Can I firstly just say; I managed to not use a squat toilet for the entirety of the 19 days I was in China. Someone build a statue in my honour.

I did, however, have a cold shower on a six degree night; get food poisoning; throw up in the middle of maccas; lose all remaining dignity; courteously refuse but ‘reluctantly’ and gratefully receive a buttload of money from relatives; get lost for about 3 hours in the streets of Shanghai; enjoy lovingly picking on a specific cousin, a lot; get loved on continuously by family; shop like there was no tomorrow.

My aunt bought a birthday cake for my mum (above). My mum’s actually 49, but in China she’s 50 because, correct me if I’m wrong, chinese count the moment you’re born as age 1. And also, everyone ages with the chinese new year. Not on your birth date. So in china, I’m a 20 year old as opposed to a turning 19 year old this year.

China really is another world. It’s such a vast culture contrast to what I’m used to, being brought up in a western country. I travelled to China (mainly Shanghai) with my mum and sister. First thing we did was be tourists and go on a one week tour around Shanghai and surrounding cities, where we’d stayed in a 5 star hotel each night. Then after that first week, we’d returned to Shanghai to be with family and began experiencing the real China. And by real China I mean: began living at my Auntie’s apartment (my mum’s sister), sleeping in my cousin’s bed and waking up to the hum of constant honking.

I did miss the 5 star hotels, not gonna lie. One of which was the ‘Holiday Inn’, which when our tour bus pulled into, my jaw dropped and a “NO WAY” escaped my lips to which my sister counteracted with a “Nancy, please don’t.”

WE AT THE HOTEL MOTEL HOLIDAY INN WE AT THE HOTEL MOTEL HOLIDAY INN -fistpump-

(Pitbull’s ridiculous song if you didn’t know the reference)

The tour wasn’t as bad as I’d anticipated. If anything, it was quite an experience. Initially, I was so apprehensive and constantly questioned why my mum would make us be tourists in her own homeland. But I actually had a good time, met heaps of new people and somewhat brushed up on my mandarin. Most of the families on the tour were from Australia or America so most of them spoke english and mandarin. Even met a family who lived in Brisbane, in pretty much the next suburb to us. Talk about small world.

Some qualities of the Shanghainese I enjoyed.

Honking. Constantly. Unnecessarily. To the point where the general population are unphased by it. No-one turns to see what the cause of the noise disruption is.

Spitting. Absolutely normal and socially acceptable. Everyone does it. Generally guys, but sometimes you get the special kind of lady who feels the need to publicly dispose of her oral waste.

Smoking in Restaurants. Still legal. Also, a contributing factor to my hurling in the middle of maccas stunt. 90% of my male relatives smoke, so imagine what that’s like at family dinners.

Ah Bu, Ah Gong. Grandma, Grandpa. NB: Some photos are taken with iPad photobooth. My relatives are not normally abnormally disfigured.

Jiu Gong Gong, Jiu Nai Nai. Mum’s Uncle & Aunt. Pretty much my second set of grandparents, really.

Okay, but seriously. Some things I did really enjoy during this year’s China trip.

The many family meals with all the extended family.

Being cared for and looked after profusely by both grandparents during the few days I was sick. I felt the love, for sure.

Late nights with my uncle, playing his card game or watching a chinese dating show, picking which girls were in it for the money. haha.

Shopping. Mainly bought books and clothing of all sorts. Best buy: 2 of my fav books for 25 RMB, which is less than 5 AUD! Insane!

The uncle. Good times.

Immediate cousins.

China Maccas Run. *Not the time when I’d hurled, this one was a nice trip with the cousins*

We also visited our family in Nanjing when we were down there during the tour. First thing I thought, “finally some more girl cousins!” haha. Seriously though, 70% of our cousins are guys. Second thing I thought was, wow my jiu jiu and jiu ma are ridiculously good looking! Like, wow. My jiu jiu is the one on the very bottom right, but that photo does him no justice whatsoever. My mum was even like, “when did you become so handsome!?” haha!

Nanjing Cousins.

Nanjing Family.

Didn’t get photos of a lot my family :{ Most photos are just the ones my sister or cousins took.

It’s quite comforting knowing there’s family across the world who love and think of you. I do plan to go back a little more often, especially while I’m still a university student with more holidays. Would like to look after my family in the future. Also can’t wait to visit Taiwan and my dad’s side of the family soon. It’s so nice having second homes in foreign countries with loving family. Thank you Jesus!