Clearly, I'm writing this quite late (I didn't bring my laptop to any of our post-program trips, because we were backpacking) but I'm going to write as if I'm writing on each respective day.
Getting up late on today was awesome. It was so hot today, and Matt C got up late and was 5 minutes late. Eh, class.
The final was actually very hard. I tried my best, I guess. I finished about 20 minutes early, and I waited for everyone else to finish. Li Laoshi cut everyone off, so I don't think the rest of us finished very satisfactorily. But whatever, IT'S FUCKING OVERRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Goodbye, dearest classroom.
We ate at the noodle place afterwards cause dude, why not? We also got pics with the laoban there. I'll miss him.
Jessica and I spent the rest of the day packing (our large suitcases as well as our backpacking stuff for tomorrow) and then we ran errands (got train tickets from Chongqing back to Chengdu) and attempted to get tickets at the Hongqi Superarket.
Didn't work, since we don't have Chinese IDs (somehow, passports don't work). We'll have to buy tickets later. We took a nongmobile back to the cafeteria and ate dinner with our teachers. FAREWELL DINNER!
I didn't get pictures, surprisingly, but it was fun. I'll miss everyone a lot. I gave postcards to Li Laoshi and Wang Laoshi (though she won't get it for like a year), so I got to give them some sort of gift. The food was good. (AND DOUBLE DISHESSS)
Then we continued packing and went to sleep. Early morning tomorrow. Good luck to us.
I'm finally back in America, and I will update the trip stuff and whatever I haven't updated yet -- soon. It'll take time but yeah, I really need to hurry up and do it before my memory fades.
Went to class late cause it started late. 10 AM CLASSES FUCK YEAHHHH
Presented. Did ok. Then came back to dorms, napped, and then went to lunch with teachers.
It was pretty good. All of the teachers (and 4th year fudao laoshi) were there. It was fun and the food was good. I ate so much omg
After that, the fudao laoshi and us went to a cafe by Xiaobeimen. We drank drinks and took selfies and played games (TRUTH OR DARE!?) for a long time lol
My drink was massive.
It was really fun playing with them; whenever it was my time to tell a truth they always said that they had nothing to ask me lmao
The cafe was really cute too.
After we left it was already past 5; I headed back to the dorms while the fudao laoshi tried to find a hotel to stay at. I bumped into Rachel and Brock and we went to KBBQ FOR THE LAST TIMMMEEEEEEE
It was delicious and fun.
After that, I came back and took a shower and did laundry, and got right into business with studying -- I WENT TO A BAR
We went to Savage to play games and drink beer for a while until we decided we have priorities (sort of) so we headed back and I did homework until I passed out. Which didn't take long.
We just fucked around tbh lol wot is studying
AND THAT IS HOW I SET MYSELF UP FOR FAILURE THE NEXT DAY.
I was really tired today cause I slept so late yesterday lol. Also had a stomach ache, probably also from yesterday (HUOGUO TOO GOOD TO RESIST THOUGH). But whatever, it went away.
We spent time going over lessons 6~11, excluding 8 because we skipped the Confucius chapter. STILL UNSURE AS TO HOW THAT IS NOT INTERESTING OR RELEVANT TO CHINESE LIFE. But whatever. I'm definitely not bitter in the slightest, whatsoever, at all.
After that, we turned in our portfolios, then all joined third year and watched a movie. It's called 場將七號. It was weird but it was also somewhat familiar. Not gonna lie, I almost cried. It had its emotional parts, ok. It was also really ridiculous at parts so lol
After that, we ate lunch, courtesy of Li Laoshi (not our fourth year's Li Laoshi. not her.) and Zhan Laoshi!
It was good. On our way back I bumped into James who said that it was other James' birthday and I was like oH SHIT so we went back and ate cake and sang songs and ye.
Fun stuff.
After that I came back. I read manga and screwed around for a bit, visited Matt and ended up just giving him trouble (whoops) and then we decided to go to Korean. Not Korean bbq, but just Korean.
