Fight or Flight?

How many risk takers do you know? People may jump out of planes and bungee jump but when it comes to the heart, it's different...

-Me

I said this to my cousin a couple of weeks ago. Love to me is the biggest risk anyone can take. Giving yourself completely to someone without any inhibitions is something I have never been able to do. I keep a tight reign on my heart. It's difficult for me to let people in. Even in my 9 year relationship I held back. I kept waiting for the day when things would begin to fall apart. Instead of enjoying what I had, I worried about when it was going to end. 

I'm not sure what scares me more about being in a relationship: falling in love and being hurt or falling in love and living happily ever after. I love being single. There is no risk of heartbreak for either person. I never have to take anyone into consideration when making decisions (whether it's what to eat for dinner or something life changing as moving away to get my Masters). I love the independence and the drama free existence. Maybe one day I'll be ready to settle down but for now being single means being free. I want to spread my wings and fly...wherever the wind takes me.

The Lazy Gene

Well, I'm not sure if it's laziness or writer's block. Maybe a little bit of both. I haven't felt like writing and when trying I have a difficult time translating thoughts to paper.

As a child I spent hours reading and writing. I had endless stories pouring out of my tiny brain and wrote several simultaneously. I even had my own Sweet Valley High type series which I called Ocean View High. I know. Not very original. But the fact is that I wrote. Anything that came to mind was put on paper. As I grew older somehow it all started fading. I spent less time writing. I kept a journal but that was filled with half truths. I was always aware that it might be read. I'm not very good with opening up but I'm an expert at hiding my true feelings from everyone, including myself. I'm such a pro at it that along the way my imagination seemed to have gotten lost. Now it's my mission to retrieve it.

So this lazy blogger is going to try and be more honest, not only with myself but with you readers. It's pretty difficult for me, so try and bear with me.

First Friday Fill-In #119

1. Anonymous, I am a facebook stalker. ha ha ha.

2. China is a place I'd like to live.

3. Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, for love conquers all.

4. The birds and the bees are what I look forward to most about Spring.

5. Who needs therapy when you can take a bath with a good book.

6. Chocolate eggs and jelly beans MUST go into the Easter Basket!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to bar/club in Shanghai, tomorrow my plans include flying to Xian and Sunday, I want to see the Terracotta Warriors!

Lions, White Tigers and Bears. Oh my!

On Wednesday my cousin's friend and I visited the Shanghai Wild Animal Park. It was quite a trek. We took metro line 2 to the very end, then we had to take a taxi to the park. The price was Y102 and included a safari type tour.

Pretty talented seal.

There was one Asian elephant. He looked pretty lonely.

This trainer was walking the bear right along the path people were walking along. For Y20 you could have your picture taken with it.


You could just walk up to the lemurs. For Y5 you got a bag of fruits to feed them.

The park closed at 4:30pm and we decided to walk around the town for a bit. We made our way to a restaurant. Although no one spoke English and our Chinese was limited we were able to order some really delicious food.

Salt and pepper shrimp

Eggs stuffed with meat. There were also noddles, bamboo shoots and some sort of mushrooms.

When we got back to the apartment I decided to go get a massage around the corner. For Y180 I was able to get a 2 hour message. It was heaven!

Wujiang Lu Night Market

Last night my cousin, his friend and I hopped on the metro to Wujiang Lu night market. (Lu is road in Mandarin) We got on line 2 and got of at West Nanjing Lu. It's was a right next to it. There were a bunch of tiny restaurants and street vendors selling all sorts of skewers, juices and dumplings. We made our to the place with the longest line: Yang's Fried-Dumplings. They had 4 dumplings called shengjian for Y4.5, which is lest that $1. We decided to get one order and share, but as soon as we ate it we got back in line and each got our own orders. The casing is a bit crunchier and chewier than regualar dumplings and the inside is filled with juicy pork. It takes a while for it to cool down and it can be quite messy to eat. These are the best dumplings I've had since being in Shanghai. Much better than the xioaolongbao and WAY cheaper. I will be making my way back there before I leave.