Day 21 turned out a lot better than I expected. I knew that it was going to be a very long day, sitting in on many different classes, but I got to go all over the city as well to several pet stores, two grocery stores, and down at Sanxia Square.
So we all took the campus bus out to Campus A, paying our 5 quai to board, and sat through Heat Transfer and Prob and Stats.After that, we had a two and a half hour lunch break, and we went down to Sanxia Square, because Dom and Nick were saying that the Starbucks that we had gone to the other day was a Starbucks reserve, which apparently has premium types of coffee.
The rows of decorated chickens outside for Chinese New Year
So getting to Starbucks, Dom, Nick, and I got coffee. I ordered the Nicaraguan coffee. When I was trying to ask for cream and sugar, they had trouble understanding me, and when they held up whipped cream, I told them to forget about it, thinking that they had completely misunderstood. To get the premium coffee, we had to go upstairs, and a special barista made it in front of us. He did end up putting the whipped cream in my coffee, but it went well. I was also surprised by how I didn't need to put as much sugar in my coffee as normal (if you know me, you know I like my drinks very sweet.) But overall, I feel like I'm doing a lot better without as much sugar in my tea and coffee here, because sugar isn't as ubiquitous as it is in the US.
Special coffeemakers
Heading out, we stopped to take a couple snapshots in some picturesque spots.
Heading back, we were all starving (it was our LUNCH break, and we still hadn't had it yet.) In order to satisfy the craving that Nick had for dumplings, we ended up going to a restaurant that advertised just that.
I got a combo meal with two chicken shish kebabs (which Dom and I both described as tasting like everything....but not in a bad way), a bowl of noodle broth with chives and roast beef, and a plate of 12 beef dumplings. I had to take home some of the broth and dumplings for later, but the food was really good all in all. The guys also saw a health certificate on the wall that was an "A" rating, and that was relieving as well.
Walking back to campus, we still had about an hour left before the two sets of labs. We saw a pet store on the way back, and it was also an alternate entrance to the Walmart here. So we stopped by, oohing and aahing at the adorable puppies, kittens, and turtles, all of us yearning to take a puppy or two back to the apartment with us.
Then we started wandering around the Walmart, finding our way to the toy aisle (which I joked was because we were all children at heart). I grabbed some authentic Chinese New Year envelopes as a souvenir to buy for myself. When I was young, I learned about their tradition to give coins in the red envelopes to each other on Chinese New Year, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have a couple of my own. Jessica was looking for hot chocolate packets, and to her delight, found some that she used later that night. However, I was shocked by all the Oreos in the snack food aisle. From the traditional flavors that Americans know, to more exotic flavors like strawberry, orange mango, and mixed berry, there were a lot of types to choose from. I decided to play it safe, and got a huge package of chocolate Oreos for only 18 quai (equivalent to under $3).
Our lunch break was close to over at this point, so we headed back to campus for the embedded systems lab. However, none of the American TAs had taken the class, and Celia and Robert were the only ones with knowledge of the topic, so we ended up in the back on our computers for the majority of the class, and I ended up reaching 90% proficiency on Python.
An amazing feat of strength
After we got back to campus D on the campus bus, Jessica, Nick and I walked down to Sunny Block. We started having one of those really good philosophical existential conversations about everything from the future of humanity to the validity of religion. We made a few stops along the way, including another pet store where we saw a couple grumpy cats cuddled into the blanket, as well as a couple huge hyperactive bunnies, and more puppies and birds. We also stopped by an art store where I bought some red duct tape to fix my wallet that had some of the gems fall off.
We were deciding where to eat, and we saw a place on the second level of Sunny Block that looked interesting. We sat down, quickly discovering that the waitress did not speak English, necessitating use of the menu's pictures and a translator app. Nick and Jessica both got more dumplings, while I ended up getting the dish below. It was a pork noodle dish, but it had a strange texture. The noodles tasted as though they were made of gelatin and were very slimy, but the vegetables and the bed of egg helped with eating more of it. However, I realized during this meal that my body was somewhat rejecting the constant inundation of so many noodles and dumplings, and I couldn't eat much. I took home the leftovers to put them in the freezer.
We also stopped by a pharmacy of sorts, and I got some ibuprofen for emergencies. There was a grocery store attached to it, with interesting drinks that looked like a hybrid of a bottle and a can, but we were barricaded by the pharmacy and couldn't see a way around it. I also saw a funny sign that is at the front of most pharmacies (when you see it below, you'll know.....).
Going out of the pharmacy, we saw a sign that had Bugs Bunny on it, and walked towards it, our curiosity piqued. And, at this point, you can probably guess what this store was....yes, another pet store. But this one had either partial bars in the cages, or holes, where you could stick your hand in and pet the animals. There was an extremely forlorn brown poodle, as well as an extremely hyper husky puppy, which Nick named Coco even though we told him not to get too attached. When we were looking at the lizards, a lady came up to us and asked us how to say the animal in English. Telling her, she repeated the word lizard, and walked away before we could ask her how to say it in Chinese.
Then we headed toward the grocery store, and we discovered a small convenience store, where I found an ironic notebook (considering that it's in China), and a premium donut shop (where I decided to wait until after grocery shopping to buy one).
Interesting notebook....
Heading into the grocery store, Jessica and I were looking for fruit, cereal and milk. It was interesting to see that cereal was considered an "imported item". We got the Chinese equivalents of Cocoa Krispies and Honey Nut Cheerios. Going back to the fruit aisle, we got some discount grapes (which turned out to be halfway bad/moldy later....). We also got some milk that included some yogurt smoothies with it too. We also saw some interesting names for some of the items, including the beer below. Nick grabbed some cereal, milk, chocolate, and a new type of alcohol to try. Paying the bill, I decided against getting a donut, and we headed home.
Interesting brand name
We headed back home, putting everything away, and soon after, headed to sleep.
-Zoe
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