Weekend of fun!!!

I had a great weekend in China! It still feels funny to say that. I have noticed that this going by extremely fast though. Well, on Sat I went with my host mom and sister to look at some houses. They are interested in moving so I went along to check out some new sites. The first place we went to was a huge apartment/living community. Most people here live in apartments and the apartment buildings are about 30 stories high! The one we visited was no different and it was 4 bedroom. Really nice. It also has a garden on the roof for people to have their own plants and herbs growing. After that we went to a cute house that reminded me or a cottage out of a fairy tale. It is about 8 years old but overlooks the city on a hill. It has three levels with little terraces and a big porch on the roof. I wanted it for myself!

After house viewing, Xiao Rong's mom dropped us off at Yue Xiu park. This park is famous in Guangzhou bc it holds the statue of the 5 celestial rams. It is an old story about 5 rams coming down and planting wheat and that is how the city of Guangzhou started or something like that. Sorry, it was one of the less interesting stories, you can google it. So Xiao Rong, Phil, and I walked around the park and eventually to the statue, all while listening to Dave and his views on American politics.

We left there and went home for a few hours before dinner, and I took a nap! For dinner, the four of us went to a popular sea food restaurant where we picked our food out of the tank. We had the choice of over 20 different fish, eel, mussel, turtle, frog, crab, lobster, etc. All things are alive when you pick them out by the way. I almost chose the turtle just for the fact that my mom always claimed we would be having turtle soup for dinner but never delivered! Dinner was very good, and Fresh! Afterwards we took a scary taxi ride home.

Yesterday, Sunday, Phil and I met with Sue (our fav coworker) to go to Baiyun Mountain. It was absolutely beautiful! It took about an hour to climb half way and then once at the top, Sue bought us some snacks (of course she did. They think that we need to eat every 5 minutes bc we have a little more meat on our bones!) After a tasty snack of jellied bean curds and flat rice noodles, (which really are two of my favorite foods here, just filling) we headed back down the mountain. After that, we took a cab to dinner where Sue ordered tea, soup, fish, beef, fried rice, two vegetable plates, and dessert for only three people. She is tiny and does not eat enough to feed a bird. After the first 4 plates came she said, "I order two more." And Phillip and I insisted that was not necessary but she was afraid we would be hungry later! When ever I, Lindsay Day, the Queen eater, am having trouble finishing my food, you know it is too much.

So, after making it back home and receiving Sue's phone call from her acupuncture appointment, making sure we made it ok, I met Phil and Dave for some ping pong! Dave came prepared with a backpack full of supplies. We found an open table in a building on campus. They have one in the lobby of almost every building. Phil and I started playing while David "warmed up", yeah, I know. After Dave was all stretched out, I let him take my place. As he stepped up to the table, I could see the Hulk like morph taking place. His eyes became dilated and his muscles became tense. He was, the Ping Pong Master!!!!! haha, talk about taking yourself too serious. He didn't speak when he was playing at first and would just wait until you hit a ball too high and too soft so he could slam it back at your face, as hard has you can. I guess I should have been expecting this from all the talk I have heard from him about the Chinese being so dominant in this sport. Apparently, "no other nation can produce players like them", and "people keep trying to change the rules in the Olympics to make it tougher on the Chinese." We give Dave a hard time but he sure means well and can be quite entertaining.

Ok, this has gotten a little lengthy. If you have any questions about what I write or want me to talk about other things, just leave me a message on my comments!

Pictures, here at last!!!!!

So I have finally uploaded some pictures to my yahoo picture account. Here is the link. http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/lindsayloulou83/my_photos There are only two albums done so far. My trip and my first night in Beijing. I will post this link every time I update more albums! Also, if this doesn't work, please email me so I know!

Just some other info, Phillip and I went to a popular bookstore in Guangzhou. It is 6 stories high! It sells every book imaginable, but not that many in English. I did buy a packback there for about $9! I really needed it bc I am sick of carrying a brief case all the way to work.

Also, Phillip and I did eat lunch for the first time by ourselves yesterday. It was very interesting. We went to the nice Japanese restaurant two blocks down. When we got there it was very crowded and we pulled a ticket to wait. Luckily, I do know my numbers so we waited until we heard si shir san, 43, but we never heard it. After about 15 minutes, we tried to communicate to the hostess but that was no good. So we were just going to leave but then they grabbed us and just toook us to a table. Luckily, this menu had a lot of pictures so we ordered. We got a platter of 25 sushi pieces, 3 salmon blossoms, porridge, and juice for $11! And this is a nice restaurant. It was a good lunch.

