I set my alarm for 8:25 even though I needed to be at the gate at 8:00, so I don’t know what was going through my head. Thankfully I woke up at 7:36, which meant I had four minutes to get ready. I managed to do it in 7, so that’s a new record. Korey and I went to the 超市 to buy some snacks and then power walked to the gate.
Korey thought that we had to be there at 8:15, and when I told him it was 8:00, he started sprinting. But here’s the thing: he served in the military, which means he’s super fit, so it was a lost cause trying to keep up. He was already power walking beforehand, so two of my steps was one of his. Apparently, his motto in life is: “As long as you’re not the last one, it’s not your fault.” Basically, we saw two of our other classmates running late, which is why he started running.
We went to 袁家村. It’s a rural city that’s been modernized. So, imagine traditional buildings, but with arcades and restaurants inside. They make clothes, oil, and vinegar there. I was duped into taking a shot of it, and it burned my throat. I had a feeling it was vinegar, but then another part of me was like: no it’s probably alcohol; why would they give you a shot of vinegar?
Lunch was super good. Our table was one where you sit on the ground to eat, and it was a requirement to take off your shoes, so I was happy. For lunch, we had tea, lamb, 汤包, bread, fried rice, watermelon, and a lot more food that I don’t remember the name of.
Hannah and I ran into Steven and Korey, and we hung out with them during our free time. We kind of just walked around, bought some food, and chatted. We almost ran into our RD while speaking English, but Hannah saw him before that happened.
At some point Steven asked if I was planning on going to Nanjing, and I said I told Deanna I’d go to Beijing, but now that I’m managing a Chengdu trip, a Nanjing trip doesn’t sound bad at all. I asked him if he’d like to go with and he said yes, so maybe sometime next month I’ll find myself there. Hopefully I can sleep on my host family’s couch. It’d be fun to make a day trip there though.
When I got back to the dorms, I reviewed some characters, worked on an oral, and the drill 2 class. I then went to dinner with Korey and Hannah. We had some good noodles, and Korey got laughed at by the server because he asked for instant noodles.
After dinner, I did some research for the Chengdu trip. I sent everyone information about the train tickets and the hotel situation. This trip’s going to cost us around 150 US, but that’s not too bad in my opinion. It was stressful booking the hotel because I didn’t know how many rooms to book, or really what I was doing. We’ll be staying in a hostel with AC and WiFi, so I think it’s a pretty good deal.
Buying tickets was super annoying because of the lack of internet connection. It took forever to buy mine, and then I had to help Korey and Hannah buy theirs. Hannah’s card got rejected, and Korey didn’t know his phone number. I tried to get him to call my phone so we could see his number, but that didn’t work. So then, I assumed that it was my number that was wrong, so I called my roommate, read that number, and then tried to get Korey to call again. It didn’t work.
We ended up using his American phone number, so yolo.
In the end, I’m the only one of the three of us that was able to get a ticket, but oh whale.
It’s been a day and a half.