Enough of this SHIFT!

MONDAY

Welp, it’s safe to say on my off days that I am the most unproductive person ever haha I slept in late (obviously), skyped and then figured I should do the public a favor and shower haha I was going to go get coffee (that’s productive right?) with Thomas, but he ended up coming over and hanging out with Heather and I before he had to go through the official check-out process at Shangri-La. Thennn Heather left me. That’s when Netflix started to work.. IM SORRY OKAY, I miss TV!!! Watched an episode.. or two.. then desperately had to clean my room. Of course Thomas came back over and him, Ann, and I went to get dinner.. at 4:00… #SeniorCitizenStatus We ended up getting BBQ, got some lamb, some other meat, salad, potato, some egg quiche/omlette thing #foodonfoodonfood #omnomnom Anyways, we finally bought Thomas dinner!! Every time we go out with him, he pays. For everyone. And let me tell you, we always eat a lot. So this time we grabbed the check quicker than a blink of an eye, he hates us now haha #jk After, we wandered over to Ruby’s for coffee.. YES MOM THIS IS ALL I DO! Hahah Wish I was kidding! But hey. You don’t understand how damn good real coffee tastes! We loitered in Ruby’s forever until he had to go pack, thennnn that basically ended the night haha OH, and I did the dishes. #YouDontCare #StillTellingYou

TTTTTTTT-TUESDAY

A shift. Enough said. Work was awful, someone I managed to be less than useless, just was not my day. I decided it was best if I just hung out in the back and read some SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) so I could get outta the way haha #notkidding Didn’t mind that much since I finally got to sit instead of standing in heels for 8 hours haha

After work, Ann, Taka, and I went to Thomas’ to hang out until he had to leave. Then David, one of our colleagues, came over to take Thomas to the airport… OBVI we went with even though Thomas didn’t want us too haha Thennnnn we get to the airport we park. Hahaha #notsorry Taka and David went with Thomas to check-in so Ann and I were just waiting on the side, that’s when these two guys came up to us to take pictures haha #CelebStatus #WhatWhat He still had about an hour and a half till his flight, so we let him go.. JK, we made him get coffee with all of us haha Finally he had to go, it was sad! Even though we’ve only known him for a few weeks, he’s a fun guy, and we’re going to miss our German friend!! By the time we got back from the airport, we were starving!! LAY OFF ME I’M STARVINNN!! We stuffed our faces at icafe. #STOPJUDGINGME

Was that all I did on Tuesday? YUP!

Bye Thomas!! We'll miss you!!

Taka, Thomas and David!!!

Wednesday

A shift. Was I ten minutes late today? Sure was. I mean it wasn’t completely intentionally, but hey, the briefing is in Chinese, and although I speak perfect Mandarin I can’t understand the briefings. Anywho, I guess one of the Western guests had to go to the hospital the night before, so they had me call up to his room to see if he needed anything blah blah blah. He said oatmeal and fruit sounded good so we called room service, and then Sherry (one of the duty managers.. Katie, I know you just laughed at Duty) and I went to deliver it to his room, but not until I wrote him a get well soon card! #ShangriLaCares Good thing I learned about caring in orientation!!! Haha I believe the rest of the day I spent checking out some guests, brushing up on some SOPs, and chatting up a storm with Gail (one of our long stay guests). She usually stops by the front desk and I talk to her for about a half hour haha #GoodUseOfTime Gail is awesome!! Her and her… husband/partner/guy of 25 years are here until the end of July, so we always talk to them, they’re from Boston and have a few kids, one my age. Side tracked. Whoops. Welp at 1:00pm Sherry tells me that the buses will be here at 1:00 to take the staff to a nearby college for an staff event they were having that they called Mini-Olympics/Mini Sports/Sports/I don’t know haha Sooo I obviously wasn’t going to show up in my managers suit, so I ran up to the apartment, basically jumped out of my suit into some casual clothes (shorts, tshirt, flipflops) because it’s a casual event, right? WRONG. Mostly all of the girls from front office were dressed all cute and whatnot, but not us American girls!! Haha Unfortunately, well actually fortunately and on purpose, I wore flip flops so I didn’t have to participate haha #notathletic #embarassingrunner They had a couple running events, a long jump, high jump and then some weird basketball event. In the end FO (front office) took second place overall!! At least I think so haha #DontSpeakChinese #Engrish After we got back we quickly changed for dinner #hungryhungryhippos and then met one of the long-stay guests from Shangri-La at Lobby Lounge for some po-er tea.. with cookies.. and cherries #delish Gail, the long-stay guest, is pretty cool! Her husband is working so mainly she just shops around town and explores, she usually swings by the front desk and I talk to her for awhile so we figured we’d invite her to tea with us J Next time we hang out, we’re going to McDonald’s. #WhyNOT #StopJudging After our little tea party, came back skyped and then passed out! #AshiftProblems

Katherine and I at the Shangri-La event :) #ClassicPeacePic

T.H.U.R.S.D.A.Y.

