ABROAD IN
Saturday July 15th: This morning, I woke up at 6:30 am to go running with Alexandra. We decided to meet at 7:30 at Xuanwu Lake which is this really gorgeous man made lake that I've visited with my host siblings once before. I'd only seen it at night, but I saw a lot of people running there when I visited so we thought we would try running it in the morning. I planned to leave my house at 7 and to take the bus to this large dome (my sisters told me where the station is, etc.) but when I told my mom my plan the morning of, she told me to take the subway. That was because I was meeting Alexandra at the big gate, and not at the dome (which is like 25 minute walk away). After brushing my teeth, I left the house at about 7:05. I was late because I still had to eat breakfast at the market down next to my apartment. My mom ordered my food by phone, so I went down there and asked for some wonton soup and they gave me some. I had a good little conversation with the shop owners; they are super sweet. We laughed about all the mosquitos here in Nanjing, and they were actually really fun to talk to. It was already 7:12ish and I knew I was going to be late so I asked them if I could take my soup to go. They quickly bagged it for me and I said goodbye to them and literally ran to my subway stop. It's about a 20 minute walk so I ran to it (which was pretty much a workout) and caught the subway. I had to transfer lines, and on the second subway I wanted to eat my soup so I sat down and started drinking my soup. When I did, everyone around me started looking at me. I lowkey started laughing but I kept eating because I didn't want to waste my food. I quickly got off the subway and met Alexandra and her host parents at the park. Her host parents are really fit and are super nice. They went walking around on their own while we went running. Alexandra and I started running but we had frequent stops because it was sooo hot. It was in the 90s. I bought some cold water in a vending machine which is one thing miss very much about America (China doesn't really have cold water). After our run, I quickly took the subway back home, while Alexandra went back home with her family. I was planning to meet my friends at Xinjiekou at 10, and it was already 8:50 so I went home to take a quick shower and change clothes. I walked back out the house at about 10 and got to xinjiekou at about 10:30 via subway. But I couldn't find anyone for a while. Everyone was kind of lost and didn't know where everyone else was. I called a few of them, but it's hard to navigate while you are on the phone and the phone kept cutting out. After about 25 minutes of wandering aimlessly and talking to my friends on the phone, we finally all met up and went around shopping. They're all hilarious and super fun to be around. As we shopped we also went to McDonald's and I had 2 ice cream cones (total was less than 1 dollar USD!!) because they were not really filling. It was getting to be around lunch time so we all went to KFC where I got some popcorn chicken, fries and some pepsi. The fries at KFC were kind of stale but the popcorn chicken was surprisingly good! It totaled to be about 3 dollars USD. It was hard to find seats so Josie, Alexander and I sat near eachother and sat there for nearly an hour talking. Also, Anushka and Josie's host sister tagged along, along with Josie's host sister's crush. They both like eachother but the whole time they didn't talk to eachother. It was really funny because at one point we asked the boy if they were boyfriend and girlfriend and he was smiling and said "hmmm ask her" and he pointed back at his crush. After lunch we split back up and Alexander, Peter and I went to 夫子庙 (Confucious Temple). Also, these two girls (maybe 19?) saw Alex and literally started giggling with eachother, so I told him and he waved to them and they freaked out. They waved back, then practically ran away. Some Chinese people love foreigners hahah. Anyway we split up with the others because they had previous plans. We took the subway to fuzimiao and it was really cool! Mostly shops and stores. We didn't actually go into the temple because it costed money and we didn't want to spend money but we walked around the stores and I bought some hello kitty pens for my host sisters because they LOVE Hello Kitty. There is also this really gorgeous river that passes through fuzimiao and you can ride a boat across it. I definitely want to do that at night because it apparently fuzimiao is lit up and gorgeous at night. It was really hot at fuzimiao, so at 3 we all took a break inside. We were also really tired. We found this random building and went inside and found some seats. There, other families were also sitting and these Chinese kids came up to us and said "hello!". They were in elementary school and pretty much just sat by us and when we would ask them questions they would answer. We left after 20 minutes and checked out some more stores. As we were walking through this one store, these 2 women shop workers (20s?) were kind of smiling and following us around. Peter told me he heard them whisper 英文 (English). Another instance was that when we were walking down the shop alleyways, I saw out of the corner of my eye this shipowner (maybe 20?) looking at me, and then him telling his coworker, and then both of them looking at me. I looked over at them and he said "hi!" with a wave so I smiled back and they smiled back too. I think around 3 people physically said hi to us that day. After walking through the bargaining stalls and not finding anything, we met up with Emma and Jessica who met us at the temple. There we did some more walking and went to this candy store that was kind of expensive and not too impressive. Peter and I both were a little bit tired and had to be back for dinner so we left at about 4:45 and took the subway home. I realized on my way home that I promised my host family I would make them spaghetti. I went down this sketchyish alley on my way home because I saw a convience store. I found no spaghetti sauce or spaghetti noodles but luckily my mom saved me because she called me and told me that she would take us out for dinner tonight. This is officially my last night with my host family :(. They were super sweet but I'm excited to see how these next 3 weeks pan out with my new host family. When I met my new host family the first day I came here, they seemed super excited and talkative, so I'm pretty excited! My mom called me and told me to meet her downstairs because she was going to take me out to eat. Because my sisters weren't home, (they went to see their cousin who was visiting) my mom and I went to this 水饺 dumpling place and had blood duck soup (Nanjijng's specialty). Blood duck soup kind of sounds gross but it's actually pretty good. It's in broth and the blood is solidified and has the same look as tofu (but it's a dark purple brown color). My mom hooked arms with me on the walk to dinner and was saying how she's going to miss me when I'm leaving. She jokingly said that she's going to cry. She also said that if I'm not happy at my new host family, to tell Margie and come back to her house. She was telling me how she asked the next host family if they could pick me up tomorrow evening instead of tomorrow morning, but they wouldn't let her. Also, she told me that the wonton soup I had this morning was free! The shop owners gave it to me for free because my mom told me they said they liked me. Perks of being a 外国人. After dinner we went to some stores and went shopping. My mom told me she would buy me this denim skirt that I was looking at the other day but the store was closed so we didn't buy it. My sister called me and it turns out that my sisters cousin made us some food and some dinner. So we went back home and greeted them. My sisters, my sisters cousin, her dog, and her boyfriend were all there. My sisters cousin made some really good food, but it was really spicy. I was dying a little because it was so spicy. She also made Coca-Cola chicken, which I've had at home in America before. My sisters cousin and her boyfriend talked a lot to me in Chinese. It was so fun to talk to them; they were so relatable and so easy to talk to. They were really friendly too and wanted to talk. We talked a lot about education differences between America and China and about dogs and driving in China. China's education system is extremely harsh; it's crazy. High schoolers start school 6:30 and leave school at 10 pm. High schoolers literally have no time to do what they want to do. In America, I think school is hard, but compared to students here, school in America sounds so easy. We have so much free time. But, I really enjoyed their company. I feel like my Chinese gets better with these complicated conversations. I don't understand all of what their saying, but it's still fun to talk to 25 year olds about intellectual and real things. We also talked about random stuff and laughed about how Chinese people aren't very natural in that they dye their dogs hair and their education system is too harsh. They stayed for a good 2 hours. It was about 10:30 when they left, and it is currently 11:30. I am trying to start my homework but it is so late and I am really tired. Tomorrow morning I am switching host families so I want to try to finish some tonight, but I might just go to bed.
