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It happened so suddenly; someone who I had known so well and cared about so deeply tried to kill me.

He had his crazed eyes on me, ones that I didn’t recognize at all. It was as if he was in another world entirely. His eyes were so focused but yet so distant, and I was still his target. As he walked closer and closer I tried to step back to run away, but somehow a white wall showed up behind me. I couldn’t move and I didn’t really want to. Deep down I still knew this person. I knew I could reason with him and bring himself back to his body. I just had to remind him of who I was, who he was, and make him realize what he was about to do.

I called his name, and called and called. But it wasn’t working. I put my hands out to try stop him, but he only pushed them down with determination. I felt his strong hands around my neck, and realized that he was strangling me. I could tell from the start that this was his intention, but I didn’t want to believe it. My worst nightmare had finally came true.

Hi hands were pressing harder and harder on my throat, and his mind was still vacant of rational thought. Without much oxygen left, I did my best to speak, to continue to reach through to the true him. This wasn’t like him at all. I still recognized him, but this wasn’t someone I knew anymore. I tried and I tried, but finally I had to resort to something more drastic. Tears welled up in my eyes for him, because what I was about to do was going to kill me on the inside. But if I didn’t do anything I would die.

My vocal chords were being crushed and any cry for help wasn’t making it though, but tears were running down my cheeks as I reached behind him. With him being so focused on me, he didn’t even notice what was happening; he was possessed. With a knife finally in my grasp, I hesitantly and slowly began pushing the knife though his right trapezius muscle. My goal wasn’t to kill him, but hope that this pain would wake him from his altered self. I had managed to put about an inch of the knife through, but I was still suffocating, still being choked to death.

I realize that with no pain getting through, I had lost him; the person I loved had left and I could no longer reach him. He was shoved somewhere in a small compartment in the back part of his brain. This person I could not reason with, and I was about to die. I considered stabbing him more but I just couldn’t do it. Then I noticed that despite the wound I had caused him, no blood was running down his back, and I felt a push.

And another push, and another…

I’m lying in bed and with my back faced to him, Ryan’s gently shaking me awake. Finally I wake up and I’m crying. I turn over and Ryan looks at me worried.

“Are you okay? What’s wrong? You sounded like you were choking. Why are you crying?” He says.

Between trying to catch my breath and stop myself from crying I responded “You were strangling me!”

And that, my friends, was one of my experiences in Vietnam. My boyfriend of…well almost 4 years now, who I do NOT at all fear, who doesn’t have a mean bone in his body, tried to kill me….in my nightmare. Fortunately I did not fear him after this dream. I very much still trust that I will be alive next time I’m around him. But don’t worry, I can assure you the rest of our trip in Vietnam was nothing like this, and Ryan never tried to strangle me (and I know he never will!). Honestly that was the only bad time I had in Vietnam!

Vietnam

Vietnam was truly an amazing vacation! I loved the people, the environment, the vibes; it was all a great place to be. When Ryan and I decided to go here, we really didn’t know much about it. It was actually one night we were bar hopping in Shanghai with some colleagues, and one of them being Vietnamese, recommended Da Nang to us. He said it was a laid back, beach sort of area and that we would love it.

So we took a chance on his recommendation, booked our flights, which are never as cheap as you hope them to be, and made hotel reservations. Booking a hotel was probably the easiest part; there were many hotels to choose from with a 5 minute walk to the beach, which also appeared like quite the luxurious hotel for a very affordable price!

These are some of my favourite views from this hotel:

Things that made Vietnam special

Besides the amazing beach and location in general, one thing I really did love a lot about Da Nang was how nice everyone was; it didn’t matter where we were. We could be ordering food at the restaurant, or getting drinks at a bar on the beach, or stopping at very small, family-run convenience store for water; everyone was very kind. I could smile at anyone and they would easily smile back!

One thing in particular I was shocked to hear when eating at the restaurants were that the people asked “How is your meal?” This question is something mandatory at restaurants in North America for the waiting staff to ask. However in China I have never heard this question; and I guess I assumed that Vietnam would be the same. Either way, I was blown away by the consideration of people here.

As well, I was baffled by the number of mopeds on the road. There were way more mopeds than cars. Just by observation, Vietnam seemed like a poor country, so maybe mopeds were what the majority of what people could afford. Anyways, crossing the road to get to the beach was at times a bit of a scary moment because no one would stop for pedestrians. This wasn’t any different from China…crossing the road generally can be a scary moment in Asia. (Except in Japan; I remember Japanese people always stopping for pedestrians).

Lastly, I was really amazed with the number of foreigners! I’m not sure if there was anything specific that made Vietnam such a foreigner destination, but it was! But then again, I always wonder why people travel to the places they do. Probably just because they can!

Vacation=Alcohol

Am I right everybody?? Most of our days in included alcohol…I mean why not! VACATION. Actually at the duty free during our stopover in Kunming, China, we bought a bottle of Baileys. This was something we had been craving for a while…for whatever reason. Although I’m sure China has Baileys, we have yet to have it here. So we saw it, we liked it, we bought it. And we drank the whole bottle in less than 24 hours… is that gross? Probably. But like I said…vacation!

Getting a feel for Da Nang

On our first night we walked around Da Nang to get a feel for the city. We saw shirtless men working out on the beach because that’s where the chin up bars were located. We saw people drinking at the little huts along the beach, and we saw people eating at the many seafood restaurants along the sides of the roads. Actually, seafood was extremely popular here, which makes sense with it being near a beach.

Overall my, initial feel was that Da Nang was a well-balanced city: there’s room for alcohol, exercise, enjoying food, or just relaxing on the beach.

We decided to make our first meal in Vietnam a true Vietnamese seafood meal. Basically these restaurants are nothing fancy; you sit down on tiny plastic chairs (that Ryan was scared of breaking), at a really low-to-the-ground plastic table. Then, you look at the menu; which you find out is pointless because you need to go up to choose which seafood you want. So we went up to the seafood they had; which ranged from clams and mussels, to crab, lobster and octopus. While Ryan was picking out the lobster he wanted-

Picking out last nights dinner. You can see and hear @ryanjarrell9 saying "woah!" #itwashuge #massivelobster #seafood #sofresh #sotasty #deliciousmeal Danang is such a seafood type of city and I love it #myfavefoods

A post shared by Marisa Toffolo (@t.marisa) on Mar 30, 2017 at 5:14pm PDT

-I was preoccupied watching an octopus trying to escape. I saw one guy rustling around in a ‘tub’ of octopus’s and took out two. While he was handling one octopus, the other one he left on the ledge was trying desperately to get away. I try not to think about how sad the treatment of animals in Asia can be sometimes. Many times I’ve considered going vegetarian or vegan…but I guess to put it quite simply, I don’t want to right now….maybe one day.

Anyways, the seafood was DELICIOUS; we ended ordering lobster, calamari, and mussels. SO so good. Unfortunately though, their currency is rather confusing to get used to at first (they have so many zero’s), and we found out we didn’t have enough money to pay. So Ryan tried using his cards, and after many attempts we found out weren’t working for some reason. So one of the servers took Ryan on his moped to an ATM; and I sat waiting with the moped security guard (I think that’s what his job was…but he hardly looked official) at the restaurant. He kindly offered me one of his chairs to sit on while I waited. Another reason why they were such nice people!

About 10 minutes later Ryan came back from his moped ride:

Not the best photo….

He successfully paid the people what we owed them. They apologized, but obviously it wasn’t their fault, and we went on our way to a bar.

Our ‘go-to’ place

On our first night we decided to hangout at a place called “The Dawn”, which was a little hut right along the beach that served all sorts of tasty drinks. This became our go-to place for the rest of our time in Vietnam… I mean besides the rooftop bar at our hotel which had the infinity pool/beach view. The drinks were cheaper, but not any less tasty, and it felt more casual.

The rest of our adventures

While eating and drinking were the majority of our activities, we did do other things! On our first full day in Vietnam, that morning I for some odd reason, woke up at 5am and I couldn’t get back to sleep. So by 7:30am I decided I was going to work out. I went for a nice long run on the beach, which was fantastic.

Surprisingly it was my first time running (with purpose), on a beach, and I loved it. But as I got closer to the end of my run, it started getting hotter and hotter and I felt like I was going to pass out from the heat. I guess I didn’t really eat breakfast…

However after my workout and breakfast we made our way to the beach. I was craving sunshine and couldn’t wait to relax! Unfortunately, I packed everything in my bag that we needed except sunscreen. This turned out to be the biggest mistake of the trip because after 2-ish hours on the beach, Ryan and I were pretty burnt. We didn’t realize just how badly burnt at the time, because burns seem to like to sink in overnight.

The next morning our burns seemed worse. I decided on this trip that sunburns are almost like getting drunk; you feel really good at the time, but really regret it the next morning! Although personally I’d rather have a sunburn than a hangover.

While it’s not surprising that Ryan got pretty badly burnt for wearing no sunscreen, it was a bit surprising how badly I got burned. I’m usually one that doesn’t need to wear sunscreen and I can tan very easily; however China has changed me! It is very rarely that we see the sun in China, and even when we do, we are protected by a layer of smog. So in hindsight, I suppose I understand, but I’m not too happy about my new sensitive skin!

Ha Noi

Unfortunately, or fortunately for our skin, it rained for the rest of our days in Vietnam EXCEPT the day we had to leave. So to occupy ourselves, we arranged to go to one of the major cities nearby called Ha Noi. This place was basically just a huge outdoor market with bars and restaurants.

Ryan wasn’t really into shopping, while I was interesting in buying a few things. So between stores, we stopped in at bars to get drinks. For the first drink, Ryan was solo because I wanted to get a pedicure and I didn’t expect him to sit around and watch that happen.

My ‘pedicure’ experience

I did not enjoy my pedicure experience; while the price was still cheap they lied about it! I hate when people are sneaky! The price said “Pedicure: 105, 000 VND” (look at all those zero’s!), which is what I wanted. Then I found out after they started working on my feet that I had to pay extra for basically everything you’d think is included in a pedicure. Their pedicure price included a foot soak, and the nail and cuticle trim. I had to pay extra if I wanted the dead skin scraped off my feet, or nail polish on my toes. Girls, tell me if I’m right or wrong here…but doesn’t a pedicure usually include all those things?? I tried asking why it was called a pedicure…but I got nowhere with this. Anyways, I don’t like when people aren’t upfront about these things, so I was a bit bummed out.

Getting your nails done in Vietnam is much like getting them done at home; when they speak their own language and you have no idea what they’re saying but you just know they’re talking about you. The girl was commenting on how rough the bottoms of my feet were. WELL MAYBE if you didn’t lie about the price I would have paid extra to get that taken off! Anyways…sometimes language barrier prevents you from expressing why you don’t agree with something. At the end of the day it didn’t matter anyways. I paid what I owed and got out of there.

To numb ‘such an awful experience’, Ryan and I got tequila shots:

And continued to shop! It turned out to be a lot of fun!

Our ‘rebellious’ side

One of the few funny situations we found ourselves in during our time in Ha Noi was when, about 3 or 4 times, someone stopped us from passing an area asking us where our tickets were. We asked, for what?? They explained we needed to pay to enter into the ancient city, which is where we have been exploring for the past several hours! The first time we just turned around and found a different way in, another time was when we just wanted to go back where we came from. We explained that we were just there with no tickets, and they shook their head asking for the ticket.

We were thinking it was all a scam, because we never noticed anyone else showing their tickets (so why were we getting picked on?!). Instead, we just waited until the lady turned around or was busy, and walked through. Two of the times we decided to ignore them and continue walking straight through while they were still looking; both times nothing happened to us (although the one lady basically screamed “Excuse me!!”). Soo we think it’s probably a scam, but from the anger in the one lady’s voice, we still don’t know for sure!

My Son

So we went to see my son in Vietnam…yes, I had a son in Vietnam.  HA. I’m hilarious. Just kidding. My Son is a place in Vietnam that we arranged to go to. It’s pronounced ‘Mi’ (like me) Son, which is a UNESCO world heritage site: an area of abandoned and ruined Hindu temples destroyed by the US during the Vietnam War. Many people were involved in its restoration before it got destroyed during the war, only to have to restore it again afterwards.

It was really a beautiful place; and even though it was raining I think it made the colours of everything more vibrant.

Corn-on-the-cob

You’re probably wondering what the heck corn on the cob has to do with Vietnam: well for Ryan, it is now the main thing burned into his brain.

Later that evening when we arrived back in Da Nang, we went back to “The Dawn”, found a seat, and Ryan went to the bar for drinks. There were two guys that started talking to him because they recognized his Toronto Maple Leafs hat; they were from Montreal. We’ll call man 1 Paul and the man 2 Freddy. While they were waiting for their drinks, Paul suggested that Ryan look at his phone to see what the standings were; the Leafs were pretty close to making it to the playoffs! But when Paul unlocked his phone, the screen opened up to, I kid you not, a corn on the cob beside a penis. Yup. A penis and a corn on the cob. Neither Paul nor Freddy commented on this odd picture; it was completely ignored as if it were the more normal thing in the world! Ryan said nothing, waited for his drinks and left.

