Lots 'o' Little Stories

I collect stories, big or small, throughout the week for my blog. So this post will be about all of the little stories that went on this week.

1. First, Brielle, you would be in heaven here; the apples are so dang good! China has the best apples that I have ever tasted. There are super crisp all the time and have the best taste. They are for sale at fruit stand everywhere and the lunchroom sells them too. All teachers get a pre-paid meal card every month that has a certain amount on it so we can buy whatever we want offered in the cafeteria. I splurge on apples!
2. The supermarket here is called Suguo and it is in almost every city, like Walmart. The Suguo has two floors and really is just like the China version of a Walmart supermarket. The weird thing is, though, that you have to pay 2 yen extra ($.36) for a bag when checking out your items. We have learned to stock up and bring your own bags so you don’t have to pay for that extra convenience.
3. Also, hairspray is super hard to find here, so when you do STOCK UP! Unfortunately, the hairspray I did manage to find is called Black Forest aka man college scent. After using it, girls will come in to my room and question every time!
4. Come to find out, Asian genes produce less body/facial hair and less body odor, so deodorant, especially female deodorant, is less common in the stores, and few guys have facial hair. Fun fact.
5. Not to brag or anything… but I’m kinda pro at chopsticks now, no big deal. Haha but really, I’ve been using chopsticks for every meal everyday and I almost have them mastered. I even bought myself my own pair to use at home. For the first time the other day, I found something that was easier to eat with chopsticks than it was with a fork!
6. On that same note, forget the chopsticks because I’m going to be a badminton pro! On this school campus there are Ping-Pong tables and badminton courts everywhere. Some older Chinese guys were playing badminton one night and I asked them where they got their rackets and they invited me to play with them, so my roommate and I did and it was so much fun! Then they said they wanted to play a real game instead of just hitting it around, so we did. Little did we know the game was to the death! I didn’t know it was even possible to hit the birdie that hard. My roommate and I just stood there and laughed as the two guys went at it. Long story short, the next day I happened to be coming back from exercising and they saw me and invited me to play again and we played for a while ‘til I had to go. It is so much fun! And playing with those guys forces you to learn quickly. They have been teaching me tricks (through charades because they only speak Chinese) and love to laugh when I completely mess up. They are training me to be professional I’m sure.
7. Oh, I almost forget KTV! For our month anniversary, all of us ILP teachers went out and did Karaoke. Karaoke is a big deal with Asians; they are crazy about it. After going I can see why though, it was so much fun! The KTV place was super fancy and there were people standing in the hallway just to bow as you walk past and all the rooms were super fancy and decorated as well. They pulled out a lot of American songs for us and all of us girls just had a ball with that!
8. Two metro stops from the school is the Suguo. Right next to the Suguo is this street full of different street food, but if you go upstairs right above that street, there is this awesome place full of more delicious street food! Up there, you can get tons of noodles or pot stickers or these wraps or anthing you want; it’s so great. Also you can get ¼ of a whole pineapple on a stick for only 2 yen. It’s so glorious; I eat a lot of pineapple. :D
9. I said I would keep you updated about the pregnant ladies: I saw my first one on Friday! She stood up to get off the metro and it was an obvious baby bump. Score!
10. Casey, one of the directors, came this week. It was funny to watch the school prepare for him because they hung up lots of cute little ILP signs and set out plants and little things to make it all look that much better. Many of the girls dressed up better too and we all chose out best lesson

Whew, it’s been a long time since I’ve updated; sorry for all of the words and less pictures this time!

My dinner of street "pizza" and the most delicious milkshake from this little place called PuPu super close to our school.

Our girls are so creative! They made a massive calendar in the hallway to keep track of all events.

For our one month anniversary dinner some of us went to a Japanese food place and I got this chicken chop over rice with a side of cheesy broccoli.... so dang good!

The hall at the super fancy Karaoke place.