Christmas in September

I might end up getting into the habit of mentioning something about the internet/wifi/gigabytes in every introduction of each blog post, I might not, but as you may guess, I'm about to. This morning I checked my phone for notifications, and to my surprise, there were none (I say I was surprised because I usually have TONS because I'm really popular!). I also checked twitter, instagram, and Facebook, and saw that none of my news feeds were refreshing, and it was all posts from the night before. I started getting a little panicky, as my life depends on connection to the American world. However, I noticed that I was receiving texts that were all in Chinese. I had Mom read them, and upon further investigation, I am ashamed to admit that we came to this realization: in one week, I had used up 1.3Gs of my monthly data AND used up an extra 1.3Gs, leaving a grand total of 2.6Gs and a $60 fee. So we went to the China Unicom and I purchased a portable wireless router which has 2.6Gs on it per month during the day, and unlimited Gs during the night. Including the 1.3G and 200 minute plan I have on my phone, this means I have 4Gs per month for a total of ¥150 a month, or $25. I love using China's inexpensiveness to my advantage.

Most of this weekend consisted of doing homework, but on Saturday evening, I went out with my family to this mini Times Square sort of place, where there were designer stores like Prada and Burberry, as well as more middle class stores like Forever 21 and H&M that I'd actually be able to afford. We skipped the shopping, however, and ate instead. There were many different stands to chose to eat from, like the animal leg stand and the live scorpion kabob stand. I went with the animal leg stand. I'll probably try live scorpion kabobs around March.

Today was the Mid Autumn Festival, and also the second day in the history of me living in Beijing where I got to see a clear blue sky. It actually amazes me how different the city looks when it's sunny. It seems like a whole different place. Shu Shu and Mom took Billy and I to a mall. Malls aren't like the grocery stores here, where you have to completely warp your imagination to prepare yourself to shop. They're actually a lot like American malls, except I've never been to a six story mall in America nor have I heard The First Noel play during September. And it kind of blew my mind how the free wifi managed to connect to my phone throughout the whole mall. Billy and I saw Planet of the Apes, which was more than half decent, except that it would have been a lot easier to watch if I understood sign language. Also, is it embarrassing that it almost made me cry eight times? I'm an emotional person, alright!!

We also just got home from the Olympic Park. I couldn't believe I was there. I mean, it's not like I saw it on TV for two weeks straight during the summer of fifth grade, or anything. My mom took about 700 pictures of me, and I also took some pictures which I will put on my blog when I have time.

It's getting late here, and I have 25 Chinese characters to memorize and 15 pages of Chinese History to force myself to read. PS: thanks for taking the time to read these posts! I appreciate the positive feedback so much, and I'm elated to have entertained all you awesome, beautiful, super cool people. To close, I leave you with this:

I feel famous.