Cindy's Blog

Yesterday almost all of my entire family(this includes my relatives like Gran, uncles, aunts, cousins, great aunts, etc) came to Granma's house for our annual BBQ.

A lot of guests came to our house for our annual BBQ. My second-cousins Sheong-Sheong,  Ie-Ie and their mom and dad came first at about 3:30pm. Pay-Shing, came afterwards and then 2 little girls, in 1st and 3rd grade, and their little brother and then a whole bunch of other relatives that I can't even keep track of. Amazingly enough, it was 10 times less than the crowd last year, mostly because of the typhoon that was coming. The first thing we did was try to get the barbeque fire going in the garden, which was hard because the wind was blowing pretty hard. It was drizzling too, but Gran had this blueish translucent roof that covered 3/4ths of the garden so our dog, Black Dragon, wouldn't get wet when it rained. When we finally managed to get the fire going in all the 3 barbeques we started roasting meat and sausages and shrimp. It smelled great! Louis, my other younger cousin's mom and Mom were setting the garden table with lettuce, tomatoes, fruit, snacks, chocolate, and drinks like orange juice, tea and Coke. About 10 minutes later, the meat was finally done and I dumped them onto a clean plate and put some more raw meat onto the barbeque.  Another 10 minutes later, those were done and again, I dumped them on the plate that I put the first batch of meat. The sausages were still not done. I got bored and hungry and wandered off to get some lettuce and meat. It was awesome! Then I went off to play with the humongous balloons that Louis brought to entertain the little kids.  We played with the balloons for a while, and then they all went upstairs to play. I watched TV for a while and then went to see what they were doing. Actually I have no idea what they were doing.  Afterwards, we all started fighting a little. A pillow fight is more exact. I went to my bed, a top one(We have a bunk bed and a single bed; the top bunk is mine, the bottom bunk is my brother, Jerry,'s bed, and the single bed is my cousin, Louis,'s bed) with the 2 little girls and we threw pillows at the boys. The boys threw them right back from Louis' bed. The pillow fight ended when the younger girl( I forgot her name) got scared and went to tell her mom. Then we did random stuff until bedtime, and found out that the little kids were sleeping over with us. The 2 little girls slept on Louis's bed, the little boy slept with his mom on the 4th floor, technically the attic, Louis slept on the floor on a mattress that we always leave on the floor and Dad slept with him because 2 grandmas took over Mom and Dad's room. Mom went to another relative's house to sleep, and Jerry and I slept in our regular beds. The next morning The little girls woke up at about 6:00am and woke me up at 2 hours later. Then we did random stuff until they left.

Others:

I joined some clubs and school and, mostly, they're awesome. I joined 2 clubs- the Anime Club and the LastArc Club, which is, the Art Club.

The Anime Club's meetings are on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Our first meeting was on last Thursday, during lunchtime. We watched an anime, a creepy one. Next Tuesday is our second meeting and we're going to order some manga(comic books).

The Art Club's meeting are on Fridays, and our first meeting was last Friday, after school. They started out by introducing the president, Kristen Wu or something, and other important people like the vice president and people like that. They said that they'd help improve our drawing and things like that and in the future, we'd most likely be drawing and maybe even draw manga! Then, we were each given a piece of blank white paper to draw on. Our topic was "flight". I drew a dolphin that was leaping out of the water. Elysia drew a UFO, Dana drew and angel, and Joy drew a very funny, comic-like picture of a hot air balloon and people falling out of it. Annie and Ai also joined the club, but I don't know what Annie drew and Ai couldn't come.

Day 2 and 3 were pretty much the same as Day 1. It rained and got really annoying.

Day 2

The only different part was that at the end of the day they passed T-shirts to wear the next day. Mine was waaaay too large. It was big enough to be a very ugly dress. It made me look like I wasn't wearing pants.

     The summer camp I went to 3 weeks ago was terrible, mostly.

     Mom drove Jerry and I to this building and led us to this long, thin room where tons of kids were squashed behind tables along the room. There were big backpacks and suitcases and purses and all those other vacation bags everywhere! I saw Arianna squished in one of the tables in the back. My other friend Rebbeca(she's a year younger than me so we never see each other much) and her other friend (who's name I've already forgotten) were squeezed in the very front row, the table right next to us when we walked in the door. Soon after we arrived, we got onto a bus and drove away. I sat next to Arianna and Jerry sat across from us. We shared our snacks and watched a boring movie(The Safety Video; a video on where the fire extinguishers are andwhere the emergency doors, etc) that kept repeating until the teachers put in a new one. After a while we stopped at this other city to pick up more kids for the camp, and to have a potty break.

