Friday night, Anna, Samuel (Samuel-22, one of the three interns here, including myself and Kyle is here with his wife Anna-22) and I decided the plans for Saturday would include McDonald's for breakfast-i guess its what they do every Saturday-a trip to the grocery store, a visit to Ancient Culture Street, the bookstore and Sushi. We got about half of the accomplished. I'm still waking up much earlier than they do so I spent sometime on Skype chatting with my parents, checking email and doing a little blogging. When they finally rolled out of bed we walked the two or three blocks to McDonalds, and I tried the Sausage-Cheese McMuffin. Not nearly as good without egg! The total for the three of use to eat was 65 yuan, roughly equivalent to $10 dollars, but I can't figure out how people can afford to live here if they're being paid yuan. It's soooo expensive! But, with the exchange rate, its average or even really cheap in some cases.
After breakfast we decided to go walking to get massages at a Spa I had seen on the way home. We walked for quite a ways, explored the area a bit and never found the Spa. It must be further out than I remembered. We did however come across this little shoppe with beautiful wood carvings in it. But, because prices were high and we were on a "massages mission", we didn't stay long.
Finally we settled on the Spa at the hotel. It was 80 yuan for a 50 min. full body massage. Basically the same techinique as the States only a little harder, more point oriented, and a lot less concerned with personal space. Kinda funny but a good massage.
After that, we loaded up into a taxi and headed over to Ancient Culture Street.
This market has just about everything Chinese under the sun. Carvings, silk, fans, Jade, you name it it was probably there somewhere.It was a really cool contrast between the modern skyscrapers surrounding the market.
I think we only stayed for 3-4 hours, but in that amount of time managed to spend a pretty fair hunk of change, and we hadn't even seen the whole market!
That was a lot of fun. Afterward, Anna and I took a few pics on a nearby monument then we hopped into another cab and headed for Sushi.
The driver didn't know where any Japanese resturante was off the top of his head, nor did we have a card to give him the address, so he wips out this little local attractions book and off we go. He was a pretty fun driver. Samuel speaks Chinese so they were chatting away. He even taught Samuel how to say 'one way street'. I have no idea how to say it...
When we arrived at the restuarante, we asked if they had Sushi, thinking they would understand, but they didn't. We asked for a menu and they had tons of types. Unfortunately, being as hungry as we were, ours eyes were bigger than our stomachs and we ended up ordering a 265 yuan meal. Half of that was on the large, six-type, Sushi platter. oops! It was good, but we
weren't sure if it was that good.After that we went back to the hotel, I did a little more internet stuff and went to bed.
Sunday I got hit with homesickness again. I don't know what brings it on, or why it comes in various strenghts, but Sunday morning was bad. I chatted with Mom, Dad and Alex while they were visiting him at Wooster for Parents Weekend and after we finished, tinked around the room for a bit. I wasn't sure when the maids were going to come and wanted to go to the store while they were here. They didn't come until 11:00 am or so, so that left plently of time for me to tidy up, do my exercises, and a little more internet. Once I realized they wouldn't be coming til later, I made my first trip to the grocery store by myself. I've been there a couple of times, so I knew I could handle it, it's just never as fun when you go alone. I got all the things on my list, plus a new pair of shoes and a pillow for my chair at work. Both of which, along with getting out made me feel better. I also picked up some much needed fruit, as well as some darker hairdye. I'm now a brown/gray/purple color, depending on what kind of light I'm in. Overall, looks pretty natural. Obviously, I dyed my hair and also started teaching myself basic Chinese while Anna and Samuel were at church. They don't get back until 3:30 or thereabouts, so I had plenty of time to take care of little odds and ends, as well as get in a quick nap!
At 6:30 we decided we were all sick of Ramen so we decided to try out the Subway to find a Papa John's, lol. Trust me, with this much Chinese and Korean food, a little American is very welcome! We got off at the correct stop into a completely modern shopping center. It is beyond different than that area we live in. We walked around to the area we thought Papa John's was, but couldn't find it. We did however come across a Catholic Church during Mass. It's strange to hear everyone singing in Chinese! A beautiful church, but we didn't stay long. Our stomachs wouldn't let us.
After we asked around with no success, we found a large food court in the basement of one of the buildings. Initially we were going to have Pizza Hut, but the prices for pizza and salad were outrageous. We finally settled on a Paris Baggette and had some incredible sandwhiches (sans egg) which really hit the spot.
By the time we had finished up there, we were all ready for bed. Back on the Subway and a short walk home in the rain. The weather is clearly starting to switch from summer to autumn. More leaves on the ground, generally cooler weather and more rain. I'm excited. Not much of a fan of hot and sticky weather.
More later!
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