Living the Insider Life

吴璨, her friends, Chandler, and I at the Chengdu Museum.

Chinese shadow puppet that looks like a person or fish thing.

This morning, my host family and I headed to the Bank of China in order to exchange some cash and fill up the Chinese debit card I used in the Beijing airport. When we walked into the bank, the bank workers were a little surprised that a foreigner had a card for the Bank of China. Going straight to the bank to exchange cash is one of the best ways to get one of the best exchange rates from U.S. dollars to RMB. Airports and hotels usually have places where you can exchange money, but the exchange rates usually are not very good. I didn’t exchange money before I came to China, which hasn’t caused me much trouble. I’ve survived off the RMB I got off my dad’s debit card at the Beijing airport. More often than not, my host family pays for my meals when we go out and other expenses. I always bring my money, but they usually don’t let me pay.

With my debit card all filled up, 吴璨 and I headed to the subway. The subway in China is actually really nice. It’s pretty clean, very efficient, and very fast. There are so many transportation options in Chengdu. Considering over fourteen million people live here, having many effective public transportation options available is essential. We took the subway all the way to the center of Chengdu and walked to the Museum of Chengdu where we met up with some of her school friends and Chandler. The Museum of Chengdu was pretty interesting. There were artifacts from different dynasties, exhibits about education and run-ins with the Japanese, and an amazing exhibit with Chinese shadow puppets. I must say the Chinese shadow puppets exhibit was my favorite. My only two wishes is that I could see the shadow puppets in action and have a greater understanding of Chinese history. My knowledge of Chinese history is mostly from AP World History my freshman year, so I’m a bit rusty on what little I knew to begin with. Chinese history is so vast and intimidating. After a few hours, we headed to a location near the subway station to eat lunch. This place was like a food court, but it only served Chinese food. Imagine that. Looking around, I found one of my new absolute favorite dishes: the orange, possibly pumpkin or maybe butternut, squash in a light broth with mung beans. When possible, in order to avoid Chinese dishes with lots of oil, I generally opt for dishes with fish, chicken, or vegetable broth with little or no oil. Vegetable dishes, and some meat dishes, can be found prepared in this way, and flavor by no means is sacrificed. The flavor from the broth elevates the natural earthy flavors of the vegetables. If you haven't noticed, I'm a bit of a vegetable snob. Some squash and mung beans later, we headed to Jinli Street by bus. Jinli Street is an ancient street located in Chengdu with traditional-looking architecture and over-priced touristy souvenirs and snacks. The street wasn't very wide, so it was easily congested by the hoards of tourists. In addition, it was really hot. This was probably the first time I've seen lots of other foreigners in a long time. I saw lots of younger kids and many adults who were all obviously not Chinese. Jinli Street was definitely not my favorite location because it was very crowded, very hot, and very loud. The architecture was pretty, but the ancient aspect of it was watered down by all the consumerism and tourism. To finish the day, we headed to Chandler's host mom's restaurant again for quite an extravagant meal of rice, spicy vegetables and meat, a potato pancake, tofu and cabbage, and eggs cooked with tomatoes. I must say, I prefer my host mom's egg and tomato dish because the way she cooks the tomatoes makes the tomatoes softer and creamier. The tomatoes at the time were not as flavorful and a little harder. Afterwards, we played cards for a little while, and then 吴璨 and I took the subway home.