Another Quick Update

Lot’s of things happened this weekend, and I want to get to bed at a decent hour, so I’m going to give you a quick update. 

I got up earlyish Saturday to go the Kuangzhaixiangzi alleys with my host mom. We took the subway, which was pretty cool (especially considering we had just finished up a unit about transportation so I was able to put my new knowledge to work). The alleys were pretty busy, but we did some sightseeing, picture taking, and shopping. By the time we got home, it was 10ish, and I was pretty tired. Before I could take a nap, however, my host sister came in and informed me that we were going somewhere (by we, I mean the entire family excluding my host grandparents), and I needed to pack a change of clothes and some toiletries. I was pretty confused, but I’ve learned just to go along with things and see where they take me. 

It was a pretty long drive, giving me plenty of time to sleep in the car. We ended up going to this place in the mountains with streams that you could play with. I had lots of fun even though I didn’t have a swimsuit and ended up getting my clothes wet (thank goodness I packed extras). We were there with some people who might have been relatives or family friends (I’m leaning towards the latter). After playing, we ate some delicious food (including spicy fish cooked at the table). We then went on a walk before heading back to the hotel (it was more of a motel in its layout, I don’t really know what to call it though).

My host sister and I ended up sharing a room and that room ended up not having air conditioning (we also had some bug visitors but what else would you expect on the mountain). Add in a comforter that was way too thick considering the weather, and you’ll end up with a perfectly steamed Ciara. 

In the morning, we ate and headed off. I thought we would head straight back home, but we ended up visiting some of the sites in the area and taking pictures. We then ate hotpot with the family friends, which was really good and I ate a lot. After that, we dropped my host dad off somewhere and made our way home. On the way back, I heard my host mom and sister talking about taking me swimming. I don’t think they thought I could understand them (part of it also might have been the fact I was listening to music), so my host mom kept asking my sister to ask me if I wanted to go. They kept going back and forward, so there wasn’t a good chance to interrupt. 

Anyways, long story short, I ended up going swimming with my host sister and her friend (using a borrowed swimsuit). It was fun even though I’ve kind of forgotten how to swim (well), and I have the stamina of something with low stamina (you can tell I’m rushing when I can’t do metaphors). We also went to see an interesting movie about time travel before finally heading home. And that’s where I am. 

I promise to eventually edit all of this and at least add some photos to make things interesting. Life has just been hectic for me, and that’s a good thing because I want to spend my last two weeks here doing as much as possible.