West Lake with Nick

March 28, 2010

Last night after finally getting home, I called "Nick" to decide when he wanted to meet to go to West Lake.  I wasn't really looking forward to hanging out with him since he had already started getting on my nerves at work but it was very nice of him to offer to show me around.  We made plans to meet at 9am.

We took the bus straight to the southwest part of West Lake.  This bus trip was more uncomfortable than other ones because Nick kept talking to me in English which meant that I had to respond in English and thus the staring commenced.  I definitely already stick out since I'm usually wearing tennis shoes and a backpack, but for the most part, the locals don't stare at me unless I'm taking pictures with my SLR or speaking in English.  I like feeling like I blend in so I was embarrassed on the bus ride.

When we got to West Lake, we were going to transfer to another bus but since I hadn't seen this side of the lake before, I asked if we could just start walking there.  It was a relatively nice day with blue skies; the only irritating part was the usual smoggy/cloudiness.  This side of the lake had a lot more cherry blossom trees which made for very nice pictures.  It also had a small pagoda.  We walked around talking about China, his life growing up on a farm, how doctors get paid less than dentists in China, why he broke up with his ex-girlfriend, and the odd way Chinese medical schools make you pick your specialty before you even do a rotation in that field.  It was quite nice except for the massive crowds of people and the constant mini-buses driving on the walkways.  I eventually got hungry and bought lunch which was pretty tasty because they had shi zi tou!  I also eventually bought a pinwheel because they looked so fun.  I wanted to walk and eat but apparently that's rude because you might drop rice on the ground and also you might choke.

Eventually we ended up at the Leifeng Pagoda and I was pretty exhausted.  My cough continued to be pretty bad all day today and I don't think all the exhaust from the mini-buses helped at all.  Also, the crowds were getting larger and it was getting hot.  We decided to start heading back so we took a bus around the rest of the lake.  I didn't realize the lake was so large.  We somehow ended up on the topic of soccer and I said that I wasn't a big fan of soccer.  He replied, "that's because you are a girl."  And I was offended and explained that girls both watch and play sports too.  He had nothing else really to say but I was still kind of pissed.  I imagined what Abby would have said... she would have been yelling at him.  We eventually ended up back on the east side where I had gone on Friday.  We bought some candied mini-apples and then headed home.

After we got off the bus stop, I heard the explosion sound I had been hearing all week long and looked up to see that there were fireworks!!!  I was super excited.  It was strange that they were going off during the day though since it was so hard to see.  I decided I would come back later at night and try and get some pictures.  I went up to my room and was supposed to take a nap since I wasn't feeling well but ended up chatting online.  That was really fun because I got to talk with Andrew, Abby, Andi, Howie, and Jen.  It was really neat catching up and finding out what everyone was up to.

After not napping at all and missing dinner in the caf, I decided to go look for fireworks and food.  I waited for 45 minutes out in the cold plaza and no fireworks.  They did have a bunch of stalls that they were taking down though... I was sad that I had missed whatever it was and that there were no fireworks.  It was really windy so I decided to go inside and look for food.  Didn't see anything I wanted in the first shopping center, so I bought some groceries and left.  This time I figured out how to buy fruit--there's a lady in the fruit area that weighs your fruit for you and puts a sticker on your bag.  Fun.  Then I went to the other shopping center and had some Korean kalbi tang.  It was pretty good and made my throat feel better.  Eventually came home and now it's time for bed.  I can't stop coughing and my coughs are starting to sound like when you blow air over an empty jug.  Weird and really frustrating.  :( :(