So we went to kimbap nara, again. And I got the same beef mushroom thing. so good wtf
Then we came back, I fucked around more by looking at the RWBY tag (WHY IS IT SO GOOD) and did my presentation (barely did it seriously; RIP). Doing research on our trip now. FINALLY I am updated on blog posts.
Just a heads up: won't be posting from Wednesday to Saturday, since I'll be in Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong, and I'm only bringing one backpack. I'm not about to bring my laptop with me.
Not sure what I did earlier this day. Not sure it matters.
Probably woke up late and ate somewhere. I have a feeling it wasn't the noodle shop... but idk where. Anyways, the important part is our health HOTPOT FOR DINNERRRRR
I'm really happy this time because last time we went, I stupidly forgot my phone at the dorm and I couldn't take pics. BUT THIS TIME I BROUGHT MY PHONE. YESSSS
We were there for quite a while since we got there pretty late. It was around 6:30 when we got there, probably, and we waited for a bit and ate popcorn. We looked at the menu while waiting, too, and saw some delicately sliced ox penis. Hell yeah.
Finally we went in!
This is what the setup looks like before you add the pot with the soup.
And this is what it looks like after you add the pot with the soup.
It's interesting. We can only get this small amount of qingtang, and hongtang is in a bag that the waiters have to cut and pour into the larger compartment. I just thought it looked cool boiling, and the shape is unique too.
The ambiance of the place is cool too. It's kind of noisy but not too noisy, and it's just a nice place in general. Not too hot. Cool cultural references (I see some 三國 and 赤壁)! And just cool designs in general. 10/10 can appreciate
We ordered a lot of stuff, like fish, vegetables, noodles, beef, lamb, meatballs, mushrooms... It was a lot. We kind of went all out with some new fish; James said that catfish was good and it was rather cheap so I was like hell yeah why not.
It came out and they were small (about 3~5 inches in length) and stuck on sticks. I grabbed them from the small stand by the table where they put the raw meat, looked at the fish, and reALIZED THEY WERE STILL BREATHING.
I can't tell you how 可憐 they looked. I felt so bad. I semi-freaked out (I was not expecting to suddenly be carrying a plate of still-alive-but-clearly-dying-painful-slow-death fish) and all of their parts were everywhere and holy shit. I put one in the qingtang and was like "holy shit this fish is ded cause me" but then the waiter came over and said that he'd do it since they were still alive. Yeah, I caught that. Thanks. (I guess I was unbothered enough to take a pic while they were still breathing like the sad little things they were. jfc. see u in hell, satan)
Overall the day was awesome cause hotpot. I didn't do much other than that. We ate tons and it was great and a bonding experience lol.
Then we came back and I did my essay, and slept really really late. gdi.
Went to eat lunch at noodle place, I think. Always the good ol' qingtang luroumian with veggies. :)
After that I went to the souvenir shop with Jessica. I got a pin!
And then we came back to the dorms and went to get our train tickets with James. I have yet to get a return ticket but everything should be fine lol
We went to the stationary store and I spent tons of money on pens, again. Screams internally.
Also lol
After that I came back and we napped until it was sushi time.
SUSHI
After that we headed back to the dorms, chilled out, and then went for margaritas.
No pics but it was fun. I had 5 daiquiris/margaritas, though they weren't really either daiquiris or margaritas. I got very red and very flushed, and my heart was beating really fast, and yeah, but I was fine in the end. We decided to go into Jellyfish and dance for a bit since it was Mexican night. We got the cue from this waiter.
Then we came back and I showered and slept. Good times.
20140808 - sushi, salons, teppanyaki, and clubbing
marks of a good day
I can't remember clearly what happened on this day other than I was extremely tired. I almost fell asleep in class, which I felt bad about since that day was my last day with Li Laoshi. She was really nice and said I coud put my head down on the desk and rest; I felt so much better after that. We talked about more irrelevant stuff like Confucius (this has nothing to do with our final) but whatever, it was fine.
I drew useless shit on the board lol
We came back to the dorms and waited a bit for people because we were under the impression we'd all get our hair cut at the same time. Turns out people already left without us, so we left late and went to sushi outside of xiaobeimen.
Before that we saw cats tho. omg.
Mommy cat.
Many cats.
