Saturday started early, met at 8.30 (with the 2 master students) and they helped to try to get some money. Only to try, because it didn't work. Apparently a 6 numbers password is needed to withdraw money from the credit card, but i only have one with 4. Got some money borrowed. We took the bus 255 from the bus station and a after more than one hour driving through Sy (very interesting to observe the places and people from the bus*) we arrived at the Tàiyuán street, the shopping street, crowded, but no car or bikes, therefore, very comfortable.
This is the place where people with greater economical power come to consume! And i tell you, they are really buying. The shopping mall was just like the ones i know in Brazil. Some products are really cheaper than in Europe, some other things are almost the same price. Walked and walked. I bought a pair of flipflops, a t-shirt and 2 science books in English. I have to be very careful when going shopping, cause it is really tempting.
Mr. Luo bought us some lotus (lìanzi), and this was the first time i ate it. And i liked!
We had lunch in another shopping center, a huge amount of food for only 6 RMBs.
We also went to a supermarket, and it was a very big one, with too many options! It is already difficult to decide what to buy, and the great amount of choice just make it more complicated. Anyway, the two were very patient, and i was glad that they also bought something. Had 4 bags full of things (and i have to notice, here is just the same as in Brazil, the supermarkets give you the plastic bags for free, next time i have to take my textile bags with me!) and it was only about 100 RMBs. Back to the bus stop, back to the traffic. As i wrote in the beginning,
i thought the streets were not so chaotic. Well, i was wrong, maybe because it is Saturday, it is really loud and busy! And the air is just terrible, you feel the dust going into your lungs. I was so tired that, as soon as i got a place to sit, i closed my eyes and slept a bit. The rest of the "trip" i could further look from the window. This are the times you wish you could make movies with your eyes, in some sense we do it, we just cant reproduce it. I didn't want to take pics, in order not to be indiscreet, or to attract attention. But maybe i should it, since i attract attention anyway! People sometimes look with some strange face at me, and at least the kids laugh back when i smile! I saw no other "foreign" on the streets, but i am sure there are some of them!
Arrived home and took a "shower". If you can call it a shower. Oh ya, i forget to tell, there is no such a thing like a shower room. You use the washstand in the toilette to clean yourself. I took me 2 days to understand that. It is not so bad, we are only girls in the students residence, and it is not that difficult to use a basin for washing. You can also do the laundry at the same time. It would be nice to have warm water. Specially for washing the hair. Calm Saturday evening, we had dinner and came to the lab for some internet use. Read and tried to work on the reports for Weimar, phoned with Oli and went to sleep. The night was not so warm, and i forgot to burn the mosquitoes thing. So in the morning i realized that i had a lots of bites in my hand and arms. :-(
Today, Sunday, should be renamed to Rainday. It started raining in the night, and it is still raining until now. In the morning it was pouring, so that i could not go for my walk around the campus. Well, next time. Anyway, i woke up too late, it was 10.20 am, and i started cleaning up a bit. Had noodles with Hailian at her dorm and then started working (on the computer). Suddenly someone knock at the door, it was Wu Xiang, a really sweet computer science student from my residence, who wanted to practice some English. Well, first she taught me some Chinese, and it is getting better, i can recognize and speak (still not perfect, sure) the four tons. She also showed me some of the characters. So much for the rainy Sunday, had dinner and came by the lab, to check mails and observe Hailian with some experiments. My parents just called me, and we talked a bit. I just realized that it is not possible to access wikipedia, or even blogspot from here. Well, everything is controlled here, and i remember that these websites were blocked. Hopefully i can further use google....
Tomorrow my supervisor Prof. Raninger will be here, and i hope i can get a better idea about my work.
(* About people and places: more about that soon!)
