回国了

Well, I am finally back in the good ole’ United States of America. I safely arrived with my parents this afternoon at O’Hare International Airport. The flight was more than comfortable and went by pretty quick. First let us recap on what happened the past week while in Shanghai visiting our good family friends Lillian and Li Shen.

We arrived in Shanghai on a beautiful sunny afternoon. The first shock was to see some blue skies (or the sky…period), as the smog in Beijing was so thick, we never saw the sun during my parents’ entire stay. Then we were greeted by a familiar face, my Auntie Lillian. They took us back to their home, which was amazing! It was so different for me to live in a huge place with air-conditioning, American style bathrooms, and an actual bed. The first night we got a delicious Chinese meal (because we were in China…) then relaxed and just chatted the rest of the night.
On our first full day, Thursday, I started out my morning by being introduced to what ‘REAL’ peaches taste like. I must say, “WOW!!!” as that peach truly tasted AMAZING! It so juicy, so tasty, and just so good in everyway you could imagine. Unfortunately, I will most likely never have a peach that good again, unless I come back to China. Then we went to a fancy mall (very fancy). It had all the major designers and what-not. The restaurant for lunch was inside the mall, a famous place that started out in Taiwan. We were presented with a plethora of food (including Shao Long Bao!..yum), which was easily taken care of by some eager eaters. Proceeding our delicious lunch was a glimpse into what Shanghai real estate is like. Actually turned out to be very cool, as the architectures of the houses were surprisingly modern and/or abstract. After looking around for a while we went down to the Bund (area in Shanghai previously inhabited by the Germans). The European influence was immediately clear, due to the architecture and overall styling of the strip. After some great pictures we were taken into one of the tallest hotels in Shanghai for dinner. We ate on the 54th floor with an overlooking view of the Bund Strip. The best part, we got to see the city change from day to night, and see all the lights come on. In other words, crazy awesome!
Friday we headed out to another fancy mall. Inside was delicious restaurant called ‘Jade Garden’. We had some more interesting dishes there such as: sweet rice stuffed lotus roots, Vietnamese beef wads (for lack of better words), and Tang Bao (OMG Kay, I actually think these are better than Shao Long Bao!!!). Then we toured around a nearby park so I could take some pictures. The majority of the day was spent checking out these nifty street markets. It was like a labyrinth of alleys that made up an enormous shopping area. We ended our afternoon with some refreshing cold dou jiang (bean milk, quite delicious).
On our last full day we drove out to SuZhou, beautiful area, to spend the day. First, lunch was at this REALLY good restaurant (again) where even more weird dishes were tried, some for the first time. These dishes include: duck tongue (pretty much just like duck), sticky rice stuffed date skins, squab/pigeon (AHHH KAY!!! FINALLY!!! Yeah…uhh…it’s still really good :D), flounder, and this amazing mango-based dessert soup (soo refreshing after a hot meal). Then we pretty much just toured the SuZhou area, taking in the great lake views and scenery in general. We wrapped up our stay in SuZhou with a dinner at a small restaurant where I had goose for the first time. Unfortunately, it had been sitting out for a while, so they told me it wasn’t as good as usual. Regardless, it was still tasty. Essentially, it tastes and looks like duck. Once back at Lillian and Li’s home we chatted the night away.
**This morning (over 24 hours ago…haha the nerd in me finds that cool) I ate one more delicious Chinese peach before Auntie Lillian and Uncle Li escorted us to the HongQiao Airport for our flight to Beijing. It was tough saying good-bye, especially because the week seemed like it just started. The hospitality they showed us after over 15 years of not seeing them was absolutely mind-blowing (if you guys read this, come to the States so we can return the favor!). Now we are all back in Illinois, where the toilets have seats, toilet paper is provided, soap is provided, and you can go outside without looking like you took a shower due to immediate sweating. I must admit, that many of the commodities are nice to have back (including internet and a phone!), but China will be missed.
Now that my official Mandarin studies are over and I am back where the normal language is English I would like to make a public call-out to a certain Jennifer Wu. It is now on YOU to make sure my Chinese speaking skills improve, or stay at their current level of badness at the very very least ;) …我爱你。
开始吧！

- Kevin


**Written Sunday night