Spitting, and Melamine anyone?

Saturday 6th Dec
Breakfast is vastly different to what i usually have back in oz. I awoke to be greeted by 2 plain pieces of bread, a hard boiled egg and of all things milk. And i'm not talking about a glass of milk, I'm talking about a large BOWL of milk. Fan-bloody-tastic. Nothing like a good dose of melamine each morning to kick start the day.
I had to ask aunty how to eat it, as i thought there was some special way to do it (dip the bread in the milk?) to which she replied 'anyway u see fit'.She must've thought i was a moron. It's a little strange having plain bread without margarine or butter, as apparently these spreads are uncommon here. since then i've gone and bought my own though.

I'm starting to once again remember the challenges of living in a foreign country where u don't speak the langauage. Everyday is a game of charades. I'm gonna be a charades master after this trip, and i challenge anyone to a game when i get back. Sometimes though i tend to just wave my arms in outwards circular motions or make box shapes with my two hands for every single item i try to describe (like that's really gonna help translate). Ok, maybe i won't be a Master Charader when i get home.

My breakfast was frequently punctuated by the sounds of firecrackers going off downstairs. we're up on the 10th floor of a 35 floor appartment block, but you can still hear the things going off on the ground floor. Someone was getting married, and there was a guy with a megaphone directing the whole thing and organising the entourage of cars. It was quite funny to me.





Decided to walk to school the first day, and have been everyday til now. I just love taking in all the weird, wonderful and the somewhat disturbing sights along the walk. The first thing i think eveyrone notices is the spitting (hocking?). But i hadn't realized it's rampant everywhere. i was expecting to witness one loogey every hour or so but it's actually like every minute or so. I can't understand why everyone is producing so much saliva or snot. is it the pollution or diet? I haven't noticed myself needing to expel yet. And that brings me to my next point, it's not just stuff coming out of mouths, it's coming out of nostrils too! Charming. Oh and it's not just men who do it, it's on for young and old, men and women. I was pretty surprised when i first saw and heard a young girl loading up and releasing. Wow, if i ever dated a local chinese girl i think it'd be a bit of a turnoff. Anyway, since loogeying is so rampant it's pointless trying to dodge every wet splotch on the ground. Just don't look down. see no evil, hear no evil.

So got to the school around midday and met the principal, su peng. he's a local about my age, pretty friendly and helpful. Like i mentioned before, he ended up accompanying me that arvo to the markets to buy a jacket. Thankfully he speaks good english, which makes things alot easier. The school has some inhouse cooks (su peng's parents!), and they whipped up some welcome jiao zi (dumplings) for me. there was like 4 other types of dishes and soup, so it was practically a feast.

Anyway this post is long enough already, so will talk about the crazy traffic rules and markets next time.