And then we had sushi. It was pretty good.
After that, we got out hair cut. Mine took a while and I didn't get what I originally wanted (a gradient) but I got it dyed dark brown/grey with some blue streaks or whatever. No pics yet, but I'm happy with it. It cost a lot (cough about 100usd) but it was fun. I actually ran out of money and semi-freaked out but luckily some people from the program showed up and lent me money.
Anyways, after that, we went to eat at Raffles City with Enrique's friend.
We went to a food court called food republic.
Afterwards we walked around the mall, went to H&M, got more Cruising With the Homies shirts... good times, good times.
We headed back to the dorms and then straight to Savage. Drew on the walls. Xilan was here!
Also frog.
After that, we just danced at Jellyfish like the whole time. Every time I tried to find our table I couldn't find it, so I just stayed up there. Luckily I had water with me so I was fine and not too dehydrated!
After that we came back, I showered, and we played Cards Against Humanity for like 10 minutes before all of us went back to our rooms and passed out.
I'm writing this like two days late so there will not be much detail.
I woke up and we turned in our essays in class. Second-to-last day with Li Laoshi; she seemed more agreeable than usual. Class was alright; we went over tests and argued over some points so I got higher than I thought I initially got. Yay!.
During break I saw the literal gift of corn.
After that we went to lunch. Rachel and I weren't hungry so we went to the place outside of Xiaobeimen and got chicken. We also got nail polish remover, which somehow just didn't work in the slightest. idk.
We came back to the dorms and went to fudao, which was good. We worked on essay. I think I probably napped after that.
After that, we finally decided to get steak. And so we went.
It was far, but worth it. It had an unlimited salad bar, and we got bread and soup along with it. It was great.
The menu was also really funny.
I am very picky about my steak and I like it rare, so we all got it rare.
Turns out we cut into it and it was basically raw; I think they just cooked it on low heat for like 3 minutes and then gave it to us. It's so thin that I was surprised that it was raw. Idk. We sent it back and got it on hot pans instead; after that, it was like medium, which was good.
We spent some time there, talking about how we're gonna get our hairs did. So excite.
After that, we left the place and got distracted by people dancing on the street. It was pretty cool. Street dancing here is mostly shuffling, which is interesting. It was also mostly young people who were probably still in middle school or high school. It was awesome, though. There was also a cute dog there.
After that we did homework super fast. Yep. And then we slept.
I'm cutting this post short because I really don't have much time lol.
Day started okay. Class was a bit bad because all of us had upset stomachs for various reasons. Quizzes were alright; didn't do amazing. Class was short because Wang Laoshi has to catch a flight for conference.
I ate some pork thing from the jianbing place. It was good. I blogged yesterday's post. Then went to fudao.
We just corrected stuff for our portfolio. We don't have much work left; just have to finish portfolio, do essay (I HAVEN'T STARTED), do presentation, take final test, and turn in portfolio. Portfolio is basically done. The rest have yet to be touched. Li Laoshi also gave us a stupid debate thing that has to do with nothing. I'll wing that later.
After fudao I was really just too tired so I went to sleep. I woke up at around 7, and we went to the noodle place. It was good; I haven't been there in a while.
Then we came back, I fucked around for a long time. And now here I am, it's 10 PM and I haven't started my essay. It's due tomorrow.
This blog post has been censored because it contains ideas that oppose those of our Great Leader, Chairman Mao.
Not really.
Woke up normally. Went to class normally. Class was alright, I think. During break, Zack pointed out this funny bread.
After class, Jessica and I decided to go to TrustMart because we really need conditioner and we also need stuff for our trip. So we took a rickshaw to East Gate, and got stuff for our trip. I'm excited. So many panda wipes and travel-sized things lol.
WE ALSO STOPPED BY CAFFE BENE because Jessica wanted to get waffles and gelato, and I've wanted to go for a long time now. Sadly, the gelato and waffles were tiny and very expensive, but we got drinks (called frappenos) instead.
Love the decorations. Very charming!!!
After that, we headed back to the dorms and chilled out because it was so fucking hot outside. We had plans to go visit some sex shops because why not, so we set off to do that. We'll buy our train tickets to Chongqing later since we heard that we can only buy 11 days in advance.
