QUICK CLARIFICATION

I've been asked a lot about who exactly "Mom" is. When I say Mom, I am referring to my host mother. Since she has taken me in as her temporary daughter, I figured I might as well call her Mom. When I reference my actual mom, as in the one who gave birth to me, I will make sure of the distinction between the two. Sorry about that. : >)

too much food? maybe

I'll never go hungry here. I've never complained about being fed too much food, but I'm constantly about to burst. My host mom worries that I'll starve to death so she constantly encourages me to eat. "Chir duo, chir duo!" she says. "Eat more, eat more!" I apologize in advance if I'm making her sound like the wicked witch in Hansel and Gretel; I am aware that she only has good intentions. Personally, I'm just worried that I'll gain a ton of weight. It's okay though, because soon I am going to force (I say force because anyone who knows me well knows that I hate exercise with everything I own) myself to go to Pulsation, an enormous gym that we can see from school. You probably don't realize the what extent to which I am describing enormous is. I'm telling you, it's gotta be about 20 stories high, no exaggeration. I'll take a picture tomorrow. Also regarding exercise, SYA is on the sixth floor of BNU #2, and we aren't allowed to use the elevator, so I'm kind of forced to exercise at least a little bit every day anyways.

Billy seemed to warm up to me more today. We played a game of chess in which he kicked my booty. He's really actually a nice kid. And I found out more info on Shu Shu. Yesterday morning I asked Mom how they were related, and she kept saying it was hard to explain, and I felt like there was something more to it. But this morning while we were eating breakfast she told me that he was her boyfriend and that she and Billy's dad are separated. She was using a quiet voice because Billy was on the couch, so I feel like it's a sensitive subject. Been there done that.

Oh, and here are some pictures of the apartment:

My room

The balcony in my room

Host pets. Not quite as cuddly as Charlie. Acceptable

 The living room balcony

The view from the living room balcony (those aren't clouds, by the way)

My bathroom

Today we went out and bought me a SIM card for my iPhone, so I have 3G!!! It's only about 10 bucks a month for 1.3G per month, which is what I use at home anyways. Later we're going to get me a bike and school supplies.

In the duration of me writing this post, I had to take a 1 hour hiatus. This is because the internet went out, as it does quite frequently in this house. I feel kinda bad about that especially since Mom bought two routers just to make sure I could have a good connection.

Later today, Lizzie, a girl whose apartment building is across from mine, and I are going to walk around the city. I'm a bit worried that I'm going to get lung cancer or pneumonia, but I'm willing to take the risk. The driving situation is also pretty terrifying. I'm half convinced that people completely disobey traffic signals. There have been points were cars were all over intersections and it looked like havoc. And they WILL NOT stop for pedestrians crossing the street, either. At one point, we were driving on a two lane street, and my host mom went in the left lane to get around cars in front of us, something that only an insane person would do in the US. But somehow, it all works. If someone is coming towards us head on in the right lane, they will move to the left. If a pedestrian walking across the middle of the road and a car is coming towards him/her, he/she will not run to the other side of the street. The pedestrian will simply stop while the car makes its way around. There are no hard feelings, as there would be in the states. The harmony kind of beautiful, in a twisted way.

I'm sure some of you Salinas kids are wondering how Jackson and I are. We manage to get a few texts in every day, and we've gotten to Facetime once. I miss and still love him like crazy, but our situation has not gotten in the way of our experience. The immensely inconvenient time difference is just something we have to get used to. 

Besides Jackson, the only other person from home that I have been able to contact face to face is my dad. This morning was the first time that we were able to Skype. We kept missing each other for the past three days and we finally got a good connection. Oh and dad, I know you're reading this, and I just wanted to mention that I forgot to tell you to bring a large suitcase when you visit because I need you to bring home the stuff that I overpacked. Thanks!

Yesterday we were split into groups to go on a scavenger hunt. Our group finished the hunt, but ended up messing around for the rest of the time. At one point we saw an advertisement for the iPhone 6 in front of a knockoff-Macy's-type department store and we went all over  the store asking employees where it was, expecting to find it, but we stopped once we realized that the advertisement said that it would be out in a couple months. 

There's solid recap of the past few days for ya. Mom and I are gonna leave to get pencils and such. If you want to talk to me directly, the best way would to download "wechat" on a smartphone and make an account from there. Later skaters

OMG!!! (Day 1)

I'm here, I think.

