Our Adventure

Hello There-
I decided to blog again, and I haven't decided what to blog about just yet, but I am sure it will come to me soon. I think I will start with answering the question that everyone has been asking me. "So what does one do in China?"
Well, Aubrey and I tend to have this sort of habit of trying yummy looking Korean candy. Which I have decided is overall noticeably better than Chinese candy. And I CAN tell a difference because Korean characters are more curved and have lots of circles. Whereas Chinese characters look threatening and kinda scary. They are big and squarish and practically scream, "If you knew what we said, you would burst into tears!!" Or, is just the fact that learning to read them seems completely impossible? I will get back to you on that...I haven't quite decided yet. But I digress. Other things one can do in China. Karaoke. Karaoke, for me, is a love\hate relationship. I love going with my friends and hanging out and listening to people sing their musically talented hearts out. Whether that be the Korean rap that a couple of my friends prefer, the multitude of Eagles of songs my Father enjoys, or the Avril Lavigne that Aubrey sings at the top of her lungs. I love hearing OTHER people express themselves through singing. I, on the other hand, am one of those people who, like my father (Sorry Daddy) should not sing in public. Ever. So when your sister asks you to hold the mic for her and then shoves you up from your of oh-so-comfortable sitting position to sing 'Complicated' by our dear friend, the aforementioned, Avril Lavigne. It makes your life, well, COMPLICATED. So, don't get me wrong. I'm not scared to sing, I am just...concerned. For everyone else in my company who would be perhaps SCARRED by a very bad musical performance. Given, It was fun. Although I had to pretend I couldn't hear myself hitting notes that only dogs could hear.
Something else you can do in China...um...JUSCO! You can go to Jusco (Kinda like a chinse mall with a supermarket inside) with your friends and look in the stores at clothing that look like they wouldn't ever fit anyone with curves. You can get tokens and play arcade games and watch people fail\show-off (it doesn't seem there is middle ground) at Dance Dance Revolution. And they recently got photo booths! They are absolutely amazing. You go and tell the lady (or your good friend who speaks fluent chinese, whom I suggest does this part) how many you want, if you want backgrounds, stickers, or weird frames. (I advise you to skip these things, they are honestly really cheesy) and then you go in and take the pictures. The Photo Booths are super fun. You can also go eat at 'CoolCoolLemon' which is like a juice bar type dealie. And they have this juice that is called Lemon Kumquat and I have no idea what it is. But its delicious. It tastes like lemonade only it has these little eyeball looking things floating all in it. They taste sweet and I have no idea what they are. I don't plan on asking, actually. Aubrey likes to get their Mango Smoothies which are phenomenal. Gentry prefers Watermelon Juice. And get this, okay, you watch them make it all. I pointed (I'm not fluent yet so shush it) at the little menu and the cut off a chunk of watermelon and stuck it in the blender and when it was liquidy they poured it into a cup and handed it to me. Crazy Straw is included.
Thats all I can really think of that you can do that anyone would find interesting. So I will think of another topic on which to talk about. Ah-another frequently asked question just came to mind. "So how is school going?" And my answer is.....(drum roll here)....well. I enjoy almost every aspect of it. First period is....interesting. Each day isn't the same. It alternates between either Chinese class, (which is very..um...enriching?) or Gym. Yes, the one that Mr. Sneed teaches. Oh, and for those of you who are wondering. I call him Daddy. I will always call him Daddy. None of this Mr. Sneed stuff. In Gym we have started our 'Fitness for Life' program. Now everyday we have to bring clothes to change into because we run\briskly walk for about 15-20 minutes. And I am sure that most of you are thinking, "Laurel? Laurel Paige? Didn't her school activities extend to Quiz Bowl last year?" Yes, Yes they did. And because of that I own not ONE PAIR, NOT ONE FREAKIN PAIR of exercise pants. So I have to wear...my dads. I have to wear his Razorback athletic pants because they are the only pants he owns with a drawstring. Not that I have anything against the Arkansas Razorbacks (WHOOOOO PIGG SOOOIIIIEEE-take that Nathan! Oh, he's my friend from Georgia. Enough said. Kidding Mother!!!) I just wish that I could wear my jeans all day and not have to change in the bathrooms. Oh and FYI it is HARD to change from Nike running shoes to Converse sitting on a closed toilet lid. And I won't even go into detail about changing from pants that are several several SEVERAL sizes too large to skinny jeans. *shiver*
