exHALLsted

At the end of the day, if you're really tired, that means you've had a fabulous day, right? Okay, not always, but today I enjoyed my energy right out of myself. The girls and Lauren's friend Taylor who is visiting from China all went to register for Cantonese language classes this morning. One more way to make time fly: now I'll be studying. On the way to the language center, we walked through a market called the Three Lanterns Market. I have no idea why it's called that, but I'm sure Wikipedia does. Lauren offered to buy everyone some durian if they would try it. Durian is a type of fruit native to the region that is...weird. It's tough on the outside and probably the size between a cantaloupe and watermelon, only you cut it open to these yellow pods of sort. It tasted kind of like old, cheap, store bought candy (you know, the kind that's not nasty, but it's not really sweet either). It was like that, with dirty sock aftertaste. Haha. And it stinks. Fortunately, we were walking through the street with lots of other smells, so we didn't have to deal with the smell of the fruit (aka dirty socks) until later when it was on our breath and hands. I forgot my SD card at the apartment, so no pictures of durian, sorry.

When I went back to the apartment to get the SD card and grab lunch, I did some Zumba to Shakira's "Waka Wake (This Time for Africa)" video. What can I say, my friends the other day inspired me?

I headed out to Coloanne in the afternoon and went back to the Panda Park. This time, I went well before closing and got to see the pandas. They were eating, so they were actually pretty cute. I'd been told they looked sad, so I was glad they looked a little happier eating the food. The good news: I now have accomplished the goal my little 4 year old (5 now?) buddy Austin sent me to do: I have pictures of panda. (Even though there aren't any just chilling out in the wild here as I think he probably imagined). Also at the park, I saw an exotic plant garden and went for a hike. I'm not sure if the hiking trail was part of the park or not, but I went for a little excursion. When I returned, the band I made friends with at the park the other day was getting ready to start their show. I talked to them for a bit. Almost all of them are from different countries, and there's 5 continents represented among such a small group. This time they did a sword fight dance, acrobatics, and a twist on some of their previous songs, so I found myself grinning from ear to ear again.

Nice, hiding the shoes, guys

Two birds as part of the mini zoo at the park that maybe my Pa could identify?

After the park closed, I caught a bus to Hac Sa Beach, where I sat on the rocks, took in the view and drew the beachline with some new oil pastels I've acquired...it didn't look that great. Seen here: the little bbq places, drink places on the side of the beach which I have referenced before.

Dinner tonight was italian--legitimate italian at a nice restaurant in Taipa. I had fagottini stuffed with spinach and ricotta cheese and covered in meat sauce. Yum. We skipped on drinks because they were about 30 MOP a piece...and we're cheap. ha. Afterward, I went to pick up some groceries and treated myself to a carbonated fruit juice drink popular here for about 4.5 MOPs (see why we think the drinks are so expensive at the restaurant?). The drink is called Sumol, it's pineapple juice, and it comes in a glass bottle (which I always was a big fan of anyway).

NeNe's!

Mom, I 'pic'ed this for you. It has just enough petals left on each bloom to say "she loves me," because I do!

Night, y'all.