My Week Off

Last week we had a week off of school for the Chinese Moon Festival Holiday.  During this time, the moon is at it's biggest and brightest.  People will travel to be with their families.  Some families end up spending the whole week together.  A lot was happening in our little area during that week.  There were concerts and prizes given away.  Of course, with my limited Chinese, I really didn't understand anything that was happening.

Moon cakes are really popular during this week.  I think the most traditional moon cake looks like a roll on the outside, but on the inside it is filled with red bean paste - and then in the very middle is a duck egg yolk.  So when you bite into it, you see the night sky (red bean paste) and the moon (duck egg yolk).  Red beans are like a type of dessert here.  They are put inside drinks, on top of desserts, in bread, in pastries, etc.  I can handle them in small amounts, but biting into red bean paste was a little much for me.  My favorite kind of moon cake was a fruit filled one.

Anyway, during this week, Jason and I were able to rest and catch up a bit.  I went on a scooter adventure.  My friend helped to buy a new battery for my scooter - it had been stolen.  So I was excited to get back on it and scooter around.  A group of us scootered to this place called Happy Valley.  It has a bunch of stores, restaurants, and an amusement park.  I like it best because it has a Starbucks, Pizza Hut, and a sports store called Decathlon.  Pizza Hut is pretty classy here.  They serve more than just pizza. And some of their pizzas are pretty inventive.  The first time that I went to Pizza Hut, we ordered a pizza that had shrimp in the crust.  There were little shrimp and cheese bubbles all along the crust.  It was actually pretty good.

The highlight of my week off was our visit to the Panda Reservation. You can see some of the pictures that Jason and I took above. We went early in the morning before the crowd got there.  It ended up being so worth it, because by the time we were leaving, the crowd of people was unbearable.  

The pandas were so cute.  They look like giant teddy bears.  They just sit there, or sometimes lay there, chomping on bamboo.  They collect huge piles of bamboo. With their paws, they quickly peel the bamboo, and then they eat the insides.  Sometimes they'll get into a little tug over a piece of bamboo with another panda.  I think they are too lazy to get into a real fight though.  They just lounge around and eat. Oh the life....