Oh hey, don’t I know you from somewhere? Oh yeah, you used
to be my blog, and then I got side-tracked and forgot about you. Seriously, I’m
GOING to get better at this whole updating thing! (Maybe if I type that enough,
it will work? Pshh ya right!)
Anyways, I have several weeks’ worth of events to update you
all on, including the 7 day National Day holiday. Since I have been blessed
with a 5 day weekend (my Thursday and Friday classes are canceled this week due
to a sports meet), I plan on making great use of this time and blogging every
day until I am caught up. So, here we go…
A few weeks ago, I was invited by one of my classes (really
two of my classes, but they are one class split in half for my benefit) to
accompany them on a day trip. I got a text message from the teacher in charge
of their class on a Saturday night, asking me to meet her at 8:00 the next
morning if I would like to join them. I had no idea where we would be going or
what we would be doing, but I agreed nonetheless.
It
turns out they had paid to use a farm for the day and were preparing to cook a
delicious feast for everyone! Apparently, this is becoming a more and more
popular activity in China. Because the cities are so overcrowded and it is so
difficult to travel, people will rent out farm houses just outside of the city
to get a taste of the country for a day. Both parties benefit from this
situation: the city-dwellers get to get away, even if only for a day, for a low
price and relatively short travel time; and the farmers get to bring in a
little extra money, and maybe even sell some of their produce.
In this case the students (about 35 to 40 of them) brought
in bucket loads of meat, fish, and vegetables from the city. Most of the
morning was spent preparing the food, some of which I had definitely never seen
before. I got to taste some new, and I might add delicious, fruits and witness
the preparing of some truly curious vegetables.
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| interesting vegetables |
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| favorite fruit discovery of the day - they look and taste like baby apples! |
