Tea Never Tasted This Good

Halla to all!!! As our four week excursion of this language and culture program comes to an end :( , there are still many things happening this week to end it with a BANG! The day started off very chill, most of us woke up around 7-7:30 to grab a quick breakfast and zoom on our Ofo's to head to our classes early. Today unlike most days class ended a tad bit early because our cultural activity was going to be done at the TEA MARKET!! (tell me that was not exciting, I know I was) As we chowed down our fried rice and noodles for lunch it was finally 1:30 and we were already on our way to the market.

When we arrived the first thing that hit me unlike the smell of stinky tofu was the odoriferous fragrant of all types of tea. At the tea market, we were split into our levels ( I being level 1) to make this flow faster and more organized. Each group got an assigned shop where we would sit down for a tea tasting. We learned about the fermentation of tea and how to properly prepare it, this also helped us come to the conclusion that out of all the teas that we tasted the best one was Lychee Black Tea due to the amount of fermentation it had. To wrap this up like a burrito ( omg how much I miss Spanish food), today was a productive day and I look forward to the four day's left. As much as I enjoyed meeting new people and learning a new culture and language, I miss my family and city so much and am excited to head back but I know that I will miss Shanghai with a heavy heart.

Good night to all and to all a goodnight! - Nayeli Valdez