Yet again, A shift. Let’s just say the morning was sort of a repeat of me being useless, but once I woke up (yes I’ve learned to sleep standing up with my eyes open #truetalent) I actually did stuff! I did find out that I’ll be working to B shifts next week!! You all know what that means! I’ll get to sleep in hahaha #YouDontCare BUT main reason I’m excited to work B shift because my buddy is Anson. The most adorable, smiley, person that I work with!! He smiles at everything, pretty sure Anson would smile at a piece of paper haha #adorbs The uni-brow that he’s rocking doesn’t even bother me.

Unfortunately, I went and worked out after work. It had been awhile. I about died. Anyone who knows me, knows I hate to workout. I hate working out even more after standing around in heels all day #OhWell Did I mention I got winded walking to the gym? Hahah #notkidding

What did we do for dinner you might ask? Room service haha But don’t worry, I did some of my Chinese homework so I don’t have to worry about it Saturday morning an hour before class starts like I did the other week haha

No. You can't leave.

Cheers to the freakin’ weekend!!! (Yes I just quoted Rihanna #yikes)

FRIDAY FRIDAY FRIDAY!!!!

Well people, I know you're worried about my sleeping habits, BUT not to worry, I finally got to sleep in!!!!!!!!!! Literally didn't do a thing until 12:30, and that's only because I had to get ready for work haha Skidded into work at 2:20 on. the. dot. They finally let two white people work together today. It was unbelievable. There was a few times that I was supposed to work with Thomas, but basically because they didn't want two white people working at the same time they would just change my schedule. It was Thomas' last working day because he put in his resignation letter about a week before we came to Dalian (he obviously didn't know how much fun he'd have with us) so today was officially his last day at Shangri-La. Fortunately for me he was there since the day was slow so I had someone that I could finally speak a normal pace with at work and who could actually teach me things. Althoughhhh I didn't really do anything because there were about 5 foreigners total again haha Of course I talked with them all for awhile, gotta say, I don't hate my job so long as the guests want to talk haha Some of them just won't have me at all, but I can usually get them to smile at one point because, well, I'm just a smiley person (usually haha) and I think it's contagious. Seriously.

Anyways we couldn't go to icafe for dinner because they were super busy so I just went to the staff canteen during my shift, the food was pretty good! *Ray, not sure what I ate, but it tasted like the mandarin chicken from Panda Express, needless to say I ate a ton of that haha* Afterwards I needed something sweet. So of course we went to the mart across the street from the hotel to get a Snickers bar #OFCOURSE Pretty sure I downed that candy bar in .6 seconds, no more, no less. #candycandycandy I was supposed to work until 11, but at 10:30 B shift (the shift I was today) goes in the back office to do paperwork.. Sooooo I talked to my buddy for the day and said "Soooooo I can go now?" "Oh yeah yeah, go!" with the most adorable smile ever! Everybody here is just so f’in adorable. I just want to hug all of them!!! Anson was such an awesome buddy, way more smiley than my current one who sucks, and he actually had time to teach me things, yayyy!! #sweetiepie

