world cup + north korea

7/3:

Some of you probably saw my facebook status about the sun rising at 4am over here. it's pretty odd, and has to do with Shenyang being at a higher latitude than Houston. Yeah, since I slept so late, I woke up at 11, ate a quick breakfast and went to go visit my grandma on my mom's side (not the one I haven't seen since 6 years old). She was just released from the hospital yesterday (7/2) after her last chemotherapy session. She doesn't actually have any malignant tumors but does have a bunch of small benign tumors throughout her body. My aunt didn't want to risk anything and so went ahead and made her undergo chemo. My grandma was in bed when I saw her. She wore a cap because her hair had all fallen out from chemo. It'll grow back, and praise God she doesn't actually have cancer. She told me her bones ache from the chemo and that she needed a lot of rest.

I stayed for a couple of hours with one of my other cousins name Gaochang. She's the only female cousin I have that's around my age. It's odd not being able to mess around with her like I'm used to with my other male cousins. I just asked her about high school, and how her college entrance exam. All high school students have to take a standardized exam to get into a college. You're put into different tiers based on your scores and apply for colleges in your respective tier. Gaochang scored pretty well, and could have applied for 1st tier schools, but chose to apply for colleges in the 2nd tier so her score stood out more. Fun fact: all high schools in china have nap time at 1:30-2:00pm. I WISH WE HAD THAT!! Staying awake right after lunch in high school was extremely difficult. I just stopped trying during senior year hahaha XP

After my visit, my aunt took me to her shop in a small mall. Both of my aunts (Tianyi's mom, and Gaochang's mom) own a shop in the mall, and that's their primary form of income. The stores inside aren't as big or as upscale as normal size malls'. I went to both of my aunts' shops and then walked around with Gaochang for the rest of the time. I got some taro tapioca, but it was not very good at all...I was disappointed :/ oh wells, it was cheap.

Carrefour supermarket was our next stop. It's a huge french hypermarket chain that's pretty much like walmart. It has food, clothes, appliances, everything. According to wikipedia, it's the largest hypermarket chain in the world in terms of size. I wonder why I've never seen them in the US...Something to note about Chinese supermarkets, they are extremely packed. Imagine walmart or target the day before Christmas. It's like that every single day. Oh yeah, another fun fact: the carts can roll sideways! You can move side to side without turning. I don't know why it doesn't come standard on all shopping carts. It's so handy for navigating through crowds. We bought a bunch of snacks for our trip to Dandong tomorrow (more on this).

The rest of the night was spent playing cards and watching the world cup with Tianyi's family and Gaochang's family.

7/4:

This is the first day of a two day trip to Dandong, a city on the border between China and North Korea. It's about a 2.5 hour drive south of Shenyang. I woke up at 6:30 am. I've frequently seen the phrase, "asleep before his/her head hit the pillow," and I've always thought being that tired is impossible. However, I came very close to achieving that phrase last night. I'm fairly certain I fell asleep within 5 seconds of laying in bed. The last thing I remember when I woke up as laying face first in bed. Next thing I knew, my aunt was telling me to wake up. I never realized I was actually that tired.

I slept for most of the trip there and missed out on a lot of the beautiful mountain scenery. I plan on staying awake on the way back, so I can take some pictures. Dandong is a mid-sized city. Not as big or developed as Shenyang, but it's definitely pretty urban. We stopped at the river separating China and North Korea first and took some pictures. Next, we checked into our four star hotel. It's a pretty nice hotel, better than most of the ones I've stayed in back in the states. While we were settling down in our hotel, Tianyi's mom was calling one of her cousins who's husband works for border patrol or something. If things go well, we could go on the bridge that connects North Korea and China. Tourists aren't allowed on this bridge, and it's patrolled by guards. Connections can get you very far in China, and I can't say I didn't enjoy exploiting this connection to go where few people are allowed to go. We entered to patrol building near the end of the bridge, guided by a nervous and slightly reluctant military officer. He was very young and couldn't have been much older than me. He walked with us on the huge metal bridge toward North Korea and told us a little about the current relations with North Korea. I didn't really understand much of it, so I just took pictures periodically of the North Korean coast. The bridge actually has a railroad track running alongside it. I'm not sure if it's actually in service though. The bridge is actually split midway into a North Korean bridge and Chinese bridge. The Chinese side is huge and looks very sturdy, while the North Korean side is much smaller and looks pretty flimsy. The military officer made a point of pointing that out to us. Chinese pride is huge over here, and it's sometimes overbearing. Large bullet marks dot the bridge structure from the planes that shot at the bridge during the 1951 Korean War. I took some pictures with some of them haha. We had to stop half-way on bridge. One more step and we technically would have been intruding on North Korean land. I can say now that I've been one step away from North Korea :P It's a pretty cool feeling. Then I high-tailed it out of there, because North Korean border guards shoot without warning.

Observations continued:

• Stray dogs are very common in China. They're extremely cute, and I'm always tempted to pet them. My uncle won't let me though, because he says Chinese dogs will bite without warning. I want to pet doggies :(
• It's very difficult to find a trashcan when walking around. I don't want to litter, so I usually have to hold my trash for long periods of time. I think this is a big reason people just toss trash everywhere in China.
• Getting drinking water is quite difficult in China. Adults always offer you juice, soda, or beer, none of which I want to drink. It's the same at restaurants. People don't drink much water here. I've been trying to drink as much as I can get.