Happy New Year

Well, it is officially 2007! I cannot believe that another year is done and a new one is starting... wow, time flies. This time last year there is no way that I would have ever thought that I would be in China, but here I am. It has been awhile since I have posted anything, so I do not know where to begin, so I will start with Christmas.

Christmas was surprisingly wonderful. This was my first Christmas away from my family, and I have to admit that I kind of missed the craziness of my family, but all things considered my Christmas was great. 9 of us went to Hong Kong. We split up into two groups: the hotel group and the hostel group (I was in the hotel group). There were four of us girls (Tarah, Jackie, Laura, and I) that hung out the whole time (except for Christmas day we met up with everyone else). Hong Kong was such a breath of fresh air. When we first got there and had to take a cab it was fun to learn that they drive on the wrong (well, I guess it is right for them) side of the road since they were ruled by Britain. I felt like I was in Toad's Wild Ride everytime I was in taxi; it was so much fun. Our hotel was a four start hotel, but standards are a little different in China when it comes to room size because while we did order the "bigger" room, the room was not "big" and we had four girls to two twin beds needless to say it was a cozy room. Thank goodness we all like each other and nobody was kicked out of the room. But, it was so much fun because we brought all our Christmas presents to our room and a small Christmas tree and we all made stockings for eachother. On Christmas morning we opened our stockings and our presents and drank coffee and it was perfect. Even though my family was not there I felt like they were in the room when I opened my presents. Oh, and I got three stockings this year... I felt so spoiled. I love stockings, they could possibly be my favorite part of Christmas, and I got three of them!

I think the best part of Christmas was my excitement for my "american" bought presents. OK, I admit I LOVE the glasses my sister gave me and the slipper shoes from my grandma are awesome, but I havenever been so excited in all my life for Quaker Instant Oatmeal and Starbursts and Hot Tamales and Xmas M&Ms and gum and Soy Vay Teriyaki suace and Uptown Coffee. It is funny to think that oatmeal would make me so happy, but it is the small things in life.

Christmas day we met up with everyone else for lunch and watched the Nutcracker. After the Nutcracker we went to dinner at Outback Steakhouse. Man, do I miss steak. I really am not much of a meat eater, but who doesn't like a good steak?

Some other highlights in Hong Kong include but are not imited to: shopping for 3 hours in the Esprit Outlet, eating nachos two nights in a row for dinner, being in a city where people do not spit and pee on the streets (yes, they do that in Shanghai), being able to walk aimlessly with not agenda for 4 days, the bakery at our hotel with these apple pastries that were absolutely to die for, being able to get another stamp in my passport...

However, all good things have to come to an end. The last day Tarah and I were leaving on an earlier flight so we had to go to the train station first to cross over the Shenzhen (which is technically China b/c Hong Kong is not). Anyways, the bell hop was putting our stuff into a taxi, but our bags wouldn't fit in the trunk, so he pulled them out for us to take the next one. Well, he pulled almost all of them out because he forgot Tarah's duffel bag which had all her make up (and let say American bought products are not easy to find here, even if the label says "Made in China"), toiletries, books, oh, and her ticket. So we are 3 hours before our flight, but by the time we leave the hotel, get to the train station, cross the border check, and get to the airport it takes just over 2 hours, so we were already pushing it. The hotel is calling the cab company and trying to view the tapes to see if they can get the number of the cab, but no luck, while I am freaking out about our flight, and Tarah is just trying to not get too pissed. We decide that Jackie and Laura can file the police report, but Tarah and I need to leave, and just hope that her passport will be enough for her to get her ticket. Now we have less that 2 1/2 hours... time is ticking. So we get on the train, and now we have to go across the border crossing, declare everything, blah, blah, blah. We are running dow the halls with our huge bags, manageme to get in all the slowest lines, but we make it through. Now, it is 6 pm, our flight leaves at 7:30, but it takes at least30-45 min to get to the airport oh, and we have to find a shuttle. Luck would have it that as soon as we get into the parking lot a man sees our huge bags and assumes we are needing to go to the airport. He grabs my hand and we are not running, dragging our bags, and he takes us to this car. Now, I know that we should not get into random, umarked shuttles, but now it is 6:10 and we have to check our luggage by 7. Oh, I forget to mention the ridiculous price they were going to charge us, so we had to bargain some, but we decided that we had no other options. As we get on the road we are hit with traffic and the slowest driver in China. Usually they dart and swerve, but not her. Usually I would like this type of a driver, but not when you are late and we were still unsure about Tarah's ticket. As I look at my watch that now says 6:47 I can only think that there is no way... but alas, an airport sign. We pull up to the drop off zome and are sprinting down the terminal. We go to a window, but of course it is the wrong terminal. Crap! We take off sprinting... 6:57 as we get to terminal B the clock reads 6:59. I run to a windwo (Tarah has to go to a different one). As I get to the counter, the clock changes to 7, but I get me ticket; I look over and Tarah has hers too. Yes! There is a God! Our panic turns to dilerium which turns to laughter. Oh, but we still need to board. We get to our plane at 7:15... 15 minutes to spare. Finally, as we sit down a sense of relief falls over us.

When we finally get into Shanghai I can only think about how happy I will be to be in my bed. We get in line to get a taxi. When it is our turn to get the taxi the driver pulls the line that he doesn't know where we live, which is bull. Drivers say that b/c they don'tlike driving us b/c we don;t live far enough away to make it worth while. Luckily one of my students happened to be on our flight, so his parents help us out and reluntantly the driver takes us home. Oh, but he is the one driver that wasn't lying and really didn't kow where live so he missed the exit and it took us about half an hour longer than it should've. When we finally arrived to the living quarters I was so happy but so exhausted from the craziness of the day. Then a thought crossed my mind, "I don't think I ave my key." Normally not a big deal, but since my roommates were on the later flight kind of an issue. I drag my 60 lb suit case up two flights of stairs to my apt, and my assumption was right... no key. I try to get a guard to help me, but he doesn't know English and I don't know Chinese so I call a friend to help, but of course my battery dies (and it is now 11:45 pm). I debate whether or not I should go to Tarah's, which would require me to carry my bag down the stairs of my apt and up 5 flights of stairs to hers or to just sleep at my door. I decide to not be a bum, and I somehow managed to get my bag upthe stairs and crashed on her couch. As soon as my head hit her couch I was out.

Well, I made it back to Shanghai, woke up the next morning and started back to work. While the ending of the trip was a little crazy, Hong Kong and Christmas were perfect.