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Published: October 24th 2009
I didn't take pictures, but I felt like Shiyan deserved a blog... so maybe next time I go I'll take pictures and show you the city.
Friday morning I got up at about 8:00 to be ready by 9:00 to get in the taxi to go to Shiyan. Jessi knocked on my door around then, and we got in the taxi a few minutes later because it was a couple of minutes late. There were two other girls in the taxi with us. Jessi sat in the back with them and gave me the front... which I was glad about. The ride there took about 2 hours.
The guy dropped us off close to the long distance bus station, and we walked through the Korean market. It was like a really huge flea market. It was a lot of fun. We didn't buy anything - we just looked around. Jessi found some black nail polish for Halloween, but she didn't get it.
We went to John and Megan's apartment after that. Jessi couldn't remember which floor it was on, so we started at the 2nd floor and knocked. A Chinese sounding person said something inside, so we just continued up the stairs. She didn't knock on the 3rd floor because she said it looked empty (apparently she could see through the crack between the door and door frame). She knocked on the 4th floor, and Megan came to the door.
Their apartment was really nice. It was clean and pretty, and they have lots of room. We hung out there for a little while just kind of talking and relaxing.. and then we went to lunch. KFC was calling our names. I got the Mexican wrap because Jessi had been talking it up for a really long time. It was really good. Pretty sure they don't have them in America.. but it was very much enjoyed.
After lunch John went home while the girls went shopping. We walked everywhere looking at everything. Jessi found more black nail polish at another store along with a ton of other colors, so she got, I think, 9 bottles and some nail polish remover pads. We went to a camping store because Jessi, Kyle and I have been talking about a tent and camping (Jessi and I say on the roof but Kyle says no). We didn't get one, but it was fun looking at the stores. The salespeople are everywhere, and they always crowd around because we are Americans. It can be kind of awkward, but most of the time it's funny.
We went in a shoe store (Jessi was looking for boots), and this security guard kept trying to talk to us.. he was acting like he wanted us to write something for him. We couldn't figure it out, so we just left. He hollered after us. Megan said she caught "American girls" and "beautiful". We just walked away. It was a little bit creepy.
After we decided we were done shopping we took a bus to where our new school is being built. It looks a lot nicer than this one is currently, but there's still a lot that needs to be done. We walked back down to where John and Megan teach. They were having their sports meeting, so they wanted to see their students compete. While we were walking, some middle aged guy drove by and said, "Wei ni." From what we can tell, he said, "Hey you!" It was quite weird.
We watched some of their students run around the track, and some teachers did it also. There was a girl in front of us that had this hat on that said "Baby got bum" on it. It was a pretty sweet hat. I didn't have my camera with me, or I would have taken a picture. That would have been the only picture for the blog.
We left there around 5:45 or so, and we went to meet Gao Wu Bin and his family for dinner. We met Gao at a bus stop, and he walked us to a restaurant. He and his wife are Chinese teachers at our school. They were some of the first teachers to be moved to our new campus. They are such a sweet couple, and they have a cute cute cute little boy. I don't know how to spell his name, but he's sweet. We had to wait on a table because there were so many people there. We got a hot pot that had lots of stuff in it.
On the way to the restaurant, Gao asked us if we liked donkey meat. None of us said yes, but no one really said no either. We ate dinner before we asked. Yep. It was donkey. It was remarkably like beef. There was only one piece that I thought it might not be beef. What made it worse was that there was a picture of Donkey from Shrek on their sign.
We all went back to their apartment after dinner. Gao's son played with us while we talked. Gao got John and Megan's phone numbers, so they can contact each other now. We had a good night... I learned that Gao's little boy is really ticklish, and I had him laughing like crazy. It was so sweet. It made me miss my nephew Tysen and Baby Will a lot.
We got a taxi back to John and Megan's. John went to his bedroom while we stayed up and talked. We didn't go to our room until after midnight, and then Jessi and I stayed up past 2 talking. It was nice though... good late night/early morning conversation.
Saturday morning I woke up to Megan telling us that it was 15 til 9:00. I slept so good. I woke up once in the middle of the night to turn over, but other than that, I slept amazingly. They had some awesome padding on the bed, and it was the most comfortable bed I've slept on since I've been here. I laid there for a minute, and Jessi rolled over on top of me and said, "Steamroller!" It was super weird but funny.. which was surprising because I'm not really a morning person, and I usually would have been really unhappy about her rolling on me, but it didn't bother me.
We got ready and Jessi and I left around 9:30. John and Megan had students coming over at 10, so they couldn't spend the day with us. The night before we had discussed that we would need to leave by 10 after 9 to get to McDonalds on time for breakfast. It didn't really register with either Jessi or me, so we missed it. I got a "Big and Beefy" sandwich. It was weird.. but hey, it was McDonalds.
After McDonalds we went to "Yes I Do" hair salon and got our hair washed and cut. That's right, I got a hair cut. I was nervous the whole time, but she really just trimmed it, so it was okay. Jessi was brave and got bangs. They ended up being cute. The people were really nice, and they were excited that we were there.
We went shopping again after that. I bought a wallet, some mascara and a camping chair. The wallet was really cute, and I've been searching for a new wallet for who knows how long... I was out of mascara... and the camping chair was awesome. (I like how I just felt like I needed to justify my purchases to you.) The chair is dark pink with a lighter pink stripe down it. It has a cup holder and a cell phone holder... and it was on sale for 98 yuan. It's awesome. (I'm sitting in it right now) Jessi bought a bunch of stuff... mostly for her Halloween costume.
We got in our taxi a couple of minutes before 2 after going to KFC to use the bathroom. We got a call from Nicole who was flipping out because we weren't in the taxi yet. We told the taxi 2:00, so we weren't late. It was crazy. There was another girl in there, and we had to go pick up another person.
We got back to DJK in an hour and a half. The girl in the front seat was absolutely car sick. The driver was so scary. He drove really fast, and he would pass people like crazy. There was one moment that I thought we were going to get in a crash... it was the most scared I've been in a car so far. The driver also smoked and played his rap music really loudly.
He did drop us off at our building though. I came in and did laundry. It was much needed. I was expecting students, but they decided to cancel on me so they could study for their exams tomorrow. I went at about 7:00 to get some sweet and sour pork on crunchy rice and ran into Dillon and Julie. Three more students came up and talked to us for a few minutes, and then left. I finally said bye and went and ate.
I got back to the apartment about 8:00 and finished hanging up my laundry. I watched some t.v. and then chatted with Jessi and Heather on Skype. I'm about to go to bed so I can wake up at 9:00 in the morning to go get a massage. I'm addicted now. All us DJK girls are going.. it should be fun.
So, that's my Shiyan trip and a little after. It was a lot of fun, and I really am excited to go back when all the other foreigners are there.
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amanda
non-member comment
i cannot imagine a chinese cab driver who in fact smokes and listens to really loud rap music. sounds like you were in my car LOL!