Satoshi

Today, we visited a bookstore. To sum it up, I bought a J-Pop CD, and the first volume of Pokemon in Chinese. I can't read anything in Chinese. However another girl in our group Kelsey (who understands enough Chinese to read it a little bit) just informed me that Ash's name in the book is Satoshi. Hence the naming of this post.

You're welcome.

I know you are dying to know, and yes my "Tohoshinki Single B-Side Collection" is basically everything I wanted it to be and more. I was slightly disappointed, cause the CD I originally wanted had a far superior album cover (the five of them appeared to be jumping in midair, hands posed to attack an unseen enemy to the audience's left) then the one I ended up buying. However, that CD only had like 4 songs on it and was 42 Yuan (divide that by 6 and that's how many US dollars it is) and the CD with the boring cover I bought has 12 songs and cost 37 Yuan.

I did manage to snap a photo of the album cover, however it won't upload. I've tried like a bajillion times, which is surprising if you know how lazy I can be.

Lazy (noun)
1. When one could be achieving something that may improve their life, but they are too "tired".
2. Another word for achievers. Because they're willing to let others achieve things.
3.

Did you see what I did there?

TWANSITION

Oh Tobuscus. How I'm not watching you even here. And by watching I mean not stalking.

Behind the bushes.

Lurking.

That shadow movement?

Me.

Whoa. Ok off topic.

I also had an interview for an internship. And by interview I mean "Let's tell you what you'll be doing here even though you never gave us a resume but since you know English and are with Central College we'll still accept you. So now even though you never put ANY effort into this AT ALL you will still appear far superior to your peers when applying for a job and your potential bosses see that you worked at an internship in China when the other applicants didn't."

So the lesson here is be lazy. It will pay off. Eventually.

But the newspaper is called "That's Zhejiang" and it's just a weekly newspaper, that also has a seasonal magazine. It's just a few blocks down so I could either take the bus OR ride a bike. The fact that I potentially get to ride a bike in China excites me far more than you realize. Although this might mean I'll die in some horrible bike related accident. But you only die once dudeman.

Oh dear, there's so much more to report, but I'm probably losing your attention span. So here's a list of cultural differences I've noticed in the 6 days I've been here.

-In restaurants they don't serve all the food at once.
-Chinese don't buy a lot at once like Americans. (e.g. in Walmart, the most I saw anyone buy was maybe like 5 things)
-Boyfriends will hold the girls purse.
-When you buy something, always be conscious of making it easier for the other person to give you back change (e.g. you buy something that's 6 Yuan, give them 11 Yuan).

Also, I had pigeon this morning. With noodles. It was quite good actually. Once again, I took a picture of it. But, oh wait, that's right. The picture refuses to upload. But it's a pigeon wing. I actually wanted quail, but they had run out of it.

In other news I'm super pissed that the Leeds festival, which happened this past weekend, which MUSE was AT MIGHT have been their BEST CONCERT since their performance at Le Zenith. It was complete with NOT ONLY their "We are the Universe" intro BUT ALSO "What's he building in there" WHICH THEY HAVEN'T USED IN LIKE 10 YEARS. AGH. If anyone happens to know of someone who happens to be in possession of the Tardis, lemme know.

Also, in case you were wondering, "xiexie" which means "thank you", canNOT mean whatever you want it to mean. Not like I accidentally bumped into somebody, and knowing like two Chinese words muttered "xiexie" accidentally thinking it meant sorry but really it means "thank you".

So, have fun with your life and stuffs people. Until next time.

So I understand the Chinese driver stereotype now....

Dear Lord. I never understood why people always said that Chinese peoples are terrible drivers. But coming to China. I now understand. Like today, we rode a bus from the West Lake to a McDonalds near Zhejiang campus, and there are four lanes on both sides right? Well our bus was in the far right lane. Now in America you wouldn't be allowed to turn left in that lane. But our bus turned left. Also, cars will go into lanes with on coming traffic to bypass cars that are slow or stopping for some reason. But they will use their horns so it's ok.

Basically, I hope I never have to drive in China ever.

However crossing the street can be terrifying. Today our group played a real life game of frogger. And it was terrifying.

On a completely different note, I've had some weird dreams since I've been in China. I blame this largely on the heat. For example, I had this dream where I went to the bathroom, and suddenly realized my toilet had been moved, and the ONLY possible logical explanation was because a serial killer had snuck through my bathroom window. And as I tried to move to escape, it was at that point in the dream when you start to wake up so you sort of move slowly, and I could see the killer coming at me from my periphs... then I woke up.

