Hi everyone!!! i am making this blog because for the last few months i have only been emailing my family, and a few friends have been asking what i have been doing, so i am just posting the emails i sent to my family, edited a little. they are all written very quickly, stream of consciousness, referring to my diary to remember events, and they are very selective, censored i might say, not that i have been doing anything much that Grandma wouldn't approve of.
only read this if you have a lot of free time... looking at my pictures might be more interesting.
the accompanying pictures i have been sorting out, it is a tedious process... it is very frustrating because pictures hardly begin to tell the story, and all the best memories were not photographed. check them out on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/66701420@N06/
AND facebook, if you have a facebook account http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=836840234&sk=photos, because flickr only allows me to upload 200 photos for free, and 200 is a reasonable number, but i couldn't bear to cut out that many pictures! i noticed in almost all my pictures in Asia i am wearing my quite unflattering big red plaid shirt, this is because i was covered in sweat, and it was the most comfortable shirt for that weather. and i have pictures with an amazing number of people, and seeing these pictures probably means nothing to you, but i really did meet a lot of great people, and traveled for a short time with them, and learned from them. (if you don't want your picture or first name on the internet for all to see just let me know)
there is so much i wish i could communicate! i had so many great experiences. but i have returned home and im finding it all really hard to talk about. how important is it for people to know what i have done? why are you reading this right now?
sorting pictures has taken me an entire afternoon, and i hope someone appreciates them because i definitely dont like looking at these pictures, i am worrying about how they are changing the way i remember events, and how using flickr, facebook, gmail, blogspot, etc. is changing the way my brain works, the structure even, according to ideas about neuroplasticity, and how it is ruining my attention span, and if i would be a happier person if i spent this time reading and practicing piano, and if it is useless to try to tell people what i have been experiencing in my travels, i would much rather meet in a cafe face to face and talk about it, actually have a conversation! and if you are not in Canada at least skype would be better, my skype name is corahenderson. At best i hope reading this may inspire you and inspire real conversation with me. please tell me what you think.
Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 3:03 PM
The last month has suddenly gotten much colder, maybe 10C at night, but that means 10C inside my bedroom, so I’ve been staying at school and a friend’s houses and bookstores and cafes and libraries in evenings, because it’s too cold to be in parks or in my room anymore. I drink even more tea than usual.
I have been doing many extra-curricular things. I got my bike tuned up, which was a big deal because I ride it everywhere. I have lunch with friends a lot. I’ve been seeing a lot of movies. I watched an old western movie...
My friend Cara had a board game night, and a clothing swap party another night. I’ve been studying with my friend Sam in the beautiful old state library on weekends, and we’ve found some great cafes. I’ve been swimming once or twice a week now that it is too cold to run outside.
May 17th was the best birthday I have ever had! I cleaned my room and went to yoga, and then saw a bunch of friends at university, and Katie bought me a piece of cake from the food co-op and we sat around and talked, and danced a bit because there was a DJ in the courtyard outside the cafeteria. Many friends texted and called and sent messages saying Happy Birthday. My friend Rosie bought me flowers and dinner at a restaurant on Brunswick Street where my friend Benita works, and we shared a bottle of wine and Rosie slept over.
The next day I went to a poetry reading for the Human Rights Arts and Film Festival with Benita, Liz, and Kia. The next day went to a big dinner party. Next day went to a movie called Here I Am for the Indigenous Film Festival with Ian. The next day Sam took me out for another birthday dinner, and we browsed second hand bookshops. Then Sunday had brunch at Katie’s place, and saw Australia short films with Eleanor, went to more bookshops, looked at street art, admired a cathedral, had dinner, and got groceries with my friend Dave. Monday saw the movie Incendies set in Palestine, and went to cafes and bookstores with Rosie, made dinner with friends, had tea with Natalia. Tuesday went to a rally in front of the parliament buildings calling for action on climate change, and against a proposal to build another coal power plant, and had dinner with Rosie and a bunch of friends at a really cozy pub. Wednesday I didn’t actually go out with friends. I went to my last lectures of the semester and went swimming. Next day had lunch with friends at the food co-op, went to a potluck and end of semester party. Friday, had lunch with Rosie, and then went to the National Art Gallery with Eleanor and Steph to see some Indigenous art that was really fascinating, that weekend went to the Feminist Futures Conference, which was very good, lots of discussions about culture, then went to a house party, and slept at Cara’s place for 2 nights, we went to see some bands Sunday night after the conference, they were playing to fundraise to send bicycles to Nigeria. This Monday I saw a movie with Rosie again, we saw How I Ended This Summer, a movie in Russian with subtitles, went to cafes and second hand bookstores, enjoyed walking across campus with tree lined walkways raining yellow leaves, and fragrant flowers blooming. Today I just swam and worked in the library and had dinner with friends. Hahaha that’s my whole month in a few paragraphs! Whew!
