Study Break 2 - Day One

The day dawned sunny and clear, before eventually fading into a dark, overcast afternoon. I woke up and did some work for my internship before kind of...doing nothing. Eventually my suitemate, one of the very few people who isn't already on vacation for the break suggested we head to one of the local markets to pick up some food, and having literally nothing better to do, I went along.

I've been to the market before but I typically stay in the fruit section and that's the bulk of my purchases. Today however, I explored a little more while Kaitlin was doing her shopping and found some fun things. Aside from a large assortment of different veggies, some of which I'd never seen, there were also many different kinds of meats, including whole chickens. The creepiest things were the eels. They were alive and they slithered and sloshed around in their little tubs of water. I watched them, fascinated, and noticed one was attempting to escape it's enclosure. Well it wiggled and wiggled and soon enough, wouldn't you know it, it plopped, with a loud thwack, onto the floor. I took a quick picture before I hurried away from the writhing eel on the ground.

 

Making his escape. 

I bought a pumpkin so I could carve it later and we left the market, Kaitlin with many purchases because she's an avid chef, and me with my pumpkin and some assorted fruits. On our way back we stopped by a new bubble tea place near us called Super Daddy. I'm not sure why it's called this but I'm not the biggest bubble tea fan so I was a little skeptical. But I think I found a new favorite place. Super Daddy does things a little different and they have fruit syrup filled bubbles instead of the classic tapioca ones which I do not enjoy. I got a lemon flavored drink with strawberry bubbles which burst pleasantly in my mouth. The drink was amazing and it was probably the closest thing I've had to lemonade in Shanghai.

 

I got home and snacked on some grapes while I carved my pumpkin. I have named my pumpkin 小南瓜 which means "Little Pumpkin" in Chinese. In the end it turned out to be a pretty good outing and a fun day. I also learned that one of our classmates adopted a puppy and then promptly left on vacation. Can you say "irresponsible?" The puppy is currently at the vet getting it's shots but apparently someone volunteered us to watch it so starting either Sunday or Monday a dog will be coming to live with us, and it will probably be untrained. 

 Xiǎo nánguā!