What a weekend! Seriously, life is easy.
Friday we got out of school and walked to the supermarket. One thing I've realized; I must walk like a freak. No matter what I do, I always get mud all up the back of my pants; like up to the KNEES. I was watching other people... and no one else does. I must flip my feet funny? I tried everything; walking pigeon-toed, bow-legged, prancing a bit like a pony, dragging my feet... nothing works. I was just wearing tennis shoes, so it's not like that was the issue.
Anyway, we bought some stuff, ate some dinner, and took a tuck-tuck home (it was raining, and I didn't want my pants to get MORE filthy). Amy is a happy camper; she now has this cute little hammock-like fruit basket for all the fresh fruit she buys! Saturday was lazy. We sat at home most of the day cleaning, eating, watching tv, writing, etc. I even painted with watercolor! (don't ask me how it turned out). That night we went to dinner with our neighbors Jarvis and Larissa. They are such fun. We went to a pointy restaurant and picked 6 dishes. The table was FULL. Sweet and sour pork, eggplant, beef and onions, mushrooms in some kind of yummy sauce, sesame-crusted SOMETHING (maybe okra, we guessed?), chicken and asparagus, some Snow beer, and tea. We didn't even get any rice, and we were FULL! We decided to walk home instead of taking a taxi. It was a nice night stroll. S
unday we had breakfast and lunch, then ventured out to explore. We walked around the city from 12:30 until 5:30! Needless to say, Amy's flip-flop clad feet are a bit blistered. The food here is sooo good (our cafeteria food is an exception to that, though). The fruit is amazing. Apples don't have that waxy covering on them. The pineapple is so fresh and juicy. Kiwis are cheap, and sooooooo good. Then there's pears, papaya, mangos, bananas, starfruit, dragonfruit, grapes... the list goes on and on! People eat a LOT of fruit here. I rarely see someone walking down the street eating a candy bar; but there are people munching on fruit everywhere. The vegetables are good too. My favorites are snap peas and eggplant. Bamboo is good, too. It's not like you get at home. It's not in tiny little slivers. There are big chunks that are cooked to tender perfection. I'm not big on most of the meat here. A lot of it is on the bone, and it's too hard and embarrassing to try to eat with my chopsticks. Sometimes I'll do chicken or pork.
Okay, if you get easily grossed out, don't read this next part...
The pork in the cafeteria is basically just a pig all chopped up. There is SOOO much fat on it; and they don't SKIN the pig. So you often get chunks of fat with the pig hide still attached. That isn't the worst part. One day, I had some bamboo (which is cooked with pork chunks). I don't ever eat the pork, but it flavors the sauce. So I looked at this piece, and realized it was the skin. That grossed me out. Then I saw a HAIR sticking out of it. Then, I saw a bump NEXT to the hair. Was it a wart? No. A mole? No. IT WAS A PIGGIE NIPPLE. Yes, I had a piggie nipple on my plate. A hairy one. SO lunch was done. Now that I've completely grossed you out, it's time to go.
They put us in a private room for just the two of us... it was a little awkward because the waitresses kept peeking!
Our sprite in fancy glasses, and the eggplant. It's made from the small, long, thin purple eggplant. It's cooked in a dark brown soybean paste. I still have to get the recipe. I want to perfect it! It's so sweet and yummy.
