Hung out with basically the entire waitstaff of my parents complex last night. Bunch of kids moved here together from Baguio and they all work and live together. Parents mentioned to one of them I was learning Tagalog so they invited me to come hang out with them. Last night was a birthday celebration for one of the waitresses and her hot little brother (I was still the youngest, but they were all mid-twenties). They made a whole bunch of 'western' food, pasta salad, barbaque chicken, curry, and 'spaghetti'. Y'all put spam in that? Next time anyone wants spaghetti, let me know and I will put these italian skills to work, but don't eat spam. They bought a birthday cake from some chinese bakery. China doesn't really like sweet things and they are no good at making cakes, but it was pretty, we all made fun of china for a bit. Anyway it was lots of fun, good kids they made me speak in Tagalog the whole night. They took a lot of pictures so I will put some up when they are sent to me. These kids are all on Friendster they tell me, which I kind of am regretful to have an account with, I thought I deleted it once, but at least maybe it will be a good way to keep in contact with them. Its ironic that after going crazy from not having anyone to talk to in China, a few days before I leave I make a bunch of friends. Some of them will be back in the Philippines when I hope to be there next year, others might still be working at my parents complex when I go to China next. Well Shanghai is having a tropical downpour, and I actually love it when this happens so I might go for a little walk. See you all later.

Got a little bug called Giardia lamblia. Don't look it up its gross. So in my final week got a few objectives here in the bizarre city of Shanghai. Monday morning, my tomorrow, your day after tomorrow, going to an Expat Coffee with my mother. I guess its where a group of not-Chinese women sit around and discuss being not-chinese and drink coffee. I am told the perimeter of the room will be full of booths where chinese try to sell us stuff. This is a weird place. Kind of like a bad dream. Then I am going to the fabric market. This is my own guilty pleasure in China. I am having a bunch of clothing made, jackets and pants etc...If I lived here, I would be a clothing designer/tailor. A large wharehouse is full of little stalls, each stall is full of every type of cloth you can imagine. If you are savy like me you find magazine clippings of the article you want, and find a similar fabric. Then you barter the price, throw in the magic phrase (Wah Zoo Zts-eye Shang hai) "I live in shanghai" show them your business card that backs you up, and not get charged like an American idiot. We are getting pretty good at it, each time we either make "friends' or enemies. Then they measure you, and tailor they garment, and you come back to pick it up in a week or so. So Monday I am picking up a couple of neat jackets and a sweater. Tuesday and Wednesday are kind of up in the air. My mom wants us to go get pedicures. I don't do shit like that. Got some b/w film left, really like one of the Buddhist temples in town but I probably got enough of that in Tibet, antique street might have a couple of good shots...Shanghai Museum is by far my favorite museum. Lots of cool stuff to see there but I've seen it a few times. Oh Wednesday I have been coerced into going to a talk about Saving Snow Leopards, it s my mom's new thing. She has never really cared about anything environmental before so it is required of me as an environmentalist to back her up. My mom also wants me to make good friends with her friend Carol the head of this foundation or something. Carol was the reason we went to Tibet, her birthday. I had a real bad cold and was wheezing the whole trip, so I didn't make a good impression. Carol has done a bit of social/environmental work all over SE Asia (yes including the Philippines) with artisanal fishers etc...my kind of stuff, so it would be in my best interests to go. Perhaps a letter of recommendation for the Fulbright? We will see. Thursday, back to the fabric market to pick up the last of my items. My friend Justin and his boyfriend are coming to Shanghai Wednesday so I will try to catch up with them somewhere. And Friday-Saturday I come home.

So there is the journal I attempted to write while in Tibet. I guess you read it from the bottom up. I appologize for the poor quality (of everything really) the idea worked out better in my head. You might notice spelling and grammar are not particularly important to me in journal writing. I started this with the intention to write Everything, as most journal writers do. Unfortunately you get to read only the uninteresting begining to my adventure, before flight delays and intestinal parasites used up my ambition. While I might still try to record things in my journal, I like taking pictures better... so my attempts at getting photos up haven't worked well either. There are a few on photobucket and very dark ones on facebook. I will let you know when things get better. Actually when everything gets better. The parasites and all. I just assumed they are parasites, my Lonely Planet guide to healthy travel in Asia has told me they probably are. Sorry you all probably think that is disgusting. All these years of Biology makes it kind of facinating to me. China is kind of kicking my ass. I am at the point now where I really kind of just want to go home. I suppose by some definitions this is my home. Oh I came to an interesting conclusion about why I dislike it so much here (other than the above). A friend of mine took a philosophy class at SCCC last year and discussed with me the concept that despite relative wealth, no one can truly escape the class they were born into. Now I was drunk at the time this was explained to me, and so was my friend, so I did not buy into it much. But here in Shanghai where despite communism's best intentions, there is a huge difference in classes, I feel very awkward about having a driver, and ayi (aunt=maid) etc...going to see the Broadway production of Lion King and having my dad tell me "this ticket would cost Jun (our driver) ten days salary". What I mean is that in the US, I would call myself probably upper middle class. My parents both came from fairly white trashy backgrounds, but made something of themselves and have provided a pretty damn good life for my sister and I. Then they move to China. Here, while there is a huge difference between rich and poor, rich here is mind-boggling, something I can't even imagine, and poor like nothing I have seen before either, we are considered pretty fucking high class, at least to my standards. And I am real confused. Part of me really wants to ask our driver where he hangs out at night, what he listens to and if I can hang out with him and his friends. Of course I don't speak Chinese, his English is okay for directions etc...But my family was shocked at me for expressing this to them. Jun takes the place in society that I feel like I occupy in America. But I guess things are different here on that level too. That is what is, on a rather selfish note, one of the hardest things for me about being in China for a month not having interactions with people I feel a connection with. A bunch of filipinas work in the bar and at the restaurant at my parents complex, my dad has told them that I am learning Tagalog. They live together and want me to come over and hang out with them supposedly. My Tagalog is not too good, but we have had some fun conversations anyway. Got a week left, we will see. Miss you all, see you soon.