**I accidentally deleted my photos, so I only have 2
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Friday, July 14th: Like usual, I woke up tired today but I had some of my mom's fried rice for breakfast, so I ate some good food. For the first part of class we watched a movie that Sam wanted to watch because it was his birthday! Sam chan the man. It was this film about the three kingdoms of China and it had a lot of violence but it was still kind of interesting. For the listening part of class we talked about climbing mountains and if we would rather climb a mountain or take a cable car up a mountain. It was kind of a boring class and our teacher gave us an assignment over the weekend to write an essay on whether memorizing things is a good way of learning. She's giving us so much homework. The other classes don't get a lot of homework. Oh well, I guess I'm learning more. For lunch I went out with Justin, Anushka and others to the cafeteria (our cards are now filled up!) and I had some really yummy 凉牛肉面 cold beef noodles that were kind of expensive? It was 12 yuan but I guess that is only a little less than 2 dollars USD. After lunch we headed back early to celebrate Sam's birthday and to finish up some IOPP presentations. I am lucky - my presentation is not next week but the week after. But because it was sams birthday, Margie bought a hello kitty cake. After presentations we had culture class which was handicraft, or paper cutting. We cut paper and put candles on our paper, and with all of the lights off it was really pretty. We got Sam to blow out 18 of our candles like it was a birthday cake and we all sang happy birthday to him :). Class ended early at 2:30 and because I had to teach English to some Chinese kids at 3:30 I made a quick trip to the gym and got in a couple solid miles. At 3:30 I headed back to the university where I met Margie and 2 Chinese 5 year old kids. Because every NSLIY student is required to get in 10 hours of community service, each NSLIY student has to tutor these kids at one point during these 6 weeks. The kids were really off task though and it was so hard to keep them focused. I don't even know If I made any real progress. After an hour, the parents came to pick the kids up and Ines, Helena, Margie and I all met up before we headed our separate ways. It was a little creepy because this older Chinese guy was following Margie, and as we went outside he came outside also and stood a ways away watching us. Some Chinese people can be creepy to us foreigners. As soon as we left though, he left too. It was weird. Anyways, we all took the subway and then went our separate ways back home. As I was coming home my mom called me and told me that no one was at home and because I didn't have the keys, she asked me to wait on the bottom level if he apartment. So I sat down on a cement ledge for a few minutes to wait for her. 5 minutes and 6 mosquito bites later, I saw her car pass by. When it stopped,I knocked on the window. It turns out that 2 of her work friends were also in the car. It's a little confusing because she calls her friends her sisters, so I can't tell if they are her real sisters or her friends. We all went to this hotpot place where we met up with my sisters and her friend. The hot pot was good, but I think I like the hot pot that my mom in America makes better. I thought that Chinese style hot pot would include noodles but it was mostly meat and potatoes and vegetables. My host mom's friends are really sweet and the first thing they said to me after hello was that I was pretty. hah. At one point during the dinner though, all 6 of the people were on their phones. It's different in my household, and I thought it was a little sad? When they get bored, they go on their phones. After hotpot, we walked home and my sisters and I bought some ice cream. I got Oreo ice cream :) At home, after we relaxed and my sisters finished their homework. It's my last few days with my host sisters and I'm kind of sad. They are super cute and sweet. We are definitely going to meet up again because we have already planned to go swimming later in the month :).
Thursday, July 13th: Class was normal today. I turned in my "argument essay" today but it wasn't really that hard to write. It wasn't really an essay now that I think of it even though Yang Laoshi introduced it like an essay. It was more like "explain why you think this way".