Last night my family had a great dinner and we ate in front of the tv watching MTV just like at home! I have a sinus infection so I am feeling kinda bad. I went to bed early and I feel better this morning. Ok, check out the pics!!!

Still alive and going strong after 18 days!!!!

Sorry it has been so long since my last post, I have just been putting it off. So I am into my second week at work and loving it still. Phillip and I are doing really good on our project and we got our Hong Kong trip scheduled yesterday. We will ride on a train with a co-worker who leaves for Hong Kong every Friday, Chapman. He is from Hong Kong and is so nice! You will see him in pictures soon. We have been working here for nine days now and today may be the first day we buy our own lunch. Our bosses take us to amazing places everyday. Yesterday we ate Dim Sum which is very popular in southern china. You sit and waiters push around carts with many different foods and you pick what you want as they come by. We have also played Badminton and tennis with our bosses and it has been so much fun. On tues we played tennis at the Guangzhou country club and it was a very nice place. We played for three hours and Phil and I were horrible! We finished up about 9 and as we left the courts, they announced that now we will take showers and go to dinner. What?! We did not come prepared for that but I put on my work clothes after a shower in the fancy locker room and off we went. We ate at a Hong Kong style tea house and had rice noodles and dumplings. I finally got home about 10:30 and I was exhausted.

This past weekend, Phil and I went to visit the Cheng Clan temple with Phil's host brother David. David is very nice and speaks English very well. He enjoys telling us about the history of China (and also America) and he looks quite spiffy in his fanny pack. On Monday night, he took us for an hour walk around campus and was even kind enough to sing us"Are you going to Scarborough Affair", one of his most very favorite songs! (My tongue was bleeding) David is a perfect example of how the same personality types exist in every culture. My host sister is a little bit more laid back than Dave. Her name is Xiao Rong (Not Chi, like I said before. Turns out, I have been calling her by her last name for a week and she finally told me that.) and she is learning English. They both study and read a lot even though they are on summer break. David a little more than Xiao Rong, he says his nick name given from his class mates is "Scholar".

I really enjoy my host mom even though we can hardly communicate verbally. She is really funny and silly and if we drive some where, she will sing loudly to the radio just to be funny. Last night, I drove with her and Xiao Rong to her office on campus. She had to pick up some things. It is a very nice, new building. She always tries to teach me phrases in Chinese and I teach her some in English.

So, I know I have promised pictures, and they are on there way. It takes about 6hrs just to upload 40 pics bc my camera is 8 megapixels and I love it by the way. Thanks dad! I totally fit the tourist stereotype. I try to take pictures of everything. Well, I will have about 5 albums done on yahoo pictures by Friday and I will send out an email to access my picture account. Also, just so you know, I cannot check the comments left on my blog from Chinese internet but I can access them from Phil's blackberry phone. For that reason, I only check them about once a week and I will answer them in bulk. Here I go!

J-deezy, this is the thing, I have had like a billion and one Ps but I have not had one full one bc I talk myself down everytime. You would be quite proud. Of course the first one was on the 18 hour flight!

Uncle Dave, I am so glad you found my pogs at the lake! Also, Our main competition in China is Esso(Exxon/Mobil), PetroChina/BP(joint venture with the Chinese gov. Oil company), and Sinopec(which is also a gov. oil company). The funny thing is, everyone has to buy their oil from the Chinese government and we are also competing with their stations!

And I know you guys don't believe me about the driving, but if you could just see how crazy it is. People just drive in both lanes, or just cut buses off going like 80kph. I could never drive here. You can't even get your drivers license until you are 18. Neither one of our host siblings can drive and they are 21.

Emily, I am hustling to get these pics up as fast as I can, and I hope you enjoyed the story I emailed you.

Trace, the smoozing is way fun and they always make us do everything first. First bite, first to get in the car, everything! They treat me like a "princess" so you would fit in perfectly over here!

Courtney, actually I am part ninja. My mother's father's cousin's half brother's aunt was actually married to a ninja so it is in my blood. Also, I don't take showers, just stand in the bathroom and let the water run for a little bit. Showers make you week and they are for wussy people. Also, thank you for my fortune from pei wei, I believe in the magic of the cookie!

