twirling
i realised today that i'm not really doing the whole exchange thang properly. you think? maybe you're right after all, and the real reason i'm on exchange is to learn how to be a housewife. some people seem to think so.
jus. says:
ok wats the food like?
cannot be better than singapore rite?
growie chroeie (the plant version) says:
the food is v good
and i generally eat alot of veg/porridge which i cook at home haha.
jus. says:
haha.
boring.
u cook porridge?
growie chroeie (the plant version) says:
yup
jus. says:
i see ur training for ur future life as a wife
growie chroeie (the plant version) says:
yup im training for life as jon lau's wife...
poor jon lau...
he has to eat porridge and vegetables
AHHAHAAA
jus. says:
nvm
he likes bland food
ur perfect for each other
HA
your boyfriend, andrea :)
***
i was shamelessly excited last sunday when jolie's cousin brought us to a supermarket in 朝阳区 (chao2 yang2 qu1), chaoyang district (a.k.a District with Many Foreigners), which had shelves upon shelves of groceries all labelled in english.
and a chilled food section containing pats upon pats of butter, from lurpak to anchor (cheaper than in singapore!) to irish butter and president (no scs though), sold in 227g blocks. not that i'm a big fan of butter, but the mainland chinese seem averse to dairy products in general and butter is impossible to find at any supermarket near us. the mini-mart downstairs only sells it in sad 100g blocks, wrapped in gold foil with a picture of a cow on the front, the words 黄油 (huang2 you2) and BUTTER printed in large red letters. turn the block around and there is a haphazard description, in chinese, of where it was manufactured.
it was exciting and oddly comforting all at once, being in jenny lou's (name of abovementioned supermarket) - honestly, nothing that i've seen so far on my travels in china has come close to inspiring such strong feelings in me, besides maybe a weird number flashing as my phone rings, indicating that jon or my mother is calling me - and then there will also be feelings of dread and worry as i answer the phone, because once i'm out of beijing i have no more free incoming international calls.
some of the best times i've had on exchange so far, i think, are during my thursday law on international sales, finance and carriage classes. each class is four periods long, and each period is 45 minutes. which of course means we are Extremely Bored, Restless and Distracted by the time the first period ends. i will invariably end up sitting next to jinni somewhere near the back of the classroom, and while john shijian mo ploughs through the convention on contracts for the international sale of goods, article by article, in his heavily accented english, we will talk nonsense and write notes to each other and doodle and complain about how we're very bored.
for instance, thursday was my go-out-with-adele day before i came to beijing, so today i was thinking about how if we were both in singapore we could've gone for a movie and a cheap $10 manicure. so i held up my nails for jinni's inspection and whispered eh my nails this length can manicure or not, or need longer?
which prompted jinni to write vain! queen! on the piece of paper on which we were carrying out a conversation, and to start a List of That Which Indicates that Chloe is Actually Secretly Very Vain. i then proceeded to draw a crown for myself, to which she added a face and hair, and then she started drawing on the piece of paper with my cool green pencil highlighter, the usual flower-cloud-heart-smiley-face combination.
it's just like being back in secondary school, and there's even a bell for us to count the minutes off one by one, and they are everlasting.
in case you were interested, i cut my nails last night, so, no, as of now they have been judged as unfit for a manicure.
also, i've only ever been for one pedicure in my entire life and that was only because there was a foot-shin-calf massage involved.
furthermore, paul usually volunteers to buy milk tea with pearls after the first period. if he feels like it, he'll even cross the road to get it from my favourite franchise, 街客 (jie1 ke4) - i previously mentioned that i braved a sandstorm to purchase a cup. i'm already on hello-smile-how-are-you terms with the server there.
i treasure every long bus ride home from school, my mp3 player at a volume which can be heard just above the roar of the bus engine, faye wong and a*mei playing over and over again, and again. singing honestly and heartbreakingly tenderly about life and love, songs you can get lost in because they're real in all senses of the word; produced in an era when technology was less advanced and midi tracks uncommon.
i realised today that i'm not really doing the whole exchange thang properly. you think? maybe you're right after all, and the real reason i'm on exchange is to learn how to be a housewife. some people seem to think so.
