I landed in Daqing, the city I’m living in, at around 2am. I didn’t sleep much that night because I wanted to get up at a good time and try to get adjusted, but that backfired – I felt like a zombie the entire day.

I ended up going to lunch with our translator, my American teammate, and the two coaches. We ate at a restaurant that cooked at the table for you, not like Tokyo Steakhouse though. I was having trouble eating with chopsticks and they didn’t have forks, so our waitress brought me a spoon and some toothpicks to stab things with.

We went to the market after lunch, both were located in the mall, so that was interesting. It was very busy because it was the weekend. I had a little trouble paying at the market because they use apps here, not credit cards or cash, but I got it figured out and I’m not having issues anymore.

After the market, we headed back to the hotel and I decided to take a shower and go to bed at 5pm because I was so exhausted. 

Pronunciation Guide: 

Daqing = dah – king