Anyways, after class I got some 牛肉面 (beef noodle soup)at the cafeteria. I am out of money so Ines paid for me (thanks Ines). I sat with Ines, Helena, Josie and Alexandra but I walked back with Alexander, Sam and some of the other nsliy boys. Alex and Justin both live in Oregon so on the walk back we were planning to have a mini meetup because Seattle isn't too far away. Also on the walk back, I stopped myself from getting Coco today! After lunch, we came back for culture class which was Chinese instruments/music history. I was really tired today; I stayed up until about 11 doing homework the night before and went to bed a little after that so I didn't get as much sleep as usual. So, it was hard to stay focused during this cultural class. The teacher presented the history of Chinese music which included Chinese rock n roll. It was really weird, but it was kind of cool to see the similarities between American music history and Chinese! After the presentation some of us had community service at the old folks home where we talked with 2 old ladies. The first one was talkative and in her right mind but I and about 7 other students stayed with the other old lady who I think had Alzheimer's or something because she kept repeating what she was saying and didn't really answer our questions. Also, I don't think she could hear me really well but we had some good conversations. After some selfies, I went into the other room to see the other old lady and to take a selfie with her. In the middle of taking a selfie, she grabbed my head (picture is below) and at first I was like "aww this is kind of cute/funny shes petting my head" but after I took the selfie she literally kissed my ear rather quickly and all of a sudden. I was a little creeped out because she didn't kiss anyone else's ear and right after she said "I want to go eat food" then got up and left. I wasn't sure for a second if she tried to bite my ear but I think she kissed it. Now that I am thinking of it, I'm laughing a little. It's normal to have really weird experiences in foreign countries, I guess. After old folks home, I was going to go work out but Margie asked if she could come home wth me to check my house. Margie (our resident director) has to do house checks to make sure our house meets the program expectations. So, I skipped the gym and Margie bought me coffee (<3) and then we headed to the subway to get to my house. It was about 50 minutes to get back to my house but we had some good conversations. Also, I kind of felt bad because I told my mom that Margie probably would come at about 7 or 8 to check on the house ( Margie didn't know exactly what time she would be visiting), but she came home with me at about 6, so my mom wasn't home from work yet and she wasn't really expecting Margie to be over. I told her at about 5:00 that we were coming over so I didn't give her a huge amount of warning. It's ok though because I could tell that my mom definitely called my sisters and told them Margie was coming because the house was a little cleaner than usual. After Margie checked out the house and asked me and few questions, I walked her out where she caught a uber-type car. I walked back home and then we called in some take out. I finished my homework with the help of my sisters and we talked about school and shared funny stories. We also talked about all of boys that like my sisters. Both of them have multiple admirers who have bought them nice gifts. It's so cute. After, my sisters and I went out walking at about 9 pm and I bought them large cups of Coco. We were passing some stores and I pointed out that the mango yogurt at one of the stores is really good (my mom bought it for me once), and they asked me if I wanted some now. I told them no because I was drinking a huge cup of boba already. After we went to the grocery store to buy some things for my mom. My sisters were super sweet though because they grabbed a mango yogurt at the store and at the checkout they were like "Andrea do you want to drink it?". I didn't really feel like drinking it because my boba so I responded "you guys can drink it!" And then YuXin (tall one) said "I will go put it back" with a smile. I thought that was really sweet. My sisters are cute. It was a good night, temperature is still pretty hot maybe high 70s-80s at night? Also my sisters are fun to talk to when we talk about personal things. It's fun to joke around with them and laugh together. We headed home and I just relaxed and finished up my boba. Anyways, it's already almost 10:30 at night and I still have to shower so I should probably get to bed. Wednesday July 12th: On Wednesday I woke up and had some really yummy fried rice. I really like having fried rice and yogurt for breakfast. When I first came to China I didn't really like the yogurt they have here, but I've grown on it. The yogurt here is thicker and a little more sour. I wasn't as late to class today, but I was still the last one there. During class we corrected some homework and started a new lesson. Also, I need to start preparing for my IOPP. It's a presentation that we have to give to the students and Margie (the resident director), who will grade it. For lunch, we were running out of cafeteria money so we went to this 汤包 place nearby that's really good. 汤包s are soup dumplings, kind of like 小笼包 but there is more beef broth in it. Alexandra and I shared one serving and a half (12 个汤包)。We all kind of got sick of the tangbaos after one serving though. After we headed to mcdonalds and got some 3 yuan (less than 50 cents USD) soft serve ice cream. So cheap!!! After we headed backs for calligraphy class which I thought was fun today. I enjoy doing calligraphy it's kind of relaxing. Last week we picked quotes that we were going to do a calligraphy piece on, and today we practiced. I picked a quote that kind of translates kind of like this "books are the key to a house full of gold". In turn, it kind of means that education is the key to success. After class, Alexandra and I went running at the track while the other girls went into the gym. I like running at the track better. I feel like I run faster? But it was super super hot and humid. Apparently starting on the 10th to the 30th is a period of hot weather for Nanjing. After the run I was pretty much dead so we skipped core and I took the subway back home. It wasn't as busy on the subway today because I left a little earlier than usual. After I got home, I finished up some homework and had some homemade dinner.
