Day 5: July 31, 2011

Hi everyone! I didn't realize that I would be updating this blog everyday, but it's kind of comforting and helpful for myself, like personal journal. Who knows if I will continue it everyday for the rest of the time I'm here; I might get busier after my first week of classes. But for now these posts are helping me cope with my new environment.

This morning I went to church. Jing Jing took me, and stayed for the mass with me. It was really exciting to go. The church was beautiful; I didn't take pictures, but next weekend when I go again, I will get a few shots of it. The mass was nice, and it was very comforting. No matter where you go in the world, the Catholic mass is basically the same everywhere, and so it was really comforting to take part in something familiar to me while I am so far away from home.

After church, Jing Jing and I went home. She made us some lunch, which was fangbian mian (type of noodle), xiao bai cai (baby bok choy) which is soooooo gooood, dofu (tofu) which isn't as bad as I thought it would be, mantou (bun), and dongwa (wintermelon) which is also sooooo goood! There was also some mogu (mushrooms), but I didn't eat them because I don't like mushrooms, and something I can't remember the Chinese name for, but it is like small shrimp. I thought it was worms when I first saw it, and got freaked out because it was in my noodles, but I still ate the noodles. Then I asked and realized it was the small shrimp and felt a lot better about eating my noodles.

I studied for a few hours, and then I went to BLCU to meet Zhang Laoshi (my Chinese teacher from UMW). She treated me to dinner, and it was very good again. The restaurant we went to had Hunan cuisine, a place in southern China. We had some spicy potatoes, fresh cucumbers and tomatoes, scallion pancakes (which are really really good), sticky rice balls (which are one of my new favorite Chinese foods), fried eggs, and the lotus plant, which surprisingly was good and sweet. Once again, I ate too much. Every meal I feel like I eat so much!! I have probably gained 5 pounds already, and I just got here last Wednesday! But it's hard not to eat a lot, because they keep giving you more and more food and tell you to eat more, so it's hard to decline. And everything is really good too.

So when I was done having dinner, I took the bus back to my home. Then I stopped at the grocery and picked up some water, milk for tomorrow to go with my leftover sticky rice balls, and some chocolate. When I got home, only Jing Jing was here. Since then, I've been studying and preparing for tomorrow's lesson, and now writing this blog. Here are a few pictures to appease you all until next time!

My family's cat, Chao Chao

A view of my apartment building from the bus stop

A picture of what the lotus plant looks like that I ate