China was all I wanted and more. It exceeded expectations; I did everything I wanted to except get the horrid popular haircut all the girls are sporting over there. It's kind of a refined, afro-mullet that looks as though a porcupine died on your head. Now I know why I don't like Chinese guys: it's because all the ones they send over to America are ugly. All the attractive Chinese men are in China. Which is where they're supposed to be, I suppose, but it'd be nice if they sent one over to me as a present (like my hot hairstylist, or maybe the hot guy getting his hair cut diagonal from me). My only regret is that I didn't go shopping more (even though I went at least once a week >.>) and maybe that Tai Hu in Wu Xi stunk, and we went on the hottest day in the universe so we didn't get to explore much, or maybe that I didn't spend the 1000 RMB my grandparents gave me. Ah, whatever. I heart China. It was exactly the vacation I needed and wanted, good for my body and mind and soul. It's weird, but sometimes I really do just need a certain degree of isolation from the modern world of America, and I need to go somewhere and re-connect with my family. We don't do that often, so it was nice to do it. Plus, I realized just how absolutely FABULOUS my extended family is. I could write on and on about how crazy my uncles are [when they're drunk and sober] and how much my aunts spoil me [she's rich] and how I got to ride in a BMW for the wedding procession [it was wicked] and how my cousins really, really do appreciate me and love me and how it was just nice to know and recognize that since we only get to see them once every other year [I tried quizzing them on English] but it's all up here *taps head*. And that's where I keep the most cherished information because there's not enough words to describe it, or the appropriate ones even.After the family bit, I came back and it's been non-stop friend time since then. My schedule's been a little hectic; I'm rarely home and when I am I'm doing something. I was always complaining about how I'm bored and need to get out of the house, but when I started writing in my diary and making the schedule so I'd remember what I'd done on what day, I was like "....I'm never at home." It's been stressing to always get to places and have much money after China and plan things and execute them smoothly, but it's been fun. I hear about all these wild parties and I decided that while it would have been all right to go, I'd rather just spend time with closer friends, it being the last year and all. College is on the mind and I'd rather not think about it, but it's hard when you're looking at college books and making lists of colleges to apply to and writing down scholarships you're eligible for and visiting colleges and talking about the future. It's hard when all I want to do is lay it all away for a few and just relax. But I spose that was what China was for. And so I guess I have to love my friends while we're still all together. I really hope we go on the cruise next summer before we're all parted, because as much as we want to be, we're probably not going to go to the same state. (This is sentimental mush.)
[<-- Two of my favorite players! Plus Simao.] On another note, World Cup is definitely my new obsession. I've never been an avid sports fan for ANY sport, and I don't particularly care for them, but since it's so big in China, I started watching World Cup Germany 2006 and got hooked. I liked it in 2002 as well, but I never really got passionate about it until this year. Portugal is my team. I claim them. I love everybody on it [except possibly Miguel who can't do anything to save his life] and they just work so well together [even if they are a bit violent - look at the game vs. Netherlands. But even that's not a fair argument because people seem to single Portugal out as being violent, and then all of the sudden everybody's noticing every foul they get, when really it's not more than the other teams]. I just love soccer [football, really; America's just stupid because we have to be 'different' and call it soccer just like we use inches and feet instead of centimeters and fahrenheit instead of celsius] because there's a sense of unity on the teams. When a player falls over, the guy who knocked him down helps him up and apologizes. When a team loses, the men will cry on the feild, and everyone else will hug him. When one player's dad died, the opposing team got him flowers to console him. The team captains switch jerseys after the game. You just don't see that in other sports, where people there are just angry and display unmerited violence. I just... professional soccer is the sex. I found myself decking myself out in Portuguese colors and it was all I could do but stop myself from painting my face, shaving my head, and dying my scalp red, green, and yellow. Alex knows what I'm talking about.
I particularly glomp Cristiano Ronaldo [#17]. He is such a cute cute cute guy, and I love love love him. I think he's one of the first guys I admired for talent even before I knew how he looked. I first saw him in the match against Iran, and I was like "Oh wow, this guy is really really good!" So I started watching him on the feild after that and then after he shot the 80th minute winning penalty for Portugal, they showed a close-up of him and I was like "OH MY GOD HE'S REALLY GOOD LOOKING!" He's Gillette's Best Young Player of the Year, and everybody was talking about him. Yea, he's Portugal's poster boy, and his footwork is AMAZING and he has got talent, even though it was rare for him to show it since the opposing team, if they were smart, always had two or three guys flagging him down whenever he got the ball for fear of him doing something incredible, as he tends to do. He is a drama queen, I'll admit, and very Hollywood, but if you think about it, the guy does what he has to do to win, including diving [but he does it no more than everyone else does and when people rat him out for it I just get pissed because everyone else is doing it too, not just him dammit] and people always foul him for nothing so you can't blame the guy for getting ticked off. Everyone's like "oh em gee, C. Ronaldo's such a tantrum hothead and he gets so pissed off when they foul him and he takes it to heart and blah blah blah diva blah" but they forget that they have this mindset of him being melodramatic stuck in their heads, and then whenever someone commits a serious foul against him they just brush it off because it's just the little drama-queen acting up again. Once, when C. Ron had the ball and almost had it to the goal, a guy from France team ran over, with no intention of even getting the ball, and just literally tackled him--like, knocked him over so he went flying--in the goal box, no less. And they didn't even foul the kid. I was screaming my head off--partially because the ref also sucked during that round. And then there was the whole drama with Rooney, and once again, it WAS NOT C. RON'S FAULT THAT ROONEY GOT SENT OFF. HE was the one who stepped on Carvalho's groin, and the ref was going to give him a red card based off of that ANYWAY, NOT because C. Ron was screaming at him and Rooney shoved him. Angryism England fans took it into their heads to boo C. Ron every time he got hold of the ball the next 2 games. It was like, "SHUT UP AND GET THE FUCK OVER IT." That makes me so angry [even though sometimes he plays for a foul just to see if he can get it - but he's not the only one who does it, again]. ANYWAY, he's an all around attractive man, and his English is sooo cute because he's got a thick Portuguese accent: not enough for you to not understand what he's saying, but enough to make him sound exotic and have a lot of grammar flaws [i.e. "We wait for see"]. I love him. I even got his jersey xDD. [and a poster.]
Anyway, this summer has been going quite well. I'm reading a lot of books, going places, meeting people, obsessing over things [speaking of, the customer service guy at King Soopers is soooo hot. His name is Patrick. I wanted to talk to him or something, but wtf do you say to a guy who works at King Soopers? I'll wait and see.], hanging out with friends, sleeping till noon [no lie], writing my heart out, coming out of my shell, trying new things, becoming more independent, and, I guess, just living. This is nice.And I will just sing about it,
chen
