Thursday, May 18, 2006
the weather was totally crazy today. that's an absolute understatement actually. we're having something of a typhoon here, and it's doing things like inverting umbrellas and such and the rain isn't helping. but it's also the best weather for shopping coz the stallholders are more willing to lower their prices.
sadly, my umbrella who has been my bad weather companion for the past 7 years, went a little wonky today. it can't open fully anymore. i love my umbrella(now that sounds weird). bought it in scotland ages ago.
so despite the rain, sara, bi-tao and jeong-eun and i changed 2 buses to get to hongkou district. there's this Qipu Road market which is a wholesale centre. like wow, they've got everything and you can get loads of stuff there. which i did. so i'm kinda screwed for coz i'm low on cash again.
so i bought 3 bags and 2 flowy things today.
yay! the bag was a need. since the Pony bag which my NJ mates got for my birthday last year has given way due to excessive use here. time to go..
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
and i'm smiling. right from the inside. the same person to make a frown with worry and smile from ear to ear within the same day. sticking out your handwhen those really icky cars come horribly close by. conversation was never so much about the words was it? but the speech in gestures. and sara seems to be smiling at me so knowingly.
and i just love calling my friend's cell phone. coz it has this really boppity tune which makes me feel like singing and dancing and jumping.
dong-eun, jeong-eun and bi-tao have been talking ages about clubbing. but with me bordering on broke every single day, it's been hard. we have to soon. and some of them just love parking themselves on these long-distance buses which take you to shandong or hangzhou or wherever. i haven't done that, but i MUST before i leave anyway. call a friend, buy a ticket and just go like that.
shin-ho was just telling me today how he spent 9 hours sitting on a bus to shandong. i was like,'you did what?' but i want to do that too. to be able to come and go and breathe in the different cultures that makes each one of us special.
we had a class lunch today at the jap restaurant near my school(defined by 20 minutes walk). we really spent a long time eating and talking. only a third of the class turned up. but hey, about the same number turned up for class. so that's hardly surprising. it's really sad that i'm seeing really little of rika lately. but then she's having some kind of small party cum house warming this friday and i just might be able to go. she's just gone and rented an apartment outside school.
and yeah. as one can see, i'm happy today. even though my feet are so intensely painful that they'r egiving me a headache. and my shoes are so uncomfortable that they're giving me blood clots in my toenails. i walked for hours today.
bi-tao and i couldn't decide where we wanted to go by bus or train. so we decided to start from the school and just walk to wherever our feet might take us. passed by several houses built in the era of the French settlement and tried to get the guards to let us in. went past Ambrosia which was once a German official's house now converted into a restaurant. sat on the park benches till the guard chased us away. and walked around and around. came across so many shops selling cheap and unique clothing. litle boutique shops so unlike the large departmental stores. sure, my dad continually tells me of the SH he's so used to seeing from a vehicle. the large complxes along the busy streets. but i've been seeing it on a small scale. the little back streets and alleys. we just walked in on those little lanes today and saw what the really old houses look like. the same ones which are disappearing at an increasingly fast pace these days.
and when we were just too tired after walking a whole afternoon. we stoped for dinner at yoshinoya. a dinner which lasted for 2 hours. that's pretty normal these days. the amount people can talk. the same people we meet everyday but always with loads of things to say. cabbed home.
and there's that absolutely wonderful korean show which i love watching! which my dad thinks is gradually eating my IQ away. must shower. cya!
Monday, May 15, 2006
i'm at home feasting on take-out and Friends. now, Friends is yummy. but take-out is ackk. i mean, under normal circumstances one will call it yummy. but not anymore. next time, i'm picking up a salad instead.
Friends is really nice. i'm almost completely done with the first season. it's such a change from your melodrama. especially me, who's so used to watching episode after episode of drama, a comedy is quite so different. and watching the chemistry develop is so sweet.
ross is absolutely sweet. the way he just pines after rachel. and the scene where Marseille wakes up is so so sweet.
urgh. i'm getting cold feet. how ready am i?
had a really lazy weekend. involved lots of eating and lazing around. my dad and i trooped to the bookstore and i tried hunting down Brokeback Mountain to no avail. the foreign language bookstore is horribly disorganized. looks like the books are arranged according to their publisher or something.
but the largest bookstore there was pretty amazing. sure thing, i probably didn't understand what was there. but there's just so many books and some actually look like they're calling me to read them.
bought the Coldplay X&Y cd at the cd shop upstairs. and i'm listening to it now. trying to go for another of those music evolution things but i guess one can't force it huh? i'm still pretty much a fan of music which one can sing and hold the tune for it. now, this is a little tricky.
had class today. one of the worst compositions i've ever written. it's what you call a Shuo Ming Wen. explanatory essay? at the beginning, i was striving for good grades, then it became "anything so long as people can understand'., and eventually it was reduced to 'so long as i understand'. which even that is doubtful. as we were left with topics like describe the cooking process for a dish, or a place of interest etc. i mean, ever wondered how one differentiates a dessertspoon from a tablespoon? or how about basting? or skewers? or spread-eagle? i mean, these technical terms are completely beyond me.