Now that lectures are done I am reading more, still reading a collection of “Russian Short Stories from Pushkin to Buida” edited by Robert Chandler, which I recommend. Also just bought Diary of a Bad Year by J M Coetzee because I liked studying another book he wrote last year, although he writes very unhappy books. Read an interesting chapter of “The Brain That Changes Itself”, a book I think Dad read. I’m reading the economics paper “The Tragedy of the Commons”. Lots of things to think about!
So I’ve been having a great time! It’s really hard to tell you what I’ve been doing in a whole month, but I want you to know I am doing well, and spending a lot of time with really interesting friends.
I’m gradually making plans for moving out and travelling and getting back to Canada and going back to the University of Alberta. It’s all very exciting.
Lots of Love
Cora
MAY 3
Hi there,
I have been trying to write home for weeks, it’s been a month and a half since my last email! Things are going very well, I am still enjoying myself very much here in Melbourne. I am busy with school, my classes are quite interesting. I have a few more weeks until my semester is done, on the 17th of June. I am doing some fun group projects and a lab report. I have got great marks on all the assignments that I have handed in so far.
I have been so busy since my last email, I’ll tell you some highlights. I think there have only been a couple of days where I didn’t see friends to do something! We’ve been having a lot of casual dinner parties, and weekend trips out of the city. We usually cook at someone’s house, but we have also gone out for Moroccan, Indian and Ethiopian food. One weekend we drove out of the city to explore this interesting landscape where there were lots of boulders, and went climbing. Another weekend we drove to a few small towns and went walking and had wood fired pizza in a quaint little restaurant. We ride our bikes around, browse second hand book stores, go to our favourite restraint called Lentil As Anything often. We saw an incredible one man band there, who played 5 instruments, at once.
We went to a festival camping in the bush over Easter, and went swimming in the river and I did lots of hula hooping and dancing. We have gone to some interesting foreign films at the cinema by my house, drank lots of tea, cooked lots of food. I’m still volunteering at the Food Not Bombs Street Kitchen once a week, where we cook a meal from donated food from grocery stores and serve it for free. It’s lots of fun. I went to another festival for one day, and danced to gypsy music. Went to a couple of housewarming parties.
The last 2 weeks my friend Emma has been living with me on the extra mattress, there is a pretty bad housing shortage here and she’s having trouble finding a room. I really like having a roommate though, so she might just stay with me for longer. She’s also studying at RMIT.
I’ve been doing yoga twice a week, and that has been really good, I feel like I am getting more flexible. I go jogging sometimes, and hula hoop with friends in the park.
The weather is still pleasant, I can still wear t shirts in the daytime, but need sweaters later. It’s raining a bit more, but just nice light warm rain.
I hope everyone reading this is having a beautiful Spring. I would love to hear from you!
Love
Cora
Sun, Jul 10, 2011 at 9:14 PM
Hello,
so the news lately: ive been spending quality time with friends, and
its been a lot of fun!!! last time i wrote was June 24th, so lets
see... so that night i went to my friend Benita's going away party,
she was also an exchange student, and she went back to Glasgow. next 2
days went to 2 more house parties, a really fun weekend, monday i had
lunch with Benita at Lentil as Anything and we talked for 4 hours,
then slept at Katie's house, Tuesday Sam and I drove to Halls Gap, in
the Grampians National Park, about 3 hours from the city, (Dad and I
camped there one day in December.) Sam and I stayed at the HI
Ecohostel, and cooked lentil soup and drank wine and read in front of
the fireplace. the next day we went walking to a Aboriginal rock art
site, called gulgurun manja, with ochre hand prints that are thousands
of years old. Sam studied archaeology, so told me about how they made
stone tools. Enjoyed the fireplace again, even though the weather is
quite pleasant, sweater weather. the next day we drove back, and
stopped at a few second hand stores in the small towns on the way,
went to cafes. then we went to a party at Katie's. On Canada Day Katie
made pancakes, and in the evening we went with Emma and Mark to the
swimming pool, and played volleyball and sat in the hot tub and steam
room. saturday night Sam made a really nice dinner and we watched
movies. went to more cafes with Sam and Ian. sunday night Rosie had a
bunch of us over for dinner, then we went to our friend Flick's
birthday and danced for hours in her living room. Monday i spent all
day on the internet planning my trip in Asia, and stayed at Rosies,
and we had 4 other people over for dinner. Rosie is an amazing chef.
