EUROPE! YEAH!

Hey y'all.

I'm typing this on Saturday, March 19th cuz I'll be in EUROPE! YEAH! on the day of this post. So I have a couple of things to mention in this lovely post. One, the experience of being in this "Park to Shop" Chinese store* (wazup w/ the name, yo?), two, JAPAN (it's connected to the shopping experience, sort of. Plus it's a super hot topic right now), three, EUROPE! YEAH! (*squeal*).

         O my, I just realized that ^ the above is probably a huge run-on sentence, and xiy, House, and Momo are freaking out right now. Sorry y'all.

'k, number one! Park to Shop is this lovely big Chinese store*, and we (my family) have never gone to it, because some dude told my dad the stuff isn't fresh. But recently, we've realized that, "hey! it's fresh n' cheap!" Hence our visits to it. So when I went this weekend, I noticed a couple things. I was on the lookout for good post material, because I felt bad for having a tiny post last Thursday. Anyways, I'll go in chronological order. We were looking for Hot Pot** ingredients, and we couldn't find this one kind of tofu that I lurve, and so my mom went and asked this store employee. He goes and finds this other store employee, and I'm like, "yay, this'll take a while, *yawn*" So I leaned on my cart and listened to the pretty music, which btw, was "Home" by Daughtry. One of my favorite songs, go and listen to it here. After a while, the employee comes back, and with him, a different employee. I glanced at him, and then I do a double take. Cuz he's hawt! Like, wow! It's been...never since I've seen an Asian boy who looks cute in America! (It's like the cute ones stay in Asia >.<) So I'm fanning myself, and trying to be inconspicuous about it, though I think I ended up looking sort of like I had fleas...NEXT! I'm walking around and see the ice-cream thing. Which gives me an idea. I know Americans are used to flavors of ice-cream such as chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and variations of those with toppings. I'm about to tell you the ASIAN flavors***: Red bean (yum, I love red bean stuff), mango, lychee (this berry-ish thing), coconut, and milk n' peanuts. Not what a typical ice-cream truck in the US has in stock, eh? On to the end of the trip. As we were walking out of the store, there are a couple Japanese and Chinese people holding signs saying "Show Your Love for the Tsunami victims of Japan!" I'm happy to say that my dad donated a couple dollars (which was basically all he had in his wallet...*sigh* the credit card fad). Unfortunately, I did see this white family come in to the store and basically shove away the people, and this white bitch was shaking her head and rolling her eyes like, "ew, get away, these people are so eww, they're asking for money from us, ewww" So if that lady is reading this post of mine, please note that I think people like you are a disgrace to the human race, and are absolutely disgusting because if you don't feel for the people in Japan, fine, but to push away people and act like that is just beyond sickening. I hope karma actually works on people like you.

Japan. Subject number two. We all know (I hope) that there has been a 9.0 earthquake in Japan, causing a tsunami, and several nuclear power plant mishaps. The people in Japan have showed remarkable stoic and calm, and it's helped a lot, as they go through the search and rescue, clean-ups, and desperate cooling of the reactors in the nuclear plants. I think I type for all the Curly Fries when I write that we hope the people of Japan will be able to recover fully, and that the partial meltdowns can be dealt with. As I type, CNN reports that 7,653 have died in Japan, and some 10,000 people are still missing. The number may have grown by the time this post is posted, but for now, I wish those 7,653 people's family and friends well as they cope with the loss.

On a happier note, I'm in EUROPE! YEAH!, which is why I'm writing this so early. EUROPE! YEAH! =D Our school's orchestra and choir are going on a 9 day tour through Geneva, Switzerland; Nimes, France; Carcassonne, France; and Barcelona, Spain. It's actually more than those 4, but they're the main places we'll be hitting. EUROPE! YEAH! So, as you read this, I'm in EUROPE! YEAH! maybe giving a concert, as I'm not sure when the concerts are scheduled, because I'm getting the final itinerary and stuff on Monday (remember, I'm writing this on Saturday) for our last meeting and a mini-concert in anticipation of EUROPE! YEAH! I've packed today, and I'm excited cuz I packed capris and T-shirts! IT'S WARM IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE, AND IN SPAIN!!! YEAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! I think I might bring sandals *bliss* I love having my toes free to wiggle in the sunlight =D WHICH I'LL BE ABLE TO DO, CUZ IT'S GETTING WARM! Though it's supposed to get colder where the 6LCF reside, but hey, I'll be gone, and in EUROPE! YEAH! HAHA! YES! Soooo....I'll write more about EUROPE! YEAH! when I get back. Which reminds me, I get home on next Thursday, but it'll be in the late evening, and I'll be dead tired (we're gettting up at 6am in EUROPE! YEAH!) and there will be jetlag, so I probably won't post then. I might actually plan ahead and set up another post, for that day, but don't count on it. Soooo....Happy Early Spring Break! (well, for us)

Luv,

Lynda-who's-in-EUROPE!YEAH!

P.S. EUROPE! YEAH!

*I say "Chinese shop", but it's technically an Asian store, because it has Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, and stuff. But my family just refers to Asian stores as Chinese stores, cuz it's where we get the ingredients for our non-American dishes :)

**Hot Pot is like this food thing where everyone gathers around a pot full of spices and boiling water, and then swish raw food around in it (or stick it in the pot for a while, and let it cook) until it's cooked, and then dip it in sauce. It's really good, and my description didn't do it much justice, but you get the gist.

***Asian flavors, I say very loosely, I kind of mean the stereotypical Asian countries (i.e. China, Japan, the Koreas...) but I also don't, like, I don't know about India, Thailand, and Vietnam. And I definitely don't know about Russia, Kazakhstan, and all the other "-stan" countries. Even with the countries that I do mean, the flavors are probably not all present, and some are probably off....sooo...I'm just emphasizing the difference between cultures. Sorry if it's misleading.