I know. I know. I totally know.
I don’t know if I told you, but I’ve got this really wonderful job, and I get to travel. I’ve been to China 3 times in the last 3 months. I absolutely love it. There’s certainly the adjustment. Spending this much time away from my family is hard, and it’s hard to be able to talk to each other every day, sometimes there is no internet connection (even when they claim there is!)
I love this picture. I keep it on my work computer when I’m traveling so I can stare at them.
On my most recent trip, I flew into Beijing. Those little rectangles down there are green houses. They are ramps made of dirt, with a wooden frame, then covered in plastic. I’d see these everywhere in the country when driving around, and I could not figure out what these mounds were?
When I visit the country side, food is grown everywhere. There are no yards with grass, there are yards with vegetables. The banks of the rivers are covered with mustard greens. Tea bushes are everywhere. Everything is symmetrical and planned. You can eat everything. It’s breathtaking.
I also spend quite a bit of time in airports. Here’s the Beijing Airport, on my most recent trip, it took me 30 hours to get home. I had to change my flight, then the lovely airlines canceled my ticket for one leg, and voila! 30 hours of travel time. I must have walked miles in this airport, I don’t know what the shop ladies where saying, but there sure was a lot of giggling and waving.
I am totally amazed by the driving and commuting in China. There is a lot of bike riding and scooter riding. Lots of trucks and motorized cart buggy thingys, with people hanging on, sitting on top of piles, and barely any helmets. I’m not sure if there are driving regulations, I think the lines on the roads are suggestions, you are supposed to line the center of the car up with the white dotted line. I can’t tell you how many times I covered my face with my hands, I just couldn’t look! But I’m still alive!
Lots of school kids, here, in their uniforms coming back from lunch. The little little kids are usually brought to school by their moms on their scooters or bikes.
Ahhh, the grocery store. Wow. My palette is so limited. I’m ok with that! I’ll try some new things. I did eat pigeon soup. Well, I sipped the broth. The leg sticking out of the soup at me was enough to make me pass out. Plus, being a NYC girl, those things are rats with wings (sorry Bert on Sesame Street, but seriously), I just couldn’t take a bite of that pigeon leg. Call me crazy…
But the grocery store is an incredible place. I saw this and naively asked if this was the pet section. I got a big laugh, no this is for dinner. What I love about the food in China, is that everything is prepared fresh. All animals and fish are kept alive until it is time to eat them. The fruit and veggies are all local, so they come right from the farm. There are some processed foods, but hardly any. I have totally enjoyed eating in China. There are definitely some things I won’t eat, but I’ve been brave and tried things I normally wouldn’t and liked it!
I meet a lot of really wonderful people on my trips.
Here I’m with my lovely hosts for the week. We accomplished tons, ate good food, went to the disco (oh, that’s a WHOLE nother post…), and I taught them some English while they taught me some Chinese.
Anyway, I’m still here. I’m still cooking, and have a sewing project cut out on the table. What have you been up to?
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