I left a note for the hotel maid to leave me extra tea, so we'll have to see if it works out:
We had a nice breakfast at the hotel. It had a lot of the same food as the other hotel buffet breakfast, but there were some more local Chongqing items on the menu. I'm not really sure what everything was, but the food here is definitely more spicy than in Beijing.
Lotus met us at the hotel and walked us to Chongqing University (CQU) for a meeting with some of hr CQU students. Just outside the hotel, there was a large gathering of people doing dance aerobics exercises. They were mostly elderly, retired people, but it looks like a mix between a music video and a group fitness class. Lotus says that they come here pretty much every morning and evening to exercise.
We also passed a group of retired men playing cards in a circle, and Lotus said that they almost always play cards there.
It was a short walk to CQU, but we had enough time to see a lot of the city. There are many trees lining the streets. A lot of them have their bases painted white, which Lotus says is some sort of protection for them, almost like a coat.
At CQU, we met with Lotus and some of her classmates and people from other classes, Alexandra, Raphael, and Shorey. Shorey and Lotus are EE class of 2018 while the other two are EE class of 2019 with us.
At first, Dr. Orkwis and Dr. Brown were sitting in on our meeting, but then they left so that we could feel more comfortable talking to each other. We mostly talked about our purpose as Diplomats, and then about why we're all studying engineering and a bit more about our co-op experiences. I think that even though we are attending school on two separate continents, we are not so different after all. Once we were all talking about our different experiences, we realized how much we have in common. I'm excited to get to know the students here better over the next few days.
After the meeting, we went on a campus tour. It is a beautiful campus, even if it is a rainy, foggy day today.
It was time for lunch after the tour, so we went to an old part of Chongqing to eat at a small restaurant. Alexandra and Raphael had too many exams to join us for the rest of the day, so we said goodbye. On the way, we stopped for some bubble tea. I love bubble tea, and it is so inexpensive here (just over $1). I wasn't expecting it to be served warm, but it's just as good that way when it's a little chilly outside.
We took the subway to Chiqtau. Once we arrived, several more of Lotus classmates joined us. I kind of forget most of their names, but hopefully I can figure them out later 😅
We walked around Chiqtau until we found a rice noodle shop. The chef stands outside making the rice noodles, singing and making a big show to attract customers. Our group was really big, and we ended up standing between two noodle shops. Both chefs were yelling for us to come inside and eat their noodles. We had no idea which one to choose, but it was so funny with all of the yelling. People were even stopping to watch and take pictures.
I thought the noodles we ended up eating were super delicious. Chongqing is known for its spicy food. The noodles we got weren't too spicy, but they were a little hot and came with a fruity slightly sour drink. It kind of tasted like Arnold Palmer but not exactly the same.
Chiqtau has so many little shops, so we spent most of the rest of the afternoon going around shopping and hanging out. I'm pretty sure that any time we stopped to look at a store, the boys had to go get a snack. It was so funny, eventually we were waiting on them to get snacks instead of them waiting on us to finish looking around a shop.
Lotus took us to see a Buddhist temple. It was so beautiful. We lit the incense and left it so that our wishes would come true.
It was the Buddha of this temple's birthday today, so we also got to see the birthday celebration. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures inside of the temple, but the Buddha statues were so grand, and the decorations were so beautiful and ornate.
Lil Mao took a look around, visiting the statues and training to be a little stone cat himself. He did run into some trouble with a dragon, but luckily we were able to bail him out.
Alexia and I really wanted to get a traditional tea set while we were in China. We found a place where the guy hand makes and hand paints the tea sets, so we ended up getting them here. He had his workshop set up in the back, so we could watch the tea sets being made.
I also picked up a few other souvineers. Lotus helped me get a better price on them, which was so nice of her.
After our afternoon of shopping ended, we had to go straight to dinner instead of stopping back at the hotel. We took the subway again, and arrived a bit early, so we went onto the nearby fine arts institute campuses to look around. The galleries were closed, but there was still plenty to see outside. The campus was so beautifully and creatively constructed.
We also got a really nice view of the area surrounding campus because we were able to climb to the roof of one of the galleries.
Then it was time for dinner. Tonight we ate with the JCI staff at the Holiday Inn buffet. Yes, it's the hotel chain, but the buffet was more along the lines of something at a Hilton than a Holiday Inn. The food selection was super overwhelming in a good way, but I tried to just get a little bit of everything. We had some raw squid, rabbit, duck, truffles, and all kinds of desserts.
