I'm already forgetting a lot of things that have happened.

Postdate: Saturday, March 27, 2010

Slept in today because I was still feeling sick.  Yesterday I felt so much better but today my cough got significantly worse.  Since I had missed breakfast and it was too early for lunch, I had a beef noodle soup cup-o-noodle!  So tasty!  Then I chatted online and looked up maps until about 3pm.  Oh well.

I really did not feel like hanging out with "Nick" so I decided that my plans would be to call him tomorrow and spend the day at Wulin Square and the Wushan Night Market.  So after I mapped out my route online, wrote it all down, and took pictures of the maps on my small camera, I left.  Thankfully my first bus was pretty empty so I could see outside and pay better attention to when the bus was turning.

My cue to get off this bus was after the 3rd right turn and it worked perfectly.  I wasn't sure what was going to be at Wulin Square.  I thought maybe it would be an outdoor market or maybe a shopping center but it ended up being a huge open area in front of a very tall building that I still don't know the purpose of.  Today they were having a car/piano/plant show, so random.  I walked around taking pictures of the kids playing with their pinwheels, kits, mini-parachutes, and bubbles, the giant balloons in the air and the tall building.  Nothing too exciting.

I ended up following some people into the nearby Hangzhou Shopping Center which takes up 3 or 4 buildings.  I found out later that this was one of the most expensive shopping malls in Hangzhou.  So crazy.  Like all the large other shopping centers, it was so clean and colorful inside with well dressed staff in every department waiting to talk to you.  I really don't like it because with the smallest look of interest, they'll come up and talk to me in Chinese and I don't know what they're saying.  Then if they had asked me a question, they'd repeat it and then I have to tell them "ting bu dong" (I don't understand) and then explain that I am a "mei guo ren" (American) which still confuses them because I of course, look Chinese.  Also, you're not allowed to take pictures inside, so I decided to go to the market on the bottom floor where there was food.

Ended up buying some crackers, cheesecake, ham croissant, and a earl grey tea latte for my relentless cough.  Went outside to eat by a broken fountain where I found that the cheesecake was way more cake-y than cheese-y.  Still tasty for only 4RMB.  After that there were some market stalls nearby where I bought some bracelets... I had the whole conversation in Chinese (so nervous!) and bought two bracelets~!

Decided that the weather was nice enough to walk down to where I thought the night market was so I deviated from my well laid out bus plan.  The street I walked down was a boulevard with lots of shops.  They had Sephora and H&M, so it felt like home.  So many of the stores have sale signs that I don't understand so I took pictures of most of them and am planning on asking my Chinese tutor what they mean... I'm guessing that one of the signs was buy one get one free and that another was spend 400 and get 180 back/off or something.  We'll see.

I thought things were supposed to be cheaper but so far everything seems to cost about the same.  Maybe once I figure out the sale signs things will be more affordable.  I feel like I need to shop for new clothes, new shoes, and a new purse because everyone here dresses so nicely, wears shoes with heels, and has a fancy bag.  I went out yesterday dressed in my work clothes and blended in, but today I wore jeans and tennis shoes with my backpack because I knew I'd be out exploring all day... I'm such a bum-like tourist.

Since shopping for fashionable things was too difficult, I decided to buy something easier.  I found a really nice bookstore with a stationery shop on the second floor.  I think I spent at least an hour to two in there comparing pens and journals.  Finally walked out with three medium journals, a small journal, and a choose your own colors 3-ink clicky pen!  So fun!!  I couldn't believe it was already 8:10 when I left.  Oops!

I hurried to where the night market was supposed to be because I had planned on getting there at 7:30 but I couldn't find it.  I thought I was right where the map said it would be but there was no night market!  I back and forth on the street for a bit and started to notice the crowds of people all waiting at the nearby bus stops.  That got me really worried that I'd miss the last bus like I almost had the day before, so I decided to go home.

There were four bus routes that would get me home but two were already no longer running.  I walked down two stops to get to a stop that was on both of the remaining bus routes and eventually caught a bus going toward my home.  Then I accidentally got off too early.  So then I waited and got on the next one.  Then I got off one stop after my home.  haha, I need to learn what the stops at my home are called but it's so hard learning Chinese sounds.  :P