Long story short:
Wake up: 6:45
Breakfast: pear, peanut milk, and stake wrapped in a British pancake; slay
China get some traffic laws please: I almost got run over by a bus today. I was crossing the street because it was clear. There was a bus stopped at a bus stop and I just so happened to be walking in front of the bus. Now, because it had just been raining minutes ago, there were a few puddles. As I am about to get to the other side of the street, I notice a massive puddle, so I stop for half a second to think about the best way to get around it. As I look up, I notice that bus decided to start moving again. Now, Chinese people honk their horn just when passing another car. To me, this feels unnecessary, but I guess you could think of the car horn as a bell on a bike, but I digress. However, when you’re about to run over a person, you should honk your horn!! Like literally, no sign of slowing down. This bus was about five feet away from hitting me.
WFT is wrong with my lip: In the middle of class, I noticed my lip was busted on the inside. Idk how that happened, but it did.
Class: Our first teacher gave us her dissertation; she’s doing a study on teaching American how to use 吧 and 把. I feel bad because I didn’t really understand any of the work sheet, so she should probs just throw mine out. Our second teacher taught us that Chinese people sometimes say 狗带 because they’re imitating Americans. Basically it sounds like “go die”.
Lunch: Lunch squad + Nush and Mae skipped out on lunch today because I needed to go to the print shop. I’m so proud of myself, because I got the certificates printed all by myself. I understood her when she asked if I wanted black and white, I understood her when she asked if I wanted whole or half page, and I understood her when she asked me if I wanted it double-sided. The only thing I had to have my friends help me with was asking for card stock paper. After print shop we went to the 南大 store so people could buy more gifts.
Culture class: Singing
Community service: We had to clean the library and it’s actually shocking how dirty the seemingly clean surfaces were.
After school hijinks: Nush and I went to buy food at the convenient store and ran into Margie on the way back, so we ate with her and her coffee man. We then ended up going to 龙江 so Nush could buy fake Yeezes, but I convinced her to buy kick-ass Nike instead. We then with to Miniso inside the New City Plaza mall. I ended up buying a new wallet and a panda phone charger. I’m so happy.
Hot pot: The intermediate class + some went to hot pot together and omg was that an experience. While we were walking over there, we found a café called “Line Friends” and that place is cute as shit. We took some aesthetic photos before walking to the restaurant. There we were served the plum juice, fruit, and some chex mix like snack. Bomb AF. The staff offered to keep out bags in a closet so we wouldn’t have to worry about them, which was super nice. While we were waiting to get a seat, Nush and I went back to line friends to check out the store and holy hell that stuff is expensive. Like they want 400 kuai for a water bottle. Lol they’re funny. They think I’m going to pay $55 US for a metal water bottle. Okay China. But getting to the actually food; this place treats you like royalty. They give you aprons, bags to put your phone in, and hair ties. (Also the bathrooms have complimentary phone cleaners and COMBS). We then sat at a table and used an iPad to choose what we wanted to eat. We ordered a bunch of meat (crab was the move) and noodles. I made the mistake of trying to eat the spicy side of the hot pot with a busted lip. That was not the move. And because we’re weak Americans who can’t handle their spice, we ended up having the pepper corn removed from the hot side. (Btw if you go to hot pot and they have a manicure station, get your nails done because it’s free). Near the end of dinner, we saw the waiters bring out a sparkling candle and realized it was some child’s birthday, so we lied a little and said today was Mae’s birthday so we could also get in on that. (Her birthday is in three days; it's not like it was a major lie). The waiters were awesome! They let us do karaoke (we sang tian me me) and the entire restaurant started talking photos and videos of us. After we collectively blew out the candles, the waiters gave us all goodie bags. Gifts included combs, food, and something else. (Tbh not sure what that something else was). As we were paying, we ended up coming up a few kuai short, and the staff were super chill about it. They were like: “It’s fine! We’ll give you a discount!” Like god bless this place.
Aesthetic TM photos: We had a photoshoot after dinner.
外国人: Anushka and I wanted to take a photo and we found a white guy and asked him. He was super chill (total skater boy). He was nice, and he made me realize that one thing I miss most about America: being able to confidently speak to a stranger.
I need to study: I need to stop spending money, and I need to stop going out.
I’m in the bathroom: My host mom tried to hold a conversation while I was in the bathroom.