tuesday had dinner with Cassie and Luke, and went to their place for
tea. then slept at Katie's, worked on my chineese visa form, went to
Eleanor's for dinner on wednesday, also had a big dinner party at
Katies thursday. did errands friday, packed, Had a really great
breakfast with James at a cafe, had lunch with Natalie, had cake for
her birthday, then went to a party with Katie, Emma and Natalie, and
danced for hours. saturday i went to a beautiful cafe with Katie, and
packed completely. then went with Ian and Sam to a party at our friend
Alex's, who is in a band and people were playing a lute, accordion and
recorder, which was really neat. so today! had Sam made us oatmeal
with Apricots frozen from his mother's tree, and we went to see an
exhibit of art and design from Vienna described as "over 250 stylish,
provocative, rebellious and unforgettably spectacular artworks by
Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka, Carl Moll, Koloman Moser,
Adolf Loos and other masters of Viennese Modernism."
it was really great! we had wine and carrot cake in the gallery cafe
with Brigie, then had wine and soup in a nice cafe on DeGraves st,
then went to a bookstore, then had dinner with Meagan, now im hanging
out with Ian!
tomorrow im having lunch with Natalie, and Rosie is making dinner for
a small group of our friends, and the day after tomorrow Chris is
driving me to the airport!!!! I feel like im ready to go, im not happy
to leave, but im looking forward to the future, and i can remember
this as a really great year! im sure that i will see some of these
friends again, and i will keep in touch with quite a few people.
Love
Cora
Fri, Jun 24, 2011 at 6:22 PM
Hello everyone!
Well i have been very busy, i'll look through my diary and tell you a bit of what i have been doing! mostly hanging out with friends a lot, every single day! and studying for exams of course! i finished a big project for my sustainability class, got a very good mark on it, and wrote 3 tests
the other big news is i moved out of my room on wednesday, which i loved because of the location and it was very practical, but i got sick of being cold and not having a nice clean kitchen and bathroom! i was spending half the nights at friends houses anyways. so the evening after my last test i moved my stuff to my friend Cara's, it took 5 people a car and two bikes! so i am staying on her couch some nights, and staying with my friends Rosie, Sam, and Katie and Vaughn other nights for the next 3 weeks! i feel like a traveller again!
I'm at Cara's house now, its very nice, 4 people live here, her housemate Shaun is playing guitar downstairs, and i'm using Ian's computer, and Chris is writing his thesis in geology, i found some interesting berries on the walk here that he helped me identify as native cherries Exocarpos cupressiformis.
every thursday i have we have a dinner party at Katie, Vaughn, Emma, Mark, Cameron and Silje's house. its one of my favorite places. between 20 and 40 people come on thursdays and we sit around and talk and tell stories and dance.
every weekend I study with my friend Sam, he is studying medicine, a year and a half away from being a doctor. it is very interesting studying with him. we usually go to the State Library which is a beautiful old building with wooden desks and a glass domed ceiling. we go to a different cafe every time after the library closes at 6pm, there are so many quaint little cafes in the city.
other things i have been doing since June 1st when i emailed last: breakfast and dinners at Lentil as Anything restaurant, lunches at Melbourne uni food Co-op, spending lots of time with Katie, Cara, browsed a lot of book stores with friends, went to 2 new art galleries, went swimming, got a little bit of a sore throat, but it cleared up quickly, i drank pots of honey lemon ginger tea with friends, the flu was going around. saw some live music, helped Cara host 2 dinner parties, celebrated Ana's birthday, i made a cake, Cara and Ian and Ana and i drove out of the city one weekend and went walking in a beautiful wilderness reserve, climbed rocks, watched planes taking off at the airport, saw kangaroos and i got stung by a bee, celebrated my friend Dave's birthday, studied with Gonzalo and Benita, went to Melbourne university's Festival of Ideas and heard 2 panels talking about genetics, with Dave and Gonzalo and Benita, very interesting. went to another dinner party at Rosie's she made an amazing quiche with parmesan, dijon mustard, roasted cauliflower.
today i went to a new art gallery with Brigie and am about to go to a party at Benita's. more parties on the weekend and camping with Sam next week, and then just enjoying myself until the 12th of July when i leave Melbourne.