After work, you know what sounded great? Sitting down. As soon as I walked in the apartment, Heather and Ann are like “Hurry up and get ready we’re meeting Kamal outside the hotel in a few minutes” Luckily I already had ridiculous makeup on from work, so I about jumped out of my suit and heels and straight into normal clothes and flip flops #nositting We left right after I got ready and we met Kamal and then went to this bar called Strollers. It’s for Westerners, they had good music, food, and there wasn’t many people there so we could actually hear each other talking without having to yell so loud like at JD’s. Taka and Thomas met us at Strollers and then while we were there we saw this one guy sitting at the bar who just looked sad and lonely so we invited him over to hang out with us. Turns out this guy, Bruce, is awesome. Oh and he’s Australian. So maybe he wasn’t cool and his accent just won us over, I don’t know. Haha Just kidding, he was cool, probably early 30’s but he fit right in with our foreigner group. We hung out at Stroller’s until it was about to close and then we headed to Alice Bar (the semi-stripper place haha), it was pretty dead in there and we saw some guests from the hotel haha #awkward We drank away, and then were confused when we were the only people in there. I asked the waiter when they close, he said 3, so I asked what time is it? He said 3:15 haha #whoops We weren’t done with the night. We all walked back from the bars to our apartment and bought some more beer, and just hung out in the apartment. This is the reason our kitchen was a WRECK the next day. Taka was the chef for the night. The problem: we had no food, or at least not enough of one thing. He decided to make pasta, using the random green pepper I bought the other week at CarreFour, corn, pepper, more pepper, garlic, eggs, cheese and it was so freaking delicious. Drunk or not. We took a pole. #ChefTaka Then he decided to make mashed potatoes with bacon……. We don’t have anything to smash potatoes, so he used a wine bottle… WORST IDEA, not only did it not work, it made a huge mess haha Did we clean it up at night? Nope. (Sorry Mom) Around 4:30am when the sun was coming up is when the party ended, which none of us wanted haha

By far, my favorite night in China! :)

Roomies :)

Bromance. Kamal & Thomas

Last time out with our European :(

Let's put another shrimp on the barbie!

Chef Taka.

SATURDAY

Incase you didn’t know Thomas is leaving. Hahah He wanted to get lunch with us, Sophia (the Korean Guest Relations Officer, who is amazing), Taka, and his friend Silver at Café Copenhagen. We were all a little drunk getting up in the morning, hence the reason Ann and I had a half hour for both of us to get ready haha #poorplanning Café Copenhagen could not have been a better choice after our night out. We were all starving. We all ordered the classic European breakfast which had eggs, sausage, bacon, toast, bread, a crepe, fruit, beans, jam, and coffee, and it was all so freaking good!! We loitered there for hours. Literally. We decided that Thomas cannot leave. It's not okay. He's our white guy friend haha Even though we can't always understand him with his German/British accent, he can't leave haha (hence the blog title) Welp after that, a few of us went to Children’s Park and just walked around and it was such a beautiful day out so it was perfect!! Oh and I didn’t look like crap for a change so it was even better haha When we were walking around, this girl came up to us and just took a picture of us on her phone of us talking haha #WHITEPEOPLE It was pretty hilarious! I’m pretty sure it’s all over the Chinese Facebook by now haha

Since we were over by Rubys, we had no choice but to go over there! We ended up getting dinner there and I got the Ruby sandwich, aka meat, cheese, lettuce, pickle, mayo, eggs and more meat, so fantastic #stuffed #FAT Andddd we got green tea #typical We loitered in there for a bit and then headed back to the apartment

When we got back, we did the dishes from Hurricane Taka. It took quite awhile haha But now it’s clean : ) We basically just hung out, talked, and then went to bed haha Only because I was A shift the next day #NOOOOO

Sunday? I think?

All day today it felt like Monday #confused I was the only one with A shift, but I had heard that in the lobby of the residences that there’s free coffee between 5-7am for people going to work, I decided to check it out because like I said, anything is better than this instant stuff. Best idea. Well once I figured out how to work this impossible machine it was the best idea. Okay let me set up the scene: It’s 5:50am, I have a huge tshirt on, shorts, a sweater and flipflops but my makeups and hair is done but I look tired as hell #bags I take the elevator down to the lobby, there’s a guy sitting in one of the couch chairs, I awkwardly say Ni Hao and so does he. I walk up to the machine, and put a cup under and hit the espresso button.. except nothing happens.. I press it again.. and again.. nothing happens, meanwhile the guy on the couch is watching me and walks over and then tells me that it needs water so he walks up to the security guy at the front desk and wakes him up (yup he was sleeping haha) and he walks over and jiggles the machine and then an espresso shot comes out.. but then it needs more water and more coffee grounds.. so then he came back with water and stuff, and I finally got my coffee! I mean, of courseeeee the machine couldn’t just be easy haha #myluck but who cares, I HAD REAL COFFEE THIS MORNING!!!!!! :)

Welp, I went to work. And today was not my day. Quite an off day. Let’s just say I managed to be less helpful than useless today, no idea why. On the Brightside, I got to hang out at Lobby Lounge with Heather (she’s working there now) for about a half hour talking to guests haha

