Winning China

Sunday, Lizzie and I won many hard-fought battles, and it was extremely satisfying.

The day started with a dragonfruit, which is extremely cool-looking and pretty tasty. And things only got better.

First off, I had to sneak out of the dorm since we found out the night before that guests were, in fact, not allowed. Our efforts were extremely successful, and may or may not have involved an empty suitcase and overcoming my claustrophobia. (The whole story is available upon request.)

Step two was finding a post office we knew only by name and convincing them that Lizzie was the same person as the Chinese name the package was addressed to. It wasn't easy, and after they became somewhat convinced we were legit it still took them about 20 minutes to find my suitcase, but I finally had it back in my hands. And the angels began to sing.

We dropped it off at the dorm and headed out to Xiu Shui, which is called The Silk Market but is a market of all sorts of bargainable things. With a 45-minute break for whatever meal you eat at 4:30, we spent almost 7 hours there, getting things for the Very Special for Us prices, many of which were proclaimed as the Chinese Prices because we spoke Just Like Native Speakers. In truth, we took a long time and got what I think were really good prices because we bargained really well. We're pretty stubborn, and you get more so once you see how effective it can be. We bemoaned the fact that China will not be this way forever.

Headed back to the dorm via the grocery store, where we bought some fruit, including more of the dragon variety. Relaxed and ate that for a little bit while we admired our purchases, then went to The Bookworm, which is this wonderful English-language library and cafe, with charming decor and rooftop seating. One of Lizzie's favorite spots, and I can totally see why. We both just about fell asleep by 11 or so, though, so we headed back to the dorm and said our goodbyes.