comprehensive 听写 got so much harder. not only do we have to know the character and the meaning we have to use it in the passage she gives us in the space provided. under 60% we have to repeat - she also gives us a LOAD of zuoye 作业and a load for over the holidays. not best pleased. downloaded an app called hello talk used to practise language by finding language partners i use for the chinese and they and some others practise english with me. its good - i added one guy on wechat as im not on it so often， a student who lives in Shanghai from Shangrao 上饶 called lance.
FINALLY got speaking to the family was sooo good!!! ryan's not only bought a car but got insurance and has been driving about! all grown up! so proud. 骄傲的姐姐
Friday night we went out for meliahs 18th birthday dinner. to a fancy italian restaurant,. great atmosphere - some chinese lots of italians - lovely setting, great music, the chef came out gave us customary glasses of processco and some d'hoevres brushetta and tomate frocchia delcious! meliahs parents treat just the four of us - meliah, myself kat and irina. we got a nice bottle of wine and delicious pasta, the chef gave us talagetti carbonare with no ham instead offering us mushrooms, so creamy! delicious is no word it. he came out and talked to all the customers, he could speak in german and even a bit of russian not to mention of course his native italian and english, and im sure he could speak chinese aswell but the chinese also seemed to know and could say the names of the italian dishes (took me a minute to realise the first name was italian,english then chinese!) felt like we were in europe not china. we had such a great time chatting, was a relaxing fun night. the chef kept coming over to check we were fine, brought the food out for us for a specific time asking if irina wanted certain pasta. amazing service. the wine was tried first too. felt so grown up (learnt that the wine can be tested by a guy but also poured first for the women - single ladies first - as kat pointed out - we need it more haha) the Italian and American table behind us sent us over the nicest sparkling sweet wine I've ever tried in my life - delcious. We spent hours here, talking about everything - Chinese life, home life, relationships, politics and life goals. We left before 7 and got back around midnight. Success! Exhausted the next morning for work. beautiful day though.
Chilled in the park briefly. On Sunday spent it chilling with Rebecca and some of her work friends in Zhongshan park - the Americans thought I was American with my accent ha. When I spoke to the Lithuanian guy, as he asked where my accent was from, he seemed to understand most of it, but malik told me he let his class listen to a recording of mine - an accent class, and they barely understood ha. We played cards against humanity was so fun. We spent the day in the shade was such a hot day - moon festival 月饼节 / mid autumn festival 秋种节 月饼节 and no class in the Monday night, prepared for my trip to leave on the Tuesday night with Jimena 5.34pm
NANCHANG 30th September - 1st October National holiday hard seat is always just a wonderful experience, i had forgotten just how wonderful it was. but we made friends with the chinese beside us and got to practise a bit which was good. sleep was not much of an options. we arrived just before four. it was raining. the taxi we got was so annoying. the driver quoted us a high price of 20rmb for the area, but we didnt care we were tired. he spent 20minutes of trying to get other customers. even though we kept telling him we were tired we wanted to go. in the end, he relented - we were close to grabbing the next taxi that appeared. not cool. we had the address in chinese (kind of a necessity) it was the only hostel on hostelworld and hostelbookers. on the old walking street close to shengjin tower. thankfully, after we hit tthe door a good many times we were let in. no1 else was in our dorm which was good, only some arriving in the early hours. bed was welcomed. we befriended our chinese roommate - a girl from guangzhou. we checked out (as Rosie was to arrive today from wuhan and we were sharing) and then we went to get some food. the owner of the canteen 餐厅 食堂 came over to ask all about us etc. was soo funny as people keep thinking jimena is indian - one guy even said Africa. 非洲 they dont see Mexicans - i tend to get Russian - we are the only white people in Nanchang i believe - though its the capital of the province haha. we chilled for a couple of hours waiting for Rosie, it was raining - theres a typhoon over taiwan currently moving north (good thing we werent able to go - visa issues) she took a while once she arrived having to walk as the taxi drivers from some odd reason were refusing siji juzai司机拒载
when she finally did we went to the pretty tower beside us - sheng li before going and getting some food (they charge to take away here dabao 打包) got some of the delicious shaved noodles. and we ate at the hostel. jemina got a soup ramen but it was way too spicy. i was ale to eat a bit though. we went back to the tower - at night it was all lit up - was so beautiful. we got some photos with some chinese lads who asked for my wechat and we later arranged to meet the next day and all go to 庐山 lushan Lu mountain.
