I’m back from my 14 day trip in China, and what a tiring two weeks it was!  Now that I’ve experienced what a tour is like, I don’t think I’ll be doing that again.  Waking up at the crack of dawn was too hard to do, especially on vacation time.  Each day, the tour moved us to new 5 star hotels, which were pretty elegant in itself, but their breakfasts beg to differ.  I’m all for chow mein and beef and broccoli, but eating those at 6am wasn’t exactly appetizing.  Stepping out into 80-100 degree weather with 90% humidity each day also left me feeling tired and clammy, even in the early morning.

That’s not to say that the trip was not fun though.  I thoroughly enjoyed visiting each of the historic tourist attractions we went to.  Our first day was spent climbing the Great Wall, which was an unforgettable experience.  I made it to the fourth tower before having to carefully climb back down, due to time constraints (I didn’t want to be left behind, seeing my tour bus off without me).  Those steps were huge though, with some reaching as high as my knee.  It was almost like climbing a mountain.  Most tourists stopped at the first tower, tired, sweaty, and panting.  I wish I could have gone higher up though.  I also visited a number of temples and palaces that started to look the same after a while, with the Chinese, gold plated rooftops and architecture.  We went to the Forbidden City (palace of the Ming dynasty), circle tower (which was a marvel of architecture, circular building built entirely without nails), Tenemen Square, and MANY souvenir locations including pearl factories, silk factories, tea factories, etc.

As our tour bus drove around each of these famous landmarks and cities, I was somewhat surprised to see most of China to retain its village like appearance.  I had already half-expected China to be less developed than the US, but still seeing it first hand led a helping hand in seeing the world for what it really is.  Even major cities like Beijing had men and women riding bikes, workers carrying bamboo sticks loaded with buckets,  street cleaners with ragged straw brooms ready to fall apart.  Chinese definitely care a lot more for its environment more than the US though.  The cities themselves were beautiful in its own elementary way, with a plethora of trees sprouting throughout the city, streets with not even one scrap of trash, and ALL (and I mean ALL!) restrooms with automatic faucets, hand dryers, and manly stalls.

(more to come)

(pictures to come in time)

Currently it is 12:33 AM and I’m attempting to stay awake until I board my flight, which is at 11:16 AM, so that I may sleep for most of the plane ride.  Sayonara!  I mean….Zai jian!

My family has been cleaning out a lot of junk that has piled up over the years, throughout our bookshelves, cabinets, closets, etc. My dad stumbled upon a short “book” I had written. Guessing by the handwriting, I’d say I wrote it when I was in second grade or so. I probably got the inspiration from my parents, because my dad always asked for massages. Here it is, unedited:

Welcome to the first book on: how to make a lady massage me.

Chapter 1

First step. Beg. Beg, cry, ask, and the ever popular, pout. We all know how it feels when a lady refuses to massage us. How would they feel if we told them “No!” Exactly! They would get mad! So, this is how you will get a lady to massage you.

Chapter 2

The first way to get a lady to massage you is to pay them. You pay them any price you want. Since women need and love money, they’ll have to accept the offer. They’ll massage you by squeezing and by rolling you. How do I know? I’ve tried it! I’ve tried every trick!

Chapter 3: (silent treatment means not talking)

The second way is to give them the silent treatment when she is asking you something. When she gets mad, tell her that you just want a massage and you will help her with her problems. You get the massage, she gets the help. (silent treatment is sold separately)

Chapter 4

The third way is to give them a present. Saying in return: “All I want is a massage.” She will massage you with love.

Chapter 5

The last way to make a lady massage you is to just ask politely. Explain all the work you have done and I’m sure she’ll understand.

Record

# of massages                                   Who massaged you

The end.

As my sister pointed out, my book was most likely a failure because I didn’t record any massages or anybody massaging me

One more day until I fly off to China!  I’m totally stoked.  I’ll be taking pics like crazy.

6/29 Ratatouille – Funny film. I went in not knowing what to expect, and was pleasantly surprised.

7/2 Transformers – Aside from corny phrases and acting, action was intense and exciting to watch. Pure eye and ear candy watching/hearing the robots transform. Century Theatres needs to invest in A/C though. Watching a movie as if in a sauna is not comfortable whatsoever.