Now because I was waiting at a table enjoying the live music, I didn’t notice anything happening. Ryan however came back with our drinks in hand, and a strange look on his face. For the next 10-20 minutes, he was still describing how shocked he was, wondered why it happened, and why the heck would that be the last thing the person had open on their phone. He was just full of questions; none of which I could answer of course because I can’t say I’ve never looked up the comparison, or accidentally showed someone a picture the comparison. I totally understand how shocked he was.

Our last day in Vietnam was a perfectly sunny day, so I didn’t want to leave. One of the most interesting ways we found to get around was by bicycle. We rented the bikes twice before to see the city; the one day to get groceries, and the other to get (more) alcohol/explore.

You can see the one day we randomly stopped for me to play with these adorable puppies!

But for the purpose of covering more ground, on our last day we decided we would rent a moped. We mostly wanted to get a bit closer to see their Lady Buddha that we saw every day and every night from the beach and hotel. Renting a moped for the day cost around $8!! For a FULL day. Unfortunately for us, we only had about 2 hours until we needed to leave for the airport. We drove up the winding roads to the mountain (more like hill) area to get close to where the Lady Buddha was, but stopped to put sunscreen on along the way just in case (well Ryan did…).

We then drove further and further up the curvy roads, with me trying to snap pictures. I was a bit terrified of dropping my phone but never did. We made a stop to take photos and our moped decided it was out of gas…although we’re pretty sure they don’t fill it with real gas because the thing said it was empty when we got it. Ryan, being the smart guy he is, decided we would just turn around and go downhill and hopefully we’d make it back that way; but as he was doing that he got the moped to start and everything was okay!

The white statue in this picture is the Lady Buddha

I didn’t want to say bye to one of my new favourite places; but obviously it had to be done! From drinking every day, to burning on the beach, to waking up from crying from a nightmare; Vietnam was an amazing trip. I truly had a blast with Ryan.

One of the few pictures Ryan wanted to be part of on this trip!

NEXT UP:

Our next trip I am the most excited for, not for the location but for who we will be with: MY PARENTS! Yes, my parents have finally decided that they will visit China, and I’m thrilled to have them here. Besides getting to spend time with them, I can’t wait for how entertained I will be by my dad’s facial expressions and comments about Chinese culture. He is someone that doesn’t always like change, likes things the way he likes it, and (like me) appreciates his personal space. I hope to capture some candid photos for everyone. We will be spending 3 days in Beijing, 5 days in Chongqing, 3 days in Singapore, and ending it off with 3 days in Shanghai.

My worst nightmare It happened so suddenly; someone who I had known so well and cared about so deeply tried to kill me.

[marisatofu-blog]

A day in the life of me- Part 1

A day in the life of me- Part 1

Friday March 3 [Waiting at the airport] I love China so much right now, honestly; the people are so nice and helpful, everything is beautiful and I just love it here. Good thing Ryan pushed me to live here; I don’t think I would have done this without him. I bet I could stay here for a while; if I had our kittens with me…or adopted a dog here. Mwuahahah. Just kidding…maybe. Nah I can’t do that. I…

[marisatofu-blog]

Well well well…I’m back!

In case you forgot about me, I’m still here!

It’s been a long while since I last posted! It’s kind of nice to give my perfectionism a break from reading and re-reading my blogs over and over again to make sure my grammar is spot on.  I have quite a few pet peeves when it comes to grammar…but even I know I’m not perfect all the time. (Like you should know the difference between ‘their’ and ‘there’, ‘than’ and ‘then’ or ‘our’ and ‘are’…but I’ll still forgive you if you don’t :) haha)

To get to the point, ’cause you’re probably like “What has this girl been up to lately?”. Well my friends, I had a glorious, month long visit home! Our (Ryan and myself) departure was December 23; so up until that point I was listening to Christmas music as often as I could…and Ryan judged me majorly for this. We both needed to pack up the apartment we were living in (because we’re moving soon!!) and I had all the songs on repeat. Thankfully he put up with me and my insane Christmas cheer :D (and I love him even more for it).

China doesn’t really decorate around Christmas time, (well, the city we were in doesn’t) so I can still remember the feeling of  excitement I had to go home and see the Christmas tree my mom decorated, or just any decorations. Or to smell the homey Christmas candles….ahhhh. Also I was really pumped for all the snow! Weird right? Everyone seems to dread the snow, but I was welcoming it with open arms. In fact, just the other night I missed the sound of a snow plow going by. So strange…But the main reason for my excitement was just to be with my friends and family to celebrate the holidays. I mean that’s what the holidays are all about, right!?

Right?

Well, I feel like presents are such an expected thing around Christmas-time, or even for birthdays, anniversaries, Valentine’s Day…okay a lot of days. Kids (well most kids) aren’t afraid to show their expectations/excitement when it comes to presents. I personally remember a time when it was my 9th birthday (or around that..okay it was last year you guys! ahah kidding) and my parents got me a stuffed animal.  I didn’t want a stuffed animal…pshhh. I was too mature for that (meanwhile I tucked in all of my 7 stuffed animals into bed every night)….But I was definitely a child that loved gifts.

But as adults I feel like we hide it, as we often do our emotions. “Oh you didn’t have to get me anything!”. Meanwhile, if you have a birthday party and no one brings you a gift at all, are you slightly disappointed? Or lets say it’s your anniversary and your special someone doesn’t get you a gift. My guess is that your inner, immature self would be throwing a tantrum; if you had even a shred of hope that someone would bring you a gift. BUT if you’re like, an amazing human being and just cherish the company of others, kudos to you. You are awesome.

And this year, I’m joining that awesome club! I feel like this year I truly cared less about gifts. Seriously. This year I didn’t care what I got, or if I even got anything. I was truly happy to be home with friends and family to just spend my time with them (not that I didn’t appreciate the gifts I got!!). And I know you’re like “yeah sureeee she cares about her family this much”…

I DO. With all my heart I would do anything for every single one of them. They’re all a bit loud, fun, weird, and different…and sometimes a bit moody (okay that’s me on low sleep). But they’re all amazing (I guess I’ll put myself in that category as well…hehe..I mean blood relation you know, I have to have it too!). And boy was it nice to be home!! I arrived home safely, and Ryan, after having our flight delayed, rushing to his connection flight, only to have that delayed an hour, meanwhile having zero sleep on a 14 hour flight, reached Florida safe for his family holidays. For me, as usual, my arrival was on a Friday night pizza night, and my mom saw me at the door and welcomed me with a big hug. I walked in and saw my dad with our very close family friend (again, hugs all around), and I of course got to see my BABIES.

These two little ones…

They steal my heart every time. It melted my heart when they came to cuddle. I feel like they know who I am, but who really knows with cats. They definitely weren’t jumping up and down when they saw me, as most dogs do (they would run you over). But my cats behaved much like cats (surprise surprise) and did that cool cat walk like “Hey…what’s up? Come here often?” just to rub it in my face that I haven’t been around, making me feel bad for leaving them :(

I remember Ryan suggesting at one point to go to Toronto to meet up with friends, and I didn’t want to go because I wanted to spend as much time as possible at home. Even if no one was home because they had to do their regular day things, I just wanted to be at home and cuddle my cats….which I mean, judge me however you like (crazy cat lady, crazy animal lady), but I just wanted to smoosh them as much as possible. (We did end up going to Toronto by the way and it was a blast!)

So at this point you’re probably thinking “Okay, your entire time home did not involved just smooshing your cats…”

You’re right.Let me get to the more interesting parts of the holidays.

Florida New Years

This New Years was a big deal to me you guys. I feel like most New Years I end up staying in and watching the ball drop on TV with whoever else I’m celebrating with. Which, yes, it’s about the company and whatnot, BUT I seriously wanted to get out and do something fun for New Years….Okay last year I celebrated New Years in Thailand with some pretty awesome people (Ryan’s family), so that was amazing. But most new years I tend to spend indoors at my own fault. Sometimes you gotta make your own fun!

So, this year I did my research and figured out what Ryan and I could do in Florida. I booked us a hotel, a restaurant reservation, and mapped out where we would go afterwards. Perfect! We were not going to have a boring New Years.

My flight arrived in Florida the evening of December 30, and we drove to Fort Myers on the 31 to get to the hotel and get ready for our evening.

Views from the sky!

Here’s what the night looked like:

Followed by this:

And then this:

So we had our lovely dinner and we walked around Fort Myers to celebrate with everyone around. This was really cool because there were multiple streets shut down just for people to walk around, drink, and listen to the handful of bands dispersed throughout. As well, a part was sectioned off for the ball drop. All through the night we were able to order alcohol from the booths stationed outside, and that’s when Ryan noticed the Jell-O syringes. Yes…they were actually in a syringe!

I don’t remember exactly how many I had, but I remember hating the taste of them; but yet with peer pressure from Ryan I continued to have them anyway (notice the whipped cream on top; it wasn’t totally awful). I just remembering shuddering every time from the nasty flavour, and having to chase it with beer.

As the night went on, the streets got more crowded and I started feeling like I was back in China, but at this point I already had enough alcohol in me that I didn’t really care about my surroundings. Don’t worry, I didn’t do anything inappropriate! But when we were waiting for the ball to drop, which was blocked off by moveable fencing, there was an interesting security guard watching ‘his area’ (by moveable I mean someone has to physically move it…it can’t move on it’s own!). Ryan and I had our hands on the fence, just chatting away, minding our own business when the security guard comes over and tells us to take our hands off the bar. I didn’t realize a resting hand could do so much damage to a fence! We kept watching him and he continued to do this for anyone, even if they just rested their foot on it, or any body part for that matter. Well, I was feeling pretty rebellious so I kept my hand on their anyways. I showed you Mr. Security Guard!!

…and then he came over and pushed me, and Ryan got in a fight and that was the end of our evening.

Just kidding! But wouldn’t that be interesting!

That really was the extent of my rebelliousness though…nothing happened. (I know, why can’t I be more rebellious just for the purpose of this blog??)

Later on in the night more ‘fun’ people came out from wherever they were hiding. This included a group of super interestingly religious people;  they announced to everyone continuously via loud-speaker, that everyone around Fort Myers was going to hell. Just the kind of vibes people want around New Years right?! I remember seeing some people going up and trying to hug this one particular speaker, to try and show him some compassion. Instead he said “What are you doing, do not touch me, I said to not touch me. Please stop touching me. You’re all going to hell”. This guy was dead serious. Some others went up and explained their own religious views, but this group still put them down for going out and celebrating New Years Eve. I really had no idea religious people weren’t allowed to go out, drink or have fun. All I know is, I wont be joining that religious group (and I probably wouldn’t even be allowed!).

When it got closer to midnight,  Ryan and I gathered with everyone else around the ball drop area. And as you might imagine New Years being between couples…well yeah it was darn cute. And if you’re single, you’d probably kiss that random stranger or hug a good friend…or all of the above if you’re really having a good time!

A really blurry photo shortly after midnight by the ball drop!

I however stuck with Ryan, and we continued to have a good time by going into a nearby bar. The place was huge, with lights flashing, people dancing and the music vibrating through the walls. I decided (like a kid) to follow the bright flashing lights upstairs. With alcohol in my system I tend to be a bit more curious than normal, and Ryan tagged along. Once we got upstairs, the room opened up to a less busy of a bar with several couches placed throughout, and people dancing to the music between them. I remember seeing the couch and was like “Oh that’s nice, I’ll just sit down for a bit”. I at that point hadn’t sat all evening and my feet were tired. Suddenly, a husky security guard comes over and says “This is VIP! Get out!”, and as we jump out of our seats we hear one of the guys from VIP say “No it’s okay, they can stay”. I should have figured out it was the VIP section before I sat down, based on the environment, but my situational awareness wasn’t the best. So Ryan and I were sitting there and this guy didn’t even tell us his name, he just said “Yeah I’m a football player. We’re all football players up here, and this is our section. But it’s cool if you want to stay”. My mind was at first like “Ooookay football player with no name”, and then thought “I know he wants us to be blown away by his sheer amazing-ness, but what’s his name again?”. In my mind, your name is more important than your occupation, but I think he thought opposite. So to make him feel more special, here was my reaction: “NO WAY! WOW. THAT IS SO COOL! Oh my gosh. This is crazy. No we should leave! We’re sooooo sorry”. In which case he was like “No, no you guys can say”. Then Ryan and I looked at each other and are like…crap, now we owe him/them something. We have to buy them all drinks, and I don’t know that we have that much money left! (I also don’t know if I can worship them that much longer…). So I asked some of the guys and girls around what they wanted and Ryan and I waited at the bar for a bartender when Ryan said,  “I just really want to get out of here”. Smart cookie Ryan is!  So, we literally bought zero drinks and just walked out of the building, not even saying goodbye to anyone.

Poor football players were probably wondering where their rum and coke’s were at!

At this point it was getting late and we decided to walk back to our hotel, which was about a 20 minute walk. We had stopped in at a gas station to pick up some food and refreshments and next thing you know, it’s morning and we were in the hotel. I was laying on the bed, on top of the covers with my clothes from the previous night on….we made it back to the hotel??

I turned over to make sure I made it back with Ryan, and saw him on the other  double bed. I tried get up to go to the bathroom but my head was pounding, and the room was spinning. I finally forced myself to the bathroom because my bladder couldn’t take it anymore, and as I was washing my hands I regretfully looked at myself in the mirror. You can use your imagination to picture how good I looked just then. (hint hint: amaaaaazing). I drank some water, and very, very slowly walked back to bed.

