Day 27

Day 27

What a fun evening.  I took the early bus in so that I could take the early bus home.  I had plans with Shusheng and Qizhi (pronounced CHE-jzuh—I had to work on that one) to go shopping.  They wer super excited about taking me to a new store—turns out it's really just a store like Super Target.  It opened about 5 days ago, so it's brand new.  It was pretty neat!  They knew I wanted candy, so they had such a great time finding it for me.  We went to the bulk section and they had fun picking out stuff for me.  I am pretty sure the only people that have more candy than me right now are those who own a candy store!  It's okay.  As long as I can get it home, I'll have a ton of stuff for my friends at work and also for the kiddos at church.  They kept trying to talk me into getting things like frozen dumplings, meat sticks, all kinds of things.  They did talk me into getting a dragon fruit, but just because it's so neat looking.  I'll have a good time opening that tomorrow evening and trying it.  I took pictures again!  Lots of pictures of things just in the store, but also me and the two techs.  They were so sweet to take me out.  Plus, I spent so much money that I got a bag of rice for free—haha.  I gave that to Qizhi, seeing as I don't need it in the hotel room.  They tried talking me into cooking it in my kettle while I'm here  :-)

That's all for today.  It's all of 6pm and I think I'll lay down and watch National Geographic channel for just a while then read before going to bed early.  I was up really early today—remember, I took the early bus.  It was a productive day at work again.  Started a training program that will last a week.  Guess what happens at the end of that week-long training?  I go home :-)

See you soon!

Pictures:  Shusheng and Qizhi, and me with dragon fruit.

 

Day 26

Day 26

I had dumplings today.  My methotrexate gave me a bad bruise on my stomach.  Two of the techs are taking me shopping for the last of my goodies tomorrow.

I really miss my boyfriend and I'm super glad that we get to celebrate my homecoming, then New Year's Eve, then Christmas all at the same time basically.  THEN comes my birthday and I'm glad it's a 3-day weekend.  Yay!

I leave here in a week and a day.  But who's counting?

 

Day 25

Day 25

You'll never guess what I did today.

Well, if you've been reading my blog regularly, you probably do.  I went shopping :-)

I went to Guan Qian, since I didn't go yesterday.  You know there were still things that I wanted to get for some other people.  Sheesh, I wish that I didn't know anyone that reads this, cause I'd love to tell you what I got!  Instead, I have to keep it a secret.  Anyways, I got another necklace for me, and a bunch of things for other people.  *sigh*  I want to tell you!  Okay, here's what I got—something for my bosses, some things for people at work, and two of the greatest gifts ever for Chris.  I'm happy.  Then I came back to my room and took a nap.  Oh, wait.  I forgot about lunch.  I ate at a Chinese curry restaurant.  It was good.  I had vegetables in curry sauce with rice.

Okay, now back to my hotel room.  I took a nap, then went to eat.  I had the concierge write down "beef", "vegetables", and "rice" in Chinese, and I took it to a restaurant down the street.  I thought I'd get something like stir fry, but I got a divided plate with a section for rice, one for that kind of melon that sort of tastes like zucchini (but more bland), a fried egg (didn't eat that, obvi), beef, and a small section with peanuts.  It was not what I expected, but it was good.  And I can even pick up individual peanuts with my chopsticks.  You'd be proud.

Mom, I got my picture taken today, just like you asked me to!  It is in front of the Hall of Learning, and it's with a bunch of Chinese people :-)  Love you!

 

Day 24

Day 24

Hello, all!

I had a great day today.  Had an interesting lunch then took a nap.  Went to stone road with Simon, and bought a bunch of great things.  A wonderful gift for Leann, one for her unborn son, a scarf for me, some chopstick sets, a gift for Mansa, and a bracelet I'd seen a week and a half ago.  It'd been on my mind for that whole time, so it meant to me that I was supposed to buy it :-)  plus, last time I saw it, they told me it was 98 yuan.  This time, when Simon asked how much in Chinese, they said 50.  I'm thrilled.  Just having him there saved me that much money!  We didn't even have to bargain!  It's made of pewter, and I just love it so much.  Might be my new favorite bracelet ever.

After shopping, we went to a Korean bbq place for dinner.  It was an experience, and I took pictures of the food and of the ladies cooking for us.

Tomorrow I think I'll go down to Guan Qian again.  I still have more shopping to do.  There's people I want to get things for that I haven't found something yet.  I'm looking forward to finishing up my shopping.  Plus, I only have one more weekend after this one!  Can you believe it??  I'll be home in less than two weeks!  I'm excited to come back.  I'm loving the shopping, and that I can have a phenomenal dinner for less than $10.50, but I'm more excited to be home.  I've already got reservations at my uncle's house for cold beer and spaghetti when I return :-)  I also get to have Christmas a week later than everyone else, probably on New Year's day.  Shortly after that is my birthday!  Jan 17, don't forget it!

