Day 3

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We had our first full day of class – a lesson in Chinese history, culture, and social behaviors. After class, we all went out to K-Town for a Korean dinner feast. By all of us, I mean half the class – nearly 30 of us! It was amusing to watch a large group of foreigners walking the 2.2 km together to get to the restaurant. We had a private room and we all squeezed in around 2 large round tables that are supposed to seat 10 each. Sonia (the native speaker), and her friend ordered everything for us, and it seemed like the food never stopped coming. We must have had 20 different dishes brought to the table, and 4 cases of beer. It ended up being 80 RMB per person ($13). Unbelievable. The more adventurous in the group tried the chicken feet.



After dinner, some people wanted to go to karaoke. Since it was a long walk back to the hotel, I wanted to barhop along the way home. Before I knew it, though, I was on the stage singing karaoke. There was a karaoke bar just across the street, so all 30 of us walked in to this tiny American karaoke bar and took the place over. Fortunately, they had buckets of beer, so we ordered several and started passing them around. I learned my lesson last night to always bring my camera because you never know where you’ll end up. I’m so glad I brought it, because I was the only one with a decent camera in the joint. The next day was our only early day (8:15 am), and we all stayed out way too late. No one seemed to be hurting too bad the next day, though…



And the locals love white girls with blond hair. They keep asking to take photos with us – one guy nearly pulled me on his lap to take a picture last night. I told him BU (NO!), and instead took his picture.



The toilets here are porcelain holes in the ground, and for most of my classmates in this program, this is their first experience with it. I am so grateful I had the runs on the trail in Peru, because this is nothing compared to that, even though there are turds in the porcelain hole that you have to maneuver around… you just hope you don’t slip. (Don't worry - there's no pics of this).

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Comments

[Auntie Vera]

How exciting. I felt like I was right there with you. How wonderful to have this trip part of your life.