So, I've been communicating with this person, Whitney, via email for a while now. We have a mutual friend, Andy, who is a guy from my Chinese 201 class. She's also from Maine so it's cool. Anyways, Whitney and I got together this weekend to get a cell phone and to go out to supper.
At about 1:45 I hop on the subway. The subway stop closest to my school is Jinsong. Here's a map of the subway:
Look at Line 10 (it's the pink line shaped like an L). Jinsong is on the very end (look at both ends and you'll find it). That's my subway station! So I get on at Jinsong and I go north 1 stop to Shuangjing, where I meet Whitney. She's really nice and friendly and extremely generous. She's really sort of taken me under her wing and I really appreciate it.
Our first order of business was getting me a cell phone. Whitney gave me an old cell phone that she had laying around. I just needed to buy a SIM card and some credit for it. Whitney and I go a couple stops North (I don't exactly know where) and end up at a big mall in search of a SIM card and cell phone credit. You can actually buy a SIM card and credit right at the little street vendors. That's actually where we end up going, but we still went to the mall for kicks. Anyways, we end up getting me a SIM card and some credit for my phone. Now I have a working cell phone in Beijing! Yay.
After that, Whitney asked me if there's anything else I need to get. I need socks! I only brought 3 pairs with me. I don't know why I only came up with 3 pairs of socks to pack... Curtis... but I really need some. So Whitney takes me to the Silk Market to get socks.
I don't know if you're familiar with the Silk Market here in Beijing, but it's a pretty big thing. It's definitely a tourist attraction. Basically, it's an indoor mall with lots of different shops. Here's a picture I found online of it:
They sell everything from trinkets to suitcases. So Whitney and I go off in search of socks for me. I'm looking specifically for black ankle socks. And as you're walking around, these salespeople are really up in your face. They grab you and they shove their product in your face to try to get you to buy. They also say things like, "I'll give you the best price... just for you" and "we have ____ on sale! Only ____!" As soon as you enter the store, they're all up in your face even more. They ask you what you're looking for and they offer suggestions. It's definitely no Walmart where you can passively shop for whatever you want. Also, you have to bargain with these people, too, which is a little intimidating. That's why I had Whitney. Whitney and I stop at one place that had socks. We asked them how much it cost for a bundle of socks (their bundle had 3 pairs). The lady said 15 kuai for 3 pairs of socks. That's kind of expensive, so we just walked away. We went to another store where the lady wanted to charge us 80 kuai for 10 pairs! They were really trying to rip us off--they really try to rip foreigners in general off. Whitney and I went to yet another shop. At this place, the guy started out pretty stern on his price, but then he lowered it to 3 pairs for 10 kuai. That was the best price so far, so I bought my socks there! Sorry I just told you a long story about me buying socks. Its kind of interesting though!
After our sock buying, we look around the silk market a little bit. They have little Chinese candies that I'm totally going to go back and buy. They even had Chicken feet in a bag that you could buy! I might bring that back for you Monique!
After exploring the silk market, Whitney and I head over to Chaoyangman to meet Whitney's friends Travis and Jane for supper. To see Chaoyangman on the map, look at the dark blue subway line that goes in a circle (Line 2). If you see where the red intersects with the blue on the right side, then look up 1 dot. That's Chaoyangman! We met her friends at Starbucks. I had a Frappacino there! It was nice to have something familiar. We chit-chatted for awhile. They're all English teachers for the same company, so they talked a lot about teaching. It was cool to listen to their stories and about their lessons that worked (and didn't work).
After Starbucks, we headed over to this place called Rock My Pot for supper. This place specializes in hot pots. A hot pot is a big pot of steaming hot water with vegetables and spices. You get raw meat and vegetables on the side to put into the hot pot to cook. You also have a little sauce that you create yourself (they provide all of the ingredients for you) to dip your food in after it comes out of the hot pot. This place, in particular, has little individual hot pots--usually there's just one big hot pot that the table shares.
Here's a picture of the individual hot pots on the table. Mine was the one on the left closest to the window.
Here's another picture without the flash.
I got some spicy chili seasoned hot pot. Whitney got the same thing. Travis and Jane got some yellow curry seasoned hot pot. On the side, we got a TON of meat and vegetables. We got some pork, some chicken, some lamb. We got broccoli, cabbage, raddish, potatoes, noodles.
Here's a picture of only some of the fixings we got for out hot pots. The bowl of red stuff in the front is my sauce bowl to dip stuff in after it comes out of the hot pot.
And here is a picture of my individual little hot pot.
After our hot pot adventure, I was invited to go watch a soccer game with the group. Me and Jane peaced out to go home, though. I had to get back to the dorm before the gates closed. My walk back was an adventure too! I'll share in my next post.
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