carrefour

大家好！helloooo everybody. i am sure you were all relieved not to receive any news from me yesterday. i am for-sure overdoing it. but i have some today! ha

yesterday was a free day because of the chinese public holiday, 端午节, or Dragon Boat Festival. this holiday commemorates an ancient politician who also happened to be a great poet, Qu Yuan. this poet/politician was extremely patriotic. his greatest wish was prosperity for his kingdom. when he saw that it was in decline, he was heartbroken and drowned himself in a river. the townspeople loved him so much that they thew tons of rice balls into the river so the fish would not eat him, and they could retrieve his body. during this festival, people eat the sticky rice/meat balls，zongzi or 粽子，to remember him. this whole story is very chinese to me... patriotism, suicide, and in the end, we all get to eat!

sue made us 粽子 this weekend so we could try them. deliciousss... there are savory ones with meat and sweet ones with red bean.

with my free day, i chose to find the nearest carrefour and take a look-see. google maps is amazing, i found the closest one and mapped the bus route online before venturing forth. the carrefour is a thirty minute walk/bus ride, pretty convenient. it also has lots of interesting things around it, like this outdoor fish-bird-insect-flower market.

here are grandma and grandpa, perhaps taking the girls for their first pets? there were lots of different types of crickets, turtles, frogs, bunnies, kittens, birds... and the occasional hamster. this may be the first live market i have encountered in asia, where the animals AREN'T intended for dinner. *sidenote for all my veggies out there, vegetarian food is actually pretty accessible here! becca, you will be pleasantly surprised by all your options. there is a vegan restaurant by my school and there are a few veggie establishments in each major area of town.

carrefour was a fun experience too. i love shopping in china because if you plainly state that you are looking for the cheapest version of an item, the salespeople are more than happy to oblige. for the most part, they won't try to upsell you, they will earnestly search for the cheapest form of what you need! very much my style. here's mary looking for index cards... sooooooo many chinese characters to memorize each day. oh, and do not be mislead. this place was CROWDEDDD. i actually don't know how i even took this picture.

tonight i'll study for a bit, and then who knows what? tomorrow we only have morning class and then a trip to old town to see the market and the food streets. i'll have lots to share :) 明天呢！