Currently :: December

To get all technical on you, if we're talkin' currently CURRENTLY, then I am under three layers of blankets, a fleece pullover, sweatpants, earmuffs, fuzzy gloves, and toasty socks in bed in Nanjing, China. It's right at 35 degrees, the heater is malfunctioning, and so... hello from my igloo.

This comes right after just about a full 24 hours of traveling, complete with a less than satisfying  in flight movie selection – don't you hate that? That came after over a week in Houston, where every day was 80 degrees, with 80% humidity.
Fret not, I will survive. A look back at December (!!!!!!), when I've been...
DREAMING // of a warmer tomorrow.
WATCHING // a lot of movies! What with all the flights this month, compulsory holiday movie marathons, all of my fall TV shows on hiatus, and a Starz trial subscription, it's been all about the big screen in December.

EATING // basically not at home. Indulgent breakfasts around San Francisco, a whole day of eating in LA, mom's cooking in Houston, and now meal after meal in Nanjing, I'm actually now craving a simple cheese quesadilla conjured up in my microwave.

MISSING // a functional Internet! China has what's "affectionately" referred to as the Great Firewall, and they've recently been majorly cracking down on sites that have slipped through the cracks. I'm without... Google, everything associated with Google (Docs, Blogger (!!!!), Drive, Gmail), Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, and just about every other site or platform that I use on a daily basis. But how am I blogging right now? Well that's a secret that I'll never tell. XOXO, just kidding, thank GOODNESS for Express VPN.

WANTING // to have an excellent last day of 2015. And I want it for all of you, too.  

PLANNING // 2016 adventures and intentions.

READING // Goodbye Sarajevo, and it gives me the chills after having visited Sarajevo myself this summer. I still need to tell you about that (broken record, I'm aware). Also, I'm hoping to begin re-reading the entire Harry Potter series. This'll be cycle number... 16 or something of that nature.

TALKING // about the good old days, and all the people from way back when. A few hours before my flight to China, I managed to meet up with my best friend from home who I only get to see once or twice a year. We did our traditional brunch + Barnes & Noble date, ran into another high school friend, and caught each other up on the goings on of our mutual friends. Crazy to think how far we've come.
SPENDING // it's December, did you think I was a saint in this arena? I most definitely was not. 
FEELING // a twinge of sadness that 2015 is coming to an end. What. A. Year.

WEARING // my Harry Potter sweatshirt everyyyyywhere (thank you, Lo!) but also twenty layers at the moment. 

ENJOYING // being in the presence of my extended family. They are a loud, all-over-the-place bunch, but they are the most loving people in the world and I'm lucky to be a part of this crew. 

DRINKING // coffee, as per usual. Lots of water, too. 

NEEDING // to get some work-work done, but I'm crashing as we speak. I'm surprised I haven't fallen asleep on top of my laptop.
LISTENING // Serial, season 2. What are your thoughts?!
LOOKING [FORWARD TO] // 2016, 2016, 2016. Blank slates are exciting, don't you think? 
Well, friends, my wish for you is a safe and wonderful New Year's Eve, and as amazing an entrance into 2016 as you can manage. I'll see you here next year!
What was your favorite moment in December?

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China, China, Wo Ai Ni // Shanghai and Nanjing Highlights

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Travel posts are my favorite to write, because they allow me to re-live my adventures all over again. Popular opinion however, I know to be somewhat against vacation recaps. Like, it is Monday, I hate everything, please let everyone be as miserable as I am right now. (Pre-coffee thoughts, I get it.)

So I condensed my week-long trip to China as much as possible. Hope it's relatively pain-free.

Well, also, I hope it helps when I say that this trip was much less of a vacation, and more like putting in the effort to spend some time with our family in China. We make this trip so often now that it's all become a bit of a routine and that landing in Shanghai becomes more like the pressing of a 'play' button to my alternate life.

China, I think, can be described in three words. (Lots of) people, pollution, and phood. And phun. Chow phun. And phamily. Because phamily comes phirst, phorever and ever. Phistbump.

Okay, I'll stop. It's 1 AM, I'm not making sense, and I have a ton of suitcases and boxes to move tomorrow as I begin my senior year. 

(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

PS. One HUGE highlight that didn't make it into the recap was our flight from Shanghai to Tokyo (for our transfer). It was an ANA flight, a Boeing 787 if I'm not mistaken. BUT THE WINDOWS. There is no slide cover thingy. Instead, there's a little button under the window and you press it up or down to tint the windows aqua, teal, or dark dark dark dark blue. Or clear. I took a 27-second video of it to show you guys, but alas the file got corrupted (literally this is my phone rolling its eyes and being like, you are so so stupid). But I just had to put this in here.

