Friday, September 21, 2007

Street Food
















There is more food sold on the China Streets than anywhere I have ever been. You can buy anything you want and you might be surprised what is available on the streets. There is an abundance of vendors, especially with food. It doesn't take much to set-up shop. Sometimes as little as a cloth to put on the ground to place your product on. Better than that, some use a basket or two and a stick with strings to carry up to two different items. Even better yet is a bike with a flat board mounted on the back to hold your fruit or live items like chickens for the evening meal. Some bikes are outfitted with propane tanks and cooking pans. Sometimes they just get a 50 gallon barrel and use it as a cooker. These seem to be used primarily to cook large batches of sweet potatoes. Our friends tell us they are delicious and We are going to try them soon. Previously, before I left the states, I said, I would never buy any food from the street vendors, but I have relented and purchased quite a few things. Bev has bought a number of fruits and some vegetables, some of which we later eat. Generally, our purchases have been items that have a skin of some sort of peeling to get to the fruit or item to eat. These are some pics of some of the varieties that you can find everywhere. BTW Most of the fruit is excellent. Tree ripened! Bananas from the street vendors are less than 1 yuan each or about $.12. If you don't know the expected price for something they will charge you more. And almost always things cost less away from Shekou, Seaworld, where we live.

I have not seen anyone with there own chopsticks. Most of the street food does not require them but if it does the standard wood chopsticks in a paper sleeve are more common than straws and just as cheap to handout. We have been given them to use in restaurants that have the metal chopsticks as they are easier to use than the thin metal ones.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Afternoon Cool Off





Bev and I decided to go for a swim Sunday afternoon to cool down and get away from the high humidity and smog this weekend. It had been all of the above. This Hotel, the Nan Hai is suppose to be a 5 star hotel. It is very nice, maybe not a 5 start though. It is about 3 blocks from our school and farther than our apartment but still a very easy walk. We had the pool to ourselves for the first hour and then were joined by this young man and his father. Later some school staff and their families came in for a swim. Very beautiful place. Note the gray air. Yuk.I added the flower pic since I hadn't posted any flowers yet!

International Brunch














Secondary Students pose for a quick picture.

Each year students and parents participate in an International Brunch on Saturday September 15th. Many students dress in native costume and parents bring a traditional dish to share. Dishes are placed on tables according to nationality. After a brief announcement everyone digs in with forks and chopsticks. Here are just a few pictures of this years event.