Hello Everyone,

Recently this email has been the target of repeated hacking. My password has been changed several times by an unknown party. Because of this, I will no longer be using this email. Please send all future correspondence to lemonade.swordfish@outlook.com, delete/change this contact, and disregard any future emails from this email adress. 

Thank you very much,

Grace Hong

First Day Back Fencing!

Yesterday was the first day I fenced in over a year. The plan (hopefully) is to give a month to settle in before school starts, and then compete compete compete and hopefully make it to the summer nationals. One major hitchup- the competitive foil program here is, according to the coach, not that strong (2 competitors. . . both men in like veteran 50), so there's a possibility I might have to look into switching weapons.

For the last year, the only muscle I've exercised was my brain. Walk, I can do that. Move a mouse, yep. Type up a paper, a-ok. Heck, I can even doggy paddle 5 feet or run (aka shuffle-jog) about 20. So coming back into fencing was a bit of a shock. To begin with, the 'warm-up' we were subjected to left me out of breath and trembling all over* then, after a 5 minute break for water and the like, we began. . . that's right, push-ups. Now my brother often jokes that I can't do one full push up (I can't), so you can imagine how that was like. Needless to say, by the end of the day I had the beginnings of blisters on my  feet and weapon hand, my legs were aching like crazy and I could barely take a breath. Today, I kinda can't really move. . . but I feel better than ever! Never knew just how good it was to get back into fencing. Now, after 1+ years without a foil in my hand, coming back feels like I'm connecting with a missing part of myself!

Next lesson is tomorrow--hopefully I will have recovered by then!

-Quiet Girl

* run forwards and backwards, 2 laps.
run 3 steps and jump, 2 laps
skip and throw hands in the air (yeah it sounds silly--but it isn't) 2 laps
hop on left foot 2 laps
hop on right foot 2 laps
grapevine 2 laps
.. . and it goes on and on. . . 

More Shiny Happy Fun Summer Stuff

In addition to flipping pancakes (like, literally flipping them) and making a new soda, I also created a statue of the imortal donut man. . . and got epically trolled in the process (by Ian--who else?) but that photo will have to wait until he gets back and unlocks his phone:

Me polishing off the last of the watermelon juice

Adding more orange juice. . . Ok, the soda was more like a  bunch of fruit juice added to perrier, but it was still pretty cool

Thoughtfully considering what else could go into the soda...

Caught a bug--for the first time

   Actually, catching a bug (not smashing it to smithereens or frying it to a crisp--my usual procedure, sorry to say) was on my list of stuff to do. The slightly over the top k-pop pose, though, was my Father's idea.

Made my own pancakes this morning

    . . . And actually flipped them, like in the air. Without utensils. Using the pan. It was pretty awesome.

Day 1 of Super-Awesome Fun Things To Do During Summer

Today was an exceptionally lazy day, and near the end of the day I drew up a short list of things to do before summer break was over. From building outdoor forts to holding Vriksasana (Tree pose) for half an hour to eating an entire watermelon (by myself at one go) to writing a spoof of Twilight (yeah, still hatin' on that book despite my sudden re-intrest in it) and more, this is going to be one interesting end-of-summer-vacation. And the best part is that everything is going to be part of a photo journal (also on the list) so you get to see my face when I eat the entire watermelon :D Today was

#1)  Climb a mountain in under 5 minutes

. . . and . . .

#16) Run around sprinklers

(yeah, I picked the easy ones since we didn't have much time)

 Me before climbing the mountain. Ok, it's not much of a mountain, more like a hill on steroids, but still! I'm trying to point to the mountain, but it looks like I'm pointing to the fence. Anyways. . .

Ian prior to climbing the mountain. . . Yep, I made him do a 'crazy mountain pose', which, as you can see isn't really that crazy.

This is me at the top of the mountain. I made it up in 3 minutes and 40-ish seconds whilst Ian sprinted up there in 2 minutes and a half. He was up there chilling and shouted down to me that I had less than 10 seconds yet, which caused me to sprint up there as fast as I could, freaking out all the way. He has an identical picture to mine--after getting to the top of the mountain, we each rushed down a little to take pictures of each other.

