The China Chronicles

I have been in China for almost two whole weeks now. Somehow, I have managed to survive! Everyday life is exhausting. It takes an incredible amount of energy to stay alive. One of the hardest things to do is to feed myself. All food is fresh, which means trips to the market every couple of days. There aren't ovens or microwaves or frozen food, American conveniences to which I have become accustomed. Lately, I have been eating a lot of instant oatmeal and Chinese Ramen noodles :)

However, in spite of the fact that at the end of the day I am ready to collapse, this is a beautiful country and I love it (usually). The people in this town have very generous, kind spirits. They'll do anything they can to help you, even though we can only communicate in sign language and my 20 words of Chinese. Tonight, I went with Liz and Kris (the two other American teachers from my organization) to a student's house for dinner. She and her classmate made us chicken, dumplings, pumpkin porridge, and fruit salad. Then she played the pi pa (I have no idea how you spell that). It's a traditional Chinese string instrument. We had an amazing time with them. Liz and I managed to avoid eating the chicken's head, which is a tradition for foreigners in China for the first time. That was a relief.

Tomorrow, Kris and Liz and I are headed to Guiyang for the weekend to visit our teammates there. There is a married couple, Matthew and April, and two single women, Susie and Kara. We get to go to Walmart and I might buy an oven! More on that later. Also more later on my Tour d'Anshun (aka the bike ride of death) and the cockroach epidemic.

posted by Sara @ 7:07 AM