Xin Qi Wu, Ba Yue 1

Friday, August 1

            Today, the staff had a break between orientation and their first day of work. Two of the local girls that I had been working with the past few days offered to take me out to see the city with them. They were both 20 or so, yet, at times, I felt like I was even older than them.

Despite being half way around the world, we had found many similarities in our personalities and likes and dislikes. They decided to take me to this place in the city that was near Hou Hai, where I went with my dad. We went to a back street where there were some boutique like shops and food restaurants. One thing that is very different with their cultures is the kind of food that they have. The first thing they wanted me to try was this milk like yogurt thing with red bean in it. It tasted almost like yougurt with a slight jello texture with surgar and red beans. I would have to say, that for the $1 that it costed, I would not spend that again for whatever kind of food it was. After strolling, talking, shopping and taking pictures in the city back streets, we moved on for a hunt of Cho Tofu. They told me that I had to taste this to test the real Chinese in me. Most foreigners really don’t like it, but its pretty much fried tofu with this tick sauce that smells horrible, yet, surprisingly, tastes delicious. They treated me to a 50 cent bowl of it, and after that, I can see how people can be turned away from it by the smell. However, it did taste pretty good.

Another thing that they were determined to have me try, was the Jhe Jia Mien. This was a noodle dish that you got the toppings on the side and a thing of this pasty Chinese soysauce stuff. Then you dupped it all into the noodles… and let me say, it was delisious! I don’t know what it was about it, but it was better than all the other noodles ive had!

After eating and eating… and more eating, we ended up at the Drum Tower. This was an old tower built way back when that you could climb and look out over the whole city! It was actually sunny that day and you could see the blue sky and almost four or so miles(unlike a normal day of not even being able to see a mile)! Up here, we also watched the drum performance.

After this, they took me to a place where they hang out a lot. This was near the lake where I went with my dad, and it was called bar street. Here, we strolled through the bars on the lake side and found some of the older people in the city playing with this thing that looked like it could be a hacky sack… yet it was just metal disks with feathers attatched to it. I bought one and we tried it, but the older men definitely made it look easier than it really is.

While we did all this, i practiced my Chinese and we talked about how our lives were different from eachother… and one stuck out the most to me. In high school, most people study around 12 hours a night. 12 hours! That’s crazy! Due to this, their schools have no sports, and pretty much no one ever plays any. They were so amazed that I could swim for my school! This is definitely one thing that I could not live without. Especially living in Boulder, it would be so hard growing up and not knowing how to play sports!



After about five hours hanging out, talking, laughing, and many more things, my first day out with a Chinese local was a really good experience. I just liked seeing the cultural differences that took place when you traveled half way around the world. From simple things like what music they listen to, all the way to how their government influences them. Despite these changes, there is no doubt that people can still connect in some way in order to have a great day of fun!

 

Our Random Articles

More Links