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Virtual Coffee Talk, 0.7 // $150 Nordstrom Back-To-School Giveaway

Hiya!
Three guesses as to where I am right now, and go!
Nope, not New York.
Nope, not Houston.
Nope, not San Francisco.
(Although I've been to all three in the past week and a half, crazy right?)
Actually, I'm in China at the moment! As we speak, I am holed up in a big, fluffy bed on the 49th floor of a fancy hotel in Shanghai, fresh out of the luxurious rain shower and admiring the sparkling views of the city from the window in front of me. Coffee doesn't seem fitting for this occasion, so maybe you'll sip on some tea while we chat? Or maybe a chilled glass of wine?
Tomorrow, we are off to Nanjing, that little big city two hours away from Shanghai by train that I visit almost every summer like clockwork. The sister and I are in town to hang out with our grandparents and extended family, and to fuel up on hotpot and other delicious foods, I'm sure. It's our own little sisterly end-of-summer last hurrah, I guess! Upon going back to the USA next week, I'll have a week chilling in San Francisco and then I'm heading back to Stanford to help out at orientation / to begin the end of my college career. Cue the hyperventilation. 
Over our tea, I'd talk about how 2014 has been so go, go, go. If I were to count up the numbers, I'll find that I've been on a plane, train, or bus more than I've been at home. I've been at home for a total of two weeks this year actually. I'd tell you about how as life-changing and amazing as Europe and even New York were, there's also a special something about visiting China, especially now that it's become an annual thing. Disembarking the plane in Shanghai and being met with the familiar customs line, the commute, even the hotel - it's like waking up in my parallel reality. Europe was about branching out, China is about tending to my roots. And Stanford this upcoming quarter? It'll literally be all about sprawling out on the lawn under the tree with the sun in my face and a book in my hand. (The metaphor's gone out the window by now if you didn't catch on.)
Then, finding that our conversation has gotten a little too deep, we'd liven it up by talking about our Labor Day Weekend (I spent twelve hours on a plane, and you?), and most importantly - what we have on our lists for back-to-school shopping!
To help you out, the magical Jordyn faerie over at The Fairy Princess Diaries is hosting a $150 Nordstrom giveaway to kick off the season. Hop on it, lovelies!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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...And One Final Post About China

Cue that resounding sigh of relief, because it's obvious more to me than anyone that almost a whole month after leaving China, I'm still yammering on and on about it. Scout's honor, this will the last one until the next time I feel like braving a sixteen hour flight and whatever is the polar opposite of the term "peace and quiet."

Pan-fried radish "cakes" ... as absolutely mouthwateringly delicious as it was,

I'm still more than happy to be reunited with cupcakes and chocolate cakes and all kinds of get-me-fat cakes. I don't discriminate. 

"The Great Nanjingnese Eatery" - probably should be your first food stop if you ever visit!

Chicken curry & naan at Taj Mahal - slightly overpriced, but still eyes-rolling-back scrumptious!

Dairy Queen - China style - after seeing Fast & Furious 6.

I am so thankful, little girl, to have you in my life.

Excuse the crappy photo quality, pleaseandthankyou. 

Surviving a mob, or picking a kid up from first grade? 

Mooncakes! Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! 

The parents walking through their childhood neighborhood. 

Crowds on crowds on crowds. 

Until next time, Nanjing.

Weirdly, the transition from China to the USA this time was miraculously seamless. It's never happened like this before. I've always needed a day or two to get re-acquainted with this beautiful, red-white-and-blue striped country of mine; but this time, I suffered no jet lag, no reverse culture shock, no intense longing for mango ice. Sometime in that really long and exhausting inter-continental flight, it was like I shed a casing I had around me the entire time I was in China. And once I stepped foot back at school, it was the strangest thing - I immediately settled back into my routine, went for an obligatory In-N-Out jaunt, and chatted with all of my friends like three months had not just passed us by. 

I told my roommate, I said - "it's like I have two lives. My Stanford life, and my 'real world' life ... and every time I come back to or leave campus, it's like I press a play or pause button." 

I am so happy to be back at Stanford, my favorite place in the whole entire universe. But I'm so thankful for the time I had in China with my family, and so with that said - here's to the next great journey!

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Got A Secret, Can You Keep It

Word of advice for all you beautiful souls:

Treat your Monday like this puppy treated the treadmill, and you will be golden.

I hate to be one of those people -

the ones who gradually begin to blog very inconsistently,

and then make a million promises to change for the better,

but then repeat the mistake over and over again ... and then once more.

