The weekend started off with a lazy Saturday morning, one of the few times I didn't have to get up before 7 since first coming to China. After rolling out of bed at around 11:30- I got ready to meet up with Miguel and Nathaniel at a hotel downtown. When we all arrived the company had a driver take us to probably the largest fake mall I had seen in all of China so far. 5 stories and 2 basements of knock off T-shirts, shoes, silk, pearls, dresses, purses, glasses, electronics, and DVDs all for prices that are ridiculously low. (Strange this is the best one and yet our tour guide never took us there...) Of course this is reflected in the quality of the actual product, but right now my 2.50 headphones are working just fine, so I can't complain.
After blowing a few hours in the mall, we took a cab over to a legit shopping mall over 10 stories high with a movie theater on the 10th floor. Miguel just reminded me the floors were labeled with funny English names such as happy, sexy, dating, and X-life (which turned out to be comprised of Ambercrombie and designer clothing- who knew?). Anyways, when we got to the theater the names of the movies were all in Chinese so it was pretty much a guessing game between the three movies they said were in English to which we would see. Luckily we managed to buy tickets to see the new Chronicles of Narnia which was an OK movie, but more importantly was a welcomed surprise to finally hear others speaking fluently in English.
When the movie was over we hoped in a cab and headed downtown to Hard Rock Cafe. This again was a welcomed slice of American culture, we all agree a hamburger and fries definitely hit the spot after being away from American food for so long. Ironically, while in China we would often get menus with pictures so we could just point to what we wanted, but when we got to Hard Rock, the waitress handed Miguel and I the pictureless menus, and must have mistaken Nathaniel to be a local and handed him a menu with pictures as if he didn't know how to read English, and didn't know what a hamburger looked like.
While in Hard Rock, Nathaniel made a quite astute observation that the live performer had an NC State shirt on, and Miguel pointed out how small a world it truly is. After paying monumental prices (or relatively monumental to the 3 dollar meals we were becoming accustomed to) for a hamburger, fries, and a sundae, we made our way home by cab alone. This was a first in China and certainly was a testing experience. Luckily, we all made it home safe and well- although Miguel told us the next day how his cab driver got 'lost'- we are skeptical as to how when his host drew him maps and well detailed directions, but in the end are just glad that everyone eventually made it home OK.
On Sunday, more of the same, however no sleeping in this morning. In fact, Nathaniel contacted a friend of his family in town who took us to an international church. Pretty fascinating, we needed passports or American ID to enter the place because Chinese citizens weren't allowed in due to the fact that the church wasn't observed by the Chinese government. After the service, Nathaniel's friends were kind enough to take us out for Cantonese style food. Something that certainly brightened all of our spirits, especially Nathaniel.
Once lunch was over, we headed back to the knock off market to do some more shopping, and then headed back to the movie theater. Now this experience was much luckier than the day before. With options running thin on movies in English we opted to see the action movie, "Aroma". When I heard the title i expected it to be some British or Australian cheesy love/action flick, however to our elated surprise "Aroma" turned out to be Iron Man, an excellent movie that I had already wanted to see but couldn't considering we were on our language trip. At the conclusion of the movie Miguel beseeched us to stay an extra 12 minutes or so to watch a 15 second clip at the end of the movie. However, Samuel L. Jackson was in it (like everything else) so it was well worth it.
While exchanging perhaps not the most pleasant language with Miguel about that ordeal, Nathaniel and I walked out of the Theater only to discover a gargantuan arcade. The tokens were 1/7 of a dollar each, so of course the three of us felt it would be a waste if we passed up the opportunity on such cheap electronic excitement. Tired after about an hour of hardcore gaming, the gang headed downstairs for an eloquent dinner at none other than the beautiful institution we know as KFC. Fun Fact-KFC has the most fast food restaurants in all of China, and although the menu was altered, the fried chicken still evoked memories of home.
When dinner was over, we walked around the mall, I bought a cell phone charger, and we all got Quicksilver Beijing T-shirts which the guy at the shop told us were now being made in preparation for the Olympics. After a long day, the group parted ways by cab for some much needed rest and relaxation.
Now I am at work, where Miguel and I were lectured on how an ATM machine dispenser actually works and plan to build our own tomorrow.
Zai Jian for now
Ross
