Isabel Zhang @ VCU

We cooked a lot for dinner in order to use up all the food stored in our refrigerator. Seems that we did a good job coz few left now and we'll finish them up tomorrow morning. And we planned to have lunch and dinner out as the last revel.

We went canoeing today. It was really a long long way. Seemed that the chances of rowing a boat in my whole life had been finished within one afternoon. I got much tanner and my arms began to ache now. I'll definitely feel even worse tomorrow. But if I look at the bright side, all the fatty food ate in the past three weeks could have been depleted by the acute sport today. But my friends may feel disappointed coz they expect to see a fat me. And we planned to eat even less in the next week coz meals at NYC and Washington D.C. could be very expensive. In this way, we save more money for sight seeing and loose weight at the same time, making the best of both worlds. haha~

I did packing just now. I bought a lot here and a little handbag I bought for one of my dad's friends' daugter has been filled with all kinds of other gifts like cosmetics and chocolates. I'd thought my suitcase would be overloaded. Fortunately, I managed to put all the things in coz I dropped some FMCG and food. I always hate packing. But the feeling of great relief arises every time after I finish.

There's one thing important for me to finish ---I still have 20 quarters with different patterns to collect. I definitely won't do that in NYC or Washington. That's ridiculous. So I'll try me best and my luck to get the rest.

This is absolutely not the best one. But I don't want to drag a bad ending so I added an altisonant title.

Goodbye, GRC and VCU.

I don't want to say "How time flies." But the truth is that only a few days left before we depart for New York City and Washington D.C. Browsing all the pictures in the folder of VCU, I found that few were taken on the campus. Most were taken at all kinds of resorts. So maybe the tour part outweighs the study part. Though I had always said to my buddies, I am going to learn, not to play. Fine, then action speaks louder than words.

The delay of the paper could be a good news. I really want to write something thoughtfully about the use of new media and the difference between their influence upon American and Chinese life. Doing it in such a short time won't do any good. After all, the biggest gain so far is still the tour around the Adcenter. Few could have the chance to visit the graduate school they are going to apply and to have someone as a guide.

I'm wondering whether I've really grown up in the past couple of years. Mon told me that I dragged her clothes and wouldn't let her go the first day of my kindergarten. I remember weeping in the bed the first night of my highschool coz I had to lodge on campus on weekdays. I thought I would miss Mon and Dad badly. But it turned out contrarily. Despite of the emails and msn chats, I only phoned them once. (Maybe the activities were too fascinating that relieved my nostalgia :-))Besides, I learned to cook. Though the boiled egg always looks like an egg pie. Give me a pan and I can make all kinds of eatable dishes. Moreover, I washed clothes so frequently that they call me "washing machine". Seemed that I could live by myself if one day I have to leave my family and study abroad. I really learned a lot even though not academically.

I know you guys in Shanghai are having various gethering. I desperately want to join you. I know no way. But the deadline is approaching. I'll be in your positions in two weeks. Hope Shanghai's weather gets better at that time.

I'm not sure whether is't proper to comment the father of the Declaration of Independence is this way. But it's my true feeling after touring around Monticello. I used to think that it's only the country with a two-hundred+ year history, it's only a two-hundred years old house. Photograph, touch or accidentally laying a finger on the door is prohibited. Is it necessary to be sooooooo strict? But all these dissatisfaction went away after seeing the inside of the house.

The bed placed between two rooms.
I forget the exact name, it must be a term. Jefferson thought put the bed there could save place. But from my point of view, he could shift himself between the two rooms by jumping across the bed! That could be a lot of fun! And there's no need to build the door, though there's a door there. I'm not using enantiosis by saying so. This is really a rare design!

The closet above the bed.
There are three holes on the wall above the bed. I'd thought wooden cuckoo could come out from these holes at sharp o'clock by singing "BU KU BU KU~~~". But the guide said these holes could let air and light in the closet so that Jefferson could find things without holding a candle. (Fine, here lies the difference between an extraodinary leader and an ordinary kid......) The access to the closet is behind a door at one end of the bed. The bed together with the closet were really cute!

The automatical door.
The other side of the door closes automatically while you pull one side. I was wondering why he didn't make all the door like this. Others say it was his experiment. I thought it was left intended for later tourists to be amazed at......

The wine's elevator.
Obviously, I made up the name again. It is more common than the former designs. But as for Americans, it should be mentioned.......But together with another delicate rolling-door, it sounds the serve of the meals became high-tech related.

He drew, he designed, he worked on politics, he struggled between the equality of every humanbeing and slavery and he drafted the Declaration of Independence. He could use seven languages, he taught himself Spanish and architecture. In one word, he's really a talent! I'd thought the trip might be boring. It turned out contrarily.

We had thought that the Americans performed democracy well and their operation of journalism was free of restriction. But what we've learnt here is that they are not so satisfied with both their political and journalism system. They don't like Hilary. They don't believe what is reported on the news. Then is that Utopia is no where to be found or no one on earth ever feels content in what they've got? But at least their president could be faddled at and appear on souvenirs. And their note could be used in ads.