I'm including a picture of the gingerbread house in my hotel lobby and a statue near Stone Road..  Enjoy!

Day 23

Day 23

Today, one of the girls who always seems to have a scowl on her face called me her friend.  That made me happy.  One of the guys was writing down places I need to visit while I'm here.  They're really sweet people.

Now, about me:

1)      At less than a month from age 27, I still sleep with a teddy bear.

2)      I have no idea what color my eyes are.

3)      I'm so much happier staying in and reading than going out partying.

4)      I love to cook.

5)      I honestly don't think I could live if I wasn't allowed to have chocolate ever again.

6)      I dislike British accents.

7)      I haven't seen most of the "key" movies of the 80's.

8)      I don't like turkey.

9)      I like raw fish.

10)   Christmas (meaning the day after Thanksgiving through New Year's Eve) is my favorite season.

11)   I don't believe in sarcasm (if you know me, you get this one).

12)   I love good pillows but can't ever find ones that really work for me.

13)   Sometimes I wonder why double space on my computer doesn't work like double space on my iPhone.

14)   I can't sing.

15)   Tonight I plan on eating Dove chocolate while watching Serendipity from the bathtub.

There's a bit about me.  It's so nice to meet you.

 

Day 22

Day 22

Okay.  I've been in China for three weeks now, and have written (almost) every day.  Each day, I've written some sort of "woo-hoo-look-at-me-I'm-living-in-China" blog.  My plan tonight was to write more of an "about me" blog, since I've gotten a few new readers who know I'm in China, but don't know much about me.  *However*… I've had quite a day to write about today.  Actually, it sort of started last night…

I decided to start living (for one day) like I'm actually staying in this phenomenal, 5-star hotel.  I scheduled a room-service breakfast.  I decided not to go with the continental breakfast or with the US breakfast.  When in Rome, ya know.  So, breakfast was rice porridge, jasmine tea, two preserved vegetables, steamed pork bun, and barbecue pork crisp.  Actually, there were some other steamed buns that just came with the meal.  It was… well… interesting.  I would have loved the rice porridge if there was just a touch of sugar in it.  I didn't touch the vegetables (they scared me), the plain steamed buns were delicious.  There was one steamed bun that was filled with something green, and that scared me, too.  The jasmine tea was phenomenal, and I'm super glad that I've already purchased some to take home.  Then, before I left for work, I packed up some laundry and ordered a laundry service. 

On the way to my room, I stopped in the hotel restaurant to order some food to be delivered to my room.  Got the second dinner listed—amazing corn chowder, steamed rice, a sort of garlic chicken (no bones!!), and English tea.  While ordering my dinner, I met a man named Peter who is from Canada, but he's got to be a billionaire or something.  He's taking a trip through China for like three months, and he has a tour guide.  He never picks where to eat, or what to order.  He just goes where they tell him to, takes pictures, and enjoys it.  Wow.  He was quite a pleasant fellow, but I think he had almost an Australian accent.  Not Canadian, so I'm confused. 

Anyways, I got back to my room, and my food was delivered right away.  As I greeted them at the door, I checked my closet and whaddya know—I had a closet full of clean clothes.  That's right, I sent everything out for cleaning.  It's a pretty nice feeling, this livin' the high life.  But that's the last time I do that—I'm saving my money for shopping for tourist things and then for eating salad when I get home.

 

Day 21

Day 21

Nothing news worthy to tell about tonight, except that I bought a music box.  And it's not even Chinese!  It's a Christmas tree, with two teddy bears, a stocking, some presents, and a giant snowflake that is the winder for it.  I love it and am using it for my Christmas tree here in China since I'll be here well past the 25^th.  Everyone else is starting to leave.  Tyler left last week, along with Bob and Brian.  Jim left today, and Charlie leaves on Friday.  After that, it'll just be me, Simon and Peter.  But Peter doesn't go out or anything, so that doesn't really count.  Simon and I are planning on shopping this weekend, starting at stone road (the old, touristy area) and heading towards Guan Qian (the upscale place, where I had my coat made).  He wants to walk the whole way, but I'll have to see how my ankle is feeling.  If you remember, I'm still recovering from that horrible tendon accident just a few months ago.

