Gingerbread Weekly News...
Goes to China!!!
(Written by Diane Zhou)We left on the June the 26th and then landed in Tokyo, Japan, in the afternoon on the 27th, Japan time zone. My family was going to China! We brought Eric (my brother's friend) with us because his parents didn't want to go. The airplane flight was 12 hours long. At the Narita airport, I ate dinner. I didn't eat the airplane food; it's so disgusting. Japanese food is so delicious. In an hour or so, we were off to Shanghai, China. I slept most of the time on the two-and-a-half hour flight. When we finally landed in the Shanghai Pudong Airport, we got our belongings and went to find my uncle who was going to pick us up. I thought my aunt was coming too, but I was depressed to find out she wasn't coming. We had to go on two taxis with so many people and things. We were going to our hotel, which was really near the Shanghai train station, pretty far away from the airport.
It was so hot in Shanghai, or, I guess I should say really humid, that I got sweaty one second after I stepped out the hotel door, even at night!!! I got a horrible stomach ache, and skipped “Dinner #2”. “Dinner #1” was sort of like my lunch. My uncle rented three rooms in the hotel, each room had two twin beds. I had to sleep in a room with my brother! Tell you why. There were three grown-ups, three kids, and each parent was to take a kid. I couldn't go with my uncle, I'm a girl; Eric couldn't, my uncle doesn't really know him; which left my brother to be with him. He cried about that!!! Because I was the oldest, I had to sleep with him!!!
I woke up in the middle of the night, not used to China time zone. At five o'clock, everyone was up, not used to the time zone just like me, besides my uncle (he lives in China). The kids ate breakfast at McDonald's. Then at seven, my parents, my uncle, and I ate in the hotel breakfast buffet. At 7:30, we walked to the Shanghai Train Station. We were off to Nanjing! I played cards with my dad the whole time. It only took two hours with two or three stops in the middle!!! Eric went with his aunt on his real vacation in China. He didn't look happy to leave Alex; they were best friends. My uncle's car was parked at the Nanjing Train Station. We went to my dad's side's family home and had our first meal at “home”.
The next morning, my mom went to her family's home for some personal reasons. My dad took Alex and I to Mochou Lake. We went on a boat, and went saw the beautiful, huge lake. We went “home for lunch. Afterwards, my uncle brought us to my mom's family side. We slept immediately because of China's time difference. That was the end of our first full day in Nanjing.
The next day, my brother and I started playing MaJiang with my dad after eating breakfast. Before lunch, my cousin came and joined us in our game of MaJiang. Then we ate lunch and went to Zhong Shan Ling. The park has 371 steps up the mountain. We counted that much up and another 371 steps down. Very tiring...
Next day was shopping day. It was to buy my brother and my prizes from my relatives for a great school year and many achievements. I got this coloring set, it's totally cool. I also got a watch, a shirt, and a pajama dress. Afterwards, we went back to my dad's side. We had an annual "family reunion" dinner at night, though my brother and I were sleepy then. We slept through the whole thing! That was the end of this day.
After my mom left for her family home in the morning the next day, my dad and my other cousin took us to Xuan Wu Lake. We didn't actually see the lake, but we played in a water park. It's way worse than places like Silliman Aquatic Center or Great America; there's no chlorine in the water, so there are dead bugs and yuck stuff in the water! The water slides are huge and fun. I almost couldn't ride them. I wasn't quite tall enough so they asked me how old I was. I said ten in Chinese, but they heard it as fourteen. That wasn't enough, so my cousin said that I was used to riding big water slides. After awhile of debating, they let me on the water slide, but said that they weren't going to be responsible if I got hurt. It was really fun!
My dad took us to Fuzi Miao the day after. We just went on another boat. We went “home”, ate lunch, then went to a sports center. My brother got to go for his swimming, so then it was my turn for my ice-skating. My brother skated too. I was like the only one who knew how to skate besides another skater about the same age as me and the coaches. The rink was about two times smaller, the ice was also really scratchy. Oh well, it was just for fun.
This day was boring; my brother and I just stayed home watching this really funny Chinese comedy and playing computer. We also built a mini roller coaster (Alex's gift that we bought the other day in China). My parent's were out doing their personal things, don't know what it is.
On Thursday morning, my dad took Alex and me to a place where we could see a huge ship forty times bigger than Columbus's that sailed around the world several times around the same time Columbus did. The original ship, of course, was destroyed a long time ago, but with written notes in old books and pictures, people were able to construct a ship similar to the original. We could even go inside it! In the afternoon, my family went to my mom's family home. All my brother and I did was play computer. No one to play MaJiang with. Two person games were not fun. My dad was getting a new T.V. set up while my mom was helping.
We went back into the city (my mom's family lives in the suburb.) after lunch the next day. We packed up our stuff. We would be leaving Nanjing the next day! Already! We went to the train station after lunch the next day. My aunt went with us. Alex was excited to see Eric. We arrived in Shanghai and went to our hotel. It was near the Shanghai Pudong Airport. We ate at the hotel's restaurant. We slept and woke up at six the next morning. We said bye to my aunt and we were off to America...
