I think I spent most of my day doing laundry today because I did 3 loads of laundry, but the drying machine didn't work very well, so I dried each of my loads for 200 minutes (with this setting, my clothes dried really well!). However, compared to Shanghai, laundry was definitely more convenient here because only the LBAT students were allowed to use this laundry room (the new owner of the hotel actually had gotten rid of the machines but brought it back for us apparently), it was free, and we could technically do laundry at any time on any day. I also really liked the laundry room itself because although it was small, it had glass panes as the walls, so while doing laundry I could look outside.
For lunch, I headed to Subway, which I had for the first time in China. I got the usual (oven roasted chicken), and I guess I said something wrong because the man put all the vegetables into my sandwich. I didn't like some of the vegetables, but I was a good kid, and I ate all of the vegetables. I went alone, but it didn't feel awkward because there were a lot of people both ordering at Subway and eating at Subway, so I blended in successfully.
After eating and walking around the area near Subway, I headed back to the ocean front, where I looked through gift shops and actually tried something from an actual street vendor, a sausage and toast! I also stopped by to watch people fly kites near the May 4th Square, and the vendor thought I was actually interested in buying a kite, so he let me hold the kite once, which was exciting. While sitting around May 4th Square watching people, I saw this huge group of people exercising around the square marching with aerobic music on. Like we learned in class, Chinese people of all ages really seemed to worry about their health. My phone battery was nearly dead, so I was worried I couldn't film it, but I was successful! Make sure to take a look.
Day 51: Today I tried to walk to church. I'd looked online and found a church called the Qingdao International Christian Fellowship, which sounded very similar to the church I attended in Shanghai, so I had been planning to go. Because the church wasn't that big, they had one service at 10 AM, so I headed out at 9:20 AM (because Google Maps said that my hotel was only 20 minutes away from the church). While walking, I saw this coffee shop called Ctarbucks, which I found was hilarious; you know why, right? I also saw the Korean flag flying with different European flags, but I was surprised I didn't see the American flag.
I actually got lost, so instead of arriving early as I had planned, I arrived 15 minutes late. I think the address that they had on the website was wrong because it led me to this heavily guarded area, however, I remembered that the address was supposed to have led me to the Qingdao Crowne Plaza Hotel, so I put in the address of that hotel and started in the correct direction again. I was planning to give up, but I pulled through! Just in case, you're in Qingdao and you're planning to go, once you enter the Crowne Plaza Hotel, you need to head to the B2 floor, and on that floor, there are signs leading you to the worship hall. Compared to Shanghai, the church was definitely smaller, and I quickly learned that most of the church consisted of teachers from the Qingdao International School. Also, because I had visited in the summer, a lot of people had gone back to their home countries for summer vacation, so the church was smaller than usual (hopefully, I can come back when there are more people!). The elders were gone on vacation, too, so one of the deacons of the church got up to have a short sermon about fear, which I found relevant to me and everyone at service because we were all living lives in a foreign country and because we all carry some sort of fear. I personally liked it, and again, although the praise was better in Shanghai, the Qingdao church praise team was awesome, too.
We actually had Communion (eating Jesus' flesh and blood through bread and wine), and the picture to the right is a picture of the cute cups they handed out.
After service, I had the chance to casually tour the Crowne Plaza Hotel. It looked so nice and fancy, and I made up my mind at this hotel that when I come back to Qingdao, I would spend at least one night at this hotel.
There was a lot of construction for the new subway system in Qingdao, so walkways were blocked off, and the weather today wasn't the greatest with all the fog. I know it's all an excuse, but I'd like to say that because of these reasons, I stayed lost for a long time. Everything looked like something I had seen before (especially with Qingdao being so small), but I just couldn't remember how to get back to the hotel. I had forgotten the hotel business card in my room, and I couldn't remember what road the hotel was on either. It also didn't help that 爱尊客 had many branch hotels scattered around Qingdao, so when I typed in the name of the hotel, a bunch popped up. I didn't have anything better to do today, so I just went in order of the addresses for 爱尊客 that popped in Google Maps, and as a result, I had the chance to explore different areas of Qingdao on foot.
I stopped by Caffe Bene (a Korean cafe) because I thought it would be hard for me to come back because I wasn't good with roads.
I actually sat in the cafe for a couple of hours drinking a mango smoothie (which was actually a little bitter) and eating pork cutlets, a waffle, fruit, and ice cream. A lot, right? But on the bright side, I finished a ton of diary entries for my Conversation class (because I had fallen behind). The lighting and design of this cafe was really pretty, but I only took a picture of the lights I saw above my seat (the picture on the right; first row), which also looked really pretty!
I continued to wander around (or continued to try to find my way back home), but I also continued to look at different sites and try different food. Unfortunately, my phone died completely, and I had forgotten to bring my spare battery, so I started panicking, but I continued to look around different places (and I coincidentally found places like the Qingdao Cultural Market and the International Financial Center), but I wasn't able to take photos. Hopefully, I'll find these places again, so I can take pictures. Luckily, I remembered that my hotel was relatively close to the May 4th Square, so I asked around for the square, and once I got there, I realized that I didn't remember the way back to the hotel from even this location, but I knew it was close, so I just kept walking around, and luckily, really luckily, I found the hotel.
After nearly 12 hours of being in a "lost" state around Qingdao, I got back and fell right asleep.
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