Third month in Shunde, China

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The temperature has definitely changed now with Autumn been and gone and winter finally here. We can’t complain though when ‘winter’ means 18 degrees and sunny. It’s still quite nice though to get the pyjamas on at night and the duvet on the bed! And drinking a cup of tea just isn’t the same when you’re sweating in 35 degrees of heat. Apparently the drop in temperature means less mozzies, which is good news for me as hopefully now they’ll stop dining out on my legs every night. I look like I’ve got chicken pox all over my legs which isn’t the most attractive look.

Our teaching journey continues on and this week we’ve been doing review tests to check the students’ progress. However, it’s all a bit pointless when our boss has discreetly told us not to mark them anything less than an A minus! Kind of defeats the purpose, and a bit awkward when you know some students have about as much grasp of English as their 80 year old Chinese granny, but never mind. Well done pal, you just scored 15 out of 100- here’s an A -, keep up the good work! Sometimes I really don’t get the Chinese way of thinking. I was doing a lesson with my older students on Sunday morning and we were talking about food (definitely not extreme ironing this time) and I asked them what their favourite food was. I was expecting them to say McDonalds or noodles or something like that, but one of my little boys hits out in Chinese with he likes eating ‘expensive food’. That’s a statement and a half as it is, but I ask my teaching assistant what he means, and she says it means things like snake and shark’s fin. It really is a status symbol here. Pretty sure when I was 13 my favourite food was sausages and chips... I also managed to full on walk into the glass door at the front of the school a few weeks ago. I didn’t factor in that the door might actually be closed, and it was a proper comedy moment as I smacked right into the front of it. Thankfully both me and the door survived, but it was rather embarrassing to say the least.

Our friends decided to take us out for our first ever spicy hot pot on Sunday night and it was amazing. The women who worked there was somewhat confused when 6 white westerners rocked up into this little backstreet restaurant in the middle of old China. She asked us if we wanted it spicy (they don’t believe westerners can handle any sort of spice) and we all agreed the spicier the better- we’ll show them what we’re made of! But at the same time, she was also thinking ‘hehe, we’ll see what they’re made of’ as what arrived was the spiciest soup ever with about 30 chillies floating around in it. And yes, it was indeed as spicy as it sounds! After about 2 minutes, I looked around the table to see every single person sniffling with their eyes watering. Bet they had a good laugh at our expense! Once we got used to it though we were fine. For anyone who’s never experienced hotpot before, the concept is that you have a huge bowl of soup in the centre of the table and you order ingredients to put into it which you then cook yourself inside the bubbling soup (which is on a burner to keep it warm). So for instance we had lots of different veggies and also meat including potatoes, mushrooms, chinese cabbage and beef slices. Then you just fish out what you want when it is cooked and eat it and then afterwards you can drink the broth too. Towards the end, one of our friends asked us how brave we were feeling. We look at him curiously and he proclaims he is going to order some chicken feet to add to the soup. I’ve had quite a few beers by this point, so I exclaim that I’m up for trying it. It’s a step too far for our other friend Katie (who is also a hotpot virgin) who kindly declines the offer. After a few minutes of submersion, the feet are ready to go, and Greg bravely goes first. His facial expression doesn’t really reassure me, but let’s get it over with… To be fair, it actually doesn’t taste as bad as it looks. The flavour is just like chicken drumstick. However, the texture is awful- it’s just like chewing on a big rubbery piece of fat.

It’s been a pretty experimental week for me food wise, and I am rather proud at my new found bravery to try new things. I don’t think I’ll be rushing out to try snake or cockroach any time soon, but I am most definitely expanding my horizons (Margaret- no, this still DOESN’T mean you can cook me fish pie when we get home!!). At the supermarket this week we bought what we thought were sweet potato and chicken but we were wrong on both counts. As I was cutting into the chicken to make dinner, I suddenly realised the meat looked really dark and purple instead of pink. Thankfully it only turned out to be duck, but it just confirms that you never quite know what you’re going to get when shopping! The next night I was preparing our sweet potato for dinner and when I cut into it I noticed it was dark purple inside rather than orange. I have no idea what it actually was, but it tasted more like a fleshy and earthier version of sweet potato and was quite nice in the end! And finally, after our hotpot experience, we walked outside the restaurant to feast on some fresh sugar cane at a market that the woman cut and shaved freshly in front of us. I can highly recommend it as it basically tastes of candy floss.

On our night off we ended up going out for a few drinks and ended up playing some drinking games. That always signals the start of a messy night and it surely didn’t disappoint as we never got to bed until 6am! Who says we can’t still party with the young ones – we lasted longer than the 19 year old who was out with us and who also ended up being sick on his way home! I had to laugh when we watched a programme on TV the other day and there was a 20 year old who said ‘the time to be sensible and settle down is when I’m ‘old’ and 30. Cheers mate!

Today we took the bikes out and had a cycle round Shunfeng park which is only 10 minutes away from our house. So many people have told us about it but we’ve never been before today. I can’t believe we’ve never been here before- it’s one of the most amazing parks I’ve ever been to. The views across the lake are stunning and it’s so peaceful. Halfway round we spotted a nice looking coffee shop, so we popped in for a cup of coffee (there’s that 30-something year old inside us coming out). The staff were so excited at getting a chance to practice their English (even though he asks us if we want ‘anything to cooking’ instead of ‘to eat’ but hey, he’s trying). As we’re waiting for our coffee, one of the staff come over and ask us to pick out a ping pong ball with writing on it from a box. We’ve no idea what’s going on and she keeps giggling as Greg picks out what appears to be the wrong ball as she keeps telling him to put it back and take another. I must have chosen the right one, as she then directs me inside to choose from a selection of postcards to take as a prize. Quite a random experience! After our coffees (which are superb for the record), we continue our cycle around the other side of the lake back to where we started. Just as we’re about to leave, I spot a man attempting to take a photo of me in a not so discreet manner. I smile at him sarcastically and say ‘you can take a photo if you want to, you don’t need to pretend!’, expecting that he won’t know what I’m on about. However, he then replies back- ‘oh is it OK if I take a photo with you?’ I have to laugh and tell him it’s not a problem at all. I don’t mind people taking pictures of us, I just wish they would be more open and not try to hide it! He’s delighted with his picture and I’m delighted to have been asked so we’re both winners.

Later on we cycle through the back streets of Shunde looking for a new camera cable for the camera. I love the things you come across in these back alleys, you can find pretty much everything and anything. You see so many interesting things, such as the wet market we stumble across which is full of guys sitting on stools on the floor trying to flog you some crabs, or every kind of meat hanging up from a hook. We stop at a little shop in the middle of one of the streets and manage to find the cable we are looking for- all for the reasonable price of £1.50. In Hong Kong we looked for the same cable and the guy wanted to charge us a tenner!

We feel really relaxed here now and finally feel like China is our home from home. It’s taken a few months but we got here. My opinions of China have shifted in so many ways, and my views on certain things have really changed, both for the good and bad. I wouldn’t change anything and looking forward to our next month’s adventures, of which I am sure there will be many!

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Comments

[Cyril]

Hubble bubble toil and trouble!
Had to read your story about the hotpot a few times as at first it seemed like you cooked yourself in the boiling water, haha! don't do it! things aren't that bad! ;-) xxx