Love
Cora
Wed, Jul 13, 2011 at 1:46 PM
Hey
I am in Singapore now, at a very nice hostel, exactly the same
standard as i would see in Australia or North America, it feels very
safe and the receptionist spent half an hour telling me about sights.
I took the bus here at 10am, after having an ok half a night in the
airport. very nice airport, i got almost enough sleep in the plane and
on the almost comfortable seats, between reading and eating crackers,
because it felt wrong to eat at the fast food restaurants there.
Burger King, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, so far it doesn't feel like im in a
different country, except for the heat and humidity.
Friends drove me to the airport yesterday, and the flight was ok, i
got motion sick for about 5 minutes, and thought i was going to throw
up, but it passed. that was the most excitement so far. the food on
the plane was good.
my hostel is called Betel Box, they have a website if you want to
look. i read lonely planet in the airport and made notes
and im going on a food tour run by the hostel, we are trying 30 local
dishes apparently, tomorrow night, i doubt that is physically
possible... it will be great to see though.
Love
Cora
Fri, Jul 15, 2011 at 10:48 AM
Hey
I had a great day the first day in Singapore, the botanic gardens were
beautiful, there was a bit of rainforest, sculptures, flowers, tall
trees, i fell asleep reading and then saw a monitor lizard, and the
most excitement i had was taking the wrong bus (well the right bus but
on a different road because of one way streets) and had to ride it for
an hour or so until it looped around again. saw lots of the city which
was really a good thing!
sweltering weather, im having 2 showers and hand washing my clothes twice a day
im planning to take a bus to KL tomorrow. the transnational bus at 12
or 130, and its about 4 hours to KL apparently.
I am meeting my friend Jia Von Then in KL, who lived on the same floor
as i did in Lister Centre at U of A a year ago. she is really great.
oh so yesterday i met person at the hostel and we went to chinatown on
the extremely modern and well signed metro.
Love
Cora
Sat, Jul 16, 2011 at 10:43 AM
hey heres a quick note, yesterday was great, the highlights were a
lovely 74 year old man sharing his umbrella for a short walk, and
talking about Singapore, the people are so friendly here! then a
Islamic man at a mosque spent about 2 hours telling me about his
religion, very very interesting! then i got soup with rice noodles and
the owner of the restaurant sat down with his meal beside me and gave
me a much needed chopstick lesson, and i succeeded in eating the whole
bowl of slippery flat noodles with chopsticks. walked around little
india. beautiful!
Love
Cora
Sun, Jul 17, 2011 at 10:42 PM
hey everyone,
i took a bus to a bus to a monorail to a train to a car today! and i
arrived at my friend Jia Von's family's appartment! they are very
welcoming and took me to have dinner at an Indian place and we watched
them making roti and pulling tea! It is so good to sea Jia Von!
the bus i took today was 5 hours and it was the mot comfortable bus i
have ever been on! there were 3 seats across so the seats were big and
reclined. had a fresh coconut for lunch.
Love
Cora
Sun, Jul 17, 2011 at 10:49 PM
Hey
had a great day in KL today, Jia Von and her parents took me around,
we had dim sum for breakfast, then went to Batu Caves, which were
spectacular but touristy, had fresh coconuts, went to Chinatown, went
to a nice tea house, walked around in the heat, had CHineese for
dinner, went to their family's house to visit, went to an incredible
mall that was Egyptian themed with a
theme park and skating rink too! ate durian and rambutan fruit. they
are really great hosts!