Checkout was at noon, so of course we needed to get out of the hotel, but I was in no state of wanting to live.

I tried to pack up some of my things when I had to suddenly run to the bathroom to puke….ugh. I tried again…and puke again. Then we made it to the checkout, I looked like a mess and didn’t even want to talk, so I let Ryan handle it. We decided to grab something at Dunkin’ Donuts before we drove back, but I couldn’t even look at food, or coffee…not even Ryan because the sun was reflecting off his magnificent white skin.

Ha! Just kidding. He’s no vampire. Anyways, Ryan ordered something at Dunkin’ Donuts and I sat there, slumped in my chair with my eyes closed, waiting, and hoping not to throw up again. After he was done, we made it to the car and Ryan pulled out of the parking spot when a wave of nausea hit me again. He pulled back in the spot and I quickly got out, thinking I was going to puke, but it was a false alarm. Thank goodness Ryan’s mom had the travel sickness bags in the car; what a smart lady! I got back in and took the bag out just in case, and ended up falling asleep. We finally got back to the condo, with no accidents in the car (yay!), but as I got out of the car and can you guess what happens next?! Yepp…I threw up again. Ryan left me to do my business each time because he couldn’t handle it, which I totally get! Who wants to see that. But the plus side of this situation is that Ryan complimented me on how quiet I am when I throw up. Sooooo I’ll add that to my resume!

Anyways, the whole day I felt like crap. I was willing myself to feel better because I saw how beautiful of a day it was. I just wanted to be out in the sun, and I only had a few days left in Florida! But no matter how hard I tried, I never did get to sit out in the sun that day. I made my New Years Resolution to never drink again (as if a year is that quick to get through)….but I’ve broken that promise several times since! But New Years was a blast with Ryan and SO memorable, and that’s all I really wanted. I would go back and do that again another year, just minus the Jell-O syringes. Bleh.

Me the day after New Years: recovering all day

I was able to get to the beach a few days, and was it ever nice!!

Post New Years Adventures

Pretty much every weekend after getting home from Florida, we spent staying up late and having fun. I have to say, Ryan did really well in this area. Ryan’s dad has this saying that nothing good happens after midnight; but I would say for Ryan that nothing good happens after 5am.

There was the one pizza night when everyone was over, being all loud and having a good time. One person we were extra happy to have around because he doesn’t make it to pizza nights as often anymore; my brotha from anotha motha, Eric. Actually though he is like another brother, since my family grew up with his just 2 houses down the road. Anyways, it was getting late and I was super tired that night so I decided to head to bed early. Ryan and Eric however stayed up until 6AM!! Like a little kid on Christmas morning, Ryan came into my room and excitedly woke me up to tell me that we’re going out for breakfast at 7am. They wanted to keep the day rolling, and I was their ride to breakfast. I negotiated with Ryan that 7:30 would be better, but when that time came around Ryan didn’t wake me up. 8:30 came around and still I heard nothing.  So I went downstairs to where the guys were last, and I see the them both sleeping away like little angels (okay maybe some snoring was involved). When they finally woke up they were both still drunk, and they knew breakfast was off, especially since Eric had to be somewhere for noon.

The next really fun time of Ryan waking me up was when he went out with my brother and his girlfriend to celebrate their friends birthday. (PS. do you notice this pattern of me not staying up late and drinking?? I learned something from New Years!) We had just gotten home from my grandma’s 80th birthday around midnight, and they were ready to party! Rico and Ryan had some shots before I dropped them off downtown, and I told them to text me if they needed a ride. I even stayed up late to wait for a text, but received no response. SO I got a lovely call at 5am, and I don’t even remember what Ryan said because I was pretty much still asleep. In my half asleep state, I went downstairs and saw Rico propping Ryan up and trying to open the door at the same time. I at first was like “Okay…they’re just really close now”. Then I finally, really woke up and because something about it didn’t look right. Finally Ryan bursts out “I broke my ankle!!” He’s drunk, and Rico’s giving me a smile like “Geez I dunno what happened…yeah it was stupid”. Confused with how he could possibly break his ankle, I respond “What?? Are you okay? What happened??”. I swear I didn’t hear the full story of what happened until the next day (I did not get much information out of the drunk Ryan).

Here’s the story:

Everyone goes out to the bar, has a great time, Ryan’s not drunk

Bar closes, everyone Uber’s to the birthday girls’ house, Ryan’s not drunk

Birthday girls’ family (and Rico’s girlfriends’ cousins) arrive, Ryan’s not drunk

The family brings out the real alcohol, people start dancing in the living room, Ryan’s drunk

Shots, shots, more shots, Ryan’s really drunk

Deep conversations, heart to hearts, still drunk

More shots….still really drunk

Time to go home, Rico and Ryan have the brilliant idea of walking..still drunk

What’s that Ryan see’s? A really tall shed you say?….still drunk

Ryan parkour’s to the top of the shed and proceeds to jump down (stupid, stupid idea…really drunk)

Ryan lands…and voila! He can’t really walk (maybe a bit more alert, but still drunk)

Rico somewhat carries Ryan home

Ryan calls Marisa

So yes, Ryan jumped off a very tall shed in a random person’s backyard, and seriously messed up his ankle. Rico said he was just walking along, and the next thing he knows Ryan brings out his inner monkey and is climbing on a fence towards a shed, gets onto the roof, and jumps off, landing flat on his feet. Okay there Mr. Hulk! (Except instead of him shattering the ground beneath him, the ground shatter him) Something in his ankle must have cracked, or fractured…we still don’t know. My biggest worry at the time was that we were leaving for China the next day and I was wondering how I would get him through the airport with all the luggage we had. Also I have yet to see any people in wheelchairs in China, and there was no way I could carry Ryan the whole way through.

If you’re wondering what’s up with Ryan’s ankle now, we still don’t really know. It was, and is still sometimes painful to watch him walk. On the day of our departure, my dad was able to find some crutches for Ryan to use. Thanks dad! I didn’t have to end up carrying Ryan after all!

Overall the trip home was a blast; we made the most of our days home and spent as much time with people we knew we wouldn’t see anytime soon. Going away has made me appreciate those important people in my life even more; I often randomly think of people from home and sometimes feel like crying! But crying from missing friends and family has subsided a lot, compared to when I initially got here. Sometimes I have the opposite reaction and feel like bursting out laughing, which is equally as funny. The longer I stay, the easier it gets.

Some other memories from my visit home:

Skiing at Blue Mountain with my dad and family friend

More cuddles

Going for a nice hike, full of smog-free air!

Got my Italian passport!!

Axe throwing competition

Being home always creates warm memories for me; I laugh uncontrollably at least once a day, and I feel surrounded by great people.  My brother, for example, has an awesome humour that can make me laugh non-stop for about 5 minutes from just a silly noise.

Which brings me to a 1.5 hr  Christmas Eve drive home from my grandparents; my brother was driving, and everyone else in the vehicle had been drinking. We listened to all sorts of music, had some good talks, and Rico did insanely good voice impressions of an old Japanese man, an Australian, and Hermione Granger from Harry Potter (pretty much just sounded like Mrs. Doubtfire). It was the Japanese man that got everyone in the car gasping for air; and I had to tell Rico to stop because I was concerned my sister was going to pass out. If we sound like an insanely happy family, I’d say for the most part, we are :D (We’re probably truly insane, but also happy at the same time) And I’m so glad Ryan has joined in on our crazy train; I remember when he first met everyone, his facial expression was like “What kind of water are these people drinking?!”

Anyways folks, as always, thanks for taking the time to read my blogs (even if they can be a tad long), and listening to how awesome the people in my life are. Going home is bound to create some good memories, but I’m also loving my life here in China. We’ve met some pretty cool people from America that will unfortunately be leaving us soon to go back home. However, this coincides well with Ryan and I moving to Chongqing within the next week or so! I’m SO excited to move. Until then, I hope you’re all enjoying your 2017 so far. If you’re not, come visit us in China, it’ll change the way you think!

Coming up: The move to Chongqing

Next trip:  Vietnam

One Wild Month Well well well...I'm back! In case you forgot about me, I'm still here! It's been a long while since I last posted! 

[marisatofu-blog]

So we went to Hong Kong…and to be honest I didn’t think it would be that much different from where we live now. BUT I was wrong. Hong Kong is very different from mainland China…and quite a bit pricier too!

Our trip began bright and early Friday morning, where somehow you find the energy to wake up early despite exhaustion because you’re excited to be going somewhere different! However I think my excitement from travelling shows up in different ways now that I’ve been doing a lot of it (I am not complaining at all though!). When I was younger, I’d get so excited weeks in advanced that I couldn’t sleep because it felt like I was on a caffein high. I not only would get excited for the actually destination, but I also would always get excited for the journey along the way; meaning I loved flying or driving for hours to get somewhere. This section of time set aside for travel meant that I could watch movies, read, draw or whatever I felt like doing! And I loved it. I don’t know if travel brought out my creativity, or, if I deprived myself of doing these things regularly, but I felt like this was the best time to do them. Whatever the reason, it was my time! (Although maybe this is unusual for a young person to enjoy doing…but hey I’M A WEIRDO!) :)

I think the last time I felt like a kid during travel was when I got business class seating for the first time, and I didn’t know until I was boarding the plane! We were on our way to Thailand from the Toronto airport and I got the generous opportunity!! I felt SO excited and I don’t think I could stop talking to Ryan for the first 10 minutes on the plane. “Ryan! Our seats turn into beds!”, “Ryan! We get toothpaste!”, “Ryan! The T.V screen is huge!”, “Look at the menu!! We have options!”, “My butt doesn’t hurt!”, “You mean I can have as much wine as I want?”,“ You mean I can get this service for the next 15 hours of my life?”. Because of where we were sitting, I had to pop my head up over the divider to say these things; I’m sure Ryan was like “YEA I KNOW! I’m here too!” Anyway, there was a little part of me that didn’t want to land….but I smartened up from wishing those things, because you know what they say: “Be careful what you wish for”, and I did not wish for another Asian flight to go missing. It was a thoroughly enjoyable flight, and I was really happy to have had that opportunity to experience it. They actually gave me a survey to fill out at some point and I checked off “Excellent” for everything. My comments were “EVERYTHING WAS FANTASTIC! BEST SERVICE I’VE EVER HAD! Would definitely fly with this airline in business class again” and then a little mental side note “..if I can afford it”. One of most impressive things about that flight was that they addressed me as “Ms.Toffolo” throughout the flight. Boy did I feel special!

Even now, I don’t really dread travel time; the thing I stress out about is being late! I actually enjoy waiting at the airport for hours and hours before my flight (like more than recommended), because it’s better than the alternative of almost missing a flight, or stressing about missing it. (And when I’m stressed out, who knows what I will say or do!). Although I’ve calmed down about being super early, I do still enjoy my time at the airport or on the plane for the most part. The parts I don’t like about flights now is the gross recycled air, and having my butt go numb from sitting for so long. But some things that help: alcohol and gravol. It really just knocks me out! The first time I tried this trick I was going away with my family; my brother was sitting beside me and started poking me in my sleep. I was a rock and did not feel a thing. I unfortunately did not look very attractive with my mouth hanging open (my brother told me later)…but hey, sleep is sleep! Another downside to an extensive amount of time on a plane: if I don’t stay hydrated, I expand like a balloon! Seriously my toes look like sausages and I get some saweeeet cankles! I’ve started bringing my 1L water bottle on long flights and try to make sure it’s always full!

ANYWAYS, we went to HONG KONG! (minus the cankles and sausage toes). The main reason for going was  because of my visa; I can’t stay a day later than 60 days or I might not be allowed back into mainland China (I mean I would love to be able to see Ryan for the next year or two). Going to Hong Kong  counts as exiting the country, which means I could literally take the quick 2.5 hr flight, wait, and go back to Wuxi all in one day. But for one, that sounds super boring and two, I don’t think there would be any point to that. Plus this visa is giving me a good excuse to get out an explore the world! I love it! And I really enjoyed exploring Hong Kong; not only was I re-setting my visa, but also myself.

I had heard a while back about the Hong Kong beaches and I knew that I had to go, with the beach being one of my top priorities. Another recommendation we got from several friends was to do some hiking; which Ryan and I love to do, and those were precisely the things we did!

Our first day there Ryan and I enjoyed beer out on the patio of our hotel, which was located about 30 or so minutes from the airport.

The location was nice because it took us out of the intense skyscrapers and business of downtown Hong Kong, allowing us to enjoy the views of the water we were located along. Unfortunately this did mean we had to set quite a bit of time aside for transportation, but that was okay with me for some peace and quiet. While enjoying the views and our beer, we were waiting for my friend from high school, Sumeet, to show up. He was doing a trip in Asia with his cousin to visit his sister in South Korea, and later head to Japan. We thought it would be fitting to meet up in Hong Kong since he would be close!

We found out quickly that his favourite foods to eat included McDonalds or KFC, (or any fast food really) which are abundant in China. We would suggest Chinese food and he’d be like “Yeah sure, Chinese McDonalds sounds good”. Somehow I find that Chinese people make this food look like it’s a high- end restaurant. Honestly I see a lot people looking dressed-up and just put together at McDonalds. This is in comparison to people at home who will wear PJs…Although, if you have the confidence to wear your PJs to McDonalds (or anywhere in public) and don’t care about what people think, good for you!! Anyways, somehow I can feel like garbage when I walk into a McDonalds…not because of the food I’m eating (that just makes me feel like garbage afterwards), but because of how everyone else is dressed. It’s like going to a party and you realize you were the only one that wore jeans and a tank, when everyone else is wearing a dress. MY NIGHTMARE. Although, this extreme scenario has not happened to me, any place I feel underdressed I usually avoid eye contact with everyone.

