鼓浪屿, the Piano Island.

23/03/2014 - Today I decided to leave with the first shuttle bus (yes, there's a shuttle bus during the weekend, leaving at 8.00 and at 9.00) and I went to Gulangyu, a small island near 岛内, the main island. First, I went to the main campus trying to understend if now I can borrow books (obviously, I can't), then I took the 29 (or 2) and got off at 伦敦邮局, the ferry ticket office. 

Passion fruits to drink

I would like to buy a combined ticket, it's 100 RMB and you can see 日光岩 (the Sunlight Rock), 菽庄花园 (Shuzhuang Garden & the Piano Museum), 皓月园 (Haoyue Park), 风琴博物馆 (the Organ Museum), 刻字馆 (International Calligraphic Carving Art Gallery) and 百鸟园(the Aviary). I asked the girl for a student discount, even if it wasn't written, and she told me to go on the island, and buy the ticket there. So, I queued for the ferry ticket (8 RMB) and I took the ferry, with a lot of chinese (it's sunday, it's normal). The ferry takes 5 minutes to reach the island. I managed to buy the discount ticket (yes, 50 RMB!) and I went around the island. The island was full of brides, taking photos before the wedding, as they normally do in China. They wore red or white dresses, but most of them, under the skirt, wore trainers. 

Trying to open the coconut

As I paid for 6 scenic spots, I wanted to see them all. First, I went to the organ musem. Nothing exceptional for an European, but I can understand how strange these instruments can be to a chinese. Then, I went to the Calligraphy Museum, and it was really interesting because (I didn't read well) it's modern art! Very nice. Then, I went to the Piano Museum, but before going there I bought an ice-cream (this was my lunch, 10 RMB, everything on the island is expensive, and not so appetizing). The piano museum is very similar to the Organ one, and as I do not know anything about music...I stayed there just two minutes. I was thinking about going up to the Sunlight Rock or not, but (as the single ticket to go there is 60 RMB), I decided to use my ticket. It was not so high as it seemed. The view from the top is amazing, especially because today was a sunny day. 

Then I went straight to the aviary and I spent not so much time (I hate birds) inside. Last stop: Haoyue Park, but first I need some green tea to use my Tupperware "Tup" Cup. It was the purchase of the year: 105 RMB, so expensive for a cup (it's not a real cup, it's a kind of water bottle very common in China), but it worth it, I love it. 

Tup & Tea

I stopped at Chen's tea shop (if I'm not wrong there should be another one in Zengcuoan) and I bought a Fujian Oolong Tea, in a nice metallic box. It wasn't cheap, 25 RMB for 46gr, but I thing that if you buy the tea in the bag it's cheaper. Now, while I'm writing, I'm trying it. So, I decided to take the ferry back at four o' clock, in order to take the shuttle bus (there is one at 17.00 and on at 19.00). It was such a nice day! But also very tiring, I fall asleep on the bus. Update: the tea seems to be good.

Pizza, pizza, pizza.

22/03/2014 - Today we decided to go out with the classmates to eat a pizza, but at the end we were six (five of our class). We went to this place called "Paradiso Pizza", near the main campus. Once there, it was full. Shit. So, we walked around for a little, waiting for the owner to call us as soon as they had a free table. While waiting we ate a twist potato, a fried potato on a stick. When the owner called us, we (really, I'm not jocking) run there. I ate a Salami pizza, it was ok but there were onions inside (I hate onions). The water with lemon was free, and you could choose the small pizza or the large one. I chose the large one, and it was 56 RMB (not that much). It was a nice evening, but the problem always is coming back to the campus. The taxi is so expensive.

St. Patrick's Day

17/03/2014 - Happy St. Patrick's Day! Here no one cares about it, as in Italy, so I decided to spread the knowledge around the campus! This is my bike today...

Graffiti.

16/03/2014 - Today I woke up at 10.00 (why?? I set up my alarm clock at 8.00!) and I went to the bathroom for a shower. Another surprise! No hot water. I waited till eleven o' clock, but the water was not really hot. 

bar/shop in the tunnel

This afternoon we went to the main campus to see a botanical garden, but once there we met a man that told us that it was really far. So we decided to go to a Graffiti tunnel (in the main campus) and to a Valentine's lake, in the main campus too. The Tunnel is quite nice, with all this graffiti on the wall (it reminds me of Berlin!), and the lake is really peaceful. A man swam in the lake (even if it was forbidden), so brave! An old man there tried to explain us something about the campus and the 风水FengShui, something that had to do with the number five...we didn't really understand, but there were dragons and phoenix in his speech. So probably he told us that the campus was built following the rules of FengShui. 

