My 21st Birthday Party

This story is about my 21st Birthday Party, which was in November and thus before my trip to South Korea, but I forgot to write about it before, so here it is now. It will be a short blog, unlike the ones before, and hopefully I will develop some sort of consistency in my writing.

My 21st Birthday was, for the most part, spend running around Beijing. Why? Because I had decided that I wanted to make my own birthday cake to eat at my birthday dinner. It was probably a bad idea, because I spent most of the day in stores buying ingredients because, gasp!, I did not have all the needed ingredients in my apartment.

I know I am a really bad house keeper and I never seem to have the things I need in my house. But I am a good cook, so maybe that makes up for it?

But I managed, with the help of my very very good friend (who was soon to be boyfriend). He helped me the whole afternoon of my birthday, going with me to the store, helping me make the cake and wiping up the frosting. If it wasn't for him, I would not have had a homemade cake to share at all. (And the only reason he did all of this is most definitely because he was in love with me and was forced to show me this using the grandest and most expressive ways possible because he was not ready to use words and I am oblivious to everything.)

The cake was made beautifully and I had a wonderful dinner with friends at a Russian restaurant called Elephant. It is one of my favorite restaurants, the food is always good and the atmosphere is dark but elegant, just like I like it. And for those of you who don't know, Russian food it good!

After dinner most of us went to my friend's newly opened club, Dao. It is by the Beijing zoo and has a most modern style in music and decoration. Of course I was forced to drink. You only turn 21 once, so champagne, whiskey, and a number of cocktails were at our disposal.

And supposedly I am now, officially, an adult. At least that's what my Brazilian friend told me.

My very short trip to Korea.

So, I am finished with all the previously written, short, excerpts of my life in Asia that I wish to post here. Now I am on to the real thing. Although I am not telling the whole truth with that sentence. I still have some things that I have not written about and I want to write about. So I suppose the next few (or more) posts with still be me trying to catch up with myself.

This post is about my trip to Seoul, South Korea. I went with a few friends and I was able to visit a Korean friend who was my classmate when I first arrived in Beijing.

On the evening of December 31st, 2009, I boarded a plane in Beijing, headed for Seoul. The New Year came while I was flying and on January 1st, 2010 I was in South Korea for the very first time (because I am sure there will be at least one more trip). Since we didn't (and still don't) know any Korean we mimed and pointed our way to our hostel.

We did well. Got a shuttle bus to the city. It took over one hour. And then a taxi to the hostel. Our taxi driver was very nice, and did his best to find the place, which was down an alley and behind tall bushes. The taxi was very nice and equipped with GPS!

It felt weird not being able to communicate with words. It seems I have gotten very used to China and being able to tell people what I want even if I am not using my native language. I had forgotten what it's like to be in a place were I can't speak the language.

Our hostel was very close to downtown Seoul in Insa-dong, Jongno. We could walk to many places of interest. And it was close to more than one subway line.

I was really impressed with Seoul. It is a very modern city, more so than Beijing in my opinion, but it still holds that traditional Korean feel. At least I felt that way. I am probably misguiding myself, as I didn't study a lot of Korean history and I have only been to Seoul, for about three days.

But the point is, I liked Seoul. The shopping is GREAT! The roads, with neon lights and signs all over, are GREAT! The food is GREAT! I just loved it!

The river that runs through the city had pretty lights along it, and everywhere was decorated with Christmas and New Year lights and trees. Most of the streets had four or more story buildings on either side, filled with shops, restaurants and the like. The outside of the buildings had thousands of bright signs. At night, when lit, it was so bright I didn't feel that the sky was dark.

The food was good too. Of course we had the Korean BBQ, and tried raw squid. The squid was very scary to eat because it was chopped up alive into small pieces, and thus went eaten, still moved. If you put a piece in your mouth that had suckers, it would possibly stick to a part of your mouth. This freaked me out, but I was forced to try. And I don't regret it. Even though I acted like a complete ditz.

The weather in Seoul was quite nice. It had snowed before we arrived, but it melting during our stay and we were quite comfortable outside (as long as I wore my BIG coat).

For some historical touring, we went to the Folk Museum, Changdeokgung (a palace built in 1405, it is very similar to old Chinese buildings), and a small museum that displayed King Sejong the Great's (1418–1450)achievements.

I think I will have to return, and do some more exploring of Seoul and maybe another city in South Korea. Three days is enough to feel like you were a good speed traveler, but not enough to really get the feel of the place.

On January 3rd, a very happy little traveler got home. With lots of chocolate and alcohol I had bought in the airport in Seoul (duty free!).