After work, Ann and I immediately went to Carrefour. On a Sunday. At like 4. What a mistake. It was sooo crowded. BUT we were on a mission to get food so we managed to get back by 5! And successfully didn’t by useless things this time haha We came back and then went to meet Heather for dinner at 5:30, I totally forgot that today was father's day so when we walked into icafe there was an ice sculpture that said "Best Dad" haha and then there was a BMW cake, we were like whatttt?! Then we realized why haha But there was a photographer that went around and took pictures of every table and then printed it out and put it in a frame for the table. Ours is so freaking hilarious. It's clear Heather's the dad in the picture because she's still in her suit haha Ann's the mom, I look pretty normal and Sarah just looks weird all hunched over Heather hahah It’s awesome! It’s now the centerpiece for our table.

Tomorrow is my day off! I’m going to sleep in no matter how loud the construction workers are. #challengeaccepted

Miss you guys! Especially my family, sorry I couldn’t be there for the party, wish I could have been!

Happy Father’s Day!!! :) 

Our Father's Day Dinner haha

"You look tired"

You know the feeling of lying in your RIDICULOUSLY comfy bed after getting up early and working all day? Yeah, I know it too. However, my mattress here, almost positive, is made out of wood. So after work I like the idea of napping, but sleeping on a tree doesn't sound too appealing... not saying I won't nap because BUHLEED ME I'm committed to my naps.


Someone's got a case of the Mondays.
NOT ME. Want to know why? Because it's my goddamn day off! I had some big plans for myself... You know what that means? It means I did absolutely none of it haha I got up in the morning, ate and watching some friends (obvi) and then fell back asleep until around 3:30 #SleepDeprived Please stop judging me. Thanks! Since I'm a good friend and citizen I decided to shower after sleeping all day haha Finally to feel semi-productive and to have somewhat of a life, Ann and I went to Ruby's! This has become our new coffee shop. Main reason: their couches are comfier than my bed at home in 'murica #SHOfluffyImGunnaDie Well we committed and ordered a pot of po-er tea (supposed to make you slim down...... #yeahright). It's delicious so whatevesies. Since we had planned on loitering Taka and Thomas joined us for some tea. Look at me drinking all this tea #ClassyAsHell Of course we got hungry. In case you don't know me, if I'm not eating then I am thinking about eating #WishIWasKidding Finally we decided to get hotpot!!!! This was hilarious haha Taka is from Japan and so when we go places with him, people assume he can speak Chinese too. This is not the case. He knows a minimal amount, and he's been here for almost two years haha (He studied at University of Las Vegas for 5 years and loves Panda Express.. I love him. It might also be because he looks like a big cuddly Panda Bear, AKA- a Japanda! hahah Yes, that's what we call him now). Back to hotpot: For some reason I didn't take pictures, I must have been drunk on tea #kindakidding Thank god there are pictures on the menu because otherwise I would have even less of an idea of what I'm ordering. Taka took one for the team and ordered, he ordered a couple meats, shrimp balls, vegetables and then I have no idea what else. According to Wikipedia, hotpot "refers to several East Asian varieties of stew, consisting of a simmering metal pot of stock at the center of the dining table. While the hot pot is kept simmering, ingredients are placed into the pot and are cooked at the table." <--Thanks for the help wiki. Anywho, it's basically amazing, and is something I am most definitely taking my mom and brother too when they come here. Although, I should probably bring someone who speaks Chinese with haha Oh and at this hotpot place the employees come and put the food in the pot and then put it on your plates, if you try to touch it they all like rush over and tell you not too haha #scurred After dinner, we went back to Ruby's because they were having live music so we though we'd go back for a drink. They gave us the drink menu: Margarita, Long Island Iced Tea, blah blah blah and then.. Mojoto hahaha #ENGRISH #ENGRISH We ordered Mojotos but turns out they didn't have them so we went with a long island #delish Thennnn it was bedtime because I'm A shift all week (6:50am-3:30pm)