Sichuan Restaurant

At this point we were very hungry, so we crossed the street opposite to the main gate of the campus and went to a 四川 Sichuan Restaurant (can't remember the name), where everything was hot and spicy, but the taste was good. We ate four dishes: eggplants, chicken, potatoes and tofu. Not so expensive, 38 RMB per person, and it was a B restaurant! 

My shopping!

In the same street of the restaurant there is a supermarket that sells a lot of foreign food, and I was able to find some tins of beans and lentils and some cous cous! (they were actually expensive, 15 RMB for a tin and 25 RMB for the cous cous, but I eat two meals with a tin and six with the cous cous, so it's ok).

Lee's Cupcake

Tomorrow Alessio and I celebrate our third anniversry together, so I've been to this bakery called Lee Boulanger Seoul to buy a piece of cake, but I didn't like them, so I choose a chocolate cupcake (10 RMB, realy good), and I ate it. Ops.

So, I went in a kind of small shopping mall and the was an Andy's, another bakery shop. 

The cake. I love the box!

I bought a Black Forest Cake (just a slice, 15 RMB) and now it's on my desk, waiting for tomorrow. We decided to take a taxi back, because we were tired and an hour and a half of bus was not our dream. We spent just 26 RMB per person, not such a big problem.

Alternative Saturday Night.

15/03/2014 - Today I woke up and...surprise! No electricity in the room. I thoght I need to pay the fee, but there was no light even in the livingroom...should I pay for everyone?? Nope, I didn't have to pay just because the whole campus was without electricity. Pretty nice, so let's have a salad for lunch! Nope, just because I can't wash my vegetables. Why? No water supply. Ok, so I can't have a shower. Wtf. I have to meet my friend Alexandra, form Paris, which lives in the city centre. At one o' clock I tried to get the bus, but the first one was too full, let's wait (20 minutes) for the second. I met Jessica, one of the girl I went to the Greek restaurant with, and I talked with her during the trip. 

My present for the new house

My friend in the city showed my her apartment, really nice and big for just one person! It's 47 sqm, and it's 2000 RMB per month. The building it's just opposite to the main gate of the main Campus, and I think that for two persons it's really perfect. It's quite old actually, especially kitchen and bathroom, but the livingroom/bedroom it's comfortable. We went to the main library in the campus, trying to borrow some books (I will write a post about borrowing books at XiaDa) and it seems that we managed to. Then she showed me the area around her flat: it's full of bakery and Cafés, small shops and small restaurants. So nice! Then we went to a stationery store to buy some stuff for calligraphy, the shop it's in the same building of the flat. I bought a brush, some paper, some ink... I tried to take the bus for the campus, but it was to full. So I decided to walk back till the first stop, next to Nanputuo Temple, and to wait there. Getting on the bus was more difficult and complicated than an American Football Match. But finally, I made it: I got my seat. Problem: now my phone is dying. 

We now have water, but still no electricity in the dorms. Happiness. When I got off the bus, everything around me was dark. I mean, in the Overseas dorms, chinese people now have electricity. Fabiola, Erica and I decided to go to the 咖啡厅 (Café) near the main canteen to recharge our phones. It was full of people recharging their phone. We stayed there and played Pictionary with some Indonesian guys, then we came back...and the light was there, waiting for us! I'm like a child, I have to try my new games as soon as possible, so I took my calligraphy stuff out of my bag and started writing. Alternative Saturday Night.

Gardening, aka Spring is coming!

14/03/2014 - Chinese people love gardening. They are planting trees everywhere. It seems normal, you would say. No, it's not. They plant trees and then they remove them to plant other trees. Anyway, today I saw a lot of gardeners planting Bouganville, the city tree. They are amazing: these are red, so singular. Spring is coming!

The Golden Olive. I've never seen so many foreigners in the same restaurant.

07/03/2014 - Today Magdalena and I, like every friday, went to Wal-Mart. We spent a lot of time there, looking for some NORMAL food. We had to take a taxi to come back, because we had like three bags each. If you live in 翔安 campus, make sure you know the way back. A lot of taxi drivers don't know this campus, as it is new, so be ready to tell them where to go. In the evening Magdalena asked me if I wanted to come with her to this Greek Restaurant, called The Golden Olive. My answer, of course, has been YES. It's very near to Wanda Plaza, where Wal-Mart is. The place is really nice, and the owners seem to be greek! So, we were 9 people, and we had to wait a bit to eat inside (outside it's still too cold). Chris, a polish guy, and I shared a dish (as they are usually HUGE): I can't remember the name actually, but there were pork, french fries, two sauces (mustard and something else) and a cabbage salad with tomatoes and onions. Ah, and of course some pita bread, the first real bred that I ate since I'm in China (they only have sweet bread, perfect for breakfast, but for lunch...). The the guys would like to go clubbing, but I was very tired, so I take a taxi back home before the night fee. As this morning, the taxi driver didn't know the way: 没关系， 我知道啊。

