Sept 20 2013

Friday! Another day off! No worries, we used it well.

We relaxed for the morning before making our plan. Katie’s not sleeping too well for some reason, and I love laying around for a bit since I always feel like I wake up a little too early with puffy eyes and no desire to budge for the next year.

For a few short hours, we read. Katie was reading some book about lobster hunting [the author’s note ends with “And God bless the fat kids” which gave us a good laugh], and I was finishing up Game of Thrones. Eventually we got ready for the day, and went over to the school to write people. My blog hasn’t been letting me post which has been such a pain, it’s so annoying and hasn’t been working for over a week now. I have no idea why…

We got lunch at the school- super empty, there were about three other people in there with just a few things of food. Like the other day, I just got a pile of rice and poured some soupy sauce over it for flavor [seriously, rice is at every meal, always], and eventually we headed back to our place.

More reading! I moved to book 2. We did a ton of laundry, and ended up catching the 4:30 bus. We even got seats, hallelujah! So we took that through town for a ways, eventually making a stop. Where were we going today? To Jiaxiu Tower again! And Wal-Mart! We wanted to see the Tower at night, as is suggested for tourists, and we wanted um… well, more candy from Wal-Mart. It’s fun trying new things!

Down a random street we went, eyeing the shops and contemplating food. There were some shops we wanted to keep an eye out for on our way back, that’s for sure. We passed a Scottish couple on the way as well, definitely random… Katie’s taken to staring at the random white people we find. I’m just hoping this habit goes away when she gets back to the states, or there might be a problem. Haha, so we passed under a bridge that looked like it could collapse on us, and after another turn, we came in sight of the Tower!

For all the navigational tools I lack, Katie has them- and more! Thank goodness! No idea how she figured out- could have been luck for all I know- but she got us there and that’s pretty stinking impressive. So we passed the tower, and walked along the river’s edge as we started down to Wal-Mart.

Katie thought she had heard of some famous park next door, and we saw a ton of trees so we went over to that to check it out. Though it led down some stairs where a lot of people were, it wasn’t much of a park. Mostly just a big circle surrounded by trees with some random people there.

People there were. This sleazy looking guy pulled on some sunglasses and barged right into our way. Music had just turned on, so we assumed he wanted us to dance. And though he smiled, his teeth were terrible and he creeped us out. Katie had the guts to refuse him, and I followed that as well. He continued to pester us, bringing a few more guys- about 5- a little closer. But we had no idea what he was saying, and it’s not like we were about to trust him.

Especially when he tried grabbing our arms.

He was worse than a shopkeeper in Beijing, I kid you not. I figured about here was a good time that I have a tendency to look a little grimmer, if not mean, without trying to. So he gave up on me after one grab, but he was very persistent with Katie, who almost hit him. I wouldn’t have blamed him. Although there were a ton of police at the top of the stairs, I don’t really know if they would have helped us or not.

Anyways, he was seriously annoying, and gave up as we headed to the stairs. Rolling our eyes, we wandered over to the Mao statue again, trying not to glance back and see if he might be following us.  Which he didn’t, because he’s not a real man, he’s just a wuss.

We crossed underground through Wal-Mart’s parking garage- which is so crazy because they’ll lift cars above another one and we have no idea how that system really works. What if the car on top needs to get out but can’t because there’s another car below, you know? Hmmmm!

So we got into Wal-Mart and started wandering around.

Caution! The smell of getting inside is terrible. I’ve actually begun wondering if the stomach rumblings I get comes from swallowing some of the air or something. Okay that probably doesn’t make sense, but if you could literally taste the stench of this air as I can, you might get it. Anyways, it eventually goes away the more we get inside, so inside we went.

Candy! Lots of candy, more than last time. We usually get at least 2 of a kind, if not a few more. The most expensive bag was 6 something, so that’s not too bad. But the regulars definitely get a bit annoyed at the line we creative when they have to weight it which is kind of funny but a bit bothersome. Oh well… We wandered around after that, and back to the scarves. Guilty- but there’s some super cute ones. I bought two!