But y'all, I'm a bad beezy, I just can't stop me and my bad girl ways.

I peek some Peking duck!

No, but seriously, the first two weeks of school are always unbelievably out-of-sorts,

and so hopefully now that I've got my routine down pat, I'll have more time for this joint.

-

Towards the end of my time in China,

my constant need to capture moments in photograph form,

sort of ... disappeared.

I just preferred to relish in the time I had left in this crazy, foreign, familiar place,

with the people who somehow had the misfortune to share some of the same DNA as me.

Sorry 'bout that, guys.

And not to mention, lugging around a massive SLR is just not as "hip girl" as I dreamed.

I mean, it kind of is, but I just ran out of upper body strength.

My mommy (third from the left) w/ her sisters.

They also have a brother, the middle kid, but he didn't join us for dinner that day,

because when you have lived that many years with this many sisters,

you deserve a break from all the loud chit-chat every once in awhile.

MY CHILDREN.

Technically, they're not mine.

But that's only if you're getting real technical about it.

I just love these two tykes to itty bitty pieces, even if they tend to hide behind a chair

when I start to photograph them and their poke-able, chubby, blissful cheeks.

They carry the great weight of being the sole members of the fourth generation

of our family at the moment, and I think they're doing a fine job of it.

The little one, Mr. Lovely Panda up there, is a huge fan of his older cousin,

and would take his little plastic cup full of peach juice up to her, 

clink their "glasses" and shout "Cheers!" and down it in one satisfying gulp.

I don't know how this bodes for his future, but you do you, Mister.

A little drunk off of that peach juice.

That's some strong stuff, man.

My parents and I spent the night before our flights in Shanghai.

It was actually a huge holiday in China - the Mid-Autumn Festival,

where everyone eats mooncakes and gazes at the full moon and whatnot.

It was prime photo-taking time, and I barely picked up my camera.

Because the thing is, as we wandered the streets of Shanghai -

shuffling in small steps and moving as a crowd,

as the humidity screwed up my hair and crowds gathered in pockets

at various points along the streets to clap and holler along with 

the musicians and the jokesters and the dancers,

I realized that even if a picture can capture a thousand words ...

no picture could do any justice to what I was experiencing at that moment.

The energy, the glee, the curiosity.

As a blogger and a writer, sometimes I find it so necessary

to try and capture whatever I'm feeling at whatever moment,

either by snapping a quick picture, or trying to find certain phrases to describe it.

But in the recent weeks, I've started to feel that maybe,

some things, we can save for ourselves, and for our memories.

Sometimes, we should let thought stop detracting from these magical moments,

and just let ourselves experience - hear, smell, taste, feel, see, sixth sense,

and then bury this scene in a corner of our heart and lock it up tight.

Like a little secret, just meant for me to know.

Got a secret, can you keep it...

Not gonna finish the song - too morbid.

Happy Monday, everyone!

14

On Lake Xuanwu and This Crazy New Feeling

Earlier, I had one of those moments. The kind when you're going about doing something extraordinarily ordinary, but then you pause and think, but wait, when did we become such grown-ups? Since when did we learn to behave, or at the very least pretend to behave, like adults?

My parents at the entrance of Lake Xuanwu;

my dad forever acting his age (not).

These moments come every now and then, like in class when we're going through the obligatory introductions, and suddenly it's become so natural to say "Hi, I'm Caroline, I'm from Houston, and I'm a junior this year." It seems like just a moment ago, I was saying the exact same thing - but in high school and with a mouth full of braces. Time's a sneaky one, isn't she?

Trinkets? Yes, please!

Just now, Cassandra and Kylie and I drove to the bookstore to grab some textbooks. On the way back, the sky was at that stage where it's a dusty blue tinged with a bit of fiery orange and hazy purple, and the music in the car was loud - you know, all the things that tend to make the mood on the side of nostalgic. And we were talking about jobs and meetings and work, and then all of a sudden, it just hit me how normal this was. How being adults has become so ordinary and simple, and how the heck did we get here so quickly?*

Bananas, I tell you. It's all bananas.

Let's backtrack for a second, though. Right after our visit to the Confucius Temple a couple of weeks ago, my parents and cousin and I decided to hit up Lake Xuanwu - another must of a tourist hot spot in Nanjing. But to our family, it's slightly more than just a check on the famous attractions list. You see, my parents grew up together. They met when they were itty bitty monsters and lived in the same neighborhood, a neighborhood that's only about a stone's skip away from this lake.