It was fun talking to all of the JCI staff. We also sat with a UC professor who was teaching some of the UC courses at CQU.
While I was getting some food, some random person asked me if I was a Bearcat, and it turns out he was Dr. Nan Niu, a professor visiting CQU to do software engineering research. It's so crazy we ran into each other!
The taxi ride back was interesting. We always have to make sure to get a receipt, and I was the best at Mandarin in our cab so I put all of my effort into remembering the word for receipt. When we get back, I was able to ask for the receipt in Mandarin. But I guess the cab driver then thought I was more fluent, so he started talking to me. I just shrugged and said I didn't understand, then he laughed. I'm still impressed people can understand me, and also that I'm starting to remember more and more. It feels good, and I feel so much more comfortable here even with such basic, poor communication skills.
When we got out of the cab, the driver was acting like we needed to pay him or something, but we had thought they already paid using an app before the ride. He waiting for a while but then just kind of drove off. It seems to be fairly common for them to try to scam us out of paying twice (once when Lotus or Dr. Orkwis prepay them with the app and once in cash when get there).
After dinner, we went out to experience the CQU night life. Students all live in the dorms, so when they want to hang out, they usually go to a bar. We met up with one of the UC TAs who was at CQU for the fall semester at a bar close to campus.
I had forgotten that people were allowed to smoke indoors, and the bar was super smokey. I think it was kind of similar to an American bar, although I don't have too much experience with them. Loud music, dim lighting, lots of people.. There were a few differences though. The bar here had a bunch of tables and seating for people, so everyone was sitting down with their group instead of standing around the bar or a taller table. The way they serve the drinks is also different. Instead of buying drinks individually, you buy a few liters of beer and they bring it out at a tall tower. Then everyone gets drinks from there. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not much for drinking.. but luckily I think Alexia and I mastered the microsip by now. We kept making eye contact, tactfully not really drinking anything. But it was still a fun time hanging out with everyone and seeing what the night life was like.
My biggest complaint was the smoke. Pretty much everyone around us was smoking cigarettes, so it really stank in there. I had to step out for a few minutes, or I kept going to the bathroom because there was a nice draft of clean air coming in from somewhere around there.
The last thing I will say about this bar was that they had remarkably clean bathrooms. Cleaner than normal, I'd say. That's because there is a lady who was paid to just sit and clean up the bathrooms after any kind of mess was made.
When we left the bar, there were a lot of drunk Chinese people waiting for a cab. Let's just say that I'm pretty sure that drunk people are the same no matter where you go.
I also want to congratulate whoever decided to open up a convenience/snack store right across the street. I think everyone who left the bar went right across the the store to get a snack.
Then we walked back to the hotel. I've been told that it rains a lot in Chongqing, so I'm still trying to figure out why exactly there is so much marble or tile floor everywhere. It gets really slick when it's wet, so it makes me kind of nervous.
Back at the hotel, Liz, Matt, Alexia, and I reviewed our presentation for tomorrow. We're feeling pretty good about it, but I think we'll feel much better once it's over.
Now I'm off to bed before it gets too much later...
再见~
We walked around Chiqtau until we found a rice noodle shop. The chef stands outside making the rice noodles, singing and making a big show to attract customers. Our group was really big, and we ended up standing between two noodle shops. Both chefs were yelling for us to come inside and eat their noodles. We had no idea which one to choose, but it was so funny with all of the yelling. People were even stopping to watch and take pictures.
I thought the noodles we ended up eating were super delicious. Chongqing is known for its spicy food. The noodles we got weren't too spicy, but they were a little hot and came with a fruity slightly sour drink. It kind of tasted like Arnold Palmer but not exactly the same.
Chiqtau has so many little shops, so we spent most of the rest of the afternoon going around shopping and hanging out. I'm pretty sure that any time we stopped to look at a store, the boys had to go get a snack. It was so funny, eventually we were waiting on them to get snacks instead of them waiting on us to finish looking around a shop.
Lotus took us to see a Buddhist temple. It was so beautiful. We lit the incense and left it so that our wishes would come true.
It was the Buddha of this temple's birthday today, so we also got to see the birthday celebration. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures inside of the temple, but the Buddha statues were so grand, and the decorations were so beautiful and ornate.
