Daily Discovery

June 30: I had a 'pickled pepper rice noodles' dish for lunch today, and it was pretty good, but it becomes my daily discovery today for a different reason: the interaction between the owner and myself completely represents almost every food order I place here in China..

Owner: What are you going to eat?

Me: Hi! I'd like the 'pickled pepper rice noodles.'

Owner: Okay. Do you want it spicy?

Me: Yeah! I do. I like spicy food.

Owner: Okay. Should I make it less spicy than normal? (*common perception that foreigners can't handle spicy food..)

Me: No, no, no! I can eat spicy food. I like spicy food.

Owner: Okay.

**** Eats food *****

Me: Okay, here's the money. Thank you!

Owner: Was it spicy?

Me: No, it wasn't spicy at all!

Owner: Oh, okay. I put less spicy red peppers in yours because I was afraid you can't eat spice. Next time I'll put the regular amount in.

Me: (inside: ruefully, mentally sighing a tad; outside: smiling) Okay, great! Thank you! See you later.

June 28: Thursday night has arrived, and with it another English (kind-of) competition on campus. It was an English poem competition .. and many of the students read poems in English, sometimes translating it every line ... and then followed it with a talent competition - usually singing a Chinese song.

I had the chance to be a judge for this competition, and lots of students put in a lot of hard work preparing, both to participate, and on the part of the English club members for decorating/setting up the auditorium area for the event!

The downside: the summer heat is here, and the room was quite stifling with over 200 people in a draftless auditorium in the peak heat of the afternoon.

June 26: It's time to show you all another food - I know, you're thinking .. really? It is always food. True. And that's one of the awesome things about living in Wuwei, and China in general. Every day has the opportunity for new experiences, and new foods/snacks to try.

Today's food is called (I think) 炸香饼, but nothing seems to recognize those characters, so that might not be true. Okay, I got confirmation from my host mom, so we are good! The name is kind of like (to my knowledge) fragrant fried bread... but no matter the name, it is delicious. A flatbread type of base cooked on a griddle with a good amount of oil, then topped with spices, hot peppers, green onions .... yum! It's the perfect snack for walking around the market.

June 24: I went to get some dinner with students this weekend, and we ended up getting dumplings again. The dumplings were great, as always, but the find for the day was the side soup that we got to go with the dumplings. Usually, restaurants give out boiling water as a drink for free in restaurants, but today we upgraded and got this soup for only 1 or 2 RMB. It's super simple, but also delicious: just has a bit of salt, seaweed, fresh green onion, and dried mini shrimps (I opted to exclude those from mine!) - it's called zi cai tang, 紫菜汤！

June 22: I think that every day of teaching has its surprises, but this was a new one for me!

After our ten minute break between two one-hour long classes, I came back to the classroom and found that some 'mystery students' had folded a 1 mao note (equivalent to ¥0.1 or about 2 US cents) into a heart and left it on my book at the front of the class.

Of course, I could tell who it was by keeping an eye out for the students watching me closely for a smile. It brought a big smile!

June 20: It's another day of teaching - and besides teaching others, I think it's about time for me to get back in the habit of teaching myself some Chinese everyday.. or at least trying to teach myself. Usually, I try to learn some new vocabulary or read a textbook that the Peace Corps has provided me.

I took this picture today to send to my host mom in Chengdu, and she thought that it looked really artistic, so of course I have to share it with you!

June 18: Classes are off today throughout China for another national holiday - the Dragonboat festival. The dragonboat festival has a long history (a bit too long to really share in this short Daily Discovery), but it has an iconic tradition that is easy to share, and delicious to eat: the zongzi (粽子), which is a traditional food for this holiday that comes in a few forms:

• There's a sweet version that has sticky rice and dates on the inside, similar to my favorite snack I'm always posting here, but since it is wrapped and steamed in leaves it has a bit of hint of tea-like flavor.
• There are also meat versions, that are more savory and salty with perhaps some nuts and other delicious fillings inside - I have tried, but I have heard good things about them.

