Sorry I’m so late on my posts! I just got internet, so I’ll finally be able to catch up. I know I’m several weeks behind, but I’ll just start from the top.
This week was pretty hectic. On Monday I won a contest in class, so I got to eat out with my professor. It was nice to be able to talk one on one with my professor and practice Chinese. She obviously dumbed the conversation down for me, but it’s nice to know I can have an hour and a half long conversation in dumbed down Chinese.
On Wednesday we went to an erhu concert. An erhu is a two stringed instrument that you play on your lap. It sounds similar to a violin. The erhu player was really good. However, there were all these weird lighting and stage effects, along with two dancers that would randomly dance in the background. It was a little distracting and bordering on tacky. The Chinese always think they need to add some flash and pizzazz to their shows, but they go a little over the top. Overall, I enjoyed the music. We weren’t allowed to bring in cameras, so I unfortunately don’t have any pictures.
On Thursday we had a delicious western banquet as our Thanksgiving meal. The other guests must have been appalled, because we attacked the food like maniacs. Hey, we’ve been here for three months; we were craving turkey and mashed potatoes. My favorite part was the cheese, which I sorely missed after an entire summer of eating delicious Italian cheeses. I definitely ate enough western food to last me the next three months (hopefully.)
On Friday we had our usual test and then a couple of us went out to a famous jiaozi place. They colored their jiaozi! (fyi jiaozi are Chinese dumplings, sometimes called potstickers in the U.S., but not fried)
Naomi and I with colored dumplings
Yum!
On Saturday we went to the 798 Art District. It used to be a place where all the modern artists went to get away from the government, but it recently turned into a tourist scene, full of funky little shops and art work for sale. Unfortunately, we went way too early and most of the places were closed. So we sat in a coffee shop for an hour waiting for stores to open, and only had a little time afterward to actually look at the art, so I didn’t see much. However I liked what I saw and would definitely go back.
For lunch we met up with Jocelyn’s old friends who she met at the Ditan park. They had been teaching her Chinese yoyo for the past two months and Xing Laoshi invited them out to eat. I had gone with Jocelyn a couple of times before, and so I knew them. They were very nice, but lunch became a 2 hour event.
We also ended up spending four hours (including going there and back) for supper.
We went to this awful Yunan restaurant, which we thankfully didn’t have to pay for.
So I basically spent my entire Saturday eating.
On Sunday I went to this cute little hutong with a couple of classmates and we wandered around all the little shops. It was a nice stroll to end the weekend.
I can’t believe there’s only one week left!!!
Until next time….back to studying.
My last week came and went in a blur. Saying goodbyes, packing, last minute preparations for traveling and Jiaozuo, plus our final test, I had little time to do anything. We had two farewell dinners on Friday. It was hard to say goodbye to the teachers, but I knew that I would see them at Christmas.
Also, it snowed on the last day!!
On Saturday, Rachael and I packed up onto a train to Suzhou to start our next adventure…
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