J+24 Tense situation ...

I suppose you have all heard about the current tension between Japan and China?
If not, here are the headlines I have access to:

"Japan’s announcement that it has purchased the Diaoyu islands has predictably created a firestorm in China. Beijing has also insisted that the dispute over the islands could impair bilateral economic relations. Furthermore, after Japan formally announced the “nationalization” of the islands, China dispatched two civilian patrol ships- reportedly the Haijian 46 and Haijian 49 vessels from the China Marine Surveillance- to safeguard its sovereignty over the islands. Japan’s Coast Guard responded by deploying its own vessels to the Islands, according to Japanese news outlets.
In the meantime, Chinese public emotions have been running high since Japan’s reckless islands deal and, flames of fury are not merely confined to the mainland, but extending to Hong Kong and across the Taiwan Straits."

(SINA.com)

"Japan, hands off China's territory
In recent days, the Japanese government carried on its “nationalization” of Diaoyu islands in disregard of China’s strong warnings and protests. Japan’s unilateral move has aroused indignation of both Chinese government and people, as the brazen “islands deal” constitutes a flagrant challenge to the bottom line of Chinese territorial sovereignty and national dignity."

Well, I can assure you it feels really strange to find oneself in the middle of the protest!
In Nanjing, people are particularly marked by the Japanese massacre, (1937) and they are marching in the streets, shouting "the island belongs to China"
Everywhere in the streets, there are posters (as you can see on the pictures) with "钩鱼岛是中国的!!" written on them...
A lot of people are throwing away to the trash every Japanese product they own (calculators, pens, bags...)
I managed to follow the discussion at lunch time, it seems to them war could be one of the only exits. Of course they wish a peaceful agreement could be made, but "Japan must stop provoking China, otherwise, they will get more than what they are aiming for"
My Chinese parents have asked me not to go out on my own any more, because the situation can rapidly get out of control when it comes to protecting national dignity.

Today, we visited the new flat, it's wonderful, big and cosy and has a very comfortable couch.
I also tried to make "Crepe", after a special request from my sister... She had so much homework, I thought it would cheer her up.
>My gosh... Had to buy: a flat pan, and I ended up whipping the dough with ... Chopsticks! Took me about an hour!
But it was worth it! They had never eaten Nutella before (loved it of course!), and thought I had made it myself!
Tomorrow, I am going out with my classmates. We will have lunch together, and probably go to the cinema! This is rare for them, they have made huge efforts to get their homework out of the way, I really appreciate it!
I received calls today, (numbers I had saved, Chinese names, but I was incapable of putting a face on to them, it's embarrassing, so I just pretended I knew who it was); they asked questions like "what's your favorite color? Animal? Cartoon? Food? Singer? How do you write your whole name? Do you were bracelets?"
And they all said: "Ok I have a surprise for you on Monday, I'm very exited justine!!!"

J+22 Still alive! But VERY tired !

It is becoming hard to post every evening, the school rhythm is intense!!!
I feel like sleeping ALL THE TIME!
I also feel pathetic, I can't say "I'm exhausted" in the morning, in front of my sister who has been working all night! It sounds ridiculous!

Today, I was able to provide myself an authorization to take some pictures during the PE lesson! The infrastructures are amazing!
The art teacher took me to the studio and showed me some of the students work, it was mind blowing, she also encouraged me to join the course.
I'm getting to know my classmates a little bit more day by day, they are adorable. I'm very pleasantly surprised by their maturity. A lot of them are only 15years old, yet, when a boy fell (he sat, thinking his chair was there) and made a huge whole in his trousers, none of them even smiled, they calmly helped him, because after all, they told me: "it could have happened to any of us". In a western high school, this type of incident can have a considerable impact on your social life!
They also brought me a lot of books, including some primary school manuals which turn out to be extremely handy!
This weekend, I will go out with them, on Sunday; they want to show me places they like in Nanjing.

We will get the autumn uniform tomorrow... It looks even worse than the summer one from what I heard!
I will be moving house in a couple of days if everything goes according to plan.

I had a very special meal yesterday: sitting in the restaurant, I notice two women smiling at me, and talking to each other, nodding continually.
They came and asked it they could take some pictures with me, of course, I got the usual "you look exactly like Diana!!"
This is when it got interesting: one of the two women is a well known move maker/producer; she asked if I ate here every night, and told me she knew where to find me!!!

