I had a lady bug today. Well, I may be exaggerating a bit. I didn’t actually EAT it. I was served it. I noticed it amongst my vegetables at lunch and picked it up on my chopstick. I was debating trying it when the teacher across the table from me noticed it and squealed. I guess it wasn’t on the menu.
While on the topic of food, I thought it would be time to report that I’m getting darn good at using chopsticks (yeah, yeah, I know, it’s about time)! There has been ONE exception. I was struggling with fish the other day and realized AFTER I was done that I was using one of my chopsticks upside down the whole time. I think two teachers noticed. Oops! I am also getting used to drinking hot water. The Chinese don’t drink lukewarm or cold water like we do, they drink it hot and I’m kinda getting on board. Some like it hot and I may be one of them! One dish I’m struggling with is duck. I get it sometimes at lunch and it is so so difficult to eat. I don’t mind the taste at all, it’s the way it’s served that I have difficulty with. The duck is cut up into many small pieces (about an inch and a half to two inches long and about a centimeter thick). These pieces include fat, bone, cartridge and meat. Using only your mouth and chopsticks, you must navigate through all the “muck” to get to the good stuff. Maybe it’s me, but it just ain’t worth it! A final note on the food front is that I’m cooking more! I’m able to make concoctions of some sort with an array of veggies, some noodles, soy, egg and more veggies. Last week I even made bruschetta! I’m not adventurous enough to cook meat, though. I may not know what most things are but I think I’m doing ok.
I have one shopping adventure that HAS to be shared (I don’t think I shared it yet). I went to the supermarket one day, intent on getting eggs. Unfortunately, I forgot my phrase book and didn’t know the word for eggs. Instead, I asked around. No luck. My next attempt was to point to white and draw an egg in the air with my finger. No luck. I then broke into a form of the chicken dance and then drew an egg in the air with my finger. No luck. What finally did the trick, and TOTALLY made both their day and their opinion of foreigners change forever, was clucking around like a chicken and pretending to lay an egg. I flapped my arms, squatted right down, made a motion from my “egg laying area” to the floor and pretended to pick up an egg from beneath me. Worked like a charm!
Canada is known for the trees and I am the first to acknowledge how beautiful the trees in Canada. Where I think Canadian is the World Champion in the fall (anyone who has driven the Cabot Trail in the fall can back me up on this one), China HAS to take the cake in the spring. I doubt there is anywhere in the world that has so many different trees with blossoms. Tall trees, normally super ugly trees, bushes, fruit trees, the works – every tree seems to produce a blossom of some sort. Most are shades of pink and white are all are stunning. Someday when I am rich and own my dream house (aka ANY house with a yard), I want to have a yard full of them (although some can be so very ugly when the blossoms disappear).
A quirky little detail that my roommates chuckle at is the fact that most doors in China that say “push” actually mean “pull” and vice versa. Doors are labelled this way almost without fail. It’s pretty funny, really. I wonder if there’s something in the language that translates a certain way that makes them do this.
The Chinese don’t use dryers. EVERYONE hangs their clothes to dry. While this saves bucket-loads of energy (pun intended – bucket loads, coal, get it? Get it? This is China after all!), it is super annoying when, because of the humidity, it takes days for your clothes to dry. I thought it was pretty funny the other day when I saw a big row of shoes lined up on someone’s roof. Whatever works, eh?
I think that’s enough story time for today. I am going to try and get another post done tomorrow. Half of the school is heading out on their “spring field trip”. I was hoping to get to go (they are going to the Shanghai Botanical Gardens) but I have ONE class tomorrow that will not be going. At least I will have a lot of time to get some planning down because next week I’m heading to Beijing and the Great Wall!!!! Eeek!