Tuesday, July 11th: My mom woke me up this morning at 7 which is normally later than I usually got up so I quickly got ready for school. My sisters weren't waking up and yesterday we were really late but I didn't really want to say anything because my mom wasn't saying anything. It turns out their tutoring was later today, so I'm glad I didn't wake them up. My mom today wore this shirt with holes in it, but one of those stylish shirts that are supposed to have holes in it, and as we were walking to the car next to the small shops and stores outside our apartment one of the shop owners that knows her well (they all know her pretty well - all the shop owners know everyone in the neighborhood), started joking with her how she's going to go grab some scissors and cut more holes for her. My mom and her were laughing and the 15ish people (mostly old people) who were sitting at the tables eating breakfast ALL looked over. It was really funny. My mom bought a watermelon and then we headed off. Before we left the neighborhood she got out of the car and bought me breakfast. I love China and how my mom always buys me amazing food from the store everyday. I've eaten out for breakfast everyday pretty well (except maybe a few times). Today's breakfast was SOO GOOD. She bought me this mango and matcha yogurt drink, but it was pretty much a mango lassi. She also bought me a loaf of bread to eat as a snack and this Shepard pie bread which was better than I thought it was going to be. Class was ordinary except that our teacher told us we have an argument essay due Thursday?!?? It's ok, we talked about in class so I think I will be fine. For lunch we all went to the cafeteria, but my lunch card is running out of money. Everyone's lunch card is either really low or out of money so they have been using other people's lunch cards. I only had 12 yuan for lunch left, and I spent 11 today. They said they would refill our lunch cards earliest on Friday, so I have another 3 days... I probably will just go out to eat some food. But even though I spent 11 yuan today it was worth it because i had an amazing fruit bar for 4 yuan. After lunch we went to 南京博物馆 (南博)which translates to Nanjing Musueum. There were some cool exhibits but at the 4th top floor, there was this really gorgeous view, so Justin and I took photos there for about 30 minutes oops. The museum was really huge so after we discovered another floor below the floor we got on. Below there was a whole "fake" Nanjing city, with a fake sky ceiling and some really cool shops and a post office, and some benches and lights. It was really fun, I wish I discovered it earlier and didn't spend so much time taking pictures. At the shops you could actually buy things, so my friends bought some candy cigarettes. After we got back home it was really hot about 90 degrees? and it was already 5:15 and we wanted to be back in time for dinner so we decided to skip running today. Because my mom had some work to do that night I took the subway home. This is the first time I've taken the subway home on a school night and it was pretty bad. I had to transfer twice which is fine because I don't mind transferring. Taking the first subway line wasn't that crowded. Also I forgot to look at the map so I didn't know what stop to get off at to transfer lines so I guessed and I guessed right! I was pretty happy with myself. Anyways, when I was waiting for the second subway, the line to get in the car was really long. I was near the end of a line waiting for the subway, but when the subway car came, not a lot of people were getting out of that car and it was extremely crowded so I merged into anther line to a car with more people getting off and I was really glad I did. I barely made it on the car though, it was so crowded I was literally smushed against people all around me and I was a little nervous about my bag being pickpocketed because I was literally pressing up against people in all directions. I think that was the busiest subway ride I've ever been on, people were kind of pushed on. That was the busiest stop though, so after a couple stops it wasn't as bad because people were getting off. I had to push my way through quite a bit of people to get off the car. That was my first really crowded subway experience in china but I still really like the subway. My walk from the subway station is a little long though, maybe 20-25 minutes. I came home and my mom made dinner. After, me and my mom went walking around our neighborhood and went into some clothing stores. I found a cute skirt but we had to head back early because she got called back to work. Later that night I just finished up some homework and went to bed.
I haven't been able to post because I think my blog is blocked on my computer, so I have to use my phone to post things now!
Monday, July 10th: We were really late to school today. I woke up at about 6:45, it my sisters woke up really late at about 7:25ish. We normally leave the house at 7:35 and I am still a few minutes late but today we left it at 7:45 so I was already late. Worse however, was unexpected traffic which is what made it terrible. So I was about 30 minutes late to class,which I felt very bad about. I was a little annoyed at my sisters because they didn't wake up. My mom yelled at them many times, they shut off alarms, they definitely heard my mom but still didn't wake up. Anyways, my mom was really angry. For culture class we had a Taiqi class, which was kind of boring. Studying taiqi is really interesting but I was so tired and our teacher spoke in complicated Chinese so no one really understood what he was saying, so it was easy for me to be really tired when doing taiqi. After taiqi ines, Helena, Josie, Alexandra and I all went to the gym. I didn't forget my gym clothes this time but I ran on the treadmill and then did core. It's so hot in the gym so it's harder to run here I think, or maybe it's also the sea level? After, my mom picked me up from school, and we started to drive home. YuXin called my mom and started talking in Chinese. I didn't really pick up a lot of what they were saying until they said Coco (the boba tea shop). My sister was waiting at Coco buying some tea. My mom then said "buy Andrea some" HA. So in a few minutes we met my sisters and they handed me a 大杯 of tea (large cup) which definitely made my day. As we were walking to dinner YuChen (one with glasses) told me she watched a movie with her friend and YuXin and she really liked it. She told me the Chinese name but I didn't understand it, so then she said "Banana" in the minion voice and I laughed so hard and immediately knew she saw Despicable Me 3. Apparently it was in english and had Chinese subtitles. My sisters thought it was a really cute movie. Also, they like hello kitty, and other cute things. After we walked to this hole in the wall to eat some really good noodles called 凉皮 they are a Xi'an speciality apparently. My mom asked me if I thought it was good and I responded by saying it's really yummy! Then she said 再吃 (eat more) and put a huge amount of noodles from her plate onto my plate. I was getting full, and my plate literally was just refilled back up to the brim. And the worst part was that after about 10 minutes my mom finished all of her noodles and I had a huge plate left so I felt really bad, and she wouldn't take any of my noodles. But I'm really thankful for them, my mom's so sweet. After we went shopping