J+18 Lazy Sunday

Today, I went for a long walk by myself in Nanjing (my sister worked from 9am until 3pm), and our father took us for a little boat trip on the lake (I will spell all the names of places right tomorrow, I an too tiered tonight).
After this very pleasant moment, we headed for my mothers sisters place, for a birthday party. She and her husband are professional hairdressers so the whole family got a free haircut (except from me... I really want my LONG hair back! I got a free shampoo)
We spent a wonderful evening in a beautiful, warm and homely restaurant.
It was about 10pm when my sister and I remembered it was "teachers day" tomorrow! Here, in china, they take it very seriously. The headmaster made a speech and said "I highly recommend you to buy a gift for your wise, respected and beloved teacher", we all know what that means. I wanted to buy something personal (everybody gets flowers); I thought about shortbread, but at that time, in this small city, I only found a nice box of "Danish biscuits" -they look good anyway!
My classmates have been begging me to make a French chocolate cake> I would love to! But they don't have any baking tray, oven...

J+19 Teachers day!

Today was teachers day, a big event in Chinese high schools!
I found it really touching and surprising to see how caring each student was about his gift to the "favorite teacher"
Some boys had spent their entire "Sunday free time" (which probably represents an hour) choosing their present. The boy sitting in front of me showed me a beautiful mirror and was extremely impatient to offer it to the English 老师!
The class "monitor", a student responsible of assisting teachers, had organized a decoration set up, the classroom felt very Christmassy! They had the red and green sparkling garlands;

I particularly enjoy Mondays: we have "PE lessons" (its basically Outdoor Kung Fu, in the sun) and Music. I like these subjects, because in sports and arts, I have the same skills as my classmates (If not better... ;) )
At 4pm I was informed we could leave the school earlier. I conclude this does NOT happen a lot...from the state of euphoria my classmates were in!
My sister and I decided to take a small break before going back to work and went window shopping, I tried on some gorgeous dresses, I also became aware I would never be able to buy any trousers in china, they all fit my waist, but are 30cm short!!! This seemed to amuse the sails people...
Later on in the evening, I went out for my little night walk (this has become my little routine, I quite enjoy it) and I noticed something I had passed in front of maybe 50 times: opposite the huge luxury stores of "Deji Plaza" (big fancy shopping center: Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Giorgio Armani, Dior...), my eyes fell upon the workers home. There was a group of men, singing outside, I heard them from behind a plastic panel, I walked to the entrance and all their smiling faces turned towards me at the same time, they all said "Hello", I gladly answered and smiled back. I would have liked to take a picture with them, but to be honest, I felt rather uncomfortable pulling out an IPhone, it was inappropriate.
I managed to take a more distant shot. It illustrates the gap between poor and rich people, typical in developing countries such as China.

J+17 Rainy Saturday in Nanjing...

Today, I woke up, with a delicious feeling of relief: No school.
It was about 9am when we had a delicious breakfast. I still feel very tiered, physically and could probably sleep for 3days in a row, but I'm a fighter, I can handle this ;)
My sister had to rush to her "morning lessons", I was supposed to go too, but instead I went for a long and very interesting walk, I made some new friends, got a free drink, and discovered a magic underground shopping center! And another one with a lot of imitations... Including Dior, Gucci, Louboutin shoes!
After lunch, I suggested we could go to my bank (there is only one place in Nanjing for this bank, unfortunately, pretty far from the center)
We took the underground, and ended up turning around big empty blocks, for 3 hours, walking huge distances, under torrential rain, we asked 10 different people for directions, none of them knew the bank, but they all pretended to know the address and sent us in wrong ways; it was impossible to stop a taxi. We finally got one, he took us to the indicated address... A shinning new empty tour... Strangely there wasn't any "official entrance", just a dark underground passage, and no sign of HSBC. We get inside and question some workers, who advice us to take the lift, and check out the other floors.
>I take a look at the panel in the elevator... 58 floors. GREAT
Pure luck: the "HSBC gichet" was on the second floor- but closed.
We ask the guardian for an explanation, he tells us it closes on week ends and holidays.
How fantastic, that really makes sense don't you agree? An international bank, has one distributor in a city like Nanjing, impossible to find, and closed.
Never mind, we really felt proud of ourselves after 4hours of pure struggle...
My sister got in trouble for this, she was supposed to be doing some homework...