Tuesday Snoozeday:
Can I just go ahead and say that A shift suckssss? Only because it starts at 6:50, I usually skid in around 6:55, because the morning briefings are in Chinese, HOW HELPFUL #ClassicLanguageBarrier Morning briefings = me sleeping with my eyes open #talented Anyways. I'M FINALLY HELPFUL AT WORK! Well kinda. haha I still have someone nearby when I check guests out because let's be honest I forget easily. Oh, I had my first check-in! Check-in is more complicated than checking out (for me anyways) so I'm glad I'm A shift just because I do wayyy more check-outs! Did I mention that whenever I meet an American I could not be more excited?! It's just fun! You meet a lot of cool and then some weird people haha Basically majority of my job is talk to Western guests and get their feedback #whattajoke Work was super easy, but I was still super tired after work even though I didn't do anything haha Standing around looking good is a hard days work. hahah #WHITEPERSON <-- Seriously though, sometimes guests do a double-take because they are so confused as to if they really saw a white person and why I'm here. After work I didn't nap, I don't know what's wrong with me. Later on, Thomas, our personal chef, came over and made us delicious freaking pasta. Finally had some shrimp here (everyone says to have seafood here). This was only because he picked off the faces and whatever else you do to shrimp because we told him to not even dare coming into the apartment with faces on the shrimp haha #delicioso Oh and being such a nice person, Thomas tells me before dinner: You look really tired" THANKS BRO *slap in the face*We had the brilliant idea to hit up icafe after dinner for some dessert because hey, we like food! Especially free food! Of course, the executive chef, Chef Nicholas, was talking to us as usual and then he told me "Damn mate you look tired, you need some sleep" THANKS MATE. I look like shit, I gotcha haha After a big meal, I was sleepy, because I'm like a baby, I eat and then I'm tired haha We watched Fawlty Towers and I passed out on the couch #typical


Weh-weh-Wednesdayy
Again I was A shift. Except today I was just so tired and just needed coffee or something, but I'm over this instant shit haha MOM, HELP! DESPERATE NEED OF INSTANT HAZELNUT COFFEE! I'd take hazelnut instant over the gross stuff we have haha I do drink it though, stop judging, because I love coffee and am addicted. Wow, I sure do get sidetracked. At work: "You look really tired" Really people? I get it haha #looklikeshit Welp, talked to white people, smiled and giggled as Asian people told me what a pretty Chinese name I have, typical day. After work, I was like I'm napping!! So I did, for like two hours, until Heather called and asked us to get dinner with her and Thomas at icafe. It would be rude of us not to go. So we went and ate haha Ann and I had dinner with Heather and Thomas.. then with Kamal (one of the guests that we hang out with).. then with Sarah.. We loitered in icafe drinking tea for three hours haha SO MUCH ENERGY! When we got back then I was awake haha I had to make myself go to bed at 11:30pm so that people would stop telling me I looked tired haha


OMG Thirsty Thursday (not!)
This morning I was determined not too look like crap. Got up. Showered. Suited up. Make-up on. Hair up. CUP OF COFFEE. Granola bar. Yogurt. and BOOM, out the door and at work right on time! Today was super slow, although I met someone from Washington DC, and we chatted for awhile killing about 20 minutes of work. Then I talked with one of our long-stay guests from Boston, Gail, for about 45 minutes. The day before she went to a rice dumpling making class, and I don't know how but all the sudden she was offering me the ones she made because she didn't want them all and she wanted my roommates and I to try them. Free food? Umm yes please! I'll let you know how they are! Anyways, good thing I randomly checked my schedule because they changed my shift tomorrow to B shift without telling me, which means I work from 2:20 till 11:00pm, which also means I can sleep in!!!!! YES!!! About time haha After work, hung out, skyped, and then we went to icafe for some dinnnn! Oh and today nobody told me I looked tired!! Must have been the coffee #kiddingbutnot

Personal Chef

Yes, I kind of slacked on my blog this week, but I mean I'm kind of a busy person #JK #justlazy

THURSDAY!!!!!!!!!!

My day off was Thursday and it consisted of me doing nothing haha Of course I was up by 9:30, thank you construction workers. Basically I skyped for a couple hours and then debated the idea of working out… Instead, I went to get coffee with some people from work at Café Ruby, and it was quite tasty! I mean, I’ll take anything over this freaking instant coffee that I’m trying to work with in the apartment. I usually just end up drinking tea here, which is delicious as well, but I miss my Mr.Coffee :( Anyways, after I was all hyped up on coffee, I decided to be a good roommate and do the dishes since we have no dishwasher #roughlife #cleaningladystatus

Ann worked the morning shift so when she got back, her and I went to CarreFour. Kill me now. Worst place ever! Mom, this grocery store makes the Walmart in Niles seem barely crowded. Well I BOUGHT REAL FOOD!!!!! When you go in a team to CarreFour, it is way better. We conquered CarreFour, so suck it China! Nice try!! Haha #local Afterwards, we may or may not have ordered room service for dinner? And let me tell you, it was delicious! Plus we get a discount so it doesn’t make it as outrageuous haha (Don’t worry Mom, not an everyday thing.. yet! Haha kidding!!) Thennnnn we stayed up and watched Friends all night haha #OBSESSED

FRIDAY. Bout damn time!