     Finally, we arrived at camp. Ironically, 1 minute after we stepped off the bus, it started to rain. Most of the day was blurry after that. They gave us name tags that sid which table we'd eat at, which room we'd sleep in and what group we'd be in during activities. There were at least 10 tables, 9 groups(Sun 1, Sun 2, Sun 3, Moon 1, Moon 2, Moon 3, Star 1, Star 2, Star 3), and maybe 5, tiny girl cabins and 2 huge boy cabins. I'd be in the same room as Ari, same group as Rebecca's friend(Sun 3) and a table with strangers(Table 4). Ari was in Moon 1 group, and Table 3. Jerry was in Room ??? Table 7 or 10 and Group Star 1. I remember that they let us go to our cabins to dump our suitcases and that at about 4:00~5:00pm they made us call our parents to say that we're fine. That's where they gave us these pink rancoats that we're supposed to wear to show that we're part of the Sun group. Also that it kept raining for the rest of the day.

     Our rooms were pretty good. There were 4 beds next to each other with a tiny space in between each one. They were really soft with big pillows and nice thick blankets which was good since it was very cold at that time. It was a bit small, but it had an AC, a TV, a bathroom, a dresser, and a closet. There were also things in the cupboard the TV stood on, and on top of the dresser.. There were towels, soap, toothbrushes, tea packets, glass cups, water bottles, etc. Our room was the only room I actually liked in the camp.

Today, we went to Mcdonalds to eat lunch.

Eating lunch at Mcdonalds was totally unexpected because usually we're forbidden to eat there because my dad says it's unhealthy. Today, though, Dad was at a golf contest, so he wasn't here to scold us so Mom let us eat Mcdonalds. I ordered Sprite, french fries, a salad, and chicken nuggets, even though I usually don't eat meat. It was delicious!! Jerry ordered almost the same as me, except he got a hamburger instead of the salad and he wanted Coke instead of Sprite. Unfortunatly, eating lunch at Mcdonalds was the most exciting thing that's happened so far this week:( . I wish something intersesting would happen.

This summer's summer vacation is the most boring vacation in my entire memory of vacations.

So far, we haven't really done anything, gone anywhere or visited other people, unless, of course, you count the trips to the swimming pool at least 5 times a week. I can't wait until Thursday(any Thursday at all), July 26, July 31, the day we pick up the new books and schedules for the next year, and when school starts again. Why? Well, Thursdays because that's usually when the new Naruto episode comes out. July 26 because that's when I go to a summer camp for 3 days and 2 nights. July 31 because I think that's when the new Naruto movie comes out. And the day we go to pick up our new books because I'll finally get to see some of my friends again. And last but not least, the day school starts again because I miss my friends and I can't wait until the day I can play pranks on the boys again. It's sort of sad, because those 5 things are pretty much all I look forward to now. Pretty boring life, huh? Oh well, at least I have something to look forward to, even if they are kind of dull. I wonder what my friends are doing. I miss them. I can't wait until summer vacation is over. I wonder who my new teacher is going to be. I hope whoever it is, that person is nice, though I honestly doubt it.

Yesterday, Dad dragged me and Jerry(my little brother;Mom was lucky, she didn't go) to one of my millions of relatives' house for a 2-day-and-1-night "sleepover". Actually, it wasn't a sleepover, it was a sort-of slave camp with tons of annoying mosquitoes, slimy snails, cockroaches, rooms full of mosquitoes, bugs everywhere, rotten pears and lots of work to do.

Dad made us get a pair of clothes and whatever else we needed into the car sometime after 12:30pm and we spent a long long time driving to wherever we were going(which was the house of my aunt's mom). Unfortunatly, that place was a disgusting, bug-attracting place that grew and sold pears. The moment we got there, the old lady(Aunt's mom) gave Jerry and me a huge delicious pear that was already skinned for us. After we finished eating, Dad made us all help them pick the pears which took about 2 hours(I think). It took about 2 hours because there was an entire forest of trees that they'd planted. There were pear trees and orange trees if I remember correctly. We went to the pear trees and soon the grown-ups were working hard cutting the pears(they were wrapped in thick paper bags that were covered in snails, ants and stuff like that) and Jerry and I were putting the cut pears into the cartons. After we had collected 8 cartons we loaded it onto the wagon/truck we drove back to the house and unloaded it. Then we split up jobs: Jerry was supposed to take off the wires that were holding the bags shut; Aunt and Dad were supposed to take the pears out of the bag; I was supposed to cut off the stems and then put them into basket by size; and Great Aunt, or whatever I'm supposed to call her, was supposed to cook dinner. It all worked out perfectly and after we finished we had a delicious dinner of rice, meatballs sort of thing, and all this other stuff. Then Jerry and I watched TV until Dad told us to go wash and go to bed.

Day 2 of the graduation trip was sort of boring.

