June 10

09.6.10
Last night, I was really tired. (Like I am now.) So what happened was that I passed out on the couch as soon as my dad kicked me out of the bedroom. And so I woke up at 5:30 today still in my clothes. And I was like, "I feel gross." So I immediately took a shower, which is lovely (because I always take cold showers here. As in the handle points as far towards "Cold" as it can. And it's such a nice feeling).
After my shower, early Mass again. Then my dad left for work, and my mom and I came home for breakfast. (For breakfast, I ate oatmeal... and two-thirds of a bag of Grill-a-Corn. Wow. That's not very healthy.)
After chilling a bit in the late morning, my mom and I headed down to the marketplace. First, we went to Jusco, which is basically a dollar store. (We bought chopsticks because I was not pleased with having only two pairs at home.)
Having perused for a while at the store, we were hungry. So instead of the original plans to have some Indonesian food (from downstairs, below the apartment), we just decided to stop at any restaurant that looked good. So we were walking along, looking at the places we were passing when my mom stopped and said, "Oh, I remember this place. They're famous for their wontons, which have whole shrimp in them." I looked into the restaurant and saw three people; two at one table and one at another. On each table was a big bowl of dumpling stuffing (shrimp, "wood ear" fungus (木耳; an edible type of tree fungus), ginger, pork, etc.), and the people were making dumplings right in front of us. (I felt embarrassed just looking at them make them because their dumplings' sizes each came within just a margin of difference. Mine usually range from large to small, from grotesque to even worse. It was very saddening to compare the beautiful dumplings that were leaving their hands to the ones that my hands make.)
And so we decided to go in, and I ordered "fish skin dumpling" (魚皮餃 is a dumpling that has a chewy outer wrapper made of flour and fish paste with a core of pork. It's very delicious) and wonton (which I was excited to try) with flat noodle (河粉). My mom ordered "water dumplings" (餃子 in Chinese; often likened to Japanese gyoza) in wonton noodles. Everything was really yummy, and I was very (very) happy. This is saying something, seeing as I usually hate wontons (and I hate wonton noodles. Period). I probs should have taken some pictures for you all to see... Sorry for my lack of thought before eating. (Although funny story: I accidentally added too much chili oil to my soup, so we had to order a soybean drink and a bowl of seaweed soup. Both were also delicious.)
Then we headed for the open-air street market.* And we shopped for tofu, pork (already chopped, etc. by the time it hits the stall -- no violent pig-killing in front of you), Chinese pickles, and winter melon (冬瓜).
Then we got back to the apartment, and we just relaxed for an hour or so. Then we went to the MTR station and rode to Mei Foo, where my brother sits in the hospital. We visited, video-chatting for a while. Then we left and did some last-minute, oh-I-forgot-to-buy-that grocery shopping. We got back home (my dad soon came home as well), and then we ate dinner.
Dinner comprised: steamed pickles and pork; tofu, winter melon, and beef balls (no, NOT "testicles". I mean that they take beef and ground it into a ball shape, which they then cook to retain its shape. Seriously, now). And we also had some leftovers (last night's papaya soup). It was very nice.
I am realizing that I should probs take WAY more pictures of the foods I'm eating just to show you guys. Sorry! I'll try to remember from now on!

*In case you haven't assumed yet, I'll explain about open-air street markets. Because of the many stalls with daily goods (from meats to veggies, all fresh) and great bargain prices, daily shopping becomes a general habit. Therefore, meals are usually variable (depends on the sale items of the day, etc.) but delicious (fresh food tastes like heaven clouds).
But fear not if you're a weekly grocery-shopper! You can usually also buy these kinds of goods in supermarkets, which usually offers a cleaner environment. However, it's more expensive to do so, and it's not as fun as experiencing the marketplace.

With that, I'm off because my eyelids are closing like crazy on me.
I'll check you guys later. And I promise to try to get those history lessons done!