All-Star Weekend

I missed it. All the festivities of All-Star Weekend. Because I am in China and didn't want to pay for my TV to work. Lame. Instead, I watched this video: Vinsanity. I've seen it over and over again and it just doesn't get old. I'm pretty sure I just saw a cockroach scuttle from my bathroom into my dorm room wall. China.

Anyway, some of you might ask how my last week has been! It's been good. I've branched out from just hanging out with Californians to hanging out with various Mexican, New Zealand, Japanese, Guinean, American, Ukrainian, and other peoples. It's been pretty fun. I've now been to a total of six clubs in Shanghai. All of them reek of tobacco smoke. Like seriously reek. I guess there are no laws about smoking inside here so it's legitimately like second-hand smoking several packs of cigarettes. Also, the smell is like impossible to get out. With my new international friends, I've gotten a chance to practice a ton of ... English. We haven't started Chinese classes yet so I've been speaking English to them as our only form of communication. I have, however, been starting to learn Japanese and Spanish (again) and refreshing some French. Also, I picked up a couple Ukrainian phrases.

While shopping in the underground market (not illegal, just under the ground) by the Shanghai Museum of Science and Technology, I went into a nice store that sold like fake designer button-down shirts and stuff. The point of the story is that I got two shirts, two ties, a hankerchief, and a set of cufflinks for about $30 (US). However, inside the store there was an Asian boy. I mean besides me. My friends that I was shopping with were convinced that 1. he was super cute and 2. he was absolutely gay. The guy that was with us apparently was gay also. Since I was the only one of the four of us who had any Chinese experience, it was apparently up to me to invite him out that night, ask for a picture, get his number, and ask if the gay guy with us could get a kiss. I got no for an answer, got a picture and his number, and there was no gay kissing. Success?

My health is doing fine so far. I had a bowl of ma la tang (spicy soup?), which is kind of like a solo super-cheap hot pot place. Actually I had two bowls, but I'm pretty sure my last four days of straight stomachaches can be attributed to the second bowl. Anyway, the way the ma la tang place works is that you pick everything you want in your soup (I picked tofu skin, bok choy, noodles, mushrooms, and some other crap) and then they just toss it into a huge pot and make it for you with their soup base. I'm pretty sure it gave me extended food poisoning. That or a similar stomach virus that I got last summer while I was here that basically incapacitated me. I hope it's not that though. Speaking of health, I got to see my grandmother four or five days ago, which was nice. Her health is apparently improving quite rapidly, which is good. I would appreciate prayers for both our healths. After I visited my grandmother, my uncle took me out for dinner. I ate some pigeon. It was quite fragrant. That's a word they use a lot in China, particularly in relation to food.

Classes start tomorrow and last night I only got four hours of sleep, so I'm gonna go sleep now. I'm pretty tired. I'll write again really soon with other random thoughts. Comment so I know you are alive! Also it makes my day!