Picky-eaters Prohibited

Last night Elvia showed me around downtown Hechuan so I know the proper places to buy essentials. Everything here is amazingly cheap. Elvia would point at something and talk about how it was a little more expensive at this shop, but still reasonable. I would then look at the price and start jumping for joy. I bought a lemonade-tea concoction (so delicious, I have a feeling the ladies at this specific shop are going to get to know me very well) for only 2.50 yuan or FORTY CENTS. I stocked up on a giant thing of water, loads of toilet paper and garbage bags, and a towel all for approx. $8. My fancy dinner with Elvia’s friends, which included plenty of pi jiu (beer), was the wallet-emptying purchase of the night at a whopping $5. I think I’m going to like it here.

When Elvia told me about the restaurant we were going to she told me it was very famous in Hechuan for its ji rou (chicken). I could have found this place from half a mile away, as a few blocks from the place we started hearing lots of squawking. We walked in and I stared in the eyes of a dozen chickens, one of which I was about to consume. I saw the wash bin where a cook was de-feathering the chicken, and another block that I would prefer not to talk about for the sake of the vegetarians reading this blog (*cough* Chelsea and Anita *cough*).

The bowl that was brought out to us after we sat down is a very unique version of hot pot, and I was lucky that there were a delicious Chinese potato included because I could not quite bring myself to eat more than a few measly bites of chicken. This was not so much out of a sense of animal activism, but mainly because I was having a hard time distinguishing between meat and non-meat. At the end of the meal, a giant bowl of ‘soup’ was brought out. Or at least that’s what I thought it was. It turns out it was the chicken’s innards and private parts, as no part of the animal goes to waste in China. Congealed on top was what I was told was chicken blood, and the Hechuanese believe it is very good for you to eat this because it clears away all the dust from your system that has collected as a result of the construction. Honestly, it tasted better than some of things I have had-- kind of like a salty pudding. I think China is a good cure for picky eating, all American food is going to look safe compared to the guesswork involved over here.

I met some of Elvia’s third-year English students on the way back to my apartment. They were very friendly, spoke English amazingly well, and when I told them I was from Chicago one quickly lit up and shouted, “Chicago Bulls!” It turns out reverence for Michael Jordan extends all the way to China, which is great and means I have an instant in with my students. I’m planning on using this to my advantage and converting all of my students into massive fans of anything Chicago.

My hospital visit has been postponed until next week, as have classes as a result of the incredible heat-wave (102 degrees today), so I will have plenty of free time this weekend to do some exploring, reading, catching-up on things in the states, etc.