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Weather of today:
- Day: 28 degrees and cloudy. Where is the sun? :)
- Night 20 degrees
Sentence of today:
What is this place called? (I keep forgetting the name of the Fishermen's Wharf. Useful because I have to explain the taxi driver how to go there every time.)
这个的地方叫什么?
Today's - Good to know:
Chinese people think foreign children are fascinating. You may find that travelling with children greatly facilitates striking up conversations with locals and getting to know them.
Today's tip:
Don't me shy with your Chinese. Chinese people get fascinated even if you only can speak a little.
Dish of today:
Beef vegetable: 沙爹牛肉
Pork Bone cake:排骨肉大饼 (More like bread, very tasty)
Today's Historical fact:
China's cooking oil scandal:
In 2012, diners in China were appalled to discover that on in 10 meals cooked in Chinese restaurants was prepared with cooking oil dredged up from sewers and drains. Oil is lavishly employed in Chinese cooking and generates considerable waste.
This was oil is harvested by night soil collectors who scoop out the solidified oil from drains near restaurants and sell it on for around Y300 a barrel. The oil is then processed sold to restaurant owners and it re-enters the food chain. It is a stomach-churning lucrative industry. Quoting a professor from Wuhan Polytechnic University, The China Youth Daily revealed that up to three million tons of waste oil is recycled annually in China, or around 10% of all cooking oil consumed. The processing waste oil retails for around half the price of ordinary cooking oil but is sometimes mixed in with ordinary cooking oil prior to being sold. Once used again, there is nothing to stop the waste oil from being harvested afresh for further recycling. At present no regulations preventing the recycling of waste oil exist in China, so the industry is set to grow further.
My day:
Today I got up way to early (6am), but somehow after taking a quick shower, I wasn't tired. Was actually nice to get up early. I walked to the host families place, and on my way saw a lot of older people doing different kind of exercises. I ate breakfast with DaSheng and his Dad, Wang Qi already went off for work. They serve me this very sweet balls made out of dough with something inside, and bread made of flower and honey. Way to sweet for my taste, but I ate it to be polite. After eating we drove Dasheng to school. His last day before summer holiday. Nearby the school, the Dad showed me a park I could visit, and where the swimming bath were. And he wrote down on paper a place I could visit afterwards. It was the Russian area. He then went to work, and I was left to my little day adventure. First I walked to the park, but near the entrance was a long road with a lot of stands selling all different kind of fruits, vegetable, seafood. It was the local food market, it was 7 in the morning and very lively. Loaded with people, buying todays new brought supplies. In the park was a group of elderly ladies dancing, also guys playing basket, cards and different kind of exercises. Great experience to get close to "the real Chinese's everyday lives".
After studying the different groups activities and went to the Swimming bath. Was a little pool, with 6 lines of 25 meter, and luckily only a few elderly were swimming there. I swam for half an hour before getting to tired, but was nice to move my body a little, have been lazy the last couple of days I think.
From the bath, I took a cab to the Russian area, you can easily see the architecture is Russian, and also Russian signs everywhere. There was a long walking street with small shops a long in the side selling all kinds of useless things. Very cosy area, and funny to see how much crab they could sell. Afterward I walked down a local road where I got to another market area, again selling all kind of things, fruit, vegetables, meat, cake, bread and so on. There were also a lot of small Chinese style dinners, sitting on a bench, and then mutter comes with the food.
From here I took a cab home to the apartment. Relaxed for some hours watching Slum Dog Millionaire, and a bit of Big Bang Theory. The movie is really great! Sad, but with a really happy ending and you are entertained through the whole movie. Watch it, if you haven't already seen it! :)
I went to Momi café afterwards, wanted to use the Wifi for emails and blog, but it didn't work, sadly. I bought a cup of green tea and wrote my blog in Word instead. Which I always do before uploading, normally in the evening before going to bed.
DeSheng wrote me that I should meet the family down town around 6pm for dinner. He sent me a text with the address to a dining place. The driver didn't exactly drive me up in front of the dining place, so had to ask for direction on the street. I asked a young girl for direction. And she was really excited about helping me. She found showed me how to get there, was only 200 meters I think, and the funny was she wanted my phone number. I just gave her my Chinese number, and she texted me right away. Her English wasn't the best, so she typed me in Chinese, I just answered a few messages, but wasn't really interested.
I was a bit early at the dinning place, so sat half an hour in there, playing Angry Birds before the family arrived. We got our own little room, in classic Chinese style. They also invited a colleague and the colleague's daughter, a girl around 12 years old. She studied in the states for two years, so her English was pretty good. But the first she said to me was "What's up"! "What's up? I hate that question. What do you answer? What's up what? So I didn't really answer anything, just laughed.
After dinner they drove me home, watched a little of Bing Bang Theory, before going to bed.
Goodnight!
Ps: I miss you Vince!
- comments
Ole T holder meget af dine beretninger, Steffen...ser frem til dem hver dag !
oscar Hey. I just saw on CNN News that there are massive floods in Chins around Beijing. Are you alright?
Steffen I'm alright. Luckily I'm not in Beijing. 37 people already died because of heavy rain and flooding. But will be back on Monday, hopefully the rain will be gone at that time.