As it turns out, I only had around 30 unread messages. Not bad, but still enough to give me a headache. I just got back from Fan Wei’s house, where I was able to go on the internet for the first time in over a week and also enjoy some home cooking. Afterwards, we chatted and played Monopoly on Xbox 360. Apparently there’s an alternate version of Monopoly called “Richest” which goes a lot faster but also involves significantly more luck. There is a set number of rounds, and at the beginning of each round, a number of dice are rolled (equal to the number of players). Then, a mini game is played to determine turn order. Each player chooses which dice to choose, and the value of the dice determines how many tiles on the board you draw. If you draw a property that hasn’t been owned yet, you get the property, but if you draw someone else’s property, you have to “pay” them by giving them one of your existing properties. Thus, it’s advantages to choose bigger numbers at the beginning of the game to increase your chances of hoarding property, but probably safer to go for lower numbers towards the end to prevent the possibility of landing on other people’s property. Like normal Monopoly, you can upgrade to houses and hotels once you have established a monopoly, which results in other players paying you more (in property) every time they land on the monopoly. If you’re out of properties, then you don’t have to pay. The exciting thing about Richest is that it is fast-paced and dynamic. Chance, Community Chest, and Tax tiles have been modified so that instead of paying or receiving money, you have to pay in property (or have the chance to steal others’ properties). At the end of the game, the winner is the person whose total real estate is worth the most.

Phew, what a day it has been! I woke up at around 8:00AM this morning, after sleeping for roughly 12 hours. Not bad, considering that I had not slept for 24 hours. The problem with traveling to a country that is exactly 12 hours ahead of you is adjusting to the time zone. This process can be difficult, but is extremely crucial, and it all comes down to how you spend  the first night. The trick is to not fall asleep until your normal bedtime; otherwise, your internal clock will be screwed for the next three days or so. Trust me, feeling sleepy at 5:30PM and waking up 6:00AM everyday is not a particularly fun experience. Luckily, it seems that I’ve been able to overcome any major side effects of jetlag this time around, thanks to my cousin. To pass the time, she took me to her future apartment, where she will be staying once she gets married next month. The apartment is not huge, but my cousin and her husband Feng did do a very good job of decorating. The furniture all have a very nice flora motif, and the lights and lamps are aesthetically unique. Two identical Sony Bravia HDTVs serve as the focal point of the one bedroom apartment, along with a brand new (unlocked) X-BOX 360 gaming system. By unlocked, I mean that the console itself is modified so that it can play pirated game discs. So while consoles themselves run as much as 2200 RMB (more than $300), the games are as cheap as 5 RMB (less than $1). Now it’s no contest where one would want to purchase a gaming console. After playing various games on the 360 for a few hours, we went out to eat. By the time the day was over, I was totally burnt out, but I hadn’t slept a wink since the morning before. Success!