Shanghai World Expo

Did you hear about the World Expo in Shanghai, China this summer?

Neither did I. Not until I met one individual who proceeded to inform me that the World Expo is like the Olympics of the commerce world, where countries meet up in the same place once every four years to kind of revel in their own awesomeness. '

If I know of one country very eager to do that, it's China. So it was very fitting that this year's World Expo took place in the most awesome of cities - Shanghai.

As court, we had VIP privileges to the expo which included no lines! We felt so bougie. I took a really cool video of us heading into the China pavilion but my camera was retarded and fast-forwarded everything so just watch it like you're on speed.

The next pavilion we checked out was the US pavilion. No offense, but isn't the building really ugly and corporate looking? So...American. Haha, but in their defense, one of the girls explained to me that it was because the US pavilion was the only one that was privately funded. As in, our government couldn't really provide money to go into this while other countries had that fund. Tough times.

My friend Mario made a cameo in the video for the US pavilion.

Next we headed off to the Coca Cola pavilion. (My sis, Jessica would have been in heaven here).

We were inundated with tons of cool freebies like these cool souvenir tin coke bottles.
And this seemingly normal bottle of Coke...
...which actually, if opened correctly, chemically transforms into pieces of ice-so it's like you're drinking iced coke-in a bottle! Yes, I know. Minds are being blown right now.

All in all, the Coke pavilion was a whole lotta fun. Though the US pavilion was kind of lame, you have to hand it to US commercial products to do good work in entertaining us.

We next headed off to the Information and Communication pavilion where a whole bunch of my friends showed up on the big screen.

There's Jonathan...

...Nebula (playing a mom!)

and Miss Jani as a lead!

We headed home that rainy evening getting a pretty good feel of what the World Expo is all about. Despite it being incredibly good weather (cause it wasn't stifling hot) and we did not have to wait in line, I don't know if I would make a trip to another world expo in the future. If I wanted to wait in long lines and walk to far places to watch stuff, I'd rather check out Disneyland shows.

Heh, like my meh face in this picture?

Shanghai

Have you ever gone somewhere and just realized you were...home? You feel an immediate sense of belonging, of fitting in, of comfort.

That's kind of like what Shanghai is for me. Having been brought up by my mom's mom, my Abu, I grew up listening to stories of Shanghai and soaking in the customs of the city while I'm at home, whether it's having a constant craving for eating my rice soaked in soup or being accustomed to making every conversation, whether you're talking about the weather or sharing stories about your kids, sound like a shouting match.

By day we did a lot of city sightseeing and checked out the Expo.

By night we partied like a rockstar. Okay, not really but we danced some and sang some and drank some and chatted some.

Out of the court, three of us are Shanghainese. We had oodles of fun practicing our Shanghainese, eating our Shanghainese food and taking our Shanghainese pictures. (Ok, so all asians pose like this)

The city is so pretty we just had to get pretty ourselves and get all Carrie Bradshaw and co.

Even though we actually really look like this most of the time...

Shanghai, I will be back to conquer you! I will!

Fate

It's funny how things work out sometime. 

With only one and a half months left in Hong Kong, I had been planning a last AWESOME trip to Korea to end my half year of travels.  This was going to be the creme de la crop.  All my closest friends know I have not-so-secret ambitions of becoming a korean pop-star and this trip was going to help me make it. (Or at least give me some eye candy for a couple of days).

But then Thailand happened. I became wary of traveling and I was/am really disappointed in myself for being so naive and gullible.  I became scared of parting with hard-earned dollars.  I became guilty for playing so much and not being productive enough.

So though my friends tried their darned hardest to convince me to go, using lines like, "we'll never hang out like this back in LA" and "money you can always earn back but memories are priceless" (and it worked, I swear I was swayed for a good long time!), in the end, I decided not to purchase my plane ticket.

I was still debating over this up until about an hour ago when I received a phone call from my mama.  She sounded tired.  We exchanged the usual pleasantries and then she casually dropped in the fact that she was going to have surgery a couple of weeks from now.  

Um..say what?

Ok, so the surgery is not that serious but surgery is surgery. (unless if it is, say, bunion surgery or eyelid surgery then maybe it's not that serious but even then, you'd have my utmost support.) So when I heard that she'll have to stick around Shanghai for at least another couple of weeks, I immediately told her I can fly to Shanghai and visit her for a couple of days.  Normally, my mom would decline saying she'll see me in just a month but this time, she immediately said yes.  So it is definitely the right thing to do.  AND I GET TO SEE MY MOMMY BEFORE JANUARY!

The irony in all this is definitely not lost on me.  For the Korea trip, even though my friends were using all these convincing and appealing points to tell me why I should go and even though I really really do want to go, something in my gut held me back.  I know everything happens for a reason and now, I think I see what that reason was for.  

Oh God, you are so wise.  I thank you for your endless guidance and aide in times of hardship and unhappiness.  You have only shown me once again that everything has a purpose and only time will reveal what that purpose is.  I know I am impatient in so many ways but once again,  you have taught me that immediate gratification will never fill the longing in my soul. I need so much more.  I need You.