After we left the Hotel, we drove to really "enviromental and nature-crazy" place. We went to this sort of farm place full of nature and the "tour guides" that were there broke us all into little groups and showed us around. There was this type of leaf that stuck to your clothes, lily pads on the river next to the nature-crazy placeand all these flowers growing on the river and mosquito(I think) eggs all over on the walls of the river. They were pink! After the tour, we ate lunch at that place. It was yummy! There was pork, veggie soup(made of the leaves in the nature place), fish, shrimp, purple rice, and watermelon for dessert! I liked dessert best, but the soup and fish were pretty awesome too. Well actually, I think that's all I ate besides the disgusting, hard, purple rice, and the watermelon. After I finioshed eating, I went to the bus and got the Nintendo. Then, I wandered into the gift shop nearby where a lot of the students were shopping. The prices were totally a rip-off!!!! A little purse that I bought cost about 200NT or more!!! The 2 small, idiotic handkerchiefs that I bought were each about 99NT!!! Also the small handbag I also bought was almsot 500NT and it wasn't even that pretty or good like the other handbags in other stores! Grr... Anyway, after I finished buying stuff, I played a little bit of Nintendo, and after a while, we all got onto the bus and drove off. After a while, we got to this market sort of place where we could buy ice cream. Unfortunatly, I spent almost all of my money on the presents at the rip-off nature-crazy store. I only had like, 200NT left and I decided not to blow it on ice cream. I blew it all on the machines where you're supposed control this claw and try to grab a stuffed animal and if uyou get one, you get to keep it. I didn't get anything.*Sniff* Karina blew all her money on the machines too but she actually got this adorable, small, stuffed puppy. Then after that, we left and got on the bus. We went to this place that must be about the most boring place on the planet. It was this mini museum about all this weird stuff about Indians, I think. Then after we left, we rode the bus to the train station and spent a long, tiring trip back to Hsinchu. It wasn't much of a party anymore because everyone was tired, the snacks were almost gone, and everyone was disappointed that the trip was over. I wish it had lasted longer. When we got to the next train stop and the adults passed around little bundles of pink, red, or peach-colored flowers wrapped in some heart-covered plastic for our moms(the day before was Mother's Day). Then, the next train arrived(we had to switch trains a couple of times) we rode it and I fell asleep. Most of the other kids probably did too. Finally we arrived at the Hsinchu train station with Dad calling me every 2 minutes. I found him and we drove home.

The Hotel was really comfortable. It was fun, except that people kept running around the hallways, knocking on doors and stuff. That part was really irritating.

Continuing where I left off last time...When we got to the hotel (It was called the "Seven Star Hotel" or something) everyone crowded into the lobby and the people who brought laptops and more expensive electronics tried to find their stuff. Did I mention in the last blog that the small buses took our bags to the hotel first so that we wouldn't have to carry them when we were watching the fireflies? Anyway, the small buses took our bags to the hotel first and they made us put all the laptops and more valuable electronics in a separate van, because these had to be treated more gently or they'd probably break. We had a hard time finding those bags, but I found mine eventually. Then Sunny, Elysia, Karina and I went up to our room, #207 if I remember correctly. We found our room and we unpacked our stuff. There were huge beds, a long table/dressing table sort of thing attached to the wall, a smaller table between the 2 beds, a big closet, a huge bathroom, and even a small porch with a pretty view of a beach sort of place. Plus there was this teapot thingy, soap, bottles of water, chairs, toothbrushes, a lamp, an alarm clock, a telephone, and all this stuff. After I unpacked, I opened the laptop I brought and started playing. Elysia and Karina were going to take a shower first so I thought I'd have time to play a bit. For some reason, Sunny and I ended up taking a shower first. I have no idea why. After we finished, they took their shower and we all had a mini party, I opened my snacks and we all played with our electronics (well, I did) and they visited their friends n the other rooms and stuff like that. Areta came over to our room and all of us watched this preview of a movie called "Spoon Murders" or something. It was sort of creepy and funny at the same time. Then after a while, we decided to go to sleep, but some idiotic person kept ringing our bell and then running away. It got so annoying that Elysia wrote a note that said "Please Do NOT Bother Us. Or Else..." Unfortunately, some prankster got a pen and scribbled out the "NOT" so that it said "Please Do Bother Us. Or Else...” Eventually we fell asleep, but the noise outside didn't get any quieter.

The next day, I woke up first for no reason in particular and peeked out the window to admire the view. Then after a while, I got my laptop and climbed back into bed and started playing. After a while, Sunny (who was sleeping next to me), Elysia, and Karina eventually woke up and we all changed into our everyday clothes and went down to breakfast. Breakfast was delicious! We got to choose what you wanted to eat, like a buffet and you could even go back for more. There was porridge, eggs, toast, corn soup, fruit, and all these stuff that looked delicious! I got corn soup, eggs, and watermelon. Yum! After we finished, Sunny suggested that we go biking. We all agreed and we went to ask Ms Savanna for permission. Unfortunately, she said no. Apparently, no one was supposed to go biking without her or something so we couldn't go. So we decided to just hang around. Then Sunny said she was going to go refilled her snacks at a nearby family mart and I went with her. She bought a  bunch of stuff and I bought a popsicle and some Hi-Chew. Then we went back to the Hotel, up to our room, and packed our stuff. Then we brought it all down where everyone was crowding and some of us got to go biking for about 10 minutes. I didn't go biking because there was a limited amount of bikes and not everyone could go. So I stayed behind and played Brain Age on the Nintendo. Then, when they got back, we took a couple of pictures, got on the bus and set off.