One of my favorite parts about traveling is meeting different people. I am still in awe of people that speak multiple languages FLUENTLY. One guy in particular sticks out in my mind. He has been living in Beijing for the past 10 months...and I would classify his language level as advanced. It was absolutely incredible listening to him flip from language to language...effortlessly!! I still merge French and Chinese. He speaks 5 languages fluently...and once again, I felt like the stupid American.
Happy Spring Festival!
Playing mah jong
On the 13th, I went to my homestay family. I spent the day playing mah jong. I ended up w/7 rmb! Around 5:30, we went out for dinner.
Decorations at a swanky hotel (also where we ate dinner)
Wen's grandma and me
I love banquet style dinners! There was SO much food!
Later that evening, I played more mah jong. I'm pretty sure I lost money, but I couldn't understand what was going on. At midnight, I saw the more incredible firework display. I can honestly say that the firework show put the 4th of July to shame. On the 14th, we went to a small park to play games. I was able to put a mask on and I tried touching the center. I did all right. If you hit the center, you will have a very lucky 2010.
I also threw rings onto prizes, but I wasn't very good at that.
I waited in line a long time to roll a die, but they ran out of prizes. I did take some pretty incredible pictures.
This child is absolutely precious! I asked for permission to take pictures (I've become more sensitive taking pictures of random people.) As soon as I bent down, he grinned :)
One of my favorite things about The Year of the Tiger is all the tiger hats kids wear!! Adorable!
We ended up going again on the 15th so I could win some soap. You roll this huge die, and if it lands on 6, you will win powdered soap! If it lands on 4, you will win a bar of soap. With 5 rolls, I only landed on 4 once, but boy was I happy! I LOVE soap!!!
My prize
During the next few days, I ate so much, played ping pong, badminton, and read. On the 16th, we went to a park in Chengdu. What I imagined and where we went were very different. There were so many people, walking around and shopping. The coolest part (I'm still kicking myself because I didn't bring my camera) was the tigers. There were 4 tigers. Tigers are beautiful. It was somewhat of a circus act (which reminded me of The Life of Pi and Water for Elephants). The finale of the show was when the white tiger sat on a ball with 2 paws in the air. Coolest thing ever. My mom bought me noodles, even though I told her multiple times I wasn't hungry. I think I would make a pretty lousy only child. I ended up telling my dad if they tried to get me to eat one more time, I would go home. I'm a big girl. If I'm hungry, I'll tell you. I know it's part of Chinese tradition, but it got old. We also saw people walking across the tight rope. My favorite part was when the guy jumped rope! I've basically decided I'm a real good person to take to A. comedy shows and B. circuses because I always laugh and gasp in the right places.
I think Dan Dan was tired from all of the festivities
On Friday night (02/19), the dean kindly took myself, Andrew, and another volunteer Emily, out to eat. We went to a bamboo restuarant. I had no idea there were so many different types of bamboo. It was delicious, and I think it's safe to say we all had a lovely time.
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