中山路， 泰国饭馆

01/03/2014 - Today is Saturday, and we decided to go to the city centre for some shopping in 中山路 Zhongshan road, a famous shopping street. Reaching the city centre is always quite tiring, but at two o’ clock we took our bikes, biked till the bus stop, took the 751 and after an hour and a half we reached the main campus of 厦大, the campus on the island. We went in a small shop near the north gate and we bought the university sweater. Love mine. Then we took the bus to 中山路, but at the end we went in another road. We just walked around for a while, but soon we realize that we were starving.

The Thai Restaurant

We would like to try something different, and we looked for a Thai restaurant on Google. We found one called Golden Elephant Bay and it was just 500 meters from where we were. Once there, it looked really expensive, but we were hungry, so it didn’t matter. We were six people, and we ordered six dishes (three were just vegetables because there were two vegetarians with us). We ate a coconut rice (rice with shrimps, peas, corn and other things served in a coconut), pineapple chicken (chicken with curry served in a pineapple, the sauce was great with some rice), some fried squid (I didn’t like them, they were too spicy), some vegetables with a coconut sauce (they were amazing, and I don’t like vegetables, especially cabbage), a vegetable soup and some other vegetables. We just drank the hot tea that they give you for free and we also ordered some white rice, and we paid 56 RMB per person. Wow. We will come back here again. Then Magdalena, my roommate, wanted to meet some friends at a beach party, but Alessandro, Erica and I were too tired, so we got a taxi and came back to the campus. it was 88.5 RMB, but the taxi driver wanted us to pay 102 RMB. We argued with him for a while, but then we were so tired that we gave him the money and went to bed. I hate taxi drivers, they always eat a lot of garlic. Bleah.

Typical Chinese traffic jam

Doing the Laundry. Easy as a pie, they told me.

26/02/2014 - No important news. I’m going to the lessons every day and I like it. Today it’s raining, but I had to wash my clothes anyway. Yes, because yesterday I tried to use the washing machine, but they are all broken. I went downstairs with all my clothes (there are 4 washing machines every two buildings) and when I reached the laundry room I realized that I forgot my card. So, I went back to my room (fourth floor) and then run back, hoping no one has stole my softener (I brought it from Italy!!). I put my stuff in a machine, put the red light in the fourth space (as a friend of mine was told to do it, I don’t actually know what this means) and then I waited for 45 minutes. When I came back the washing machine was full of water, and I had to STRIZZARE my clothes by hand. So, I decided not to use the machines anymore, as they often do like this. The problem now is: buying a soap to wash my clothes by hand. I went to the supermarket, and even if I looked up the translation on Pleco (that usually save my life in situations like this), I can’t find a soap except for this one, with the Smurfs on. Looks promising. Hope my clothes won’t become blue. Ah-ah.

My strategy to hang clothes

What you need for doing the laundry.

The Smurfs' soap

Sm Shopping Mall. Where a western feels at home.

23/02/2014 - Today I went to SM shopping mall, the biggest mall in town. It’s not so far from the university, if you are lucky. You have to take bus 751, get off at 后方站 (you have to tell the bus driver that you don’t go in the city centre, because if you go through the tunnel it’s 2 RMB, if you stay in Xiang’an it’s just 1 RMB). From this stop you can take the bus 780, go through the tunnel (so this time is 2 RMB) and get off at 白果站 (something like this). I went around looking for some clothes to buy, but I didn’t want to waste money on clothes now, maybe later on. Then I went to Walmart, and I bought some things for the room. I needed some pens, a mouse, food, something to clean the apartment and so on. I found a bottle of sparkling water, directly from Italy: San Benedetto. It was quite expensive, 6.8 RMB (usually here a small bottle of water is 1 RMB at the supermarket), but I preserve for a special event (like a bottle of Champagne, ah-ah). I also bought Pan di Stelle biscuits, and they were not so expensive actually, just like Oreo, or maybe something less. I put all my shopping in my backpack and I came back, this time with bus 758. Remember, when you come back get off at 林前站, because sometimes bus drivers change route and don’t stop at 后方站.  Going shopping is so tiring!