Ni Hao from China,
Word of the day is: "dui by qi" which means "I am sorry." I realized this word was quite necessary on my ventures in Chengdu, especially when it comes to nearly getting run over by accelerating motor bikes in maddening Chinese cross walks. Definitely a very important word but not as important as "qiao ke li li wu", AKA word of yesterday, which means "chocolate present".
As for today one word for today would be "action packed". If you note that this consists of two words I stand corrected, seriously. I am rambling now. So the day begun with a Chinese breakfast consisting of vegetables, spices, soymilk, soup, and a hardboiled egg. I ate the hardboiled egg mostly. This breakfast will definitely take some getting used to.
Before all of us knew it the bus pulled up and all of the nursing students, including a few exceptions such as myself, piled on board. First stop was the Panda exhibits. Everyone was bright eyed and bushy tailed about this. The Panda Park consisted of a lot of walking and looking at souvenirs, in which we all spent our recently exchanged China money on. Before that, however, were Pandas and 84 of them to be exact. We saw big ones, small ones, and even red ones. We learned that their lifestyle consists daily of eating blossoming bamboo, then sleeping, and occasionally defecating. They have a somewhat simple life yet an extremely complicating sex life that I will not be getting into. The Panda's cuteness made the girls go "aww" until their tummies went "grrr". I agreed. So off to lunch we went.
Lunch consisted of a Chinese spinning table which I am more than familiar with, yet, the food was definitely different. Notable dishes consisted of chicken, deep fried corn (my favorite), and "numb tongue". This is where things got interesting as Phil and I, AKA the "ChengDUDES", were dared to drink a shot of spicy numb tongue sauce. We did just that, twice! The first time was spicy but the second time, which the girls begged us to do, was disgusting. They mixed the thick hot gooey red sauce mess with a broth that made Phil and I gag epically. With stomach upset I ran to the bathroom, or should I say washroom. This is when I got acquainted with the infamous "squatty potty". Basically, one stall and one small hole and this was a nice restaurant. I hate to say it but it left me feeling disgruntled. But good food was served and I manned up about it.
Next was shopping, and that's an understatement. This market was called China's Straight (I believe) and it was beautiful and the merchandise all 100% China made. This consisted of tea, fans, chopsticks, dolls, silk, and swords. I forgot to mention Starbucks as well. The food at the market was crazy, a perfect opportunity for Phil and I to look like complete fools. We ended up eating spicy octopi legs on a sticks and super spicy quail on a stick (head still intact). Might I add, everything in China can be found "on a stick." As Phil and I worked our way around the tricky quail bones with stinging lips, the locals walked by us laughing in our direction. This happens quite often. The Chinese take pictures of the pretty girls while they laugh at the silly boys. Other things I will remember about this awesome market are the black swans on the pond floating above loitering coy fish and touching the silky smooth Chinese cloths like a mad man. My new friend Kajsa described the silk perfectly, saying it was "smooth like butter."
Speaking of butter, we went to a restaurant of Tibetan signature where they were praised for their warm yak butter milk. This baffled me for I found it beyond disgusting. It gave "nasty" a new name and it wasn't happy about it. It was the equivalent of eating melted butter that was left out and then warmed up again. I drank about half of it. Tibetan food though was good. They had a yak pizza that tasted just like Hamburger Helper. I love Hamburger Helper! I also ate a flower. It didn't taste pretty. The company was great as Phil, to my left was talking about his tradition of "Wine Wednesday" while my handy dandy Chinese speaking friend Sarah sat to my right trying to exchange our original names for Chinese ones. My Chinese name is "Dao Dui Le" which means "Path to righteousness." Phil's Chinese name was "Pi Jiu," which means "beer." He was satisfied with this. He loves beer.
As time went by the laughs grew louder and the butter drink began to solidify. It was time for a Chinese opera. We all bused our way there and found ourselves weary from the day. This was the perfect way to conclude our day, all bundled up in an old Chinese theatre where the seats were far from packed and our breath clearly seen. I have come to believe that Chinese do not believe in heat but that's ok. The talent more than warmed the place up as China's artistic traditions danced before our eyes. This consisted of magic masks, beautiful geishas, shadow puppets, and musical instruments that spoke unique languages of their own. When the curtains closed we all what little energy we had left to applaud. We were anxious to return to our Chengdu home: The Xinglin Hotel.
Back to the hotel we all grabbed our yellow breakfast cards for the following morning and then surround the painfully slow Chinese elevator as it began to drop from floor six. Waiting for the elevator is the equivalent of watching paint dry which I, unlike most, find interesting. Minutes later I'm in my room talking to you now and now must start my studies for class tomorrow.
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