Visit to Tong Li

I have been really terrible about updating my blog! However, since it is for my own record as well I will share some more of the things that I have been up to lately.

Last week on September 22nd was the Mid Autumn Festival. It was a three day national holiday, however my program/school only gave CIEE students one day off. My lovely Chinese family took me to this beautiful old water Village called Tong Li. I'm glad I brought my rain coat, because it ended up being a rainy and cold day. It was so wonderful to explore this village. We went into some of the old houses, explored the gardens, tasted their delicious little snacks, went on a traditional boat ride down the small river, had lunch besides the canal, and of course ended our day relaxing in a wonderful little coffee shop. My "family" knows how much I love coffee and how much my eyes truly light up after I've had coffee so they are always great about finding good coffee shops. My "dad" called this place the Venice of China, which it truly was. It was really fun to explore, and I'm so glad that I got to see an old water town. It was a long and exhausting day, but so worth it. On the way, back to Shanghai I slept the entire way, and then we ate dinner at a wonderful Hot Pot restaurant. I'm getting to try so many delicious cuisines here in China and all throughout Asia.

Photos from My 21st Birthday

Here are just a few photos from the celebration of my 21st Birthday!

Another Wonderful Weekend in Shanghai

Well I have had another amazing weekend here in Shanghai. This past week was a very special week in many ways! I celebrated my 21st Birthday on monday September 20th. Although I was not in United States to celebrate it, it was still a very special day. The day before my birthday, my Chinese roommate was very sweet and bought me a mouse for my computer, since the Mac computer can be a little annoying. She also gave me an adorable planner. I have been very lucky because we have committed to only speaking Chinese, which has been so helpful in so many regards. On the morning of my birthday, I woke up at about 8 am and called my family on skype, since I wanted to see them first thing on the morning of my birthday. My mom, dad, and Jesse all started singing happy birthday to me. It was the sweetest way to wake up on your birthday, though it did make me a little sad as well since I really wanted to be with them to celebrate this special day. After talking to them, I opened the many e-cards online that I received, then went out to find a bakery where I could find coffee and pastries. I was able to find the bakery pretty easily. I had class right away beginning at 10 am so it didn't feel like too much of a birthday at first. My day was pretty long since I had class until 6 pm. However, after 6 pm, I had such a special birthday. My adoptive family here in Shanghai took me out out to a delicious Italian restaurant. I invited my roommate which was a great decision, and it was so much fun to be able to have good conversation and be surrounded by such kind people. We had two delicious italian salads, pizza, steak, fish, mushroom risotto, and marinara pasta. My adoptive mom bought me a delicious cake and got candles and everything for me to blow out. It was truly so kind. Even though I'm so far away from the US, I definitely felt like I was at home with all of the love that I was surrounded by.

I went out on Tuesday night to celebrate my birthday with classmates; we went to a place called windows underground which is like a sports bar with a small dance floor. I loved just being able to dance and release my energy after having to take a very difficult test on Tuesday.

This weekend has been exactly what I needed. I came to my "family's" house on Friday and we had a delicious home cooked meal that my "mom" cooked for me. It was so nice to be able to have a family dinner. It was soooo sweet, they know how much I love sweets and so they bought a pie from Marks and Spencers and cooked it in the microwave. It was something very unexpected and also something so warming and made me feel like I was celebrating the wonders of fall in China instead of in US; it made me feel so at home. After a very filling dinner, we went to walk around their neighborhood which is in a very convenient location of Shanghai. It was so beautiful and comfortable at night. There is a huge shopping district right near their house which has all of the famous brands that you can imagine. It was really fun to just look and see all of the people walking around. It definitely felt in a way like I was in New York. We went to a cafe to sit and chat that is actually a cafe that originated from Taiwan, but I had never tried it when I was there. The coffee was delicious and the pastries looked so good, but I was sooooo full from dinner that I couldn't eat anymore. When we got home, we watched a really sad Chinese movie love story. I really enjoyed getting to watch it, though it was so sad, and it was a tear jerker.

