杭州 Day 6-7

Sunday, September 14, 2008: 杭州 Day 6
中国 Day 6
Asia Day 6

• Woke up at 10:30am to the sound of Baba blowdrying his hair. Got up and got ready for the day, as Baba watched television. It was starting to rain pretty hard around then. Both of us ate a breakfast of bao (buns). He also gave me a cake (that I presume came from his flight last night).

• Around 11:30am, we headed outside of campus to get me a simcard. We walked all the way to the front gate of the university and across the street. Baba did all the talking and asked for an easy-to-remember-number. He also made smalltalk with the shopkeeper/people chillin' in the shop and told them that I'm teaching English and that I'm an American ^^U. Heh. They had the general reaction of, "Oh, can she speak Chinese?" and Baba answered, "Yeah, she knows some - she took 10+ years of Chinese school"...lol.

• We waited at least 15 minutes for a taxi! The street we were on wasn't very busy, so we walked a bit farther. It was quite funny, as taxis full of customers kept passing us by. We finally walked farther and saw a taxi that said "空车" (empty car) on the dashboard. I saw that the guy was smoking, and I thought, "Uhhhh...ohh great." Again, Baba made smalltalk with the taxi driver and asked about Hangzhou and the humid weather. We finally arrived at the restaurant.

• Baba paid for the cab and then found his friend, who was in his car. The friend motioned for us to get in, and he told us that the wait was really long for the restaurant he wanted. Thus, we went to another restaurant in a hotel. We were immediately seated (and all the extra plates were taken away).

• Whilst Baba's friend, or Mr. Sun, as I shall now call him, left the table momentarily, the waitress told me to sit "over there," almost across from where I sat, so that we three would be more spread out, as the table was big enough for about 8 people.

      __8_
 1 /            \ 7
2 |              | 6 <===Approximate
 3 \____/ 5       diagram
          4

Let's say Mr. Sun sat at 1, Baba sat at 3, and I sat at 4. The lady asked me to sit at seat 7. I didn't want to move so far from my Dad, so I asked why they didn't just move Mr. Sun to another seat. Then, the waitress said that the "主人" (master/main man) sat in that seat, so I understood. Then, the lady proceeded to move all of my silverware and plates to seat 7. I was kind of like..."Uhhh...wtf." It was also a mark of bad customer service, as I saw it. Anyway, I thought I'd move later if they wanted me to move, but for the time being, I sat next to Baba. He first talked about the family, then talked about some business, then spoke again about family/me. Again, he talked about how I know some Chinese and how I've taken Chinese school for a bit. Mr. Sun asked me a few questions and whenever I paused, I was feeling a bit indecisive - hope he knows that! I.e. when he asked my dad what I wanted to drink, I didn't really know what to say...and then the waitress just named off all of the drinks in a superfast order. I ordered apple juice, but when the waitress presented it, it was HUGE...and I didn't feel like opening and wasting it, so I just had tea. Before the meal started, Mr. Sun saw my silverware at that other space, and he said irritatedly to the waitstaff, "Hey! Move that back over there." I was giggling in my head. I WON...yeah, bad customer service, whatchu gonna do when the master says, "You gotta move it, move it?"...Yeah, you move it. That's right.

• Ate crab claws, si1gua1, 丝瓜, (almost like xi qua), little fish with tiny bones (okay, today's wasn't as great as yesterday's), beef steak pieces (delish!), a plate with a sea cucumber *giggle* with a scoop of rice and three pieces of broccoli, mystery fish, and watermelon/tomatoes on a plate for dessert.
• Okay...I've got to say, the sea cucumber didn't taste like anything! It was squishy and tasted very neutral, but the thought of eating a sea cucumber almost made me a little queasy. I thought it had the consistency of jellyfish.
• As for the "mystery fish," I have no idea what it is. However, Baba said that he used to capture them when he was little, and they would go into the mud to hide. I didn't see any fins on it and the structure of the mystery fish was a bit different than normal fish. I wonder what it's called. Mm, it was actually pretty good - a bit spicy and it had the consistency of sardines.

• Mr. Sun asked if I'm used to eating this type of meal, and I said I wasn't, and he seemed kind of disappointed...lol. Anyway, he drove Baba to his office and Baba and I went to an office next door so Baba could do business. I noticed that he started by making smalltalk, then talked about the business. I was zoned out because I was playing with my phone. Hehe...I don't think it's as cool as my iPhone, due to the weird scrolling non-user-friendly function, but it has a touchscreen and a better camera (but not as good as my actual Sony cameras). Otherwise, it's cool :D
• Afterwards, Mr. Sun drove Baba back to my apartment; Baba picked up his luggage and left for the airport. Mr. Sun also gave his number to Baba who gave it to me (he lives in Hangzhou and does business here). Cool.

• After Baba left, I cried for like 5 minutes, then felt better when I chatted with people. I must have wasted a bit of time before I started my homework. Ehhh...well, time to journal, do homework, and then sleep ^^

...

Monday, September 15, 2008: 杭州 Day 7
中国 Day 7
Asia Day 7

Woke up at 11am and went online. I was working on my Mercantilism post for my class, when I started to chat (once again). I didn't finish the post until about 8pm. Had some interesting convos with some drunk and sober friends.

Two amusing things (otherwise, there's not really much to today, except for sitting on my cushioned chair, chatting, and typing out a response for homework):
1) One of my expat friends was talking about how her ego was growing, due to the unsuppressed flattery of a Chinese guy, who kept telling her she was pretty (because she joked that girls like to hear it).
2) I was talking to an expat friend online and she said she needed to ring up one of the other teachers. I said he was a "saxy guy" and she said, "oooh, I'm telling." Then she's like, "Don't worry, I'm a good friend, I'll hook you up." I protested, and she said, "He can be your bf until you get good enough at Chinese." LOLOLOL...

Still have lesson plans to do.