Our first night we walked around a main street in downtown Hong Kong, which included a tonne of buildings and a tonne of people…but is that really that surprising for China? What was MOST surprising were the amount of foreigners! It didn’t feel like we were in Asia anymore with the amount of people that could speak English, including the people of Hong Kong. This made travelling around super easy! Hong Kong was all around, very multicultural without losing the “Asian feel’ to it; and I liked that. And I hardly felt like I was being pushed or shoved. Yay! Hong Kong knows about personal space!! I also don’t remember hearing any horking, so that was also a bonus.

Speaking of multicultural, the restaurant we went to that first night was an Indian restaurant recommended to Sumeet. To get to this place, I felt like we walked through India town, similar to China town in Toronto. I was SO surprised to see so many people from India (although it’s possible that not everyone was from India), and so much Indian food only in this one section! I mean I’ve always wanted to go to India, so it’s kind of cool I got to experience a tiny part of it (or at least what I think it would sort-of be like). We walked past a crazy amount little Indian restaurants, all smelling delicious in this cramped market area called Chungking Mansions. Not at all a mansion though…so I don’t fully understand that name. Many of the people here would step in front of us asking if we wanted to buy watches or handbags…but we were hungry! Although, one guy asked Ryan if he wanted a watch, and Ryan responded “Do you want a notepad?? I have a notepad. How much do you want to pay for it??” While this made me laugh (because he actually had a notepad in his pocket), Ryan unfortunately didn’t get any bids. But I mean why not try the same tactics they used on us right?? Only fair.

We eventually weaved our way around the market and after a very small elevator ride, arrived in a small room with a bunch of tables packed together. The kitchen size was matched to the tininess of the bathroom: having the sink and urinal in a 5 square foot space. I kid you not the bathroom was TINY. The kitchen definitely not as small, but in terms of cleanliness- health and safety at home would probably shut it down. However this has never held me back before, and wouldn’t hold me back this time from enjoying a good meal. And was it ever good! Someday I’d love to find out what Indian food in India tastes like. Really, anything with naan is a mouth-watering masterpiece.

After dinner, we scoped downtown for a long time trying to find a bar; but the first bar we tried rejected us because it was “dinner time”…and that left us feeling pretty shocked. We certainly weren’t a group of drunks asking to get into a bar; we were all in fact very calm. But maybe she took one look at us and figured we were some troublemakers (maybe our tall-ness intimidated her). The next place we stopped in we weren’t sure if it was actually open, but sure enough we just tried opening the door and it was a bar! Everything was black and dim with blue lighting, giving it a bit of an eerie feeling. After sitting down and getting our eyes adjusted, we realized that drinks would be costing us around $15-20 Canadian just for ONE! We got up and left, and eventually settled for a little ice cream place, which also happened to sell beer. I mean what better things to sell! Everyone loves ice cream, and why not throw beer into the mix.

Ain’t that the truth! I found this baby when I was in Greece.

When we sat down at our little table on the side of the road, giving a view of all the other restaurants on the street, we noticed a homeless old man: topless and ripped (I suppose 0% body fat will create that image). He was calmly and confidently watching over the crowd as if it were his corner, taking a puff of his cigarette every so often. Turned out this man was genius! A group of girls decided that they were quite full, payed for their dinner and then left, leaving a table-full of wasted food. (Honestly I think China needs to figure something out on the amount of food wasted. Every time I see a group of people out for dinner, there is such a large quantity of wasted food!) The second they left, the homeless man casually walked over, grabbed a folded newspaper stuck down the back of his pants and pulled it out. I realized as he was pulling the paper out that he was not wearing any underwear (I didn’t mean to look! I just saw him pulling something out of his butt!), and so it was resting on his butt for who knows how long…and he proceeded to put the leftover foods in his newspaper with his bare hands. As he was leaving he grabbed a ¾ full bottle of beer (I hope with no backwash), walked back to his corner and took a swig of his beer as he settled in for his dinner. I mean, this sounds disgusting right? He just put food that has been touched by people he doesn’t know, in newspaper, which is already riddled with many other substances, that was a second ago, on his butt crack. Despite the image and thought of germs, I thought his actions were smart: He waited for somewhat freshly cooked and warm-ish food to eat, and he got a beer out of it!! I mean that’s better than the food being thrown in the trash or starving. We all felt bad for this man at first, but realized he was doing just fine for himself. If I were homeless I would have to say I’d probably do the same thing; being hungry is no fun…although I HOPE I at least had some undies on if I were to stuff newspaper back there.

The night we also found a really interesting park, which did not look like one from its initial appearance.

We weren’t sure what to expect walking up those stairs, but when went up we found massive statues of comic book characters! They were all throughout the park and were hilarious and interesting to look at.

He’s not too happy to be my friend :(

  We also found pregnant-looking man sleeping on a bench, and as well a group of friendly-looking older women doing Tai Chi. I pushed Ryan to join them, but that didn’t work…I would have loved to video tape that!!

The next day we planned and succeeded in hiking a trail on Hong Kong Island called “Dragons Back”. I had read about it during my research and was also told by friends that this was a must! It was very much worth it, and we got to see different side of Hong Kong. SUCH beautiful views of the water and the mountains; it’s tough to beat these kinds of nature hikes. It was supposed to rain that day but we got lucky and were given sunshine!

Take a look at these gorgeous views.

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After our hike, we made our way to a beach called “Big Wave Bay”. To get to the beach we had to walk through a little place where people lived, and it really felt like a surfing community. I would assume that this is what Hawaii feels like! But I have never been, so I really don’t know (another place I’d like to go). But it was so cool to see people waxing their surfboards, or selling things through their little surf shop.

The entrance into the community to get to Big Wave Bay

Once we got to the beach we saw a crazy amount of people trying to surf; the waves weren’t always being cooperative for them, and I think maybe quite a few were just learning to surf. I know nothing about surfing, but it looks like a difficult sport …so good for them! I didn’t bring my bathing suit to Hong Kong because I figured that the water would be freezing in November, and maybe really dirty; but the water looked quite clean, the sand was so soft and white, and the temperature of the water felt perfect on my feet. It was so so refreshing to stick my feet in the sand and feel the sun on my face; instant relaxation.

  After grabbing a delicious lunch at the beach (and a couple of beers), we made our way back to the city to check off another “To-Do” on our list; Victoria Peak. This came highly recommended as well…but apparently every person in Hong Kong was also told to do this. The line-up for the tram up to the top of the peak was massive! We didn’t want to stand their until midnight, and decided to hold off until our last day in hopes that the lineup would be shorter.

…but in fact it wasn’t! I think it ended up being longer! We even got up earlier that morning and went straight to the peak lineup to test our luck again. If we had followed through with waiting, Ryan and I would have missed our flight back to the mainland. While we could have hiked up, there was still not enough time in our day to do so. So instead, we walked around aimlessly and found a nice park, which also had a very broken down Olympic Stadium (although I don’t even know when Hong Kong hosted the Olympics??).

The Olympic-looking stadium

It’s hard to tell but it was really broken down! No access allowed.

We made our way to lunch and shortly after said our goodbyes to Sumeet so that Ryan and I could go to the airport.

It’s not surprising that the hiking and beach part of Hong Kong were my favourite parts; I don’t always enjoy being around busy cities, especially when I get enough of it as it is! It was so nice to get away for a bit, see an old friend, and reset my internal self!

Some take-away notes from Hong Kong:  It is very different from mainland China. Some simple differences, if you don’t already know:

 The currency is different; they use Hong Kong dollars rather than RMB.

It is more expensive than mainland China: On top of being just a cheap person, China has made me even more so! So this was a noticeable difference for me.

Instead of Mandarin, they speak Cantonese; Ryan and I could not understand much! It sounds so different!

Public transportation was our best friend when getting around Hong Kong. We bought passes called “Octopus” cards, which allowed you to load it up and pay very easily for public transportation like you would pay for items in a store with a tap debit card. Amazing! I really enjoyed the convenience and the option of cheaper transportation with this card, considering how expensive taxis were (compared to mainland China that is).

Drivers are seated on the right and drive on the left side of the road whereas mainland China is opposite

One of the funnest experiences on the subway. This boy moved closer to his mom after he took one look at Ryan. I don’t think he’s ever seen someone so big!! Although scared stares from children aren’t unusual.

Some other not-so-simple differences I noticed were that in my opinion, the people in Hong Kong were different from mainland. Honestly it seemed like the people that lived there were more “Westernized” than mainland China; with many of them speaking English, among other behaviours I noted as ‘different’ (Again, I do not mean any offence by this!).  For example, I mentioned earlier that I didn’t feel like I was being pushed or shoved despite the large populations. As well, people in Hong Kong believe in waiting in line! I really enjoyed that part; I didn’t feel like I needed to fight my way in a line or defend my spot: I could relax a bit more! Something just as simple as getting on an escalator or subway was much more calming to do in Hong Kong than it normally is in mainland China. People would wait their turn to line up single file on the escalator, rather than in the mainland where people shove their way through so that everyone can fit on all at once. I never thought I’d be comparing “The stress levels of getting on an escalator” (sounds like a scientific study…) but China has changed me! Both systems work; just one has me a bit more defensive than the other.

I would suggest Hong Kong to anyone! It has the best of both worlds; giving you the option of nature, but also the option of enjoying the hustle and bustle of a huge city. Plus, getting around is super easy when you know you can speak English to the locals or even the many foreigners that have decided to live and/or work. I’m sure I will be back to Hong Kong the next time I need a quick trip for a reset! :)

Next stop: Christmas at home and New Years in Florida :)

The countdown is on and I’m already listening to Christmas tunes!

I fortunately don’t have the obligation to listen to Christmas music every time I turn on the radio or go to a store: China doesn’t celebrate! It’s getting me more excited to be home, and I can’t wait to see everyone, drink some egg nog, watch the Grinch, eat delicious family home-cooked meals and experience the SNOW that I’m missing in China right now.

I hope to update everyone with a new blog in the new year (if not sooner).

Happy Holidays everyone!!

Resetting in Hong Kong So we went to Hong Kong…and to be honest I didn’t think it would be that much different from where we live now.

[marisatofu-blog]

Eh!-montional visit back home

Eh!-montional visit back home

If you didn’t catch the title, Ryan and I went back to Canada! Writing this blog was like reliving all the emotions again…so just know that there are feelings in this blog! (ewww feelings, right?)   Our visit to Canada was awesome…literally full of awe. One thing I’ve noticed since being in China is that I need to see my family. I love them! I think I took my family for granted with always being…

[marisatofu-blog]

Did ya miss me??

Yes, I’ve been quite the slacker lately.  I’ve been to Canada and back and I still haven’t gotten my blog out on Portugal! I did this on purpose…totally…I wanted to see how many of you were actually reading…

Surprisingly (to myself), I have been nudged about getting my blog out. There’s been quite a few days where Ryan walks by my desk and says “Are you done your blog yet?”, followed by a text “Done yet?”. When I got home to visit family and friends in Canada (ooo another blog to write!) more people were saying the same things.  But the truth is…every time I try to write about it, it sounds crappy. It could just be that I’m being too critical of myself, but honestly I sounded like a child telling a story with no other way to connect sentences other than using  “and thennnnn….and thennnnn”.   I have no clue where my creativeness went for this blog, but it seemed lost. SO, think I’ve come to the conclusion that I will give you the highlights of our trip and what happened. This way, no one gets bored.

First some background history:

The lovely people we went to Portugal with are Duncan and Lexie. Look at how cute they are!

Duncan is purposely making this silly face, it’s not just a badly-timed picture!

  Honestly these two are the cutest. Duncan is a hilariously funny gentleman from Toronto, while Lexie is a tiny, hamstery girl from northern Ontario. I say hamstery because when she really gets laughing, she sounds a bit like a hamster running on a hamster wheel. But these are Duncan’s words! Not mine! He actually pointed this out to us on our trip, which only fueled our laughter, and Lexie’s hamster giggles. I was in tears from this (from laughing too hard).

Anywhos, Duncan and Ryan are like twins when it comes to their personalities; both goofy and a lot of fun! Ryan and I met Duncan at university about 3 years ago; we were all on the rowing team. I actually didn’t know for a while that Duncan’s first name was Ryan. I guess they needed to find a way to differentiate the two goofballs!

Perfect description of these two

  Because of their twin-like personalities, they became fast friends and decided when Ryan left for China, that we would meet somewhere half way. Although for flight purposes, Portugal is NOT half way. Ryan and I had to fly 10 hours to Frankfurt with a 4 hour layover, and another 4 hours to Portugal, while Duncan and Lexie only had 6 hours total! The trip was definitely worth it though, so I’m not complaining. This was mine and Ryan’s first trip out of Asia, so it was pretty exciting to get away.

