mmm... vacation!

here is my latest update for the week...

monday night didnt bring much excitement except for the usual class, ect, and that i've been continually good and kept my workout going. i dont think that im gaining any weight, hopefully losing its just so hard when your food options here are limited. i know that i have lost, but with mainly chicken, rice, and other horrible carbs available, finding fruit and veggies is VERY hard. oh how i miss fruit and veggies :( i cant wait to eat that when i get home!

speaking of food, my friend stephanie got really awful food poisining tuesday night after dinner. our friend thomas also got sick before, and since we had all eaten the same street food the day before it was obvious i was next. i wasnt nearly as sick as steph, but i still have had a fun case of TD for a few days. im over it for the most part and back to normal.

also, i need to add that jordan likes to make lots of guanxi (chinese relationships) with people that we meet when we go out. when we went to muse last weekend she met and brother and sister. this is already a sign that they are very well off, because it costs a lot of extra money in china to have a second child. they continued to text jordan and we ended up making plans to go out to dinner with them. they took us to a chinese resturant in the nearby mall, and it was a lot of fun! they speak really good english; the sister has studied in canada for the past three years, and the son just left today to go to australia. making friends with americans is a HUGE deal, so they take everything really seriously when it come to keeping in touch and staying friends. chinese people are also like this among themselves and highly regard relationships and are always in them for the long haul. in the end, we got invited to cherry (the girls, her name is pronounced sherry) birthday party next week, and she acutally rescheduled it so we can make it. we're so special... hahaha. she wants us to meet all of her friends.

wednesday night we ended up going out to our favorite bar, zapatas, and had a very good time, almost too good of a time. we met plenty of euro trash (for those of the older generations who dont know what that is, that is europeans who speak strange english, unless they are british, and are just an all around icky crowd), but none the less we still enjoy their company and the several drinks they like to buy us. we met this one man, jonas from sweden, who began to tell my group of friends and i that "the beaches in america are nice" but we heard it, "the bitches in america are nice." from then on, we continued to call ourselves the three bitches and gave him a lot of garbage for it. oh... and got some more free drinks. the moral of the story is that i woke up slightly drunk from the night before, but went to class anyways in the 95 degree heat. im begining to be such a trooper...

as for now, im just working on homework and packing for beijing. jordan has left for pudong already to go wait for her boyfriend at the hotel. i cant believe that our study break is already here, it seemed really far away awhile ago. the weeks spent in school go by really fast. our train leaves for beijing tomorrow a little before eight, so i wont be in contact with anyone until my saturday evening. we arrive saturday morning, but wont be able to check into our hotel until about three. none the less, im super excited to go stay in the grand hyatt, go swimming, eat DELICIOUS real food, like fruits and veggies that wont make me sick, and sleep in a comfy bed. oh, and go see tianenamen square, great wall, forbidden city, and all of the touristy stuff. we will be returning back to shanghai wednesday morning. after that, we have the rest of the week off and i think that we are just going to stay in shanghai and see some more sights. after that weekend, we only have two more till we leave. its flying by, but i miss everyone terribly and im so excited to come home and see everyone. keep in touch!

em