Went to three sex shops; all were mediocre. The stores seemed geared towards women, which I guess I can appreciate. There was some kinky stuff but in general I thought it was all pretty tame/normal. The third one was funny though because it was a lounge that had an upstairs. People were scared to go in because it looked like an actual sex shop (like, a place you pay to have sex) but I went in with Josh and Francisco and went upstairs; it was just a hot (and weird-smelling) room with other sex toys. Kind of boring. We left.
We went to a stationary store after that, which we thought would have more anime paraphernalia but it didn't. I got a black notebook and tons of metallic pens, though, so I'm really fucking excited for that. I drew a bit after we got back. I need to practice inverting :((((
THEN we went to Laogeming, which I have been wanting to go to for so long.
It was awesome. Pretty good food, awesome decorations, decent service (in Chinese standards), GOOD MUSIC LOL (old Communist music) and etcetc. It was really fun. Eating the food was a bit of a struggle because there ALWAYS ends up being nothing in the clear broth and TONS of food in the red broth. I wish that hotpot here could be all clear broth, but whatever.
We came back and talked with Rachel, had a party in our room (basically. this always ends up happening) and then speed-did our homework and now sleep.
Showered. Went to class. Had a nosebleed during class :( But I think it was my breakfast that I ate (baozi and cake and coffee) that kept me very awake today during class. nts.
Wang Laoshi told us details about our final project in Chinese. It's about Chinese democracy and if Chinese people should study Western (i.e. America in this context) democracy. It's already obvious that this topic will be more complicated, but it kind of sucks that I have little strong opinion towards this topic, if any. Oh well, I'll be able to make something up (lol)
After lunch, Matt and Zack and I went to Sunflower Daddy in hopes of some nice foodstuffs, but it was closed. A lot of things were closed today for some reason. Because of that, we went to get baozi outside of Beimen (not before going to 7-Eleven and getting a disgusting sakura tea drink...). It was so hot but it was worth it cause we passed by Laogeming (which, with luck, I will write about tomorrow) which is a Communist-themed hotpot place. Soon, hopefully. SOON!
Then I walked back, screwed around on the internet, and went to fudao. Didn't do all that much today. We talked about food though, and my fudao laoshi said I done fucked up by going to Jinli and not eating food (whoops). I might go some other time, though, so it's okay.
After fudao, I talked with Rachel and Jessica (as usual) and then we headed out to 鐵飯碗. I could not finish so I got it to go. I also got chelunbing and also some milkshake thingy, which was 15 kuai. Not worth it, probably, but it was still yums.
We also went to a stationary store and I saw these pens. Just reminded me of the amazing song that is this is a pen.
After coming back, we did a bit of homework before James came back from pingpong. And after that, we just discussed our trip. I have most of it planned out, but we needed to go over the itinerary as well as the costs. As I said before, it's my first time planning out a trip, so wish me luck lol.
So yeah, things are getting arranged! We're going to Jiuzhaigou, Huanglong, and Chongqing! Depite all these exciting arrangements, to be honest, I cannot WAIT to be back in Seattle. It's home and I miss my family and my brother is back (and I haven't seen him in almost 2 full years) so yeah. I am really happy to go back soon.
this post is so late that i forgot what happened already
it just happened yesterday wtf
I slept in I think???????? Jessica and Molly had plans to go to Jinli and I was like fuck yeah so we got up and ate breakfast, then went to Jinli.
We took a taxi from xiaobeimen; it was relatively close. It's always nice to see another side of Chengdu. All I ever really see is stuff close to the campus, which isn't the most exciting in terms of actual city life.
Because of traffic, we didn't get off at actual Jinli, which was good, because we went to tons of shops along the way.
Some had turtles.
Others had cool bone carved stuff or whatever.
And etcetc.
And then we finally got to Jinli itself.
It was hot that day. And we saw a lot of cool things. Jessica and Molly bought some kick-ass souvenirs; I bought one bookmark (I THOUGHT I HAD GOTTEN MORE THAN THAT BUT IDK)
I'm glad I went because we got to pace ourselves really nicely and got to choose tons of stuff to give as gifts. We also just had a good time shopping. ALSO, it was just really hot and we laughed about the hotness and WE SAW. A DAIRY QUEEN.
