Friday, June 11, 2010

Redoing the Room

I'm sure Trina is going to write her whole own post with before/after pictures of my room. I just wanted to put in that that was EXHAUSTING. I have toooo much junk. I even started a DI pile of the things I'm so sick of seeing. Not many things, I could probably put other things in but other things tend to have a small connection to my heart, strings and soul.

It is nice to have the Princess Bed back. It is beautiful. Trina hated it - it took hours to build all up and was very stressful (I will let Trina give details). Then we had to rearrange my other furniture to allow for stuff. I'm so done. Done. Done. Done.

Does anyone else ever feel like burning down their own house after removing journals and books and back-up hard drives? Just to get rid of all the junk and start FRESH? Of course that wouldn't work in our case because we have a back-up house in CHINA. Sigh.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Traveling Back

Wow that was an eventful and crazy trip. And I came home to a crazy room.

I left my parentals and went through security feeling very mature. Step 1, Check-In, which was my main fear. So with that I could relax in the terminal and eat fries from Burger King and just wait for my flight. The two hours actually went pretty fast when you realize I was just sitting there daydreaming.

I wanted to try not sleeping on the first flight at all and - bam! Success! I didn't actually watch any of the in-flight movies because I started my book and halfway through, a flight attendant said, "I want you to finish that before we land." I didn't, but it was pretty big, and I was only a couple chapters off.

On the first flight I was seated by a couple, the girl of which was a daughter of one of the flight attendants. So all the other flight attendants knew her and were constantly bringing her special treats. I thought it was nice, especially as being in their vicinity, the flight attendants were very sweet to me as well. -- After the flight, with not sleeping, I was pretty tired and just kept getting more and more tired. I met a guy from the ShangHai branch (I don't know his name, but he was the one with the tiny blonde wife and now they have a little boy - as I learned when we got to SLC) and he made me his guest in the First Class Lounge. So I had a little granola cereal in there before heading to the gate to try and stay awake.

A little stupidity with that gate - it was in the International Terminal for today. That was annoying, as I walked all the way to the Domestic and through Security to learn my gate was back in International. Besides being annoying, it didn't ruin my day.

Customs was TERRIFYING. They were just their regular stern selves (I think they practice in a mirror) and asked the regular questions, but I was feeling paranoid. I really wasn't sure about the claim thing on the customs. I put that I brought $50 worth of goods and blaaaah. Am I SUPPOSED to do that? So everytime they stopped me, "What's in the tubs?" I was like "I'M GOING TO PRISON!!"

I was so excited to get on the plane and take off so I could finally sleep. Fun Note: The plane is apparently the smallest (or one of the smallest) now being run by United. An Airbus A319. So this small airplane is apparently kinda new - it still holds like twenty-five rows of six passengers each. But it was making weird and discomforting noises on take-off. I zonked out when I decided we were leveled out and only flickered awake a couple times to reposition. Then what seemed like a couple minutes later (doesn't it always seem that way?) I woke up and the Captain was saying, "Flight attendants prepare for landing." Yay!!

That was the scariest landing of my life. The turbulence was really gross, what with landing in what was becoming a very windy rainstorm. It was actually pretty exciting (although terrifying). The plane shook back and forth a ton (still don't know how it stays together) and then DROP!!!.....DROP!!! That was my favorites, the drop parts. We had a few drops throughout the flight, and the older women clung to their armrests and wailed a little bit. Veerrryyy thrilling. Like a rollercoaster.

Trina picked me up...drove home...I was pretty much so tired I was kinda just out of it. Then we got home and were locked out. So I grabbed my spare car key and drove over to Tin's work (Trina had to dash to work) and got his house key. It was fun. Good to know I can still drive, though after I had taken Trina her dinner and come home, I decided it was definitely a good time to stop operating heavy machinery. I checked my mail, made a mental note to email Mom in my early jetlag morning (didn't work out as I got a worried phone call) and crashed on the lovesac.

All those hours on the plane sitting and sleeping on the lovesac made my knee (the one stabbed with cactus venom) start twinging again. I think it is weird it is still hating me. I did enjoy the three-hour nap before I woke up disoriented with some maniacal ringing going on. I somehow ended up in the kitchen grabbing the phone off the wall (completely) and managing to talk to Dad. I looked down in my hand and I was holding my cellphone, and apparently in my dreamy state I'd read a text from Trina. All very weird - I'm loving it.

Note: In my defense of not contacting Mom, I was so tired I honestly didn't really think about people's worrying and stuff. Sorry.

So I have decided traveling brings out the best in me. I am so intimidated by sour flight attendants and stern security that I am always trying to be sweet enough to get a pleasant response from them. That's good isn't it? Well there's my dear mother's update. Have a lovely day. Sadly, not much to say of the Mind of Roo as it is kind of dead at the moment.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

School With Mom

Mom's little kiddies are sooo cute. I've been to her class four-five times now and they are all so loving and sweet. I came in yesterday and they all cheered, "Tesssieee!" I got to do show and tell cause I was coloring pictures to occupy myself and Mom told me to. They were very interested and asked good questions like, "Why didn't you do her dress blue like in the book?" (I was copying images from Cinderella) and "Why didn't you do the rest of the picture?" etc. etc.



My first day with them, a little girl named Emilly came up and hugged me and said, "I like you." Those kids are so loving. Heilam, one of Mom's very favorites, was accidentally still at school, after all the other kids had left, cause she didn't know her after school activity had been canceled, so she sat by me and watched me draw Cinderella's fairy godmother. She was much more comfortable with me after that. They are all so precious!!

It is especially fun to watch them with Mom. Yesterday she taught them the Chicken Dance and I jumped up to help. After the first run-through we were ready to be done but the kiddies kept cheering, "Again, again!" Yeah right. Didn't they know the Chicken Dance is traditionally only danced once a year in America? (They shouldn't be learning U.S. culture from out-of-shape Americans!)


Life in China



Quick Note: I really enjoyed traveling to China with Dad. Nothing like being with a gold member or whatever...easy check-in, better leg room, and a nice cushy shoulder to sleep on. It made the stress level of the event go waaaayy down. Thank you, Papa!!




So home at China has been lovely. After the two semesters of busy stressful school life it has been nice to just sort of sink into a chair and watch TV all day. Well...not really. But the relaxation has definitely been refreshing, with a little work here and there.
I have really loved the pulled noodles and riding scooters. I have been here for six complete weeks now and, while still enjoying home and will be sad to leave, I'm excited to get back to Utah with my car and my roomies. I've missed them. Scarily, I'll be looking for a job as well. That's pretty much what is going through my mind at the moment - excitement and dread.

We went out today (Dad, Mom, me) to lunch at Johnny Moo's. Dad wisely split Mom's meal (chicken quesadillas) and mine (bacon cheeseburger) between the three of us. Half my burger went to him, half the quesadillas, and half my fries to Mom. It worked really well - all the food (including appetizers) were eaten with only a small triangle of quesadilla left. I had a lovely heaven-in-a-cup frappucino (cream of course) from Starbucks. After we went to the Pearl Market and splurged (all of us) on shoes, purses, and jewelry.

SO now we're home and it's time to relax. Mom and Dad were planning a fun date night tonight - Dad told me "NOT with you which means you'll have to find something else to do. Maybe you can call so-and-so and hang out with her." HA! Mom said, "Hanging out requires conversation and the will to form sentences." Mom knows me so well. China has really set me back in my old un-social ways. Well, that's all for now. Relaxation, excitement, and dread - all in the Mind of Roo. :) (Cheesy ending? Thank you very much!)