Yesterday morning I was sitting in bed reading and the ayi knocked at my door. She came in and said something I couldn't decipher, pointing at the floor, holding a broom. I gestured no with my head, thinking maybe she was asking if I wanted her to clean the floor. She came in and cleaned so I definitely misunderstood. I decided to try saying something to her, because the whole-having someone who I don't/can't speak with clean up after me-thing makes me very uncomfortable.
So, I said 'Jin tian ni hui jia ma?' 'Are you going home today?' and she nodded yes and smiled.
A little bit later she said 'Jin Tian ni men something something gongyuan ma?' 'Are you guys going to the park today?' and I said 'shi' 'we are.' Then she left and came back in to mop. When she was done she showed me a picture of her and Madison on her phone and said she wanted to take a picture of me with her. I nodded yes, so she sat on my bed and handed me the phone to take the pictures. I couldn't get the angle right so every picture came out oddly, one with her entire face, and a sliver of mine, one the opposite, one we're both crammed down in the corner of the frame, and one too close up. I made silly faces for most of the pictures and she made a calm closed-mouth smile. Then she took her phone and took a picture of just me, and I've always been weird about pictures. I generally don't like them to be taken of me, so when she did it, I looked at it and said I didn't like the photo-or tried to. She told me I was so happy and that was good, then before she left she said 'I'm sorry.' That left me baffled. I sat there trying to figure out why she was sorry for half-an-hour, then decided to drop it.
I told Justin about it later and he said, 'Yeah, she's weird isn't she?'....that's typical Justin.
Bob comes over:
Justin invited his friend and helper/translator for lunch and to go to a park. He's a Chinese guy who studies Finance and English at a university here. When he came over he brought flowers for me, because he knew Justin's little sister was in town. I was thoroughly embarrassed, not being accustomed to the Chinese ways-like bringing gifts when you visit someone or welcome them. We talked for a little bit about school and whether or not this was my first time in China. We had lunch.
Then we went to XiangShan 'Fragrant Mountain,' which was beautiful. Justin and Sebrina were calling it a hike that we were about to go on, but of course it was a Chinese hike. The paths were stone and most of it was steps up the hill. There were intercoms on the way up playing relaxing chinese tunes, and poster boards along the sides of the path with information on environment and specific plants and animals (they were in Chinese, but that's what Bob said they were.)
The walk got progressively more difficult until we reached the peak where another building was. The whole time I was thinking we were on our way to the incense-burning temple, or a pagoda, but it ended up being a beautiful building with shops inside. The view was really nice though. I've got pictures, but they're on Sebrina's camera, so I'll upload them later when she's awake.
Short Snipets:
Today the sky is actually almost blue! (usually it's smoggy from maybe a combination of fog and pollution)
Bob is finding me a calligraphy class.
Last night we went to a Haagen-Dazs cafe and it was the fanciest, strangest place.
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