As the weeks go by, I'm growing fonder and fonder of China. I'm blogging right now because I've been in a bit of a depressed mood. It's not because I'm homesick, but because I've realized that 4 weeks have gone by incredibly fast...and now I only have 2 weeks left. I'm trying to fit everything into the 2 weeks as best as I can.
Because I have a lot to say, I'm going to split this into two blog posts.
Because I have a lot to say, I'm going to split this into two blog posts.
Saturday (July 20)
As I mentioned in my last post, I went shopping with Alex and Michelle today. The taxi fee from the school to the shopping mall was 27 元. Because there was three of us in the cab, we only had to pay 9 元 each (which is equivalent to $1.50). When we got to the shopping mall, we met up with Haley and her host sister, Nancy. Let me tell you guys something, the shopping mall was incredible. It was bigger and nicer than the one my host mom had taken me to the week before. There was even a shopping mall just for shoes right across the street. China is amazing.
Inside of the mall, the 5 of us first headed to a Purikura store. If you guys don't know what Purikura is, it's the Japanese name for one of those sticker photo booths. As Haley said it best on her instagram: "One photo sheet = $2....Squeezing five Asians into the tiny photo booth = priceless". One photo sheet had 16 pictures, so each person got to keep 3 sticker photos (and because we had split the cost, we only paid 3 元 person = $0.50).
After purikura and a little shopping, Haley and Nancy had to leave us, so it was just Alex, Michelle and me. The three of us hit up almost every shop in the store, as Alex exercised her professional bargaining skills (seriously guys, Alex is a pro-bargainer. She is fierce when it comes to bargaining). Thanks to Alex, I was able to get 4 skirts, a dress, and a ton of stationary items for dirt cheap! It is worth mentioning that in every shop, the shopkeepers asked us "你们住在那里?“ or some variation to that. Even though we look Chinese (or in Michelle's case, Korean), we did not sound Chinese at all. They could tell we were 外国人 (foreigners). We had to explain to them that we were from America and that we were in Hangzhou to study Chinese. Alex even got to explain her whole life story to one of the shopkeepers because I was taking too long in the stationary store. Oops.
After purikura and a little shopping, Haley and Nancy had to leave us, so it was just Alex, Michelle and me. The three of us hit up almost every shop in the store, as Alex exercised her professional bargaining skills (seriously guys, Alex is a pro-bargainer. She is fierce when it comes to bargaining). Thanks to Alex, I was able to get 4 skirts, a dress, and a ton of stationary items for dirt cheap! It is worth mentioning that in every shop, the shopkeepers asked us "你们住在那里?“ or some variation to that. Even though we look Chinese (or in Michelle's case, Korean), we did not sound Chinese at all. They could tell we were 外国人 (foreigners). We had to explain to them that we were from America and that we were in Hangzhou to study Chinese. Alex even got to explain her whole life story to one of the shopkeepers because I was taking too long in the stationary store. Oops.
Look at all of these cute clothes!
When we were done shopping, we headed over to the food shops on the other side of the street and ate Xiao Long Bao (I think that's what it's called) at this hole-in-the-wall place for only 15 元 (less than $1 per person). The food was delicious, and we really felt that we were experiencing authentic China today (non-touristy places).
Ladies making 饺子 right in front of our lunch table.
Because there was a hair salon nearby, I decided to get my hair cut as well (having long hair in China is terrible during the summer). I would post pictures, but I don't have any. They are all on Michelle and Alex's phones, so hopefully they will post it on Facebook. For a deep wash and a pretty nice haircut, it was only 40 元 (about $6-7). I'm incredibly happy with the cut, especially since it was in such a sketchy place. The funny thing was...the salon workers were trying to talk to me, but I couldn't understand 50% of what they were saying because of their strong accents. In the end, they gave up and only talked to Michelle (about how I wanted my hair to be cut and etc) because she was talking to a lady in Chinese...so they assumed she was our translator or something).
In the evening, I went dancing again! I love park dancing so much that I go almost every day now. Heck, I'm even doing my final project on park dancing! I love it that much.
Sunday (July 21)
Not much to say about this day. Instead of going shopping with my host mom and sister, I decided to stay home and finish Pride and Prejudice for my school back home. I don't regret it too much because I really needed a day to stay home and just relax anyways. Going out everyday is tiring.
Monday (July 22)
Typical school day. We had Chinese knot tying after class (culture class) and Chinese games as our interactive activities. The knot tying was difficult, and the games were....interesting. We played the Chinese version of duck-duck-goose and hopscotch. Needless to say, we all fail at hopscotch...except Rachel. The two guys in charge of the games were incredibly nice and gave us gifts (a cute hackey sack and pick-up sticks) to take home.
Tuesday (July 23)
Originally, we had a community service event of cleaning up West Lake today, but because it was so hot, our RD moved it to next Monday, I don't remember doing much on this day, but I think Michelle, Alex, Matthew, Haley and I went to the boba place (Alex calls it bobo, cute) by Zhejiang University and bought ourselves Mango shave ice. Best shave ice. EVER.
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