~Malibuu!~

I've been soooo tired lately. Like, so, so tired. Since I got here, I've woken up at like 5-6am everyday except for like three days when I woke up at 8. It's been really full-on, my schedule. I've been lax on piano practice (practised 45 minutes day before yesterday when it should've been 2 hours. Couldn't help it, I literally closed my eyes as I practised so it was like practising how to play accurately with your eyes shut, which probably does me more harm than good). Went to the snow at Mountain High two days ago, was kind of boring because I did tubing instead of skiing and the kids and my mum's cousin were at another park doing snowboarding. Tubing was boring. Not-very-steep hill, definitely not thrilling. I got an all-day ticket but I finished in an hour and couldn't be bothered to do more because the lines started getting really long. It was odd because all I needed to wear were jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, it was that hot. They had to machine-make the 'snow' on the ground. But it was a really nice area.

Yesterday, I went to a nearby mall-thing in search of Walmart and Target, but I didn't exactly find them. I had fun anyway. Then in the afternoon we went to Malibu and Santa Monica. It was a bit disappointing because it was so foggy we could not see the ocean, except for a glimpse of some frothy white waves and that was it. The ocean is surrounded by huge hills/mountains so it was pretty because with all the fog it felt like we were driving on the clouds. But Santa Monica has a mall-thing called 'Santa Monica Place' and a street called 'Third Street Promenade' that I swear, is totally a western version of the Nanjing Rd pedestrian walk-thing in Shanghai. So that was really fun, I found a cheap dress for my upcoming piano exam. I was looking for a good one because obviously you have to look like you tried (with diploma exams it has to be a concert-standard performance so showing up in jeans isn't a good idea). But it has to be a modest-ish dress rather than party dress I guess , more sophisticated and elegant like concert style, so I got a kind of long one. It was cheap, I got it at Forever 21 (they're like, everywhere in California and they're awesome). It was $27.80 and $30-something-cents with tax, so it was a good deal even though it wasn't even on sale. I couldn't try it on because the lines were so long and my family was waiting outside (but I kind of was drawn to it when I saw it. Like a lucky pull, especially seeing as I don't usually buy things not on sale). But I tried it on at home and I'm happy with it. Hopefully it'll bring me luck! Like those boots did last year. At first I didn't want those boots because they were like $100, even though my mum wanted to get them, but the morning of my exam my mum rushed to the store and got them for me and they were lucky boots :) I went to Barnes and Noble, this cool Japanese stuffed animal store and more. It was a huge long street. We went to a restaurant called 'Buddha's Belly' for dinner. I had a Pad Thai. It wasn't that amazing, but it was ok I guess. The best one I've had is the one at Chilli Box in Bondi, my mum gets it for me after I finish with the kids at Bondi.

Today I'm going to Malibu and Santa Monica again with my mum's cousin seeing as the view wasn't very good last time, then we're going to Walmart, yay! My mum's cousin works as an accountant in Hollywood. That is so cool, isn't it? She says a small amount of the customers at the company she works at are celebrities and famous sport stars, the majority of which live in Malibu (only some of them live in Beverly Hills and Hollywood apparently). She says she only meets several famous people every year, and the majority of them she doesn't recognise.Like she was once calling another company on behalf of her boss' client, and she had to pretend she was that client, but she didn't know that client was famous, so it was awkward when she pretended to be them.It's hot-ish today, 24 degrees I think, even though it's winter. I love America. I want to move here now when I'm older. LA is the perfect city (I used to think New York but it has crappy weather). It's like Sydney but with politer people and lots of palm trees and cheaper stuff and BEAUTIFUL weather. I have yet to see a single proper cloud in the sky since I got here. The bus drivers are so nice here, they ALL greet you and stuff. The majority of bus drivers in Shanghai and Sydney would never do that.Also, all of the shop assistants greet you and are so polite. And all of them ask at checkout whether you had a nice experience in store. The only annoying thing is tax (although it's ok I guess because the prices are alright),compulsory tipping and the fact that so many people only speak Spanish. So the subways have Spanish announcements and some signs are only in Spanish. But it's that much of a sacrifice I guess if you lived here.Also, you get charged if people call/text you. Yup, that's right. The caller and recipient both get charged. Lame.

Tomorrow we're driving to San Diego to visit Seaworld (3 hour drive I think. Fun.). Then I'm going Disneyland for 3 days, then Universal studios, then Downtown LA again, then Beverly Hills and that area for a day. Then I'm going back to Shanghai. Disgusting weather in Shanghai at the moment :( never reaches anything above 7 degrees I think. What's worse is that it feels even colder than that. I'm dreading having to take showers in that weather (my uncle's shower is like a little trickle of water,remember? Which means you literally have to pull out the shower thing to wash. At least there's heat lamps, but it's still cold). I think I'll have to go to my relatives' houses everyday to shower. I'll alternate relatives like I did last time with my hair-washing (if my uncle's shower can't even handle...showers, I didn't even want to think about hair-washing). Guys, I'm getting you candy at Walmart. Tootsie Rolls, Twizzlers, Reese's, and all that crap. But it's yummy crap :)It's kind of annoying right now because my cousins are getting yelled at for not practising piano and not cleaning up their room and stuff. So I'm going to go and hide in the closet and play Tiny Tower on my iPod. Au revoir.