Get them reminiscing about the old days, and you'll hear all about how they, along with their brothers and sisters, used to pile into a boat by the train station on one side of the lake, and ride it all the way to the several islands on the lake. 

They used to skip school (so hey parents, get off my case about going to morning classes, geez), and spend their days swimming in the lake, fishing for crawfish and crabs, climbing trees, and finding animals to terrorize. They tell us about the pranks they pulled, the laughter they shared, and all the grand times they had around this lake.

My mom and cousin;

we rented a boat, because on the lake was the breeziest place in the city on that day.

My dad always says that there are lots of "secret spots" on several of these islands that belong to him and my mom, from way back in their courtship days. (Vomit.) Plus, most of the {few} pictures I have of either of them in their childhood were all taken by this lake - there's one of my dad when he was a toddler, with his parents. There's a few of my mom with her sisters, all in pigtails and barefoot. There's a couple of them, with their gang of troublemakers friends and siblings, all of them grown and with their own trouble-making tots and grand-tots now. 

So yes, I guess you can say that this lake - its water, its lily pads, its bridges, its statues and weathered trees and the pavement beneath the feet of thousands of tourists - holds a great deal of history for my family. And I bet you, when my parents walk through it every few years, they get that same sense that I got today. That feeling of, how did the time pass by so quickly? How did we get here so fast? It's an outrageous moment that leaves you feeling like you got punched in the gut, but it's necessary in the way that it makes you stop drop and roll the stressing and the responsibility and all the gosh-darn thought that comes with being an adult, and it lets you just re-live the carefree past for a few seconds and it lets you be grateful for everything that we're given, all the experiences we've had.

To pile on even more sap, we visited their childhood neighborhood after we left the lake, but alas, that's a story for another day. {As in the next day that I feel like blogging - how do you people balance blogging with a life?}

Trees full of memories, and some wishes too.

Well, it looks like I was quite the Chatty Caroline today, so I'll go ahead and apologize for the lengthiness. Blame it all on the nostalgia. It's a talkative one.

--

*Also, I was so gung-ho about being an adult and all... and then I just spent a good forty minutes trying to figure out how to work the printer, and raced to the dining hall to beat everyone to the free Swedish Fish. And I completely flipped out when I saw a horse today. So I guess there's still a lot to work on before I'm fully an adult. Thankfully.

14

On Confucius's Temple, Craziness, and Coming Back Home

Over the weekend, my life did a complete 180*. On late Wednesday, I was still deep in the heart of China, and now on this Monday morning, I'm freezing my little arms off in the early chilliness of the Bay Area, California.

It was a chaotic weekend, complete with trains and planes and hotels, and a humongous Chinese holiday, elderly dancing groups, food (lots! of! food!), the best movie showings on a plane that I've ever seen, flight delays, San Francisco, my family being together, more! food!, moving in to my dorm, unpacking, reunions, and starting school. Yes, on the last week of September. I can't tell if it's a good or bad thing that we start so late, but man am I excited and relieved to be back at Stanford.

This morning has been a real busy one, getting situated with classes. It's kind of funny how immediately I've settled into my school routine - I think I'm still running on last year's schedule a bit, because my roommate and I arrived at class one whole hour early. So forgive me if I'm scatter-brained this week; it's because it's been cuh-ray-zee.

Hard to believe as it is, a little less than two weeks ago, I convinced my parents to take me to Confucius's Temple, one of the main attractions in the city of Nanjing, and always a pleasure to visit. 

It's a mecca for prayer, souvenirs, street food, and modern day shopping. 

And a lil sprinkle of gimmick, too.

But who wouldn't want to dress up as an Emperor or his concubine for some photos? 

The maze-like alleyways full of little trinkets are always fun to visit.

 Also, the circles on my mom's shirt are hardcore trippin' me out.

Just sayin'.

My favorite thing about Confucius's Temple is that it's a nice balance of the traditional (see: ancient-style architecture, a hefty history that dates back to the Ming dynasty, and a good place to observe the practicing of the Buddhist faith) as well as the modern (you are greeted by Haagen Dazs, Burger King, and Pizza Hut upon arrival). The best of both worlds, as my good friend Miley would say. If she wasn't so busy spiraling down, down, downward {dog - I see dat Pilates bod, girlfriend}! 

Snails.

Mmm. Appetizing. 

And this treat isn't from Nanjing - it's actually from Beijing,

but I needed to have one before I could leave China.

It's candied shanza - and is basically, in my opinion,

caramel apples - that's more tart and more tiny.

I have a few more China posts to share with you,

and then I'll hit the ground running with real-time, college, sunshiney California updates!

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