Ok, like I said, I will email when my pics are done posting!

P.S. Sorry I have such bad spelling and typos. I am writing really fast with no time to proof read and besides, Eye am jhust a whorrable speallar.

I have been in Guangzhou for five days now and I started work on Monday. I have been very busy and I have been unable to post pictures because I have not had access to a computer for a long enough time. This weekend I am going to post many pictures and I will send out an email. Since I last wrote on my blog I have seen so many new things. The Great Wall was mind blowing. You just cannot believe it until you see it. I took many many pictures that will hopefully be posted this weekend. The pictures do not do it justice though because the smog of the city shows through the picture. In Beijing and Shanghai there is very bad smog, you never see blue sky. Guangzhou is not as bad.

I have so much to say about Beijing but I must move on to Guangzhou! My family is amazing. There is a mother, father, and daughter. Only the daughter speaks a little English so it has definitely been interesting. I sleep on a straw mat and there is only two window units which have yet to be turned on. It sounds bad but not really at all. I am use to sleeping on a mat with a bean pillow. My host mother is a great cook and when we eat, Chi (the daughter who is my age) and I sit with our mandarin-English dictionaries and we have slow conversation. It is not awkward, just very funny. We learn words together and laugh at the way eachother pronounce them.

Work is going to be very intense. My head boss from Hong Kong is in until Thurs. Our project was originally made for MBA students and they did not know we were only undergraduates until we arrived! We will do a good job though. So this is my third day of work. The first day was spent doing very intense review of the project and it made me nervous. Then they took us out to an amazing lunch in a big private room with a chandelier. We worked intensely after lunch and then we went to dinner! We ate dinner on the Pearl River and then afterwards they surprised us with a 2 hour fairy boat ride down the river which is lined in huge, Vegas style lighted building.

My second day second day of work was even better. We went on site visits around the town to view competitor stations and our own service stations. When driving on the edge of town I made mention of the nike outlet we were passing and on the way back in, they insisted we stop! We had a great lunch at a Tai place. They say that Tai has 3 flavors, sweet, sour, and spicy! It was good and way too much food. After lunch we visited more site, taking pictures and observations. We passed Safari Park on the way back into town they decided they must take us there! We will go tonight. It is a park where you ride in a cart and only a water moat separates you from the animals. We will go there on Wed. After work on tues though, we went to play badminton! I did really well which was very surprising! Of course we had a great dinner before they dropped us off at home.

Today, my third day of work has yet to disappoint. We went on more site visits this morning and we had a nice lunch at the restraunt in our building. Afterwards, they showed us places around the area we might like to eat or shop. They have made a big effort to assure our safety and convenience eventhough it is not their responsibility. They said they will help set up our weekend trips for us! We will go to the Safari Park tonight and I am very excited. But tomorrow after lunch, my Hong Kong boss will leave and we will have to start real work. No more rides home, or fancy lunches. Just hard core work. I am ready though.

Just to tell you a few things about China that you might find interesting. At many restaurants, they have over 10 kinds of fresh juices. I had watermelon for lunch and Phil had coconut. In Beijing, many women wore socks or pane hose socks with their sandals but not in Guangzhou. The traffic is too aggressive for me to every drive in. During all of our transportation, Phillip and I will constatnly gasp out of fear but they do not even flinch at a close accident. We are getting use to it. It is not rare to see a family of 4 on one motorcycle. That is, a mom, dad, toddler, and new born,weaving in and out of cars. Also, they eat sooo much and we drink tea with every meal at a restaurant but at home we do not drink anything. Soup at every meal. There is much more but I must work now!

First night out in Beijing...duck feet anyone?

So my first night out in Beijing was absolutely amazing. I was so tired by the time that we arrived at the hotel that I didn't think I could make it. We had Peking duck for dinner at a famous resturaunt were Kissner once ate. You can tell by looking at the pictures that tThere was a lot of food! After dinner, we went to a Chinese opera and that was very interesting. There was a short opera act at the begining and then 4 other acts following: there was a Ju Do performance, a man who balanced hug pots on his head, a magician, a stand up comedy act (of course we didn't understand a word but it seemed funny!), and a man who could switch his masks without you knowing (sounds confusing but he would just be dancing, quickly move his hand toward his face and a new mask would appear, it was crazy). All of the food I have eaten here has been out of this world. Some are very interesting things, such as the foot of a duck and pickled beet, but I have tried it all and liked it all.