Second period is...um-well- I think I should skip this one. My second period class is Geometry. And for the past THREE weeks we have been cutting, folding, and gluing these little one inch tall paper triangles. I hate them. I hate them with an unbelievable passion. We had to make about 1,000 (no exaggeration I AM DEAD SERIOUS) of these little things. So we could make a giant Sierpinski Triangle that is about 4 feet tall and several more feet wide. It was a complete waste of time, not to mention paper. We probably knocked out several acres of the rainforest for something that I am sure most of the high school population wants to burn. I started that movement.
Third period is Biology! I actually enjoy this class although its probably mostly because of the teacher. Mrs. Coclea is so smart and she has the sweetest personality. You could talk to her for hours about anything. The last chapter we did was the reproductive anatomy. We talked about everything from giving birth to when you start getting gray hair. And EVERYTHING in between. The fact that she was able to teach that to all of high school only strengthens my theory that she can talk about anything.
Fourth period is English. I love my English class. We have an awesome teacher in here too. Mr. Jarman (yes the same one that teaches Drama) recently assigned us a portfolio that requires us to use six of the different text types. You have to choose one topic to cover each one the text types. The topics vary for each person but some of the ones I have heard mentioned by my class mates were: board-games, sleeping, ice-cream, and iPods. I am stuck between the bands Green Day and My Chemical Romance.
Fifth period is History. Which Mr. Sneed\Daddy teaches. We are learning about the Mongols and Samurai's and different Chinese Dynasty's. Its a really interesting class. Our first week we were assigned to partners whom we had to write and act in a talk show with. Guess who ended up being the chinese concubine, Wu Zhao? Yeah, yours truly. Given she did rule the throne and was the only female in history to assume the title emperor but...still. I did have fun by borrowing my dear friend Becca's, she's in fourth grade, big chinese headband covered in flowers to help make me look the part. Because, you know, I totally looked Chinese to begin with. Oh, and once a week we play scrabble as a review game. Fun times, my friend.
Sixth period is either Photography or Reading. Photography is an awesome class where we learn how a camera works, different technical terms of types of photos, and how to edit them. I love it. We also go on field trips to get different types of shots. Last week, in fact, we were each assigned a teacher to shadow and take pictures of without being seen. Guess who I drew? Mr. Sneed. No Joke. Of all the teachers I had to get one I was blood related to. Turns out you can get lots of interesting pictures of teachers without them noticing if they are teaching the 2nd grade PE class. And I also learned that 2nd Graders+Bean bags=chaos. How my Father stays sane, I have no clue.
Reading is a fun class. Well it was. Until my mother gave us a seating arrangement. So now I don't sit between Aubrey and my 6th grade friend Mandy. I sit in the corner between a cabinet and this really nice quiet girl whose name I need to learn.
Seventh Period is awesome too. It switches between Drama and Art. Art is...okay. You know how I mentioned how much I happen to hate triangles thanks to Geometry. Guess what we are sketching in Art? FLIPPIN TRIANGLES.
Drama on the other hand is absolutely hysterical. For those of you who read my previously written blog entry know a little bit of what its like. I actually since then have been cast in a short skit involving three gunmen. Their names are: Mr. Fuchsia, Mr. Mauve, and Mr. Puce. I am Mr. Puce. I hate that word...puce...ew...its kinda like the word pleasure...BLECH...can't stand it...anyway, I'll shut up now. How the heck did I even get on that subject? Whatever-anyway. Its a hilarious skit that involves all three of them constantly having their guns at each other's heads and their conversations while doing so. Mr. Fuchsia has an obsession with blowing up people's brains, Mr. Mauve has to pee the whole time, and Mr. Puce corrects everyone's grammar. Its quite the acting experience. When we have time left in class we play one of the best games ever invented: Party Quirks. Basically someone is hosting a party and three people go out in the hall and decide what kind of quirk they should have. The last time we played, my friend Mary was a woman who suddenly goes into labor, my other friend Christina was a Tae-Kwan-Do (how the heck do you spell that) master who thought the party host was her padawan or whatever they are called, and I was a penguin.
So that is just a taste of what my school life is like..and it took a very long time to explain. And I am out of time for now to continue on this blog. So I bid all of you a very happy St. Patrick's Day and advise you to celebrate it passionately!

So long and Farewell-

Laurel