Pandas, etc.

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The weekend began on Friday with a bus trip to Chunxi Lu. We splurged on lunch at Pizza Hut.

Pizza Hut here is not like Pizza Hut in America. We had to wait to be seated. We ordered not just stuffed crust, bacon pizza, but mashed potatoes, waffle fries, and little crostini rolls with beef and asparagus in them. I also drank an oreo shake. Everything was really good. We paid just over 50 kuai each. Seven dollars or so.

Afterward we headed to the women's market. This is the crazy four story chaotic mess of bargaining. We all found what we wanted right away: stockings and hair pieces for our Cabaret outfits for The Shamrock's anniversary party. Audrey has gotten very good at bargaining, mainly because she has no mercy.

We left after only an hour or two because we had to meet Clare's English group at the North gate of the University, which is pretty far from our dorm. They took us on the new subway system to a restaurant on the other side of the city. We tried several kinds of dumplings, a sweet soup made with some kind of fruit, black goo made out of ground nuts... and some other dishes. While we ate we told them about Thanksgiving and beer pong.

When we got back, Clare, Maria, Audrey and I all got ready to go out. Put on cute clothes and make up. Then we all convened in Clare and Audrey's room to do some homework before we went out. But then we decided that we didn't want to go out, so we all ended up watching the Hangover instead.

I had a lazy Saturday morning doing homework and watching DVDs in bed, then at one went to the East gate to get on a bus to go to the Panda Conservatory. There were four big, janky buses of foreign students. The seats tipped forward if the bus stopped too suddenly. It took one hour to get to the park.

The school paid for our tickets, thankfully. Otherwise they would have been 98 kuai each. Clare, Audrey, Maria and I waited for the mass of the group to go ahead with the tour guides, so that we could have a nice, quiet self-guided tour. We got lost in the bamboo for a while, and then we found the pandas. They are so cute and lazy! They just lay on their backs or their stomachs all day and eat bamboo. They move a few feet, and then they slump over again and lie down to rest for a while. They should be the American national animal.

The red pandas were a lot more active. It was difficult to get pictures of them because they move so quickly and climb trees.

There was also a lake with koi and black swans. Maria bought food for them and they swarmed the patio. The fish were so thick next to the shore that the swans could walk on top of them.

We bought some ice cream and went out to find the buses. After we got on the bus it took more than an hour for us to leave. Our bus was full, but the bus driver must not have known how to get back to campus on his own, because we left the parking lot, parked on the side of a roundabout, and waited for the rest of the buses.

The bus ride back was very uncomfortable. I had to pee really bad and my seat was stuck in a severely reclined position. However, Scott, Clare, and Ryan were all taking turns playing a game on Clare's ipod touch in which the gamer is a shark and the only objective is to eat other animals and objects, and that was fairly amusing.

Back at the dorm we packed quickly and headed out to the street to catch a cab to the hostel. Maria, Clare, Audrey and I were competing with Jeff and Shannon, and Kristiana for cabs. We managed to flag one down first because Maria crossed the road so we could cover both sides at the same time.

The hostel was super comfy. Our room had two bunk beds. Very cozy and clean. 40 kuai a night: five or six dollars.

We crossed the street to eat dinner at the noodle restaurant Maria kept raving about. A mother and son run the place. The food there puts the food at Relish to shame. I had a small bowl of flat, egg noodles with veggies. We shared dumplings. I am looking forward to going back.

We spent the night in the courtyard of the hostel sipping drinks, doing homework, and surfing the internet. Yay Wifi! I missed you. I skyped Mom for a while, which was nice. Saw Katherine, and Hobbes, and Winnie.

When we got tired we went back to our room and watched the first act of A Very Potter Musical. Maria is obsessed with it and keeps quoting it, so we needed Clare and Audrey to watch it so the quoting wouldn't be weird.

In the morning we rolled out of bed, got dressed, and had breakfast in the hostel. So convenient! Like being in college in the US. I had tomato and egg, and a mango shake. Tomato and egg is the best Chinese dish. I love it.

We checked out and crossed the street to the subway. We paid 3 kuai for tickets to the "High-tech zone," which is a suburb of the city. A few blocks over and a pedestrian overpass later, there was Ikea.

We stuffed our backpacks into some lockers and ventured into the tangled alleys of furniture. We flopped down on several, extremely comfortable beds and couches. The best part was, no one gave us any strange looks because all of the Chinese people were doing exactly the same thing. I bought an accessory organizer, a cinnamon-apple scented candle, and a stick of bamboo to act as a wand for my Hermione Granger Halloween costume.

After we made our purchases we went upstairs to the cafeteria for a Swedish luncheon. They had Swedish meatballs with gravy! Chocolate mousse! Coffee loaded with milk and sugar! Just like Ikeas everywhere. Thank Sweden.

At two o'clock we took the subway to the station closest to school, which is still pretty far away. We took a cab back to our dorm.

At four thirty Audrey, Clare, and I met Snow White at the South gate. She took us to her boyfriends apartment, which was really nice. It was her birthday. We gave her a basket of candy and fruit, and also brought a bottle of coke for dinner. They sat us on the couch in front of the television and taught us how to fill dumplings.

Jimmy also made several other dishes, including cucumber, bacon and green onions, mushrooms, ribs, and pig foot soup. All delicious. We complimented Jimmy, but he protested that his cooking had been terrible that night.

After we were stuffed from dinner, then Jimmy and Snow White brought out the fruit: grapes and pimelos. And turned on Chinese children's television so that we could understand some of it. I love that they don't just want to practice their English with us. They want to help us with our Chinese too.

We chatted for a while. Snow White and Jimmy made plans to take Clare and Audrey to the amusement park next weekend. That is when my dad will be visiting! 😊

We left at six forty-five to rush back for our seven o'clock class. And the weekend was over.

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Photos

Escargot
On the Pizza Hut menu.

Our pocky feast
chocolate, strawberry, banana, tiramisu, inside out chocolate