China's Smoking

My "vacation" at China was great. However, when I came back to SoCal I literally teared up. California is so fortunate and lucky compared to China: perfect weather, safe driving, FREEDOM. During the summer a group of Shanghai kids came to our summer Chemistry class to observe. The Shanghai kids were sponsored by the PCC Earth Camp? They had to stand in front of the classroom and ask us questions in order to practice their English. One by one they stated their English name that they were given in their English classes. At first they were commom names like John, Peter, or David. But the last guy said, "Freedom". The whole class bursted into laughter. He was serious...

This summer I had to go to China to perform in the Shanghai World Expo 2010 with my ballet troupe. It was a wonderful experience because I got to practice in the Shanghai Ballet School, practically one of the most prestigious ballet institutions. That part was successful. After Shanghai, my dad and I went to Kunming. In Kunming there is a city called Shi Ping, which is more rural and bucolic. I got to volunteer in a one-room clinic serving the countryside citizens. I also got to teach children (not exactly children, because there was a 20 year old) English. It was especially difficult because these children grew up speaking Shi Ping hua, instead of Pu Tong hua. Pu Tong hua is common mandarin and sounds more proper and decent. Shi Ping hua, however, sounds staggered and has a somewhat lower tone.

While at China I realized that every man smokes. Every man on the street was either holding a cigarette or match. I remember when my dad, uncle, and I stopped at a small shop to drink some wine rice (very good!) I saw a man and asked my dad wide-eyed, "Is that man smoking from a pole?". He literally stuck his whole face in a pole and started inhaling in massive amounts of weed. During my time in China I tried to prevent myself from breathing in secondhand smoke and also tried to preach about the horrible effects of smoking. I knew that children are not educated about the effects of smoking like how the children in America are. I know this because I asked a 2o year old man who smoked if he was ever warned about cigarettes. He said he was informed a little, but when he joined in the army he gave in to peer pressure. His parents were also OK with the whole situation of buying cigarettes. I also managed to mention about the effects of smoking when I taught children English. When there was traffic on the freeway, I stuck out a sign on the window that said "SMOKING IS BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH. Yan Dui Ni Shen Ti Bu Hao (in chinese characters)". This blog since it is Google-powered is blocked in China. Would it be crazy if I made a Chinese blog in order to continue informing about smoking? I guess smoking in Third World Countries is also one of the many crisis that the society faces, kind of like global warming.

BACK FROM CHINA

I have crazy jetlag. arghh. Yesterday, I slept from 3:00 pm-9:00 pm and slept at 1:00 at night. This morning I woke up at 5:00 in the morning. O_o

For the Birds

I watched this Pixar Short Film a bunch of times and thought I should share it with you. The moral of the story is basically if you treat others the way you don't want to be treated, it will backfire or for a more cliche way of saying it: what goes around comes around.

Superheroes

I forgot to tell you that I was a superhero;)

oh and if you look at the boy at the left and the 2nd picture of Russell you can see the resemblance :D

I love this kid!

Russell from the Pixar Movie, UP!

Secretary:)

I can't believe that I actually made secretary for the Red Cross Club at my school. I was pretty surprised because I never thought that I would be chosen. As soon as I entered the room I had to pay the $1o.oo fee for the "banquet". It wasn't even a banquet unless you consider a 14X14 room with one floating pineapple, a powerpoint that showed a movie, 3 bags of chips, and a homemade velvet cake a banquet. To enhance the luau theme there was a floating pineapple out of the middle of nowhere. When I paid the president the $10.00 she asked me my name. I thought to myself, "Oh yeah. I totally made secretary because the president doesn't even know who I am.". After the movie they started announcing the new officers and I guess I was one of them. It's funny because after the banquet/ceremony was over the president said, "You ran for secretary right?...". One word: FAIL 

I'll just post up my acceptance speech (there never was one): "Thank you so much officers for giving me this opportunity to serve the Red Cross Club as the 2010-2011 secretary. I promise to try my best and make next year one of the most memorable moments. My goal is to really make the club bond together as a team so we can advocate emergency preparedness and the goal of helping our community. I hope that our club members and return next year once again because together we can achieve more!" 

It's a little corny:) 

Current mood: flabbergasted

Trying to be Nice

I went to this wedding today at the City of Industry at the Pacific Palms Hotel. Overall it was really fun. I attempted to take pictures but the lighting in the banquet room was very poor and dim. I don't know who did the seating charts but I was put in a table with children ages 10 and under. I was the oldest and felt like a amateur babysitter. It wasn't that bad because I rather hang out with younger kids than older kids who talk about college, work, and all of that boring stuff I am not really interested in. A girl the same age as me was put at the "older kids" table. At first I thought "What the heck?!?!?", but later I realized I preferred the "younger kids" table. It was hilarious. This 10-year old boy kept on asking the waiter to light the candles that were on the table. He kept on blowing them out just to see the smoke disappear in the air. There was a total of seven people at our table and we ordered about 17 (not exaggerating) Sprites/Cokes, by accident. This 11-year old boy drank 3 Coke cups and called me "unhealthy". Our table was the loudest and most raucous. I knew that the seniors next to us were regretting to ever stay for the banquet because we were CRAZY. I wouldn't be surprised if the waiters spat in our drinks or twirled their fingers in it. There was a girl sitting two chairs from me and she was the only one that was actually quiet. I asked her a lot of questions to get her talking but she was still her timid self. "How old are you? Do you play the piano? Do you have any siblings?", I asked (I almost sounded like a stalker). I was just trying to be nice but I have never seen someone so shy. So throughout the whole wedding these kids were playing their D.S lites, getting drunk on soft drinks, yelling at the waiters, and walking around the banquet room, while I was trying the get the shyest girl in the world to talk. I was just trying to be nice.