Last night, we had some of the best food we’ve had in Nanjing so far. It was cuisine from Yunnan province. It was “fei chang”(“extraordinary”) delicious. It began with coconut worms and ended with pastries filled with rose petals … literally. As shocking as it may be, coconut worms don’t sound appetizing to Tasha, so, in cahoots, Ming Li and Shan Shan ordered them on the sly. Once Tasha heard the worms described as tasting like “raw funnel cake,” she decided to give them a try. She figured, “ru xiang sui su入乡随俗!”(“When in Rome, do as Romans do.”) Tasha now describes the experience as “enlightening,” though she has no plans to re-experience coconut worms.
This morning, we visited the Dragon Boat Festival. A lot of the companies for whom we intern competed in the event. Ming Li and Bei You Si, interns for MAP Magazine, saw some familiar faces out on the water. We also had a great time checking out all the kiddie rides, one of which was a glorified hamster ball for kids to roll around on top of the lake.
[subtle transition into the phenomenally sad Nanjing Massacre Museum]
This afternoon, we learned how textbooks just don’t do the Nanjing Massacre justice. It was shocking for us to see all the photographs and artifacts from such a traumatic event in history. We were even moved by the sculptures surrounding the outside of the museum.
Later in the evening, we got a chance to go visit a filmmaker named Hu Jie. We met him and his wife in their beautiful home, which doubles as his art studio. We discovered he’s an accomplished painter in addition to his work as a documentarian. We were thrilled for an opportunity to ask him personal questions, which he graciously answered with a smile. Ming Li was ecstatic to find that she and Hu Jie share a mutual appreciation for Roman Polanski and other Eastern European directors. Bei You Si was almost as ecstatic about the watermelon we were served.
Gotta go eat our McDonald’s midnight snack!
Zaijian,
Bei You Si, Mai Anna, Ming Li, & Shan Shan
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