I should probably go home (like at 4am or something) so that I can finish grading. But I had such a hard time staying awake, but graded some, walked at the college commencement, taking pictures and going to K-town for dinner, and more grading throughout the night and then econ graduation the day after. Maybe I didn’t get much sleep those final days. Seriously, all a blur.
In the end, time flies. And it flies by really quickly. We always say that we’ll see each other soon and we’ll keep in touch. But somehow, time flying by makes it hard to do so. We all become consumed with our own lives and before we know it, holidays are the times we try to reclaim fragments of those promises. I would love to be able to say that I have a good track record of maintaining contact with all those that have had a significant impact on my life. But I would be lying. I could only wish for a better record of maintaining contact. I really wish that I have at least kept up with emails but the reality is that they have been sporadic. There are so many people I wish that I had been able to keep in touch with but one thing leads to another, one excuse leads to another and before I knew it, all attempts to catch up somehow always start with the words “what’s up? how are things?” Because the sad truth is that I don’t know “what’s up” and how things have been with you. Sorry for being a lame friend.
But the fact that I can pick up conversations with old friends as if little time has passed since the last time, well that is pretty amazing as well. We all lead different lives now, and that is a part of growing up, but it is a beautiful thing when we all just come back to each other and fall back into the dance of life together. Maybe I’m not such a lame friend after all.
As one of my precious students greets me at the beginning of every lesson: Amy! Happy face!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Hair Dye
This past Saturday, i went to a “Chinese” hair place. This was an in-between of the “foreigner” hair stylists and the street alley super-Chinese hair cutters. As a Westerner in a foreign country, the language barrier can be the obstacle you must overcome for a hair cut. You either don’t get your hair cut, get your hair cut at a place that obviously caters to foreigners and English speakers at a higher cost, or you put a smile on and go with the flow at a more local place.
Now, getting a hair cut at a local place does not automatically equal disaster. If you and the stylist are patient enough and with an excellent game of charades, the desired or near desired style can be achieved. Go with a Chinese speaker (fluent or limited) and your chances of success are even greater. So Sina and I decided to check out a place that was recommended by one of her Chinese co-teachers. I did my best to translate and the people were really patient and nice. Even going to the local convenience store to buy us coffee. I wanted my hair to be dyed a lighter color, a sort of brown ... I just wanted to lighten my hair color. At least, that was the goal.
On Monday, I go back to teach Chinese kindergartners. Some of my kids notice and the responses I got were super cute:
“Amy Laoshi .... her hair is YELLOW!”
“Amy ... *pulls his own hair* ... brown!” - my favorite 5 year old Korean kid, Alex
“What color is my hair?”
“Black and .... green.”
“uh ... are you sure?”
“Black and ... brown?”
“Amy is orange”
“It looks red”
“It is black”
and the sweetest one ...
“Amy, you are pretty.” Okay everyone, collective “awww....”
I am going to argue that these kids are so young and English is a foreign language to them. So half of them don’t know what they are saying. haha =P My hair is for sure not yellow, green, red or orange. It is because of the way the light hits the top of my head that makes it appear a lot lighter than the rest of my hair. I am going to give it a few days to “settle down.” Put on a smile and go with the flow. =)
Now, getting a hair cut at a local place does not automatically equal disaster. If you and the stylist are patient enough and with an excellent game of charades, the desired or near desired style can be achieved. Go with a Chinese speaker (fluent or limited) and your chances of success are even greater. So Sina and I decided to check out a place that was recommended by one of her Chinese co-teachers. I did my best to translate and the people were really patient and nice. Even going to the local convenience store to buy us coffee. I wanted my hair to be dyed a lighter color, a sort of brown ... I just wanted to lighten my hair color. At least, that was the goal.
On Monday, I go back to teach Chinese kindergartners. Some of my kids notice and the responses I got were super cute:
“Amy Laoshi .... her hair is YELLOW!”
“Amy ... *pulls his own hair* ... brown!” - my favorite 5 year old Korean kid, Alex
“What color is my hair?”
“Black and .... green.”
“uh ... are you sure?”
“Black and ... brown?”
“Amy is orange”
“It looks red”
“It is black”
and the sweetest one ...
“Amy, you are pretty.” Okay everyone, collective “awww....”
I am going to argue that these kids are so young and English is a foreign language to them. So half of them don’t know what they are saying. haha =P My hair is for sure not yellow, green, red or orange. It is because of the way the light hits the top of my head that makes it appear a lot lighter than the rest of my hair. I am going to give it a few days to “settle down.” Put on a smile and go with the flow. =)
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