This afternoon I went shopping in the streets between McDonald’s and Pizza Hut. I bought a pair of shoes that just barely fits, and some super cute keychains as gifts. I also found a new milk tea place that uses real tea and real milk – giving me confidence that I can replicate this delicious drink when I get home.
I went over to the hospital to see Lester but found him gone. They finish his IV earlier each day, after which he is free to walk around. Since hospitals here have zero security, he’s been taking advantage of his freedom to shop and hang out in the West Gate area. I met him over there to give him his daily Oreo and it was weird to see him in a different environment. We had an impromptu picnic in front of KFC and wow I just realized how the biggest landmarks around my college are all fast food restaurants.
Aleid and I had made plans to go to dinner, but then I invited Jelle who invited Diederik who invited the French and Yerkin and we ended up going to dinner with 9 people. We went to a new seafood restaurant, which I’m generally against on principle because their selection is usually so limited. They didn’t have any eggplant dishes, but we ended up having a really great meal. Their fried-egg-and-tomato was so good that we ordered another, the mushrooms were possibly the best I’ve ever had, and I even liked all the seafood dishes – shrimp, fried fish, and grilled squid. Since I’ve now had delicious squid, I think there is only one food left on the earth that I have not ever liked, no matter how they’re prepared: peas. I can now truthfully say that I would rather eat worms!
Jelle and I went to Chinese Corner afterwards and had a good time speakin’ Chinese. I think I’m going to go more regularly this semester.
More importantly than speaking Chinese (which I do every day), I realized a life-long goal of mine at Chinese Corner tonight! That’s right, I met someone named Wang Peng! Jelle’s English and Chinese names are both proving too hard for people, so he made an impromptu decision to go by 王朋, or Wang Peng! This is the name of one of the main characters in the Integrated Chinese Level 1 book – and also apparently a fairly common Chinese name. Before coming to China, I put “Meet someone named Wang Peng” on my bucket list, and I can now successfully cross it off. I hope it sticks . . .
Huh, I really thought I had a lot more to write about from today.