a little around the neighborhood by I didn't find anything I really liked. That night, my sisters went running and I finished up some homework. Sunday, July 9th: I woke up today at around 7:40 am because I couldn't fall back to sleep (I was still really tired though). My mom and my sisters both were gone when I woke up because my mom was dropping my sisters off at tutor (my cousin was still sleeping at home though). I kind of just relaxed/went on my phone/did homework/video called my friends and family. It was a relaxing morning which was good. I had xiaolongbao and some conji for breakfast it was yummy. After doing some homework I realized that I was really tired so I went back to sleep and woke up when my sisters came home a little after 1. My sisters took the bus home after tutoring and they told me that we had to go downstairs to leave for shopping. So I quickly changed and it turns out we had an Uber (not really an Uber but something similar in china) and he drove me, my moms cousin, and my sisters to 玉桥 shopping center, literally THE BEST place to bargain and to buy cheap stuff. I'm still excited as I write about it. There was a whole floor of fake shoes/cheap shoes. There are a lot of Adidas superstar style shoes for 30-50 Kauai, which is about 7 dollars USD but I don't really like those shoes. There was also a lot of fake New Balance stylish shoes and slip on shoes and heels. I didn't see any shoes that I loved, but there were some cute ones. But I did buy this fake designer purse for my sister in America. It's so pretty and looks so real, I will keep it if she doesn't like it. Even better, it was only 80 yuan which is about 11 dollars USD. My host sisters all thought it was a cheap price so I was pretty happy with my purchase. I actually didn't buy the purse the first time I saw it because there was this slit in it, but all the purses had that exact slit so I was a little confused. I was indecisive so I didn't buy it but then we went to lunch. For lunch we bought some spaghetti at the mall. It was actual legitimate spaghetti! With red meat sauce! It was ok - my mom makes much better spaghetti. But then again it was only about 3-4 dollars USD. During lunch I was kind of regretting not getting the purse so we went back and I asked the store owner and it turns out that the slit is supposed to be there, to hold something in it. So, I happily bought it. After we went to the lower floor to look at clothes. There were some really cute clothes but I didn't try any on. Now that I think of it, I kind of regret not trying some of the clothes on. Oh well, it's ok. Next time I go I will buy a whole new wardrobe. My family bought tickets to this Chinese thriller movie while we were shopping and so at 4 pm we went to the movie theatre which was conveniently in the mall, and watched this Chinese movie. It was all in Chinese, but I'm proud of myself because I knew what was going on generally and could understand what was happening. There were Chinese subtitles which helped. It was kind of a weird movie, the English translation is "The House That Never Sleeps". I don't think it was that scary but my cousin (who is in graduate school) screamed at a part that wasn't really scary so we're all laughing. The movie was in 3D also, but the jump scares were not scary at all. It was a really predicable, but my family thought it was scary. I think maybe because I've watched scarier movies in America I didn't think it was scary? Overall, I had a good experience at the mall. I definitely want to go back to that mall again because I feel like I could've bought things but I didn't. After the mall, my mom and cousin dropped us off at the apartment as they went to buy materials to wrap 饺子s or dumplings. When they came back my mom made the ingredients to put inside the 饺子 and then I watched her wrap a couple before a wrapped some myself. I was pretty bad at first, but once you get in a routine it gets really easy. They tasted better than I thought they would! Alexandra told me the ones she made at home were a little tasteless so I wasn't expecting much, but they actually tasted pretty good. Also, it was so funny, when I showed my host sisters the Snapchat filter where it zooms in on your mouth and makes it big, they bursted out laughing. They're so funny. I'm going to quickly finish up this post because it's around 8 pm, and then I think I might relook over my homework because I still don't really understand how to use 被/叫/让. Anyways, 1/3 of the program already done! I'm a little sad about that.
Saturday, July 8th: Today I was supposed to sleep in but because my sisters woke up at 6:30 am and there was noise, I couldn't get back to sleep so I just woke up at 7:15 am to say good bye to them. I was home alone after because my sisters both had tutoring and my mom had work. My mom was super sweet and ordered me breakfast from the market down the street and they delivered it right up to our apartment! She ordered me 4 huge 馒头s (Chinese bread - its fluffy) and two 包子s (Chinese bread filled with meat/vegetables, etc.). She also got be this black/red rice drink? It was really sweet and it had a weird taste. She also got me a bottled water. Anyway, it was an ok tasting breakfast but it was really nice of her that she ordered it all for me. During breakfast I skyped my family and my sisters in Seattle. I miss my fam and friends back in America. I miss traveling and going to the beaches, but it's normal to miss home, and China is fun too. I also video called Alexandra because the night before we planned on going to NJU (Nanjing University) to run, eat lunch, and explore the city. We decided to meet at the campus we study at. The night before YuChen (my sister) told me what bus stop to take to get to NJU. I probably should've just taken the subway but the bus is more direct so I thought bus would be better. So that morning, I left the house at 10ish and headed to the bus stop. I was debating whether to walk across the busy road or walk 300 meters to the cross walk, because everyone was crossing the busy road, but I decided to play it safe and walk to the cross walk (you're welcome Dad and Mom). As I was walking back to the bus stop, I saw two of my buses come but I was too far away and I didn't feel like running to catch the bus so I just took the next one which came around 6 minutes later. Also the buses here are stick shift so if you stand up (like I did) you will jolt around a lot. I got off at the stop my sister told me to get off at but it was the wrong part of Nanjing University and not really close to where I was going to meet Alexandra. Also the stop I was on wasn't actually on the campus of NJU but it was on this huge busy street, so there were shops all around me and tons of people walking by. I recognized the area from looking out the window from driving to school every day but I was lost so I ended up calling my mom and asking her for directions, then realizing that Baidu maps is more efficient for me to get the directions. So with the help of Baidu maps I walked 20 minutes (and over a mile) to my campus where I met Alexandra. I wasn't really nervous/stressed that I was lost because I knew the area I was in, and my phone was fully charged. It was also a little rainy and here in Nanjing even if it's rainy you still sweat a lot. After finding Alex (I was 15 minutes late) we went running at the track nearby, where a Chinese student in college gave us a