Endless Possibilities

Insane driving, breathtaking landscape, over crowding, smog, and constant honking are just a few things that come to mind when I think about the city of Chongqing. The city is massive. I knew Shanghai was big but since I get to explore Chongqing more I get to see all of the different areas and just how big it really is. During a 45 minute taxi ride I saw nothing but city. It just seems to never end. I used to think New York City was big but compared to Shanghai or Chongqing I would gladly navigate in NYC over navigating here. But it's a new place that I can't wait to explore more and more hopefully everyday.
Last night our group was taken out to eat to a very nice hotel by the vise president of the department we are studying in. It was a buffet style setup which is the first that I've seen since being in China. I feel like I've been pretty good at trying foods that I typically would never consider in America. One example being last night when my classmate offered me part of his pig ear. It was spicy, like everything in the Sichuan province, and very chewy. I can't say that I liked it but I'm proud of myself for trying it still.
Friday was our first day of classes. We had our speaking and listening class. They are all going to be difficult but in their own unique ways. Learning how to pronounce the different sounds and getting used to the different tones is proving to be very challenging. In listening class our teacher hardly spoke any English from the very start which as I expected it to be but the language is just so much different than anything I've ever heard. One word can have so many different meanings depending on the tone used with it. For example, the word Shi (pronounced Shur) can either mean "ten" or "is". I'm excited for class again on Friday though because I'm already learning so much since everything we use can be used in daily life here. I can say all of my numbers already and am starting to get a few phrases down.
The teacher who brought us here isn't actually teaching any of my classes. I thought she would be teaching all of our classes because that's what she did for the students on the last trip. I like this setup better though because we are being taught by graduate students studying English. So we are all continually teaching and learning from each other.
Saturday a few of us decided to go to the Zoo here in Chongqing to see the Pandas. It was about a 30 minute taxi ride from SISU to the zoo which ended up being about 30 yuan. I keep forgetting that things aren't really that expensive here. 30 yuan is only about four dollars. And then that was split between the four of us so we each only paid 1 dollar for a 30 minute taxi ride which is crazy compared to American taxi prices. The Pandas were so cute! We were watching one Panda that had eating the bamboo leafs down to a system. He was just propped up with his back against a tree and his stomach was just sticking out. It reminded me a lot of the movie Kung Fu Panda. He would rip the leafs off with his teeth and then hold them in the side of his mouth while he ripped more off of the branch. Once he had enough he would use his hand and twist all of the leafs in the side of his mouth together. We called it a bamboo burrito. He just kept repeating the process until he was done with one branch then he would move on to the next branch. I could see why they are endangered, they didn't seem to care about any survival skills other than eating.
After leaving the zoo we went exploring and found a huge shopping center that had a Wal-Mart in it. It was weird to see a Chinese market because everything was so different than what we have in our Wal-Marts. We were all really tired by this point and decided to catch a taxi ride home. When I told the taxi driver where to go and showed him my card with our school's name on it he said he knew where it was. Well after a 50 yuan ride we were even farther from school. He stopped and told us we were there and none of us had any clue where we were so we decided to get out and try to find a different taxi that hopefully knew where the school is at. So then 40 yuan later we finally arrived back at the school. And thus ended our adventure for Saturday.