June 16: On the Sichuan University Campus in Chengdu, there is a nice outdoor newspaper area. It is the first time that I have seen a space like this in China, but they post the newspapers in the holders every day for anyone to stop by and read. It's a bit sheltered from the elements and in the shade, so it's a great place for people to relax - and I've seen many people every time I pass by taking advantage of the opportunity!

June 12: The campus has put a lot of work into adding a bit of spring and color into an otherwise potentially everlasting drab, dry, brown desert feel.

Walking down the paths in the front of the school today I found myself noticing the new flowers for the first time. They're a nice relaxing touch after a long day of teaching classes.

June 10: Oh, Sunday is here again, and the last Sunday before my one year CHINA ANNIVERSARY. I don't know if the caps lock was necessary there or not, but it feels like a big moment is approaching, even if it will in reality only be a normal Thursday.

Tonight's dinner felt a bit more like a normal dinner, a nostalgia dinner, perhaps, that I've missed since I started living in China.

Peas, butter, and salt. Fresh peas bought off the street, homemade butter and a pinch of salt. The peas are a bit different, and I quickly found out the pea pod itself is not so fun to eat, but a great dinner.

June 7-8: This will be my first double-daily discovery - or, perhaps, more accurately - a discovery over the course of two days, because I think that this will help emphasize the nature of this particular discovery, which is the gaokao, or the national college entrance exam that takes place in China every year at the beginning of June, and takes two days. Over the last few days, and chatting with students and teachers, here is what I have learned about the gaokao.

1. It's incredibly important - it is perhaps the single most important determining factor in one's life past high school: what colleges you can go to, what majors you can study, and what jobs you can hope to have in the future all depend, essentially solely, upon this test.
2. It takes two days to complete: students take the test over two days, with 6 or so subject tests, each taking 2+ hours to complete.
3. It seemed the completion of the 'going to school' for the first time journey. I remember students going to their first day of kindergarten with their parents; here, I saw most students walking with their parents to the testing site to take the exam, with many parents waiting outside the whole morning until the students finished for the day one lunch break.
4. There are many stands and booths set up outside the testing sites with free waters for the parents and family members who wait outside.
5. Many stores/shops nearby close for the two days in order to keep the noise level down in the area.
6. The graduating high school students are spread out throughout classrooms across the city, so most of the elementary and middle schools are all closed for these two days, with the rooms being used for proctoring this exam.
7. Students are searched and scanned with a metal detecting wand (like at the airport) to ensure that they aren't smuggling anything prohibited into the school.
8. Many taxis, police cars and all public busses provide free transportation for students and families to and from the exam sites on both gaokao days.
9. The test is long, with objective and subjective portions, and taken by millions students across the country, but the students will receive the exam scores in just three short weeks, followed by a very short month long process of applying to eligible schools, receiving acceptances, deciding where to go, and then heading off to campus for the first year of university.

June 5: I made some more bread today - I've been trying to get back in to the bread making habit. It's a nice stress-reliever, with a hint of nostalgia, and a method to make sure that I am eating more homemade food, rather than sneaking over to the cafeteria every meal.

The fact I can make bread is all because of my grandma - and the gift that keeps on giving. She sent me a few loaves of walnut bread from a local bakery that we love, and the aluminum tins from those loaves serve as perfect loaf pans every single week!

June 3: Well, it's time to get back to site - it was a successful weekend, and particularly invigorating for me to interact with a few teachers from schools in Gansu who will be receiving their first Volunteer next year. They are extremely excited, and have lots of great ideas on how to incorporate and support Volunteers at their school, so I already know they will be great counterparts for future PCVs!

A few pictures to share with you all from the weekend - all of the counterpart teachers and the PCV helpers for the event, along with my bosses in the center.

Below? A picture of my boss and another Lanzhou PCV during our impromptu barbecue dinner last night!

June 1: The first of the month, and the first train ride of the month for me - I'm off to Lanzhou this weekend to participate in a counterpart workshop. Counterparts are the teachers at our schools in China that are assigned to work with us and help us not only become better teachers and learn about the Chinese educational system, but to help us integrate into our communities. It should be a good chance to welcome new teachers into our Peace Corps family!

And, the hotel that we get to stay in for the weekend is pretty nice, too!