Wendesday July 5

woke up waaaay too freaking early in the morning... did the usual, then walkd to the subway station and went to my grandpa's house. i got off at the right station at like 7:15, 40 minutes earlier than expected. but since it was freaking POURING outside, and it was rush hour, it was IMPOSSIBLE to get a cab!! i waited half an hour for a cab, before finally knocking someone out of the way to get my cab!!! ... and the cab driver SUCKED. he dropped me off across the street from where i wanted to go, and it was a huge street. (i'm scared of crossing streets in china cuz chinese drivers are crap. i hate them all, 'cept the ones i know, i like my family/friends). so i actually go to my grandpa's right at 8AM... but my aunt called them earlier to tell them that i'd be early (she called me when i was on the subway)... so they were worried sick - great....

so anyway, my yeye picked me up at the gate, and we went in. nainai made me drink two bottles of nasty plastic milk, and a bun. then made me carry two Sprite bottles (i don't drink pop dammit!). finally, the driver came, and drove us to the person's office. i'm supposed to call him "Chen yeye" (like grandpa chen), instead of Dr.Chen, etc. hehehee... i like that. big important person, and i get to call him "yeye" h heheheee.... weeee! connections rock dammit! anyways. so after WADING thru a fucking river that is the military university's campus [i think they don't have sewers... cuz it was a fucking river, and my feet and shoes (nice pretty shoes too) were SOAKED], we get to the building and we were drenched - head to toe. great. ... then we went in, and talked to the dude. he's really nice and really cool, and we didn't discuss, for even one second, my paper. he kept on saying that i looked familiar, and he was talking about toronto, and u of t, and sick kids, and how he knows ppl there... or KNEW ppl there, cuz they're now either dead or retired... and then i asked him about his research and his english is really good!! and then we exchanged info, and my grandpa and him talked about their old army stuff.... and old army ppl they knew, etc etc etc.... yup. then we left. weee. the army car dropped me off at home, and i waited for awhile before heading out to meet my friend.

Elaine and I decided to meet at 10:40 in Pudong, but i estiamted the time wrong, so i got there at 10:10... and she called me about 2 minutes later - she was early too! it worked out GREAT! ... so we went shopping in the same mall as where we went ice skating. ... actually, we went to eat first, then shopped. i bought a lot ... well, cuz i said i wasn't gonna buy any clothes cuz nothing fit me... but i bought lots. hehehee.... at one point, the PA system played leehom again, and i was happy. and then we went to get dessert, and we talked (we talked this whole time... it's not like i walked around in silence... my chinese is pretty damn good, sometimes) .... anyhow. i was supposed to meet my gege from Beijing that night, but he kept on not calling so i had no idea where he was... when he finally called, it was around 3:30, and he had JUST arrived and was gonna go check in at the hotel. ... at 5, i called him and he was JUST leaving the hotel. gebus!!! ... so i treated Elaine to some starbucks (it's crazy expensive here). she got a frappucino, and i got a hot chocolate (it was pretty good hot chocolate)... and the ppl in starbucks hafta know english, at least the english names of the stuff on the menu. heheheee... anyway, around 6, my cousin finally came, and Elaine could finally go home (she didn't wanna leave me all alone). ....

so then, it was just me and "Joe" ... man, i hate these names these ppl name themselves... anyway. we went outside the mall to get a cab. Side note: shanghainese cab drivers suck. if u get one that's waiting outside some big tourist attraction, they can refuse to give u a ride!!! wtf?!?!? they sucked. ... big time. sucked big time... we finally got a cab, and went to XinTianDi, this uppidity tourist attraction with a lotta bars, etc....

walked around XinTianDI for awhile, looking for a place to eat that wasn't too crazy... and we picked (actually, he picked) a place called Luna. none of the waiters there actually speak chinese - it's funny!!! hehehee... they understand it tho. heheheee... my cousin's english sux, but at least he can make out "cheque" "water", "beer", "myself" ... heheheee... funny stuff.... food was boring - dumb ribs, dry chicken, and okay steak for waaaaaaay too much money. and beer battered onion rings that really didn't taste like beer AT ALL... not very good either... for like $5CDN! gebus. ... i wouldn't even get it here for like $5!!! ... oh well, he can "bao xiao" it anyway, so who cares. ... so, most of the night, Joe talked and i listened. he talks a lot. i'm a good listener... cuz i can't speak in chinese very well... he talked, while i stole cigarettes. yup. i stole one pack. and then he took out another pack, so i stole his lighter... so then he asked the waitress for matches, and i blew out the first match soooooooooooooo beautifully. hehehee... omg, i almost fell over laughing at him. it was soooooooo perfect!!!!!! JUST as he was about to light his cigarette. man!! it was definetely a kodak video moment. hehehee... ppl were staring at me cuz i was laughing so hard. ahem. anyway. ... so then i stole his other pack of cigarettes (it was a new pack) ... and since he'd already dropped his bags off at the hotel, he didn't have any other packs - AHAHAHAA!! i'm such an evil meimei!!! hehheeee... so, he resorted to begging. basically, the entire night consisted of him begging me for his cigarettes. it's so funny. and him talking, of course. and me playing games on his cool palm slash cell phone. he was saying that his gf of 5 yrs didn't even EVER try to steal in cigarettes and his little meimei that he hasn't seen in 4 yrs stole both packs AND his lighter... my response: i'm scared of no one. (in china. i must append). ... when we finished dinner, he was like "if u dun gimme my cigarettes, i'm taking u home right now" ... i said "okay"... he came all the way from ebijing to see me, so it would've been a waste for him if he did. I was tired already, so either way (home or drinks) would've been fine for me. ... and i had to go early to yaya's hosp the next day AND buy cake before that anyway... anyways, so i gave him the pictures and the car i bougth him and was ready to get in the taxi, when he gave in. AHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!! ... so then we went to the Stareast Bar which is the bar i went to 4 yrs ago which is a crappy ass bar... and i still wouldn't give him his cigs, so he decided to order some, but luckily they were out of his brand - so AHAHAAA! again. ... i gave him his cigs one at a time - the poor guy was desperate man. ... a 29 yr old man begging a what-looks-like-a-18-girl doesn't look so good, so i gave him 2 cigs, about an hour apart. hehehee.. i'm so evil. ... he talked some more, some dude in the bar sang leehom's song pretty well but was kinda ugly, and then i was like "i'mi gonna die, let's go home" ... so we went home (his hotel was across the street from the house) ... and i keeled over and died.