Love
Cora
Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at 12:30 AM
Hey everyone!!!
oh yesterday i also went to a beautiful new mosque, and had a tour and
had lunch there, and went to an outdoor night market with food stalls.
today was also very exciting! i just tried birds nest soup, and local
mangoes, and preserved mangoes,
we had buns for breakfast, Jia Von's Mother drove us to a huge aviary
with many beautiful birds, then to KLCC mall, which is incredible, all
designers, much fancier than any mall i have been to in north America.
it is under the twin towers. huge bookstore which i loved. we had
local food in a fancy restaurant for lunch, took the monorail and
train again to a more affordable mall, which was packed with clothes
by local designers. then a friend of a friend of Uncle Ralph's: Lucy,
Richard and their son Victor who is going to study post-grad in
Toronto picked us us and took us for tea at their mansion-esque home
and for dinner where we tried 3 dishes with great spice combinations
that i have never tasted before, one was sweet, sour and spicy, assam
laksa, naan, nasi lamak, deep fried bean curd, at a restaurant called
papa rich. black sesame ice cream. and went to a third mall. really
there are an amazing number of malls here..
then they are driving me to the airport!
Love
Cora
Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 5:07 PM
hello everyone
so my last day in KL with Jia Von was more relaxing, we went swim
mining the pool by her house when the sun went down, it was too hot
otherwise! we went to a mall with her mom and watched the new Harry
Potter movie, same as in any other country but with 2 languages of
subtitles, i loved the movie!!!! went to a big bookstore, we had some
more interesting food and they drove me to the airport at 10 pm and my
plane was at 3am, got to Shanghai at 9, got a phone card and called
some contacts, and then took the metro, which is very easy to
navigate, all in English and Mandarin, and went to the Shanghai
Library because i was tired and it was air conditioned, they have a
great English section, read about tea, then met 11 couch surfers for
dinner in a fancy vegetarian restaurant and made some friends, we took
the metro to a bar after, then took the metro to my new friend
Jillian's apartment, she has lived here for a year, she's
British-American. this morning we walked through some interesting
neighbourhoods, had red bean popsicles, had noodle soup, walked down
nanjing road, the bund and peoples park, the touristy areas, and now
she went to work teaching english, so i am going to find a tea house
my friend recommended, its fun to walk down
the streets, everything is in Chinese characters we walked through a wet market with
vegetables beautifully displayed and live animals.
and there are even more motorcycles and
bikes so crossing the road is sometimes scary, but people really do
obey the traffic lights. people are selling things Everywhere.
Love
Cora
Fri, Jul 22, 2011 at 3:23 PM
yesterday i found a beautiful tea studio recommended by a friend, and
had tea with Ada, a 'senior tea taster' and tea class
teacher, one of the most peaceful people i have ever met, smiling all
the time. we talked a lot about tea, and then went for dinner with her
housemate Shane, and American teaching English, at a fancy restaurant
and had hot pot, where we cooked vegetables in soup boiling in the
middle of our table. i slept on their couch last night, and today
tried to do tai chi with ada and a group of older people in the park,
and now am reading at the tea house. i think i'll get a massage later.
Love
Cora
Tue, Jul 26, 2011 at 1:36 PM
hey
I am still having a great time in Shanghai!!!!
what have i done since my last email? i went to a house party that
night with Gillian and Aaron, and saturday we went to the Shanghai
Library and i read about Confucius, and then we went to a language
exchange, a group of people meet to practice English/Mandarin, but
mostly just hang out in a park, then we dinner in a fancy restaurant,
very nice, but $5! explored Xintaindi, the really really really fancy
district, bizarre. then spent the weekend at Angela's apartment in a
suburb, and she cookd traditional food, and we went to a market, and
got another massage, monday morning i went to Shanghai museum which
was beautiful, calligraphy, jade, furniture, paintings, bronze, then i
wandered around downtown, its fascinating, i went to 4 grocery stores
to see the different foods, dried sea slugs to Kellogg's cornflakes.
then went to Ada's tea studio Again, with Naria and Yolanda and Lei,
and we had aged phu-er tea and talked for hours, and then got another
massage, and caught the last train, then got lost and took a taxi, and
got to Jessica and Amber's place, and talked until really late, and
now we are going to go to that art district and eat out again, food
and massages and taxis are so cheap here! its a novelty to be able to
live like this. but its sad to see the poor people trying to sell
crafts and things on the street.
