Monday I had the day off due to the holiday. I of course slept in, and then Kerry and I ventured out to get my glasses repaired. It was pouring rain so we decided to take a taxi, which again came surprisingly fast. He dropped us off in a garage by a mall area, which we quickly found out was connected to a subway station. After getting our bearings, we finally found the place--the signage was actually quite good and in English. We had to take an elevator up to the store. When we got off the elevator, we saw MANY "stores" (more like stands) with people trying to get us to stop and purchase--aggressive salesmanship. The first people were nice, though, and directed us to go to the end. We met Mai, the woman recommended to us, who took my glasses and went in the back room. In the meantime, her co-worker tried to sell both me and Kerry some glasses. Happily, those, she was able to fix them, and charged us only 60 RMB ($10) to do so.
Since that ended early, and I was hungry, we decided to take the subway to Hongkou Plaza. Samira had recommended a Middle Eastern Place there, so I contacted her on WeChat, and she provided the name of the place within 5 minutes: Yerishari. When we got there, it was about 4:45 or so--not that crowded--so they led us to a table. I got lamb and Kerry got beef. I was pleased at the huge portions: the tomato soup I ordered had shrimp and squid in it, and Kerry and I were able to share it. The leg of lamb was HUGE; Kerry shared that with me as well. It was a bit noisy in there, though, and the service wasn't exactly stellar. It got more and more crowded by the time we left around 6 pm, and it seemed like every two minutes the waitstaff would shout, "Welcome to Yerishari!" anytime someone walked in. This was a bit annoying. Still, it was a tasty meal.
We then ventured downstairs to Mister Donuts, where we each got a couple donuts to take home. They were all Halloween themed: mostly brown and orange colors, and Kerry got a Halloween kitty on a stick! We ate the donuts when we got home; one of mine was a coffee-cocoa flavored one, but not heavy on the frosting, which I appreciated. After the Donut place, we went to Carrefour for some sundries like water, and we bought an additional pillow. One thing I don't understand about China is why the seafood and meat areas have very loud megaphones just placed in them. I don't know what they're saying, but the voices sound really annoying. All over the store, we keep hearing what sounds like a child saying, "Mama nee shay!" It's become a joke with me and Kerry. We keep repeating it over and over, I guess for our own amusement.
Because of our loot, we opted for a taxi home. It worked out well.
Today I'm just staying in and grading, for the most part. It's kind of a sad, pensive day because we just learned about the shootings in Vegas and Tom Petty going into cardiac arrest and being taken off life support; as of this writing, there are conflicting reports of his death. Strange times.
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