Day 12: Homesickness

Sunday was a bittersweet day for me. It was the first day of extreme homesickness for me. I was chatting with two friends about my experiences and it hit me all at once. I started breaking down a bit because I missed Cincinnati (which was where I had been born and raised), my mom,  my friends, and the stress of being in a long distance relationship and they all got to me simultaneously.

An emergency skype call helped calm me down, and with encouragement, I went to ask Jessica if she wanted to go out at some point. This was to get me out of my room and keep me accountable to get out. We decided to go out around noon, and I went back to my skype call and worked on some Astronomy Club powerpoints (since I'm still president of the club, even though I'm abroad). Around 11, the other three TAs decided to go to Starbucks. Still a bit frazzled, I told them I would meet them at the bus stop around 1 to go to campus A.

When I was going to bike over to Campus D, the others were coming back, having decided not to go to Campus A. I was a bit insistent, and they decided to go. Putting my bike back, we headed to the bus stop. On the bus there, I got to download Facebook and Facebook messenger on my Chinese phone using the UC VPN, making it easier to stay in touch with people from home.

When we got there, we decided to go to the Italian restaurant that Nick and Dom had gone to the day before. I ordered chicken carbonara, which was very cheesy, and tiramisu, which was served in a fancy glass. The waiter spoke fluent English, which was nice, and I found out that the owner was actually Italian. At the end of the meal, we also got chocolates, and Pablo came in to say hi, seeing my post on the JCI group chat about the tiramisu.

The menu is in three different languages! Mandarin, English and Italian

Jessica's bruschetta (I tried one of the ones near me- a spicy mushroom one)

Chicken carbonara

Tiramisu- it was FANTASTIC

That all said and done, I was a bit groggy. Nick got a bottle of limoncello to take home, since he liked it a lot. The four TAs all headed to Sanxia Square again to go shopping around.

Dumpling mascots we saw on the way

Nick  decided to go into the Nike store on the way, and get some shoes that he had seen the previous day. He ended up getting Yeezys, which are Kanye West's brand of shoes. In the US, they sell for hundreds of dollars, but in this store, he ended up getting them for just under $70!

I wanted to go into the Smurfs store, but we found out that it was only a convenience store, and I changed my mind.

Then we went into an indoor shopping mall (which are strangely popular here), and wandered around the 6 floors. When I went into the shops, the shopkeepers follow you around and incessantly ask if you need help or anything. At first, I thought it was just because I was an American, but it turns out that they just have more in your face sales tactics.
One saleswoman kept talking to me in Chinese, and when I kept responding in English, she incredulously asked "Do you speak any Chinese at all?" And I told her no, but I was trying to learn.

Some handmade soaps

When we went outside, we saw several rows of chickens, dressed up in different ways. The only ones I recognized though, were the ones dressed up like Totoro and the one dressed up like Batman!

 As we walked around, several of the shop owners used the common tactic of yelling into the crowd what they have or using those annoying clapper toys to get attention.
I ended up going into a 1960s Americana style shop and tried on some hats, but I didn't like the fit, and decided against buying anything.

 Jessica and I went outside and waited for the guys near one of the big monuments. We decided to people watch and we got a lot of people openly staring at us (because of our hair color, most likely). When they came up, they told another story of an overly pushy salesperson. Dom got a free t shirt with his sweater purchase, and it was one of the most appropriate shirts I've ever seen....

 We continued to wander around. I stopped for a coffee at Starbucks (yes, there are Starbucks in China), trying a caramel macchiato, which I liked a lot. I also saw statues of stone lions, and I had to get a picture with it. Dom wandered off at some point, and trying to be amusing, I yelled "Free Dom!" to try to get his attention, to which the others were jokingly telling me to stop (since free speech isn't allowed in China, and if you search certain terms such as "human rights" online, you can get into big trouble). Slightly on edge by the reminder, I quickly stopped.

Me next to a traditional Chinese stone lion

Walking along, we ran into a Haagen Daaz shop and decided to get some ice cream. I got blueberry, and it was really good. The workers even brought out cups of water once we sat down with our treats. We decided to go back on the subway, before which Dom decided to go to a shoe vendor and look around.

Me being a super white girl.... (but both the coffee and ice cream were great, in my defense)

Gorgeous hanging light cover

Walking back to the apartment, we exchanged jokes and chatted, enjoying each other's company.

When we got back, a guy biked up to us on a bike covered with a string of lights, and started talking to Nick and Dom about the travel plans we were making for the month long Spring Festival (including Chinese New Year). They had mentioned not going to Beijing because of the crowds that a guy had mentioned, and that the guy had given them other advice as well. However, when he came up, I was shocked to see that it was the same professor who had been complaining incessantly on the bus the other morning. He introduced himself better to all of us as a English and philosophy professor, and was pretty friendly for the most part. I think he recognized me, so he wasn't quite as friendly (or maybe he was shocked to see me), but he had shown a new side to the others. Maybe he was having a bad day on Friday morning, I don't know. But he did seem pretty eager to help us out, and he did seem pretty steeped into China when speaking to us. I was still wary of what he had said before on the bus, and how he appeared to be a bit two faced, but I decided to see how future interactions with him went.

Going home, I watched the first two Manufacturing Processes lectures, worked on my blog, watched a couple videos, read a bit, learned a bit more Python, chatted a bit online, and got ready for my second week of work ahead of me before heading to sleep.

-Zoe