post jinan updates

god freaking damn it i really miss jinan. i don't even know what ABOUT it i miss the most; maybe it's the friends... maybe it's the freedom and independence. anyways, whatever it is, I DON'T HAVE IT HERE IN HONG KONG. what i have instead is a family of about 8 constantly bickering, throwing insults and making subversive snide comments under wasted breath. SO STUPID. i am at my wits end; i can't even imagine how my aunt feels, having to live with an amnesiac grandfather and an extremely grouchy grandma who HATES said grandpa. hong kong itself is brilliant, food EVERYWHERE... i uh, found some philly cream cheese in the grocery store (which they didn't have in jinan) and promptly bought some wheat buns (which is also nonexistent in jinan) and ATE THE ENTIRE BLOCK OF CREAM CHEESE IN TWO DAYS. nomnomnom.

that's right. that's what deprivation will do to you, man, it'll drive you insane and make you binge like bloody hell on what you've been missing.

that being said, i wish i could binge on my friends.
alison, hofit, ana, kim, everybody who is reading this- please please please leave me some love on the facebook, because internet is fucking limited and aside from ladyboy massages and a constant flow of heavily liquored drinks in the philippines, it's the only and best kind of relief i can get: the mental kind.

i didn't realize that my family was so irritating. it didn't used to be this way. grandpa has gotten SO foggy. it's really upsetting. and my grandma is still sharp as a tack and she is incredibly irritated with him. she refuses to sit near him. she refuses to look at him or talk to him. i don't even want to get into it. long story short, tensions are running super high. this is my once in a life time chance to have the entire family together, going on a vacation together... and it's already bordering on HELL... and the said vacation hasn't even really started.

i really can't wait to get home. i have been dreaming of pizza, speaking english with familiar faces, and wireless internet.

i'm a simple girl.

happy holidays, everybody. talk to you soon.
and see you in 2009.
<3

gone going gone

Hey, it's 4:42am and I'm leaving Jinan in a few minutes.
I had a great semester and I'm going to miss everybody so so so so so much!
I'll be back online when I arrive in Hong Kong (around 11am).
<3!

GREAT SUCCESS

What I did today:

1) Finished writing 52 page final at 12:34am. Single spaced.
2) Fell asleep and woke up at 7am. Showered.
3) Studied until 12pm.
4) Ate lunch from 12-1pm. Complained.
5) Studied from 1-2pm. Freaked out.
6) Took the Intensive Reading Final from 2-4pm.
7) Took the Speaking Skills Final from 4-5pm. KICKED ASS.
8) Edited/Proofread/Completely Redid a friend's 10 page paper from 5-10:30pm.
9) Ate ice cream from until 11pm. Got hugged from previous friend. And rained on by tears of joy from said friend.
10) Blogged.

Yep.


I am now OFFICIALLY COMPLETELY FINISHED with my semester in China!

HUZZAH!
Now to packing. :]

PS: This is really cute: yogurt box kitty

5 DAYS! and updates

OMGOMGOMG! 5 DAYS!
so insane! i still have tons to do.
this update will be short- basically i have all of my finals on thursday. that gives me friday to pack! and i leave saturday morning at 5am. OMGOMGOMG so crazy!

UPDATES!
Guess what I am doing for X-Mas!?

I'M GOING TO THE PHILIPPINES!!! CEBU, to be exact! At this resort: www.plantationbay.com. I can't wait!!! :] Thanks, Aunt Amy! What a great surprise. It's going to awesome. My whole family will be there!!! What a reunion, eh?

Time has really flown by. It's time to hunker down and get through these next few days!
Talk to you guys later!
<3

rant/crunch time.

Insane. 10 more days in Jinan and that's all I have left until my vacation/family reunion in Hong Kong. It's CRRRRUNCH TIME, BABY! 

I'm so excited to see everybody again. It's kind of unreal how fast the time flies. I've been meaning to blog but I've been absolutely swamped with work. I spent this past weekend in the study room on the 5th floor, basically holed up for 9 hours a day on my laptop just TYPING and reading. And you know what sucks? That NONE of it was for my Chinese classes! Ugh. Insert rant here... Basically I am so concentrated on the "Cities In Transition" course study that I haven't got time to review the new Chinese vocab and grammar structures that I'm learning every week . I'm studying the Baotu Springs for my site, and it's really intricate, extensive, and time-consuming. It's fascinating and I like what I'm doing, but I guess I didn't expect it to take this much time out of my life here in Jinan. It's gonna be worth it, though, because my final project is frickin' sweet and my fieldnotes are awesome. (brag brag brag). These next 10 days are going to be riotous hell, though. There are the things I need to do before I leave Jinan:

- Get Mary and Sage to figure out their pet shipping/travel plans because they need to ship Link to California! Therefore I need to basically hold onto him until they figure out what they're doing with... this whole thing.

- Packing! Oh shit! Packing! This shouldn't be that bad seeing as I think I'll still be able to pack everything up (aka) I didn't buy that much shit here in Jinan.

