TEFL-Chinese-TEFL again and then more Chinese. Ordinarily our training would have taken place in Beijing over the course of three weeks. But due to the Olympics we're getting certified in 10 days here in Zhuhai, a city located off the south China coast in the Guangdong province. That's really why I haven't written lately, whenever we do get free time we try to take advantage of it by exploring the city.
So the food here is different to say the least. Last Sunday a group of twelve of us all decided to grab dinner and drinks on Jiu Ba Jie (Bar Street). With vague directions we managed to get very lost. We rode the bus until we could ride no longer. That was our first sign we had missed our stop. We never ended up making it to Bar Street that night, but we did wander around enough to make it to what seemed like Salon Street. It was as if every other store was an Amici Style. I thought Curtis was going to pop out to try to and sell me about $100 worth of Bumble and Bumble products to keep my hair tamed in this hot and humid climate.
Finally we stumbled upon what looked like the back of a restaurant. Indecisiveness is always a problem in big groups so I took charge and led my people in. In order to get to our table we walked by all sorts of fish tanks with live animals in them. Some of which we would surely be eating within time. We ordered a variety of dishes. Besides the vegetarian plates everything was mostly little balls of meat fried in oil with bones still sticking out of them. One of our friends who has been to China before said you're basically supposed to eat around the bones and then spit them out once your done. I compare this to eating sun flower seeds--a lot of work for not much reward.
We also ordered a dish called field chicken. Once everyone had tried this mystery dish our friend told us we had just swallowed bits and pieces of froggie. The Chinese call this field chicken because the only fields in China are rice paddies. I have to say besides the bones it wasn't too bad, but I don't think I'll order it again.
Halfway through dinner, some of these waitresses used their cellphones to take pictures of our table. I guess seeing such a large group of foreigners isn't such a common sight in Zhuhai. Although Zhuhai is no small city. Thomas Friedman was here recently visiting a few of the city's wind power plants and had an op-ed published last weekend in the New York Times on how parts of China are beginning to go green.
Back to the whole staring thing though. I actually don't mind it. And in reality there's not all that much of it anyway. Although some are more curious than others. If I'm walking down the street with a friend and two Chinese men peddle by on a bike or ride by in their car they might yell out hello with a big smile on their face. If we're out shopping it's not hard to catch people studying you for an extra second than they normally would. It's as if they're trying to figure something out but then give up almost as immediately as they begin. Actually, my roommate and I were walking to get lunch at a little jiao zi (dumpling) stand the other day and on our way back we were stopped on the sidewalk and asked to be English teachers at school here in Zhuhai. So if anyone has trouble finding work back home and they like to travel they should consider moving to Asia because they could definitely find a job. You only need one skill--speaka da English.