As per usual, I worked A shift (6:50am-3:30pm), and after work I made myself go to the gym… by myself! Let me tell you, I never feel like a foreigner until I walk anywhere by myself because then it’s like holy shit, I am literally the only Westerner in sight #awkward While I’m walking to the gym, this girl kind of jumps up and down and starts waving, obviously I’m confused. When I get closer, it turns out it was a colleague from work, Candice, but I didn’t recognize her at all because her hair was down and she was out of her uniform haha #dummy Candice and her boyfriend walked with me part of the way to the gym! Which is probably good since then I didn’t look so foreign walking with some locals haha Anyways, went to the gym. Killed it in there. Came back and then Ann and I were going to hit up iCafe, but on Fridays it’s always crowded because they have discounts that day, so we decided we were going to get some BBQ! Heather was meeting up with a girl that she works with, Daisy, and they decided to come get dinner with Ann and I. The BBQ was awesome. They have the grill in the middle of the table, and then you order the stuff you want to grill and you do it yourself! We got two types of beef, lamb, salad, some rice dish, and then some Tsing Tao beer, which all of it was so freaking tasty! :) 

Well after that dinner, we needed something sweet because we’re American. We decided to settle for coffee except it was a little later and we didn’t think that our little coffee shop would be open so we decided to go to McDonald’s haha Daisy’s friend, Lucy, met us there! Can I just say that every Asian is so freaking cute!!?!? They don’t even know it either. Oh and did I mention that girls here always hook arms and hold hands here..Yup. Kinda weird, but they are all just very close with their friends, so of course walking to Mickey D’s, Heather and Daisy were hooking arms haha Anywho, we arrive at McDonalds. That’s where the tough decision begins: Coffee OR a STRAWBERRY-OREO MCFLURRY?!?! Oh, guess that’s not so tough. That McFlurry was the best!! It’s even better than it sounds. Did I tell you that McDonald’s also delivers? Yup, I’m about to get REAL fat here. We loitered in McD’s for a bit and then headed back to the apartment, and yes, Lucy and I held hands haha #AsianFriends Then the girls came up with us and we just hung out, talked, with language barrier problems #typical Taka, Thomas and Sophia then joined us! We all just talked.. then they went and got some beer haha The beers come in 1 Liter bottles, not too shabby. Definitely stayed up quite longer than planned… Finally in bed at 3:00am.. Had to get up at 5:00am for work..

SATURDAY night’s alright for fighting! (Nobody fought, don’t worry, unless busting out moves on the dance floor counts as fighting.. It doesn’t? Okay well then nobody fought)

The day began with me being ridiculously tired for work, BUT I successfully put my hair up in a French twist!!!! I don’t think I told you this, but for work I have to wear my hair up in a French twist with this cute pin, however, I’m slightly retarded when it comes to doing my hair so this is quite a challenge for me #ChallengeAccepted #SUCCESS So I guess a lack of sleep works for my hair! I OFFICIALLY CHECKED-OUT A GUEST TODAY! My buddy at work (we’re assigned buddies), Mary, likes to do everything herself and doesn’t let me help, but I had a different buddy today because Mary had to do paperwork all day, so I made friends with one of the guests and I was like “I’ll check you out later, come down early because who knows how long it’ll take me” haha He was super nice about it and I finally helped! The rest of the time, I greeted guests and there were a few little kids in the lobby so I talked with them. If all they want me to do is stand there, look white, and greet people, then I’m going to greet the hell out of every guest!! Haha

After work, I passed out. Napped for about two hours until my phone went off. When I came out of my room, Thomas, the German employee, was making us dinner in the kitchen. Making dinner for 4 girls? Brave man because when we’re hungry, we’re weird haha He made some bruschetta for appetizers. Yes, he made appetizers and we drank red wine #ClassyAsHell Then for dinner he made some delicious salad, tomato & mozzarella, some mushroom sauce, potatoes with herbs and chicken STUFFED WITH BACON. So freaking delicious. Let’s just say he made a ton of food and there were barely any leftovers. Of course we had food comas, so we relaxed and watched some Friends.. Then we went out! We went to JD’s again because we still had rum left there! Once again, we started the dance party because we’re awesome! We made friends with the most adorable Asian girls!! They loveddd dancing around with us, so much fun!

