China 2010 Scrapbook: Scenery

Question of the Day: Do you prefer a cell phone that has a touchscreen (like an iPhone) or one that has a keypad (like a Blackberry)? Why?

So basically I took over 400 photos while I was in China and had a pretty tough challenge before me in deciding which ones to host on my blog. I've decided to do 3 different posts, each one called China 2010 Scrapbook, but with a unique subtitle. The 3 scrapbook pages will be: Scenery, Food, and Fashion. There were loads of different foods that I ate and I'm sure you've probably never seen before, plus lots of clothing and accessories that I bought. Can't wait to share them all with you!

13-hour plane flight FROM Chicago (after the 2-hour connecting flight TO Chicago) TO Shanghai, China. I absolutely adore plane flights, mostly in part by the beautiful view from the sky. Honestly, you can literally see a map forming before your eyes as everything gets smaller and smaller and eventually turns into a whirlwind of green and brown. Love it.

Here, I was at Pudong, one of Shanghai's major skylines. It serves as the more contemporary side of the Huangpu river; on the other side (the side that I was standing on) is called Puxi and is made up of more historical and traditional buildings. I think it's so cool how that skyscraper to the right curves inward and looks like some sort of fish or knife.

Another photo of Pudong, but with the famous Oriental Pearl Tower, which is actually a tower that operates television. Isn't it beautiful? Also, you can see exactly how foggy and humid it gets in Shanghai...most days, the weather there is characterized by lots of cloudiness and fog.

This is Chen Hua Miao, aka Yu Garden, otherwise known as one of the busiest and most famous bazaars in Shanghai. I bought tons of little trinkets and oriental gifts there for myself and my friends. Rain or shine, there are always loads of people there. Plus, the cultural architecture is wonderful to view and admire. Nanjing Lu is one of the biggest shopping centers in Shanghai as well, and is particularly breathtaking at nighttime. As you can see, there are LOADS of people. Tons of malls and restaurants are located here showcasing the biggest name brands (Chinese as well as international), but the downside is that most everything is extremely expensive.

And here we are...pictures of The World Expo 2010!!! Over 200 countries from all over the world participated in the Expo, and each country had its own pavilion that they'd spent the past couple of years building in the Expo ground. The motto of the Expo was: Better City, better life.

This is China's Pavilion, one of the biggest and most noticeable ones there. Unfortunately, only VIPs were able to get in, but from what I saw on CCTV, the pavilion mainly has very oriental and professional performances with traditional dancing and singing. Everyday there were crowds of people waiting in line, sometimes for as long as 9 hours straight, to go into pavilion after pavilion. Underneath China's pavilion, you can see some other neat pavilions.
Welcome to the pavilion of the United Arab Emirates! I thought this was really beautiful...reminded me of a pot of gold, to be honest. There were loads of people in this pavilion, and it's not hard to see why. I realized that the first impression and architecture of the buildings have to be really impressive for them to be that popular.

I think Sri Lanka's pavilion was one of the coolest! It looked very oriental and centered very much around their culture. Unfortunately I didn't go in, but it was homongous and had lots of people in it, too!

Here is Argentina's national pavilion. If you look closer, you can actually see all the people standing in line, waiting to go in. Outside the pavilion, there was a really big television screen on the outer wall showcasing Argentina.

How could I have gone to the World Expo without seeing good ol' America's pavilion? Ours reminded me a lot of an airplane, hehe. The USA showed two large-screened movie clips and had a few performances led by American dancers and singers. They also had a small restaurant that served American food. We ate some burgers and fries, but it wasn't like the real thing. xD

Brazil's pavilion was pretty neat. Like Argentina, they had a giant screen showing (I think) Brazil in this year's World Cup (congratulations to Spain, by the way!)...but I may be wrong.
~TRA

China 2010 Scrapbook: Scenery

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#50: My Return From China

Question of the Day: What is the farthest you've ever travelled before?

MONTH-LONG HIATUS IS OVER!!!