We were really looking forward to being on an all- inclusive resort, with zero to worry about, and more than enough food and drink you could ask for. Honestly…all-inclusives should have a warning sign saying “May not want to wear a 2 piece at the end of vacation” or “You will seriously need to hit the gym when you get home”. I think my goal for ONE time going to an all-inclusive would be to NOT indulge. I think if I could accomplish that, I can accomplish anything. I’ll let you know if that ever happens, but don’t hold your breath.

Feeling’s after being at a resort…

  Anyways. The first 4 days of our vacation was not at an all-inclusive (I’m sure my body is thankful of this). Our first stop was in Porto, which was rich with Port wine. Previous to Porto, I have yet to try port wine. This is surprising giving the fact that my dad is Italian, and I used to work with wine! So I was a bit shocked with how sweet the wine was when I tasted it, considering how dark it looked.

Our events in Porto were filled with tonnes of laughter; I bet being jet-lagged contributed to my uncontrollable laughter. There were about 3 times that I distinctly remember not being able to stop laughing. Here they are!

Finding our way to a wine tour:

After our gondola ride over the city of Porto, we were trying to find our way to a wine tasting tour we had in mind. Because Duncan isn’t so great at directions, and was leading the way, Lexie and I were hesitant to follow. But adventure is the purpose of travel, so if we got lost, why not! Going down a cobblestone hill, with small apartments located on either side, the two Ryan’s noticed something hilarious that Lexie and I didn’t catch on until after all of our laughter had stopped.

Imagine a mother, not particularly athletic, trying to push her toddler up a cobblestone hill in a stroller. The toddler, having no control over the situation, had his head whipping in all directions due to the uneven ground and the force with which the mother was pushing. I suppose at the right time, one Ryan said “That kids going for a f**king ride”, which caused the other one to crack up. Lexie and I were standing there for a bit waiting for an explanation, but every time one of them tried to speak they kept giggling all over again. Because I know this feeling all too well, I joined in on the contagious laughter, with no real reason as to why I was laughing. But who needs a reason to laugh anyways!!

 Our first dinner in Portugal:

It was our first dinner together in Portugal, and we had picked a place right along the water that we heard was supposed to be really good. We stepped into the restaurant and told the male host that there are 4 of us that would like to sit inside (the tables to sit outside could only fit 2 people). Because of this, he had to push 2 tables together for us. Duncan, eager to help, went over to push the tables together when the host stops him in his tracks “No, please, allow me”. At this point Duncan already had the tables together, so really the host was just adjusting to make it look perfect. Duncan looks at Ryan, Ryan looks back; and they start giggling.. Lexie and I again, still don’t fully understand what exactly is so funny, but we both end up in tears with the laughter these guys have passed on. Honestly I was stuck at the table for about 5 minutes shaking silently from laughter. I must’ve been really exhausted!

 Loss of attention, or rather Lexie’s talents in capturing attention during a walk:

Our next stop at laughter lane was when we were walking by the water. It was our last day in Porto and we wanted to do some relaxing walking around. At one point we needed to go down a set of 3 large steps, but for some reason the only person that noticed this was Lexie. At the perfect time, Lexie seemed to capture our attention and we all looked at her as we were approaching our first step down. Lexie managed to make it down no problem, but the rest of us found that our feet took way too long to touch the ground; were shocked and confused with what had just happened. Luckily, only a couple knees buckled but no one fell down! We all started to laugh because we can’t remember what Lexie said that was so intriguing!

  After Porto, we took a 3 hour train ride to Lisbon. It was mostly at this time when the boys started their beer diet; “eat some beers” is what they called it for the rest of the trip.

When we made it to Lisbon, we found our way to our next Air Bnb location. This place was super adorable; perfect for short people. The bathroom had a slanted ceiling so it was impossible for anyone except Lexie (she’s so tiny), to fully stand up. In fact, the boys made a comment on how they couldn’t stand up to pee!! Luckily the rest of the apartment was normal ceiling height, but everything was pretty packed together. Thankfully, most items were from IKEA so the owners were able to utilize the space well!

My most vivid memory of this part of the trip included our creepy neighbour that I had no idea existed. It was the one night we decided to get dressed up and go out for dinner after our day of touring around the city. I wanted to straighten my hair, but because the bathroom was so tiny I had to do it in the kitchen. We were all enjoying some drinks, or rather, the boys were eating their beers in the living room. Lexie and I were sipping our drinks in the kitchen/bedroom while we were getting ready (I say kitchen/bedroom since there was a pullout bed right beside the kitchen table) .

Here’s Lexie on the pullout doing some Lisbon research.

  Check out these love bugs: where they were during the scene of the crime.

  There was a nice long mirror I sat in front of while straightening my hair while Lexie and I were chatting away. Where I was sitting happened to be in front of the kitchen sink, which was also in front of the window we had open for a nice breeze. I don’t know for how long this went on for, but I guess I was so preoccupied with straightening my hair and talking that I didn’t realize what was happening. I suddenly got the feeling as if I was being watched.

—-You know that feeling when you’re watching a thriller movie and you get a glimpse of a person that gives you the chills, realizing how mentally twisted they are? You feel as though they are right there in your room, but are also happy that it’s just a movie. WELL, this happened to me in real life. And I couldn’t shake the feeling for a while. —

I turn around and notice the neighbour, about 10 feet away, staring at me through his window. He doesn’t look worried that I noticed he was there, he doesn’t even flinch one bit! He just continues to stare at me, his eyes unblinking. I look at him for about 2 seconds before I gasp and try and hide. I bend over in my chair, trying to get out of his view from the mirror and the window. I whisper to Lexie, as if I’m scared of him hearing me and trying to kill me “Lexie, the window! Someone’s there!”. Confused, she slowly walks over and peeks over the window for a quick glimpse. Her reaction is similar to mine: eyes wide and fairly fearful, “Oh my gosh, that’s creepy”. Both Ryan’s notice how quiet we got and are wondering what’s going on. Luckily, from where my Ryan is sitting, he gets a glimpse of the man STILL creeping through his window. He walks over and sees the man continuing to stand there, until the man moves his arm to very slowly close the shutters; all the while still staring at Ryan. “What the F**k!” he says.

Yes, WTF is right!! I still have the image of him imprinted on my memory: shirtless, skin and bones, wispy white hair, large sunken eyes…

…yeah that’s pretty close.

I felt partially worried for my life, because I think I got the feeling as if his brain was not right. But, we all agreed that he was just a harmless, creepy old man. If he did try to climb across the roof into our apartment, it would be no problem for the Ryan’s to deal with. But that night, we closed and locked all the windows before going out just to be safe. Even the bathroom window…which only a toddler could fit through…

This is the view from our kitchen window to the creepy old man’s window. It was the big window he was looking through…pretty darn close!

      Our next stop was in the Algarves: resort time!! This was our time to indulge in everything we shouldn’t, and maybe regret it the next day. There were many, many laughs through this part of the trip as well, but again I’ll highlight a few!

There was the one night Duncan made Ryan throw up.

This video pretty much explains it all! Lexie and Duncan came into our room before we were on our way out, and Duncan had the brilliant idea to go to the balcony door and act this scene out.

  How did this make Ryan throw up? Well at the same time Duncan did this, Ryan had just sipped some water. Tortured between spitting it all over the place, and trying to keep it in, he ended up sort of drowning himself, which made him gag, which allowed him enough time to make it to the sink to throw up. All that for not wanting to spit out a bit of water!! It did make for some good laughs though…but that was after he stopped puking. Bleh!

A man we had played volleyball with tried giving us a geography lesson with his feet.

Volleyball was how we kept ourselves from being bored. The guys would play it for about 4 hours a day. Lexie and I would join in sometimes (we needed to relax and tan too!), but the Ryan’s were fully committed. One of the guys we had been playing volleyball with was a fun (drunk), 6’4″ (just guessing, but he was tall), full out speedo, Polish man. For some reason we were talking about whisky (I think it was his favourite drink) and he was trying to explain where different types of whiskey’s were from. This lead to his really bad geography lesson, where he stomped his foot to show where a country was. “This (stomp), is Canada, this (stomp) is Russia, this (stomp) is China….”. I think he could have used a map at this point! Nothing made sense, but it was hilarious to see him try.

It’s a tonic!

That same polish guy tried to convince people he was just drinking a tonic, when it was actually beer. “It’s a tonic!”, he would say all throughout volleyball games, or if we saw him around the resort. The Ryan’s kept using that phrase for the rest of the vacation, for absolutely any alcoholic beverage.

Spiderman

This evening both Ryan’s were a bit out of control..I dunno, maybe alcohol had something to do with it?? We had just gotten back to our rooms to get ready for our dinner, and both Ryan’s were like kids who were given too much candy. We each went to our designated rooms, which were beside each other, and getting ready was not an easy task. We had told Duncan and Lexie we would be ready in 30 minutes, but as time went on I assured Ryan I would not be ready on time anymore (aka quit bugging me while I’m trying to get ready!). We got a phone call from Duncan saying Lexie wasn’t going to be ready on time either, which I was really relieved to hear! I should have known her Ryan would have been doing the same thing to her! When Lexie was ready she came over to our room, and all I had left to do was put my shoes on. But at this point it’s impossible with BOTH Ryan’s together. We kicked the Ryan’s out of the room and told them we’d be out when were ready (ha!). We both shared our experiences of trying to get ready with a drunk Ryan around, laugh, and then turn out the lights as we’re going out the door. As we step out, we only see one Ryan in the hall (my Ryan). His face looks guilty and I’m not sure what’s going on…”Where’s Duncan?”, I ask. “Oh you guys are done already….oh” he says. I realize what’s happening so I rush back into the room and Duncan comes through the balcony door!! He climbed across his balcony onto ours!! And it’s not like these balconies were only separated by a divider…he actually had to climb across the outside wall. I was really concerned that he would have fallen off given that he was a bit inebriated. I mean, we were pretty high up so if he fell I’m sure the rest of the vacation wouldn’t be so enjoyable! “I’m scared of heights, and I climbed across the balcony for you guys…you weren’t even there! We laugh (and roll our eyes), as his thoughts of scaring people went to a whole different level.

So, some things I learned on this trip:

You can’t expect or hope for two Ryan’s to behave when they’re together.

Vacation will be guaranteed that much more fun when you have two Ryan’s together.

Their bachelor parties would be a hell of a lot of fun!!

But despite what I learned about these two, I had an awesome time with our friends and Portugal was beautiful. The people were nice too! (despite that creepy old man….). Overall a well spent vacation :)

Here are some cool pictures of our trip! Enjoy!

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          Portugal Did ya miss me?? Yes, I've been quite the slacker lately.  I’ve been to Canada and back and I still haven’t gotten my blog out on Portugal!

[marisatofu-blog]

“BEIGEING”:  The local Chinese man’s efforts in protecting others from germs,    the driver’s efforts in getting us to the Great Wall, and my efforts towards drinking/staying awake.

Keep reading, it’s a new word. You’ll figure out what I mean:)

It’s been due time for this blog about Beijing! I’ve been a bit of a procrastinator…It’s safe to say I’m a little bit lazy lately!

Our final weekend getaway took us to Beijing, and it has been a really great experience being able to balance work with travel life. Ryan and I have continued to work full time hours, but were still lucky enough to spend our weekends away. And thank goodness for these weekends! Breaks from China are definitely needed. It ends with us being a bit tired at work on Mondays, but it’s not regrettable at all! Plus it’s even better being able to spend time with familiar faces from home (that’s a given). I’m pretty excited for that one day my parents decide to visit. My dad’s reactions and facial expressions to everything in China will be the highlight of my days, every day (and I’ll be sure to blog about them).

As you know, our first weekend getaway was in the lovely Japan, followed by South Korea, and our last stop, historical Beijing! I was pretty excited to climb a different section of the Great Wall, and I couldn’t wait to see what Jess and Zack thought about it too. This was my third time going, which is crazy to say I’ve been that many times. But every time I go I feel like “WOW”. The views never cease to amaze me and I feel truly happy that I’m there. I mean, I think I get this way from hiking in general: the mix of endorphins from doing physical activity, having fresh air, great company, sunshine…ahh. It feels good to hike!

I think maybe my summer thus far (until these weekend getaways), I’ve felt like a bit of a hermit wanting to stay indoors and do nothing. It’s honestly too hot outside to do anything here in the summer. Seriously, I used to be someone that LOVED summers and tanning and being outside…and I still do. But not in China. Any time I have stepped outside, the humidity hits me like a wall and I can almost feel my asthma wanting to act up. A 5 minute walk anywhere and I can feel the sweat dripping. I’ve become used to the heat, and accustomed to myself sweating profusely, it’s just not always comfortable, SO I try to avoid it when I can. I mean the pollution helps block out the sun a bit, so it’s not extremely hot. But the humidity really gets ya!

ANYWAYS… At this point Sandra and Jim had already left to go home, and Jess and Zack were getting their last weekend of travel in China. We had made plans to meet up with them in Beijing, where we decided to take a 5 hour train ride to make things easier for us (less stress/lower cost), but boy did it feel like forever! I think Ryan and I were getting accustomed to our 1.5-3 hour flights; we started to forget what longer travel times felt like! Aren’t we in for a treat when we visit home…

Ryan and I got to the station a bit early so we enjoyed ourselves some lunch and grabbed snacks (not necessarily the healthy kind…but so worth it) for our train ride. Unfortunately the train company decided to sit Ryan and I apart from each other even though we booked the tickets together (which makes NO sense to me…but hey). Anyways we sit in our spots; Ryan’s beside his Chinese friend, and I’m beside mine. We then start hearing the lovely noise of mucous arising from the deep, dark depths of this man’s throat…only to hear it pass through his nose (I don’t know how I know that…but I do)..and only to hear him cough and swallow and hack away at his persistent brigade of mucous for the next 5 hours….and he’s not protecting anyone from ANYTHING.

