Well, I had my last segment written out and mostly done before I accidentally deleted it, so this post will be somewhat shorter. We leave today (Sunday) in the afternoon. I was content to sit around and sleep until we left but my tutor wanted to go to one more market. We headed for the Pearl Market I think it was called. This was just one large building with lots of shops in it. This market was by far the cleanest and most orderly yet. This market also had the highest ratio of foreigners to locals so that may have had something to do with it. After already spending, in my mind, too much money I decided to be a bit more frugal. This market was the most diverse as ranging from golf clubs to electronics to cloths to jewelry and everything in between. We meandered around the shops for a while. I was always drawn to stores selling soccer jerseys but I didn't buy any. Finally we made out way into a clothing store and I saw a nice Polo sweater (claiming to be cashmere but comfy nonetheless). I tried it on and was sold. After leaving the store my tutor once again said I paid too much. I asked why she didn't say anything to me and she responded that she couldn't or the shop owners would "punish" her. I was baffled and told her that they couldn't do anything, so next time say something. I still think it was a good price though. The last item I bought on the trip was a new wallet, which I've been needing for years but never got. At the market I was wearing my Bradley soccer t-shirt and in one of the shops a family approaches me and asks "Do you go to Bradley? We're from Peoria!" It was nice talking for them for a bit, small world. After I was done shopping my tutor bought a few things and we were done for the day. I think that what people buy is all in the eye of the buyer. My tutor constantly pestered me for paying too much, although I thought it reasonable. But when she finally bought some things unattractive to me my reaction was "you paid how much for that?"

After the market we headed to lunch. There was a strip of restaurants by the market so I decided to go for Iranian food because I've never had it before. Kebabs seemed to be the most popular item on the menu so I ordered those. My tutor got a soup of chicken, kidney beans, and lots of spices. We had bread that was similar to Indian naan bread and it was delicious. My dish was very good and I ate it all. My tutor did not like her dish, thought it was weird, and barely ate any of it. I found it odd how she didn't like that dish but still eats all sorts of weird Chinese food. After lunch we went back to the dorms to await a ride to Nantong.