thumbs up while we were running our last few laps haha. It started raining a little again, so it was kind of refreshing. After running we headed back to the campus where we did some core workouts. I was kind of lazy/not motivated to workout again but with the help of Alexandra's Spotify we were able to make some progress. After changing back into our clothes we went straight to lunch at the cafeteria. Third and second floor cafeteria were closed, but luckily first floor was still open so we grabbed some 水饺 (I got the beef ones this time!!) which were delicious, and headed to the store to buy some snacks. During the majority of lunch these older ladies maybe late 50s were smiling/staring at us as they sat next to us. I think I'm getting used to people looking at me, I kind of expect it when I walk on the streets now. Most of the people who stare are people who don't often see foreigners and most are people who think we are pretty/unique looking so it's kind of nice getting attention here. At the store we bought some really cheap water and some snacks! (A huggeee 1.5 bottle for 2 yuan or about 30 cents USD!!!) Of course we stopped at Coco for some boba and then walked to the subway station to get off at a random stop to explore. We ended up recognizing the name of a station called 鸡鸣寺 which is the name of a Buddhist temple, so we decided to check out that station and the temple. After buying our ticket we just missed the subway train so we waited another 10 minutes (which is kind of long for Chinese transportation) where we walked on the subway and got off at our station. We ran into these German college students on the subway who were also going to the Buddhist temple which we figured out later because we were all lost after we got off the subway train. We eventually found it with the help of some Chinese locals and then once we arrived I realized that I saw photos of this temple on the internet back in America. It's a gorgeous temple with traditional architecture and colorful flags hanging around the temple. Our tickets were 10 yuan (around a dollar and a half?) and we walked up stairs and passed praying areas to get to the top where we burned our incense and took some really nice photos. We weren't allowed to take photos inside the praying rooms but they were beautiful, with huge gold statues of deities and lit candles in beautiful rooms filled to the brim with little Buddhist statues. It's hard to describe in words but the whole temple was gorgeous. There were also tons of red decorations and little lanterns/notes hanging from the walls and ceilings. Overall, it was a really fun excursion. Alexandra had to be home by 4 so we headed back. I took the subway back home directly to my house, while she took it back to her house. I love the subway so much. I understand it, it's so much clearer, cleaner and dependable than the bus. I just got back from the subway about half an hour ago and I'm super tired so I'm going to relax and do some homework tonight. I was planning to make spaghetti for my host family but I couldn't find spaghetti sauce at the store so I think I'm going to make it another night. My mom said she'd take us out for dinner tonight instead. Anyway, I decided I'm going to post more often, maybe once everyday or every 2 days.
**I just got back from dinner - it was actually a party for me! I had no idea my host family was going to throw me a party but my mom invited her coworkers and family members to a restaurant and we all ate dinner to welcome me into the family. There was a bunch of really good food, and they ordered this huge dish of fish and tofu soup. I think it might be the biggest dish I've ever seen. It was in this huge pot. The coworkers brought me some gifts too! Everyone was really fun to be around, we had good conversations. I think they thought my Chinese was going to be bad because in the beginning my mom's coworker's baby was playing with the cupboard in the restaurant and then she was saying "Wow, he's going to go into the cupboard!" Then she turned to her friend and asked in Chinese "How do you say cupboard in English?" (because she thought I didn't know what she was saying) then I answered in English "cupboard" and she turned back and started laughing and was kind of surprised, so I was happy. They are all so sweet, I'm so thankful for my host family :) :) We also told funny stories, and I was sitting next to my mom's coworkers son who is a photographer, so we had some conversations also. Everyone is so nice, I'm so lucky and I love Nanjing. After dinner we headed back to the house, where I talked with some of the family members who came back. It was really hard to understand the Uncle who was my mom's little brother, because he kind of mumbled/spoke with accent, but it was still fun to practice my Chinese. He helped me with my homework too, so it worked out well! Ok, apologies for the cheesy title. Also, I haven't had a lot of time to write any posts, but I'm already finished with week two! :( Tuesday, July 4th: After class, because it was July 4th, I got myself a large boba tea at Coco with Justin, Alex and Alex. I have no regrets because it was amazing. After lunch for the culture class after school all the NSLIY students went to 中山陵 (Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum). After stepping off the charter bus at the base of the mountain everyone was already sweating. It was extremely hot and the humidity was pretty bad. I'd seen photos of 中山陵 on the internet in America but actually being at the top of this mountain was so much different and so much cooler. We had to climb up over 350 steps after the hike to get to the top of the Mausoleum but at the top the view was beautiful and you could see the whole city. It was pretty crowded at the top, and you could really see the smog of the city from the top of the mountain. At 中山陵 (which is on 紫金山 - Purple Mountain) a lot of people were looking at us foreigners, and a few people even asked for photos with us. We are normally on the campus of the International Students so we weren't quite used to all the attention, but it was kind of fun to try to spot all the people trying to take secret photos of us. ALSO, it was kind of hilarious/awkward because some teenager literally came up to Alexandra and started hitting her?! Anyway, At the mountain Zhao Laoshi also bought everyone ice cream at KFC. The ice cream at KFC in China is vanilla ice cream in strawberry flavored cones, instead of the beige ones in America. America should jump on the bandwagon and get these strawberry flavored cones, they are so good!! After 中山陵 the other NSLIY students planned on going out to dinner to celebrate Independence day but it was host dads last day in Nanjing (he's going on a business trip and coming back when I am leaving), so I decided to go out to dinner with my family instead of the other students. The NSLIY students were originally planning to do karaoke for Independence Day after dinner but everyone was super tired, so they just went out to dinner. The July 4th dinner I had was pretty good, but I feel like the food was too weird (?) for me to enjoy it a ton. We had some fish, some sweet meatballs, duck, some weird cranberry potatoes, and other dishes. Also that night I had my first cup of watermelon juice. People in china drink watermelon juice, I am not sure if I like it. It tastes ok? Also, my mom/dad/cousin offered me wine and were like oh just a