I mean it’s a germ war, and Ryan’s getting the full attack (being the fact that he’s sitting right beside him). Of course, he can’t take it anymore, and I don’t blame him! So as soon at the train reaches its next stop, we move up a row and sit together, to get away from this noisy man. Unfortunately we don’t know whose seat we’re taking in the process, but luckily the people who board the train at the next stop understand that we just wanted to trade seats. We can still, sadly, hear our germy friend, so for the rest of the ride we put in our headphones and blast our music to avoid listening to any more bodily fluids.

To be fair, we’ve all had those days when we’re riddled with germs, and sound like we’re dying, but yet somehow need to function in public. I myself have had a few coughing attacks in public, and they are the most embarrassing. BUT to paint the picture a bit more clear…nothing appeared wrong with this man. He didn’t have a runny nose, or red eyes, and he in fact seemed quite chipper despite the fact that he was creating rather appalling noises. So it was just a tad confusing that this persisted for about 5 hours. So although he sounded germy, it was probably more just some sort of condition he had going on. Ryan and I were finally able to relax when we moved rows. We were also able to relax once we finally got through the subway station and made it to our hotel! Jess and Zack were both waiting for us and our adventures of Beijing could begin.

That Saturday was our adventure of climbing the Great Wall of China! We arranged for a driver to pick us up from the hotel, which surprisingly, Ryan and I recognized from our last time in Beijing 2 years ago! He recognized us too which was really nice…but when I say us, I mean Ryan. He held out his hand for a handshake from Ryan, and when I went to do the same thing as well he either didn’t notice or didn’t care, and began to open the car door for us. Ouch…But this isn’t the first time I’ve felt ‘subordinate’ to Ryan in China. Although a handshake is hardly a way to determine this; but in general it seems like most people cater to men here. Or maybe just foreign men (or just Ryan: women swoon over him!). To be clear, before I list things off: I’m not upset about these things! At home I feel like it has just become so normal that “women come first” (even with all the feminism going around), that it’s just interesting to how China differs.

Being seated:

When we sit down to have dinner, the host that takes us to our table will pull the chair out for Ryan before, or instead of doing it for me. Gosh darn, I have to pull out my chair by myself??

Being served:

In most situations, Ryan will be asked first what he would like to eat or drink, and will be served it before me as well (although the serving part varies. In China food usually comes out when it’s ready, not in the proper sequence: main course before appetizer is a common occurrence).

Going out for drinks:

When we go out for drinks, sometimes the servers will only ask Ryan if he wants more to drink…not me. Excuse me? I’m not done drinking! Ryan has to point them towards me to get them to realize I’m alive too.

So far, those are the main things I notice in terms of treatment. I think most people in China see a white man (Ryan) and they think he has a lot of power, and think I am just the woman that happened to ‘cling’ on to him. Believe it or not, I think many relationships in China are based off of status (aka MONEY). This is why Chinese women love foreign men: for their money! Sorry guys, probably not your charming personality… Ryan could probably tell you several times that he’s been asked by Chinese women how much money he makes, and if he could take them out shopping. And I can tell you that she didn’t get to know him before she asked that…that was one of her first 5 questions!

Fun Fact: We found out that Chinese men here can have multiple girlfriends, but they basically have to “pay them” to keep them quiet about it. Women in China are drawn by money (I’m sure not ALL of them are), and know this ‘girlfriend’ fact, so they will find a man that has money, and will put up with his other girlfriends for a price. New sports car perhaps? Designer clothing? Shoes? Bags? Every time a woman in a sports car, I don’t really have the best thoughts about them…but I guess they’re happy?

**Like any generalization about groups of people, I’m sure this isn’t always that case. But this is what we were told. I apologize to any Chinese women reading this that feel offended.

So WOW do I get off topic sometimes. Back to the Great Wall; our drive took what felt like forever, and involved me asking our driver to pick up the pace. The drive took about 3 hours, when it should have taken about half that time. We were wondering if our driver had recently been in some sort of accident, because Ryan and I didn’t recall him driving this slow last time.  I can sometimes put things a bit harshly, so I had to harness my inner sensitive side to ask him to speed up. Seriously every single car was passing us or honking at him to speed up. He was going 60kms/hr….and we had a far ways to go. Everyone concurred that I asked politely enough, and he sped up for me! Yay! I mentally gave myself a pat of the back.

And so, getting out of the car with stiff legs, we could begin our climb to the Great Wall! The first thing we noticed was how quiet it was; the last time Ryan and I went to the wall it was loaded with people! This time around we were just shocked, and extremely happy, that this was not the case at this section. We think its distance from Beijing has some correlation to the amount of people that will go: the closer it is, the busier it will be.  This section was quite the drive.

The wall was beautiful!! Stunning views, and obviously, a lot of steps! The only unfortunate thing about the wall in general is that there are hardly any original parts of it left, to keep it safe for tourists. I mean not too many people want to walk the wall if it’s falling apart; but if it were possible to somehow at least see the true original section of the wall, I would love to see it.

Here are some photos we took of the Great Wall:

This sums up our unique approaches to things…

  I wanted to start a restaurant here

The steps were massive in some parts!

We walked as far as we wanted, and we could have continued for hours, but we decided to turn back a bit earlier so we had enough time to drive back (since who knows how long that would take), so we could make it to our hot-pot reservation. Jess and Zack hadn’t tried it at that point yet, and when you’re in China is absolutely necessary to try it! It’s like going to Korea…you have to try Korean BBQ. And if you go to Italy obviously you have to try the pizza.

When we finally arrive back at our hotel (and it did take forever), we were all pretty smelly so we decided to go to the pool for a swim. Jess had told me before we left to bring our swimsuits because of how amazing the pool was. We weren’t really quite sure just how amazing a pool could get…it’s a pool. But she was totally right! It was amazing! They basically simulated the look of a tropical oasis, but inside the hotel.

Unfortunately, I only noticed leaving our place in Wuxi, that I had forgotten my bathing suit, so I had to sit out. But I was totally okay with it to be honest, and I wasn’t necessarily in the mood to go swimming. Lucky for me though, Ryan got in his bathing suit, found an Asian-style robe in our closet, and wore it to the pool. I think I caught a few people looking at him funny, which created some great entertainment. Most people decide to go for the towel-type robes because they are more of a wicking material. But Ryan was feeling adventurous, harnessing his inner Asian yet again! I wish I had the picture to share with you guys…but this is sort of what it looked like:

From our last time in Beijing, 2 years ago

That night we walked over to the mall which contained the very popular hot-pot, recommended to us by the hotel. Unfortunately, due to language barriers, we didn’t understand that a reservation really meant no reservation, and included waiting for about 45 mins for a table. But it turned out to be totally fine. I think Jess standing up to stretch her legs made it look like we were about to leave, so they were pretty quick in finding us a table at that point.

The food was delicious, and we even got to have the entertainment of a ‘noodle dancer’ to watch. This was my first time seeing something like that before, but basically this guy walked around the restaurant playing his techno music, while flinging and stretching the noodles around his body in a dance form. Maybe a hint of resemblance to people who dance with ribbon, just less graceful and more up-beat. Turns out Jess and Zack enjoyed the hot pot! Sometimes it can get rather spicy, but luckily this was an okay amount of spice.

For anyone that doesn’t know what hot pot is: basically you choose what you want to eat, usually meat and vegetables, and you cook it by yourself in the pot in front of you. The water is extremely hot, and the meat is cut very thin, so it only takes about 10 seconds for the meat to cook. The vegetables take a bit longer, so you leave them in until they’re ready; this includes mushrooms, tofu, lettuce, noodles, dumplings and things like that.

This is hot pot! (A slightly blurry picture I took from Google)

  After the food is cooked, you dunk it in your sauce bowl, which you make yourself with the selection at the ‘sauce station’. Some of the options include sesame dressing, soy sauce, BBQ sauce, salt, pepper, garlic, green onions, peanuts, chili peppers…and tonnes more. So, you continuously cook your own food and eat it! You can spend hours doing this if you want to, depending on how hungry you are. I would say it is the most popular thing to do in China; so far anyone that I have met that lives here asks me if I’ve tried it. It is quite delicious though!

Since it was our last night together we thought it would be a great idea to stay up and drink together and have a good time. We went to the little store near our hotel, bought some beers and brought them to our room. I unfortunately, could not keep up my reputation from the previous weekend of drinking. Alcohol was not doing it for me, and I could not keep my eyes open any longer. When I am tired…I’m tired. And since I was in the comfort of my own room, the likelihood of me falling asleep was really high! And so, with Jess and Zack in our room, I decided to get into bed, and fall asleep. Sleeping for me was inevitable at that point, and so I chose for the more comfortable option, rather than on the couch. I apologized for my horrible behaviour, but at that point the president could have been in the room and I would still be okay with falling asleep. My contribution to the conversation was dwindling bit by bit, and I didn’t want to ruin any of the fun. So I left the 3 of them to continue on with their drinking.

The next morning was a bit of a rush…Ryan I think was still drunk and we had to hurry to make it through the subway and to our train on time, but also leave enough time to say our goodbyes to Jess and Zack, and check out. I’m pretty glad that at this point that I didn’t end up drinking too heavily because one of us needed to function normally. Luckily, I made a good choice with checking out before Ryan was finished getting ready (he was taking too long to get ready). By the time he got to the lobby, I had checked out and we had to book it to the subway. It was a particularly warm day, which didn’t make running around any easier. By the time we made it to the train station, people were boarding and we were really running at this point! I think Ryan was sweating out the remnants of alcohol in his system.

Looking for the entrance to our train was an issue because for some reason they had different sections blocked off; so it took several tries to get access to go through. Then finally, we got to the right one! Ryan got through before I did, waiting for me on the other side. The girl looked at my ticket and says “Passport?”. In my mind I’m like ‘Are you kidding me, the train is boarding, we don’t have time for this’ but also ‘Why didn’t Ryan get asked for his passport?”. I knew it wasn’t a requirement, and I had never been asked before during the many times I’ve used the train. So, I just said “No” and pointed at Ryan, indicating he’s through, so I should be okay to go. Also, how many people does she know with the last name TOFFOLO? I mean I would understand her request if my ticket said “Qin” or “Wang”. Anyways, instead of complying with her request, I just pushed through. I was NOT going to miss that train. Plus, I wasn’t going to try get my passport out when I was surrounded by a hoard of people.

And so, with sweaty shirts, a bit of panic, and elevated heart rates, we made it onto our train! No mucous man to sit to this time…just time to relax and wind down. Nothing like a little bit of stress to start off the day!

Just to remember for next time

  COMING UP:

In about a week, Ryan and I will be leaving for Portugal with our good friends Ryan and Lexie! Since we have yet been able to sit outside in the sun, we’re looking forward to beach days, sunshine, drinks and great laughs. Stay tuned for some funny blogs, there’s bound to be a few!

Beige- ing "BEIGEING":  The local Chinese man's efforts in protecting others from germs,    the driver's efforts in getting us to the Great Wall, and my efforts towards drinking/staying awake.

[marisatofu-blog]

  I really just wanted to make things interesting in my relationship with Ryan and marry an elderly man. It’s okay though…soon I will be widowed and all will be well between us.

Okay so our weekend getaway #2 didn’t quite start out this way, and I really had no intention of marriage happening at all…

We met up with the usual group; Jess, Zack, Jim and Sandra, in Seoul, South Korea this time! Ryan and I had already been there about 2 years ago when Lady Gaga and the Pope were there (not together though I’m sure…).

Our first day involved walking up Seoul Tower, which was a nice, super sweaty walk through memory lane for Ryan and I (2 years ago we had to walk up Seoul Tower in our dressy clothes to make it to our reservation on time). But for the rest of the group, I think it was a walk up torture lane. They had recently finished hiking up Mount Fuji, so their legs were probably wondering why they were STILL hiking. They made it up like champs, even though the humidity would have prevented most people from choosing the hike over the gondola ride. Look at these smiles!

Handling the hike well!

Ryan’s pretending to be grumpy

  We offered them a workout session at this lovely outdoor gym along the way:

But they refused. I can’t imagine why…

After our viewing of Seoul through the observatory of the Tower, we headed back outside and Ryan and I decided to buy a love lock.

There are SO many locks at this tower, which I think makes it a bit unique to most towers (although I don’t know for sure). They made metal structures with the purpose of people attaching their love locks.

Check out all the locks!

  But because Ryan and I aren’t your typical couple, we (mostly Ryan’s idea) decided to make it a bit more exciting: we wanted our lock to be at the highest point of one of the lock trees. So, I stood on Ryan’s shoulders so that we could reach! These trees were unbelievably tall…Ryan is about 6’1” and I’m around 5’9”, and even then it had a few more inches on us. I was trying really hard to find the best spot to attach the lock so that it didn’t fall off from wearing down years down the road.

Our hands felt pretty grimey after touching this lock tree.