- Study for THREE CHINESE FINALS! Since I'm leaving on December 20th, before the actual Shandong semester ends, I have to take my finals earlier. This sucks because: a) I have so much other shit to do and b) I have so much other shit to do and c) I have SOOOO much shit to do.

- Buy gifts for friends! I guess I can do this in Hong Kong, too. (This is not important, but it's self explanatory, and also something I want to do. But on my list of priorities, this is kind of next to remembering to put on makeup. So it's not high on my list AT ALL.)

- Cities In Transition Work: I still have approximately 2 major assignments (meaning pages upon pages of fieldnotes, questions, and analysis ... each.) to polish up and send in to Natalie (because my fieldwork has taken so long to condense and organize), wait for her comments and suggestions, and then start on the final project progress report. (Which is a whole 'nother huge bucket of worms.)

- The Final Project Progress Report: Basically what this entire semester abroad boils down to. It's a 1,500 word minimum essay, another 1,000 word minimum essay, and entire compilation of ALL the fieldnotes (I have like... journals full) I've done on the Baotu Springs, several appendices, bibliographies, and I also have to remember to bring home hard copies/ evidence (like tickets, reciepts, pamphlets, news articles that I should've amassed in my time studying the Springs)....THIS THING IS GOING TO BE HUGE AND BEAUTIFUL! I am pretty optimistic about the direction I'm going with this project (I'm actually kind of proud of myself at the moment... we'll see how I feel in about a week when it's REALLY CRUNCH TIME.) so the only thing I'm scared about is the time that I have to do this, and all of the ABOVE things I've mentioned.

- I was thinking of applying for a Kappa Delta Appointed Position of SET Leader, but I'm pretty sure I missed the deadline. I'm also trying to consider everything next semester with classes and shit... it may be a bad idea.

- I also have to do buttloads of surveys and course evaluations for this past semester. Eep! More paperwork! Fuck!

----------------------

I haven't completely lost my sanity, though. Things are okay. My friends are all battling their own demons alongside me so we're all in this shit together. I'm going to be so sad to leave them!! :( Jinan has really grown on me! I'll post later and keep you guys updated on this crazy crazy crazy crazy next week and a half!!!

<3

thoughts!

Hi everybody! I just realized that I am leaving Jinan in exactly 16 days! Crazy shit, right? And I still don't know what I'm doing for finals... seeing as the chinese semester ends sometime in January. We'll see what happens with that. Anyways, I just wanted to blog about some thoughts I've been having. They're slightly related to this study abroad; I'm not too sure what spurred these thoughts, but lately I haven't been able to stop thinking about the fuuuuutureee. It's not that I'm antsy to get there, but I'm really really really curious. I'm well aware of the "immediate plans" at the moment, like... cleaning my room... classes tomorrow... classes the day after that... the weekend... fast forward two weeks and I'll be in Hong Kong... then X-Mas... then the New Year... then back to Kansas... and then school. Okay, so that takes me to about.. mid-January. How's that for looking ahead? No, but in all seriousness- I've been thinking about summer plans and maybe even NEXT summer's plans. I'm definitely looking to get out of Kansas and get started with jobs/internships that have to do with improving my Chinese skill, building a resume, etc etc. This summer, I'm still not too sure what exactly I want to do- I can always come home to Bo Lings and work at the restaurant again, makin' the good money like I always do... it's a safe bet. However, the summer after that will hopefully be different. Summer after I graduate means NO MORE KANSAS. This is my tentative plan! I'd like to live somewhere in a big city- or somewhere near a big city. I'm looking at Chicago, Minneapolis, Madison, or even so out to Green Bay or Milwaukee. I'm really leaning towards the first two because I have family in both cities. :] It's more convenient, in my opinion, to have at least ONE person you know. Anyways, in regards to Chicago/MPLS, I know a ton of people there. And there are a ton more reasons that I'd like to get myself movin' up and out. I'll spare the details. On another note, I've been feeling really happy lately; like I'm finally stepping up and taking the reigns when it comes to "growing up," I guess. I don't know how to word it... I guess, I'm just trying to say, I'm ready. And for once in a really long time, I feel way more secure with myself than I have been. I'm going to roll with it and hopefully take the leap. I'm used to making plans and then making excuses for not following through, but god damn it , I am putting my foot down and I am going to make an executive decision to stay firm and DO SOMETHING WITH LIFE! Blarg. Thanks for listening. Just had to get that outttt! :]

PS: HEY GUYS!- I know I'm really shitty with uploading photos and crap; I haven't quite figured out how to make thumbnails of photos all pretty-like, so instead, I'm going to link you to some recent photos of my adventures in Shandong! (So click, Mom. CLICK ON THE LINK) Haha, okay. Love you guys!

Pagoda on Mountain (I ended up climbing the mountain in the background)

Intense King-Protector of Buddha

Gorgeous Trees by the Pagoda

My kitten, Link

He is so cute; I think he deserves two pictures.

Okay I lied, maybe one more. He is REALLY cute.

The view outside of my room... on the 6th floor... of the dorm that does NOT have an elevator.

Thanks! Enjoy :]