we had free beers earlier at the hostel - got some wine and chilled - we got to put on jimena's music , we'd dubbed the place Perry's as its like the bars in shanghai with the repirtive playlist, except this was depressing with the adele songs, which we didnt leave with ourr bitter man problmes (rosie cried, darius is a bastard mother fucker - or to be politically correct bastard maker - mother fucker/maker, il hate how he only sees how he is upset in loosing her over being a twat rather than he hates how he's hurt her and is selfish in his self pity self inflicted pain)
up early - well, we were meant to get up earlier but we were so tired so the guys went on to get our tickets then two of them went to meet us at the hostel and get our taxi to the station, passing the communist revolt monument square. they got us snacks for the shop and we all chilled at chatted on the bus - there's 3 of them, jin chen, shao peng and another one - hunan, guangxi and shaanxi. they are so nice - jin brought his guitar, they like computer games and anime so my sister readily approved. and so friendly and loved joking around. 
the bus took us right up to the ticket office at Lushan 庐山(student ticket is 80 which they also paid) it was cold at the top but unlike yesterday it had stopped raining and was sunny. we mainly spoke in Chinese and sometimes the odd bit of english. the view at the top was beautiful. clear blue skies. We got nice lunch in a restaurant (again the guys paid) before exploring the beautiful lake area. There was the cutest little puppy i got photos with and we were joking and singing and making hilarious videos having taught them "boom shakalaka" before getting a taxi bus to jiujiang 九江 for our train. jimena would not look out the window, shes afraid of heights and never mentioned it when we were planning the trip! crazy! she was ok at the top but wouldn't go near the edge or look out the window. the guys made us miss our train by not paying attention to things or my advice that we should go, they changed our tickets and got us the next one for high speed train. so we met rosie back at the hostel. this time the street was utterly packed with people celebrating the start of national holiday. we all chilled and had dinner in the hostel. the guys are now going to go tomorrow with us to Yushan玉山 and SAnqingshan!三清山 was such a fun day, the guys were a good laugh. the old street when we got back to meet Rosie was absolutely packed! was crazy!
Yushan city 玉山市 and Sanqing mountain 三清山Sanqingshan the 3 Qings (gods) mountain as the 3 main peaks resemble them apparently...reminded us a bit of Zhangjiajie 张家界 but much better weather! up early for the train, the guys thought we were meeting at our hostel but we were already at the station. they got there okay boarding together. everyone seems to think im Russian and Jimena is Indian but I guess its the skin and hair colours and because these countries are close. we got the slow train arriving in Yushan around 11.30am. from here we got a mini van to sanqingshan - 25 each for 6 of us and this siji 司机(driver) became our friend - we used him for the rest of the trip - so useful! thw winding mountain path was beautiful, climbing higher lookr down from the mountains - sanqinghu 三清湖 sanqing lake was utterly beautiful with the sun reflecting in crystal blue water - a bright blue sky - it didnt look like china - more like something from a canadian brochure! up at the mountain the heart continued - we had trouble finding our booking the guys rang and instead of a room for the night we paid 50rmbeach for 2 tents and duvet etc to camp up at the mountain!! we had food (finding out that one of the guys - who jimena calls laogong husband 老公 has a 6 pack!! it was his screensaver who would have thought! he studies p.e though, one studies computer science and the other - who has the guitar and we have dubbed my boyfriend haha does civil engineering and has decent arms and leg definition - the other guy looks a bit Korean haha) after food we got a mini van (10each) to the next cablecar area near the entrance as the bus was taking so long! the driver told us that we could stay in an abandoned unfinished hotel for the night. although dusty - the huge room was perfect.