All I know is that I'm sitting on a bed that's not mine. The bedspread is pink, with roses embroidered into it. I'm also in a room that's not mine. The walls are white, not teal, and it has Chinese paintings on the wall. The hardwood flooring feels slightly familiar, but I can't be quite sure. There's a spacious desk at the corner of the room made of smooth dark wood, which matches the door to the rest of the house. Across from the desk is a large closet half filled with clothes. Looking past the desk and closet is sort of a closed balcony which reveals that I am looking from the 12th floor of an apartment building. The view consists of another apartment building and other buildings in the distance which are labeled with Chinese characters. Those characters reveal to me the fact that I truly arrived in Beijing, China less than 24 hours ago.

FULL REPORT ON DAY 1 OF BEIJING!!!

Morning of August 27th, 2014 in San Francisco, CA

I had set my alarm for 6 AM, but I woke up at 5:45 and I couldn't go back to sleep. I took the 7:30 shuttle with Amy to the airport and joined the group that had already arrived. We had 3 hours to sit around but boy did it go by fast. I must say that was the only part that went by fast. The plane ride was 12 hours. 12. freaking. hours. But it was probably the most fun 12 hour ride that I've had. Well the most fun that it can get, anyway. Here's a list of things Miles, the kid sitting next to me, and I did to keep ourselves busy:

• synch our phones to play Frank Ocean's entire Channel Orange album at the same time
• watch parts of sub par in-flight entertainment
• make fun of unsatisfactory airline food
• walk around to visit with others like Amy, Jonas, Jon, Kelly, and Lily
• switching off trying to beat my high score on my phone in Fruit Ninja while watching Captain America
• reading aloud the first four chapters of Tina Fey's Bossypants
• practicing common scenarios in Chinese and getting others to join us (side note: I am actually impressed by how well everyone else can speak it. Basically the only advantage I have over anyone is that I don't have an accent. Many students can read sooo much more than I can)
• attempting to play 20 questions but giving up because apparently "communism" is too hard to guess!!
• rapping to various songs
• not sleeping

This is me and Miles with matching headphones, except the headphones are Lily's and I was listening to Kelly's music.

Even though all of that looks like the time of our lives, it still had the essence of boredom surrounding it. We all cheered when we landed.

Kelly, Samantha, Amy, and I, sweaty and crammed into the train to the baggage claim with a lot of Chinese people. We were the loudest people in there.

All of my bags were incredibly heavy. I'm actually 5% sure I got permanent spinal damage from my carry on. We were going down the baggage escalator when all of the sudden there was a traffic jam at the bottom because someone couldn't get their luggage past the end, which left me, Jon, Jonas, and many startled Chinese travelers frantically walking backwards as fast as possible until the person at the end was able to push his luggage cart off the elevator. I'm sitting here laughing just thinking about it.

Our group split into two and took two buses to Beijing Normal University #2, which is our school. As soon as we got there, my host mother and 12 year old brother showed up to pick me up. They shoved my gargantuan bags into their Mercedes and we left. On the way to the apartment, we passed by the 2008 Beijing Olympic stadium. My host mom said that she would take me there whenever she want. She also told me that she would take me anywhere I wanted. She said she had always wanted a daughter, and that she considers me her own :) She also told me that I looked a lot skinnier in person, which I am not sure whether or not to get offended. My little brother's American name is Billy, which I think is the most adorable thing ever. I'll provide a picture tomorrow. Ever since I left the school, I have not spoken a word of English except for feeble attempts to translate vocabulary words through Billy. When entered the apartment, a man who is a relative of Billy's and my host mom's helped me with my bags. Mom said to call him "shu shu," and I asked her what relation to her he was, and she couldn't figure out how to explain it. I looked it up and it means "younger brother of one's father," so he's my uncle.

The apartment is so clean and pleasant. There is much open space, and not only do I get my own room, but my own bathroom! Sort of. Mom said Billy would be using it, but only I am allowed to use the shower. And the shower is nice too. It has a glass door and good water pressure. I'll put up more pictures of the rest of the house too. Shu Shu and Mom cooked me a fantastic dinner, one that my real mom at home would have made me. The most interesting part of the meal was coca cola chicken wings. Mom says she doesn't like using oil to cook because it's bad for the body, so she uses Coke instead. That sounds like the weirdest thing ever but it was actually delicious. I didn't finish everything though because I was too tired to eat. While it was 9:00 in Beijing, it was 6 am in California, meaning I had been up for a full 24 hours.

The only thing that had concerned me about my stay here was that my computer wasn't connecting to the internet, but I woke up about an hour and a half ago and tried reconnecting, and it worked! So now I'm writing. Overall, this whole trip has skyrocketed my expectations. I cannot emphasize how well everyone from the program gets along, and how comfortable I feel around them. Usually new social situations make me feel a bit tense, but I never felt like that for a second. It definitely does not seem like I've only known these people for less than 2 days (or is it 3? I'm not sure because we followed the sun the whole plane ride). Everyone is so comfortable that I can even see that people are developing crushes on each other!