While we were on the way back, we ran into a broken sprinkler, and got the opportunity to cross over item number 16 on our list, playing in the sprinklers!

Huang Long

   Huang Long 黄龙 , the literal translation being "Yellow Dragon", is a UNESCO World Heritage site located in the Sichuan province. After finishing 4 weeks in a language program in Guangzhou, it was our first destination for our 6 day mini-tour of Sichuan. 

Trees and Mist at Huang Long

   The park, when we saw it, was not at its best. The clouds we had seen from the airport, clinging to the sides of mountains, came alive after the three-hour drive and when we arrived at Huang Long, the sky was a stark grey and it was drizzling.
   After entering the park (well, it was still drizzling), the mist (and the drizzle) seemed to turn the forest on either side of us into a spirit world we had accidentally trespassed into. It was mysterious, eerie, and (as much as I hate to mention this) looked straight like a scene from Stephanie Meyer's Twilight. That is to say, its surreal beauty, had we not been directly experiencing it, would have looked slightly cliche and more than slightly photoshopped.
   Huang Long, and as we would later learn, Jio Zhai Go, was a place of ethereal beauty that sometimes pushed the boundaries of beliefe.

My Aunt and I, with Lakes in the background

Tiered ponds of Huang Long

    Though the mist lent a sense of surreality to the park, the light rain (which later escalated) made hiking a little irksome, especially when you take the fact that we only had 2 small umbrellas amongst the four of us into consideration. The tiered ponds, formed by calcite deposits didn't sparkle with 5 different colors, but they were still a gorgeous and interesting sight.

My Mom and I with Lakes in the background

   The only thing about the park that really bothered me, though, was the vast amount of people (all of the asian, by the way) that packed the path and jostled for place at good photo sites.    This place, for instance, that my mom are at in the picture was simply awful. The view behind us of the crystal-clear ponds was beautiful (though it didn't show up that well in the pictures). We had to push our way through the swarming mass of people, and then try to keep the eager photo-takers away until we had finished shooting our own pictures.

Paths are jam-packed!

   This picture is one that we snapped while there was a bit of breathing room from the crowds (relatively speaking), and as you can see, it's one gigantic parade of umbrellas*. Overall, though the mist, soaking rain and crowds were a bit of a deterrent, I would definitely say that Huang Long is a must-see if you're in the area. Every part of the path we took was gorgeous, even the woody area that preceded the lakes. 

*probably even on the sunny days, as Asian women (and some men) are in the habit of carrying parasols in order to keep their skin white.

A (not that) Glorious Return

We landed in San Francisco on 10:48 Wednesday. Strangely enough, being back in America was a welcome relief for the much overused 'sore eyes'. But it was certainly a little unsettling being surrounded by a bunch of gui lao and having people shoot me funny looks when I said something about them in English--a bad habit I picked up from China. Since everyone there usually can only speak Chinese, I've gotten into a bad habit of making sarcastic remarks in English about things that justly deserve sarcastic remarks. The vast majority of it is non-insulting--it just looks like I'm talking to myself all the time!

Anyways, to cut a long message short (well, really to cut to the chase so I can start writing about the trip itself), I'll skip the intro, apology, foreword, etc. and cut to the chase so I can start writing about the trip itself. Due to numerous obstacles in China, such as time constraints, lack of internet, and Blogger being kind of blocked, many my experiences have yet to be shared. So, like my postcards (yep, I'm the kind of person who buys out of country postcards and then mails them when they get back--or just looks at them pensively--or forgets them entirely), I will now begin talking about the trip. 

