Rain and sleep

Wednesday August 6, 2008

Man I've really fallen off in terms of writing. Must be more diligent. Now I can't even remember what I did on Monday. Uh, yeah, I called a woman at the university where I want to sign up for classes and she told me what to bring when I come to meet her. I think I mainly stayed home, slept, stayed out of the rain and the heat. Although, the rain has been making it cooler, so that's nice.

Yesterday I went to Rick's house and we walked around the market near his apartment. We walked through a nice little park on the way, which Rick said had been packed after the earthquake with people sleeping outside. The market is basically two floors lined with booths and makeshift booths. We got there a little late (around 1 or so) and walked around, bought some stuff for lunch including some spicy buns, dried sweet potatoes (really good), a honey-roasted duck (excellent) and some cake that tasted like zucchini bread. The market was dominated by meat, spices and vegetables. Also we saw the tofu sellers, with large gelatinous blocks of tofu in lots of colors. I'll post some pictures of the market and stuff soon.

We ate lunch back at Rick's house and then watched the beginning of The Assassination of Jesse James, which is both long (almost 3 hrs) and boring. I fell asleep about a dozen times watching the first half on Rick's couch but the duck could be to blame for that. Then I walked home, got changed for soccer and grabbed a cab and picked Rick up. We walked through a different gate of Sichuan University, this one was a scenic walk, I wish I had brought my camera. We played badly, losing 3-2 to the Chinese we played against. I met a few new players and then came home and showered, then spoke with a Linfield College student named Howard who was going out with his friends. He really wanted me to go so he came by in a cab and he, Sam and I rolled out to Club 88.

“Mao would be rolling over in his grave” - the Chinese club experience is unique to me, for a couple reasons: 1. live performances of songs in both Mandarin and English, including rap music. This is sometimes good and sometimes bad. 2. No dance floor – that's right, the huge club (half the size of a football field, the size of a huge bar) is all tables, with waiters coming around in sailor costumes to mix your drinks and bring you very overpriced beers. I'm not really complaining though because I wasn't allowed to pay for anything – when someone in China asks you to come out with them for beers or dinner, they refuse to allow you to pay.

So the club was packed, we met up with some of Howard's friends from Chengdu who also study in the US. They were very nice and pretty young (19-20), so it was culture-shock in a couple of ways. I had a great time, Sam and I left around 1 after about 3 hours of hanging out with these kids. We went back to Yulin and went home.

The real reason why we didn't stay out late was because Rick and I were supposed to catch a bus to the nature reserve this morning. I got up in time and was downstairs at about 820 and Rick was waiting with a cab. We tried to get to the other side of the city but the traffic was abysmal. We got more than halfway there but by then it was 9 and that was when the bus left. The place we're going is not very touristy or well-populated so there is only 1 bus per day. I kept falling asleep in the back of the cab, exhausted from soccer and the club. I got back home around 945 and fell back asleep. I got up around 2 and walked over to Alex's, played some Halo and read for a while. Then we went to get Hui food (Hui are Chinese Muslims, but a separate people from the Uighur, who live in Xinjiang) and came home. I'm utterly exhausted so I'll go to bed soon and be more prepared for tomorrow's cab ride. I think we're planning on leaving at 730 to get a jump on the traffic. I'm very excited for a few days in rural China, the bus ride is like 6 hrs north so Rick and I will probably be gone until Saturday or Sunday. Should get some sweet pics/stories while I'm gone.