First time I've seen one in China. And you bet all your financial assets that I got an Oreo blizzard.
It was 21 kuai for this tiny cup of blizzard but it was so delicious. They turned it upside down when serving too so it was legit. It was so good. Best purchase while there for sure, holy shit.
We headed back, and I talked to friends before napping. I had a weird dream and then woke up awkwardly (gdi) and we went to get shuijiao outside of xiaobeimen. Didn't take pics because dude. They're just shuijiao.
I got xianrou and yangrou and both were good. 12 dumplings total, so I was still hungry. After we were done, we got the danzai; I got original flavour and 雙皮奶 which was a pudding and not a milk tea as I had suspected. It was delicious and I was very happy and it had red bean and top and was just a happy.
Then I think we fucked around with homework until sleep. It was pretty bad I think lol
I have to write the next day's passage so ye. As usual, pictures later.
finally, a succinct title. sadly, the captions have yet to follow suit
Woke up at around 9, slept on and off until 10. We arranged to leave at 10:45; we left at 10:50 and got to Dongmen (where we planned to meet our fudao laoshi) like 5 minutes late. We chartered a nongmobile again.
We waited for them there for a while; we waited for Matt GP too because he went to Texmex and we didn't know where we were meeting him. Eventually, after quite some time, we all made it, and we took the bus to Chunxilu.
[pictures will have to come later].
We were all starving at this point because it was like 12 and a lot of us hadn't eaten breakfast. So after somewhat of a debate, we ended up at Korean barbeque.
Oh god.
We spent so long in there. It's the buffet style where you get up and get large platters that had small portions of meat. We got drinks and meat and vegetables and more meat and then more meat and more meat and more meat and it was just ridiculous. We took breaks from eating to play games, then ate more. In total we were there, eating, for 3 hours. What the hell.
Pics.
After that, we went to Uniqlo; I blew all of my money there lol. i LOVE UNIQLO SO MUCH. Got another Same is Lame shirt (might return my other one?), a shirt for a friend that I HAD to get when I saw, and pants for myself cause I love Uniqlo pants and Seattle doesn't have Uniqlo.
Then H&M. The Cruising With the Homies shirt was still there, but not in a size small, so we just left. We went to a place called guangqun guangchang or something (nts edit this as I look back on pics) and it was underground and quite cool. It reminded me a bit of jingdian or whatever it's called in Taiwan (and also of taibei dixiajie). I went to Watson's which is way different in China, sadly (not as good). Otherwise, we were so dead tired (i went to sleep at 4:30 last night, WHY) that we just stayed in the cafeteria and waited for other people, since we had split up.
It was really packed and crowded on Chunxilu because today is 七夕, Chinese Valentine's Day!!! There were people selling flowers everywhere, and so many sales were going on as well.
When we all got together again, we were way too tired so we just went back. Bussing was good. It's really quite straightforward! We chartered another nongmobile (A MOTORIZED ONE THIS TIME!) and went back to the dorms in hopes of a late nap (it was 6. It wasn't happening).
I chatted with Jessica which was great. Then Rachel came in and we talked about where to eat (don't worry, that was great too). We were obviously not hungry because we committed the sin of eating for 3 hours straight so we settled for some baozi. We postponed for a bit after friends came in and talked with us; we finally left at like 8 pm lol
Baozi and Coco. HELL YEAH (fucking right)
Chilled at dorm after that, watched K-Pop music videos and stuff. Fun things. Then we finally went for margaritas.
The Spot was really nice, actually. It was a cute little hipster-y bar with awesome light fixtures (I can appreciate light fixtures and not comment on them, but THESE were nice). The music was quite nice too.
Sadly, since it's Valentine's Day, there were no free margaritas. Since I spent all my money on clothes today, I just got coke. It was good coke. We talked about various things; as time progressed, the music got louder and clubby-er, to the point where we were shouting to each other (and we were only around a small table). We decided to leave and drink Brock's red wine.
