A room with a View

(This is one view from my apt.)

Hello friends and family. As promised, here is another update on life here in Hengyang. I notice that every activity and outing takes more energy than I anticipate. One of my team-mates and I went to a larger Target type store this morning.


Now, shopping can be somewhat confusing. In some sections of the store, you pay for the item at a separate little counter in that department. But, the items that are reserved for these special counters are pretty random. So, you just have to guess where to pay. My team-mate tried to buy needle and thread at the big check-out, and they would not let her because she needed to pay for that at the separate little check-out in that section. Also, after you purchase your items, you need to keep your receipt out and show it to a person who stamps the receipt by the door. Needless to say, by the end of our shopping trip, we were both exhausted and had way more than we could conveniently carry on the bus. So--I decided that in the future, I will purchase fewer things at the store, but frequent it more often just for the experience of learning the system, riding the bus, and hopefully engaging in more meaningful communication.





On a positive note, I have a friend in the bubble tea lady who stands right at the corner of our apartment. Bubble tea is delicious, and there are so many flavors. I also have tried to speak a little Chinese with this lady, and she seems to find my attempts at Chinese humorous. For example, after I ordered my bubble tea, another man came up and was ordering tea and speaking to me in Chinese. I had no idea what he was saying, and the bubble tea lady kindly told him that I couldn't understand him (I do know this phrase in Chinese.) How kind of her. So, alas, a friendship has been built, and I will get bubble tea everyday and continue building the friendship.