Home...

Totemo ureshikatta yo

kimi ga warai kakede ta

Subete o tokasu hohoemi de

I am back. Have been for some time actually. Its been so long. But yet it feels like only yesterday. Shang Hai was fun ^_^! Love my room mates, even though one of them got sick and threw up a few days before we were due home.

*Pulls blanket off, and pillow out from under head, then push up to sitting position*.

Thankfully I don't have to wake up so early anymore... so now I'm the last to wake up, instead of the first. I'm also thankful that noone rolled off the bunk bed... Haha. And oh yes, someone still owes me $$. Haha.... ^_^

Lala... The things in Shang Hai are so cheeaaap! Especially the music CDs, so I bought 6! I've never bought so many all my 15 years in Singapore. When I showed them to my piano teacher she was all "Why never buy piano works?!?!" Oops. Subconsciously all the CDs I bought are string works (with the exception of one CD by James Galway). Hmm... I wonder why? ;P

Yay... bought 7 扇子 as well. Again, don't know why. All I know is that they are pretty!

Cheap as all the things were and as fun as bargaining is, I didn't manage to spend all my money. In fact, I even turned banker (loans department). Haha.

The thing that really bored my shoes off me were the 2 纪念馆 and 3 历史博物院 that they made us visit. (Oh gosh, bored to tears!) I couldn't wait to get out of there... I admit there were one or two interesting parts but I hated the 纪念馆, which were in fond and loving memory of 鲁迅 and 宋庆龄. Sigh... Ok, maybe the 宋庆龄 one was interesting 'cause of all the interesting people she met, and her obvious love for her country (to the extent that she worked with the communist just to help the people even though her late husband was the nationalist 孙中山; she herself said that it didn't matter whether one was communist or democratic, she wanted to help the people). That was pretty touching. And very self-sacrificial.

The only thing interesting about 鲁迅 was his 《阿Q正传》. I read it the evening after we returned from 乌镇. Everyone else went shopping in the main shopping district but the bookworm in me just couldn't drag herself off the bed and away from the book. So I had a nice cosy time in the dorm, just me and the book ^_^.

We did SO much in Shang Hai, it seems like we were there ever so long. Yet when I come home and realize that nothing, with the exception of the layout of KAP and a new traffic light along the 66 route, has changed, it seems like 14 days was such a short while.

So don't ever wish time would stop, because somewhere out there someone might be wishing it would go and never return. Regardless of whether I'm having fun or crying my eyes out, I'm glad time doesn't stop, because that's how beautiful memories are formed, that's how we get to see the lovely side of life.

Oh yes. I have three pen pals now. Haven't started writing to any yet. Oopsy... At least one of them said I could write in English (whew!). They are so going to laugh at my Chinese....

Shopping with my roomies was a memorable thing too... I shall never forget all the various ways of bargaining. My most memorable one was when I asked, out of pure curiousity (I swear it!) how much a particular fan cost, and because I told the guy I was just curious and started walking away after he told me it was 85 yuan, I miraculously got the price cut from 85 to 70 to 50 to 20 to 15 yuan. I really, really did not do that on purpose and I was really just asking out of curiousity, but who can resist such a price? ^_^ Anyway that was the last fan I bought. Method No. two of bargaining is standing right there in the shop and repeating the price you want like a broken record. This is Nat's brainchild. The shopkeeper will just naturally start lowering the price until you get what you want. Heehee... two shop owners told Nat and Rachel that "你们这些小姑娘太会杀价了!" Haha, I am so amused! (Nobody in Shang Hai calls one a "小姐". My mom says its a bad thing in Shang Hai.)

Shang Hai was fun, but coming home to a beautifully lit Singapore at night was even more fun.

Had my first CCA pract. Amazingly I did pretty ok even though I haven't touched my violin for two weeks! (No glares coming this way!!!) Whew! Open House is over too but if you ask me it was a pretty darn waste of time and energy. They should just organize a concert for all the performing arts groups.

Camp and rehearsals is pretty messed up now (at least to me, some people with slightly lower standards would call it running smoothly). I seriously need to clear something up, so I hope I get to ask!

Yay, Tianyi is coming back in 5 days' time!

^_^