Life

We've expanded our cafeteria repertoire. Now we can order a couple more rice dishes thanks to Jerry.

Jerry is a Chinese student who is majoring in Japanese but takes every opportunity to practice his English. He is, in fact, more fluent than many of our English students. He found Don the first day of classes and has been a frequent companion as we make our way across campus after classes. He will walk us to the campus gate and then go off to his next class. We have eaten with him a few times now and each time he helps us order something different. Our strategy is to memorize the approximate location of the characters on the menu and try to re-order it by ourselves the next time.

Meals in the cafe are very economical... as long as we manage to order. The most expensive thing there is just under $1 so the two of us can eat cheaply. The only thing is that, for now, we are limited in our choices. Since they don't have cooking facilities in their dorms, many of the students eat all of their meals there or on the street for some variety. We cook in the apartment but the meals are very simple and quick. Usually, it's a stir-fry and rice from our rice cooker.

I got my first haircut here yesterday. Kathy took me along to her salon while her husband, Hermen and Don went off to do some shopping. I only paid 15 Yuan or about $2. It was half price because she had a coupon but I think I could manage a full priced haircut. It'll be a shocker when I have to pay Canadian prices again. The stylist was quite good. I think there is an advantage here because they have experience working with Asian hair. Kathy told me that he was puzzled as to why I couldn't speak Chinese when I looked Chinese though. Ha ha ha.

A comment about the definition of female beauty here. I was amazed at the number of skin whitening products on the market. They sell these face masks (the ones with holes for your eyes, nose and mouth) and even have treatments to lighten your colour. Having a paler face is a traditionally held view of beauty. Maybe it has something to do with purity. I tried to explain to some of the students that in the West women want to look darker because it looks healthier. They asked if it was true that you sit under lights. Yeah, it does sound kind of foolish when I try to explain why people would cause their skin harm to get a darker colour.

We're going cell phone shopping today with Jerry. We feel that you can't be in China without a cell phone. Don wants one that he can write Chinese characters. He thinks it'll be amusing to text random characters to people. Stay tuned.

J xoxo