Monday 5 May, 2014
¥8.00 Lunch¥2.50 Banana
¥1087.00 Return Tickets to Beijing
¥25.00 Dinner
¥25.00 Honey Lemon Tea
(¥1147.50)
Tuesday 6 May, 2014
¥19.90 Printing (199 pages)¥1.50 Banana
¥2.00 Drink (Peet's)
¥200.00 Tutor
¥25.00 Dinner (Korean)
¥5.00 Taxi
¥10.00 Groceries
(¥263.40)
Wednesday 7 May, 2014
¥12.50 Coffee (Peet's)¥4.00 Highlighters
¥12.00 Lunch
¥8.00 Fruit
¥12.00 Dinner
¥12.50 Drink (Peet's)
¥4.50 Milk
(¥65.50)
Thursday 8 May, 2014
¥3.00 Eggs x2¥12.00 Lunch
¥100.00 Phone Recharge (Monthly fee is 20kuai!)
¥25.00 Phone Charger Cable
¥16.00 Tea (Peet's)
¥8.00 Fried Jiaozi (Fujian)
¥25.00 Dinner (Sandwich at Peet's)
¥3.00 Water and Ice Cream
(¥192.00)
Friday 9 May, 2014
¥4.00 Breakfast (Uni Restaurant)¥12.50 Coffee (Peet's)
¥4.00 Lunch (Fujian)
¥15.00 Banana Choc Milkshake (Peet's)
¥67.00 Celebratory Dinner (Vineyard) I Finished my lit review!!
¥10.90 KTV Snacks
¥68.00 KTV
¥20.00 Supper
(¥201.40)
Total: ¥1869.80 ($329.77)
Weekly Total: ¥1869.80 ($329.77)
Total Spend: ¥24822.45 ($4701.00 AUD)
- - - - -
My Literature Review was initially due on the Monday, but our professor is quite lenient and allowed us to have an extension of two weeks. I was leaving to Beijing on the Saturday though, so I set Friday as my due date.
Just a bit of background - so my lit. review is about the ageing population in China, and how contemporary family structures are affecting traditional patterns of filial piety here. It's quite generic too, mainly for me to get a bit of an understanding of what the situation is like now in China, also in relation to how the government is tackling the problem. Elderly care systems here are very underdeveloped - so I think it's a great window to research what would be some good care models in China (as Western models such as retirement homes completely go against cultural expectations of filial piety again).
Still, a lot of nursing homes are popping up. Community care services seem like a good option too, but since China is so vast and varied, a lot of this examples work in cities but rural areas are completely neglected.
Anyway it's pretty dire situation here at the moment.
Interesting things that have happened this week.. well on Tuesday I met up with my Huangshan crew of 6 again for dinner. We received a 100yuan deposit back from the hostel, and nobody remembered who paid it so we just decided to spend it on food. The Koreans took us to a famous Korean restaurant in Hangzhou, and we just had a good time catching up, laughing, etc.
I also found out the two other Korean girls would be in Beijing at the same time, so I felt a little bit better going solo since I'd at least know some people there. I found out we even booked train tickets at the same time to get to Beijing, and we were at the same hostel! (Okay maybe I found out about the hostel earlier and changed my plans to go to the same one.. I was questioning this when I booked but it ended up being a good move - it's the best hostel!)
I finished my lit. review on the Friday (YAY!) but it was pretty rough&rushed. I had been cooped up in Peet's Cafe, taking advantage of their "2nd cup half price" every day and cursing the diseased kitten living in the cafe for triggering my allergies. (Kitten belongs to the cafe owners, it's diseased so they gotta take care of it at the cafe.)
My other friends loved the kitten but I think being around it for a whole week, and being stressed out from the literature review, has somewhat confused my emotions and it has transformed me from a cat person to a dog person. I can now proudly state that I am a dog person. (I should've seen the signs.. I'm allergic to those fluffballs after all!)
On Friday I finally rejoined society and had a great dinner (no more rushing next door to the cafe to eat crappy Chinese food!), and then followed it up with a great karaoke session (KTV here if you're not in the loop yet). I was itching to sing and belt out ballads after such a stressful week!
<!> Do you know the song "Beijing Welcomes You"? It was made for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Since I was leaving on Saturday, my friends sang the song for me, and I would say at that point (it was probably around 1am) it finally hit me that I was going to be going to Beijing the next day! I was so busy with my lit.review that I had put it at the back of my mind, but I was finally feeling the first pang of excitement of going on my first solo trip in China.
Watch the video..it's so heartwarming and uplifting!
PHOTODUMP TIME
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| How not to photograph food/#platingup: This is what I ordered as a "healthy" option. It's full of salt. |
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| This was me these past 5 days: Think 4 person table taken over by one person and her stack of papers |
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| Cat, I don't like you even though everyone else seems to love you. I think you're dumb. You walk funny with your cone of shame. It's too heavy for your head so you get tired of walking. I know you're sick and I should have empathy but you are too small.. yes that's my reason. When people look at you and say 'aww' it repulses me. Maybe you are cute but that part that registers cute no longers exists in me. So I think I pity you. |
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| So to add to my stress (or maybe the cause of my stress?).. this was happening right outside the cafe. |
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| And I mean like, right outside. |
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