This weekend was a super fun weekend!
It started Thursday night when Brady and I went to dinner. We sat by our central manager, John, who told us he was going to take us to the lake. So we get in John's car and go to the lake. After walking around for a little bit, he then told us he was going to take us to a movie. So we go to the mall. He picks out the movie and does everything, and I had no idea if the movie was going to be in English or Chinese. The movie wasn't going to start for a little bit, so we walked around the mall. He showed us where he gets his haircut, and told us that he prefers girl 509. haha interesting. We get to the movie and find out that we are going to see the movie Sanctum. It was about getting trapped in a cave. It was a very poorly made movie, but entertaining nonetheless, except when I girl was very graphically dying. I did not enjoy that portion. Before the movie started, a man turned around, pointed to a camera, asking if he could take a picture of Brady and I. haha that was funny to me.
The next day, we teach classes for a half day, and then John takes us and Gregory and Olga to Hangzhou to do some sightseeing. We get dropped off at the West lake, which is famous for its beauty (and it is very beautiful.) When we get there, we see other white people, so that is kind of fun. Aaand there is a starbucks, even more fun! So we get starbucks and sit in there for awhile. I really enjoyed that. Then we start walking around the lake, deciding how we want to get to the island. We first see a private boat, and since none of us speak Chinese, Gregory calls Tina, a Chinese teacher, who translates for him. It is pretty funny because he will call Tina, explain the situation, and then just hand his phone over to whoever he needs something from. I laughed pretty hard at this. We didn't end up going on the private boat, but the public one. The island was nice to walk around, very commercialized, but still fun.
We then get off and go to Carrefour, which has an international foods isle, where I bought coffee. So fun. They don't drink real coffee here, only nescafe. Very bizarre. Anyway, then tried to find the train station, which proved to be hard when you don't speak the language. We made our way there though, using the public bus system, where I stood across from a lady who was breast feeding and attempting to have a conversation with me. We got to the train station, where we were going to meet John, and decided to get some food. The food was disgusting. It was funny because we payed a lot for it (relatively speaking), and some of the meat just tasted like dog food. We laughed the whole meal though, so that was good. Then, John kept pushing back the time, so we walked around for awhile and laughed a ton. It was a good night.
Brady and I decided to check out shaoxing the next day, a city that is also near us. We left around 1, and right away I mixed up the bus we should get on. Thankfully it ended two stops later, but it was a funny way to start the trip. We figured out the right bus, and after we were on the bus for about 40 minutes, there was a really nice couple who showed us how to get to the train station. We got there and walked around. There were a lot of nice places in Shaoxing, so it was fun to walk around and explore. Around 5 we decided to try and head back. We thought we could figure out how to get back, but it proved to be a lot more difficult than we anticipated! We kept walking, but didn't really know where we were going. We would ask people, but most didn't speak english, and a police officer even pointed us in the wrong direction. We were really far away. Two hours later, we finally got in a taxi to try and get to the train station. It was successful in getting us there, but we missed the bus we wanted to get on. So we stood and waited hoping that there was another bus, but 20 minutes later there still wasn't one. I went and asked a high school couple if they spoke english to enquire about a taxi, and randomly enough, the girl next to them was going to our city too, but didn't speak any english! So we followed her to the next bus stop, even though we couldn't communicate, and we got on a different bus, which she payed for (so nice) and then we switched buses on our way home, to the bus that we originally wanted, that she also payed for! So sweet! She helped us get back and it was just so nice. I think people are brought up here to just be that kind and it is more expected. Either way, I am super thankful for her. We got back at like 8:45 and went for a nice meal. It was a packed day. Sunday was very restful, preparing for the week! So that was wonderful!
Starting friday it is a national holiday, so we have off until Saturday, which is when classes resume! So great!
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