Thursday (Day 24): Poke Cake
Thursday for lunch we ate at the college cafeteria. I had rice and two other dishes with it. One was potatoes and pork with peppers and garlic bolt. The other was pork and something that kind of looked and tasted like hot dogs. For supper we had Korean BBQ again with one of the teachers. This time we had eggplant, cucumbers, a different kind of tofu, beef, pork, and fish. It was all so delicious!

Then we went to Qiushui Square where we got to see the water fountain show again! At one point one of the fountains shot water at least 200 hundred feet in the air!

On the way back we stopped at a vendor to try Poke cake. The shop was called Pokeice and it sold ice cream and “poke cake”. It was basically a giant waffle folded in half with soft serve ice cream and fruit inside. I wanted the strawberry one but they were sold out so I tried the mango one. I loved it so much!

Friday: Day 25
In the morning I went for a walk and got my picture taken with a cool elephant statue. After, I went to find some food. I ended up at a little restaurant and the owner there recommended one of the dishes. Since google translate isn’t always correct, I wasn’t 100% percent sure what I would get. Coconut milk something. Anyways, it turned out to be some sort of cold pudding with mangoes and it was so good!

Playing Basketball in China
At the school that day, some of Keith’s students finished their test early. So I went to play basketball with 3 of them. They were all super nice to me, and let me take shots and cheered whenever I got it in the net. When 4 more students joined us, we made teams and played a game. Once, I tripped over someone’s shoe and they were all genuinely upset when I fell down. They all asked me if I was okay. But what I thought was the sweetest thing, is my team let me take 95% of the shots at the net! Even though I missed half of the time and the other team would get the ball.
They made me feel a part of the team, even though I was the only girl and they were actually happy to have me play. The Chinese guys here are very respectful and kind to me. I had so much fun playing with them! They taught me how to do the three step (basketball move!) and were super excited when I got it.
For supper, my brother and I and the other two teachers went out to a hot pot place for supper. My brother had been here on his last visit, and what was so cool is the lady who worked there, recognized him! We ordered lamb, corn, noodles, black fungus, potatoes and lotus root. I loved the lamb and the noodles!

Saturday,Day 26: Shi Xian Lou Restaurant

Saturday we went out exploring. We rode one of the subways to the end of the line. Here, they had built the subway first and were slowly building up huge buildings. It was funny to see China undeveloped! Then we went to the Rongchuang Amo mall (a Wanda mall). The malls here are so cool, there is always cool statues or bright colored paintings or funny objects! We wandered around looking at all the neat stores they have!


We ate lunch at KFC. I had a chicken sandwich which was pretty good and popcorn chicken bites. I also got warm milk tea which was delicious! Next door to the mall there was a cool amusement park called Nanchang Wanda Theme Park. We walked around the entrance which had a huge dragon displayed near the steps you walk up to get to the entrance. We didn’t go inside the park but it looked very cool!

Then we walked around some more and found the sports centre. Then we took the bus back to our hotel.
For supper that night, the lady in charge of the foreign teachers took the teachers out for dinner and invited me as well. We went to Shi Xian Lou Restaurant and the meal was very fancy. We had our own room in the restaurant and they brought in all the dishes to us, one at a time. The food was chicken, peking duck, some spicy beef, some pork, osmanthus cake, and some sort of vegetable dish.


There were also bits of duck bones that still had a bit of meat on them and they had salted and cooked the bits so you could eat the meat off. It was interesting but very good! All the food was so delicious.

Sunday, Day 27: Pavilion of Prince Teng/ Tengwang Pavilion
Sunday I got a watermelon juice on our way to the Tengwang pavilion. It was a very cool experience! There was lots of history, lots of exhibits and some really cool gift shops. The view from the 5th floor was amazing! If you look at the photo below you can see the Yin and Yang sign! For lunch we ate at this little restaurant a few streets down. We both ordered homemade beef dumplings and they were to die for! On the way home, I decided to try a tanghulu (candied fruit on a stick). It was strawberries and it was sweet and delicious! If you look closely, you’ll notice the last piece of fruit is actually a cherry tomato!


That night we got some spicy BBQ meats which were good and a popsicle. We wandered around exploring. It was very windy that night and very cold. I tried a soft serve ice cream with a matcha dip which was yummy!


Monday, Day 28: Milk Tea
Monday was another cold and rainy day. We walked around outside the hotel in search of a newspaper (no luck!). So we got breakfast from a convenience store. I had some sort of berry yogurt drink and some packaged sponge cake. They were both really good. We also got some pastry items: croissant, some sort of danish, and a milk toast which was a baguette soaked in some sort of yellow substance (maybe milk and egg?) and then toasted. They were all so tasty!
While Keith was teaching that afternoon, I went across the street with one of the students. He got us some milk tea which was basically hot tea with lots of milk and oats in the bottom. It easily became my favorite drink I had tried! We also had some chicken wings and a chicken wrap. The wings were so good, and I thought it was so smart because there were small plastic disposable gloves given to you with the chicken wings! That way, you didn’t get your hands dirty!
We had fun talking about the differences in Canada and China, our plans for the future, how cute kids were, and where we both wanted to travel. Sometimes we had to use translating apps, but for the most part we could communicate without it. Language only becomes a barrier when you allow it to be!
Cinema
That night my brother and I went to the movie theater and watched Frozen 2 in 3D! I got popcorn and a drink. The drink was a fruit drink with real orange slices in it. It wasn’t my favorite thing I’ve tried! The popcorn came in a tin with Elsa and Ana from Frozen on it and it was different then the popcorn you get in Canada. It was more sweet than salty, kind of like caramel popcorn but a different taste. I liked it though! The movie was funny and I really liked it. It was in English with Chinese subtitles.

Did you miss my last post about Nanchang/Korean BBQ/Bayi Square/Pizza Hut? Thanks so much for reading! Do you have any questions? Just send them my way and I would love to answer them!
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