LoveJY

All silliness from my last post aside, I wish I had more family around while growing up. I don’t have a picture to post today, but I don’t think I’ll ever forget the mental picture I have of yesterday. I spent the whole day with my cousin’s family, from about 11 in the morning to 9 at night. She is my cousin by relation of her father being my dad’s much much older brother. Her brother’s family was there too (his son totally reminds me of my brother at 10 years old), as were her own parents. On top of that, I had another cousin there, but he was probably the same age as my dad. He’s my dad’s dad’s brother’s nephew… or something like that. Anyway, my girl cousin’s a lot older than I am, and she’s married with a two-year-old who has more energy than a puppy with ADD– in an absolutely adorable way.

I hear lots of Chinese Americans talk about getting back to their roots in China or Taiwan, where I’ve been to more than a couple times now, and I’ve spent time with extended family before, but this it the first time that I actually felt linked to the people and to the land. I never really had a closeness to anyone in the family outside of my parents and brother, since the rest of the family was so dispersed across the globe, and family reunions were few and far in between.  Ever since I was small, I was made fun of to no end because my last name in English is “You”. But yesterday it was no laughing matter. 游 meant I was family. 游 meant we were from the same place. 游 meant that I could depend on them for whatever I needed. We had met not more than twice, but I was welcome in their house as much as if I were their own daughter. They were telling me that  our/my 老家 (lit. “old home”) is at Mount Tai, in Shandong Province.

This is definitely a new experience that I’m glad to be in Shanghai for. They are wonderful people; I’m glad to be related to them. And on top of everything, I love their sense of humor, and my 二大爷 and 二大娘 are AMAZING cooks.

–painting of Mount Tai, courtesy of www.taishanren.net

Carrefour and Ikea are lifesavers.

Meet Ernest, Dumbledore, and Bennington. We got them at Ikea. And Ricky has a Swedish apartmentmate. She says the names of all the furniture, and the meatballs, are all legit.

So we also found out that two things are still very popular in China: Bugles and Wolverine. Here, Ricky exhibits the two.

Lifestyle tip #032: when buying fruit at Carrefour, must weigh at fruit stand. Cashiers don’t weigh produce.

So we’ve finally made it! Right now, I’m sitting with Ricky in Costa Coffee because there’s wifi, and directly across from here is the ever-so-beloved 85 degrees C (which reminds me, I need to start getting used to the metric system: 8 C = 46 F + 81% humidity = feels like FREEZING!). We live on the western outskirts of Shanghai so we’re not really in the middle of the bustling city life, but we’re only a few metro stops away from all the hip happenings. We still don’t have internet at our own apartments, but that should be coming in soon. Many thanks to Ricky’s dad and friend Marcos for setting us up with our own places + cell phones + bank accounts… It was crazy enough with their help; I can’t imagine how we would’ve had to have done it without them.

Anyway, it’s only our third night here, and already I’ve eaten fried duck chin and pig small intestine (which was really quite tasty, but the texture was much like that of rubber bands and therefore a gross sensation to pair with the reality of their previous function) among other things.

Ok, this has been a grab-bag of my thoughts and experiences for the past 48 hours or so. I haven’t brought my camera out to play yet, so for now I hope you enjoy my not-so-sneaky webcam pic of the people sitting behind me.

that the world is my oyster. Who said I can’t pursue a job doing what I love? Who said I won’t get to travel the world? Who said I’ll never live near the ocean again for the rest of my life?

No one. Absolutely no one.

Fears about my future are playing hide-n-go-seek with me in as I count down the days before I leave for Shanghai. Most of the time, I’m sure about applying to grad school when I get back from China, and letting art+photography be a huge (and hopefully  semi-professional) part of my recreational life. Sometimes I wonder if I’m aiming high enough, in terms of living out my dreams; it feels like being content and finding a job that makes me happy translates to settling when it comes to realizing my full potential and pushing myself toward all that I’m capable of.

In any case, I know for sure that I will only achieve as much as I believe possible.

I have 7 days left in America, and I’m already living out of my suitcases. The house is completely empty, and right now I’m staying in the room of my childhood best friend, in a house one street down from where I’ve lived the past 10 years.

It’s not easy saying goodbye, but I’m looking forward to saying hello to a whole year in Shanghai.