I made it! (part deuce)

Ok, so this is where the fun starts. We board the plane with only a three hour journey by air in between Beijing and me and from the way I felt just being in the Tokyo airport, this trip was going to be good. The flight however had about an hour straight of turbulance but I didn't care because I watched a movie and talked to my new friend Edward who was born in Hong Kong. He was traveling from boston with his family and he was about 50 years old and I loved him. So about 2hrs and 50min pass when the pilot comes on to tell us, due to bad storms over Beijing, we will be forced to circle for 30min to wait for it to let up. You could imagine the suspense this is building in me! So about 40 minutes later the pilot comes on again....this is when the adventure really starts!
He states that Beijing is not accepting in landings tonight but luckily, we have enough fuel to make it to Seoul, South Korea!!! Well, great, I will be visiting South Korea and because I am american, I can get off the plane but others are begining to worry. So an hour later and about 3/4 of the way to Korea, the pilot comes on again, only this time to say that Seoul refuses to have us, so we have about a 2 hour trip to Shanghai! This time he does not mention our gas status which makes me a little uncomfortable. Two hours later, we land in Shanghai. Now as we decended, I was hit with an even stronger nastalgic feeling than in Tokyo. It was dark and you could see hundreds of boat lights in the bay. When we land, an agent comes on board and tells us we will recieve vouchers and will get there by bus. Phillip, Tran, Sandi, and I put our names on the list of about 500 people and wait. Surprisingly, we get on the bus with in 30 minutes. As I am sitting on the bus with my way too big bag in my lap (really, it was too big, poor Phil had to lift it up and down on every flight bc I can't lift it over my head), I began to feel ver fatigued and then I realize, I have not slept in almost 24 hours besides a couple of times i dozed off. Well, this bus ride to the hotel took an hour!!!! By the time we got there it was 2am China (which means it was 1pm in Dallas the day before which means I had been up for 24 hours straight) and after a shower (don't be shocked) I made it in bed by 3am. Only to get a wake up at 7am. We take the ride back to the airport but this time in the light, and it was amazing. This ride was when I realized something very very strange. Throughout this whole ordeal, I never once found myslef griping, annoyed, or cussing under my breath. I loved it. And Shanghai! Oh my gosh, the streeets where all lined with the best landscaping, I mean everywhere. And the buildings were sooo huge and there were so many. I will post a picture of that for sure.
So, we get on the plane headed for Beijing and when we arrive they give us all $50 voucher for any U.S. in country flight. We are picked up by Diego Garcia (our advisor from A&M) and a man named Li (lee). Li and his wife are helping Diego to coordinate everything because they are from here. So, I finally made it. Now, my next blog will be about what we did that night and those pics will be amazing. But I must run to see the Great Wall!

I am posting picture of my Shanghai Stay. There is one of my bedroom at the hotel they put us in. It was about 1 foot off the bed, very wide, and hard as a rock, which I loved! Another is of a the art work in the room, I thought it was funny, another is of my breakfast there (I don't recomend the Chicken sausage), one of Phillip on the bus, and then there are some pictures of apartment buildings on the outskirts of Shanghai. Missing you all~Lindsay

In case you miss me!

SO I lied! One more post before I leave the U.S. I am freaking out...In a good way. I am actually going to be leaving for China in 10 hours and I will actually be in china in 34!!!! Yeah, you did the math right. I will be traveling almost 24 hours and about 20 of those I will actually be in the air.

Though I am super pumped, I am going to miss home (both Dallas and Aggieland). I am going to miss my cute mommy and my cute daddy. My parents are so awesome. The only reason I could ever have enough courage to go on a trip like this is because of them. I am going to miss my sweet and beautiful sister. If you haven't seen her in a while, you should. She is all grown up and it makes me sad/glad.

I will definitely miss my best friend Karlee who was amazing enough to get me two books and two cards for my trip!!!! SMARTY PANTS! Yenny, Katie, I will be back in Dallas soon and we can hang out more! Rach, I am going to bring back a traditional Chinese wedding gown so you can end that search!

