Hello to all you loyal blog reader out there!
I think before I start this blog entry I truly have to appologize for playing dead this whole last week. I don't even know what was going on, but I was so busy both working and being out of the house exploring that I had neither time nor energy to write a new story for you guys to read. So today is a new day, rain is pouring down from a dark grey sky and now and then a little thunder and lightning. The perfect day to stay home and organize the kid's playroom for 2 hours (which they will mess up in 2 minutes after they get home from school) - said no one ever. Oh, hold on! I can hear one crazy Cultural Ambassador sitting deep in Lushan, Chengdu. Yes, so now you know what I did all morning long, getting everything in place, sorting through puzzles, throwing a massive amout of broken and unused toys away. Man, this is more efficient than any exercise, trust me! You should try it occasionally. I think I will get this sort of exercise pretty frequently, if I count that everytime the family goes somewhere the kids basically get anything they just slightly get their eyes on. Even though. Already have 4 stuffed animal monkeys, yes, that 5th one is essential, mommy!
So as I said last week was busy, mostly because I was busy studying Chinese. As my goal for those 6 months in China is to really learn the language and to be able to understand the people here without problem I'm really motivated and focused on trying as hard as I can. So besides the 2 Chinese classes I have every Tuesday and Thursday for about 4 hours I study by myself in total probably around 6-7 hours each week. I think that is just the most productive way of dealing with it if I want to get somewhere. And I can already see a big improvement, in my understanding of the language and in recognizing the charakters, because the more characters you learn, the more you notice similarities and some sorr of structure behind it. It gets easier and easier, and it's a great feeling. Yup, I'm a bit proud.
Sunday I went to the city to check out probably the busiest shopping area in Chengdu, Chunxi Road. To get the full experience, I recommend you go on a weekend when there is summer sale. Like I did. Who didn't even ask for this experience. Who was sort of terrified. You can't imagine the massive amount of people all shopping at the same time, the different kinds of music coming out of the stores mixed with the music they already put up on the street, sales people trying to get the shopper's attention by shouting out the deals of the day as loud as they possibly can. Don't get me wrong, even though I am definitely no shopping queen I can handle this szenario for quite some time, but after one hour the latest you just get the urge to find a dark, cozy, lifeless corner to hide. Did I mention the humid 33 degrees yet?! I sort of found this little hiding spot when I looked for some place to eat other the big fast food or milk tea branches that pop up at every corner in Chengdu. My recoomendation: try the little side streets, the ones where just about 2 people would fit through at the same time. Those mostly host a great variety of in the wall eateries - the cheap, but cozy and delicious family run eating places, where they usually serve all sorts of noodles, jiaozi/shuijiao (dumplings or maultaschen) and tofu dishes. So in no time I found myself gobbling up this delicious veggie noodle soup for ¥7. FYI not even a buck. Neither a euro. That's how you eat Chinese style, baby! For dessert I treated myself to a piece of durian fruit. You know those huge yellow fruits you're not allowed to take into public transportation for their smell of rotten eggs? Let me tell you, it's REALLY just the smell that might leave you sceptical about this exotic fruit, but once you try a piece of it you will be convinced. This food tastes awesome! It's sweet, has a lot of healthy fats and is now ranking together with the persimmon as my favorite fruits on this planet. So glad I tried it! Please make sure you try liúlián once you get the chance. You won't regret.
So after this shopping adventure in the crazy heat I was ready to head home, studying some more and getting some more rest before starting into a new week of work. And this week will be sort of special. Not only because it is my forth week here, which means I've been here for already a month and I will have my weekend off (plus my salary), but also because Thursday is the mid-autumn festival which is a big holiday in China. Since 2 weeks here there are always mooncakes laid out as snacks during the day, ranging from red bean filling to candied fruit and nuts filling to meat. But to be honest, none of them are really worth having a big piece. To me, as most Chinese bakes goods and sweets, it's just too sweet and sugary, leaving you with no real flavor boost. But the family happily gobbles them up. So it's fine :-)
Alright, so I hope to tell you more about the moonfestival at the end of the week, even though my hostparents are crazy busy this week with their new hospital opening up on the same day as the moonfestival. So I'm not quite sure if we will really celebrate. But I'll keep you posted! :-)