Eating in China

Diane is carrying the beer to someone else's table. We could have all the beer we wanted but had to pay extra if we wanted water.

July 2 Shanghai We had a delicious lunch with standard Chinese food, all food in the middle on a glass “lazy Susan” type tray. It was absolutely delicious. The table was filled with lots of meats and different vegetables, with watermelon for the last course.

Some of the girls eating dumplings

July 5, 2008
The officials of the school took us to dinner tonight. It was a very expensive meal. Sally Lowe is the organizer of this program, said that each plate cost them about 1000 RMB (About $150.00 US money.) It makes me feel bad that they spend so much to impress us, when we really don’t appreciate the food. Some of the food they served for dinner was pigeon, jelly fish, along with the regular fish, duck, rice and many vegetable dishes. I always try some of each food they serve. They served lots of wine and beer. In fact they did not even have the option of water or soda. When we requested some, they brought us our own bottle of coca cola. Finally we asked for water and they brought us bottled water. In most restaurants, we can have one small glass of water and if we ask for water, we have to pay extra.
July 16th
Tonight we had the farewell dinner. There were twenty one courses, including squid, jellyfish, snails, and other fish that looked real interesting with the eyeballs staring at you from the plate. In the opening dinner, the chef brought the fish to the officials to show them it was alive before they killed it to cook. They want to show that everything is fresh. I tried everything. Once again several teachers drank too much and made fools of themselves. Several officials drank a lot too. It is very traditional to drink a lot here.

July 14, 2008

We met Chris and Sarah from the church this evening and they took us to eat in a Mexican restaurant called “Behind the Wall”. It was very different. It was so loud we could not carry on a conversation, there was a big Lab wondering through the rooms, people (including the workers) were smoking. I imagine that is the way it is in real Mexican restaurants. We have to think, once again, this is all part of our experience. My cheese quesidillias were very good however.

One of our favorite things to eat was dumplins found right around the corner from our hotel. We could have 6 dumplings for 4RMB. I could easily eat 12 with cost less than $2.00.

One thing we learned quickly in China is that eating is often messier than at home. Diane loves this picture