jus. says:
ok wats the food like?
cannot be better than singapore rite?
growie chroeie (the plant version) says:
the food is v good
and i generally eat alot of veg/porridge which i cook at home haha.
jus. says:
haha.
boring.
u cook porridge?
growie chroeie (the plant version) says:
yup
jus. says:
i see ur training for ur future life as a wife
growie chroeie (the plant version) says:
yup im training for life as jon lau's wife...
poor jon lau...
he has to eat porridge and vegetables
AHHAHAAA
jus. says:
nvm
he likes bland food
ur perfect for each other
HA
your boyfriend, andrea :)
***
i was shamelessly excited last sunday when jolie's cousin brought us to a supermarket in 朝阳区 (chao2 yang2 qu1), chaoyang district (a.k.a District with Many Foreigners), which had shelves upon shelves of groceries all labelled in english.
and a chilled food section containing pats upon pats of butter, from lurpak to anchor (cheaper than in singapore!) to irish butter and president (no scs though), sold in 227g blocks. not that i'm a big fan of butter, but the mainland chinese seem averse to dairy products in general and butter is impossible to find at any supermarket near us. the mini-mart downstairs only sells it in sad 100g blocks, wrapped in gold foil with a picture of a cow on the front, the words 黄油 (huang2 you2) and BUTTER printed in large red letters. turn the block around and there is a haphazard description, in chinese, of where it was manufactured.
it was exciting and oddly comforting all at once, being in jenny lou's (name of abovementioned supermarket) - honestly, nothing that i've seen so far on my travels in china has come close to inspiring such strong feelings in me, besides maybe a weird number flashing as my phone rings, indicating that jon or my mother is calling me - and then there will also be feelings of dread and worry as i answer the phone, because once i'm out of beijing i have no more free incoming international calls.
some of the best times i've had on exchange so far, i think, are during my thursday law on international sales, finance and carriage classes. each class is four periods long, and each period is 45 minutes. which of course means we are Extremely Bored, Restless and Distracted by the time the first period ends. i will invariably end up sitting next to jinni somewhere near the back of the classroom, and while john shijian mo ploughs through the convention on contracts for the international sale of goods, article by article, in his heavily accented english, we will talk nonsense and write notes to each other and doodle and complain about how we're very bored.
for instance, thursday was my go-out-with-adele day before i came to beijing, so today i was thinking about how if we were both in singapore we could've gone for a movie and a cheap $10 manicure. so i held up my nails for jinni's inspection and whispered eh my nails this length can manicure or not, or need longer?
which prompted jinni to write vain! queen! on the piece of paper on which we were carrying out a conversation, and to start a List of That Which Indicates that Chloe is Actually Secretly Very Vain. i then proceeded to draw a crown for myself, to which she added a face and hair, and then she started drawing on the piece of paper with my cool green pencil highlighter, the usual flower-cloud-heart-smiley-face combination.
it's just like being back in secondary school, and there's even a bell for us to count the minutes off one by one, and they are everlasting.
in case you were interested, i cut my nails last night, so, no, as of now they have been judged as unfit for a manicure.
also, i've only ever been for one pedicure in my entire life and that was only because there was a foot-shin-calf massage involved.
furthermore, paul usually volunteers to buy milk tea with pearls after the first period. if he feels like it, he'll even cross the road to get it from my favourite franchise, 街客 (jie1 ke4) - i previously mentioned that i braved a sandstorm to purchase a cup. i'm already on hello-smile-how-are-you terms with the server there.
i treasure every long bus ride home from school, my mp3 player at a volume which can be heard just above the roar of the bus engine, faye wong and a*mei playing over and over again, and again. singing honestly and heartbreakingly tenderly about life and love, songs you can get lost in because they're real in all senses of the word; produced in an era when technology was less advanced and midi tracks uncommon.
none of the others like window seats, so i'm free to take them and stare out at the suddenly-green trees and wide expanse of sky. the trees really did turn green very suddenly, just last week they were still rather bare.
there is nothing like it, and i think that must be the best and nicest thing that's happened to me on exchange so far.
another nice thing, among the other nice things, is that i'm Owning jon at text twirl. you can also challenge me on facebook if you wish.
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