the adventures of caz in a foreign land!

ive had lots of random stuff on my mind these last few days. so this cud b a heck of a long blog i think...
hm well... its 8:50am on wednesday morning. mum just flew out the door on her way to work. but just before she left she remembered that she hudnt hung out the sheets that had just come out of the washing machine. i told her not to worry that id hang them out. she pretty much ignored me and opened the window to start hanging them.i repeated myself in a much firmer voice and she looked at me. n starts to explain HOW they need to be hung!.. n that there are some things on the line that mite have to come off to make room. i sat there in amazement. and said very slowly "mum...i...know....how...to...hang...sheets!!!" and it was like she clicked and thought 'oh yeh! she does!' i mean who does she think washed, hung out and ironed my sheets back home?! i had to laugh really. i cud feel her watching me from the door as i hung them out. i think she forgets that ive had more than 2 yrs out of home and that i can take care of myself quite well now.

actually the day b4 yesterday i was trying to bring up the dates of me going back to oz with mum. even tho its like 2 months away i like to be organised n i had a friend who needed to book some time off. it was so hard at first. id find a way to sneak it into our conversation and she'd shut me down by changing the subject. then as her n i were sitting down to eat our lunch she asked about uni and when i find out about if i get in or not. i told her that im pretty sure its between jan 18-21...so pretty much around my bday. mum seemed astonished. she couldnt believe i had to wait that long. she seemed to think that i wud find out any week now. so she asked 'where do u wanna b on ur bday then?" i cud see where this conversation was going. my bday is on the 20th on jan,but im booked to leaveon the 9th of jan...mum wanted me to stay longer, hopefully, for my bday it seemed. my heart sunk right into my stomach. i said apolageticlly that i needed to be in aus for my bday cos the uni offeres arrive just b4,on or just after my bday. she seemed sad. then to try to lighten the atmosphere i told her that i was hoping to spend a week in brisbane on my way back to perth. she thought that was a great idea...which totally made my day. she didnt seem to think that staying in a hostel is the best idea but i convincedher that its location (in the heart of the city) wud just make life so much easier for me. i told her that if things didnt work out for me in perth n i do consider moving east, at least this way i will have an idea wot it wud b like for me in 'the east' so i cud make a more educated decision. that made her happier i think, the thought of me considering moving to qld. i highly doubt it will happen but u never know, and hey, if it makes her relax then thats only a good thing. its so hard wen u know ur mum just doesnt want u to go. its only 8 weeks til i leave now...well a little less than that. i know that time is gonna go rediculously fast. it reminds me of wen i was counting down the weeks to wen i left perth for china, and that time zoooooooomed!!!!

i am enjoying my time with my family tho. i went shopping with mum yesterday. originally it was justfor some groceries..but like the women we are, we kind of deviated a little! *evil laugh* we looked at some clothes n shoes at the emporium, but they were all ugly, as usual. but i found some CUTE underwear, and im going back for more of that! haha. sooooo cheap. we went into chung lin and up to the clothes level there so i cud show a jumper to mum that i was trying to bargain for the other day. the shop lady recognised me and got all excited.(a sale!! a sale!!) i wanted 30 yuan, their starting price was 90 yuan. they dropped down to 40 but wudnt go any lower. i tried it on n mum said to get it, it was a diamond in the rough after all!! i offered 35yuan..they laughed and said "OK!" there were 2 shop ladies, but one spent the most time with me and clung to me a little. as i went to leave she asked if we cud be friends. i said of course. it was funny, i asked for her name in chinese....then she answered me in english and told me her name! haha. her name is Zhang Ming Hui. she gave me her number too and asked if i had some free time to come and play with her....which is wot the chinese say if they want to hang out. i was touched. she seemed lovely. i was happy to have made a friend in the psycho chung Lin clothing department!!

before that, mum n i were walking along the street near the Emporium. i told mum that i wanted to go to 'puppy corner'. i call it that cos there is a corner on this street where these guys sell puppies (n kittens too) for real cheap. i would never buy anything, they are all too young and will die for sure :-( but they are real cute n fun to look at. we finally made it there and ooohhh!! the puppies were so cute!! i was ooooo-ing and aaahhh-ing and saying "oo! i lurve u! ur so cute!" and of course..the guys who sell the dogs cudnt help themselves...they just HAD to impersonate me didnt they! haha. ah, i give em credit, they did pretty well. but one of the dogs...i cudnt believe it...they had partly shaved him! they'd shaved around parts of his head to make him look like a lion...then they shaved down the middle of its back and all its tail, cept the tip of it. oh it was so nuts...kinda mean really. but it looked so funny. must have been a little cold tho, poor thing. i bet they were charging an extra 50 yuan for that shave job too!