You can imagine how alarmed I felt when I connected to the Internet in our cozy little place in Shanghai, China and found out that Blogspot, along with several other sites like Facebook and Youtube, was blocked off!! What's more, my beloved Pandora refused to work, saying it could no longer provide service to me since I was outside of the USA. :(

Thus, my daily blogging ritual (and other Internet rituals except for email) was put to a halt for an entire month.

But, as you can see, I back now! HURRAY! *fireworks* Did you miss me? =D Well, I must say that I missed you all, and am so happy to see that none of you gave up on my blog, despite my sudden disappearance.

To put it very simply, my vacation in China was...BUSY! I kept a journal of events for -almost- every day we were away and now the pages are all filled up. We stayed for 1 week less than we usually do, and therefore had to cram all of our to-do's, to-go's, and to-eat's all in just a matter of approximately 3.857 weeks, according to my handy-dandy Blackberry calculator.

I cannot possibly copy my entire leaflet of records into my blog, so here's a rough breakdown of what I did, week by week:

Week 1: Met up with family, attended the World Expo of 2010, clothes shopping!, and explored Shanghai's greatest attractions.

Week 2: Travelled to Beijing AND Shenyang, did tons of sightseeing, visited China universities, gobbled up exotic foods (duck heart dumplings, anyone?)

Week 3: Book shopping, travelled to Nanjing, learned mahjong

Week .857: Visited more universities, met with more family, came home

Whew! As you can see, my 1st and 2nd weeks away were definitely the busiest. It's been pretty tiring, especially since we had a few casualities (such as an almost stolen camera, a horrifying stye, sore wisdom teeth, and uncomfortable bowel problems, yuck!), but overall the trip was very educational and never boring---a perfect vacation right before I go to college!

Now that I am back and the climax of my summer 2010 is over, there are many things to be done in such little time! I have less than a month to get everything packed up for college. My boyfriend and I will be hosting a yard sale, which I am extremely excited about!

Pictures from China's vacation will be posted soon!

In addition, I created my first Gmail Account and have a new email address specifically for my fellow bloggers and followers like you to contact me! Questions, comments, suggestions for blog improvement, and other can be emailed to me at:

xtheredangelx@gmail.com

So, you tell me: Have you accomplished what you wanted so far during the summertime? Are you looking forward to going back to school/work, or have you thoroughly enjoyed the lazy days of doing nothing productive? (hehe)

This is my 50th blog post of the year! =D

~TRA

#50: My Return From China

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Scrabble + Eggs = Scrabbled Eggs!

Question of the Day: What's your favorite Youtube Video to watch?

Firstly, I'd like to say HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!! Thanks to all the wonderful daddies in this world for being so awesome. :) My sister and I cooked scrambled eggs and a variety of omelettes this morning for the family. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos of breakfast but I'd be more than happy to describe the entire meal. A-HEM:

My Breakfast: A single brown egg, scrambled to perfection with creamy Velveeta cheese tossed in. A blend of Garlic Salt, Garlic Powder, and Coarse Ground Pepper seasoned over the egg. 1 slice of honey ham, fresh from the deli. A side of whole wheat bread, toasted lightly, and served with real butter.

I think I just made myself hungry again. xD

Yesterday, me, my sister, and my boyfriend played Scrabble! Here were the results: Sister: 156, Boyfriend: 156, Me: 128. I guess you don't have to be good at EVERYTHING you love, eh? It was tons of fun and our completed board looked pretty damn epic if you ask me!

Can you find the word that was used twice in this one game?

I thought the angle of this photo was really neat. Ahh, I love photography. :)

These poor loners were the only letters that we couldn't find places for. I couldn't let them sit out on a photo shoot, so I'm featuring them as well. :3

Ohh, and Cheryl Clarke is hosting an amazing sunglasses giveaway right now. Click HERE if you're interested in entering!! Best of luck to all entrants.

Hope you all had a great day!! Once again, Happy Father's Day!

~TRA

Scrabble + Eggs = Scrabbled Eggs!

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Lovely Versatile Bloggers

Question of the Day: If you could use a seasoning (ex: Garlic Salt, Paprika, Chili Powder, etc.) to describe your personality or life, what would you pick and why?

