FOOD

At the request of a loyal reader, I will now write on the subject of food. First of all, the food has been amazing (and incredibly cheap)! Today for lunch, I bought a bag of noodles, vegetables, and sauce for about 20 cents. A plate of jaozi (Chinese dumplings) at a restaurant runs about 70 cents, though they can be had much more inexpensively on the streets.

There's a restaurant near campus that I frequent pretty often where I can order twice as much food as I can eat for about $1.20. I'm thinking of going there for lunch each day and asking the waiter to bring me whatever he wants, as long as it is under 10 kuai. This way I learn new Chinese words, get to try new kinds of food, and make Chinese friends.

The best meal I've eaten thus far was the Chinese barbecue I ate tonight; skewers of pork and beef were brought out in a seemingly incessant fashion, and small plates of nuts and beans were provided to cool the heat of the barbecue. It was all washed down with Qingdao/Tsingdao beer from a provincial brewery set up by the Germans in the 19th century.

Surpirsingly, or perhaps not so, the worst meal I've had (and most expensive) was from an American-style buffet. On the other hand, every Chinese dish I've had has been wonderful. The best part is that it's usually cheaper to eat out, so I don't even have to worry about cooking.