Chengdu - Week 2 End of Week

Sept 12, 2014

    Yay for Friday, which mostly involved lounging around, at least for the morning. I went out with Jiajing for lunch in Sichuan alley. Going to food with the locals is super easy and usually a delicious experience. After lunch it was time for the first calligraphy class. The teacher told us a story about how her grandmother fell in love with her grandfather’s calligraphy, and that’s why they got married. Having beautiful handwriting is very important, particularly when it comes to calligraphy; it shows good strength in character. I ended up really messy at the end, making ink is an interesting process and I am not able to keep my hands clean. My writing isn’t very good but that’s ok, I am hoping to practice and get better. After class I took a nap (I’ve been extremely tired, I think the excitement of moving in is wearing off).
    I went to Brennan’s room afterwards and we translated some menu. We decided to go to dinner, which ended up an adventure unto itself. Lots of people on the streets and around town so finding a place to sit. We ended up wandering around until we found a little restaurant. I got me some spicy noodles and we actually had a pretty good meal. There was a sleeper cell in the  restaurant who helped us order. For those of you new to the blog, sleeper cells are people who speak very good English and appear in a foreigners’ time of need. He is now our friend with whom we can communicate, it’s pretty funny. I came back to the dorms and got ready for bed. The internet is now magically returned so I will attempt communication.

Sept 13, 2014

    Today is day long in the making. Chengdu is a city famous for it’s laid back atmosphere, people playing mahjong in the parks while sipping tea. So that’s what we did, Tong gathered up Raphi, Cassidy, Sean, Brennan, Jose, Gabe, Bawadan, Erik, Crystal, and myself to a park outside of Chengdu. We arrived at about 10 am. The park was quiet, and not many people had shown up yet, but according to Tong this was a place that usually hosted weddings. We were lead all the way in the back, and we got set up at some mahjong tables. Mahjong as it turns out is an incredibly complicated game. It took nearly four rounds and almost constant supervising from Tong to get the game right. Once we figured it out though we had a great time. I never won a single round, but I never win at games anyway. It was just good to spend time with friends.
    For lunch we went and got this huge meal, sort of by accident. Tong didn’t realize how big the dishes would be and that some of us have strict dietary restrictions. This place in particular served lots of fish so I ended up with two bowls rice. I am actually not all that hungry these days, it has to do with the adjustment period, so two bowls of rice was quite filling. After lunch we headed back to the Mahjong tables. Tong this time picked up ping pong paddles and balls. Cassidy and I took turns playing him, but then this family showed up and by the end of the day we had played for 2 hours with this random family. It was great, Cassidy and I of course were pretty terrible at it but they went with it. It was so much fun, tons of laughing and joking to be had by all.
    The last stop of our outing was the flower market. Cassidy and Brennan have been itching to get some plants for their rooms. I am on the west side so I don’t get enough sun to justify spending money on a plant.After the flower market we headed back to the dorms. It took about and hour and a half. Everyone was super tired, we were up extremely early to get out and meet Tong, so everyone sort of checked out for a bit. Dinner was a quickly run to the noodle shop and I had an Aha! moment. I was able to correct Jose’s order to the waiter got him what he wanted. I was understood and that was all that matters, finally seeing a comfortable improvement in my useful Chinese. Overall it’s been a fun, eventful day, mostly full of laughter. Tomorrow is a study day, so I suspect it will be much quieter.

Ping Pong Family fun!