also along that street were some new "stalls". not that ud call it that. its just a blanket laid out on the ground with product on it. some ppl from out of town have been around these parts n u just wudnt believe the stuff they r selling! the one item that sticks in my mind, n i imagine it will forever, was the lion paw's. well, mum thinks they're bear paws, but im convinced its lion. they r all still furry n have the big claws still attached. its so hard to explain. ill have to ask permission for a photo i think. apparently they r for goodluck. i asked a guy how much...1,200 Yuan.thats so rediculous! thats $200 aus. mind u, he was prolly trying to rip me off as im a foreigner,but still, its very expensive for a stinky lions paw. there was one stall that a guy had the whole arm/leg, (woteva) as well! all the meat n fur had been stripped tho n it was just the bone. he was sitting there sawing the bone up, like as if he mite be able to sell it or something!? i wudnt b too suprised actually. i was telling shani last nite n she said that those ppl r from near tibet.which was wot i thought, going by their clothing. shani went on to tell me that her friend, who goes on missions trips with her dad (she is only 14) and translates for him, was in mongolia one time n they were welcomed into someones home..only to find a panda's heart, sitting in water in their living room to bring good luck. i was so shocked..poor pands :-( they also deep fry crickets and heavily spice them. if u eat them theyre sposed to make u brave! this is also a delicacy in thailand...*PUKE*

my dear chinese friend and tutor, Helen has left town :-( last monday we went out shopping together n hungout for bit. that was wen she told me that she was possibly losing her job at the 'at home abroad' shop, which is a place that sells western foods for all us deprived foreigners here in kai fai qu. together we went to see her uncle, which she said is a 'special official' and wud help her find a job. to be honest, i was a little scared at first. i thought it may hav been some kind of trap n she was delivering me to the authorities for doing some unknown crime...sounds crazy i know, but not impossible. to cut a long story short i got a call on thursday morning from mrs haynes, telling me that she had a job for Helen at the orphanage as a care giver. i was sooooooo excited. i jumped in the shower, got dressed and ran down to helens store/home to tell her! there was no answer tho, of the door or of the fone.the store was on the first floor so i did some snooping around (in china ppl open businesses in their homes...one room is their business, the rest is their home) i cud see thru the window at the front, which was her bedroom. i peeked inside n all her stuff was gone. my heart sank. i was so sad and so worried. i went n told mrs haynes that she was gone. she doesnt have a cell fone, so it was impossiblefor any of us to contact her. later that nite i got a call from Nat, an american friend of mine, who was also very close with Helen.she told me that she had a visit from helen n her uncle n aunty. she had cum to say goodbye as her family had decided that she had to go back home to her mother in hubei and get married (WOT A LOAD OF CRAP) so yeh. i was pretty upset. i cried for a long time. i cudnt believe that my friend was gone. and so forcibly so. there was no free will on helens part in that decision at all. it made me so mad. and the whole 'get married' thing...GEEEEEEEEEZ!! she's 22 n soo far off getting married. she later called me, on saturday nite. told me that she needed my help. she needed me to help her get a job. i told her that there was a position for her here in kai fai qu, all she needed to do is come back n we have a job and a home all organised for her. but turns out that her uncle has forbidden her to ever return to kai fai qu. n since he's such a 'special official' well, she cudnt really sneak back, he wud eventually find out.*sigh* i felt so hopeless. there is noway that i can help her with a job. well in kai fai qu, yes. but she was talking about beijing type area.thats just out of my hands. im too young and powerless to help her. even my parents cant help her.i told her that i didnt know but i wud ask around n that she was to call me back on friday. ..well its wednesday now i n still have nothing. wen she foned on sat my heart ached so bad. i want to help her but i just dont think that i can. my effort doesnt feel good enuff tho. like i feel i cud do more to help..BUT WOT!!?? i dont think ill have any good news for her on friday n im not looking fwd to hearing that disapointment on the other end of the fone. i can still hear her in my mind saying "carrie, pls, i need you to help me" uuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhh. words cant explain.
things r just so different here.