Because we begged a Monday off of class, I left on Friday by night train and came back on Tuesday morning, just in time for my 10am Chinese class. I'd bought zuo tickets, just seats, because it cost 150 kuai each way instead of 274 kuai.
It worked out pretty well because I had relatively good conversations in both directions - on the way to Xi'an with a 20 year old soldier who showed us pictures of Russian boy soldiers (I've been telling everyone I'm Russian rather than American because the reception tends to be warmer), and on the way back, I got lectured on Chinese characters and criticized for my lack of knowledge of political vocabulary pertaining to the Russian Soviet government. At 4am.
So anyway, I arrived in Xi'an at 7am and was greeted by Chantal and the Muslim Quarter that was just beginning to stir. Chantal and I quickly learned that not all pink stuff is cao mei, strawberry, but rather it can be a suspiciously glutinous and salty concoction. We ditched the 2 kuai bowl of disaster and ran.
Touristy Muslim Quarter, still closed up. These are generally bustling stalls filled with brightly colored trinkets etc.
The white pile is all noodles! Sha'anxi province is noodle-famous.
Lots of such meat stalls in the Muslim Quarter.
Sha'anxi noodles! Yum.
Slack-line in the park, with rapt audience. Avi.
Village right next to Chantal's campus.
The face of bird flu.
We climbed a mountain and fell a lot.
These rice cakes with sesame paste and rose sauce are DELICIOUS. Omfg. Best sweet rose-flavored thing ever.
Aaand then I got home and was suitably exhausted and barely made it through class and my tutoring session. Now we have a rule that we have to get back by midnight the day before our next class. Oops.
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