Markets

Saturday I woke up, went for run, and then went to the market near our house to pick up some fruits and vegetables. There are markets like this set up all over the city. There is even one in the bottom floor of Matt's apartment building which will be the lobby but is not finished yet. The wonderful thing about the markets here is that everything is really fresh and tastes delicious, noticeably better than stuff in the States. Perishables in the States are made to travel long distances and as a result the taste suffers. Things in China go bad more quickly, but the flavor is so much stronger and more wonderful. Also, it's just fun to go walk around the market and watch everything that is going on; homemade noodle making, people bartering over prices, people smashing spices or cutting meat. This other picture is of the fruit stand that we always stop at. They know us now and they are really nice. Fruit stands, like this one are alot more common than full-blown markets in China. There are four in a 2 block radius of each other right near this one. Everything is also very seasonal, which makes it more exciting when it comes in. Apples, oranges, pomelos, dates, and bananas are always in season. But just recently we had strawberries for a few days and now pineapples are starting to show up.

Today was Sunday and I went on another field trip with my swimming team. This time we met at 8am again and rode bikes to this swimming complex in the Northeast of Chengdu. They had 3 outdoor swimming pools (2 of which were drained for the winter), a diving well (also drained), and an indoor pool. We didn't have to pay for some reason and we all got to get in and swam at 9am. The pool was bigger, nicer, and cleaner than ours at SU. It was also 1 degree warmer, not like you can tell. After that we somehow acquired two giant bags of sweet buns and some milk juice boxes and rode home. On the way home my bike broke again and my swimming grandpa helped me get someone to fix it. He even paid for it, which one of my friends explained to me is the custom because he is the teacher and I am the student or something. I understand the treating at a restaurant idea, but this was weird because it was my bike. But anyways, we got it fixed and then rode back to school. Then my swimming grandpa gave me 3 buns and a milk box and I rode home. It was a shorter excursion and I was happy about that.
Once I got home I did some homework, but by 4pm I needed a break. I rode my bike to the Bookworm where they were supposed to be having Scrabble Club, but no one was playing so I just read my book for awhile. I'm reading "The Shaman's Apprentice" and I really like it. Then I went swimming again at our pool again and went home.