china

Technically there were 10 days of holidays.

I'm now left with 3 full days and I've not done 80% of my work.

13 DAYS TILL END OF YEARS ):<

Left for china on saturday in the afternoon. Was a little reluctant to go days leading up to my departure because i was very unsure if wifi was going to be available (so ignorant, i know) but i wanted to accompany my dad who was accompanying my grandma so thus isabella went to Shantou, China from the 7th-11th September.

Since it was a day flight i got to see the really pretty aerial view of Singapore's east(?) shore! The ships decked at sea looked so cute and neat from above hehe. Sat alone by the window which was fun because i felt independent but chongray told me to stop lying to myself because my dad and grandma were just a few seats away ):

Along the flight i developed this analogy that the seas and oceans form the earth's heart and the water is blood. From above you see these rivers creeping into the lands and they just reminded me of capillaries. In a way it's true isn't it? Without these oceans and water, we would all die.

Arrived in Shantou at around 6pm (we share the same timezone and weather) and took a 1.5hour car ride back to my relatives' place. They are all really warm and friendly but i was so groggy from my nap on the plane and car i got very overwhelmed. Teochew is the language they speak and something i know nothing of so i was totally lost.

After dinner i headed to the room and cried until i fell asleep.

EMO NEMO.

Day 1

Woke up at around 8 and had loads of eye shit to dig out of my eyes HAHA they were so swollen! Had breakfast alone because i took so long to get ready. Walked to a my granny's friend's house which doubles up as a factory as well where they employ people to sew and produce clothing. That's the reason behind cheap labour in china, they go by very little rules!

Returned back 'home' and connected to wifi and i cannot express how happy i was because i finally could talk to people wheehee.

Lunch was at this restaurant place nearby. It's basically like those standalone food stalls but it was huge! No air conditioning because all the men there smoke and i guess it isn't very necessary. Things there run very differently, you can do whatever you want there. This little boy was scared of the curtain they had hung up so what did we do? We took the curtain down. YUP.

The utensils are all sealed up in plastic and you use to chopsticks to break the packaging open. Sounds like firecrackers going off when everyone gets settled down.

The meal consisted of

1. bitter gourd clam soup

2. deep fried fish in sweet and sour sauce

3. steamed prawns

4. egg with oysters

5. steamed fish

6. fried abalone and veggie

7. fishball soup

8. squid

9. roti prata seafood (yeah it's exactly what i named it)

10. steamed crab with noodles

11. white fungus soup

12. more veggies

In total. we took up 5 tables and everything amounted to 3450 yuan ÷ 4.8 ÷ 5 and in the end it costs about $143 for a table of 10 people. Good deal.

Rest of the day was pretty mundane and managed to do my work while happily surfing websites, abusing my phone by charging it nonstop until i fell asleep.

Day 2

Woke up at 8 which was LATE again because i ate breakfast alone again. Rested for a bit before my cousin brought us downtown to shop. I should also note that my cousin is more like my aunt and that there is a generation gap between me and them so some of my nephews are older than me.

'Home' is in the countryside-ish part of the province so it took us about 40 minutes, with no traffic, to get to town. Along the way i saw Zara and Dairy Queen but we headed to a place that housed Parkson instead. Awkwardly followed my cousin and my aunt around refusing everything they wanted to buy for me because i'm that socially awkward.

We were driven down to a restaurant after that which was pretty neat because the whole building was a restaurant and tables are in individual rooms so you pre book, get your own room with a toilet and all included.

Explored the nearby convenience stores as well as the geese farm with my father! I would say that they live pretty similarly to countryside Malaysia just that everyone is Chinese and not Malay (uh duh)

Dinner was at my uncle's (in total i have 7 aunties and 7 uncles and loads more cousins, nieces and nephews) and he whipped up 14 dishes for us. The thing i love about Chinese tradition is that they make sure their guests have more than enough to eat and they're extremely hospitable. They don't wear shoes in the house but when we took our's off they kept telling us to keep them on instead!

I was pretty bored because i couldn't talk to anyone so they offered me their wifi password (': hallelujah.

Day 3

Left the house really early! Took a half hour ride to the real rural area where another uncle of mine stays. It's a really magical-ish in a way because they live in a cluster of what used to be, temples and houses of the district judges. Since they were abandoned, people shifted in because they needed a place to stay and minimal rent fee was required.

The exteriors and some of the interiors are still preserved which is really cool because inside the houses things are upgraded to fit their lifestyles.

Headed to a museum which is basically a building with some rooms furnished with furniture and exhibition-like boards but the rest was pretty empty. Everything non-air conditioned.

The day kind of dragged from lunch to visiting random places and i got pretty cranky because i was really tired and was disinterested after a while. Was so cranky throughout dinner as well i spent the whole night emo and the real reason behind this was because

Day 4

MY PERIOD ARRIVED. I have concluded that the day before my period i get highly emotional and will become very depressed. My little nephew came over and i had a really fun time playing with him even though i can't even say "catch" or "come here" with him because he won't understand. Left the house at 2:50pm and then at 10:40pm i arrived in Singapore.

I guess i did enjoy my trip (: although at some moments i had wished very badly to be back home in Singapore, my relatives really showed a lot of hospitality and love for my father, grandma and myself.

***

Sorry for this being such a wordy post but i just felt like typing all of this tonight.

Bukit Timah Hill & Sharknado with the boyfriend tomorrow hehehehehehehe.

Goodnight.