We Will Overcome: A Series of Rather Un/Fortunate Events

Recently, Regan and I have been experiencing the darker side of Guangzhou China. The humidity and heat aren't only uncomfortable, but according to mom and the Chinese doctors, they have also caused these awful rashes on our legs. The rash looks a bit like miniature mosquito bites, and I'm not really sure about exactly what it is. Anyways, mom suggested visiting the university clinic in order to get some advice about the spots, and so we did. Unfortunately, the clinic was closed until two o'clock which was exactly when our class would start. So we thought to come back tomorrow, but with mom in order to help translate.

un/Fortunate event No.1: Our Teacher Didn't Show Up....so after 15 minutes of waiting (and waiting and waiting) for her, we finally decided to skeddadle on out of there. Of course, then I got the bright idea, hey, why wait until tomorrow to see the doctor? So we decided to go to the clinic right then and there (and that was the start of this whole darn adventure)

un/Fortunate event No. 2: Everyone There Spoke Chinese...actually, that was pretty much one sidedly unfortunate. I couldn't figure out what they were trying to tell me, though I knew enough to kind of patch together what we were supposed to do (after long stretches of embarrassed silence and some pretty awful chinese on my part). We ended up on the second floor, trying to figure out what to do (thankfully the signs pointing to 'Traditional Chinese Medicine' and 'Western Medicine' were in english!) First we tried the western medicine clinic, but boy, that woman was a piece of work. She kept insisting that the spots were bug bites (they weren't), and even after we had called up mom to talk to the doctor and explain, she kept insisting it was a bug. 

 The traditional Chinese medicine guy was a lot nicer. Though he still couldn't speak english, and I thought I heard him remark to my mom that my Chinese was pretty sucky, we still left with a prescription and some vague (b/c I couldn't quite understand him) instructions on how to obtain our medicine. 

The next part in that little episode was a whole lot of walking up and down the stairs as we bumbled around, trying to find out where exactly we were supposed to go, and how exactly to obtain the medicine. Once we got it, though, we quickly exited the clinic and were on our way to the bus stop, to find our way home.

Cool moral lesson that would redeem this whole trial by fire? None really. It was pretty darn embarrassing going around and asking everyone if they spoke English, while simultaneously handing them a random cellphone. One thing I certainly learned from this encounter, though, was that I am definitely not returning to China until I'm fluent. (Dad, now I understand the lesson about self reliance and optionality. :D)

...Which possibly means that I should work to become fluent as quickly as possible, since I have no idea if I'll end up in Korea or China or just chillax back in the good ol USA next summer. 

Un/fortunate event No. 3: The Bus Was Leaving...while we were still on the other side of the street. We were just walking over to the bus stop, when I suddenly saw the 864 bus preparing to leave. The fact that it was on the other side of the road meant that I spent a few agonizing seconds debating over whether or not to jay walk, and finally ended up doing so anyways. Fortunate side of the story? Not much (besides the fact that I didn't get run over). But now I know that if you Jaywalk, you will NOT get struck down by lighting from above. Being a major rule follower, not obey the 'don't walk' sign was a major breakthrough for me. I feel like such a rebel, man. 

Un/fortunate event No. 4: The Bus Started Driving Away....despite our rebelious jaywalking efforts to catch it, which meant Regan and I spent a good few minutes running after it waving our arms and screaming. The fortunate event....it stopped for us! And further more, I am now less afraid of public humiliation. Slightly less afraid. Who am I kidding, the whole day (which seemed bent on humiliating me) didn't make me impervious to embarrassment a bit. 

But still, fortunate or unfortunate, the good thing is that I will have lots of interesting memories to look back on from this trip.

!!!Bonus!!! The Kind of Humorous Event That I Hope Doesn't Get Me Into Trouble:

Now honestly, I'm not a slacker (as many of my classmates may attest to. Really), and in fact on my last writing quiz of the course, I made a 100%. The only problem with this one was that I thought the quiz would be on Monday, while in fact it was during today. And I didn't study for it yet. 

...Yeah....

So after a valiant attempt at the Chinese characters, (I know for certain I got one right!) I (disclaimer: The heat and stress made me do it) settled for drawing a bannacar instead. Yeah, that's right, a bannacar! Like a car made from a banana? Luckily, my teacher was very understanding when I explained my predicament to him (in fact, he started cracking up as well), though he did advise me not to draw bananacars during the final exam.

...Sigh. The Final exam. On the entire book. Which I received a week ago. 

Life is going to get real interesting real soon.

Peace out, bluh! This is Quiet Girl, being a very Quiet Rebel! Rebel even more! Jaywalk whooohooo!!! 

Ok the day has kind of gone to my head.

-Shhhh....I think I need to lie down....