Day 7 - Valentine’s Day and Single Dogs

Coffee and Insanity - Start the Day Right

Sunday, February 14th, 2016

Smog Level: All 3 Mountains

Hey there, sleep, glad to know you haven’t fully abandoned me. That’s right: I finally slept 8 unbroken hours. I woke up thinking about Mandarin. Last night, I felt like the language wasn’t coming fast enough. I feel like I should know more by now. The idea that I’ll never be able to speak it crosses my mind.. but then I reminded myself that I haven’t even been here a full week yet. Actually, given that it’s a week, I think I’ve made decent steps, capable of having extremely basic, functional exchanges.

It’s Valentine’s day, and we considered just staying in the house the whole day, but the idea of going back to Maan Coffee to get a Belgian waffle was appealing enough to get us out.

At the pace of snails, we took 4 hours between waking up and actually leaving, which was perfectly fine by me. We stop at KFC for breakfast. When ordering spicy food in China, bear in mind that it’s actually spicy.

We walked to Maans coffee, we get a “maan coffee,” aka drip coffee, and the most impressive-looking waffle. It was... disappointing. Despite being almost double the price of the other waffles, it didn't seem all that special. After we finish the waffle, I battle with the internet to get work done, and catch up on my writing while Shimou did her own work.

Shimou told me about the concept of "Single Dogs," which is some running joke that you call people who are single. Why dogs? I have no idea. The picture here is one that makes the rounds during Valentine's season, and says stuff like "Protect Single Dog," "Don't flaunt your love!" "No Kissing."*

Eventually, out laptops die because the plug at our seat wasn’t working and everyone seemed to have the same idea as us, working at Maan. We pack up and head to the mall to grab some grub, then chill at the apartment.

Check, aaaand Check.

What’s on the menu? Chinese Pancakes! Only this time, I caught a video of it! But… good luck for uploading it because the internet here doesn’t seem to want to cooperate with me. Ms.Handler, one of the school’s "English teacher handlers," said that my apartment’s internet would be looked at in two days, so fingers crossed that it makes a difference.

Wandering through the mall, you often hear little children excitedly shouting something. No idea what they’re saying, but it’s much cuter than english. Shimou disagrees, probably because she can understand them. Back at the apartment, we watch Rick and Morty, then have a quiet night.

Editing Music: 
Sex and Question Marks
The Wombats