Lil Mao took a look around, visiting the statues and training to be a little stone cat himself. He did run into some trouble with a dragon, but luckily we were able to bail him out.
Alexia and I really wanted to get a traditional tea set while we were in China. We found a place where the guy hand makes and hand paints the tea sets, so we ended up getting them here. He had his workshop set up in the back, so we could watch the tea sets being made.
I also picked up a few other souvineers. Lotus helped me get a better price on them, which was so nice of her.
After our afternoon of shopping ended, we had to go straight to dinner instead of stopping back at the hotel. We took the subway again, and arrived a bit early, so we went onto the nearby fine arts institute campuses to look around. The galleries were closed, but there was still plenty to see outside. The campus was so beautifully and creatively constructed.
We also got a really nice view of the area surrounding campus because we were able to climb to the roof of one of the galleries.
Then it was time for dinner. Tonight we ate with the JCI staff at the Holiday Inn buffet. Yes, it's the hotel chain, but the buffet was more along the lines of something at a Hilton than a Holiday Inn. The food selection was super overwhelming in a good way, but I tried to just get a little bit of everything. We had some raw squid, rabbit, duck, truffles, and all kinds of desserts.
It was fun talking to all of the JCI staff. We also sat with a UC professor who was teaching some of the UC courses at CQU.
While I was getting some food, some random person asked me if I was a Bearcat, and it turns out he was Dr. Nan Niu, a professor visiting CQU to do software engineering research. It's so crazy we ran into each other!
The taxi ride back was interesting. We always have to make sure to get a receipt, and I was the best at Mandarin in our cab so I put all of my effort into remembering the word for receipt. When we get back, I was able to ask for the receipt in Mandarin. But I guess the cab driver then thought I was more fluent, so he started talking to me. I just shrugged and said I didn't understand, then he laughed. I'm still impressed people can understand me, and also that I'm starting to remember more and more. It feels good, and I feel so much more comfortable here even with such basic, poor communication skills.
When we got out of the cab, the driver was acting like we needed to pay him or something, but we had thought they already paid using an app before the ride. He waiting for a while but then just kind of drove off. It seems to be fairly common for them to try to scam us out of paying twice (once when Lotus or Dr. Orkwis prepay them with the app and once in cash when get there).
After dinner, we went out to experience the CQU night life. Students all live in the dorms, so when they want to hang out, they usually go to a bar. We met up with one of the UC TAs who was at CQU for the fall semester at a bar close to campus.
I had forgotten that people were allowed to smoke indoors, and the bar was super smokey. I think it was kind of similar to an American bar, although I don't have too much experience with them. Loud music, dim lighting, lots of people.. There were a few differences though. The bar here had a bunch of tables and seating for people, so everyone was sitting down with their group instead of standing around the bar or a taller table. The way they serve the drinks is also different. Instead of buying drinks individually, you buy a few liters of beer and they bring it out at a tall tower. Then everyone gets drinks from there. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not much for drinking.. but luckily I think Alexia and I mastered the microsip by now. We kept making eye contact, tactfully not really drinking anything. But it was still a fun time hanging out with everyone and seeing what the night life was like.
My biggest complaint was the smoke. Pretty much everyone around us was smoking cigarettes, so it really stank in there. I had to step out for a few minutes, or I kept going to the bathroom because there was a nice draft of clean air coming in from somewhere around there.
The last thing I will say about this bar was that they had remarkably clean bathrooms. Cleaner than normal, I'd say. That's because there is a lady who was paid to just sit and clean up the bathrooms after any kind of mess was made.
When we left the bar, there were a lot of drunk Chinese people waiting for a cab. Let's just say that I'm pretty sure that drunk people are the same no matter where you go.
I also want to congratulate whoever decided to open up a convenience/snack store right across the street. I think everyone who left the bar went right across the the store to get a snack.
Then we walked back to the hotel. I've been told that it rains a lot in Chongqing, so I'm still trying to figure out why exactly there is so much marble or tile floor everywhere. It gets really slick when it's wet, so it makes me kind of nervous.
Back at the hotel, Liz, Matt, Alexia, and I reviewed our presentation for tomorrow. We're feeling pretty good about it, but I think we'll feel much better once it's over.
Now I'm off to bed before it gets too much later...
再见~
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