This week I spent a lot of time studying Chinese with Cassie again. I think I'm sorta getting the hang of it, but it comes in and out. Cassie can say one thing to me and I get it and respond right away, and five minutes later she could ask the same question and I'd stare at her blankly. But we took some field trips this week, which made it a lot more fun and helped some vocabulary actually stick in my brain.
This is the living room in our apartment, where I frequently study or think about studying in the mornings.
Cassie took me to a mall to review my store, clothing, and shopping vocabulary, which is pretty extensive for two weeks of lessons. Do you know the Chinese words for leggings and short boots? I DO! It included a stop in a cosmetics store so Cassie could get makeup to match mine, and I spotted this product on the shelves. As much as I don't blend in here, there's something kinda nice about living somewhere where tanning and bronzer is not such a strong part of the beauty equation. Cassie also got me a milk tea, which she says is a trendy drink for cool young people so clearly I need to know about it. It's tasty!
Wednesday we had a holiday farewell with Duncan (second from the right), whose flight was leaving early in the morning. We had delicious food at Din Tian Fung, and I was late because I was dropped off alone at an intersection and wandered around lost for a good half hour. Then we met up at a bar run by people in our social circle for some fun. It was a tiny bar the size of a living room and it was all people we knew, so it was quite cozy. Below is just some our delicious dinner spread.
Another field trip! Cassie took me to one of her favorite cheap food stands for some Chinese pancakes. They're made fresh on basically a crepe maker, with an egg added in the mix, and then topped with fried chicken, some crisps, lettuce, sauce, and then folded up and tossed in a paper wrapper. So good! Later that night Scott and I tried a French restaurant that's right next to our apartment complex. Nova. It was really tasty, and the waiter gave us both HUGE glasses of Orangina with twisty straws. And we split a mini cheese plate for dessert and I was inspired to give a whole speech about how much I always love warm fresh bread and the combination of a delicious cheese and a crisp slice of apple.
Scott finally convinced me to join him for my first massage in China. Here I am looking about as closed-off and anxious as possible while we wait in the room for our masseuses. It was... a bit rough, I'm not gonna lie. I wasn't sore when I showed up, but I was sore for a few days afterwards. But I think my circulation is better? Our masseuses were incredibly nice and friendly and Scott chattered away with them in Chinese and a little bit of English while I stayed more focused on tensely preparing myself for some bone-deep tissue massage. I did manage to follow some of the conversation, though, which I was proud of. They thought I was thin and beautiful and looked like a French movie star, so that is a victory both for my Chinese skills and for awkward blue paper massage shorts.
Another adventure with Cassie! We went to the very popular West Nanjing pedestrian shopping street. It's a very long street and there are no cars allowed so some people use these little trains.
Here I am posing with the sign for the street. If I look slightly uncomfortable, it's because the surrounding crowd stopped to watch me get my picture taken. I do get watched a lot. I was in a store looking at a shirt when Cassie pointed out two girls who were frozen in the middle of the aisle, staring with mouths agape as if I were performing a magic show. I'm a weirdo!
This is a random statue in the pedestrian street. Tons of people were posing with it, so why not?
SWFC! Shanghai World Financial Center, one of the most recognizable buildings in Shanghai, and also where I have my tutoring sessions.
Friday we went out for a Szechuan dinner with some of Scott's colleagues. I hadn't had it before, so it was a new experience for me. And my first experience with ma, the flavor that makes you go all numb. It was... pretty spicy, but the numb stuff wasn't as much of a challenge as I thought it'd be. I have a fairly low threshold for spicy, but the numb was really just tingly. Kinda fun, actually. We had the waitress help us choose desserts, though, which proved to be an adventure. One looked like a pork bun only it was filled with like twinkie cream, and the other was a complete mystery to me with gummies and grass jellies and lotus seeds in a goop. Not delicious but not terrible, but a little bit difficult to deal with psychologically.
Saturday was the Christmas party at Peter and Miranda's. They cooked a delicious spread and I ate way too many cookies followed by some delicious chocolate pie. And Santa stopped by with his parachute.
It got pretty silly. And Scott spent some adorable quality time with Peter and Miranda's tiny baby boy in his cute elf costume, and five minutes after this the baby was napping in Scott's arms. And Peter got to hold Murray on his lap for a bit, too. It was a fun night!
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