Wednesday was moving day! I moved to my new apartment in Wangjing and was then whisked off to work where I assembled several large pieces of playground equipment. I was sweaty and gross within minutes. The new center that I am working at is beautiful and huge! The people are great, as always, and I feel very comfortable and welcome here. I'm going to miss the other center I worked at in Zhonguancun (not sure if I spelled that right...) and I'm going to miss everybody that I worked with there, but I am excited to move on to this new adventure! Wednesday after work I walked to the Walmart that is just down the street (yes, walmart exists in China) and got some groceries and things to make the apartment livable (i.e. toilet paper, soap, dish soap, toothbrush, etc.). I also got sheets - this was quite an ordeal because they don't have the sizes "queen, king, etc" that we have here. Instead the sizes of the beds are measured by centimeters, which of course doesn't help me at all. A really nice lady tried to help me and through a lot of gesturing and Chinese that I absolutely did not understand, I realized she was trying to tell me that one of the sizes was for beds that sleep 1 person, and the other size is for beds that sleep 2 people. Thank you lady! Despite this, I was feeling very overwhelmed by the whole move and I went home feeling discouraged and lonely. For the first time here in China I cried because I was lonely and frustrated and just plain tired. Below you will find a couple pictures of the apartment - the view from the front door, the big living room, and the view from the balcony that overlooks the courtyard below.
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| Cute little dragon guy at 798 |
Thursday, however, was a new day. At work I was able to organize a lot of the supplies and I got all the lesson plans into binders and organized. It was a very productive and busy day. I take the bus to and from work, and my bus stop is right by a big mall so I decided to go explore it after work. I was pleasantly surprised by the wonders this place held. Most of the shops in the mall are pretty trendy and thus expensive, which is disappointing. I think after I get paid a full month's salary I won't be so concerned about this, but I think I will still do a lot of shopping at the bargain markets. Most malls here in China are several stories high and on the very bottom level is usually (at least in the few malls I have been in) a supermarket. The next level up is what I call the food floor. There are restaurants of all sorts here, from sushi to tapenyaki (sp? I never know), pizza to sizzler, with all sorts of noodle places and little milk tea stands all over. I gave in to my American side and had pizza for dinner, which turned out to be a phenomenal choice. The pizza actually had tomato sauce on it (most places here don't) and it was exciting to try out my Chinese when I called the waiter over: fu wu yuan (sounds like fooyen). They are always so surprised when foreigners know any Chinese, they usually laugh at me, which I tell myself is because they are caught off guard and not because my Chinese actually sucks. I also found a new favorite treat: dark chocolate mochi balls. These delicious treats are ice cream in the middle, dark chocolate shell, with (apparently) sticky rice on the outside. There are all sorts of different flavors and I am excited to try lots of them. On the way home I asked a lady if I could pet her giant fluffy dog and was pleasantly surprised when she said "he's a boy" to which I replied "he's beautiful". Then he licked my hand and I went on my way, missing my own puppies back home in Colorado. When I got home I decided to sit out in the courtyard of my apartment complex and read because it was such a nice breezy night and I was in such a great mood. Unfortunately, after about 30 minutes of being eaten alive by mosquitoes I was forced to go back in to my apartment. Another interesting thing about China: people leave things behind in the apartments. I have found a couple paintings, a lamp, a mattress pad, some pots and pans, and last but not least, a suitcase full of random stuff. Among this stuff were several movies and last night I decided to watch Breakfast at Tiffany's. It may be my new favorite movie. My two favorite parts are the drunk woman talking and laughing and then crying with herself in the mirror, and then when Holly is just drunk and funny. Things are looking up, and though I'm still lonely I am beginning to feel fiercely independent and learning to rely on myself more and more!
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| Are we? |
You will have to tell me how/where to get these delicious moshi balls you speak of.... and how to get to the bus and then to work. I wish I could tell you Wuhan is going to be just this exciting and new but I am afraid I cannot. I eat noodles, fried rice, and dumplings every day. Snow brought me frog for lunch today. Yes... frog. I had to turn it down. I felt bad but I just could not eat it. There is a lot to do in Hankou but it is semi-far so you can really only go on Mondays and Tuesdays. We will be doing a lot for the few days we have together.. I still have to go to Yellow Crane Tower and East Lake so we can do that together! What do you think? We will also go out to Hankou and snack street and maybe even get harassed by a pervy China guy... who knows? Oh- and the crying- don't worry. Been there done that. I can't wait to be reunited!!
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