The light streaming through my window at 6am this morning was a great way to start the day. I was able to spend some quality time with God through prayer and his word, reading through Psalm 23: no matter the circumstance, God is with you.

At 8:30am, Neal, Chui chui (his wife), and I rolled out of the apartment to go to the local market in their specific part of Shenzhen—the OCT (Overseas Chinese Town). We walked through a few parks on our way and saw a high school’s field day where students were split up into different groups by colors in which they had to do work as a team to complete tasks: it was pretty cool.

On the way we saw a lot of older ladies dancing and doing yoga with eachother; there would be groups of 2-10 women either dancing or singing—just to start off the day. We walked by a man who was writing Chinese calligraphy on the ground with a specially made brush, and I felt very relaxed and at ease just watching him write Chinese characters.

When we arrived at the market, Neal showed me around all of the different kinds of vendors…we saw live chickens (their decapitation and plucking of feathers), cooked geese, and a fish that jumped out of a water tank and was flopping on the floor. 

After walking through the market, we stopped by a chain restaurant where we had breakfast—Bao Zi (the white flour ball filled with meat), some sort of sweet fried dough, and soymilk. Yum.

Next stop…

Starbucks!

After getting some work done in Starbucks (Xing Ba Ka), we took the Shenzhen metro to the heart of downtown where we walked through a mall and went to a restaurant with more delicious foods.

We then further explored downtown and went into a different mall in which we stopped by a very sketchy movie vendor…I bought 9 DVDs, including The Incredibles, The Dark Knight, and Inception, for a total of 81 Yuan, about 12.5USD.

After returning home for a nap, it was time—already—to go to dinner, where we met up with Jamon and 5 other guys and went out for dinner at a local restaurant. On the way, walking to the restaurant, Neal and Jamon recognized a two other people (randos) that they knew and told them to join our group for dinner, so they did. We sat around for about 2.5-3hrs eating and just talking, a typical Friday night hangout.

Lesson Learned for Today:

In China, meals are to be eaten where…

1. At breakfast you have a good amount of food: chi le hao (you eat good)
2. At lunch you eat enough food to where you feel full: chi le bao (you eat full)
3. At dinner you eat small portions of food: chi le xiao (you eat a little)

HaoàBaoàXiao

Tomorrow I will be traveling with Neal and Chui chui to Gongzhou, her hometown. I may or may not have internet while in Gongzhou, and I am planning on being there until either Sunday night or Monday morning, so if I don't put up any posts you'll know why...and I’ll let you all know how the traditional Cantonese food tastes ;)

Happy Friday!

-Alex