宜家家居 IKEA ...

IKEA Buys!
Originally uploaded by Alexandra Lord

So my morning was pretty routine and rather boring. I went to class and then sat in Roberts and added to blog. Then I headed home to be lazy and watched some Korean dramas dubbed into Chinese. This is one of my new favorite passions. Every night I sit and do my homework while I watch these dramas in Chinese.
Finally, I did something productive and headed to to IKEA (Yi Jia Jia Ju) by taxi. The taxi driver was funny because he was chatting on his radio to all the other taxi drivers telling them where he was going and that a had a “Mei Mei Lao Wai”. This essentially means that he has a young foreign girl in the car. Funny things is that at first I mixed up the meaning of Mei Mei and thought he was calling me old. I was kind of offended (Mei Mei actually means younger sister but can be used to describe people’s ages.)

Anyway, I spent more than expected in both time and money at IKEA but, I think it is well worth the amount. I got a ton of items: Set of3 pots, 2 lids, cast iron frying pan, 5 piece spatula set, pitcher, 40 piece tuber ware set, squeegee, 2 pot brushes, 2 hot mitts, 3 large scented candles (2 apple cinnamon and 1 vanilla), 8 spice containers, 2 fleece blankets, dish drying rack, 2 shower curtains, shower curtain holders, duvet cover with 2 pillow cases. I’m most excited about my cast iron fry pan!!! It was only 70Y ($10).

On way home I had to take the free metro bus because no taxis were available. Apparently, you can take one there but they seldom come to IKEA to pick people up. But, this turned out great because I made the coolest new friend. Her name is Qian Wei (钱玮) and her English name is Claire. She is a ChuanDa student on the same campus as me in the school of Economics. We talked for a long time on the bus while we were waiting for it to leave (they only leave every hour) and then she invited me to dinner. We ended up having something similar to jiao zi (pot stickers) but boiled. Then she took me out for warm milk tea (the type with tapioca pearls). AMAZING!!! I don’t like it in the States where it is always served cold and in a variety of weird fruity flavors. Here, in the winter, it is served hot and in a standard original black tea flavor. (But of course there are other flavors available.)

We exchanged info and I’m excited to meet her again. I headed home, watched 3 ½ hours of Korean dramas dubbed into Chinese and then went to bed!