On the third day in China, I was mulling over the enormous fact that I was thousands of miles away from home, with a mind blowing amount of time before I would return. Around the third day was when we finally ventured out of the apartment to find food, since we had not been taken grocery shopping, and had only eaten Tricia's birthday cake for sustenance. We made the arduous trek of crossing the main road, to Bellagio, the Thai place, where we hacked our way through ordering food and drinks with our 8 hours of Chinese. The experience was stilted, embarrassing and slightly painful but we got our food and showed us that we could survive this place. Probably.
It is now three days until I go home, and all the memories of our first few weeks here are surfacing. The first time I went to Victory Plaza and interlaced my fingers with a girl, or the first time I saw someone wearing a blouse so sheer the brand of her bra was visible and it was considered fashionable, and then there was the first time we shopped at Carrefour and had a anxiety attack... These memories have stuck, and I feel will stick to me for a long time. I feel a sort of symmetry in posting three days until I go back. Like the journey couldn't been completed without a summing up of the moment at the three day mark.
Today we hit the Dalian market for some more shopping,and had a different experience than the crowded, airless underground of Victory Plaza. Instead its a crowded airless warehouse, with sketchier floors, vendors and elevators. However, the quality is better and if you're in need of some really touristy things like pendants or red silk hangings, its definitely the place to shop at. We wandered around for a couple hours, but didn't find the traditional Chinese dresses that my roommate was looking for. After being somewhat defeated by the general chaos and lack of our target purchase item, we hailed a taxi and headed back home. For some reason taxi drivers, once they find out we're American, love to point out the fact that our president is Obama. After saying his name three or four times, I assume they're asking me something about him, and normally I just repeat his name back until they give up. This works really well actually for most interactions, just repeat the last word they say and eventually the funniness wears off and they stop asking questions. It sounds a lot worse put that way, but its incredibly stressful carrying out a conversation anyway- let alone one of touchy natures like politics or quality of clothing.
Normally the good ol' smile and nod comes in handy, and if you throw in a "pengyou" or friend, you get by just fine.
Tonight we ate, for the last time, at our favorite Indian restaurant, Abashi. I ordered my usual butter chicken with a bicycle seat sized naan bread and enjoyed the heck out of it. I will miss the easy access to cheap transportation and food. A taxi is around 8 RMB to a place nearby, which is not even a buck fifty. The chicken and naan together was eight bucks, and I was full when we left. Tomorrow is tea in Lobby Lounge, lunch at Bellagio for our rounding out of experience and dinner wherever we decide ourselves. The last night, on Tuesday, we said we're gonna have one more meal at iCafe and pig out on just desserts. (However most likely we'll eat our favorites like the noodle soup/dumplings/sushi too).
I can't believe I won't have these places to go to any more. Eating out is so easy here I might have a difficult time adjusting back to buying groceries again! I can see why city living is desirable now, access to cafes nearby, or restaurants that you don't need a car to get to is quite convenient and nice.
Our flight from Dalian to Shanghai is at 7.55 am, so we're leaving Shangri-la at 5ish. This means our real last day is Tuesday, and since its the 11th, that means its only a couple days til I'm flying home. Yes, thank you for asking, I am mostly packed already. Do I have enough room for all my stuff? Yeahh...I think so. Although I'm a little worried about the weight limits, and I don't know how I acquired so many more shoes. Maybe its the same amount as before, but I feel like I have more shoes than clothes or other necessities. Needless to say my bag is no longer a mere 35 pounds. We have a 14 hour flight to NYC, then a 6 hour layover until we fly into Indy. I'm gonna have some time on my hands, and no excuse to not do my internship papers or other required reports. I can't believe its almost time to go home now. Can't say it went by quickly, but I can say it was unexpectedly sooner than I originally thought....
Also, my roommates have made me into a sorta grownup person...I have a grownup purse, some shoes and now a fashionable coat with a matching scarf...I don't even know who I am anymore!
No comments:
Post a Comment