A Good Day

Today started very early for a Saturday morning. We had a field trip for our mechanical systems class (HVAC...yay...) that left campus at 8:30am so I had to wake up at 7. Amazingly, I woke up on time.
First, we went to Antiochian Village. It sounds like a retirement home, but is actually the national headquarters for some Christian religion or other. We toured the museum and auditorium, and then Jerry, the professor, took us to his favorite room of the building - the boiler room. I thought it was a little boring, personally. Looking around, I think a few people agreed. After that, we took the bus to the new dining hall. It was big. It was orange. It looked like a humongous log cabin. Jerry said the architect cried when they decided to put the faux log-cabin siding on. He also told us the architect said that was the ugliest building he ever designed. Poor architect. Again, we went to the boiler room and looked around. O yes, and the whole time, our bus driver (Mr. Chuck) walked around with us.
So then we all went to lunch. It was really amusing, because so far, when we moved from building to building, we've been taking the bus to just cross the street. I predicted to Waz that we would just drive 20 feet before we had to get off again, and lo and behold, we drove about 20 feet. I think there was a Mary Kay cosmetics convention because when we walked into the parking lot, there were an abnormal amount of pink cadillacs, and inside the entryway, there were a ton of pink things. It scared me. A lot. When we all picked drinks for lunch, I saw blue colored juice, and being that the more toxic it looked the more appealing it was to me, I picked it. Then everyone made fun of me. Meh, blue juice is more fun than red juice. The nice thing about archie field trips is that you're so familiar with all your classmates, that you could sit with just about anyone and still have a good time. It was a good lunch. I stole cookies and we ended with a debate about who was better, Matt Damon or Leonardo DiCaprio. Since I personally think that Leo looks like a very ugly woman, I went with Matt.
Next we went to Jerry's very own home. We approached what I thought was the driveway going up to his house. A very narrow little road that Jerry's own SUV just squeezed through somehow managed to accomodate our schoolbus. I feel like we drove a mile on that road before we reached his house, which seemed to be about the same size as Mount Vernon. Apparently my professor is quite affluent. We were greeted by an adorable three-legged german shepard mix that decided to run a circle around me while on his leash, nearly making me fall over.
The inside of Jerry's house was the most American looking house ever. The kitchen and gathering room were warm colors, the other rooms looked either very stately or very country craft-like. His wife told us she was starting to decorate and one of my classmates said, "Starting??" Then she clarified by saying she was starting to decorate for Christmas. They plan on having a total of 27 Christmas trees. 27! Jerry took us all into the basement to show us his pride and joy - a 3 ton geothermal heating system. Then we went upstairs and looked around his house. The study had a tiny little spiral staircase which led to a tiny tiny little room at the top. When I got up there, I don't know if it was the staircase or the size of the room, but I felt a little faint so I went back down. Claustrophobia, I think. All in all, a gorgeous house that a state politician would love. We finished our visit with a sampling of Mrs. Jerry's Christmas cookies. Very yummy.
The bus ride home was very quiet because everyone fell asleep. Well, almost quiet. Chang snored way too loudly for me to be able to sleep well. Fortunately, my trusty new earmuffs made it a little quieter.

Halfie

I guess growing up in America has made me a little too white-washed. In the past week, I've been asked twice if I'm a halfie - by halfie I mean half asian, half white. I can't figure out why people think so, in fact, it's a little upsetting since I feel like, if anything, I seem a little more fobby after being in China all summer. My friends can't pinpoint what makes me look distinctly not-Chinese. It's not just here either. When I was in China, practically every talkative cab driver asked me if I was from Japan or Korea, or something along those lines.
I guess I shouldn't let it bother me. The guy who asked me today said, "It's a good thing." His reason for asking me was because my hair's really black. All of my cousins have really black hair, too, so I thought that was a little odd for a reason. Another friend said it's my eyes, but my mum tells me I have very nice, Chinese almond-shaped eyes. I guess I just have a wierd combination of features. Poo. Mom said that when she was in college in Texas, she was regularly mistakened for hispanic. In fact, if we go to Manhattan, very often some poor tourist will start speaking to her in fast Spanish and she won't even know what language they're speaking. Well, since people think Mom is hispanic, maybe I look half hispanic...?
Maybe I should just say, "Yes, yes I am," because, after all, with family history who knows?

Me and My Stupid Mouth

Today I think I win the prize of saying inappropriate things. Well, I only recall two instances, one of which I noticed myself in hindsight which I very much regret, and the other one I noticed when Ben pointed it out, and it was actually quite funny. Just for entertainment's sake, I'll tell you the funny one.
So, my roomie has been receiving a million packages in the mail. Constantly. I don't know what she orders, but they always arrive in teeny little bags. In any case, I got home today and opened the mailbox and took out a few pieces of paper that notified me that we had received a package. While talking to Ben on the phone, the doorman brings out a big box and I said, "O my, that's a large package." Fortunately, the doorman, being about daddy's age, didn't notice either and said, "Yes, but it's quite light." Ben, on the phone, burst out laughing and in a very suggestive tone said, "Yes. Yes it is. A. Very. Large. Package." Yah, apparently I'm dating a pervy one.
Speaking of my pervy boy, we were watching "Sex and the City" Season 5 the other day - the season where Sarah Jessica Parker was pregnant so there were only eight episodes. About half way through episode six, Ben offhandedly mentioned that her boobs looked bigger. I never told him she got pregnant that season, so he must have come to that conclusion on his own. Is it just my boyfriend? Or is it all men? And how come, when I look at that show again, I still don't notice any change? Maybe it's just because I'm a girl and I don't really care...
Well, enough of that. I think that last paragraph can be added to my list of wildly inappropriate things. Speaking of which, to my friend, I feel very badly about what I said. If you noticed it and it upset you, I apologize.

Facebook Group

I started a nifty little group on facebook a while back to keep track of friends who went to my Chinese School. I checked on it recently and there's three people from CUNY Brooklyn and Stuyvensant. My question is - did they actually go to my Chinese School (and if so, why on earth would anyone want to travel so far for a Saturday morning class?) or did they just randomly decide to join? (and if so, should I try to kick them out of the group...?)