Catching Up in Xiaoshan- May 31st

Day 3 – May 31^st

So I woke up to A Yi having already left to take care of her mother. I woke up at 7:45 for just about no reason beyond forgetting I had an alarm set for then. It was unnecessary as my class wasn’t to be held until 6:30. So I went back to sleep for a few more hours but that proved to be silly. My body simply did not care anymore and did not want to pretend to sleep. Even just lying in the bed was uncomfortable.

I had nothing to do besides read and I’m trying to savor that book before the next month is out. I didn’t think I would have so much free time. I’m likely going to need to look into buying a couple new books or so.

Fraaaack I only have 672 pages total and I’ve read 226. I’m already a third through this book. Woe is me.

Anyway I wandered around the area for a good chunk of time. It was afternoon at this point so I figured why not learn a bit about the place in which I’m staying. I figured I could stop and grab some fruit while I was out considering the numerous fruit markets I had seen along the way in bus and cab rides. Managed to buy a bunch of bananas (4) and an apple. I wasn’t paying much attention to the quality or the prices but so far the bananas taste alright. The total ended up being 9.10 Yuan/RMB/CNY. This translates to about 1.46 in USD. I can only assume that this fruit is even cheaper than what I see back at home but I’m not sure. Either way a buck fifty for fruit to last me two meals is awesome. I’m definitely buying some mangoes and pa pe which is a fruit in season out here similar to an orange in that you have to peal it but a different kind of sweet. Hard to describe and I really just wish I could take it back to the states. Doubt that happening though. I wonder if we have it back in the states…

After buying the fruit and wandering a bit more I saw a lot of the same old businesses and landscapes. Reconstruction, deconstruction, merchants, scooters, cabs, buses, old and young, and of course the standard blatant staring. Nothing new this day really. So I hopped onto a bus and made my way to High Long Plaza to hang out at work seeing as I was locked out of A Yi’s apartment.

So upon arriving I noticed J.C. was there as well as Julia and Sunny. The latter 2 were hard at work while J.C. seemed to be really out of it. He had a class to teach soon. I talked with the others and explained why I was there so early and everyone just kind of shrugged it off. No one seemed to worry. I also came across the issue of transportation. The K716 ends at 5:50. I work later than that. Uh… this doesn’t add up besides in cab fare. FUUUU-

I told J.C. this and he offered to help me out after his class. I later had my business class with Jenny which turned into a conversation about personal matters, then devolved into a discussion about my personal life and my family as well as turned into a SPA with another student, Lily. Their English wasn’t that bad and they were both really sweet. Jenny runs a business that sells pencil cup holders and general office supplies while Lily sells handbags and related accessories such as wallets. That was the only bit of business I learned about beyond discussing why I was there and what I was expected to do and what I myself expected to do. They talked about my parents’ love story and giggled over how nice it was, then laughed and learned new words like Military, Random, and Unplanned. I worked with them on some of their pronunciation and corrected whenever they misspoke. They asked about my hair being natural and were constantly complimenting one another and me about various physical things. They were really sweet and acted very young for their age. Or at least Lily did. I don’t think we ever asked Jenny’s age.

At the one-hour mark Lily and Jenny went out to check for a pen and to see what exactly we were doing. The class apparently turned into a SPA – talk about whatever just as long as they practice their skills- and thus was over. They had other plans anyway so I figured I’d just let them out. I think their interest in me may have completely distracted the focus on having them speak and generally respond. Then again they may have benefitted from just hearing me talk. Who is to say?

Sat in on J.C.’s other class that was completely unexpected. Apparently it had 3 very young boys. They screamed bloody murder, spat, and pounded on the walls. It was very hectic and J.C. was just trying to get them all to sing a song together. A simple song about animals of Africa. I don’t know what to expect after seeing this. I’m honestly a little worried.

For the most part though, I spent my time conversing with J.C. I updated him on the various aspects of the mall rat life such as what stores changed and/or closed over the past year. We talked about gaming and majors.

Once I went home, A Yi came to me with a towel, a yogurt (my first dairy product), and bug bite medicine for my ankles. She had looked at my legs for a little while and I tried to explain I got the bites from LingYin temple. It wasn’t an issue with the mosquito repellant she has in the room. She quickly figured out what I was saying and grabbed some fairly cold and clear medicine that she just rubbed onto my bites. Now that I think about them I want to itch so terribly. She treats me like I’m her daughter she’s too sweet.