Although that's not as bad as my plane ride to China. I kept going in and out of consciousness, and at one point I woke up, and could not for the life of me figure out why I was on a plane, and why there were so many Asians around me.

I also watched Kung Fu Panda 2 on the plane. Not as good as the first. Actually, I completely forget how it ends, and I think that's mostly because I was half conscious.

Also I'm proud to say I haven't used a fork yet. Not like that's an option. But still. I'm proud of myself even if you aren't at all.

Speaking of food. This kid in our group ate the head of a chicken yesterday. Brains and eyes and all. For those of you wondering, he described the brain as tasting like mashed potatoes. For those of you also wondering, yes I lost my appetite.

They serve the heads of animals with a lot of things. Mostly duck or chicken.

And dang. I had no idea how cheap stuff would be here. Like one US dollar is the equivalent to 6 Chinese Yuan. The average bottle of water or soda here is 3 Yuan. So I'm gonna be way cheaper than I normally am when I come back to the States.

Although to be perfectly honest, it's slowly hitting me that I'm actually in China. I feel like I'm just in some city's Chinatown, and I'll turn the corner and be able to read the signs again. I just can't wait for my classes to start on the 13th, because this whole not knowing any Chinese thing is getting slightly annoying.

Oh, and I'll end this blog with this. The street cleaners here sound like an ice cream truck, and they usually play the birthday song.

Alright now for realz I'm gonna stop. Cause I could probs write like a bajillion things right now. But I honestly don't feel like it. It's sort of tiring. Also I have to keep a journal for Houghton, and one for the program I'm in, and keep in contact with my parents.... so... much.... writing....

That one scene with the orc

Yep. I lied. Although only three of you know what I'm talk-sorry- WRITING about. Because only three of you read my last post.

Which is cool. I guess.

Didn't realize I was that boring.

Or maybe that just means no one stalks me?

Which is totally cool or whatever.

Anycrap.

Here's this horribly drawn comic inspired by this time I watched the entire extended version of LOTR (for like the infinity-ith time) with the people I lived with over the summer one weekend. And by weekend I mean almost a week.


Yea. This has nothing to do with pre-China jitters.

I just don't know what to feel.

Although I DO feel like a broken record. I think I've told the same thing a hundred times the past week. "Yes I'm going to China." "Four months." "With Central College." "Studying Chinese." "No I don't know Chinese." "Yes I am a Lost fan." "Team Harry Potter."

Alright so not all of those are actual answers, but you get the point. It's just weird. Sometimes it hits me. I'm going to China. Then other times I expect that on the eve of my leaving, say, while my friends are throwing me a party before I leave for Asia, suddenly my ex (which I don't have, but in this alternate universe let's just say I do) shows up. Let's say this ex and me happened to share a fun day at some theme park, and the same tape we happened to tape ourselves on is also being used to tape that night's party's events. Suddenly, a giant monster that had been woken up by a satellite that hit it the same day we were at said park, wakes from its slumber and suddenly attacks NYC, killing my brother and all my friends. Well. Let's just hope that doesn't happen tonight. Or now.

On an entirely different note, watching movies like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Mulan, and Kung Fu Panda probably isn't the best way to learn about a culture. But that is what I've been doing. ("Really Brittany? You mean they don't sing and dance about how they are men over there?") However, don't be alarmed, because I had to write a ton of papers for some pre-depature class in Houghton about China. Not like I know everything. But I probably know more than the average person.

I just hope I'm not the cliched loud America. Agh. That is the least of the things I want to be.

However I am bringing my Heelies in the hopes that I can Heely across the Great Wall.

If you be hatin', it's just cause you be jealousin'.

Agh. So much rambling. BUT if you really want to know, I'm just going to stay up all night, because I have to leave at 4am to make it to Newark, which means I would have to wake up early to shower and crap, and what's the point when I have a day's worth of flights ahead of me, all of which I could be sleeping on?

So now, f'realz, the next post WILL be from China. Hopefully I will be able to access this site. If not just wait like four months THEN I will post like crazy.

So have fun with your life and stuff peoples.

China in seven days and counting....

So I leave for China in a week.

I don't know how to feel about it, to be honest.

I think I just need to leave, and stop thinking about what it will be like not being here, so I can appreciate being there.

