The first was that I ate the dragon fire fruit. As I had been told, the startling white flesh was more or less the texture of a kiwi, with the same sort of black seeds. But it was much less acidic than a kiwi, and also slightly less sweet. In fact, I confess it was almost a bit bland, just a hint of sweetness to it. But it was extremely thirst-quenching, I'll give it that. And I almost felt a little guilty toward the cactus because it had stored up its water so carefully and worked so hard on its dainty black seeds.
The brilliant pink skin peeled off very easily, and it was also fun to photograph because of the colors and because it was such a beautiful day. This photo was taken on my window-seat.Below is a picture of me eating the fruit. I also did some research on it and discovered more about it. So below I include two pictures of the plant it grew on, a relative of (or maybe even the same as) the Night Blooming Sireus, it seems! The fruit is also called pitaya, and its botanical name is Hylocereus undatus.
The second note-worthy thing was that I found the French grocery store, Carrefour (or Jialefu 家乐福 in China). I found it quite by accident, though I had searched and failed before. I was walking down the street, and decided to look more closely at a half-built shopping mall. Well, it turned out to be only the entrance that was half-built. Down below (it was an underground one), it was fully finished in extra-scary style. It's hard to describe the scariness of it. Maybe because it was very upscale, no goofiness, no laughs. All serious expensive stuff with serious expensive-looking staff, often all lined up in matching clothes. Starting to get the picture? However, I did see a sign for Carrefour, which I followed faithfully until I was let out into an overwhelming place rather like a Walmart. (There's one of those here too, by the way; found it the other day.)
It was about as crowded as the Ikea had been, which is to say, there was barely room to move about. But unlike the Ikea, people were actually grabbing a lot of stuff and putting it in their carts, rather than exclaiming loudly how expensive everything was. Clothes, sporting goods, housewares, you name it. I was deeply tempted by a heavy-duty wok, which I hadn't found anywhere else, also by a rice-cooker... but there will be time, there will be time.
It took me quite a while to find the grocery part of the store. I'm not sure what I was expecting--maybe something like Treasure Island in Chicago ("America's most EUROPEAN grocery"). But in the event, it was hilariously similar to the Wu-mei Hypermart I had been to before. The only differences I could perceive: the Carrefour had a fancy wine and gifts section, and was about four times as crowded. It may also have been a tiny bit more expensive, but I also bought more stuff this time too, so it's a little hard to tell.
I may stick with the Wu-mei, if only to beat the crowds and do the anti-trendy thing.
On the way home I took this picture of myself in a giant blue reflective-glass wall. What I liked best was the wind blowing the willow-branches around. Perhaps it's the influence of the latest audio-book I've been listening to, Through the Looking Glass (featuring, in chapter 1, a spectacular backwards rendition of the Jabberwocky, not to be missed!).
The third thing of note that happened today was that FL (and by proxy JZ) have come back into my life. Yesterday I was sitting about and suddenly I got a call from JZ. It turns out that she had been sick for some time, and had only just gotten around to checking her e-mail. She said FL had been in Xi'an with her, and was now back in Beijing, and might she give him my number. Sure, why not.
He called me sometime later, very timidly. Apparently (this I had from JZ), almost his sole job in life for the next year is studying for the TOEFL. Could we practice some English conversation? This is the sort of thing one is supposed to say no to, but I remembered how they had picked me up at the airport when I knew no one, and had patiently searched round and round for my youth hostel, had got me a new "much much much much better hotel" at Beida, and had taken me for a lovely if wasteful dinner. So I was happy to. Besides, even speaking English kind of beat a solitary dinner at home on a Saturday night.
So FL found my apartment, with many cell phone calls, misunderstandings, and considerable difficulties. Argh. It is not easy to understand the way people navigate here because they don't do it by streets or addresses. I am coming to realize that one of the best landmarks is the nearest overpass bridge--then you say where you are in relation to that. The way you do THAT, though, is to mention--not the biggest--but the most well-known building in the area. Of course, it's not easy to know which is the most well-known building when you don't know the area. FL instructed me that in this case it was the big bursting-at-the-seams bookstore I had bought some books in the other day. But it is known not by the three-story high name that is printed very visibly on its top (Disanji) but by another name I have already forgotten. Oh well, live and learn!!
When finally reunited, FL and I went to a very fancy Thai restaurant where he is apparently quite well known. (They give him a 20% discount, though he treats them with especial rudeness!) There we had a less disturbing amount of food, though it was still a feast: shrimp curry, very fine tender sliced pork with a piquant dipping sauce, a vegetable sauteed with salt fish, chicken skewers, a mango drink with an actual mango in it, and various flavored puddings. "I want to order a lot so we can taste more things," he said apologetically when I warned him he shouldn't get too much. It was only slightly too much, though, so I didn't feel bad. I didn't feel up to fighting him for the bill either and instead decided I would earnestly "sing for my supper" by giving a really good English conversation lesson, complete with pen and paper. (Don't tell the FB people--I'm not supposed to get compensation of any kind for any kind of work. But try telling a Chinese person not to treat you!)
I think it went really well, and I even managed to review the vocabulary list with him at the end (something I always wished my Chinese conversation teachers would do) under the guise of "testing myself" to see if I knew the Chinese for all of them. I did learn a new word or two, actually, as well as a number of things about the life of a person like FL.
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