Today was a make-up class day =(
OK, so it wasn’t that bad. I only had Chinese. The next make-up day will be the worst, since I’ll have three classes. And this was one Chinese class we needed because we have another test on Monday. Things are starting to get more difficult. We learned a bunch of new characters and the pinyin and tones are still killing me.
After class, I went straight back to Jinduyuan to relax and prepare for my interview with Ekohe, one of the companies that were at last week’s internship fair last week. Ekohe’s office is in a convenient location, only two Metro stops from Zhongshan Park. The first thing I noticed when I walked into Ekohe’s office was that I looked way out of place because I was in a suit. Ekohe’s work environment looks much more relaxed, something I’m not used to.
The best part had to be the ping pong table they had in the middle of the office. How awesome is that?
I think I would really enjoy working at Ekohe. It would be a great experience working in China and working in such a different environment. The only work environment I know is the office cubicle environment. Ekohe also has a lot of interesting projects and I could really learn a lot more about web design here.
After the interview, I headed back to the Metro to go back home, but I got caught up walking around the Jing’An Temple area. There are a lot of places to shop and the mall above the station had a huge food area in the lower levels. I walked around this store called Fresh Mart and it felt like Whole Foods. Maybe it was the decor. It had a lot of imported foods (I’d say maybe 60% of it was foreign). I even saw Snapple! I was tempted to buy it since I haven’t had it for weeks, but I resisted when I saw the 12 RMB price tag. I ended up buying some Bacon Vegetable Pretz and some of those noodle things we usually eat at hotpot.
But the most exciting part about the food area was right outside Fresh Mart: a takoyaki stand! I’ve been craving takoyaki for weeks, but I could never find good ones. Some stands near Zhongshan Park sell them for 5 RMB, but they don’t look good and are the size of fish balls. These looked more like the delicious ones from Otafuku in the East Village.
Even though they were 18 RMB for six, I couldn’t resist. They were pretty good, but not the best. It could have used more sauce and there wasn’t any of that white sauce Otafuku usually puts on it, but it was good enough to satisfy my craving.
Today was certainly a good day for food. For dinner, I made dumplings, beef, and those noodle things, topped with soy sauce and oyster sauce. It almost felt like hotpot. Yum!