It's 5 am now and I've been up since 3, so I'm off to bed. Tomorrow I will be posting pictures of everything so ya'll (a word that I picked up from Lily, who is from Georgia) can get a glimpse of my new life. P.S. Please leave comments! :)

Even Closer...!!!!

It is now the night before the big day. I'm sitting in my hotel room with my roommate Delhia, who is from Maine. It's funny how they seemed to have placed the two people farthest away from each other, geographically, in the same room.

The events of today have caused a roller coaster of emotion, to say the least.

1) I left Veronica Dr. forever. I must say that I will miss that little house the most out of all the houses I've been in. Many memories have been created; from having every single one of my friends use the water dispenser wrong on our kitchen fridge and watching them clean spilled water with a paper towel, to watching Will and Wyatt take their first steps. I may have made countless moves in my life, but I can say that it wasn't any easier than the last.

2) I said my final goodbye (at least for the next 9 months) with Jackson we spent a few hours at Berkeley together and I got a taste of his lavish lifestyle (hanging out with his roommates in his dorm room and getting ice cream sandwiches and Thai food). Once again, I shed some tears and my heart felt like it was drooping in my chest, but I know that this isn't goodbye forever.

3) I finally met all of my fellow students! Everyone is so friendly and welcoming towards each other, and no one hates me, so that's a plus. Our orientation was interesting, especially listening to our captivating Resident Director, Hilde Becker, give an introduction in perfect Chinese and then switch to German/British sounding English. The information that she and the other speakers gave us assured us all that we are in very good, safe hands. So stop worrying!!! (That was mostly to all the adults that have given me protective hugs while dramatically saying, "be safe"). After the orientation, Amy, one of the students who I had been corresponding with for a few months, and I went to go find some people to have dinner with, and we ended up eating dinner at the hotel with about 5 others. Like I said, everyone is really friendly. We talked about our aspirations and how nervous we are and how apprehensive we are about the food and our host families. Supposedly one of the guys we were with, Tim, said that he knew someone from the program last year who was in a host family where the dad was having an affair and brought his illegitimate two year old son home to live with the family, and Tim thinks that he is going to end up with that family. That'll be an experience.

We leave the hotel at 7:15-8:00 AM tomorrow morning to go to the airport, yet our flight leaves at 11:24 AM. The directors want to leave as early as possible in case anything happens, which makes sense. I wouldn't want to be the one left behind. I'd be the ultimate killjoy. Anyways, I should have time tomorrow to write another short post before I leave the country (!!is this really happening!!). I also should go to bed now just in case I do end up sleeping through my flight.

Getting Closer.............

Jackson left this morning. He was supposed to leave Friday, but his wonderful parents took into consideration the tragedy of our situation and decided to give us another day to spend together. We went to Monterey and got sushi and presents for my host family (don't tell them). Watching him drive away made me feel like I was in the saddest love novel ever written, but I know it could be worse. We can still talk over social mediaI. Besides, we decided to meet up at Cal the day before I leave since my hotel will be in San Francisco.

I know it doesn't seem like our relationship has any relevance to China, but to me it does. Not that I'd ever throw away my future for a guy in the first place, but he's just one many of the sacrifices that I'm making for this experience. Among these sacrifices include things like my friends, diving season, and Bagel Corner. It's worth it though. I couldn't ask for anything more than waking up early to do tai chi, constantly looking forward to eating delicious food, or walking through open air markets and seeing pig brain and uncooked, skinned, full-sized cows hanging by hooks.

I've almost finished packing both of my suitcases. My biggest fear is to get to the airport and find out that I am over the weight limit and having to throw away my stuff and being late for the plane and making a fool of myself!!!! But I don't think it'll happen. And if I do end up having to throw out anything, I don't think I'll need seven sweatshirts or nine pairs of pants anyways...

I'm exhausted and wanting to watch the office, so I'm going to keep this post short. 4 more days till departure....!

First Goodbyes

I can't really stand the thought that after tomorrow morning I won't see my brothers, stepmom, and cat for nine months, but it's happening. Tomorrow is the first official goodbye that I'm saying before I leave for my year abroad in China on August 27th. My stepmom, Cory, brothers, Will (4) and Wyatt (2), and cat, Charlie, are starting our move to Westfield, Indiana and are never ever ever returning to Salinas, California.

