China
I haven't updated in a long long time, but I really have nothing to say about life in Japan. Work is work, life is life, I have fallen into a routine and it's comfortable. Except, they are thinking about closing my school sometime in the near future because the company is bleeding money, so if that's the case I will need to start looking for another job pronto. But, I'm not thinking about it, really.
So in Japan there is a big holiday called Golden Week. This year, I got a whopping 10 days off, and only had to use 1 personal day. So, with that many days, my friend Sarah and I went to China to visit our friend Katie who moved to Shanghai. We stayed in her apartment and then we all went to Beijing for the weekend. All in all, it was a great time, and Shanghai is a wonderful city. I would definitely love to live there someday, but never by myself. I'd need some friends around to hang out with.
Here is a list of my favorite and least favorite things about China:
Scams - You can't trust a single person in China. There is a famous spot in Shanghai called People's Square, and there are groups of people who come up to you and ask you to take their picture and say how beautiful you are, etc. Then, they mention going to a Tea Ceremony that only happens once every 3 years and it's a chance to speak English with many different people (More english more fun!) I guess if you go with them, they take you to a tea house with no price list, and when you get the bill it's like 100 bucks a cup of tea and the chinese people bail and leave you to pay the bill. Luckily Sarah and I are too antisocial so we never went, but after getting asked 3 times in one afternoon, Sarah and I created out own scam that we were honeymooning and she even bought a ring. In the middle of one scam, we were talking and the lady mentioned a tea ceremony, and we just said, "yeah we went earlier today! We heard it only happens once every 3 years? It was so awesome." The woman's eyes popped out of her head and she was like, "Oh really? *chinese chinese chinese to her friend* Well, we have to go!" It was hilarious.
Fake stuff - In China, Shanghai especially, there are a lot of fake brand name things ready to be purchased. You have to be careful because the airport checks bags and they will take anything they think is fake. But anyway, when you go into a store, they have real merchandise on the front with price tags on it, but in their Anne Frank inspired secret rooms, they have bags, wallets, belts, sunglasses, anything you could ever want. Gucci, Prada, Coach, Louie, it was brand name heaven. But you have to barter for this stuff, because the first price the people give you is totally outrageous. It's best to start by giving 1/3 their price and then just work up from there, but don't go too far from your original because then you're getting ripped off. It's such a rush, though. I wanted to barter for everything in China. We went to the Great Wall, and I wanted to buy water, so this girl said "that's 7 RMB" and I said "I'll give you 5!" and she said ok. I bartered for water. Anyway, on my trip, I bought a louis vuitton wallet, a pair of armani and oakley sunglasses, and a Sinobi watch. Sarah bought a Coach and a Prada bag, a Gucci watch, Prada and Dior sunglasses. All of my purchases were probably only 60 bucks. I also bought fake DVDs. I bought the entire series of Charmed, Sex and the City, Queer as Folk, and Six Feet Under. the Charmed DVDs were a big disappointment because some disks don't work, but the Six Feet Under disks are actual rips from the real DVDs so I am really happy I spent a little extra on them.
Chinese money - China is so cheap. The biggest bill in China is 100 RMB which equals about 15 dollars. When you first get to China you're like, WOW everything is so cheap, and you blow through money, but after staying for a while, you start to say "70 RMB?? Too EXPENSIVE!" A lot of stored won't take 100 bills because they think they are fake, or if you need change it will clean out their drawer. An average meal at a restaurant cost us about 60-70 RMB (9 or 10 bucks) and we ate a lot. I loved China for that. The subways in Shanghai were 4 RMB (60 cents) and in Beijing they were 2. Bus tickets were 1. Taxis are so cheap in China so many people just take a taxi all the time. In Beijing, we paid a taxi driver 600 RMB (less than 100 bucks) to be our personal driver all day. He picked us up at the hotel, took us to the great wall, waited 2 hrs for us, took us to the beijing zoo, picked us up, and took us back to the hotel. So awesome! Not every driver will do that, though, so you have to be careful.
Karaoke - In China, Karaoke is called KTV, and it's not as great as Japanese, but it still serves a purpose. One problem is that the drink menu was totally overpriced (A coke was 30 RMB, around 5 bucks),and the staff waited outside our door watching us... it was so creepy. When we went in, we asked how much it was, and the woman said 100 RMB for an hour which isn't too bad... but when we finished, she said "Oh by the way, there is a 100 RMB "tip" charge." So we fought it because she had never mentioned it before... our bill was 160 RMB because of 2 cokes, and everyone was getting so frustrated so we gave them 200 RMB and told them to keep the change and pretty much fuck off...
What else did I do in China...? Oh yeah, I got my nails done haha. I was living with 3 girls in Shanghai and they wanted to get manicures, so I went along. We went to this place called Diva Nails or something. A Diva manicure is 100 RMB, and on Thursdays you get a free cocktail included. Unfortunately we went on Sunday, but I got a manicure and a mango martini. I didn't get polish or anything, but my hands actually looked pretty sexy afterwards.
Also I took a cooking class and learned how to make steamed dumplings and the chinese version of mochi. If I had a big kitchen I'd totally make it again, but I'll have to wait until I have some more room. The class was taught only in Chinese, but Chinese people are so much more emotional than Japanese, so they lady didn't hesitate to tell me I was fucking up which was good.
All in all, China was a great trip. I did everything I wanted to do, and it was great to get out of Japan for a while. I learned some Chinese and I got to use what I knew already. I may think about moving to Shanghai someday.
If you wanna see pics, check out these facebook albums:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2031856&id=66600082&l=0ddf3c34e4
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2031857&id=66600082&l=fc59c11586
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2031858&id=66600082&l=51ed9c05a5
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2031859&id=66600082&l=031d354e63
And thats all for me. I'll try not to be a stranger for years again.