Charlie and I went to the dumpling place for dinner, then took the long way home, looking for shoes for Charlie's wife.  Along the way, we were peeking inside windows of restaurants, and at one, there were some guys walking in the street and they said, "no, no, no!"—so we took that to mean that wasn't a good restaurant.  In reply, we said, "xie xie" (thank you!).  I'm proud to have known that!  Anyways, on the way home, we of course stopped at the kedi.  Charlie got sodas and I got a Dove chocolate bar.  The ladies in there were really excited about something when we walked in, and kept smiling at me, trying to make hand gestures to say what they wanted to say—but they kept making it look like they were laughing at my hair or something, so I asked Charlie and he said my hair was fine… I'm still confused, but they seemed happy, so I'm okay.  I love that there are a few places around here that already know me—of course, they're places like the kedi and the dumpling restaurant :-)

 

Day 20

Day 20

Chinese hospitality rivals Southern hospitality.  For reals.  On the way home tonight, I stopped at the local Kedi.  Kedi seems to be like a 7-11 or something.  This one's actually called 942, but I call it "the other Kedi".  They've started to know me there, as I often stop for drinks or a noodle pot on the way home.  A noodle pot is just a really big Cup O' Noodle.  Well, today, it's stinkin' cold.  I mean, see-your-breath-freezing-rain cold.  Brrrr.  Today, as I stand in front of the wall of noodles (seriously—they have about 40 different flavors, and I can't read a single one.  I just try to get a different color each time) the one cashier with cute hair came and picked one out for me.  She tried telling me something, but I obviously didn't understand.  She spoke Chinese, duh.  Anyways, she took it to the front, and as the other cashier was checking me out (I also picked up some "Mexican Tomato Flavor Lay's"), the first girl started opening my package.  I figured she was going to try to tell me how to do it.  Nope!  She made it for me!  She added water and then microwaved it.  It wasn't worth arguing with her, trying to tell her I'd do it at home.  Plus, carrying the warm noodle pot for half a block ended up being much better than keeping my hands in my pocket, with the temps being near 30 and the whole freezing rain stuff.

It's spicy.  I'm eating it while I type this.  It's good.  I'm looking forward to trying the chips a little later.  So far, the flavors have been pretty interesting.  I say "so far", but I've only had "French Red Meat Flavor Lay's".  Haha.  I love the flavor names.  I haven't gotten brave enough to try the blueberry or kiwi flavor potato chips yet.

I had a meeting with my boss while I'm here today, and he said that the techs are having a really great reaction to me being there.  With the whole cultural-differences thing, I'd been a little nervous about my reception.  They like me more than the trainer that was here before me, he said.  It made me really happy, since the techs aren't very emotional at all, so you really don't know what they're thinking.

I suppose that's all for now.  Since I've been here, I learned that my gramma got rushed to the hospital for heart failure.  She got out of the hospital last night (today?  Dang time change) and mom says she's doing much better.  She has oxygen at home, but only needs it at night so that's a good thing.  Also, I'm getting sick of watching National Geographic, because that's really the only thing on.  Well, the only thing in English, besides HBO and Cinemax, and they don't ever have anything good on.  Scratch that.  I just turned to HBO and 10,000 BC is about to start.  I think I know what I'm doing tonight.  Night, all.

 

Day 19

Day 19

What I've learned so far in China:

1)      Don't look at what you're eating if you're really hungry.  For that matter, don't chew it.

2)      Overseas Dragon should be called Magic Dragon because it's delicious and they have a menu in English.

3)      Just because they say "yes" doesn't mean they mean it.

4)      If you don't learn to eat with chopsticks, you will starve.

5)      If you do learn to eat with chopsticks, you will lose 10 lbs.

6)      Some of them speak better English than they imply.  Be careful.

7)      $2.00 for dinner is a lot.  Shop around before you eat!

8)      If you don't say something with the right pronunciation, they won't always correct you.  You have to ask for that.

9)      50 degrees really means 30 degrees and freezing rain.

10)   Chinese are fast.  They are also cheap.  This does not necessarily mean they are efficient.

 

Day 18

Day 18 (AKA the halfway point!!)

I had a pretty chill day today.  Woke up early, got to talk to mom and dad and Brian on skype, then talked to Chris for a while also.  Went back to bed (sorta—laid there and watched tv til noon), then went on a walk.  Headed for the dumpling place for lunch, and had fried dumplings and wonton soup ($1.20).  It was a little different wonton soup though—there were itty bitty shrimp in it.  I mean, about ½ cm long.  I didn't even realize I was eating them til halfway through.  They still had eyes and everything.  It was a little weird.  Then I took the long way home—stopped at a convenience store and got some snacks ($2.00), then found a fruit market and got three oranges for $.02.  Two cents.  Amazing.  Found a candy store and grabbed a few fruit snacks, then some sweet rolls from a bakery.  Came back to the hotel and watched more movies.  I just finished Zombieland.  It was pretty funny!  I enjoyed it.  And now, it's all of 7:15pm, and I'm fixin' to call it a night.  I'll turn on some tv for a little while, or maybe just read instead, and get rested up for another wonderful week.