Viktoria Goes Abroad: Maybe I will not stay hungry after all

Today, I finally managed to call the waitress in Chinese at the restaurant. I think it is a really great achievement, so I decided to celebrate it by writing something new on this little blog of mine.

It is really hard for me to get the attention of waitress here, because most of Chinese seem to me quite noisy. They are constantly shouting while talking, although they might sit right next to each other. In the streets - well, “everywhere” is more precise location, there is incredible noise. And to make it even harder, it takes a lot of time and patience for me to pronounce any Chinese word correctly. Usually I end up being laughed at by the bunch of my Chinese friends. Well, Chinese is undoubtedly difficult language. (That is the reason, why I feel superhero-like after getting attention of Chinese waitress.)

Concerning eating out in China I have another success to share with you – I finally managed to eat like a horse. Maybe it happened because I am getting better in eating with chopsticks. And I asked them to make the food in the non-spiciest way they are able to, maybe that helped, too. Anyway, it was fantastic feeling.

But when it comes to accommodation - bad news, everyone! If you can think of squat toilette and above it the shower, both behind the iron door on the staircase outside, you have the precise idea of our bathroom. I said to myself, though, that I am not going to complain all the time like a spoilt little girl. This is not supposed to be a wellness holiday anyway. So I activated the brave part of me and tried to enjoy my unusual living conditions and coped with the giant beetle I had to throw out of our room, because none of my roomies seemed to be planning to do so, as they were too busy with screaming.

But you know, outside, in the streets, one quickly forgets about all beetles and disgusting toilette. Chinese people seem very open to me and they treat each other with unusual joviality. At least the Chinese kids that are accompanying me behave that way all the time. And as we are foreigners, everyone here stares at us as though we had the horns on our heads. Sometimes they look at us with horror in the eyes, sometimes they smile. Our guides said it is because we are in a small city (I am trying to understand, but honestly, in what sense can be the city with two and half million inhabitants small?) and foreigners here are quite rare.

I think I should like another thing about my accommodation, but somehow, I do not feel excited about it at all. Above my bed, there is a mosquito net, an item, which I found extremely romantic during my whole teenage life. But here, it seems to me just like the ordinary thing. Another life-saving necessity. At least those stupid mosquitos don’t eat me alive.

I uploaded some pictures this time. Enjoy.