As extreme as the winter was the summer is just the same. I feel like I should shower as soon as I step into my room it is so hot. I still like summer and being hot better than being cold though. At least there is more to do during the summer, winter is just depressing and miserable.

Just this morning I went to the gigantic fabric market that is here in Jinhua with a friend that teaches English here at ZNU. She has been here a couple years with her husband so she knows this market pretty well and knows which seamstress is the best. This weekend I decided to take it easy and I am staying in Jinhua for once so I thought it was a good day to go check out this market. After a few hours of sorting through the maze of fabrics and a lot of bargaining, I came out a very happy customer. I am getting 3 pairs of pants, 2 dresses, and a blazer all tailor made with fabric I chose. The total price for all the fabric was only $36.50 and it was quality fabric. Then the cost of labor from the seamstress my friend suggested is only $87 for everything! So on May 28th I will get to pick up clothes that were tailor made for me for less than I would have paid buying a worse quality in a store. Not to mention they will all be done before my trip to Russia on the 31st. I think I am starting to fall in love with China…

P.S. My roommate Kensija just got a phone call from a university in Shanghai congratulating her on receiving the scholarship she applied to for next year. So happy for her, she will have so much fun in Shanghai.

The time is now 11pm at night and the fireworks are still making outside sound like a war zone since earlier this morning. It is January 22, 2012 and today brings in the lunar New Year: welcoming the year of the dragon. Fireworks have been going off all week. Actually, fireworks are set off all the time throughout the whole year.  It is uncommon to go a day without hearing one set of fireworks, even during the day and early in the morning; daylight does not make a difference. Living here is like living in an amusement park, regarding how much the Chinese like boom-boom noises and flashy lights. Back on topic though, fireworks have been more often this whole week, non-stop today, and will probably continue into the next week.

Earlier today the university hosted a dinner for all the students that happened to be stuck here over break. We got out of school after the first week in January and have break until sometime in February (administration doesn’t really tell us specifics until last minute). I think I can speak for most of the international students and say that we were all warned about travelling during the Chinese New Year but none us really comprehended the reality of it before experiencing it for ourselves. The only place possible to go is into Shanghai, all the other train tickets are sold out completely. I was advised to just get out of China during this time, and I did try to make plans to leave but for some reason or another they didn’t work out. So I am still here, while the rest of campus and surrounding area is almost completely shut down. There are other students still here though. Actually come to think of it, most of my close friends are also stuck here so it has not been too unbearable (not considering the coldness).

After dinner my Turkish friend Bilge, a couple of our Arabic friends, and I went into the town center to try and find a “Long Dragon Dance.” We were lucky to find a taxi because none of the buses were running. However, we were not able to find any special events going on downtown, which is to be expected since we are only in Jinhua. But it was magical to see and hear all the different fireworks going off in every direction you could look.

We eventually returned to the dorm and put off our own fireworks.

 Oh, it was grand.

And now it is snowing.

 新年快乐!!!      Xin Nian Kuai Le!      Happy Chinese New Year!

Yax calls me today super excited about something. He tells me that they found a newly opened Russian Bakery in Beimen just outside of campus and he is there now. He was ecstatic. He told me he tried some lemon cookies there and there were amazing because they tasted normal. He asked me if I wanted him to bring me back any and I said it was okay I would just check it out later. But he insisted and ended up bring me back some anyways. He was right, they were amazing and tasted NORMAL.

This just shows how deprived we are of Western comforts here in Jinhua.

In class today, our teacher was explaining to us family members. Mama and baba are given, Mom and Dad. However, in the Chinese language siblings are distinguished by older or younger. Younger sisters are meimei while older sisters are jiejie; Younger brothers are didi while older brothers are gege. So Yax and I, my Mexican classmate and friend, were stating, “Oh… like Lady Gaga!” Our, male (contemplating on his sexuality however), teacher heard our comments and strongly rebuked our comparison; “No! Not Gaga… gEgE. It is NOT Lady Gaga.” As if to say, “How dare you insult Lady Gaga.”

Later in the day, Yax, Ivan, and their Chinese friend Leo, picked me up to go downtown and experience Jinhua City. Leo drives and is a young Chinese business man that Yax through some friends, Leo does not go to school with us.

First stop was the coffee shop that had Columbian coffee for Ivan. Quite the quaint and cozy cafe, decorated with little Santa dolls (don’t ask me why). I got an Almond Cocoa that was very well presented. I had to take a picture.

