23:58, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2013
1030: Slept in today. Borrowed K's green jacket to wear, as I've been wearing the same thing everyday.
1100: Meet with Mai and head to DongWuYuan. It is five stops from us, on our line, so it's very convenient.
1200: The place is fucking massive, and as we soon discover, fucking cheap. Cheaper than anywhere I've ever been in China since I can remember. To think these prices still actually exist. Most places sell the same stuff at similar prices. It's mostly about haggling, which we try to do a bit of (at least, K does). In the end, I buy 6 things for 203yuan; K spends a similar amount; Mai spends over 400rmb.
1300: Maccas for lunch.
1600: We leave, because we are super tired and we are carrying heavy ugly garbage bags. We plan to come back another day, definitely. Surprisingly, even with Mai, we still have good fun. It's awesome. Me and K get told often that we look related. K talks for us and gets complimented for her Chinese.
1700: The subway has the most massive line, and we are super tired, but also super satisfied.
1740: Skype parents for quick update.
1800-2200: Meet with language partner. She takes me to this pace called NanLuoGuXiang, and its fucking awesome. It's like filled with so much cool, almost hipster stuff. Interesting room decoration, typo-like stuff but in China style, super, duper hipsterly interior-designed cafes/restaurants. It is awesome; I've never been to anywhere like this before; I didn't even know it existed in China.
It appears to be a tourist destination, and things are overpriced, sort of like Sydney city prices, despite their coolness. I buy something because I feel obliged to, since she's showing me around, and it is sooo overpriced and I wouldn't have bought it otherwise, but whatever, I guess I can splurge sometimes.
We have coffee at a cafe and its pretty sweet, but nice. The interior is absolutely awesome, and I love it. It's even better than Newtown cafes. The street is like originally an old traditional Chinese house street, but its been taken over by shops, so you can see a mix between the old building with new parts. It's almost like asian Korean places, except its got that Chinese dirt and architecture feel that makes it pretty awesome. I am super happy she brought me here. Coolest place, seriously, worth the price.
In the cafe, we chat about cultural differences, because there's always so much to compare, even though I already know so much about Chinese stuff. We talk about dating, housing, clubbing, Chinese government welfare, social disparity, gays, tattoos, lots of shit. We talk in English, and I feel like that's shit for my Chinese, but honestly we would go nowhere with our conversation otherwise.
I am so glad my language partner is this kind of person. I was worried, but she's not too asian, and not too eager. She's normal and cool and travels a lot, she's so worldly and she inspires me. We're not super close but she is very fun to talk to.
2300: Return to dorm and annoy my roommate by my lateness and my daily diary typing :/
I spent a lot today, but it was a good day. I buy some fruit to eat because I haven't had it for a week and I need it. I feel sorry for my roommate. I wish my keyboard was quieter, or the room walls thicker and actually soundproof.