I know I said I can't stand the thought of it, but that was sort of an exaggeration. Not that I'm not going to miss them or anything! It's just that it kind of makes this trip all the more of a reality, knowing that people in my life who I see every day won't be around for almost a year... It's also weird because they're moving to the home that I'll be returning to when I come back from China. No more Toro Park or Salinas High or mild weather year round. Instead, I'll be attending Westfield High and facing sweaty, humid summers and below zero winters. Anyways, that's enough about Indiana for now. 

This blog will be an honest, personal take on my year abroad in Beijing, China. I'll update it at least once a week, depending on how my supposedly hectic schedule turns out. 

As far as my progress on packing goes, I currently have a 46 pound suitcase (which is 4 pounds away from the weight limit), and I am to purchase duffel bag to fill up this weekend. I bought 14 items on Amazon which have already been packed. The packing list has about 25 essential items but I may or may not have added a bit more than that, or a lot more, I don't know. Okay, a lot more.

Here is a list of frequently asked questions and their answers:

Why are you studying abroad?

All my life I have moved to countless cities all over California and attended many different schools. I'm use to this feeling of change, and I started to feel too "settled down" in Salinas. I felt antsy, and I wanted to experience something completely new and different than anything I had before.

Why are you going to China? I would never go there.

I would like to say that for some reason, people my age are scared of China, and I'm not completely sure why. It might be because of the whole communism thing or the notion that everyone eats dogs. Having lived in China already, I know that it's not as intimidating as its perception. The Middle Kingdom definitely has its differences from Beautiful Country (the literal Mandarin to English translations of China and the U.S.), so maybe that's why there is fear. 

1) I chose China as my country of choice because I want to gain from experiences in a country that is drastically different from the U.S. What I'll gain, I have no idea. Maturity, wisdom, cultural open mindedness, general open mindedness, who the heck knows. If I do end up with any of those qualities, I hope to share them with fellow youngsters and make them realize that eating dog isn't that bad. 

2) Like I said, I use to live in China. You could say that the reason why my blog is titled "Home Away from Home" is because moving back to a place where I previously lived, but that wouldn't be the true meaning. In saying "home," I referred to my nationality. I am half Chinese, half American (you can figure out the rest). Another reason why is because I want to re familiarize myself with my roots. I want to become more knowledgable about the country my mom comes from, and maybe discover some more things about myself.

3) I am fortunate enough to be a mixed race child that is bilingual, but because I moved to the States 10 years ago and I spend the mass majority of the time living with my white dad and white stepmom and white brothers and white and grey cat, I haven't spent a lot of time speaking Mandarin. This has led me to only understand 5-year-old levels of speaking and understanding the language, and 2-year old levels of reading the language; therefore, I wanted to become fluent in what was once one of my first languages.

4) Even if Chinese were not one of my first languages, I still would have chosen China because I want to be fluent in one of the most useful languages in the world. I plan on being in international business someday, and to be bilingual in Mandarin and English is a good first step.

How can I contact you? Aren't a bunch of websites blocked in China?

Yes, there are several websites blocked in China that are commonly use in the U.S. as communication, but I will be paying a monthly fee for a VPN which will allow me to use all social media websites that I would use in the States. Currently, I am active on twitter (@miacatkay), instagram (@miacatkay), Facebook, and tumblr (miakayserphoto.tumblr.com). This may change due to the rumored fluctuation of interests American students supposedly experience once they study abroad and become accustomed to the lifestyle in China, or something. But hopefully I will regularly be posting pictures on my photography blog, which is the tumblr URL I listed and I will include it in my Blogger description.

What's going to happen with you and Jackson?

This is the most common question I receive. I suppose people want to hear happy/sad endings (or continuations) to other's love stories for some reason. Jackson and I have been dating for nine months. He will be leaving for UC Berkeley in on Friday. Before I met Jackson, I would have said that, for lack of a better term, "high school-college" relationships are impossible, and people need to be independent before they part their separate ways! But, as I have discovered about many things recently, it is much easier said than done. 

What I do know is that to drop everything and end it is not part of the answer. I believe that when two people are in love, it is important to stay in each others' lives to some extent no matter the circumstances. Just because I am leaving doesn't mean I will stop loving Jackson, but being 5911 miles away and not having the luxury of being anywhere near the same time zone like most high school-college relationships creates a bit of a burden. In the end, the answer to this question is not known, even to us. 

Welp, it's 2:23 and my attention span is slowly wandering to Charlie's breathing patterns as she sleeps next to my feet. If you are reading this because you skipped to the bottom, then read the whole thing (just kidding). If you are reading this and it is because you have started from the top of my entry and read all the way here, then I thank you for your time and interest in my fun self, and I love you!!!! Feel free to leave comments on each post. Goodnight!