Tex-Mex in China

This past Wednesday was an eventful day!  Not only was it Linh's birthday, but Brian's was the next day as well!!!  Deciding to celebrate both at once on Thursday night, we all woke up early on Wednesday to visit the Dazu Rock Carvings.  Especially considering I had just finished a class that focused a lot around Buddhism in China and Japan, it was really neat to see the Wheel of Life and various other Buddhist influences carved into the large stone structures that towered well above your head.  They were everywhere!  On the side of buildings, standing alone in a garden, carved into the walls of caves... you name it!  And they were incredibly detailed.  Some not in so pleasant of a way.  When we got to the portion that depicted Hell in Buddhist form, well, let's just say I'd rather not go to hell... ever.  The content was so graphic, I didn't know whether to be impressed or scared...
Afterwards, however, we went to Old Town and got some custard from a local stand and wandered up and down the antique streets.  I got my fortune told by rattling around sticks in a bucket and waited for one to fall out.  My number: 66.  I opened up the box and read my fortune.  It said if I lost something, don't bother trying to find it and if I'm looking for a boyfriend or marriage, wait for a better time.  The Chongqing professor who read it said it wasn't so good, but actually it really wasn't all that bad.  I've had worse.  ...I think.

We found a random stray kitten, a happy drummer statue, a small little girl afraid of an even smaller dog, lots of local foods (and smells), a puppy!  There were men playing some sort of dice game on top of a barrel like you'd see in older movies, too.  They were laughing and pointing at one another as each took his turn.  They made me smile.  I tried fried dough, too - a local favorite.  Tasted kind of like funnel cakes without the powdered sugar.  Pretty tasty.
On Thursday, after class, we found a Tex-Mex restaurant to eat for dinner.  That's right - an American style Mexican restaurant in China.  Go figure... But it was actually really good!  Linh and I split some chicken fajitas with chips and salsa and refried beans - all of which were new to her!  Our Chinese buddies surprised us and joined us for dinner, arriving last minute, putting our group of 16 up to well over 20 in a restaurant that seated 16 comfortably.  It was so loud and so much fun!  Most of the Chinese students ate tacos since it was their first time with Mexican food and some were adventurous enough to try enchiladas (which were a huge hit!).  We tried explaining it's spicy, but not Chongqing spicy - like the "hot pot."  It's a different kind of spicy. They understood immediately what we meant as soon as they bit into their first bite of salsa!  Salsa wasn't as big of a hit, though....  Refried beans were, though!
We all had a grand ol' time before heading back to the dorms to celebrate Linh and Brian's birthday with cake!!!  I bought Brian a small and green white cake with fruit on top and Linh a small pink white cake with a very big, smiling face that reminded me of my roommate!  She's always smiling.  It also had marshmallow creme on top in the shape of curls with two little pink bows and was super cute, just like Linh!  Her buddy, Huang, brought over a huge chocolate and white cake with fruit on top and a little stick that says "happy birthday" in Mandarin.  They then proceeded to sing "Happy Birthday" before totally ripping the cake apart.  They stuck their fingers inside and smeared icing all over everyone's faces!  And the more smears, the better.  It seemed as if their goal was to ice your entire face!  And everyone got to put some on Linh.  It was quite a good time.  I got it on video. :)
Following the cake cleaning fiasco, all the American students went out for their last night in Chongqing!  We found a strip of nightclubs, tested out which one was the best for dancing, and spent the entire night singing to American songs and boogying our hearts out.  It was the perfect ending to our time in Chongqing.  Unfortunately, towards the end of the night, when I was about to leave, someone shoved past me as I was talking to Rachel (one of the student managers) and stepped on my foot.  However, he did not just step on it, but ended up grinding the bottom of his shoe against my toes and ripped my nail halfway off... It hurt.  A lot.  And that's a huge understatement.  Blood was starting to pool under my foot as I waddled to the bathroom, trying to clean it up, but to no avail.  I managed to stop the bleeding and go home, but the next day when I woke up, I found my toe (the big one on the right foot) swollen and purple.  So I went to the doctor for the third time since we first got to Chongqing!  (The first time was for E. Coli food poisoning...)  The doc did a small operation that involved numbing the toe and ripping off what was left of the nail.  Now my toe is a giant white cotton ball!  But at least I can wear flip flops.

The next night was our farewell dinner with all the Chongqing students, the professors, and even a representative from one of our company visits.  We ate shrimp, pork, mushrooms, potatoes, crab, soup, tofu, and some very lovely little egg tarts that were to die for! We ate 'til we were full with "food babies!"  It was so delicious.  But incredibly sad because that meant our time in Chongqing has come to an end.  At the airport, they accompanied us to the drop-off/security point and cried.  There was lots of reminiscing, laughing, and hugging.  But we knew we had to go.  I wish I could smuggle them in my luggage.  They're small enough, right?
Next up: Hong Kong!