  But as I was doing this, a security guard came over and told me to get down. SMART MOVE BUDDY. Yeah, why don’t you distract me and tell me to get down while I am standing, unstably, might I add, on Ryan’s shoulders…It’s not like you have any signs saying “Do not climb shoulders to reach the top of the tree”…so I was following the rules perfectly. How else was I supposed to reach the top?? But good thing we kept perfect balance and I was A-OK. We did however attract a bit of an audience (other than our security friend); I’m sure some people got some nice pictures of my butt in the process of this happening…I mean it was sticking out towards the public, and wasn’t particularly lady-like. But hey…we were on a mission, and we completed it!! Although I’m sure it wasn’t my butt they wanted a picture of, just my actions I hope! Thanks to Ryan’s steadiness, and with Jim’s helping hand, I successfully got off Ryan’s back (I thought for sure I was going to hurt myself getting down).

My successful dismount, and the security guard wondering where my lock is

  I felt like one of those cats that needed to be rescued out of a tree: somehow I got up there, but I didn’t know how to get down.

After this exciting event, we took the gondola ride back down to save some people’s legs from more walking, and then split up for the afternoon to do our own shopping/walking around. Ryan and I were on a mission to find a GNC because we were sure there was one nearby.

Side note: It has been a challenge trying to good quality protein powder around China. Because Ryan and I enjoy working out, and often take supplemental protein, we’ve been relying on the goodness of family to bring it from home for us. But we knew we had to find another way to get the stuff we wanted without having to get family carry what could look like drugs in their suitcases. Protein doesn’t exist around where we are…and if it does, it’s impossible to know what’s actually in it, or if it’s good quality. Shipping from home is about an extra $100/$150, op top of the fee you have to pay when you physically get the package…and then China has rules about how much the package is allowed to weigh (so you can’t just get a bunch at once). So…we have jumped through quite a few hoops with trying to figure out how to get protein. After trying a website that said the package delivered March of last year, we finally found a decent place in Shanghai! Still overpriced, but it’s cheaper than paying for shipping! Now we’re all stocked up and good to go for quite a while.

Anyways…there was no GNC we could find in Seoul, so we headed back to our hotel to get ready for the evening….aka my marriage-to-be.

The night started out at a show called NANTA. I had never heard of it before, and I actually didn’t know what it was exactly, other than a show. We were sitting down in our seats and I saw cutting boards, big garbage bins, a sink, an oven…looked like a kitchen to me. It can’t be a cooking show….because how does that make it on Broadway? After asking Ryan, he clarified that he didn’t really know what it was about either except maybe that they made music with the tools they had.

Sheriff, Jess, Zack, Sandra, Jim, Eric (+Ryan and I)

  The show began, and it started out with 4 people peacefully using chopsticks to make music. They used their plates, cups and bowls, as well as the sound of their own voices to make some really cool sounds! At first I thought for sure it was fake and thought maybe it would be boring. The sound was too intense for us to hear it as well as we did. But then I noticed the microphones strategically placed near where their ‘instruments’ were (I can be so smart sometimes..). Anyways, the show turned out to be an insane amount of fun! There was a fun story line behind the whole show, involving a whole lot of comedy and a bit of romance, and even some magic! Many times I could not stop crying (from laughing), possibly because of the extremely contagious laugh a friend of ours had, Sheriff. The way the performers were able to make music with the kitchen utensils was amazing. They even included the audience during many parts of the show, getting us to clap, shout, throw stuff back at them (that they had thrown at us), and, by getting people to come on stage!

I wish I had known that they would pick people out of the audience…I hate this sort of participation. It’s like when I would go to a resort and the entertainers would come out looking for people to dance with and bring on stage. HECK NO! If I can avoid these moments in my life, I certainly will. I don’t like it Why? Well it’s probably some deep seeded fear of being judged if you really want to know. I’m a bit of a perfectionist so God forbid if I do something wrong! It’s pretty funny actually. BUT I do notice as I get older I don’t care so much for my perfectionist issues. The audience doesn’t scare me as much as it used to.

So I got picked to go up on stage, and this is where I met my future, quiet, slightly emotionless husband. I’m smiling and laughing because “holy crap I’m on stage and they’re putting these hilarious clothes on me”, and I look over at him and he just looks confused. Then they bring a table over to us (I still don’t know his name), and we get to try some soup. So we try it…then they start making faces at him and fanning his…well his fanny, indicating that the soup is making him fart. I’m still laughing…and the poor man isn’t having a great time or is just clueless. Then they act out that a fly landed in my soup (I’m still laughing), so they turn him around and give him the bad soup, while I get his fly-free soup. Now THIS part I’m like…come on…you can’t just be confused any more (it was pretty obvious a fly landed in his soup)…why is this not funny? I mean maybe the actual content wasn’t THAT hilarious, but he would have to laugh just from feeling ridiculous on stage! That’s how I was feeling anyways. Oh well…just the serious, quiet type I suppose! I found out a lot about my future husband on the stage. I don’t think I could ever make him laugh, that’s for sure. At the end of this charade, we bowed towards each other (and I awkwardly held out my hand to give him a handshake…but I guess that’s not what I was supposed to do), then we bowed towards the audience and got rushed off the stage. At this point I STILL didn’t know that we just got married.

The whole point of the show was for the 4 chefs to cook up meals in time for a wedding, which we were told at the start of the show. So at the end, when the food was all ready, and they displayed their finished meals in front of the audience, I noticed that there was a picture of the elderly man and myself…we were married just like that! I can’t really describe he event much further than that, because for the majority of the time I was trying to figure out who’s picture they had up…oh HI THERE! It was me. I didn’t notice the décor or anything else…and darn it, I didn’t even get to try the food at my own wedding! How disappointing…

Pictures weren’t allowed to be taken at the show, but our friend snuck this one in. Take note of the amazing hats!

  Anyways, the rest of the evening I had to explain to the Jarrell family my actions of that evening. They weren’t totally happy about my choice, and figured Ryan would have been the better option…but they were happy to be there for support. What gems. I’m happy to announce that Ryan and I are still happily dating! Although I feel quite rebellious that my husband doesn’t even know. Lucky for me he probably already forgets who I am.

Actually that night I tried to forget as well, by drinking more Bourbon than I care to admit (or know). I didn’t even know that I liked it! But desperate times call for a good glass of bourbon I think? I behaved myself very well, for anyone concerned. We met a pilot that evening in the bar who was telling us about his not-so-wonderful sounding marriage and relationship with his wife. And I was like “Tell me about it right?? My husband hasn’t talked to me since we got married”.

Okay what actually happened was Ryan, Jess, Zack, myself, and our friend Sheriff, were all hanging out enjoying ourselves. As it got later in the night, the lonely (but loud) guy at the bar that we had seen from the previous night, was still hanging around. He then wandered on over to our table, and brought his bottle of bourbon with him. And thus I provided some interesting entertainment by asking too many personal questions…where he also provided too many personal answers about his marriage. For the sake of our confidentiality agreement, I will refrain from telling you the personal details of his life…but he needs some serious work!

The following day we got a tour of the palace in Seoul, which turns out is the same layout at the Forbidden City in Beijing. Apparently they had to follow the same structural set-up back then.

The writing on the buildings are actually in Chinese, not Korean

Re-play of the guard change

An old royal city in a new, modern one

We learned a lot of information about the King and Queen, and our tour guide was probably one of the best I’ve had so far, for that type of tour. She made things really fun, when that sort of information can be rather dull. A few things that we learned:

Everything about the King was documented, including his pees and poops…

They had to document every person he saw, including his concubines

He pretty much had access (yes that kind of access…) to all the women that worked at the palace, but if the Queen spoke or touched another man she would be killed (not even the doctor could touch her)

The Queen had to stay in her confined space, unless the King summoned her

Most often, the King would only go visit her in her space 2 times a month

To ease her loneliness, she had a garden to walk around

The Queen’s garden area

  It’s like they said “To ease your life-time of loneliness, we will give you a large garden…this should suffice no?” I’m sure she knew what it felt like to be a caged animal…I would be more than happy NOT to be someone of royal blood back then that’s for sure.

Anyways, being back in Seoul was a blast! It’s great going back to places but being able to do different things. There’s always something new to see or do! Stay tuned for my next blog which includes our adventures of climbing the Great Wall of China :)

I got married in Seoul I really just wanted to make things interesting in my relationship with Ryan and marry an elderly man.

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So these past 3 weeks have been CRAZY so far and I haven’t had the chance to keep you all updated with what’s going on. This is mostly because I’m lazy and don’t feel like typing an essay when I get back from my trips…even though that would probably be the best time to do it!

Jess and Zack decided to come visit us here in China! But only visiting us would be rather boring, so they were travelling all around Asia. Ryan and I met up with them, as well as Jim and Sandra in Hiroshima, Japan for their first weekend here. Because we were working earlier that day, our flight ended up arriving rather late in Japan (flights in Asia often seem to be delayed). Not to mention the 1 hr drive to our hotel, which cost somewhere around $150!!…we were shocked. Considering that everything in China is so cheap, especially transportation, we felt baffled when we realized how much we actually paid. Japan isn’t cheap!

Anyways, we were happy to see that Jim, Sandra, Jess and Zack were all waiting for us outside! We just felt really bad for them considering how much travelling they went through, in addition the time change. They were looking pretty sleepy.

We made it to our room and decided to meet up the next morning at breakfast to make a plan of attack for the weekend. I think the best thing to do is to set a schedule to adjust to the time change as quickly as possible, BUT I’m pretty sure I would rather sleep in if I were them.

At breakfast we decided that we were going to catch a ferry to an island, explore it for a bit, and then head back to our hotel and proceed to dinner. Sounds like a nice, casual day right? Well it didn’t end up being that way…I remember really enjoying my shower at the end of the day.

Ryan and I decided to do a quick workout at the gym before our trip to Miyajima Island, which felt great to do! But we had to hurry to meet up with everyone to walk to the ferry, which meant that the post workout shower did little to cool us down before going outside in the heat. One thing we’ve learned about being in China is that no one really cares if you sweat or how much you sweat… it’s HOT and it’s HUMID, and you will sweat! So luckily we weren’t too self conscious about our appearance, although maybe a bit unusual for the cooler temperatures in Japan.

Once we made it onto our ferry, it was about a 45 minute ride to the island, where we noticed just about everyone sleeping along the way. We’re not too positive what it is exactly, but it seems as though Chinese and Japanese are really good at sleeping during public transportation. Seriously…it’s really impressive. Once the car gets going, they’re out! At home I feel like people would really take note of this behaviour, but in Asia it seems like a normal thing to do. Not that I can really confirm this with everyone, but our friends in Japan mentioned that  Japanese people have a tough time sleeping at night time, which causes them to be rather sleepy during the day. It makes for some good entertainment when you notice some funny sleeping positions people are in!

Getting off the ferry onto the island, we all notice our first deer. We are laughing in shock, since this deer is totally comfortable around crowds of people, and even human contact! We finally realized that all he really wanted was food. But since I’m the lover of all animals, I go up to the little Bambi to see if he wants to be my friend. Unfortunately, he stuck to his guns with his wanting of food, and since I had none he wasn’t really interested in me. Talk about high standards right? Who needs ’em!

As we kept walking along we notice another deer, and then another….and actually a whole bunch of them!! Well, rather a herd I guess. Some were hanging out in the shade,

Little deer wants in for food!

some in front of stores and restaurants, and some even nudging their little noses into women’s large purses, which had hidden snacks for their children. They definitely brought smiles to people faces with how fearless and friendly they were, but I could see how maybe living with them all the time might get annoying. They were quite pushy!! One woman had to stand on a bench so that she could eat her corn on-the-cob in peace. I was surprised that none of the deer looked overweight, considering that it is a tourist area and there is access to lots of food, with no control over what tourists feed the deer. Being the animal biology major that I am, I just hoped no one was feeding them anything they shouldn’t eat!

  Proceeding further down the island, (and taking selfies with deer along the way), we notice the beautiful scenery that this island offers us.

This torii gate offered a unique look; something I have yet to see like this before.

High tide: start of the day

Low tide: end of the day

  There was a shrine available to go into, but we were all not too interested in going in. I feel like once you’ve been in one, you’ve been in them all. In Japan, they’re characterized by the colour orange. You need to wash your hands and mouth before you enter (there is a technique to doing this), and you do some bowing and clapping and praying and wishing; maybe not all in that order…but something like that. I’m not a very religious person, so while it was interesting to go through these motions during our first time here in June, I wasn’t super interested in doing it again.

So we make it to the start of our challenge for the day, which is to climb up Mount Miyajima. This is the part I was talking about with how it turned out to be a less casual day than we thought. Sure, we’ll climb up the mountain no problem! And we all wanted to, but we didn’t realize that it was going to be quite the trek it turned into. Some of us weren’t wearing the right shoes…(me), but luckily the ones I had on were pretty comfy. We notice along the way, a wide variety of people; some in serious hiking gear, including boots, hat, gloves, tights, poles, etc. I would have thought they were ready for Mount Everest! On the other spectrum, there’s the women who like to hike mountains in heels and dresses…yes, this is a common thing in Asia. Why you ask? I really cannot say, other than to have a good lookin’ photo of you climbing a mountain! I remember the last time I was at the Great Wall of China, I saw men in suits, as well as the women in heels and dresses. Maybe they just have to look good no matter what they’re doing. But I will refuse to climb a mountain in heels that’s for sure! THEN we notice this tank of a women coming back down from the mountain with a broken leg, crutches and everything (so we knew the mountain did not cause her injury). We were all seriously impressed, and if there were any temptations to complain about our current situation, it quickly diminished.

