Yep. We live here.

The summer in SZ has arrived. There definitely is an incredible level of humidity, but other than Carley and Lydia fighting with their hair to not resemble a feral child's, it's not too intolerable. It's harder and harder to blog, as life here has reached a state of normalcy!

Last Friday night we got to experience our first student dance at the university with some of our good friends. This looked like a mass of students all doing a choreographed dance together (similar to how we do the "electric slide"). We learned about three of the dances,...and then added some of our own sweet moves to the mix. At intermittent intervals the lights would turn off, meaning it was time for free styling. We don't know why they would want to turn off the lights during this time...I mean, who wouldn't want to see the sprinkler unleashed in its full, visible glory? Anyways, it was a pretty fun night.


The next night we went to cook dinner for the couple that took us to Shanghai with them (Zhu A yi and Zhu Shu Shu), and went with our friend Zara and her boyfriend Jimmy. We made a card and brought a gift that Carley's mom sent all the way from America for Zhu a Yi for mother's day. Here's Jimmy with the card; we all signed it and he was sure to draw a picture of the Pakistani flag next to his name:


They always show us so much kindness and hospitality, and allowed us to take over their kitchen to cook mediocre Chinese dishes. Zhu Shu Shu, as usual, was singing in his deep baritone voice as we chopped vegetables, and Zhu A Yi just liked to talk about anything and everything with us. Even though Zhu A Yi and Zhu Shu Shu talk almost entirely in fast-paced Chinese, Carley has a uncanny ability to understand most of what they're saying and respond. From Lydia's standpoint, it's pretty interesting to watch someone give a monologue in Chinese (mainly just hearing sounds, not words), and Carley turning and saying, "Oh! She wants to know how classes are going, how our families are doing,...what you think the purpose in life is..." (okay, maybe a little bit exaggerating :)


We took an elevator to their apartment, and found that they basically own a whole floor of the apartment building as their apartment. The elevator just opens up to the whole floor. In their living room, there is a glass wall that overlooks Jinji lake. We watched the early water show on the lake from the window, and when the late show began we all ran down to watch it lakeside with Zhu A Yi. We also were shown some of Zhu Shu Shu's awards...one of which was an award that the city of SZ has given him five years in a row for his exellence in buisness.

Water show from their window:


Keeping the prestige of these people in mind, there was one awkward event in the night. At one point, Lydia went to the bathroom, no big deal. However, in their bathroom there was a conspicuous large red button next to the toilet that seemed obviously like the mechanism to flush. After pushing it a few times fruitlessly, there was a smaller white button next to it that did the trick. After exiting the bathroom, there seemed to be turmoil in the kitchen. A beeping noise was resounding through the apartment, and a security guard soon came to the door. Aparently the red button was for robbers or killers or something coming into the apartment, and is pushed if you are in trouble. Sweetness.

Random Notes:

We see this truck frequently. It announces it's presence with a carnival-version of the tune "Happy Birthday". The best part is the old dude with the huge water gun who seems to thoroughly enjoy his job.
We've had several KTV experiences throughout the semester. Sometimes the American/Western songs don't really have the correct music video with the song...and usually they're somewhere along the lines of the ideally "hot" girl from the early 90's acting like she's pretty great. Sweet Home Alabama is a prime example; the music video frequents this bombshell against a barn door rolling around like a dying animal.