I actually had this dream last night about flying to China. Except before I could get on the plane to Chicago my parents dropped me off in some sketch underground sewer place, where the monster from that movie The Host (no it is NOT a movie based off of a Stephenie Meyer's book) was lurking, so we had to stay away from the water, but the subway car we had to take to get to the plane ran on the water. Anyways somehow no one died, but I woke up feeling weird. Or maybe I died in my dream? I can't remember. However I think Muse was also there. Hopefully that happens in real life in the airport. That would make me pee myself with happiness.

In other news, I learned that xiexie (pronounced shea-shea) means thank you. So now I know how to say hello and thank you. So in the event that someone is robbing me, or a gang of rapscallions is kidnapping me for human trafficking purposes, I can adequately deal with them.

I hope you're as relieved as I am.

I'm currently working on a playlist for the plane ride (20 hours. So hopefully there will also be movies, because I'm pretty sure my iPod isn't immortal and sparkly). Since I haven't said anything of worth so far, I feel obligated to share some songs with you. [Please note that due to laziness I never wrote down the name of the song, only the band. Although I wasn't lazy enough to write this little dooblidoo. Youtube reference? Me? Never.]

Florence and the Machine
She & Him
Matt and Kim
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
Sigur Ros
Young the Giant

Well, the next time I post anything of significance will probs be when I'm in China. Cause let's be honest, I don't think anything exciting will happen. Unless aliens do happen to invade earth. Although I think I will be barricading myself in a bunker of some kind instead of updating my blog. No offense world.

So have fun with your life and stuffs... until next time.

Custodial Woes #2

I only have one week left of this job. Well, technically 3 days. Also, the smell of cat food is overpowering my nostrils because there's a bowl of it right below me, but that's besides the point. I would like to call this last week of work... Hell Week.

Hell Week
noun
1. A seven day period in which the days last longer.
2. Akin to travelling through the 9 circles of hell, only it seems to last months.
3. A condition that cannot be cured with massive amounts of chocolate/coffee/ Muse listening.
Synonyms
dementors, ringwraiths, Professor Umbridge, Gideon, Kate Hudson


It's kind of like Shark Week, except without the cheesy reenactments and gory effects. This gore is REAL. Well, emotional gore. Yesterday was awful actually, cause we worked longer than we normally do. Also, half my crew decided not to put any work into what they were doing. By that I mean they were talking nerd talk (complete with war elephants and archers, also I would like to mention that they seem to talk about the same things every day. And I'm not joking. It's like listening to re-runs of the Golden Girls in that it's painful, yet you wanna listen anyways cause there's nothing else ON) and in the time it took me to do two massive windows in the cafeteria, they still weren't done with each individual window they started. Agh. I wanted to punch something cute and furry, but managed to restrain myself. Instead, I imagined various scenarios in which I could obtain this mythical "workers comp".



(I really don't know why it's fuzzy. I've tried a bazillion things to prevent the fuzzies, but my computer seems to be the bane of my existence right now. So you're gonna have to deal with it man.)


According to Urban Dictionary, worker's compensation is "a lottery that rewards stupidity". Psh. I think it's more a lottery that rewards in general. But I might be biased. By that I mean I am.

Today was a better day though. Mostly cause we weren't working overtime, and I got a free cup of coffee, and I managed to raid a couple of the office candy dishes while taking out the trash. Those strawberry candies are like childhood captured in sugar. Delicious.

Since this blog was mainly created because of my upcoming trip to China, this is probably a good time to mention that I will officially be in China in 16 days. I'll be home home and not in Houghton in 7 days. Also, I hate saying goodbye to people. I've been saying bye to too many people lately, and it's just... not cool man.

You know what? I really will miss Houghton. And I wish I could just leave for China now, instead of cleaning Houghton campus, thinking about what it would be like to see people I know once again on campus. It's been so stark of friends lately.

Agh, sappiness.

In other news. so far the only thing I know in Chinese (or rather, Mandarin) is nihao (pronounced "knee-how"). I tried out this "learn Chinese in 15 minutes per day" sort of audio course from the library... and it basically made me want to pee myself it was so difficult.

So yea. Also, sorry that I'm so lazy, and haven't really had anything exciting to report since 2 Wednesdays ago. Sorry I wasn't mugged by mutant rats, or had someone try to defeat my non-existent 7 evil ex-boyfriends lately.

What can I say, I lead a boring life sometimes.