Eating

BBQ

Friday nights have been BBQ night with Rob and company since we arrived. We have become so predictable that we hardly have to order. It's straightforward anyhow. Rob or whoever else is there will just list the type of meat we want. It is almost always beef, chicken, pork, mutton, and chicken wings. Usually, the last thing we have is a round piece of bread that's been grilled after brushing the outside with a spicy mixture.

We get our box of beer (that they go across the street to buy from the convenience store right after we get there). Sunrise (or another student) will take up the role of pouring once we've taken a few sips. Don and Rob have trained them not to fill the glass so full now so as not to waste the beer. We chat while we wait for the first course to arrive.

Shortly afterwards, one of the people who work there will bring a handful of skewers over and serve up what they think is an appropriate amount for us. Then we eat. They time it just right so that, at any given time, there are at most a couple of varieties of meat on the platter. We never have to wait long for meat to appear or for our glasses to be full. Ah, what a life!

Cafeteria

Don & I have been eating most of our meals there lately since we've learned a few more dishes and it's just so darn convenient.

For lunch, we're usually joined by a couple of Don's students and / or Jerry. For dinner, we'll wander over after the student rush and enjoy ordering our food using the tried and true method of "point and order something from the extensive menu and be pleasantly surprised when they put our food up on the counter because we had no idea what we had ordered". We figure that if we order the most expensive thing on the menu (just short of $1) at the most popular window, we can't go wrong. We haven't had a bad dish yet. We don't even have to do much grocery shopping now because we're eating at the school so much. I also figure that I can't do any better stir-frying at home so why not. There isn't much meat in the dish but we get enough Friday nights at BBQ.

The cafeteria, as you can see, is basic. The windows for the different types of foods are along two walls. This is a self-serve kinda place. The food you order is either in a plastic bag (take-out) or in a plastic bowl or plate. There are dispensers, like those you get straws from, where you get your bright green plastic chopsticks. Sometimes, you have to clean the table you sit down at. That's why, in China, you do not go anywhere without carrying a small pack of tissue paper. You take out your trusty pack so you can clean the table, put one down to place your chopsticks on and take another out for a serviette. When you're finished, you bring all the thing up to the front where there is a cleaning station. You throw your chopsticks in a big bin and then leave your dishes on a counter. A worker then cleans the food off into a garbage pail and stacks up the dishes for washing. An efficient way to feed a whole bunch of people fast.

Many of the students might benefit from an etiquette lesson though. Maybe it has something to do with being away from home at an early age but they are little piggies when they eat. The tables are often strewn with little pieces of food or other garbage. They might leave just one little plastic bag behind.

How we pay is worth a mention. Since there is no cash exchanged here, we had to get these debit cards. We fill them up with money when we need to. After we order, we put the card on top of the cash register. The smart little machine will show the current balance and then after they charge you, it'll show the new balance. It's a handy system since you don't have to carry cash to eat. The campus convenience store next door also uses this system so when we go over to get ice cream for dessert, we don't have to fish for money.

People are always very curious what we order so we get lots of stares. It's a bit uncomfortable but at least complete strangers haven't wanted to sit down and practice their English while we're eating. I think that it's more daunting when there's the two of us. Rob has mentioned that people used to do that with him last year.

That's it for now. J