Then we found two shirts in the clearance, one for 10 RMB and the other for 60 I think. We’re really needing some shirts, so that made us super happy! It was about that time when we got two little girls following us around.

And when I mean following, I mean blatantly staring at us and walking maybe two yards behind us. They followed us as we looked for the notebooks, and even followed us to the shoes. I got some cool flats that definitely look Chinese, yay!! Katie bought another pair as well. They’re really addicting, but since we got them for 30 RMB, why not? It was there while I was trying on shoes that Katie tried talking to them, which was pretty tricky. But we got it that they’re about 11, and that’s all. We put the shoes in our cart, and waved good bye, which got them to head off- for a bit.

Finally we found the notebooks! Off in a silly corner which we totally missed at least twice. It was pretty funny, though… man, I love their notebooks! It’s so much fun I can’t help it. We were about done by then, so we started off to check out and it was in line that the girls found us again! They tried talking to us in Chinese which obviously, doesn’t work.

To be honest, when people try talking to us here, we just want to respond on Spanish. I almost said aloud “Si” to a shopkeeper, no joke. It’s not like we know much of Spanish either, but… yeah.

Anyways, we got to the check out and the girls were staring at our stuff, and one even helped us put everything on the belt which was sweet. Then they went around to see how much everything rang up as. Embarassingly enough, it was about 320 RMB. The girls kept checking it again, unable to believe it. We got rolls, candy, notebooks, pencils, shirts, and shoes. Definitely a successful and busy shopping trip… jeez. But overall, that was only like 50 USD so you can’t complain too much, right? Haha… We said good bye.

Next stop, KFC for soft serve! We saw three French people that we tried to talk to but that was definitely an awkward conversation so we left after that. By the time we got to fresh and polluted air, the sun had just about finished setting. We came to the river’s edge and it was beautiful! There were lights on the walkway, and you could see the lights and buildings reflecting into the water perfectly. It was spectacular!

Eventually we moved again and continued back along the river’s edge and to the tower. This time we didn’t go through it- no need- but I took a lot of pretty pictures! It was lit up and glistening over the water’s ridges peacefully. Very lovely!

We crossed the street and Katie showed me an umbrella store, which I’d been wanting to get a nice one. Took a few minutes, but I found one for 39 RMB! And I was out of the big change since I bought everything at Wal-Mart, so Katie had to pay for that, the dearie she is [we always owe each other money but it usually turns out even within a few days!].  We turned the corner, didn’t really find any food… but we found H&M!

So yes, we had to shop. Katie had thought it was super expensive, but I said they always have sales racks… curses! Shame on me for saying that, shame. That got us inside, looking at all the fun Americanish clothes. And then we found the sales racks, and we were doomed after that! We grabbed a ton of shirts and dresses before finding a dressing room and trying them out. Super cute! I have such a habit with big baggy tops, they’re just so comfy. Especially if it’s a sweater, I love sweaters and I basically bought two the day before that, those other shirts for 49 but this time I couldn’t resist another one, even softer!

So, yeah. I bought a shirt, a sweater, and a dress! Katie bought a suit jacket, a shirt, and a cute dress! We kind of went crazy since we’ve been dying to do shopping here since we arrived like three weeks ago. So we spent as much of Katie’s money as we could! Thank goodness she had brought a good bit, and we got the pieces we wanted most.

After that, my back was killing me for some unknown reason. I think my body thinks it’s twice as old as it really is or something! Katie says it’s my over the shoulder bag that was probably the issue, which might make sense… anyways, I really needed to sit and we were so close to our bus stop, we just decided to go home then.

For a while, I had to stand which definitely sucked. But I was standing in front of two adorable children, so that made it a little better. They were so cute! Then a seat opened, and Katie pushed me over to it. I sat and rubbed my sore, ancient back as the little boy finally got over his shyness and talked to her in English. Super good English for a 4-year-old! And super cute.

Eventually, we got home. We grabbed a bowl of noodles before heading inside, and there we were! Some more laundry, and then we relaxed for a movie before going to bed. Which felt amazing! So good, so refreshing, I was never ever going to get out of bed after that. It was lovely.