Well I've been in Chongqing for just over a week now and I'm starting to get the hang of living here. Luckily we haven't had many responsibilities here since our arrival and we've been able to focus exclusively on getting settled, but that will change next week when I start my teaching schedule. This free week has been a godsend though as this city is huge and it takes alot of energy just to get basic things accomplished! I'll try to keep this post relatively short so I'll fill you in on some of our highlights in the last week.
Earlier this week we made a trip to Ciqikou (Sichiku phonetically) which is the ancient part of our city. It is now just a winding maze of shops that goes for miles and sells almost anything you can think of. While we were there people were almost constantly taking pictures of us as they were so surprised to see foreigners. This still seems weird to me even though it happens almost every day here. However, despite the unwanted attention we had a lot of fun wandering the shops and we even felt brave and dunked our feet into a tank with fish that eat your dead skin. This was one of the strangest sensations I've ever experienced but not unpleasant.(I apologize for my hairy legs)
Earlier this week we made a trip to Ciqikou (Sichiku phonetically) which is the ancient part of our city. It is now just a winding maze of shops that goes for miles and sells almost anything you can think of. While we were there people were almost constantly taking pictures of us as they were so surprised to see foreigners. This still seems weird to me even though it happens almost every day here. However, despite the unwanted attention we had a lot of fun wandering the shops and we even felt brave and dunked our feet into a tank with fish that eat your dead skin. This was one of the strangest sensations I've ever experienced but not unpleasant.(I apologize for my hairy legs)
While in Ciqikou I also picked up two new roommates, my pet turtles, who my friends quickly named Tupac and Biggie. (pictured below) Update on them we are on day 5 and still going strong. They were originally pretty scared all of the time and hid in their shells alot but now they are venturing out more and seem pretty comfortable with me.
We also made some Chinese friends who are students here at SISU, they took us to a pizza place that they work at which was surprisingly good. The two of them have been helping us get settled, get new sim cards and navigate the city. If it wasn't for them I don't know what we would've done. Amazing to see that people all over the world are friendly and go out of their way to help strangers.
The 8 of us went to Ikea today(yeah I was as surprised as you that we have an Ikea, also its' allegedly the largest one in Asia) to finish getting stuff for our apartments. Afterwards we went out for traditional hot pot. At our friends insistence we tried...pig brain. Which wasn't bad but definitely not on the top of my list for future experiences for the squeamish skip the photo below.
The 8 of us went to Ikea today(yeah I was as surprised as you that we have an Ikea, also its' allegedly the largest one in Asia) to finish getting stuff for our apartments. Afterwards we went out for traditional hot pot. At our friends insistence we tried...pig brain. Which wasn't bad but definitely not on the top of my list for future experiences for the squeamish skip the photo below.
I'm excited to start classes on Monday and will hopefully be getting better wifi soon to communicate better with everyone back home. Rest of my pictures are below hope you all enjoy. If there is any aspect of life here that you want to here more about or more things you want to see pictures of send me an email and I'll be sure to add more to the blog or get back to you ASAP.
Love and miss you all,
Adam
Love and miss you all,
Adam