New foods

Bing Tang Hu Lu, a candied fruit on a stick.  Zi Cai Tang, a purple sea weed soup.  Ji Dan Guan Bing, the egg and potato breakfast sandwich.  Nian Gao, the New Years rice cake. Yang Yu Ca Ca, the spicey shredded potatoes.  Suan La Tu Dou Si, a potato dish that I need to try.   Jian Bing, a fried bread wrap that I ate before class and then because a student talked about it, I knew what it was.  Ma Po Dou Fu, a spicey tofu dish with peppers and onions.  These are some of the foods that I plan to eat because my students talked about them during their class food presentations.  I need to do some research for recipes because I am also interested in sharing the food experience with JoAnne.  Actually I want to learn how to make the Nian Gao or New Years rice fruit cake so that I can share that with all the members of the Thomas family.  After my Tuesday class, I went to the cafeteria and found the Yang Yu Ca Ca, or spicey shredded potatoes, and had that for supper.  I was quite good and I would like that in the morning with eggs.  I told my students on Thursday that I ordered it and you should have seen their eyes light up.  You have to order this because it is not on the menu.  I will probably learn more than the students but that is the wonderful thing about teaching.
They are building a new building here and poured concrete today. Right now they are vibrating the concrete.  It sounds just like the World Cup when they were blowing those horns.  It must be worse where the other foreign teachers are because  it is loud here and we are farther away.  Back to the story.
Last night after the English Corner, I went out to eat with a group of students, some from the USA and some from Xian.  They wanted me to order something and it was harder to order off the picture menu than the regular one at the cafeteria.  Finally I asked in my best Mandarin, if they like cow's stomach.  The answer was yes.  So we ordered some.  We had fried mushrooms, rice, tripe, green beans, cabbage, sweet and sour chicken, and two other dishes and tea.  That cost us a little more than two dollars a person.  The American students had never eaten cows stomach before, or as one student said, " I don't think so but who knows.".  This looked different than what I have had before.  It looked more like a big strip of bacon.  Tonight I had a shot of a Chinese students home made Bai Jiu, only they make theirs with corn.  It had a different taste to it, that is for sure.  One of the students said, " everyone has that look on their face after a drink."  You would not want to drink much of that stuff and I don't actually think you could.
Today after class it was picture day.  It seems that many of the students wanted to have their picture taken with me.  So that is what I did for awhile, smile and have my picture taken with the different students.  I like this job.  I attend the folk dancing session tonight.  I can not tell my left foot from my right in either language, but we all had a good time and next week some more of the CLC students will be there and I hope some more of mine.  The sun was out this afternoon so it is getting a little nicer out.  It has been cold and wet all week but the weekend should be in the 60's and when we go to the Bell Tower I am going to drink a real cup of coffee.  Warmer weather is more than welcome.