別の外人

To sum up, this is my list:

a) People in pyjamas on the street
b) Old men with very long nasal hair, and COMBING IT
c) Old men inserting toothpicks into their ears and looking very pleased
d) Fat men cycling shirtless
e) Fat men walking along with their shirt half up, stroking their bellies
f) Meat on a stick
g) 'Assorted pizzle'
h) Kids in arseless clothes
i) Kids in crotchless clothes
j) Kids wearing the above, scratching their bum on dirty polystyrene
k) People going to the loo in the street
l) Squat toilets, the bane of my life
m) People selling plungers and string on the street... odd combo
n) The lack of razors
o) Policemen coming up to you and saying hello, but then just staring...
p) Streetsellers addressing you as 'Xiaojie' (otherwise known as a word for 'whore')
q) Stirfry dishes which have some unspeakable substances in them
r) Spitting
s) Nose clearing into gutters
t) Chinese rubbish collection... aka the men with bells???

And this was just today. :3

But I have still been having fun times here :) Had a bit of a rubbish start to my birthday, with my flatmates LOCKING ME OUT and all, but then it picked up with my wonderful Bath friends sending me that powerpoint which was really appreciated at that time in the morning and while I was in that emotional state :)

Then also had this wonderful video made for me by Laura: Click here


It meant so much to me, so thank you so much you guyssss you're all too lovely for words. Also everyone who wrote on my Facebook page as well, I felt so overwhelmed by the sheer amount of love that was going down, really really thankful :)

As for actual birthday celebrations, had class and calligraphy, got to speak some Japanese which pleased me to no end, and then went back to mine to get ready. Then went across to the other guys' flat, which they had decked out so beautifully, with epic corkscrew balloons which we fenced with (though not as epic as me and Jo's random pole vs a pen fencing match), beer, streamers and banners :) Lovely turnout of people, both from Leeds and Shanghai, which was wonderful, and I got the very well-loved gift of ROSE AND WHITE WINE from the others, went down a treat. Also had a gorgeous 'Shanghai Survival Kit' in a box from Vera and Igor, including breakfast cereal, chopsticks, kitkats, M&Ms and a brolly :D

Then went onto M2 which was fun, and then me and Nerys headed back to her flat as I was planning on staying over... cept the small problem that she had forgotten her keys, it was 4am and the only person home was fast asleep. We tried for about half an hour, gave up, and walked towards KFC for late night junk food... It was shut :O We were very disappointed, so then walked the long way back round to get to my flat as I had my keys. I ended up also buying some sort of eggy pancakey thing, and got into mine at about 5.15. We faffed about, Nerys still moaning 'I HATE CHINA' before eventually sleeping at about 5.45... class requires getting up at 6.30, so this was so not happening. Meh it's only your birthday once a year :P

Next day realised I'd left a load of clothes round the others flat, as well as my survival kit and the WINE but Nerys came down with a cold so we just lolled about on my bed and watched BBC Three on iPlayer til Jo came over. She had apparently rung me earlier that day bout a possible job, I saw my phone ring but it was about 10am at that point and waking up was really not an option. :P

Friday went into class, which was just generally longwinded and not too difficult, saw Igor and Vera and apologised for my ridiculous behaviour and not showing up to class yesterday to say thank you to them for helping make my birthday amazing... turns out that noone in my class who went to my party turned up on Thursday, not even Jo xD Made me feel much less guilty, coz she never ever misses class haha.

And today... have lolled about again, starting to reply to an epic backlog of Facebook messages, I'm so rubbish at remembering to reply, and received a lovely email from Becca :) Also did work, which is good, doing more studying tomorrow :D Bit of a weird Hallowe'en but I don't mind :) Tomorrow also have to go pay bills and rent, agh not so fun times :\ But oh well, take the highs with the lows and all that :)

Oh, and a mention to the lovely people I chatted to recently who I'm so glad I did... thanks to Peter, Becca, Katy, Ella, Laura, Tori, Jess and Smitsi :)