Coming Back After A Long Break

This was written on the date below. Again written for my family (and the little "newspaper" that we have-The Kid Times), after I had gone home to visit during the summer and then came back to China. I have deleted names, or put X or --- as a replacement.

January 26, 2010, Monday

Coming Back After A Long Break…

I have not written to you guys in what feels like ages. On the other hand, I have not written anything except poems for what feels like ages. I am afraid I will become worse at my own language than my foreign friends, which they do try to tell me from time to time.

But the reason I am writing is not to talk about how my English is slowly rotting away, but to tell about the past few months-I may make it past six months since it has been so long-and what I have been up to. Of course I won’t say everything. Some things are just not good topics of conversation.

So to begin, I have quit singing with ---, the agent who got me on TV more than a few times. Even though I was able to do more than most people get to do, it was not worth the trouble he made. I can complain a lot about him. I could probably write a whole book just on how annoying he is and how and why I don’t like him. But that is not professional and I am sure our mother would not like it one bit, so I will keep my mouth shut.

After quitting with the former agent, I began reaching out to other agents and musicians. Agents and musicians began calling me with job offers. I made my prices and name cards, and began to prepare to take on the Beijing musical world. Which I am still not finished doing. It is a long process since I am not yet a professional.

But I have someone helping me with the task of becoming professional. She is from Armenia and she is a very talented and professional singer. I have lessons with her twice a week, two hours each time. She makes me do a lot of exercises and she makes sure my mouth is in the right shape and form and so many other things. It is more difficult than I thought it would be. I just did not realize all the technique that is put into singing properly.

I should add that two of my biggest problems so far are: that I sing through my nose too much, and that I don’t pronounce ‘e’ correctly. Both are to blame on the American accent I believe. I am sure at least one person in our family will get a kick out of that!

I have also been doing the boring things, studying Chinese, tutoring English a little bit, gigs here and there. But I don’t need to touch on those; they are not things that grab your attention much. Maybe a better, less lazy, writer could make these things very interesting, but I have no interest in doing so now.

In October, if I am remembering correctly, I went to Guangzhou. I wanted to see some of the clothing factories and markets for myself, and I was curious about how I could handle the things that working with Tata and Uncle Igor would call for.

I took a three-hour flight from one of the little airports in Beijing. I almost missed my plane. The days before my flight, I had not called the airport to check on my flight. The itinerary did not tell which airport I was flying from, but because I had never used any airport but the international, big one, I assumed that’s where I would fly out.

But to be safe, I called them and gave them my flight number to make sure the flight was on time. I had just over two hours before the flight was to take off. The women from the airport, to my horror, told me my flight was not at that airport. My stomach was sick. I think I saw my life flash before my eyes. Fortunately, she could tell me which airport I was supposed to go to and I ran outside for a cab.

I put my luggage into the back of the cab and sat in the front seat, told the driver where to go, and what did he say? He said, “which airport? Beijing has three.” I was sick again. I reconfirmed the airport name and we set off. But all the while, all I could think was that maybe, somehow I still had the wrong airport and I would miss that plane.

The airport was in south Beijing, through lots of traffic. I was now afraid that, even if this airport was the right one, I might still be late. But I got there, after driving down a very old road and past some very old planes parked in a field.

I ran into the airport. It was the right airport, but the lines to check in were huge! I felt sick some more. Luckily the airport was the correct one, but now I would be late over huge lines. I asked a few of the staff about my situation and they got me my ticket right away, but I still had to stay in line to check in my luggage.

I did make it to Guangzhou healthy and in one piece, where X met me and brought me to his apartment just outside Guangzhou.

Guangzhou was great, even though I was extremely busy. I ran all over Guangzhou every day that I was there, except the first day.

The first day I went with X, his father, and some of X’s co-workers to an old house of kungfu, which was now a museum.

It was a really nice place. The whole building and court yards and gardens where filled with bright colors and carvings. They had beautiful stones and ivory carvings on display. The ivory was really the most interesting to see. Some were so intricate it is hard to explain in words how amazing they were. The ancient Chinese were extremely talented.

The other days, I contacted factories, went to the whole sale markets, tried to get samples. I woke up early every day, took the bus to Guangzhou city and came back to eat the dinner X’s father made.

It was a nice trip. I met a lot of people and still did pretty good using only Chinese. To go again would be nice. It is almost as much fun as singing.

You know, I think I am writing too much. I will stop here and continue in my next Kid Times article. Lets hope I actually write another!

Besides, if I give it all away in one go, why would you wait around for more?