“Oh god, I don’t want to wake up now.” Back in America, the earliest my Saturday mornings would start was around 11 o’clock. Today I woke up at a nightmarish 6:30. I had to force myself to turn off the alarm blaring right beside my hand. When I finally did get up, I prepared myself for the day in a sluggish manner. My host dad took a taxi with me to the high school where the group, (we haven’t decided on a name yet), agreed to meet that day. It was a rainy day, fitting for the wetlands we were going to see. I said bye to my host dad as he left for the airport, (he left for his nephew’s wedding), and double checked to see if I had everything.
Turns out I forgot my passport, which I was told to bring for the past 5 days. Anyway, everything worked out okay because they only needed the other 4 passports, but that doesn’t change the fact that I was the only one to forget my passport. After a short bus ride, the group, Mrs. Lockrow, Vicki, (the English teacher who came to DS 2 years ago), Vicki’s son, Tian, and the tour guide ventured into the wetlands. The wetlands are a web of rivers that separate the land into different islands. We took a boat down river towards the main island in the area and although rain made everything gray, we didn’t let that get us down because Dareus’s host family gave him a big bag of snacks that he shared with the rest of us. Also the occasional Cherry Blossom provided some color on a grey canvas giving the scenery some nice contrast. On the main island, we walked into the old street where most of the restaurants and gift shops resided. People were drying tealeaves by mixing them in a heated basin with tea tree oil in it, small gift shops would sell massage toys that would make your muscles laugh, and different food vendors served all sorts of delicious foods, like Chinese pancakes, persimmons, and squid. We also saw fish on sticks, (fish sticks), which seemed to be popular. Everybody likes fish sticks. Walking down the street, we were hit by a wall of stench from the stinky tofu. If you’ve never smelled stinky tofu, I would tell you to not underestimate it. The stink bomb has a 7-mile blast radius of stench that can and will be carried by the wind like a homing missile straight to your nostrils, and no amount of evasive maneuvers can help you.
After walking through the town, we met the bus driver again to go to a temple by West Lake. This temple was built in honor of an ancient hero named Yue Fei. When you walk in the courtyard, you can see a giant statue of him sitting at the other side, watching all the little people paying tribute to him. We were only there for a little bit, but that was fine because we left for lunch back at the Marco Polo hotel, which is all you can eat buffet heaven for Dareus and I. If you thought we ate a lot last time, your jaw would drop at how much food we ate this time. To sum up, by the end of lunch 20 empty plates were stacked on the table and some of us fell into a catatonic state.
The driver took us the Grand Canal museum afterwards; a place Mrs. Viz has urged us to go to since the beginning of the year. I guess this a very popular place because we did see a wedding going on right by the museum. On the other side of the Grand Canal was another wall of tofu stench and more museums. This time we visited the sword, knife, scissor, and fan museums. These were actually very cool because unlike American history, these relics were thousands of years old. You could see the progression of human ingenuity with each exhibit. It’s amazing to see how people came up with these ideas in the old times. Anyway, after more bonding with Tian, we drove back to the high school where we all went our separate ways.
I went to Wal-Mart with Kevin to pick up some groceries before going to McDonalds for dinner. It has been too long since I’ve had a good old greasy burger. I should immerse myself in the culture more, but one little break can’t hurt. We walked around for a little bit talking about different topics before coming back to the apartment. It’s just us for tonight but we’re both tired from today, so tonight is a good time to recharge for the coming week. Until next time.
After walking through the town, we met the bus driver again to go to a temple by West Lake. This temple was built in honor of an ancient hero named Yue Fei. When you walk in the courtyard, you can see a giant statue of him sitting at the other side, watching all the little people paying tribute to him. We were only there for a little bit, but that was fine because we left for lunch back at the Marco Polo hotel, which is all you can eat buffet heaven for Dareus and I. If you thought we ate a lot last time, your jaw would drop at how much food we ate this time. To sum up, by the end of lunch 20 empty plates were stacked on the table and some of us fell into a catatonic state.
The driver took us the Grand Canal museum afterwards; a place Mrs. Viz has urged us to go to since the beginning of the year. I guess this a very popular place because we did see a wedding going on right by the museum. On the other side of the Grand Canal was another wall of tofu stench and more museums. This time we visited the sword, knife, scissor, and fan museums. These were actually very cool because unlike American history, these relics were thousands of years old. You could see the progression of human ingenuity with each exhibit. It’s amazing to see how people came up with these ideas in the old times. Anyway, after more bonding with Tian, we drove back to the high school where we all went our separate ways.
I went to Wal-Mart with Kevin to pick up some groceries before going to McDonalds for dinner. It has been too long since I’ve had a good old greasy burger. I should immerse myself in the culture more, but one little break can’t hurt. We walked around for a little bit talking about different topics before coming back to the apartment. It’s just us for tonight but we’re both tired from today, so tonight is a good time to recharge for the coming week. Until next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment