Julia's Request

Julia (Tanner's big sister) requested I update more often, even if they are short posts. I can do that.

Tanner arrived here with no problems, he did not get lost in the airport by himself. We stayed at a hotel on campus the first night he was here. Now we have moved into my friend Katie's apartment. She is meeting her boyfriend in Hong Kong for five days. It's nice to be in an apartment again. I don't have to share a bathroom with ten other girls. We have a nice kitchen too. We had dinner with Brandi and Dowdy yesterday. Tanner has also met Huy who lives here.

As I write this I'm eating American junk food that Tanner has left over from his plane ride. We are listening to Weezer. I feel very at home.

All day today we walked around Chengdu. We went down the major downtown shopping district, it has a bunch of pedestrian only streets. We also went to a western coffee shop that I wanted to visit. They serve "frosty's," they are just like Wendy's, but they have a lot of flavors. We walked through the huge Japanese run shopping mall, Ito Yakado. We are both really tired now.

Yesterday Tanner has Sichuanese food for the first time. He liked it! Even the Sichuan pepper that makes your mouth go numb and taste salty. I'm really glad he likes it, I really like it. And it makes our visit so much easier. He wants to add that real Mapodofu doesn't taste like what they make at his house.

We did get stared at a lot today, I think people stared at me more then Tanner.

My mom sent a ton of presents over the ocean in Tanner's bags, I'm really excited for Christmas.

Tanner's mom bought him some nice Dockers, sweet! We are totally going clubbing, often!

We've been taking lots of photos, maybe when Tanner has some time to kill while I'm in class he will post some.

Chengdu has gotten colder and I have been complaining, but Tanner says it is still warmer than Seattle, so that makes me feel better.

It's odd to be online and not looking for Tanner on MSN chat, because he is here!!!

I want to give a shout out to my friend SOPHIA! I miss you, and want to play in Canada again too.

I'm bugging Tanner to think of the most interesting things he has seen so far.

He's not sure...

Tanner thought the grocery store was awesome. There are just huge bins of cooked whole chickens, face and feet included. There was also a bin of tentacles. Oh, one Sichuan favorite is rabbit head stew, so there were two kinds of rabbit head stew, spicy looking and not spicy looking.

He is also impressed by the large, and completely unregulated intersections all over the city. Everyone just slows down and turns around everyone else, not in any order really.

We got McDonald's, my doing, not his. I wanted some cheese. Tanner thought it wouldn't be too bad to see a Chinese McDonald's. He got a burger, that was a terriyaki chicken sandwich, with a spicy sauce and had a salad coming out of it. Really, it has lettuce, carrots and purple cabbage.

He also likes me speaking Chinese to everyone, and translating various things around the city that I can read or understand when spoken.

I was annoyed by the girls at the mall who have learned to yell "Merry Christmas" at me. It is not going to make me come into your shop.

Tanner also mentioned often the differences in the city that occur in such short distances. One block will be crumbling apartment complexes and obviously suffering store fronts. The next block will be flurishing, clean and mostly new. I've seen this a little in American cities. It is very dramatic here.

Hum. Merry Christmas. I will update all week. Saturday through Monday we are going on a retreat with all the other UW people.

Happy Holidays.
LOVE love love Callista and Tanner