So in Japan there is a big holiday called Golden Week. This year, I got a whopping 10 days off, and only had to use 1 personal day. So, with that many days, my friend Sarah and I went to China to visit our friend Katie who moved to Shanghai. We stayed in her apartment and then we all went to Beijing for the weekend. All in all, it was a great time, and Shanghai is a wonderful city. I would definitely love to live there someday, but never by myself. I'd need some friends around to hang out with.
Here is a list of my favorite and least favorite things about China:
Scams - You can't trust a single person in China. There is a famous spot in Shanghai called People's Square, and there are groups of people who come up to you and ask you to take their picture and say how beautiful you are, etc. Then, they mention going to a Tea Ceremony that only happens once every 3 years and it's a chance to speak English with many different people (More english more fun!) I guess if you go with them, they take you to a tea house with no price list, and when you get the bill it's like 100 bucks a cup of tea and the chinese people bail and leave you to pay the bill. Luckily Sarah and I are too antisocial so we never went, but after getting asked 3 times in one afternoon, Sarah and I created out own scam that we were honeymooning and she even bought a ring. In the middle of one scam, we were talking and the lady mentioned a tea ceremony, and we just said, "yeah we went earlier today! We heard it only happens once every 3 years? It was so awesome." The woman's eyes popped out of her head and she was like, "Oh really? *chinese chinese chinese to her friend* Well, we have to go!" It was hilarious.
Fake stuff - In China, Shanghai especially, there are a lot of fake brand name things ready to be purchased. You have to be careful because the airport checks bags and they will take anything they think is fake. But anyway, when you go into a store, they have real merchandise on the front with price tags on it, but in their Anne Frank inspired secret rooms, they have bags, wallets, belts, sunglasses, anything you could ever want. Gucci, Prada, Coach, Louie, it was brand name heaven. But you have to barter for this stuff, because the first price the people give you is totally outrageous. It's best to start by giving 1/3 their price and then just work up from there, but don't go too far from your original because then you're getting ripped off. It's such a rush, though. I wanted to barter for everything in China. We went to the Great Wall, and I wanted to buy water, so this girl said "that's 7 RMB" and I said "I'll give you 5!" and she said ok. I bartered for water. Anyway, on my trip, I bought a louis vuitton wallet, a pair of armani and oakley sunglasses, and a Sinobi watch. Sarah bought a Coach and a Prada bag, a Gucci watch, Prada and Dior sunglasses. All of my purchases were probably only 60 bucks. I also bought fake DVDs. I bought the entire series of Charmed, Sex and the City, Queer as Folk, and Six Feet Under. the Charmed DVDs were a big disappointment because some disks don't work, but the Six Feet Under disks are actual rips from the real DVDs so I am really happy I spent a little extra on them.
Chinese money - China is so cheap. The biggest bill in China is 100 RMB which equals about 15 dollars. When you first get to China you're like, WOW everything is so cheap, and you blow through money, but after staying for a while, you start to say "70 RMB?? Too EXPENSIVE!" A lot of stored won't take 100 bills because they think they are fake, or if you need change it will clean out their drawer. An average meal at a restaurant cost us about 60-70 RMB (9 or 10 bucks) and we ate a lot. I loved China for that. The subways in Shanghai were 4 RMB (60 cents) and in Beijing they were 2. Bus tickets were 1. Taxis are so cheap in China so many people just take a taxi all the time. In Beijing, we paid a taxi driver 600 RMB (less than 100 bucks) to be our personal driver all day. He picked us up at the hotel, took us to the great wall, waited 2 hrs for us, took us to the beijing zoo, picked us up, and took us back to the hotel. So awesome! Not every driver will do that, though, so you have to be careful.
Karaoke - In China, Karaoke is called KTV, and it's not as great as Japanese, but it still serves a purpose. One problem is that the drink menu was totally overpriced (A coke was 30 RMB, around 5 bucks),and the staff waited outside our door watching us... it was so creepy. When we went in, we asked how much it was, and the woman said 100 RMB for an hour which isn't too bad... but when we finished, she said "Oh by the way, there is a 100 RMB "tip" charge." So we fought it because she had never mentioned it before... our bill was 160 RMB because of 2 cokes, and everyone was getting so frustrated so we gave them 200 RMB and told them to keep the change and pretty much fuck off...
What else did I do in China...? Oh yeah, I got my nails done haha. I was living with 3 girls in Shanghai and they wanted to get manicures, so I went along. We went to this place called Diva Nails or something. A Diva manicure is 100 RMB, and on Thursdays you get a free cocktail included. Unfortunately we went on Sunday, but I got a manicure and a mango martini. I didn't get polish or anything, but my hands actually looked pretty sexy afterwards.
Also I took a cooking class and learned how to make steamed dumplings and the chinese version of mochi. If I had a big kitchen I'd totally make it again, but I'll have to wait until I have some more room. The class was taught only in Chinese, but Chinese people are so much more emotional than Japanese, so they lady didn't hesitate to tell me I was fucking up which was good.
All in all, China was a great trip. I did everything I wanted to do, and it was great to get out of Japan for a while. I learned some Chinese and I got to use what I knew already. I may think about moving to Shanghai someday.
If you wanna see pics, check out these facebook albums:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2031856&id=66600082&l=0ddf3c34e4
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2031857&id=66600082&l=fc59c11586
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2031858&id=66600082&l=51ed9c05a5
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2031859&id=66600082&l=031d354e63
And thats all for me. I'll try not to be a stranger for years again.