7/3 Live Free or Die Hard – Bruce Willis can still kick butt in his 50s. Fun film to watch.

After getting familiar with driving around San Jose, I have come up with the following conclusions:

1.) San Jose is the new Irvine. There are cops at literally every street corner pulling over unsuspecting victims of speeding. I’m paranoid even driving over 40 mph now.

2.) Freeway congestion during commute hours in San Jose are even worse than LA. Either:

a) San Jose is now more populated than LA and/or

b) more people have jobs in San Jose than LA

3.) I will forever miss xiao long baos at Din Tai Fung :’(. Must go back to LA to satisfy cravings.

There are only two days of school left.  Technically, school ended last week, since finals have been given and students are anxiously awaiting summer vacation to start by watching movies in class.  Tomorrow night marks the very first graduation at our school as well, which I perceive to be a highly anticipated event.  I’m going to miss all of my students, both graduating seniors and lower classmen, because not only will the seniors be leaving, but I will be leaving with them as well.

Putting career mode aside, I have also been applying the finishing touches towards packing for San Jose.  I have already moved most of my belongings, while I plan to transport the remainder of the knick-knacks on my final move up at the end of June.  The biggest items I fear will have a difficult time fitting in my car are my mini-fridge and microwave I used at school.  I just wish I could stick one appliance into another to save space.

I had no idea what I was getting into when I bought this CD. When I go to a music store, I literally just take an album off the shelf and purchase it, which is what I did with Mika.  It’s a gamble I take, hoping for good returns.

This album feels like one of my old old children’s sing-along cassette tapes with Old McDonald (which I don’t listen to by the way….really….) . The second song Lollipop especially annoys me, sounding like it came from a Sesame Street episode, yet at the same time had me wanting to sing along with it. Curse you Mika! In “Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)”, as Mika sings, “You take your skinny girl, feel like I’m going to die, ‘Cuz a real woman needs a real man here’s why: You take your girl and multiply her by four, now a whole lot of woman needs a whole lot more,” I can’t help but listen attentively and laugh along with the lyrics. “Happy Ending,” my favorite track on the album at the moment, provides a great finale to the album.

Aside from the rather shallow lyrics though, Life in Cartoon Motion gives an exuberantly uplifting vibe. At the moment, it satisfies my current musical taste, which is a more whimsical and upbeat sound. Just like The Feeling, Mika leaves me with a sense of elation. I couldn’t help but to constantly think of how similar he reminded me of Robbie Williams, though, both in voice and sound.

Nutrition and lunch are much needed breaks for replenishing my body with foods so that I can “teach” the remaining classes throughout the day. Otherwise, my body would either feel so fatigued that I wouldn’t even be able to lift my arm to write on the board, or I’d fall asleep in front of the class (which has happened, true story).

For my students however, they spend their time in my room playing with either their Nintendo DS’s or PSP’s. They use me for my wireless connection -.-;  I never really considered getting a portable game system for myself though, simply because I never really enjoyed playing games on such small screens.  I would much rather play consoles on big screen tvs.

But ever since last weekend, playing with Brain Age on the DS really has me considering purchasing it for myself. I’ve even had the inclination to buy TWO, one for my sister and one for me, so that we can nerdily (word?) compete with each other to see who can do arithmetic the fastest. I’m sure I’d not just buy the DS for that one game, but I’m hesitant to make such a rash decision because I’m not sure if I’d devote enough time into it to justify the purchase.

I had previously heard of them when watching a concert in HD back at home during Memorial Day Weekend. They had played two songs in the concert (“Fill My Little World” and “Sewn”) which I immediately fell in love with.

The album itself is perhaps just as catchy as those two songs, and engrosses the the listener the whole way through with upbeat and harmonious piano tunes. The first track, “I Want You Now,” was chosen wisely to the grab the listener with its upbeat poppy melodies. “Never Be Lonely” had catchy lyrics that could belong to a television theme song, while “Fill My Little World” will continue to be one of my favorite tracks of the album. Indeed, the album did give me a whimsical and just plain old fun “feeling.” It’s enough to brighten anyone’s day as they listen to the album. Even the calmer songs such as “Rose” can leave a sense of tenderness as singer Dan Gillespie-Sells sings, “I love you, especially today, especially this way. Rose, I want you, you leave me this way. Rose, I love your delicate way.”