Today was absolutely insane.
Long story short:
Wake up: 6:15. My host mom knocked on my door at 6:30 to tell me to get up because we had to leave at 7:00. Honestly, they should trust me more.
Breakfast: dumplings and soup
Car ride: We had a four hour car ride to Xuzhou. I slept for 90% of it and had a period scare during the two hour mark, but we're all good.
Hotel: Omg this place is really nice and the bed is actually soft. It’s literally been weeks since I’ve slept on a soft bed.
漂流: there's no good way to translate this into English, but basically you go up a mountain and then ride down in a raft. It's like if white water rafting and water slides had a baby. Honestly this was the most fun thing I've ever done. I expected the ride to be over after like 5 minutes because that's how things work in America, but it was an hour and a half of getting wet. And the best part? 20 kuai TOTAL for FOUR people. If you get the chance, ask your host family to take you to go 漂流. (But bring a bathing suit and water shoes because we didn't and I was wet for most the day)
Naked time: I followed my host sister into what I thought was a restroom because I was not about to be left by myself. I quickly realized that I was not in a restroom, but a shower house. I've never seen so many naked people in my life and I yeefed out of there as far as I could because I was genuinely concerned I'd have to get naked in front of 300 people. Thankfully I did not.
Water Park: We went to a water park afterwards and did a big water slide and zip line. I got water up my nose several times on the water slide and won't be surprised if I get swimmers ear. The zip line was also fun but the impact was weird. You’re going so fast and the impact feels like it should hurt, but you slam into the softest mattress ever and can barely feel a thing.
Go carts: I love driving and Mario kart, but go carts scare me because of the iffy steering and lack of speed control. I still had fun despite being scared that I was going to crash.
Water golf: Now this was a fun activity. You were on a platform above the water trying to hit a golf ball into in innertube. I got really close and was hoping to make it, but alas, I did not.
Slopes: We drove up to a spot on a mountain where the road looks flat but it's actually at a 15 degree angle. If you put a car in neutral, it will start to roll backwards. The illusion is very strange.
The views: we drove up the mountain and had a photo shoot. The views cannot be put into words so instead I give you pictures.
China in the 1950s: I'm not entirely sure what this place is because the explanation was given to me in Chinese and broken English, but from what I gathered it used to be a coal mine that got closed down. Also an emperor from the Han Dynasty was born there. The place was really cool and felt like a small town.
Glass bridge and big rocks: We walked over a river on a glass bridge and the illusion is trippy. Despite knowing that there's something there, I still felt like I was going to make a wrong step and fall. Also we saw a really big rock.
Dinner: Too much. I've never seen so much food in my life. Also I met a girl who kept telling me what everything was and that kind of ruined the meal for me. The pig ears were good until I were told they were pig ears. Also my host mom warned me of the 海蜇 this time and then started laughing at me. There was also a food that was so spicy that it instantly burned your eyes. I was enjoying my strawberry juice and the all of a sudden there's a sharp pain in my eyes. I thought I was going crazy until I saw other people having the same reaction. We had to step out of the room because of the pain.
Evening walk: Me, my host sister, and a friend went on a walk back to the hotel. It was really cool being on a road with virtually no cars.
Conditioner: This hotel has shampoo but no conditioner and I regret the choice to wash my hair.
This was the best weekend of my life and it's only Saturday.