Thank you, Amanda Sablan, for this award. You truly made my day!! :) Apparently I am supposed to think up of 7 more facts about myself...

1) I hate all and any sodas/soft drinks. I don't like that tingly feeling my tongue gets from the bubbliness. WATER ALL THE WAY!!!

2) My birthday is on Tuesday (June 22nd) and I will be turning 18. I find that very scary. O_O

3) Alongside J.K. Rowling, I absolutely love Jodi Picoult. Her novel My Sister's Keeper is one of my favorite books of all time. There's a dash of everything in it...romance, friendship, suspense...you name it. Definitely worth the time to read. Other notable books of Picoult's that I've read are: The Pact, The Tenth Circle, and a few others that I can't think of at this moment in time. xD

4) Scrabble is my favorite board game. :)

5) When I was younger, I used to make doll clothes and accessories for my American Girl Doll, Josefina because the ones you had to buy from the catalogs were sooooo expensive.

6) The lowest grade I've ever made on a quiz is a 0. That's because it was a pop quiz and there was only one question on it. T_T For some reason, my chemistry teacher was mad and he decided to take it out on us. Needless to say, we were bewildered.

7) My mailbox is forest green.

"So here's the deal. Pass this award on to 15 other fantastic bloggers whom you have recently discovered (hopefully one month counts). You must thank and link back to the blogger who gave you the award, and when you yourself are ready to pass the award along, contact the awardee to let them know of their super-awesome fabulousness!" -as quoted from AS

I'd like to pass this award onto these 9 amazing bloggers...

(you're supposed to pass it onto 15 but I already follow just 18 soooo yeah, hehe)

fashion train

frankie writes

oh to be a muse

paperback writer

the urban muse

where lies my tarp

nathan bransford

stephanie perkins

fashions fade style is eternal

Congrats for being award-winning bloggers! :) You all are wonderful.

~TRA

Lovely Versatile Bloggers

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Ten Things You Don't Know About Me

Question of the Day: Twilight or Harry Potter or neither? (Yes, I just had to bring this subject up, hehe)

Happy Wednesday--no, no, I mean Thursday, everybody! :D This always happens during the summertime. Now that I don't have school and other activities (sluggish Mondays, Piano Lesson Tuesdays, you get the idea) to distinguish my days between weekdays and weekends, they just all sort of blend together. Now, I have to look twice on the calendar to know what day it is. Do you guys have this problem too when you're on vacation?

Today feels like a pretty chillax day, so I'm going to keep this post equally laid-back and devote it to letting you guys get to know me better. Thanks to Amanda Sablan for tagging me:

Ten Things You Don't Know About Me:

1) I am a Gleek, a Twi-Hard, a Muggle-born witch boarding Platform 9 3/4, a High School Musical fan, a Pokemon fanatic (*cough* master *cough*).

2) This is going to be very hard to admit, but yes, I still play Neopets. I think I might've mentioned it before in my blog, but now I am saying it right out, loud and proud. I PLAY NEOPETS!!!

3) When I was about 5 years old, I broke my big bare toe on an exercise machine. I remember that it hurt like crap, but after the doctor took care of it I got a popsicle! :D

4) I have a really odd phobia against stickers and other wet or sticky paper. I also hate cigarette butts that stick to the sidewalk while it's raining (aka wet paper).

5) My favorite Disney movie is "Beauty and the Beast." Every time I watch the ending, I wanna go....D'Awwww!!! :)

6) When I was little, I wanted to be an archaeologist. Don't ask.

7) I can type well over 100 words per minute.

8) I really really like LOVE Smallville and anything that has to do with Superman. Oh oops, you already knew that. T_T Darn. Okay, well I also enjoy watching "The Big Bang Theory."

9) I write and draw comics in my spare time.

10) I own 6 goldfish, 1 betta fish and 2 red-ear slider turtles.

Now It's Your Turn! I Tag...

Cheryl Clarke

Frankie

Bailey

Ten Things You Don't Know About Me

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