ABROAD IN
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.
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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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