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You pick the fruit, they juice it for you. I picked one that was white with
black specs and the girl told me it wasn't good and that I should pick
another one. Hm. This seems to happen a lot here. For example we were
buying lights at the light store and the man assured us that the lights we
wanted would not look good in our home.... he has never been to our
home, but the assurance was sincere. Anyway, I got the watermelon one
because the girl behind the counter assured us it was the best. |
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| A special treat. |
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Who needs camomile tea with you can buy camomile flowers for cheap.
They are pretty and delicious. I had been looking for a good decaf/nighttime
drink and this is perfect. |
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A happy French breakfast, yay for Kunming
having a lot of foreigners, you can find some fun
food from all over the world. |
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| Homemade carrot bread from the WickerBasket. |
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| What the butter looks like. |
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Our favorite lunch spot, the Korean place. That's what we call it, I'm not
sure what the real name is. From this window you can see our 5th floor
apartment. So close! |
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| This says: T, K and L.M. are eating and I am planning to study after lunch. |
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Wood tables, appetizers and tea. I can walk away
full without paying more than $3. |
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This is for Stephen S. S., Grandma Potatoes!! Yum! From our favorite Muslim
food restaurant. |
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My personal favorite dish. Black beans fried with mint and celery and
peppers (which you don't eat). |
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| The household favorite, sizzling beef. |
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This is what REAL sweet and sour chicken looks like. Also you can see that
there are 2 pairs of chopsticks. This is because here everyone usually eats
family style. This means that all the food is put on a lazy susan in the middle
of the table and everyone shares everything. You can turn dishes to
yourself. It's fun and gives you the opportunity to have quite a variety. |
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When eating DUMPLINGS (yum!!!) one must first prepare the
dipping sauce. Here are the ingredients provided: soy sauce, vinegar, garlic,
a spicy seasoning which I don't know how to say in English, and green
onions. |
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| Here is the end result, ready for the dumplings! |
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| Dunk! |
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| hmmmmm. |
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| Here are fried dumplings, these are our favorite kind. |
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They serve them freshly handmade on baskets like this. You can get
all different kinds: veggie, shrimp, chicken, etc. |
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Sizzling tofu. I don't like tofu in the States, but here....it's a whole
different story, so good! |
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I almost forgot. This is another option they have at every table. 4 different
kinds of salt and...MSG. You just scoop it into your dipping sauce
or over your meal. I tell you the truth, I watched one man put 11 scoops
into his soup. 11! I won't even try one. |
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| Giant bowls of noodles. |
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This noodle shop is small, but my word is it popular. I call it the
Cafe Du Monde of China because the chaos is really similar. Chair and tables
all over the place, people standing and waiting, borrowing chairs, etc. I don't
like going here because it is so crowded that I knocked an old man carrying
2 bowls of broth with my backpack, I didn't even feel it! Luckily the soup
only spilled a little on the guy behind him (he was mad) and only a few people
gave me dirty looks. I felt really bad. I prob won't be going back. |
Before I give you a proper update I must say that if you have only had Chinese food in America, it really isn't the real deal. If you are not a big fan, I urge you to give it a second chance. Chinese food is incredibly flavorful and diverse. If you ever get a chance to have a native cook for you, definitely take them up on it.
Ok, a semi-proper update. I haven't been posting because my computer completely crashed : ( My friends are going to Hong Kong this week and offered to take it to the Apple Store for me. I had it looked at by a former Apple Tech and he said it was the motherboard....so it might cost a pretty penny. It is literally a MIRACLE that I happened to upload all my photos into draft form on blogger to save time. I am so glad I did because none of my photos from China were backed up on my external hardrive and I had already deleted them from my computer. So please enjoy these! I am using a friends computer until I am able to get one of my own, but won't be able to edit photos so they might be pretty raw. Anyway, let me fill you in on what's been happening:
1. Yes, I have an Asian haircut (this is something that is practically unavoidable...I was getting a mullet). I pretty much look like an Asian version of Amelie (yikes!). But I will let you be the judge in some posts to come. All I'll say is that I have very short bangs, all across, short in the back with flippy things in the front. Interesting, I know.
2. My diet has changed drastically. Because I was struggling so much with my digestion T recommended focusing on nutrition instead of medicine. Basically I cannot eat sugar, anything with yeast (which is a lot!) and most diary. Here is some details if you're interested:
When Candida proliferates, it changes form, morphing from a simple, relatively harmless one into one that is capable of penetrating the intestinal lining. This elicits low-grade inflammation in the gut and causes breakdown of the boundary between the intestinal tract and the circulatory system. Known as leaky gut, increased intestinal permeability allows incompletely digested food particles and yeast cells to pass through and enter the blood stream. The immune system soon identifies these large particles as foreign, and ramps itself up to deal with them.
In part, food sensitivities and allergies are thought to develop as a result of this process — the invaders that make it across the gut into the blood get labeled as dangerous, and the immune system remembers them the next time it encounters them, and reacts accordingly. People with candidiasis may need to avoid foods containing other yeasts and fungi from their diets because of this cross-sensitivity — the molecular subcomponents they contain are similar or identical to those found in Candida, so the immune system cannot distinguish between them and responds accordingly.
Uncomfortable digestive symptoms like bloating, gas, and bubbling in the gut arise because an overgrowth of yeast leads to the
fermentation of foods instead of the digestion of foods. Along with these unpleasant symptoms, yeasts ferment sugars into alcohol, which destabilizes blood sugar and leads to intense
cravings for more sugar. I find it fascinating that these tiny organisms can get us to do exactly what they want us to do — eat more carbs and sugar! (http://www.womentowomen.com/digestionandgihealth/candida.aspx)
Anyway, I figure that even if this is not what I have, cutting out carbs and sugar for awhile can only be good for me. Since I've started this (last week) I have felt about 98%! So, I think it is working. T helps me a lot. She cooks and buys food that I can eat and teaches me all she knows about eating and cooking. If she wasn't helping me I probably wouldn't be able to stick it out. I am so thankful I am feeling better these days and that I am starting an eating life style change that was much needed. (Obviously the pictures above are from before I began this).
3. I got a bicycle!! It's a beauty, I named it Katmandu. I can't wait to blog about biking in China and about all the places I've biked and the adventures I've had.
4. I have an address in Pinyin (so America can read it) and Characters (so China can read it), if your interested I'll send it to you in jpg. form and you can print it out.
5. I slept in my new room for the first time last night!!! It was wonderful. I have been sharing K's bed (which has been extremely comical) and just got some foam for mine (they don't really have mattresses here, you have to have large pieces of foam cut to size). K is a wild talker/mover/pincher, all in her sleep. Every morning I had a new story to tell. As much as I'll miss her, being in my own space is so calming and I really feel at home.
6. There are a group of very special people from Texas who are here and will be here the next 7 weeks! It's so refreshing to see friendly and familiar faces around town and over dinner. It is also nice that people I know can see what I'm doing and where I'm living and can take all the details home with them and share them with friends who couldn't make it.
To be continued, I need to go to bed so I can get up at 630 to study!!!
