Trials and Tribulations

Asia » China » Shandong
September 16th 2005

Published: September 16th 2005

Edit Blog Post

bohemian_astray

Chick!

I've spent the last week living out of my coffee mug ("soothing lemon relief") and package after package of tissue. Happy to say I'm feeling a lot better.

Not much to write about except the trials and tribulations of everyday life...

I called Danny over one night to take a look at my sink, which was draining all over the floor because a piece of the pipe was "missing". He asked me if anyone had broken into my house and if anything else was missing... which is wasn't. So we pondered the reason why someone would steal a piece of pipe... until Danny fixed it. I just can't explain without pictures. Let me say that no, someone did not break in and steal a piece of pipe from my kitchen sink.

I went DVD shopping after work on Wednesday, then Yue and I met up and went for dinner. She ordered for us, and when our noodles came with chicken, she said, "Oh you can just pick it out." She's such a sweet girl and I didn't want to hurt her, so I let it go and I picked the chicken out. We walked down to Quan Cheng

Quan Cheng Square at Sunset

Square... did some shopping, went to Pizza Hut for dessert (sweet toothed girls!) then walked back to the Square... and saw all kinds of things and people... kites flying, old people dancing, kids rollerblading, teenage girls fighting (catfight!), people playing badminton, colourful light-up tops spinning... and then there was the fountain, and the music, and the lights. Such a cool atmosphere at night.

Yesterday I took the bus to Jenny's Cafe to meet Sophia for lunch. Hung out there for a while, filled the ashtray with the little oragami stars Yue taught me how to make. Sophia and I headed to "Fake Street" (think knock-off name brands) and walked around there for a while... had a good laugh at some of the "fashionable" clothes (80's left overs) and she managed to bargain a pair of earrings down from 15 to 13, haha. Met up with her two Chinese friends, MiMi and Little Pig... then I bought a hamster in a clothes store (that apparently also sells hamsters) and took it home... we caught a cab to a little cafe where we sat and ate popcorn before we met Danny at Pyramid around 8:30 for a drink. Mental note to

Yue

self: Don't order milk and Baileys from Pyramid ever again... it was HOT, salty, whole milk and turned my stomach just at the smell of it. Cabbed to McDonalds around 11:15 to meet Yue and we walked home in the pouring rain. She stayed the night at my place because she worked late and had to work early this morning.

There are some smells that I've come across in my time here that I really enjoy... like the sweet smell of the corn vendors... and even the late night BBQs...

But then there are some smells that just make your stomach turn, and remind you ever so kindly that yes, in fact, you are in China... like the smell of DOFU, durian in the supermarket, and the disgusting smell of left-over fish guts baking on the sidewalk when I walk home every day from school. Not to mention wave after wave of flies that make way for me when I step over their afternoon meal. Gag.

In other news, my hamster just tried to commit suicide by leaping from my hand. Thankfully he landed right in his little cage on some soft wood chips. Psycho.