Dad asked about the high speed train crash on the news, yes the
government lets people know about stuff like that, in fact there are
TVs Everywhere in the metro trains and stations so people can get
their news on the way to work, and it was all over those. i seems they
reported the same number of casualties that you heard about.
but the government does under report casualties often, and there was a
rebellion in some region that wants to be its own nation, kinda like
Taiwan, and everyone knows that the government doesn't want people to
know about it, but people talk about it, and say how dangerous it is
to travel there. i have asked about what people think of the
government censoring things, and it seems everyone knows that things
are censored and is unhappy about it. with the internet the government
can't keep people in the dark anymore, like they had been doing even
10 years ago.
everyone here
complains about how the vegetables are covered in pesticide, but they
taste good anyways! ive tried so many new foods!!!!! preserved tofu,
flat breads, fungus, preserved plums, this dish that is nuts baked
with as many chilies, that is the hottest food i have ever had, your
tongue cannot taste for like 20 minutes after a bite of cashew, but it
is quite popular, I'm learning the difference between sechuan,
Cantonese, shanghaineese, Chinese food is very different depending on
the region.
Love
Cora
Fri, Jul 29, 2011 at 12:33 AM
hi there!
on Tuesday Amber and i explored the art district, a little small for a
city of this size, i think the cultural revolution put China back a
lot, there is not much art around the city, but in this one
district there was a block of galleries in lane ways and up stairs and
around and we followed signs and saw about 10 little galleries and
went to a cafe and it was really interesting. took a taxi home in the
evening.
Wednesday i read at Jessicas place all day, and napped. then met up
with Jessica and Amber and 2 friends for dinner, walked around pudian
road, played cards, took a taxi and saw the bund and all the
skyscrapers across the river lit up with advertisements the size of
buildings flashing and changing colour. incredible.
today slept in and then got lost in a really funny way, I got off at
Nanjing road (E) station, and then helped a German backpacker find her
hostel, and then knew i was not in the neighbourhood i was familiar
with, But it was Shan'xi road... so then walked around in the sun in
the middle of the day and found a cool store, south Korean styles i
think, and got a a skirt, and then found another metro station and got
to Nanjing road (W) and found a cafe my friend recommended and had
lunch, and talked with another German woman visiting here, and then i
was finally on the road i wanted: Shaan'xi road, see one "a" makes a
big difference, but it was great fun to be lost for a while. so got to
Ada's tea studio again, and read a book about tea, and we had 4 kinds
of really beautiful teas, and then 5 of us went to a Northern Chinese
style restaurant for dinner, and then walked around this very old
neighbourhood with lanes going every which way and clotheslines and
motorbikes and tvs on everywhere. so i saw how people used to live
before the government build 30 storey apartments everywhere.
Love
Cora
Sat, Jul 30, 2011 at 8:49 PM
hi there,
friday i walked around the French Concession, where all the ex-pats
live, and went to the state library and read, then walked around some
more, bought some dragonfruit and a coconut, and wandered to a
different metro staion, so took 3 transfers to get home, then Jessica,
Amber, Andrew and i took a taxi to the bund, which is a walkway along
the river through downtown, with old European style buildings all lit
up with designer stores and hotels and bars on one side, and across
the river endless skyscrapers full of offices, lit up in the most
tacky way with flashing colours and one entire building looking like a
television with advertizements going all night. the pearl tower looked
like it was from a sci fi movie, and the whole place seemed like a
different reality. it was crowded with people taking pictures wearing
high heels and anything glittery/frilly/shiny or otherwise expensive
looking but really low quality and fake. this all sounds like i didnt
enjoy it, but it was very interesting to see this side of Shanghai. i
am really sick of the materialism, and the aspirations to get rich or
marry rich. but i can understand it comes from a people who have been
poor not long ago, and new oppurtunities are exciting, but it is not
making people happier, and a Chinese friend i talked to about it said
that this new phase China (or just the big cities) is going through is
both good and bad. it doesnt suit my taste anyways. everything is
fake, immitating the west. and old traditions are definitely being
lost. and today i had another look at the materialistic side of
Shanghaineese culture, Jessica and i went to Quipo Rd, which is an
incredibly maze like street of malls, selling incredibly cheap junk of
all kinds. but then we had a picnic in a park so the day was not that
bad :) oh and the other day when i was
at the Shanghai Library i read a bit of "Food and Western Disease:
Health and Nutrition from an Evolutionary Perspective" by Staffan
Lindeberg, and Dad, could you order that for me from Amazon, i wont
have time to finish it here and i really want to have it, you should
read it too.