Next stop was dinner. Leo took us to a German restaurant, aware of our deprivation of Western culture. My taste buds were easily pleased with my sausage and vanilla bean rice. So it was a German-Chinese mixture, but the owner, who we met after the meal, is actually German and obviously knows what he is doing. Thus I had an authentic German sausage and it was well appreciated. 

After dinner we headed towards KTV, the famous karaoke place. I am not at all into singing but KTV is a part of the culture, so it is a must to experience. Although, the English selection of songs were minimal we had a great time belting out old Britney Spears, Pink, and Celine Dion songs. 

During the course of the afternoon and evening hanging out with Leo, we were constantly asking questions about Chinese people and China culture and government. He was quick to reply, “TIC.” Yax had to explain to me the abbreviated meaning, this is China. It was the perfect explanation for everything I question about China. I was baffled by the simplicity yet blunt truth of this clever abbreviation. Once spending a couple weeks in China you start to see differences in the laws, behaviors, customs, manners, etc and there is no way to explain it other than TIC just because so many of the differences do not make the least bit of sense and it would just confuse you even worse to try and think of a cause or purpose of the differences in culture and quite frankly common sense in some cases. 

I still haven’t been out late to see any of the Chinese nightlife. Whether it be shopping at the late night markets, dancing at the local pubs in Jinhua, or clubbing in Shanghai, I have been a grandma thus far and haven’t gone out. Last night, however, was the night.

It was a Tuesday, a school night, and the girl’s asked if I wanted to join them to go to this bar/club Traveler’s and I was like, “Why not? I haven’t been out and experienced that part of China yet and I only have one class tomorrow, so I should go.”

So after my nightly routine run with Gosia, I rushed to shower and get ready; I didn’t wash my hair to conserve time, besides it would get even grosser at the bar. Let me tell you I am an expert at pulling off the rushed look, in my own opinion of course. Nastia and I rode our bikes to meet up with the rest of the girl’s in Beimen who were enjoying BBQ for a late dinner. 

From there we took two cabs to this Traveler’s place. Nastia and her two Korean friends were in the cab with me and Dore, Aleks, and Zuzana were in the other. By the way the cabs in China drive like lunatics. I have no convincing way to describe to you how they drive in China. It is not only the taxis, it is everyone in China: the trucks, the scooters, the bicyclists, the buses, the domestic drivers and even the pedestrians. It is like there are no traffic laws, and if there is I would like to know what kind of madness they consist of. To say the least, I was happy when we arrived to our destination.

Traveler’s is a medium-size pub style venue. The interior is filled with old-style wooden stool tables all encircling the bar/DJ booth. The light fixtures are dimmed haunted-mansion like chandeliers that blink to the beat of the music. When we showed up the place was quite full of Chinese having an evening drink with friends and one woman celebrating her birthday. The music type was western hip-hop and dance. No cover charge, same as most of the clubs in China. The DJs and bartenders cover as entertaining singers throughout the night as well, and they even have their own backup dancers. I was somewhat impressed with their vocals. It was quite dramatic but cheesy when the lady bartender and the DJ had a duet and each were on separate sides of the room letting out their emotions, as it seemed, through song.

Like usual no one started dancing until they got drinks in their system and I was the odd ball drinking pear juice. Soon enough we were all enjoying the time dancing. I was looked to by my friends quite often to observe how the American dances. I was embarrassing my country. One of the bartenders lingered by our table the whole time and every time someone finished a drink he brought another. I don’t even think anyone paid by the end of the night; I know I didn’t pay for my little kiddy bottle of sober pear juice. Maybe my friends were friends with him. I never did get to the conclusion of it.

We were the last ones in the bar. I was so ready to jet by then. The only party to stay as long as us was the birthday girl. We seemed like we were desperate to let loose and couldn’t get enough of the music and time out. Finally we left though, but not to go home. Everyone had worked up an appetite from shaking their bodies so we were on the hunt for food. Some eateries in China are only open for the nightlife. Nastia knew of where they were located and had the cabs take us there. It ended up being a street filled with BBQ options and sit-downs, probably serving all the same items but each one yelling at us to eat at their joint. We ordered like we hadn’t eaten all day: 2 eggplants, cabbage, noodles, chicken, rice, and some even got more beers. 

We were locked out of the dorm, the lock the doors at 11pm on weeknights, and had to climb through the gates and wake up the front desk clerk to open the doors by ringing a doorbell the rings throughout the whole floor, waking up many others than just him. We had to sign a sheet stating we arrived at 3am and he warned he was going to tell our teachers. I climb into bed as soon as I could to get up for class a few hours later.