12 days left...

I’m leaving on the 22^nd for Shanghai, China. So I guess I’ll do the first entry for a blog thing, because I’m the first to leave. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the list goes like this:

Joanna – 22^nd November (Shanghai, China) 25^th December (Moorpark, California)

Juliet and Georgia – 29^th November (New Mexico, USA and other states?)

Olivia – sometime after Christmas (Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand)

Sharna – sometime in January, not yet confirmed (Seoul, South Korea)

So we all need to write stuff in case we get bored at the airport or some other place with internet. And what better stuff to write about but our travels? AND we need something interesting for Claudine to read so that she can feel like she’s there with us!

Ok, so I’ve pretty much got what’s going to happen in my head. I need to get rid of several major things before I can leave, though.

-Piano practice 2 hours daily in the sweltering heat. Joy.

- French assignment (webquest). The assignment is to…make an assignment for an imaginary group of people. And yes, that is even lamer than it sounds. I’m meant to be doing mine on French castles. The beauty of it is that I don’t have to do the research, I provide the guidelines for someone else to do it. I’m sure asking people questions about French castles in a PowerPoint will take me far in life. I’d rather do an exam that actually tests my knowledge of French, or a ‘cultural’ task where I learn something from DOING research.

-English assignment that is technically not an assignment because it is not going towards anything. I wouldn’t be doing it, except I don’t want to leave for China and one week later have my mum call me telling me my English teacher informed her I haven’t handed in a ‘major task’. Don’t want to leave this school on a bad note. But I can’t believe I have to hand in an ‘assignment’ 10 days early. I suppose that’s what I get for leaving a week before school ends

And then…onto freedom. Two months of freedom before Year 11 when everything hopefully won’t be going downhill. But you never know. So I need to make the best out of these two months. I’ve been waiting for them all year. Whilst I was studying groynes for the pointless School Certificate for the most pointless subject, Geography, the thought of that kept me going. Oh God I sound like I’m quoting directly from the English exam. ‘The memory carries me along…’. How corny. Enough about the exams though. I’m going to buy those sweet n sour lollies for the plane in watermelon, purple grape and lychee flavours. Remember that raspberry liquorice type thing you bought in the city, Juliet? I want heaps of those types of long gummy candies. I have a craving. When it comes to candy I have a thing for grape, lychee, pineapple and apple. Even though I hate eating those actual fruits. And I need mint jellybeans from Happy Lab! I know what you’re thinking, you guys who dissed my mint jellybeans. But I loved them! I’m going back for more. I’ve got travel guides that I’ve only skimmed through so far due to exams, but I know the stuff I’m definitely doing.

Onto what I know for sure I will be doing:

-Shanghai Zoo. I love it and will go there at least two more times. I’m going to visit my favourites, the cockatoo that combs its crest and the monkey that (voluntarily, to all you animal lovers) performs acrobatics whilst holding a mandarin. Oh and the pelican that preens itself and likes making its feathers stick up in all directions.

-Buying stuff. I want a cheap clarinet from China. I don’t care if it’s a boring instrument, I am learning it next year. Hey guys, what do you want in China and America? Or I can bring back a lucky dip of souvenirs. And no, Claudine, I’m not getting you a ZhuZhu pet from Toys r Us in China when you can get one at Kmart here.

-The usual tourist attractions in California. Disneyland, Hollywood, etc. Maybe San Diego Zoo and Seaworld if I’m lucky.

-Shanghai museum is really boring. But it has awesome toilets. Even cleaner than say the ones you’d find in Westfield here. And that is a rare sight to behold in China. So I’m going there for the toilets. Free entry, wooo.

-One other thing. I will be practising piano 4 days a week in both China and America. My cousins have a piano in America, and my grandpa’s friends will let me use their piano if I arrive before they go out for mah-jong in the afternoon. Sad, I know. I can never escape from it. At least I have 2 new-ish pieces to practise that are a bit more exciting. ‘Toccata’ from ‘Trois Pieces’ by Poulenc and ‘Aufschwung’ from ‘Fantasiestucke’ by Schumann. The only pieces that I haven’t spent more than a year perfecting. Go check them out, and know that when I am playing those pieces, chances are my fingers are about to freeze off. Whether I’m in China or America.

You guys better write your own travel blog things. And yes, even you Claudine. We want to know if a satellite hits Sydney or something. ESPECIALLY you, Olivia, seeing as it was your idea. 

Joanna