A Week Already?

Time passes by really fast in China. It's been a week since I've arrived in China and almost two weeks since I've left Hawaii. Here's a gist of how my last three days went:

Friday (July 5th)

After Chinese classes, we explored the Zhejiang Museum. It was definitely interesting, but the only downside was that I could not understand anything because the exhibits were all in Chinese. Even though I've been in Hangzhou for a week already, my Chinese is not that good. Plus, I think my listening skills have improved more than anything else. We've been doing a lot of listening and speaking in our classes instead of reading and writing. 

Exploring the museum didn't take up much time, so we had about 30 mins left and decided to head to the nearby Starbucks. On our way through Starbucks, we discovered that there was a shopping mall behind it...so we decided to walk around the mall in hopes of finding food (p.s. the school lunch is 不好。Too much shrimp, which no one likes). On the underground level of the mall, we headed to Paris Baguette and bought ourselves a cream cheese bread and other pastries. ("Goes to China and visits Paris Baguette" was a joke among us). 

Once we headed back to school from the museum, we celebrated the 4th of July with the Chinese host siblings by playing sports. Well, technically, the girls watched the guys play because it was too hot for us to do anything. (Seriously, it's so hot. I don't know how much I stress this. Hangzhou is known as one of the "hot pots" of China. Every time the guys finish playing soccer, their faces are completely red). After sports, we had cake and watermelon...and Angelo and Matthew once again serenaded us with "God Bless America" and "The Star's Spangled Banner". I'm not going to comment on their singing because well....yeah...

Saturday (July 6th)

Today, I traveled around 西湖 (West Lake) and Hangzhou with Angelo, Will, Isabel, and Isabel's host sister for a scavenger hunt. Our task was to go to famous places in Hangzhou (various temples, bridges, restaurants, etc) and take pictures of them. We also had to visit a supermarket, the wet market, the post office, the pharmacy, a restaurant and many other places. At the wet market, we had to find the price of various fruits, vegetables, and etc. At the pharmacy, we had to take pictures of us with various medicines, such as cough, cold and allergy meds. (I'm too lazy to explain the rest, but you guys get the idea). This was a really good experience for us because it allowed us to explore the city on our own and also forced us to utilize our Chinese; we aren't allowed to speak English. It was good practice for all four of us. Oh, we also had to ask for directions to 浙江大学 (Zhejiang University) in Chinese, which gave us quite a bit of trouble. The funny thing was that after we had gotten directions, this Chinese guy comes up to Will to ask him for directions to the same place. Will looks the most foreign out of us, so I hope you guys can see why it was funny to us...a native asking Will for directions--strangest thing ever .

For lunch, we had KFC. The KFC in China is so crowded; it was incredibly hard to find seats. I didn't eat anything from there, but Isabel and Angelo said that the chicken was way better than the chicken in the KFC in America. 

Oh also, on the way home from Zhejiang University, we saw boxes of condoms stuck to the wall. There were little vending machines that people can place money in to get condoms. Smart move putting it right by the University lol. After seeing this, Will told us how the condom boxes in the Hangzhou Walmart says "6 sexes" instead of "6 uses". China is just so direct and straightforward with things. 

Sunday (July 7th)

So apparently, today is China's Valentines Day, where the guy gives his crush something. The Chinese name for it is 七夕. I only know this because I have to do a presentation on it for 李老师's class next week. Besides Valentine's Day, China also has a ‘single's awareness day’ or 'loner's day'. This day occurs on Nov 11 (11/11) because of the number 1. In Chinese culture, you never give someone just 1 gift because it represents loneliness. (You also never give anyone 4 gifts because 4 in Chinese sounds too much like the Chinese word for "death").  Of course, 11/11 is not a real festival...my 老师 said that it was just something that this generation created because they were all really lonely. Hehe. 

Besides 七夕, my host family took me shopping today. We went to the supermarket, where they bought me durian, tons of orange juice, and soda...and this sausage that they told me to try. They just threw everything into the shopping cart, even though I told them I didn't want it because it was too expensive, especially the durian. The funny thing was that even though they bought a shopping cart full of stuff, it only came out to ~$68. Grocery shopping in Hawaii is never this cheap for the amount of stuff that they bought. 

When we got to the clothes, however, they were super expensive. This is something that I've learned while staying in Hangzhou: the food is cheap, but the clothes is expensive. My host mom said that the average cost for a dress in Hangzhou is around 500元，which is ~$83. Yeah...I guess no shopping for me. I told her about stores like Forever 21...about how the clothes in there cost around 15-30 USD, and she responded by saying that I can not buy any clothes with that amount of $$ in Hangzhou  l o l. This is what I get for wanting to shop in one of China's fashion meccas. Hopefully, I can go to one of those bargaining places and find cheaper clothes there. If I wanted to spend 500元 for a dress, I would do so back home. 

Oh and also, the ladies at the store complimented me on my Chinese. According to the shopkeepers, my host mom, Alex and my RD, my Chinese is pretty good (e.g. my Chinese pronunciation and accent of things). It's surprising how understandable my Chinese is and how the people here think it's pretty good. I don't know if they're just being polite, but yeah. LOL. It boosts my confidence in speaking Chinese. 

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Btw, here are some pictures I wasn't able to upload last time. Gmail only allows me to upload 2-3 pictures in each email.

My host mom (left), me (middle), and my host 妹妹 (right). Isn't my host sister tall? She's a year younger than me.

KTV with my fellow NSLI-Yers and our host siblings

Lynse: I can't figure out how to respond to comments, but I really miss you guys too! China is great; it's just really really hot and sticky every single day. I'm finally getting used to the bus system and I don't feel so nervous about taking the bus anymore. I don't know. I actually don't even feel like I'm in China because Hangzhou looks just like an American city....just with Chinese words, people, food and things. I hope your summer is going amazing(: When you get your school schedule, email me so we can compare classes! Oh, and I didn't open a stranger's door, but I tried to. It was the wrong door, of course, so my key wouldn't open it. That would be bad if I, somehow, opened someone else's door LOL. 

Until next time

Christine