We got back (I locked myself out of my room; I thought my keys were actually Jessica's and so they got handed off to many people lol) and we drank the wine; it was so disgusting lol. I didn't say anything when I first drank it because idk I am not very alcohol-savvy, and I don't know how it should taste. Eventually someone piped in that it was disgusting and I was like "yeah it is" LOL it kind of reminded me of jintianbuhujia or baijiu or something. It was kind of ridiculous. I probably had a little less than a glass worth. It tasted so bad.
We had an awesome time though; people kept coming and some would go. We talked about all kinds of things. I love how this program is so diverse and I think we are very accepting of each other as well. It was a blast tbh
And yeah now I'm exhausted so I'm pushing out this entry and going to add pictures later. GOOD NIGHT!
Woke up earlyish, got ready, and walked to school by myself. I wonder if people on the streets think I'm a local, like they are. I know I act a little different (since I was born and raised in America) but I get curious sometimes.
Went to class, took the test, did decently. Not badly, but not all that great, either. Whatever!!
After class, we went to get jianbing and now I am back in my dorm eating jianbing.
I finally took a pic of the place, though. A bad one, but hey. Whatevz!!
I am now done doing laundry and I have to plan our trip to Huanglong and Jiuzhaigou. Wish me luck; this is the first time I've done anything like this LOL (AND I AM PLANNING FOR THREE PEOPLE???)
GLHF.
Planned some stuff. Sent some emails, booked some nights. Then I napped. for a while.
We went to Coco, then 雙王 and I got wonton soup again. That took us a while, then we passed by English Corner and stopped by there and talked to some people. It was pretty cool; I wasn't really a main attraction (too Asian lol) but other people like Zack and Jessica were very popular. We left around 8:20 because we had plans to pregame before karaoke.
So we just pregamed (??) on the roof. I tried some grape baijiu which was surprisingly good, and I also drank a Rio (how are those so good?). Sadly I had an allergic reaction to those, and now I'm all red and my heart is pounding lol. I'll be fine though.
The view on the roof is gorgeous. I can't really capture it with my phone but. Yeah.
That hotel is seriously so bright. The light pollution here is pretty intense, actually.
We're heading out to karaoke soon. I figured I'd write what's happened since I last updated cause I have time. When I update it'll probably be really dumb, like "we went to karaoke and sang" or something. (whatever)
ok bye for now
I'm back.
A girl on our program got injured while going down the stairs, so we assisted her to a hospital before going to karaoke. She's fine now; just needs a bit of healing time!
ATT was full so we went to one across from Trustmart called 凱仕迪. The outside was fancy but it wasn't as nice as ATT; it was 300 for all of us (about the same price as ATT; maybe even a little more expensive).
I saw this on our way there, which I thought was interesting. The text reads: "今日限行尾號: 5 和 0". Because the pollution is such a problem here in China, they restrict certain license plate numbers on certain days -- today, 5 and 0 were not allowed to be on roads. Somehow it was my first time seeing it so I took a picture.
Anyways, karaoke was fun. Sang quite a lot and winged a lot of songs. A lot of us are still sick so we couldn't all belt out, and kaishidi didn't have as much variety as ATT, but it was still a fun experience.
I'm going to miss KTV so much when I go back to America :(
Day started okay. Didn't get that great of a sleep bECUSE STOOORM. I woke up at around 5 AM because of an insane thunderstorm. Lightning was flashing like every 2~5 seconds and thunder was super loud. Even after we closed the curtains it was super bright. I went back to sleep with a little bit of difficulty, sadly. It was a cool storm, but I got annoyed with it once I lost sleep lol
It was still pouring this morning, so we had to wear our jackets and use our umbrellas (it is still thundering and lightning...ing... at this point). Class was boring and terrible with Li Laoshi as usual. This time she made us read in front of the class, and once again, told everyone everyone's scores. Great. That's not demeaning at all. Even when the ones who get higher scores get praised in front of the class (and others get demeaned), I don't think those people feel proud. When it happens to me, I just feel like my teacher is an asshole. Chinese education and American education are different, and I don't know if Li Laoshi knows that.
