Hello all!
Shout out to anyone who remembers the song that contains my title :)
Currently, it is Monday evening and I'm not shivering! Woot! It warmed up a little in Guangzhou today, though my room is still chilly. With the warm weather came the air pollution, though. It might look like it's super foggy, but that is all polluted air. My eyes and throat are dry from just walking to get dinner!
I think I caught a touch of food poisoning/traveler's diarrhea last night; however, thanks to my meds that I so thoughtfully packed, I'm feeling normal again. Sadly, clumsy me fell down a few slippery stairs today so now I have a large bruise on my thigh. Luckily, that was all that resulted from that fall! I'm now resigned to taking the elevator.
I had a great weekend with lots of exploring Guangzhou with my Chinese friends and the other IU student. I thought I would take this post to talk a little about my everyday life here, Q&A style.
How do you eat and drink if you can't speak Chinese?
Thank goodness, many of the students/doctors here seemingly enjoy taking us American students out to lunch and dinner. When they take me to a restaurant, I just let them order for me. When I'm by myself, I might eat Western food (places like McDonald's have a picture menu I can point at and Starbucks has employees that speak English) or I may try my luck at a Chinese restaurant. I pick the ones that have pictures of the food on their walls and menus, so I can point at things. I eat noodles almost everyday, since there is a convenient noodle restaurant by campus that is run by Chinese Muslims. Their cooking is known to be "safe" and it's cheap. I get this one noodle dish for about $1.50 US and I can't eat all of it. There's another noodle restaurant I have discovered that has a picture menu with English! Jackpot!
What have you been eating and drinking? How is it different from the US?
Besides my new love affair with noodles, I've tried quite a bit of traditional Cantonese food. Cantonese food is known for being pretty bland... and it often is. I've had many delicious dishes, including pigeon (seriously, tasted like chicken), turbot fish, dim sum, Cantonese soup, shrimp, and dumplings. There was an amazing beef and cashew dish I tried. I eat steamed bun sandwiches (baozi) from convenient stores. I did try this rice paste/noodle dish that is common for Cantonese people to eat and did not enjoy it, since the texture was all mushy and slimy. Chinese food in China is NOT your typical American Chinese food. I would punch someone for General Tso's Chicken and crab rangoon.
As for drinking, I'm pretty sure I'm constantly dehydrated. I swear, people here NEVER drink anything. They don't have any drinks with meals, unless it's a fancier meal and then it's tea. People don't drink water or pop like we do. I'm always thirsty. I buy Coke Zero/Sprites in the convenient store on campus and carry them in my purse. No one uses ice and I've noticed people becoming concerned that my water is "too cold," so they will pour hot water into my water to warm it up! Only bottled water is ok to drink.
What kind of transportation do you use?
Very few people here own cars. The traffic is just too awful on an everyday basis. So, everyone just walks, rides the bus, or hops on the Metro. I walk pretty much everywhere. The hospital is about 5 minutes from my room. There's a huge mall called China Plaza that's about a 10 minute walk away. Restaurants are everywhere. I did ride the bus last Friday with the Chinese students and it was much nicer than Indy buses, even if it was crowded. The Metro here is AMAZING. Super clean subway with everything in 3 languages: Cantonese, Mandarin, and English. I've been on the Metro quite a few times and think it's definitely the best way to get around. There are taxis as well.
Are people rude to you because you're a foreigner?
I'll be honest, I do get stares everywhere I go, probably due to my trifecta of: height, ghost white skin, and red hair. No one has been outright rude. Actually, everyone I've talked to has been very friendly and really just wants to know more about the US. I did have a bunch of Chinese high school boys come up to me at Sun Yat-Sen Memorial and tell me I'm very beautiful. They proceeded to take a few pictures with me...but that's been about it!
Hey, you know that thing you signed up for called the Mini Marathon... How's your training?
HAHAHA. I've only run once since I've been here. There is a soccer field with a track around it in the front of my dorm. I about died breathing, thanks to the air pollution, so I only ran 2.5 miles. Tomorrow, I will attempt to run again. Last time I ran, the soccer team that was practicing finished their game and directly lit a bunch of cigarettes. Oh China.
Alright friends, that's all I have for now. Please have a fountain pop Mountain Dew with ice for me.
Until next time,
jessica.eae
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