first impressions

this is our second full day in wuxi. we've done a lot of shopping for things that we need, which has been a little overwhelming. one thing that surprised me is the giant department stores they have here. today i wanted to buy hangers and was standing in front of at least 20 different kinds of hangers--different styles, colors, and prices. maybe this will help my decision making skills. other things were not hard to decide, such as seeing familiar foods that i used to eat in japan, like koalas, pokky, and pretz, and they are all sold for under $1.00! lovely compared to the $3-4 you could get them for in sb. anyway, it's hard to know what to buy in a new place, but we got some things like basic kitchen stuff, bath mat, slippers, etc. plus it's hard to make decisions when you're trying to stay awake. today was much better than the day before.

the first night when we all arrived and were all on the bus, it took three hours to get to wuxi from the airport and we all fell asleep even though we weren't supposed to, even though i tried not to! then by the time we took everyone's luggage to their apartments (which are near each other, depending on what you mean by "near"--i now know how to get from my apartment to the gate of the apartment complex, but not much else--see the picture below to see why this could be difficult! the picture is only *some* of the buildings in my section of the complex, and there are 3 sections),
it was 9 PM, but we were all *very* hungry so we went to eat dinner anyway. i enjoyed that we could buy drinks in a store, and then take them into the restaurant with us and that was ok. they serve what would be mugicha in japan (barley tea) with the meal, but not really other drinks i guess. the dishes are put on a "lazy susan" in the middle of the table, which is always being turned around as everyone takes what they want. the food here is very good so far! today we went to a place where they cooked the food right in front us--definitely my favorite so far. the prices are awesome as well. the drinks i mentioned cost about 50 cents, and the meal cooked in front of us about $2.50. the first night, 10 people ate for about $30.

in the stores, i love that all 4 wheels on the shopping carts can turn! this means you can actually move your cart directly sideways, which is amazing. i've always wished that carts could do that, and now they can. =)

walking through the streets of wuxi the first night, a few things struck me. one was that things smell different here. most of these smells are not bad, just different. i must be getting a little more used to it already because i didn't notice it as much today. it makes me wonder what california actually smells like, because i haven't really noticed it before! (except obvious things, like the ocean of course). another thing i noticed was how many people were just hanging out on the streets at 9 PM. and that it felt safe to be there (and it is) even though it was at night in this huge city--wuxi is over 4 million people.

well, i could go on, but it would be pretty random. i think it would be fun to post later on more specific topics. one of the first will probably be about trash cans, and then maybe kitchen appliances, food, scooters, places around wuxi, and my apartment complex.