I already miss my friends from school, Emily "Antonio" Klumpp, Chase "let's do something fabulous" Hutchison, Kali "that is sooo annoying"Rowe, Jemeela "it's not right but it's ok" Ingram, Will "cuzz" Binford (tell Anne and Willcub I said hey), Big John "pirate hooker" Walker, Natalie "you know the phrase I want to write here" Dodd! I really miss my roommates already: Amy "Hancock" Hallock, Traci "princess" Wesphal, Courtney "Jacket Watcher" Jordan.

I am also going to miss my family: My "sweet angel" Mimi, my "party hardy" Ponka and Gracie, and my "means wel"l Mammaw. Of course I can't forget my aunt Kim, uncle David, cousin Zack and Alex. They drove all the way from Allen to send me off and I love em!

Half of my friends are already out of the country. J-deezy, Lubbock is basically out of country as far as I am concerned. Tay, you are basically in your own universe most of the time! Mun (who is not only one of my best friends but also a registered nurse now!), Sarah, Becca....miss you child! And then of course the entire Carlisle family will be missed. Danielle, Marybeth, Dave, and Fred Vega(who I don't see enough). I will miss all of you!!!

Also, I am happy to hear from Aunt Ann and "fake mimi" Barbara. Your words of encouragement are so helpful and I wish we could talk more often! And Pammer Jammer, I will bring you back something pretty! Steph, I am so thankful for all of your help and I am so calling you at three in the morning if I get lost in Guangzhou.

So, I'm done with my Oscar acceptance speech and it is off to Houston for my last night in the states for a while. Just incase you miss me I posted some wonderful self portraits! If you need to call me for any reason, here is my international number that only costs me 20 cents a mintute to recieve calls: 011 86 13004 198 053

Missing you all,

Lindsay

43 hours from take off!!!

I am exactly 43 hours from take off and I am sooooo excited. I have waves of butterflies in my stomach and I don't have much of an appetite! (I know, not like me at all!) I will fly out of Houston at 9:05am on Tues. First we will be changing planes in Detroit and from there we will take an 18 hour flight to Tokyo. We will be in Tokyo for about 3 hours and from there we will be flying into Beijing. We are staying in a very nice hotel for a week in Beijing, which I think is pretty cruel considering we will have no air conditioning for the rest of our stay in Guangzhou!
So I did get a camera yesterday and it is super sweet. I also found my phone! Some of my friends took me out to Jake's Hamburgers and a rangers game last night and I thought that was a fitting all-American send off!
The fact that I am graduating and I will never be in undergraduate college again hasn't really hit me yet. I think China is a pretty good distraction. If it weren't for this trip, I would probably be going through TAMU withdrawals. I am mostly moved out of my house in College Station and by mostly I mean about 2/3 is left. I brought as much as I could but my family has to move the rest. I hate missing all that fun(wink).
Well, I gotta finish packing before Tues. So this will be my last entry from the U.S. Next time you hear from me I'll be in China, ahhhhhhhhh!!!!

Three days until take off and I am not packed, I don't have a camera yet, and I can't find my cellphone. This seems about right. Hopefully my dad and I are going to buy a camera today because my old one is dying and I think I just left my phone in my dad's truck last night. As far as the packing goes, I am having a little bit of a struggle. They told us to pack as if we would be there for half the time we really are. This is a lot easier said than done. I am packing one suitcase full and leaving another half empty so I will have plenty of rooms to bring lots of gifts back!;) Ok, I am trying to get some things fixed up on my computer so back to that.

Practice

I am trying to learn how to use this blog thing but it is not working!!!

Ready to go!

I leave on Tues. 7/11 out of Houston. It just hit me today that I actually have to leave. I mean, it was great talking about it and all but now my stomach is in knots and I fall into the occasional panic attack. This is expected from me though. I posted pics that my family sent me. There is one of the 21 year old girl, Chi. She speaks English, unlike the rest of the family. She also sent me a picture of her mom. The mom and dad both work at the University of Scientific Technology in Guanzhou and that is where Chi is studying. The family lives on campus and so does Phillip's host family (phillip is the other aggie that will be working for Chevron). That will be convenient for us to be living so close. I am not sure exactly how we will get to work yet. They told us we would get all of that information once we were in country. Ok, still have mounds of packing to do. I am almost all moved out of College Station. Why didn't anyone ever tell me it rains everyday here in the summer!