Actually, Matt C came into class late and Li Laoshi stopped class and asked him if he knew what Chinese people say when they come into class late. Matt guessed "Sorry" (對不起) and Li Laoshi gave him a condescending smile (again) and was like "What do American students say?" We all gave her a look because American students don't say anything when they come in late. They just quietly enter the room and take a seat and don't interrupt class with something as trivial as being a little late. She said that Chinese people ask if they can come in -- which 1) I have never experienced or heard about and 2) is very counterproductive. While I understand the Chinese method of public humiliation as a ways to bend to authority, interrupting class in order to get permission to come in -- which is more than likely going to be granted, so why ask? -- is just pointless. She was a little miffed when we told her that American students don't say anything, for the sake of not interrupting class. Whatever.
We also have a big test tomorrow but all we talked about during class was her acquaintances' stories of being in the Cultural Revolution (since our lesson is about 知青). It was such a drag and we learned nothing. Not only that, but at the end of class, we watched more of 非成無擾 (the movie). Class was pointless. Ugh.
I was glad when it ended. It was still pouring outside, but we wanted to get dumplings. I'm glad because it's been forever since I've been there (maybe first or second week?) so yeah, I got wonton soup there. It was good.
After that, I went to Coco with Matt GP. We had a good chat and stuff while walking in the rain. It was a chill adventure (IN CONTRAST TO THE WILD ADVENTURE WHICH WILL BE EXPLAINED SOON).
We came back and arranged for our tutors to come to the dorm -- they found it and made it in time, but apparently Zhang Laoshi caught them and reprimanded them really harshly. I thought she was a chiller teacher that that, but I guess it's her job. They never said we couldn't hold class anywhere other than the classroom, but I see why it could be concerning. We tried to make it work the best we could by having two pairs in each room, so there wasn't only one boy-girl pair in one room.
We didn't go over much during fudao, but we had some fun afterwards when everyone was coming back from the classrooms and we were messing around in the hallway. I went back to my room and talked to Rachel and Jessica before taking a sort nap; I felt weird because I had a weird dizzy spell during tutoring, and I wanted to sleep in hopes it'd get better.
Woke up and got a message from Zack that he found the hotpot place that Wang Laoshi recommended to us a while ago (we tried finding it this day, but it didn't work out so we ended up somewhere else). Got excited as fuck, got ready, accidentally left my phone in the dorm (whoops) and set off for a wild adventure with Matt and Zack.
I was worried about how I'd feel because I was still a little light-headed, but I figured getting food in me would be a good start to feeling better. The place is called 蜀九香 and was so packed. There was a rather large group of people already waiting outside; we joined them. We were told we'd wait for 30 minutes; I think we waited shorter than that, but it might have just felt shorter because we were talking and joking around.
We went in and it was awesome. It was a well-ventilated place and the setup was just really cool. There were the shadow puppet scroll things on the walls, cool paper light fixtures, nice marble tables, nice chairs, fans everywhere, ventilation... THERE WERE EVEN WATER SPRINKLER THINGS. THE FIRE HAZARD IS SIGNIFICANTLY LESS THAN USUAL!!! Everything was really quite nice. It was kind of loud but not really loud, and it was spacious too. We had difficulty choosing stuff to get; we eventually got like 7 dishes or something like that. We decided to get a wild dish -- bullfrog. Oh boy.
Everything was really quite good. We got meatballs, beef, more beef, spare ribs, pork, chicken wings, vegetables, etc... The pot itself was really unique; it was octagon-shaped and had a round section in the center with non-spicy soup. I tried the spicy section anD IT WAS SPICY. I JUST DIPPED MY CHOPSTICK IN AND TASTED IT AND AHHHHH
So yeah, needless to say, I didn't eat any spicy stuff. We were nicely enjoying our meal when our server came over with a bag of black something (looked like fish) and asked us some questions. We were confused. Very confused. Then we finally caught on -- the frogs were in the bag. And they were alive. I saw them moving. He was asking us if they were okay (this is a really Chinese thing to do; bring the animal while it's still alive and ask the customer if it's up to their expectations). I said it was okay. They asked if we wanted them to cut their heads and feet off (we got two) and I was like yES PLEASE CUT IT OFF I DON"T WANT TO SEE IT
They brought the frogs back on a platter all cut up and skinned. We ate them; they were good, but it was so morbid putting in the pieces because they were still kind of attached together and so we could still kind of tell it was a frog. I'm not really squeamish about stuff like this but holy shit, it was kind of weird; usually I'm not the one to say "yes, kill this animal so I can eat it" and now I was cooking it.
