Today was the last full day in China and I wish so much that it wasn’t. I think spending another week or two here would have been wonderful. Sure, I’m looking forward to American conveniences like being able to drink the tap water or not having beds that are artifacts from the Stone Age, but I really enjoy being in China and I’ll miss it very much.
Today we went to two local markets and a large bargaining hall. The first market we went to was basically Costco in outside form with large wares and some samples. The streets were full of little trucks, chickens, dogs, rice pieces, and assorted kinds of sewage. I thought it was extremely fascinating! The interesting part of this market was that apparently many of the locals had never seen foreigners before. When we walked down the alleyways absolutely everyone stared. People got out of their shops or leaned out of their windows to gaze upon us. One of the women came up to us and tried speaking English with us a little bit. I admire her bravery so much. I can’t imagine how much courage it must take to go up to a group of foreign people and try speaking a language you hardly know.
The second market we went to was indoors. We saw all sorts of wares, from huge slabs of meat to frogs that were struggling to escape their nets to live turtle animals. One of the students bought a bag of red peppers and quite of few people tried them and quite a few people were suddenly filled with much regret.
We then went to an area in Tianjin where we could find food. Many of us, slightly sick of a week of Chinese food, headed straight for the KFC. I’ve never been to a KFC before so I can’t attest to any similarities between the Chinese and American versions, but the burger the student who was sitting next to me had could have been chicken, fish, beef, or an entirely new species of animal. The world may never know.
The third market we went to was a huge indoor bargaining market. Our tour guide gave us a few brief tips on how to haggle and then sent us off into the hall. We browsed through stalls and shops and looked at all sorts of items, from knock-off iPads to huge spears. At first our haggling skills were fairly non-existent and the vendors would rub their hands in glee as they watched us attempt to knock down prices a few yuan. After a few tries, though, we gained a fairly good amount of proficiency. Nick and I even managed to knock down an item 350 yuan after a few minutes of bargaining. Some people had more luck than others (one person was unfortunately spit on), but it was an exhilarating experience. I only wish we had more time to spend.
We ended the night with a dinner of fabulous dumplings. Returning to the hotel, we met in the conference room to talk about the trip back home. We then finally returned back to our rooms to pack our belongings together and fall into the stone-like beds for the very last time.
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