This one couple stuck out more so than the others, for their display of affection (I could have guessed they were French, but we also heard them speaking French). It was one of those things you didn’t want to look at because…ew, but also you wanted to look because you were confused on how it worked. The woman’s back was arched way more than looked comfortable, causing her butt to protrude further out than necessary. Some people have a natural arch, but this looked forced! In the mean time, her boyfriend/husband/lover’s arm was around her waist, during their moments of gazing into each others eyes and smooching. But the whole time her hands were down at her sides…which is also what made the interaction look so strange. Why aren’t you touching him if this is such a romantic moment?! Because Ryan has learned to embrace his inner Chinese, he took a picture of this lovely interaction between this loving couple. She doesn’t look like she’s trying quite as hard in the picture, but this was several minutes after our first spotting of this odd mating ritual…so I think they were finishing up.

Anyways…we all made it to the top of the mountain, drenched in sweat, but happy we made it to enjoy the beautiful views! Although I haven’t hiked too many mountains, I realized after hiking up Mt. Miyajima that I really LOVE doing this sort of stuff. It’s something that involves every part of you, both mentally and physically, and it left me feeling refreshed and accomplished.

I mean check out these views!!

We rested at the top for a bit, as seen here…

…and we went back on down! We took the gondola ride back down to enjoy the views from a different angle (and to give ourselves a bit of a break!).

We were all starving by the time we reached the bottom, especially since we didn’t have lunch before we left. But here comes the fun food-testing of the day! There was a street vendor that was cooking different meats on sticks, like shish kabobs; and we had our eyes on beef tongue. I’m pretty glad Ryan’s as adventurous as I am when it comes to trying different foods, otherwise I think his family might think I were crazy. Lately though, Sandra has been quite adventuresome when it comes to tying odd things! Ever since I got her to try fried squid on a stick in Suzhou, she’s up for anything. So when we got our beef tongue, she was willing to see how it tasted. I found it to be delicious! I think maybe it was the combination of me being hungry and the spices that they used on it, but it was SO good! It wasn’t tough and chewy at all, like I expected it to be. I would have gotten more if I had any change on me.

The rest of the afternoon we grabbed a late, late lunch, and spent our time at the beach enjoying the sunset. I felt like my feet hadn’t enjoyed the sand in forever, so I really enjoyed these moments; including being able to watch a sunset. What made it cuter was seeing this little lady strolling around:

And as usual, the company was great

  To make our beach time that much more enjoyable, we grabbed beer from a near-by vending machine…yes you heard that right. A vending machine. That was the first time (I think) that I had noticed vending machine with real, cold beer in it.

This felt like such a fantastic day that I would definitely go back and do it again. I think what made so great was that none of it was really expected or planned. We knew we wanted to go to this island, but we had no idea what it really had to offer. We didn’t expect this hike, but it was great to do it! And we had actually planned to take the ferry back earlier, but stayed later and watched the sunset.

Such an amazing day.

The next day, our last day in Hiroshima; Ryan and I would be going back to Wuxi, and the rest of the group would be heading to Tokyo and Mt. Fuji for a fun 9.5hr hike (at least they started their training on Mt. Miyajima). We spent this day getting a tour of Hiroshima and learned about all the history behind the beautiful city. I remember learning about the bombing of Hiroshima in high school, but physically being there was different. To see ground zero, and learning about how people were affected at the time, as well as years later, it really made me feel something (I can’t really describe it).

Destroyed overnment building

Ground Zero

We could tell Japan never wanted to go through this ever again, and nor do they wish it on anyone else. School girls were petitioning to stop the use of ALL nuclear bombs, and so we all signed the petition. It was really cool to be part of something like that.

School girls petitioning

Signing the petition

The Japanese are truly, very nice people, and it really showed here in Hiroshima.

I really enjoyed spending time in Japan with everyone!

We found this little one this way: obsessed with getting food out the crack so much, didn’t even notice the hat!!

I ate tongue in Japan So these past 3 weeks have been CRAZY so far and I haven't had the chance to keep you all updated with what's going on.

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Opinions from a local

Opinions from a local

So my opinion can be a bit strong sometimes… Yeah, my parents taught me to have opinions and express them! So I will! Growing up in my family was much like a shouting contest sometimes. Whoever speaks the loudest has the floor, and their opinion is the most important. Although I know this isn’t true (and we didn’t/don’t always shout to talk), sometimes that’s what a debate was like in my family.…

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Surprise!

It’s back to the regular work week for Ryan and I…but let me tell you I was not expecting the weekend I just had! As you may or may not know, it was my birthday on July 10th. For anyone from home, it’s technically still my birthday! So it’s actually kind of nice to still be receiving birthday wishes right now. But it’s already the 11th here in China, so no one came into work today with a birthday…

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What am I doing??

What am I doing??

Ni hao! I’ve been dying to write this next blog because maybe you’re all wondering what AM I doing here in China. I went on a nice rant about toilets, smells and people in my last blog, possibly putting down China a bit too much. I mean there’s lots of things I’m missing at home, and things I’m experiencing here that aren’t necessarily pleasant. But things are just different here. I’m getting…

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"Luxuries" from home: what I miss

“Luxuries” from home: what I miss

It’s official! It’s been 10 weeks of living in China so far (Ryan for 12). It’s strange because honestly everything still feels so new; so many things to see and experience that are on our list while we’re here. Other things aren’t so new, which means I’m getting used to it…and that’s a GREAT thing. I’ll explain why I’m really happy about this part. Lately, there are some things going on at home…

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And I don’t mean a difference in massages…sorry to let you down folks. I didn’t venture into the massage parlour again!

There were just several big differences I started noticing between Japan and China. I feel like my brain has gotten the break it’s needed from the constant hustle and bustle of China. YAY! I didn’t really realize that I was getting used to all the noise, and pushing and shoving from China until I spent a few days in Japan.

As a mentioned in my previous blog, Sandra and Jim were nice enough to visit Ryan and I here in China, and we decided to spend several days in Japan! I was pretty excited! Although I haven’t been working much lately, Japan was an exciting holiday before I would begin full time work.

When we first got to Japan, the VERY first thing I noticed were how extremely NICE and polite the people were. If I can remember Canada correctly (since maybe my memory has been tainted by China), I think that Japanese people are even more polite than and considerate than people in Canada. I noticed people smiling A LOT, not getting in my personal space, no one touching me for unnecessary reasons. I didn’t hear persistent horn honking like in China…actually I didn’t I hear any. I didn’t see people get rude with one another. In fact, with many interactions between Japanese people, I saw that they each had a lot of respect for one another. No one was rude, no one started yelling. I think if anyone wants to teach their child good manners, they should just take them to Japan!  Sounds like a good excuse to me.

So when we first arrived in Japan we met up with friends of Ryan’s family that lives there. This is how nice they were…they arranged to take us to all the places we wanted to visit and we hardly had to worry about a thing! Seriously everything was organized so well there wasn’t any point that we needed to stress! Except for almost missing our flight to Japan, but that was in China…

Our first night in Japan I got my first taste of real (expensive) Japanese Sushi. It was AMAZING. Not that I’m picky when it comes to Sushi. I’ll definitely still go to Ye’s when I get home because Sushi is Sushi. But because we tried the Sushi in the hotel we were at, it was over-priced. But in Japan you can get really good Sushi at the train station for a reasonable price.

The next day was Mt. Fuji day! I was pumped for this part because it was one of the main reasons I wanted to go to Japan. My excitement had to hang on for a while though because it took around 3 hours to drive to the mountain, and on our way up the weather didn’t look too promising. We were worried the clouds wouldn’t clear up for us to see the mountain, but luckily as we got higher they did and we could see it!! Honestly pictures don’t do it justice for how beautiful it looks in person. Considering it’s not the season to be going to Mt. Fuji due to the weather, I felt like we were all really lucky. Even Manami San; the tiniest, cutest older woman I have ever met with the most energy I have ever seen; (who was our ‘guide’ for the trip) was shocked to see that the clouds cleared up.

Side note about Manami San: She is the mother of the family that Ryan’s family knows in Japan. I described her as ‘older’ but it is really hard to tell her age. She must be older because she has a son that has two kids of his own. I also can’t tell his age either…But she has perfect skin, she always seems to be happy, and has lots of energy! She was hilarious throughout the trip to Ryan and I for reasons she didn’t know about…Only because she’s so cute. After our day at Mt. Fuji Manami San took Ryan, Sandra and I to Tokyo Skytree Tower (which is pretty much just like the CN tower but newer). We kind of decided to do our own thing and walk around to see the view of Tokyo, but several times when we were walking around Manami found Ryan and I asking where Sandra was. EVERY time, Sandra would come around and Manami would see her and make this “ooo!” sound, as if in surprise to see Sandra was in Japan. It was as if she hadn’t seen Sandra in forever, when she was with her 2 minutes earlier. Ryan and I couldn’t stop laughing because it happened again as we were about to leave. She thought she lost Sandra, but “OO!” there she is!! Like Where’s Waldo. Oh Manami…so cute. She’s just one of those people that cares for everybody and wants to make sure they’re happy and comfortable. It felt as though she were my Japanese grandma. Adorable!

On our last day in Japan we went to several temples which were filled with people. Mostly because it was on a weekend and also a Chinese holiday, people from Japan and China were jam packed in there. I started being able to tell the difference between Chinese and Japanese people. And I apologize for anyone reading this that may be Japanese or Chinese…you all just look so great and so young that it’s hard for me to tell the difference on where you come from. I was just able to notice the difference in who was Japanese or Chinese by the way they took pictures…It was actually really funny. Japanese people will politely wait their turn to take a group picture, and will even offer to take pictures for other people. However Chinese people I saw pushing and shoving, stumbling even to take their pictures. SO many times Ryan and I were trying to take pictures together, or I was trying to get pictures of Jim and Sandra, and a Chinese person would butt in trying to get their own pictures instead. They were too excited with getting their own pictures they didn’t realize what was going on around them. Or maybe for some odd reason, figured we were done with our pictures. Many times I had to ask them to move away which got kind of annoying, but we just laughed it off instead.

After our temple experiences, we went to a Zen Garden where we got to experience the traditional way of drinking tea. We all sat in a tea room, which is a rather small room, where you sit on pillows and drink your tea. The way they start is by giving you a pastry of sorts, which is usually really sweet, and follow it up with a bitter tea (usually green tea). They taught us that before the first sip we should hold our cup in our non-dominant hand, while turning the cup bit by bit towards yourself, 3 times. It was pretty cool actually, but so funny to watch Jim try do this comfortably. He’s about as flexible as a table and has a really hard time sitting with his legs crossed. His knees were around his ears when he tried crossing them. And to add onto that discomfort, he hated the green tea.

Here you may notice Jim’s struggle in mastering flexibility. We had to eat several meals on the floor so it wasn’t a great day for his legs!

Another big difference between Japanese and Chinese people that I’ve noticed is their importance around time. In China, often they set a time and its usually 30 minutes later than when they say. Most people try to be there for a certain time but usually don’t make it. For work this is different, but for most other things it doesn’t seem like time is very important. In Japan however, if you say you’re going to be somewhere at a certain time, you’d better be there. Ryan and I figured this out fast when we showed up at breakfast. We thought the buffet was open until 10:30am, when it was only until 10. So unfortunately we arrived right at 10. The manager on duty didn’t want to let us in even though the food was still out and people were still sitting down eating. So we said we’d order something off the menu, but decided that since the food was out we’d grab some anyways. The whole time the staff kept coming up to us asking if we needed help. No, I can choose my own food thank you very much!! But seriously 5 different people came up to me and it was getting rather stressful trying to figure out what to eat for breakfast. Anyways, now you all know that when breakfast ends at 10 in Japan, don’t show up 1 second past that time!

Overall, Japan was a really cool trip, and I’d be happy to go back any day! Actually Ryan and I plan on going back to climb the whole mountain. Apparently it’s really cool if you start hiking it around midnight so that you make it there in time to see the sunrise. I’d also be happy to go back to Japan because the people are sooo nice and polite, the air is clean and fresh and I get my personal space :D

  What a difference! And I don't mean a difference in massages...sorry to let you down folks. I didn't venture into the massage parlour again!

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A 'happy' massage experience?

A ‘happy’ massage experience?

Well…I think that’s what they were going for at least. It didn’t quite end happy; more like baffled and confused with what happened, and wondering if we all experienced the same treatment. Jim and Sandra (Ryan’s parents), Ryan and I went to Suzhou this past weekend to spend our time together experiencing a really beautiful part of China. Suzhou is about a 1hr car ride away, depending on where you…

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Patience is virtue...that I don't have

Patience is virtue…that I don’t have

I guess that’s not completely true… For the most part I would say I’m a fairly patient person. However there are some bad combinations of things where I am unable to keep myself composed. Most people that know me well enough, know that I’m pretty much a big baby! There are 2 main things that I need in my life for me to be my best self; food, and sleep. If I don’t have either of those, you better…