All over the place for serial

6/16/2010

Dragon boat festival! That means no school :D Carly and I went to Carrefour and totally loaded up on bread. As soon as I get the food blog I’ll post pics and comment on the tastes and stuff. I LOVE THE BREAD SO MUCH. We got this one bread that had this custard type filling in it (with dates or raisins?). It’s SO good. The bread is generally sweeter than American bread. Carrefour has a ‘western bread’ section, but we generally pass that by, haha. I also got a fried, braided bread that’s really good, and maybe three other kinds. I’m still looking for the “little piggy” bread, the one that looks like a pig <3 We also bought some yogurt <3 strawberry and peach, and some peanut butter and jelly. The peanut butter we bought has something like mini rice crispy treats! 很有意思！We DID look for Nutella, but to no avail. I think I’ll start putting rice crispies in my peanut butter now, haha. Two different types of crackers were bought and we made out way to the line. 一共一白三远。About 15 USD for a fair amount of stuff. We cut through the neighborhood on the way back and bought some fruit (nectarines, bananas…they look different, like..oblong…, yang mei berries, some other fruit, two peaches…) all for about 5 or 6 USD. So cheap~. Carly keeps saying how amazed she is at the prices in China, heehee. I’m just glad that other people are enjoying themselves :)

Aaannnddd~ I bought zongzi~~~~~~!!!! What can I say, I love the stuff. I saw a stall selling it in the apartment area so I didn’t buy any at Carrefour. I just went for the one that had the ‘meat’ character in it “肉“. It turned out to be sooo yummy! Not of that icky Chinese sausage nonsense! It had sticky rice (what it’s mainly made of), a bean of some sort, and beef, methinks. I wanted to go back for more! It was only about 1.40 Yuan, so 0.20 USD. I can seriously stock up on those~

Anywhizzles, after some downtime, I took Carly, Ryan, and Naomi to Qipu lu by taxi. We went to one of the stores and didn’t really get to look around that much because Ryan suggested that we meet every 45 minutes. The place is HUGE and crowded and like a maze, so I didn’t understand why we had to keep meeting. I saw another store with the shirts I wanted but they wouldn’t go down much. I think the next time I see a store like that, I’ll just risk paying “too much” and load up on them. Why? Because there are shirts that fit my decidedly large American frame (lengthwise and bust wise, heehee). I really do like the designs on those shirts. And the matching purses~~~I’m generally not a purse fiend, but they kind of remind me of the cute purse I got in Zhengzhou (with the help of Christa’s persuasion :D ).

As I said, we really didn’t get far. We only went into the first floor-ish of two buildings so we have much more exploring to do. There are also Mario shirts floating about! I want them~! I guess I have to go shopping in the guy’s section because I know those will fit me. If not, then that’s just…sad.

UGH. I REALLY want those shirts (and purse)! Mingyali, I think is the name brand. I’m also not a brand girl, but when I know I can’t find something in my home country, I like to stock up :P Oh well. BUDDHISM SAYS BE DETACHED. So I will. I did buy a black skirt for 35远, so 5USD. That’s the price I set it at, but after a few seconds, I thought “I genuinely don’t want this anymore”. I started walking away and they called me back twice, the second time with the price I set :/ Maybe I can give the skirt away? Haha. I need that type of nonchalance with my shirts! ARGHA.

We get back to the dorm around 7pm or so and I stay in for dinner. I’m trying to stay hydrated. I’m also not sick yet! It’s been about a week, so I’m being really conscious of my health. I’m drinking water and taking a multivitamin. Carly has a cold of some sort. She’s been feeling kind of miserable and I know that feeling a little too well. *The last time I had a cold was the DAY BEFORE my Chinese final at Tech. It was hell.*

Same ol’ same ol’ settling in to bed after that. I’ve gained the habit of leaving the door open so people generally walk in. I’m talking to a lot more of the program mates this time around, and *most* of them are really cool. I like that we’re comfortable enough with each other to just leave our doors open. People also know I’ve been on this trip before so they sometimes come in asking for advice about this or that. They’ll even swing by (as do I to their rooms) to ask if we want to all eat together or something J I really like it and this is someone who values her alone time. Ah well :O

Oh yes, I believe I called by dad for the second time today. It was good to hear his voice :) I missed cooking today because I’m usually cooking on some Chinese holiday or another. Ah well, again.

还有, the Chinese really like Lady Gaga, apparently. I kept hearing her songs in the bargain market.

Oh yeah, and I just realized...if you see a random "J", that's supposed to be a smiley face emoticon. It was when I typed it on Word, but I guess it didn't translate well :(