little! (Moms cousin) I think it's normal for people under 18 in China to drink a little bit. But I had to gratefully refuse because I might get kicked out of the program if I drink alcohol. My host parents kept cheering their drinks because we were celebrating a lot of things: Their wedding anniversary the day after, Independence Day, my welcoming to China, and my cousin's welcoming to Nanjing. The dinner was sweet though because he dad also mentioned how I make their family happy, and that if I want to eat something to tell my mother so she can make it for me/buy it for me. I got reaalllly lucky with my host family. After dinner, I walked around with my sisters for about an hour around Xuanwu lake (the lake is next to the restaurant). It was such a lovely night, the weather was really nice and a lot of people were strolling around the lake. Xuanwu lake is a man-made lake, but it's still gorgeous and there's a great view of Nanjing's famous tower. Unfortunately, there were a ton of mosquitos so next time I go I will bring my mosquito spray. We were walking for about an hour when we called a taxi to go back home. Also taxis are really cheap here, it was only around 2.50 USD to take a taxi back home (the ride was maybe 15 minutes?) Luckily my teachers didn't give me that much homework that night but I still got home late so I went to bed late. I don't get a lot of sleep here usually. I usually get to bed at around 11 because of the homework my teachers give me and because I get home at around 6 and go running, go walking with my mom, and hang around with my sisters. I wake up at around 6:40 every morning for my mom to drive me to school so I'm tired every day. I think I should start getting to bed earlier because sleep is the most important. Wednesday, July 5th: After school for our culture class we had calligraphy and acrobatics. This is our second time doing calligraphy and I think I'm getting better? I say that because when the teacher walked past me she said 还不错 which means not bad, so I was pretty happy. For our second part of culture class we did "Chinese acrobatics" which was pretty much just doing some exercises and then some people tried it riding a unicycle. I went on it and wasn't too good at it because I've never risen a unicycle before, but it was still really fun. After school, Alexandra and I went to exchange some money where we took some photos (below). After, my mom and I stopped at the market next to our apartment to buy some dinner before heading back home. Funny story: we bought a fish, and it was "killed" (literally beaten then sliced) right in front of us, then placed in a bag. I was riding a bike back home with the fish in the bag in the bike carrier (the bin attached to the front of the bike). I put other groceries on top of the fish. I was biking back home when the fish (which was supposedly dead) started moving really aggressively, and literally flapped out of the bike carrier and all of the groceries fell on the street, along with the moving fish that was still flapping in the bag on the street. I kind of screamed/laughed a little, and my mom came running towards me, while shop owners started laughing. Luckily, my mom graciously offered to walk back with the fish while I took the other groceries. After arriving back home, I started my homework and then went running with my sisters at 紫金山. It was super hot and we were all soaked in sweat so I bought them some ice water and there on the counter in the store was an adorable cat. It started rubbing against me and it made me miss my cat. Especially because July 5th is her bday (happy bday Nala). After running I finished up some work then went to bed. Thursday, July 6th: After eating lunch on third floor, our culture class was to wrap 饺子 (dumplings). It was actually rather simple, but I'm pretty bad at crimping the dumplings. We were each given some dough, which we had to knead until it was ready. After, we shaped the dough into little balls and then we rolled them out, where we put meat in it, then crimped the dumpling. After cooking them, we were able to eat them! They were definitely sub-par, and kind of tasted a little gross? I think we made our balls too big, so we ended up having a lot of dough in our dumpling. Culture class ended class earlier than usual so I went with Alexandra, Helena, Ines, Josie and Camilla to the gym after school. I didn't have my running clothes with me but I went on the bike for 20 minutes ish and did some core. After coming home I spent the majority of the night preparing for this speaking presentation I had the day after. Everyone has to present something about Chinese history and all 23 of us have to listen to each other present. I decided to write about 秦始皇, who was China's first emperor, mainly because I remembered my notes from A.P. Chinese. I was still working on my speech but my sisters asked me the night before if I could run with them so I stopped my homework to run with my sisters at 紫金山. It was really humid when running, I feel like the weather has been starting to shift to being more hot and more humid. I ran a solid 2 milesish? (sky was pitch black so I didn't want to run too long) Then I went back home, showered, and finished up my speech then went to bed.
Friday, July 7th: I ate spicy 馄炖汤 (wonton soup) for breakfast and skyped my mom this morning. After arriving at school on time this time (my sisters normally wake up so late after their alarm) we watched a "movie" in class for the speaking part of class. We watched the Beijing Olympics Ceremony in 2008 which was actually a little fun watch in the beginning but after 50 minutes I was tired. The other classes, beginner and intermediate, both had parties, so during break, we went over and ate some of their food. After class, we went to first floor of cafeteria and I ordered some 水饺, which are a type of dumpling, for lunch. They were pretty good but I accidentally ordered vegetable dumplings instead of meat dumplings. But technically it was free because of my lunch card. Also a plate of these dumplings was only 6 yuan which is less than 1 dollar USD. After lunch, we had our Chinese history presentations. The night before everyone prepared a little presentation on an aspect of Chinese history. The presentation could've been on anything, I researched mine on China's first emperor. We all presented and it took a total of 2 hours, I believe, but it was relaxed and everyone presented fairly well. After presentations, we were scheduled to do some community service, but it was cancelled, so class ended at 3:30 instead of 5. We all decided to go to karaoke because we ended early. Karaoke is so cheap on weekdays, especially with 15 people, so I only had to pay 7 yuan for one hour, which is just over a dollar USD. We had to take a bus there because the walk would've been 15 minutes and it was pouring rain. Karaoke in China includes some instruments in the room, so there were also tambourines that we played while we sang. After karaoke, I went home and relaxed. It's been a busy week and I haven't really been able to get a lot of sleep. Part of me feels bad because today I wasn't really talkative to my host family, I just kind of came home and jumped on my bed. But, I think it's ok to have a couple days when you just need to relax, be alone, and listen to your own music. Anyways, I just finished some really yummy curry dinner that my mom made, and my mom just went to her 古筝 (a