Today, I went shopping in this cheap market that has a lot of knock off brand names, including purses, bags, and scarves. I ended up finding a beautiful pashmina scarf and a cut head band. The clothes were cute, but nothing that really grabbed my attention and for the most part since I'm so tall hard to find things that fit well. I was really exhausted after the shopping. We went to have lunch at a delicious Japanese restaurant and then headed home. I did some homework, I wanted to nap, but knew that I really needed to do some work if I wasn't going to be overwhelmed tomorrow.

After working on homework for the afternoon, we went to another delicious restaurant that serves food from the North East area of China, specifically from the area of Xinjiang. I was so full again.... but everything was sooo tasty that I ate too much. I'm sooooo lucky to be taken to all of these delicious restaurants in China. I was reflecting today in a way how fast time is going by... it is almost October! I'm really looking forward to having a break in a week. Just four days of school this week and then I have ten days to relax. I'm sooo looking forward to my family coming as well. I can't believe how quickly it is coming up.

Ok well thats it for now, I'm going to bed soon. I hope everyone is doing well back at home!

Photos of Bali Indonesia

Photos of Sabbah Malaysia

I have been terrible with my blog, but I want to first post some pictures of all of my adventures throughout South East Asia.

Update: In SHANGHAI

Well I have arrived safe and sound in Shanghai. My internet connection has been an interesting experience here to say the least! I have had to download another proxy to just access some of my favorite websites.

I have been a terrible blogger these past couple of months, but it is mainly due to the internet connection in the places that I have been. I left Malaysia on the wee morning of September 5th. It was very difficult for me to say goodbye to my dear friend Emily and her family who were so kind to me the entire time. I was also so grateful to get to meet so many of her friends while I was there in Malaysia. I definitely hope that some day I can return to Malaysia some day... i really loved everything about the country: the different ethnicities, the FOOD, all of the "la's" at the end of the sentences, running across the street( possible risking getting run over) and the traffic, getting to go to a Catholic church, hearing the morning calls to prayer, Old Town coffee, Kaya spread( the most delicious spread I've ever had, Milo drink, Ratti Tissue( spelling?) but most of all just getting to spend three weeks with my friend was the most amazing part.

I definitely am missing all of the wonderful things about my vacation there as I have begun school this week. However I know that I'm going to have so many experiences during my time here in Shanghai.

As I was saying, I had my week of orientation this past week, which was fun and exhausting. There are about 80 students in the Ciee program, which I think is awesome since it makes you feel not so along in a country. Some of the things we got to do during orientation week were see an acrobatic show, tour around the campus, visit the Bund, and go to the world expo. Of course we also had a lot of sessions, where we were given lectures about the program and expectations. I originally had planned on staying with a host family, however I realized that shortly after I arrived I really wanted to live in the dorm and have the experience of being right on campus. I also didn't feel any connection to the family that I was living with so I am now living in the beautiful CIEE dorm with a Chinese roommate, so I think this will be a wonderful experience as well.

My first weekend here:

Friday, I went out to a club for a student's birthday who is in the program as well. It was so much fun to get to experience the night life in Shanghai. I also got to meet up with my friend Annie who is an alum of my college. It is so wonderful having someone I know from the same school as me and who did the CIEE program for support while I'm here in Shanghai.

I met up with some of my family's friends, whose daughter is attending the same high school that I went to. I met them on Saturday evening and had such a wonderful time with them. They took me to the most delicious restaurant ever and we had all of these famous Shanghainese dishes. After dinner we went to an area called Xin Tian Di which has a lot of restaurants, coffee shops, and bars. It was so wonderful to sit out at night in such a lively city.

On Sunday, I went to this beautiful Cathedral in Shanghai for church. It was so nice, because it only took about 20 minutes travel time to reach. After church I started working on the homework that I was given before classes had even started. I'm so grateful that I got help from my family friends, because I'm not sure if I would ever have been able to complete the homework. Speaking of homework, I should probably go and get started on it now, since I have plenty of it to work on.

I hope everyone is doing well. Sending my love to my friends and family back home