BACON IS HIDDEN IN THE CHICKEN!!

SUNDAY FUNDAY! No, not drinking, just fun!

Well our day began at 6:00am to shower and whatnot, then we went to breakfast at 7:00 in icafe for some ‘MERICAN breakfast where we had to do our homework for class haha (sorry Mom) Guys, I promise for the next classes that I will do it ahead of time!!! Class began at 8:00am and went until 12:00… four hours.. GOOD GOD MAN! After an hour and a half I was like okay enough haha

After class we were dead. Naps were involved. THEN we went and got coffee with Dennis and Thomas at Café Ruby! Still pretty tasty! Since we like food, we wanted to eat. It was about 5:00pm #SeniorSupper We debated on where to get food, and then Thomas offered to make pasta with some leftover ingredients from the day before, and of course we didn’t dent him the pleasure of making us food haha Dinner was delicious!! Oh, I provided the appetizers: Oreos with peanut butter #ParentTrap They were a hit! Haha

Basically the rest of the night consisted of us watching TV, talking, and here I am blogging!

My schedule changed so tomorrow is my off day!!!!!! TIME TO GET SOME SLEEP!!!

Miss you soooo much!!!!!!! :)

I went to NY

Do you guys get anxious for my next blog when I don't blog after 24-hours? 


..You probably do. It's understandable! Although not much happened recently, let me elaborate on my days anyways!


TUESDAY!?!?!
Gotta be honest, having Monday off has really thrown my week off. All of Tuesday I was like wait what day is it?  What month is it? Where am I? China? What?.. Literal internal conversations with myself haha #wishIwaskidding Anyyywho, Tuesday was my first official day at Front Desk!! Exciting right?? YES that's how I felt too! **Keyword: felt** So I go into work at 6:50am #toodamnearly #BirdsAintEvenChirpingYet After awkwardly standing around in the back office, finally Sherry, who's in charge of my training at front desk tells me they do a morning briefing and to just have a seat. Of course I did. And listened while they had their briefing in Chinese. Totally understood everything that they talked about seeing as how I speak Chinese and all.. NOT. After that, Sherry tells me my buddy for the week is Mary and to just follow her around all day, simple right? Well apparently our boss doesn't want me to stand behind the counter the whole time learning how to actually work the system, he wants me to go out and say hi to the guests.. Basically he just wants me to stand there, be white, and say "Ni hao" to everybody... #sotough Kinda sucks, so hoping they'll let me do more sooner or later! All day I just stood around saying hi and not actually being at the front desk until 3:30 :/


AFTER work was sweet. Thomas took Ann and I to.... CENTRAL PERK. Yes, Central Perk. It was a coffee shop based off of friends, friends posters and scenes everywhere around, some drinks came in the big mugs, the coffee shop even had a cat, I'm assuming to rep "smelly cat." Needless to say, it was awesome!!! Oh and I got a hazelnut latte, which was so freaking good. Miss hazelnut coffee!! I had to really pace myself otherwise I would have ordered 5 and I'm not made of money man!! I'm an idiot and didn't bring my camera, but no worries I will definitely be back there again for a photo shoot.


Once we were all hyped up on coffee, we were just really in the mood for 'MERICAN food. Luckily, Brooklyn's, Western restaurant, was a block away. We immediately called Heather and Sarah to meet us there once they got off of work.. Well their taxi driver didn't know where it was but they didn't find this out until they were in the taxi, of course.. So Ann, Thomas and I are starving.. "Is it rude to order? I say 5 more minutes... Okay, 5 more minutes" (Guess I should have mentioned that we currently only have one phone and Ann had it at the time) Well we ended up ordering appetizers, chicken wings and mozzarella sticks. That's when they showed up, they have perfect timing! haha They quickly scanned the menus, we ordered, ate the appetizers and drooled over other peoples' food until ours finally came out #LayOffMeImSTARVING I got a chicken sandwich with fries. Best. Mo'Fo'. Food. Such a good dinner choice! Then we left and BOOM, bedtime!... After an episode of friends :)