Chinese instrument) class, so I'm just laying in my bed right now finishing up this post. I don't think I'm going to go running tonight, it's too dark and it's pouring. Tomorrow, I will though. I'm glad it's the weekend. I can sleep in tomorrow! On Saturday, I woke up at around 8 am took the subway with my sisters and her friend to 新街口 (the biggest shopping area in Nanjing), where they went to buy some books, and I went ice skating with some other NSLI-Y students (Hannah, Jessica, Alexander, Alexandra, Hayley, Naomi, Mae, Justin). Skating was kinda expensive, especially for China. It was 80 yuan, which has by far been my biggest purchase. I only skated for about 45 minutes, but it was a lot of fun to skate with everyone. The only thing was that I didn’t have long socks so my ankles chaffed a lot. The mall is really nice too, there’s so many floors with a ton of different shops in it. After skating, Alexandra and I met up with my host sisters for lunch. We went to this random 混沌 (wonton) place where I ordered 牛肉面 (beef noodles). It was pretty good, but I say that a lot and every place to order food in China is pretty good. My host sisters seemed a little annoyed(?), I think they were tired, so I told them they could go home because I wanted to go shopping with the others. So, after lunch they left to take the subway home and Alexandra and I met up with Alexander where we went shopping. We first met up with Jessica and Justin at the nail salon where Jessica was getting her nails done for cheap. Then the Alexs and I went next door to this really really adorable shop that is kind of like a Uniqlo/ikea but better? It was a small store, and didn’t sell clothing but it somehow reminded me of Uniqlo. It’s called Miniso. I bought 2 pens, and almost bought these cute fake birkenstocks, but they looked weird on my feet. After, we checked out some other stores, but I didn’t buy anything. Nothing really stood out to me as super cheap, everything was around 50 yuan which is about 7 dollars USD. I guess that’s a good price, but it’s nothing extremely cheap. Shoes were about 80 yuan which is about 11-12 dollars? I guess that’s a good price, but I think I’m reserving myself and waiting for something cheap and cute. I saw some good knockoff purses though, but they were about 40-50 dollars USD. After shopping, we met up with some other Nanjingers then went back home on the subway. I am actually very proud of myself that I walked back home alone and that I was able to find my way home. The walk back from the subway station is like 15 minutes so I’m surprised I didn’t get too lost. I made a wrong turn, but I realized my mistake and made it home. That night we went out to eat in a restaurant in this empty mall. The restaurant was aesthetically pleasing and the food was not bad. My mom’s friend came and ate with us also. During dinner, my sisters were giggling and I figured out that they thought the waiters were handsome. It was funny because our mom then told the waiter that we thought he was handsome before she asked for water. My sisters were freaking out a little but we were all laughing. Also, my mom always tells me to not say thank you, because apparently family doesn’t say thank you for meals or for buying us stuff. And it’s kind of true, her friend didn’t say thank you for paying for the meal, and my sisters never say thank you. But, I guess it’s out of American culture that I always say thank you for things. After dinner, we went home and I fell asleep and went to bed. On Sunday, July 2, I woke up and me and my mom went to her work because my sisters had tutoring class. My mom owns this really nice curtain shop. I was just going to sit there for hours and I was already a little bored in the first 10 minutes. A few days before, I was invited with 3 other NSLI-Yers to go to this museum that day with the middle school of my host siblings but I was already at my host mom’s work so I kinda felt bad and I didn’t really want to trouble her so I didn’t say anything. But then I realized that I was going to be sitting there for 5 hours if I didn’t our around with the middle school so when my mom asked if I wanted to go to the museum I didn’t hesitate to say no. I felt bad though because I was definitely troubling her. She could’ve dropped me off at the museum on her way to work. Anyway, she got me an uber (it wasn’t really an uber but it is kinda like the uber equivalent to China) and I hopped in and arrived at the museum in 10ish minutes. There I met Anushka, Josie (Ines came a few minutes later), and some middle school students who wanted to tag along. The middle school students would secretly take photos of us while we were walking around the museum. One girl, Tina, even gave me some gifts! A few of them could come up to me and give me compliments. I was really surprised because apparently Josie was telling me that before I arrived the middle school students didn’t know my name but regarded me as the “pretty one” and they all were saying how they wanted my WeChat. It’s kinda weird being an America/half-Asian in China because they treat you so nicely. I guess it’s nice when people call me beautiful, but I’m getting a little creeped out at being stared when I walk on the streets. Anyway, we coincidentally met Helena at the museum – she was with her host sisters! After the museum, we decided to go to lunch, so Anushka, Helena, Ines (Josie had to go home), their host siblings, and I all went to this yummy Chinese restaurant where I ate some xiaolongbao and some spring rolls. After, we took the subway home. The subway is sooo cheap it’s only 2 yuan no matter how far you travel. That’s about 30 cents USD. So cheap. I came home, and skyped my sister and my dad, and then skyped Alexandra. After, I took a nap with my siblings. When my host mom came home, I helped her make some dinner and finished some homework. This was the first time she handmade dinner (we normally went out to buy food) and it was soooo good. We had mango and she made some delicious dishes. I say everything is delicious here, but everything really is. Also, the sunset tonight was gorgeous!! Probably the prettiest sunset I am going to see here in China. Not often do you see a pretty sunset in the smog here. The other day, my host siblings saw a “sunset” and were so surprised. When I looked it was kinda what a normal evening in America would look like. The smog here is pretty bad, but tonight was pretty.
After dinner, my mom and I went walking up Nanjing’s 紫金山 (Purple Mountain). We live at the base of the mountain so it’s convenient to walk up. It was rather dark after sunset but it was such a beautiful night with a perfect temperature. We saw a bike parked on the side of the road, and my mom asked me if I wanted to ride it. Here, the public bikes are free to use, so I hopped on and rode the bike. It was honestly one of my favorite nights I’ve had ever. My mom and I were laughing and taking selfies and it was a memory that I will remember when I think back on my trip to Nanjing. It started to rain quite heavily so I rode back home while she walked. Even though it was raining, it was still so fun to bike down a road in the evening with shops and people alongside me. By the time we got inside the house we were wet, so I took a shower and then finished up some homework before going to bed. |
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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