What left deep impression on me as for the typical American way is their way of spending their leisure time. At the beach we saw many families driving a long way to enjoy the tide and sunshine there. They went back to work and ordinary city life on Mondays. But they would definitely utilize every minute of the weekend or even just Sunday to embrace the Nature. We saw the same thing at the lake yesterday, too. Even the beach was that tiny and manmade. They still seemed to be having a great time with their family. Many of them bring foods for a whole day. They swim, hike, ride bicycles, fish or do what ever they want or they could imagine of. Although the lake is very far far away from their house.

The highway here is also different from that in China by having so many trees lining up the two sides. From some special angles, the view could be splendid. If my memory serves me, the twosides of the highway are nearly bare in China...

What we usually do is that staying at home, watching TV or going shopping. We seldom leave Shanghai for weekend.(One reason is that the city is amazingly big.) We are used to dirty air, fast-moving living pace and terrible traffic. Seem to be trapped in the city, always. Yup, Shanghai is on the list of Most Suitable Cities to Live in . We can get everything we want within a dozen of steps. The only thing missing is the breath of the Nature.

I didn't go hiking on the mountain partly due to my fatigue, partly due to my laziness, my habit of sitting there doing nothing. I'm thinking of going picnic with Mom and Dad in the coming autumn when we have free time. Many of the ways I live would probably be changed after this trip. I'm in love with cheese and now the Nature as well.

It seems that the Utopia lies in the nature and Americans' loving for it.

Standing in the doorway of GRC, staring at the heavy rain, we were afraid of their not showing up as time passed. Fortunately, the white Toyota Carmy appeared sharp 4. Just as I thought, Americans won't easily break the promise.

It was about a twenty-minute ride to Virginia and Lorenzo's home. An ordinary two-storey house. Not big and they were also changing the house so the wall in the livinig was bare. But all these doesn't matter. They've got a dog and two cats. The dog was quite friendly. It likes to lick as if we were lollipops. While cats looked more arrogant and sometimes it's hard to find where they were hiding. The black one was special coz it does't have a tail. The grey one didn't show up until dinner time. And it suddenly dumped on my leg after its appearance. I was not afraid of it biting me. But it was really really heavy that my tummy ached as its claw step on it.

We made the salad and talked about history and Chinese characters before dinner. They taught us to have cheese together with apples. It was delicious and maybe I'll try again after I go back home. Virginia gave each of us a cup and let us write our names in both English and Chinese. Then we told the pronunciation of each character and explained our names. We were introduced to their daughter Melissa after she got up. She was sixteen and seemed to be in her rebellious time for she looked indifferent and seldom spoke. And it also took us twenty minutes to figure how old exactly we are coz the calculation way is quite different in China and America.

Another family came before dinner. The husband works for a Chinese company and they've been to China for several times. They have a one-year old baby. She was a cute little blonde with big blue eyes and a serious face. It was really thoughtful of them to invite another family for they thought maybe we'd have more common topics. Then their son Daniel and his friend David arrived. Daniel studied graphic design while David would get his degree in psychology in VCU this coming December and he was actually born in Taiwan. Of course, everyone had his or her own cup with their names both in Chinese and English on it. I should have taken a pic of the cups. What a pity!

We had pasta, salad, garlic bread and dessert for dinner. Everyone serve him or herself as the typical American way goes. The dessert was called Boston cake. It was really tasty. I loved it.
Virginia teaches Spanish so she seemed to be very interested in language. We tought them how to pronounce Chinese while she tought us to say Spanish. The dining room was just like a language classroom. We also talked about culture difference (sounds serious, haha~) and we helped David to figure out his past a little bit.

After dinner we played a card game which actually helps to learn English and took pictures with all of us in it. It took a long time for us to have the pic shot coz too many people. Then we went to the oldest theater in Virginia to see SHREK 3. The ticket was cheap, only 2 dollars.The decorations in the theater was classical and well-preserved despite of the sticky floor and shabby seats. It even had an organist performance before the movie! The movie was interesting though Daniel nearly fell asleep.

We exchanged email addresses and planned to go to Sushi sometime next week. We really enjoyed the home visit.

We with the baby.

Em....how to comment the walk along the James River? Well, as someone said, it's more quiet here than the Bund. It's hard to compare. The Bund & the Huangpu River and the bank of the James River are two totally different style. But I still miss the Bund coz I used to walk alone it to get the bus to school everyday after work during my last internship.

Then the walk became a picture-taking competiton. Everyone loves to take pictures, girls as well as boys. I think that we can always be easily recognized as visitors coz we take pictures everywhere, as many as possible. I'm wondering whether foreignors do that too while they are visiting Shanghai. We just want to memorize and embrace as much of the country as we could.

I told Dad that I was eating Haagen-Dazs just now. He said he envied me. I guess you can find it in very dorm's refrigerator, even in dozens. Haagen-Dazs together with Levi's and Neutrogena are all incredibally cheap here. (Maybe I'll talk over this in my next blog.) So, it now seems to be our bedtime dessert. But sorry guys, I cannot bring them back as souvenirs or send them by UPS (though they boast they deliver everything...). Then just... envy me as you like~ :-p

Squirrel

Colorful stores lining up the road.

The pink panther!

See how hot today at 4. I walked dozens of blocks to the post office to get you STAR WARS stamps!

The sky at 8 p.m..See how beautiful it is.

Cameras can be used as pens or keyboards to keep the diary. (Though the DPI of these pics are not so good when posted on the blog. I'll have them printed when I get back to Shanghai.)