Saturday, June 2nd 2012
My mom and I had woken up around 4:30 am. She didn’t know I was awake though, so she left to take a walk outside. It was actually comfortably cool in the morning. I got up, brushed my teeth and folded my little bed on the floor, and waited for my mom to return. Around six o’clock, my mom took me to buy breakfast for the household (by this time everyone was awake): Laolao, my grandma; Eryi, my aunt; Xiaoxue, the hired help; my mother, and myself. We got some shaobing (sesame savory or sweet pastry about the size of an English muffin) and doufunao (tofu with various spices and soup) to supplement the cucumbers and mantou (kind of like bread) prepared by Eryi and Xiaoxue. We were thinking of getting some fresh-made youbing, but thought it would be too much food.
After breakfast, Mom and I took the subway right by our apartment (the stop is called Liu Fang) to Wudaokou, which is very close to the Main/East Gate of Tsinghua 大 学 (college/university). I was still rather tired from the airplane flight and my head was hurting. For some reason my nose was running and I was sneezing, but I don’t think I was sick. We did a little self-guided tour of the university until around 2:30 pm, stopping in the shade occasionally to take a rest. It was very hot in the afternoon, so we ate some mung bean popsicles (sounds weird, but it’s really quite tasty, especially on a hot day!).
We left the campus from the West Gate and took the bus #331 to Wudaokou, then the subway Line 13, to Xizhimen, where we transferred to Line 2 to Dongzhimen. From Dongzhimen station, we entered directly into a big mall with very modern expensive stores. We went to the bathroom, which to my surprise had actual toilet seats (most public restrooms nasty little holes with not much sanitation), and eventually found a nice place to eat. It was very enjoyable – the food was served on a hot metal plate where we grilled beansprouts, beef, corn, and rice. Mom was craving good coffee afterwards so we went to a European brand cafe called COSTA.
It was almost 4 pm when we got home and I took a long nap, completely wiped out. Dinner was porridge with vegetables – relatively light. After dinner I was having trouble connecting to the internet, so there was quite a jingzhang de (sort of like a panicky – but not so extreme) situation. We fixed it soon enough. I sent out emails to my adviser, Kevin, and ISA. Unfortunately, I couldn’t access my Gmail for some reason.
After taking a shower, I joined my mom and Eryi watching the Chinese version of The Bachelor or some other whack reality show. None of the guys were very good looking. I went to bed around 11:30 pm.
~ end of entry 8:18 pm, Hao Hong Yuan
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