I knew I truly wasn’t in the United States of America anymore when I stumbled upon a mousepad featuring Obama’s face edited onto a widely-recognized photo of Mao Zedong and, more incredulously, a pack of playing cards featuring Osama Bin Laden casually on sale at a store, sitting on a shelf next to a pack of playing cards featuring what appeared to be a boyband. This harsh juxtaposition was something I couldn’t quite stop laughing at, and I must admit that I was terribly excited to send photos to all of my friends back home about the gem I had found. After all, this is certainly not something you get to see every day in the states.
The amount of shopping I did today was probably more than I have done in the past several months altogether, and then some. Bargaining is a certainly a skill I intend on sharpening in the next coming weeks! I got myself a super cute neck-pillow designed like a frog, as well as a bunch of gifts for my close friends and family. I can say with absolute certainly that I’m super happy about my purchases.
After our adventures in bargaining, we all went to a Kung Fu show. Watching these martial artists perform flips and dance while suspended in the air on stage as if they were the easiest things to do was stunning, especially since I have never seen kung fu in-person before. My only exposure to Kung Fu had been through western media, such as films like Kung Fu panda, whose animated animal characters obviously did not realistically reflect the martial art. As such, getting to see Kung Fu for the first time in such an awe-inspiring way was definitely an experience I won’t be forgetting about anytime soon!