ABROAD IN
Saturday, August 5th: I was planning to wake up at 8:10 to go to the City Wall on a run because I really wanted to check out the wall, but I was so tired, so I turned off the alarm when it started ringing and slept until 10. We relaxed and at 10:40 left the house to go out to eat lunch.
My younger sister, my older sister and I all took the bus to this Muslim Chinese food place. It was really nice because the whole family was there (the dad, mom, 2 sisters), and this is the first time we’ve eaten all together and at a restaurant. We got some pretty yummy soups, some chicken/peanut dish, this fried dry rish dish with soup, and some other foods. My mom bought this weird coconut drink that I didn’t really like, so I drank it really quickly and was reaching for the hot tea to fill my cup, but then she poured more coconut drink into my cup before I reached for the tea and refilled my cup before I could. Dangit. I was kind of craving sweet and sour pork and fried rice, but it was cool to try different Nanjing specialties. Afterwards, my older sister and I left to go shopping. My dad and my mom went back to the store. My little sister had a school activity to do. I only had 40 yuan (about 6-7ish? dollars USD) and I wanted to get my nails done (cause its so cheap here), so we went to try to exchange some money. I don’t have my passport because Margie is not allowed to give it to me for these next few days so we went to a bank to see if my sister could exchange money instead of me. After trying a few different banks because they were closed, we ended up going to a bank and realizing that my sister forgot her China ID Card, so she wasn’t able to exchange money. So, we decided to just look around and go shopping anyway at this expensive mall in Deji Plaza. My older sister linked arms with me, which is a normal thing to do here. for girls. Anyways, Deji plaza is really expensive. All the shops inside are the famous brands like Tory Burch, Chanel, Burberry, etc. I asked my sister if I could get my nails done because my friends got theirs done at Xinjiekou for 50 yuan (8 USDish), and she told me she gets her nails done at this really good place that gives her half price, so it would only be 40 yuan. We walked over to where she normally gets her nails done. As I was getting my nails done, I had funny conversation with the ladies who worked there. They were talking about me when I was sitting down, and then one of them said “Can she understand what we are saying?” Then, my sister said “I can translate in English for her” then I said, “I understand what you are all saying”. Then they were all surprised that I could understand. It’s kind of funny. Anyways, I picked a nail color, then the lady started painting, then told me that it was going to be 120 yuan. The other color I like was 80 yuan, so I picked that one. I didn't realize that there was a 40 yuan color choice which I am super sad about because I wanted a cheaper price. I only had 40 yuan, so my sister had to pay for it and I planned to pay her back after we exchanged our money later that day. Outside the nail salon was this cat café, which I totally would've gone to if I had money and time. We went to laidi to look for a belt that I liked, but the lady was rude so I didn’t want to buy it for her. We realized it was late - the bank closes at 5, it was 4:10. We quickly took subway back home and immediately rode a motorcycle to the bank after picking up my sisters ID card. It was 4:40 by the time we got to the bank, so we were really happy that we made it in time. I exchanged 30 more USD just in case. The only thing was that it was pouring rain outside, so we were both soaking wet and I didn't have an umbrella when we biked from the subway station (the older sister only had one umbrella which she used for herself). I ended up being literally soaked, and I had dirt/mud all over my back. After the bank, we went back home to wash up, and after, I started packing. I packed until dinner time where my little sister and I went to this Lamian (long noodles) place. The first Lamian place we went to was closed so we had to walk all the way to another lamian place. We eventually found it, and the noodles were sooo good, I'm going to miss hand-shaven Nanjing noodles. After walked to my old host moms place where we all went swimming at a pool about 10 minute car drive away. In America, its kind of expected(?) (I haven't ran into a lot of people that don't know how to swim) that everyone knows how to swim. But, in China, a lot of kids don't really have time to swim because of studying, so a lot of people don’t know how to swim. So, out of 5 of us, only I and my mom’s friend son could swim. Swimming was fun though, and it was good to do something that reminded me of America. I realized how lucky I am that I can swim. Thank you Mom and Dad for putting me in Swim lessons as a kid! The change rooms were sketchy. There were no towels after we showered so we had to ask the lady who gave us a random towel that I still don't know where it came from. We got home pretty late and now I’m writing this and am really tired.
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Andrea 施安雅17-year-old XC runner and boba tea lover living in Seattle but studying abroad in China. Also, I have a cat! Archives
August 2017
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