we didnt even use the tents, instead just getting candles, 蜡烛 snacks, 小吃wine 葡萄酒 and using the duvet and our blankets as a bed. we closed the window when it was a bit cold. we listen to music, sang hotel california along to the guitar and talked nonsense in a combination of english and chinese. we'd bought one bottle of wine and the guys got 2 more for us all to share "salut" we went to sleep after 10 but got up at 4 (to loud heavy metal rock music alarms by the guys) as we were told it would be possible to sneak.. we brought the tent stuff - though the guys took our heavy backpack. unfortunately when we got to the gate although we quietly took off the gate lock the guards awoke and we had to pay - 80 for student. they werent even angry haha. it was still dark, around 5am by now. some chinese men wwith sticks balancing heavy food and drink were already making the climb up - sweat dripping off them - these men are in top shape. do not understand why they dont use the cable cars 缆车 though to transport - would save a lot of time, effort and energy. slowly the skies went for light to dark, the air was crisp but we were quickly warmed by the climbing and changed into shorts and took off layers. the cable cars began and the sun came out from the morning mists and clouds. the morning dew dried on the grass. it was quiet, the air was fresh and there was barely a soul around. Jemina was not used to climbing so there were a lot of stops. but she was brave climbing at all, and as a smoker it wouldn't be an easy climb anyway. there were stops along the way, small winding rivers and small waterfalls amongst the hill and mountains we chilled and had some snacks beside an old pagoda (the guys walked in on me going to the toilet - embarrassing! the guitarist stares at me quiet a bit - awkward haha. we got to the main area with the end of the first cable car around 10. it was thronged with people - and of course lots of photos were talking off us and with us. same old same old! there was a choice between a 4 hour walk to see the main sights or 2 hours - both leading to the other cable cars. we didnt do either. by 11 we weere exhausted - we did a short loop - chilled in a quieter spot overlooking the beautiful mountains (which reminded us in parts of Zhangjiajie - where the movie Avatar was based) we made friends with chinese kids - took photos, chatted and chilled doing stupid jack and rose poses. getting the cablecar down after midday for 50RMB each the 6 of us fitting in it. it was so hot, shade was greatly appreciated. it was swarming with [people and the exhaustion had completely enveloped us. the view down was beautiful - we had climbed quite high! Jemina completely faced her fear in the cable car - she burst into tears and hid into one of the guys - but we were all so proud of her - after this she was even able to look out the bus window and enjoy the scenery. we went to the restaurant beside our "hotel" from last night (haha) went into the back room and stuffed ourselves full 我们把肚子赛包了 women ba duzi sai bao le and died an exhausted death. getting the bus down to leave our camping stuff back. it was so hot here. people only starting there day nd we were leaving. our driver pciked us up and brought us to a hotel in yushan - us girls sharing 2 beds 40 each for the night and the laoban 老板 was so nice - he offered us new sandals as jemina went to by new ones - helped the toilet stop flushing crazily, he came in, showed us how to work the air con and said if we had any problem or needed anything he will help! how kind (all in chinese of course) we got into bed at 7pm, and didnt move til after 9. whole body was dead. we didnt go to ktv. we just died. haha. we spent the night chilling with internet and a much needed shower having had neither on the mountain - we already have a few songs from this trip "loca" "can i get the dick or not" "we are young" "let it all go"
random things - doing our eyebrows at random places like the train or on the mountain haha. And the crazy lady who sat beside me craning her neck to see what i was doing. The picture is hilarious.
we got up and checked out though kept our stuff in storage with the laoban. we then went and got noodle soup (you pick what you want and they could it in a "soup" you pick spicy etc. a bit like hot pot) we then got our driver to take us to SanqingHu a hot sunny day, we got snacks, wine and beer, we chilled in the sun, played music, went swimming (though only jin cheng the guitarist got in, the others werent really able to jing didnt go far, none had swimsuit either.) rosie and i jumped in. it was deep and the water was a perfect temperature. no algae no seaweed. just perfect. and the scenery il景色around it, just added to it. we made a video and it was hilarious as Rosie loudly declared happy September everyone! its October haha. we befriended some adorable Chinese kids as well, apart from there family that was it, it was brilliant.
the guys invited us to dinner and ktv. the hotpot place was really nice. so much food and free drinks. we had an hour left and so quickly did ktv. loved it! the guys then dropped us off at the train station, jin trying to kiss me, and the Korean guy asking to kiss Jimena ha. was so awkward at dinner as we started messing around taking heart shape pics and when it came to my turn jin cheng wasn't just happy with a pretend afar kiss. he moved closer till our lips met and then tried to go further. the pic is disastrous! he loves it. was gross as he was so sweaty from the hot pot. rank.
unfortunately we werent able to sneak in like it suggested online but we got discount and so it was only 40rmb
it was very beautiful, though we didnt have the longest time, so we didnt walk too far
the sky, high rising mountains and stepping downwards rice terraces of green slowly browning was a beautiful natural sight to behold