It was good though, not gonna lie.
It was just overall a great experience. We spent so much time there which was hilarious; we were there until 9:20 (and we left at 6:45). We just had a lot of good laughs and ate good food and had a good soymilk drink thing and it was just great. I would definitely go back, and I really want to go with my roommate. Ugh, it was just awesome.
It's also kind of funny that we spent so much time eating (though a lot of that time was also spent walking to and from, waiting, and choosing what to eat) while we have a big test tomorrow that none of us really have studied for. In fact, I still haven't studied for it. I just really had to write down this experience before I forgot the details.
I wish I had pictures, but I was dumb and forgot my phone (I actually had a minor scare and thought I lost it; thank god I just left it by the fridge). I'm definitely going to go back, so I'll DEFINITELY bring my phone next time.
Oh yeah, it was 339 kuai total, so we paid 113 each -- AND ALL OF US HAD EXACT CHANGE.
IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL.
SO WILD.
I know I was just complaining about Li Laoshi earlier this entry, but I love this program. I can deal with Li Laoshi; hanging out with the people is just great. Sure we have our disagreements, but that's bound to happen no matter where you are. I feel I get along with the people rather well, and I seriously lucked out with my roommate lol. She's awesome and I have like zero complaints. idk. good experience.
wild.
wish me luck on my test tomorrow; I'm going to need it.
I am feeling better now. Morning was alright. Went to school; all was normal. Chinese people always ask if you've taken medicine when you tell them you're sick. Teacher was like "have you still not taken medicine?" and im like "ye still not gonna take it" and she was mildly concerned lol
DURING BREAK JOSH GAVE ME THE GIFT OF CORN. It's a weird corn ice cream. I had no idea what to expect. Honestly my expectations were low; Li Laoshi gave us corn candy once and that was one of the most disgusting things I have ever eaten.
Here is the package.
I opened the package.
It was alright at first, with a weird waffly wafer thing on the outside, but it started to taste more and more like corn. I wanted to bail, but in the end, I finished. I have conquered the gift of corn.
Went to get Korean food at a really small place outside of xiaobeimen; I got tuna kimbap. IT WAS GOOD. I didn't take a picture. whoops. We spent some time in there because they could only make one roll at a time, lol. Kimbap was 13 a roll; James and James got some spicy fried chicken thing which was pretty good. I'd go back for a small lunch for sure.
After that, we passed bY A 車輪餅 PLACE. I HAVEN'T HAD IT IN SO LONG. I asked if they had custard BECAUSE THAT'S THE BEST, AND THE ONE AT THE UW NIGHT MARKET KINDA SUCKED but they didn't. They only had red bean and I didn't want red bean. :( Josh took it and I think he liked it, so that's good.
got a pic of it tho.
Went back to dorms, wrote yesterday's blog post, then went to fudao. Was good. Talked about some gruesome history and barely talked about the lesson, as usual. It's k, I can dig it.
After fudao and a bit, we went to 鐵飯碗 which was good as usual. I got 土豆回鍋, as per Jessica's recommendation. IT WAS SO GOOD. And I finished NEARLY ALL of it. Holy shit. So full, even now.
14 kuai well spent!
Went back to the 車輪餅 place which still didn't have custard, but they had red bean, so I settled for that.
r they really sponsoring this place tho
It was red bean and sweet potato, which is what I wasn't expecting, but it was good. It was 2.5 kuai, which is pretty good (in Taiwan I paid 10 NT).
After that we went to Wowo and I got that 養樂多 thing. Haven't drunk it yet. I figured my digestive system will need it eventually.
And now I'm not studying for my quiz tomorrow. god bless and good night
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