WED-NES-DAY (<-- I know some of you still read it like that... GUILTY AS CHARGED)
Classic A-shift day: Got to work at 6:50, still don't know how to put my hair up like I'm supposed to so it's in a bun haha #HairRetarded Today, my buddy, Mary, let me help for a bit before our boss made me go greet #frustrating Anywho, I made some copies of ID's, sent some messages to housekeeping, learned about Shangri-La's rewards program, and then I greeted for the rest of the day. Oh, and have I mentioned I can be super awkward at making small talk sometimes? Because I am haha Sometimes it's fine, and others I'm like uhhhh sooo lovely weeezzzaaarrr we're having (Pink Panther). At 2, I had to go to a 3-hour seminar on how to do e-signatures because Shangri-La is trying to save some trees! Thennnn after that I had to go to human resources for a monthly check-up on how things are going, finally I was freeeeee!!! Then I got to the apartment and Ann was like sooo dinner? And then we headed to icafe #ClassicBuffet After din-din, we chatted, and of course watched friends!!!!!!!!!!


Oh and I'm off tomorrow!!! And this is how I remember: Monday 1 day, Tuesday 2 day, Wednesday.. what?, THURSDAY (If you can't figure out what show this is from then I probably don't know you)


MISS YOU! Yes, YOU!! I miss YOU!!


Look at this dessert from icafe.. Oh and this is why I'll be fat when I get back

You're more lost than us?

Well today was my day off! WOOO! So I got to sleep in, do some skyping, some calling. I'm very popular. haha Couldn't sleep in even if I wanted to because they are doing construction in the residences, and I'm pretty sure they know what room I'm in and work on there until I move to another room, then they work in the other room #outtogetme 


That's when the adventures began.. I went to the grocery store, CarreFour, by MYSELF!!! Welp, I had a list of things I needed.. Needless to say, I didn't get many of them haha I was so flustered and was just walking around aimlessly for awhile #ClassicForeigner I just wanted normal lunch stuff, but didn't get like any of it #whoops I bought a green pepper? I don't know. I think I bought the Ramen noodle of China. Like what? I was delirious in there (kinda like when my mom goes shopping haha love you Mom :) ) Oh and then when I was leaving, I went down the wrong stairs and had to go right back up them and go out the right entrance haha And here you have to by the shopping bags, so I brought one we used the last time, being prepared.. Then I go like 5 feet and the bag rips a bit, so then I walked the whole way back clutching my groceries in a ripped bag for dear life, but hey I made it back in time!


Then I napped #SOADVENTUROUS


When Ann got back from work she woke me up so we could go work out!! (#GTL more so just G because the washer/dryer combo machines they use here SUCKKKK) We start walking to the gym, and we go about 5 minutes and then we see some white people looking very lost with their heads in their China book trying to communicate with the locals, that's where we met Yohan and his son, Alex. We went up and asked if they needed help, they were very happy to meet some people who spoke English and who might be able to help them out. They had no idea what they were in for haha Well Alex is from London, and his dad, Yohan (yes, Yohan), is from.. London? We don't really know because he had such a unique accent, maybe it's because he has been to 69 countries. Literally 69 countries. #envious So Yohan says he's trying to get to New Mart Mall, and Ann calls Richard to try to get some directions to help them. Turns out these guys are in China for however long, they're just traveling to travel, they might go visit their brother/son in Australia after #RoughLife So Ann finally gets directions, and she kinda thinks she might know the way, so we offer to walk them there because they didn't want to take a taxi so they could explore, and boy we did explore. We walked in a circle at least five times, BUT we made it to New Mart Mall!!!!! After an hour and a half #DoraTheExplorerStatus We basically got to know everything about them, Yohan is a speciality professor and basically helps people find out who they really are haha and his son is just along for the ride! They were very interesting people. Yohan gave us their number since they'd be here for a couple of days.. Ann typed it in wrong haha But if it's fate they'll make their way to Shangri-La! Yohan calls it fate that we me them today.. He would say that haha He's awesome! We didn't end up working out after because we told Heather and Sarah we'd eat at like 5:30, we didn't get back until then and then we got ready, and ate. A ton. They amount of desserts they put out at dinner is just unfair, so we finally had a ton today! I had butterscotch ice cream and it was delicious.


After dinner, we hung out, went on whatshouldwecallme.tumblr.com (hilarious for college students), watched Once Upon a Time, and then I got a phone call saying I work A shift, so I have to be in at 6:50 AM.. That's quite early. #tooearlytohandle


Blog ya later!


Oh and this is just funny: