Kirsten Captures

To surpass my endless rambling and get to the 10 Questions I Get About Moving to China, scroll down to the bottom!

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Woohoo everybody, it’s Friday!!

Somehow I got involved cleaning out my bathroom cabinets this morning (it’s amazing how productive you can be when you’re supposed to be doing something else) and it got a little scary.

Morgan and I have shared this bathroom for years and had stockpiled countless products that are, not surprisingly, forgotten in the recesses of our cabinets. For some reason family and friends resort to bath and body kits with seasonal lotions, shampoos, candles, etc. as the go-to-gifts for girls. Um, truth be told, I have NEVER used ANY of these gifts. I say, oh that’s nice, then shove them in the cabinets.

Out of sight, out of mind.

Well digging through these cabinets was like discovering Narnia. I found some nice smelling vanilla lotions and the like… from maybe 5-10 years ago. I even found some anti-itch medicine from 1992. Yes. 1992. Um 20 years ago. I doubt it still works. It’s probably radioactive.

1.5 hours and one completely stuffed trashbag later, I was done! Now the cabinets are basically empty and I organized some of the products I will be bringing to China.

Hooray organization! And medicine from this century.

Thursday

Back to yesterday! My day was packed with running errands across the bay which I actually love. Working from home can get monotonous and uninspiring so it is always great to get away for a few hours.

After picking up something for Peter at his corporate office (the company he works for is based in St. Pete but has manufacturing plants across the world!), I hightailed it to the airport. I needed to pick up 10 Investor’s Business Daily newspapers for our investment club that night and the airport always has the most copies.

Tampa International had some heightened security for the RNC and they even had to check my car for weapons! Jeez. I loved the banners they had around to welcome the delegates.

So I hate talking politics (no really, I despise it) but I wanted to clear the air. I AM A REPUBLICAN. Please respect my beliefs as I respect yours. After college I began working in finance and became more fiscally conservative. I am still more socially liberal but respect Romney as a successful businessman and believe he can get America moving in the right direction again. If you want to watch a great speech from the RNC, watch Anne Romney’s speech. She rocked. I love women!

It will be interesting see the Chinese perception of the 2012 election. Speaking of… I need to get my absentee ballot!!

OK that will probably  be the last you hear of politics on this blog. Thank god :-).

Once I left the airport I drove directly to International Mall. Peter’s friend in China wanted the Iphone 4S and an Ipad keyboard so I offered to pick it up and bring it over with me. (Real) Apple products are very expensive in China due to the import tax despite the fact that most Apple products are made in China! Crazy right?

On my way to the Apple store I got way sidetracked. You can read about my shopping adventures in my last post. Basically I got lost in Nordstrom, H&M (LOVE!), Sephora, and the food court.

At Nordstroms I bought a bigger pair of Toms shoes and fell in love again with the animal print inside. So cute!

Then I discovered a juice bar in the food court!! Obviously I had to get my juice on. I got the “Hulk” juice (hah) with celery, parsley, cucumbers, and …. alfalfa maybe? I forgot.

Oh my goodness it was delicious! I love the taste of grass! (That sounds funny) But really, it tasted almost sweet. Nom.

FINALLY I made it to the Apple store and was accosted by maybe 30 employees in blue shirts helping a huge crowd of people! It was insane. I started chatting with the guy helping me about China, travel, surfing, and such. I just can’t help myself.

Whenever I mention that I am moving to China, inevitably I get the following questions:

10 Questions I Get About Moving to China

1. You’re moving where? China. Shanghai to be exact.

2. Do you speak Chinese? Nope. But my boyfriend does. I plan on learning the conversation basics.

3. Will you be working? No, I’m going to be a homeless bum eating dumplings cooked from sewer water. Yes, of course I will be working. I am doing some consulting work for my current company while starting my own personal training and health coaching business.

4. Do Chinese people even work out? Yes they do. Sometimes in different and funny ways. Read more about this here. But I plan on working mostly with expats (non-Chinese) living in China.

5. Are you engaged? Nope. Don’t need to put a ring on it to move halfway across the world. Marriage is in our distant future but we are still young and see no reason to rush things. Plus I need to focus on moving to China before even remotely thinking about planning a wedding. GAH.

6. How is the food in China? It’s good! There is a lot more meat eating that you would think and sometimes the vegetables are smothered in oil, but it sure is tasty. China is experiencing an influx of convenience packaged food like America but still has an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables. Water quality is another story. My friend Brian is going to teach me how to cook real Chinese food once I arrive!

7. Have you been to China before? Yes, twice! Visit my Travel page for those blog posts!

8. When will you be back? I have a return ticket in December for the holidays but will return in January indefinitely. Peter’s job has him in Shanghai for at least another year and maybe up to 5 years in Asia. We just don’t know but will take it as it comes!

9. What do your parents think? I think they are in denial! However they are supportive of my decision and just want me to be happy.

10. Are you crazy? Sometimes I think that yes I am in fact crazy. But then I realize that I would be crazy NOT to go. I have always loved traveling, experiencing new cultures (hello Anthropology major), and photographing everything. I love America but want to see the world. Sometimes Americans get caught up in their own little materialistic bubble and need a little perspective. Finally, I believe in love. I cannot wait to start this crazy journey with Peter ;-).

Sometimes I just have to laugh at people. They are SO CONCERNED for me. People, I will be fine. Now just come on over to China and visit me!

We all need a little perspective.