Love
Cora
Mon, Aug 1, 2011 at 9:15 AM
hey
so today i walked around for 10 hours... this whole city is just so
mesmerizing, so many people, selling so many things, each morning i
plan not to walk until my feel hurt but every night they do! i had
steamed buns for lunch, bubble tea, gelato, sesame radish pastry
balls, a new kind of tofu, kiwi juice, marinated cabbage, so many
interesting foods! and with 10 hours of shopping i ended up with 6
English books from one store! i spent the whole
evening with Jessica walking around this district were the buildings
were maintained in the old style, so quite beautiful above the first
floor which was all retail space, such a different culture here in so
many ways. my friend Amber's parents still want her to get an arranged
marriage, when she has a job for a luxury lifestyle magazine, one
example of how my generation in China is changing so incredibly fast.
and yesterday i met up with Andy, Lisa and Andrew Andrew and we took a
crowded bus to Zhujiajiao, a quite touristy water town, (people still
selling everything everywhere) but a little less crowded than
Shanghai, and we explored, took a row boat through the canals, ate
some fermented tofu, saw some amazing water colour paintings, but i've
noticed with lots of art here, its sometimes extremely skillful but
completely lacking creativity, always the same pretty scenes, the same
iconic buildings, but nothing thought provoking, and im quite bored
with it! im not usually bored by art galleries! and there was a quite
cool music festival in Zhujiajiao yesterday, that we found by chance,
in a little courtyard (still, people selling things) African drumming,
jazzy band, it rained for 20 minutes, (its been sunny almost my whole
trip!) hmmm then we took the bus and metro home late yesterday
evening, and i talked with Amber until 3am.so im going to bed now!
Love
Cora
Thu, Aug 4, 2011 at 10:51 PM
hey,
its been hard to get on a computer lately, but i have had a few slower
days, walked around an old-now-touristy neighbourhood and went to an
incredibly efficient food court with Jessica, bought a beautiful tea
set and some more books, walked around a lot, had another massage with
Jessica and Andrew, drank more tea, rode on the back of an electric
bike in a trailer thing with Ada, that was memorable, but not that
dangerous actually, then we went swimming in an indoor swimming pool,
which was quite an ordeal, it was crowded and no one knew how to swim,
and full of speedo advertisements, there is nowhere without
advertisements! i tried to teach Ada how to swim a bit better but all
the lanes were so crowded! but I've been having fun. today is my last
day in Shanghai! Tonight I'm staying at Jillian's and then taking the
metro to the airport. then taking the greyhound towards Edmonton.
Love
Cora
Sat, Aug 6, 2011 at 2:34 PM
Hi from CANADA!!!! i am really tired, i didnt sleep on the plane, but
i listened to an audio book and read half another book :)
everything is so hard when im
tired, i think i walked from the atm to a hostel to the bus and train
station 3 times to get my bag in a locker and find a computer, i need
to call Oma and Opa to say im coming tomorrow still, because i hoped
this computer would have Skype but it doesn't... ahh everything is easier now that
everyone speaks English!!!
my flight was fine, got out of Shanghai before the forecasted typhoon,
it feels wonderful to be in Vancouver and not covered in sweat, the
weather here is great!!! my last day in Shanghai i just read in a cafe
and went to a Cuban movie in Spanish in an art gallery at the Spanish
embassy with English and Chinese subtitles, called Havana Blues, very
good, had breakfast from a street stall with Jillian for my last
breakfast.
Love
Cora
So i took the greyhound bus to Edmonton, 13 hours! and Uncle Ralph took me to the Folk Festival and we saw K.D.Lang from the top of the hill, while watching the sun set over the Edmonton skyline. so awesome!!!
in the next days went to Mannville to see family, then back to Edmonton and saw 10 plays at the fringe festival!!! i dont know which was my favorite, i saw Bare twice, once with Brooke, I loved Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Judith, Total Identity Theft, S/kin, Dracula, Opera for Heathens, and The Big Smoke. caught up with Maja, Brooke, and Marina! visited many family members :)
Im reading The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge, M.D. and it is the most fascinating book, especially the chapter on the Culturally Modified Brain, such a great way to think about how our brains work!!! i highly recommend it!
