The Smell of Cut Grass

This post is dedicated to more of the little things that go on in China that people forget to post about. They aren’t significant, but the little things are what make China just so great.

First, my guy friends use to make fun of me because I ate so little. Well here in China that certainly isn’t the case! Because the food isn’t processed, you can stuff yourself, and then be hungry again in 2 hours. I feel like I eat a ton here and am still hungry for more at the next meal even though after every meal I feel completely full! The portion sizes they serve you in the cafeteria are huge; like 2-3 scoops of everything. Then I feel obligated to eat everything on my tray, so I do! Sometimes I finish eating and look down and think, “Holy cow, that was a lot of food, where did it all go?!?” Eating this much doesn’t affect me in China, but I’m going to have to retrain myself when I get back to the states because American food is a lot more heavy and unhealthy so I would die if I ate the same portion sizes in America.

 

After playing the game of "what's for lunch today" we concluded that this limb including fingers is a limb of a frog. Yum!

            We found this hidden shopping center that’s super cheap and awesome behind this pond near a mall only one stop away… anyway, while we were there we witnessed something that crosses the line of social acceptablility. I have seen toddlers squatting near trees to go potty, but I have never before in my life seen a parent bend their 6-year-old child in two over a garbage can so they can go pottiy in the middle of a populated area! Crossing the line, China, crossing the line! I stood there with my mouth open just in shock. Hawking a loogie is gross, hawking a loogie then spitting it out is even grosser, hawking a loogie and chewing it instead of spitting it out is nasty, but putting on that inappropriate of a display is down right intolerable! Dwoss.

 

This huge wrap I found at the hidden shopping center with strips of fried chicken, lettuce, egg, cucumber, and yummy sauce for only one American dollar! 

            On a more positive note, we have a Birthday Party each month for all the people in our group that had a birthday, half birthday, or ¼ birthday. For this party, 2 of our girls baked an incredibly delicious chocolate cake with frosting, chocolate sauce words, and Oreo crumbles. Oh my gosh it was so moist and delicious!

            Oh! There are already frog sounds! My favorite sound is in the summer time when the frogs are croaking in the pastures around our house and they actually do that here too around the school! Mmmh, I love comforting/reminding of home things like that. I wish China would let the frogs croak outside though instead of letting them “croak” in their soup pots… yes, we found frog limbs with little finger and toes in one of our dishes at the cafeteria. That was not a happy moment for any of us, including the frog.

            There is this family in the Branch called the Ferney who are the greatest! They live only 2 metro stops away from us and are so friendly and awesome. The mom is hilarious and loves us girls, the dad is the Branch President, and her 3 older kids still living at home are just a joy to be around. Alane Ferney, the mom, lets us bake things in her oven and invites us to play games with her and her family. I love staying at her house because they spirit is always there and it’s just a happy family atmosphere. Well Alyssa, my roommate, and I got a box of cookies from a secret sister so we wanted to do the same for someone. We made a spur of the moment decision to make some cookies out of a cake mix that had been left over from last semester’s girl and use oreos instead of chocolate chips. We separated the chocolate middle filling from the cookie part of the oreo and melted that in the microwave to drissle over the cake cookies rolled in oreo crumbles. Oh my goodness, can I just say that those cookies didn’t make it back to our apartment. The Ferney’s appreciated them way more than our girls would have and we exchanged our cookies for a rousing game of Nertz. Worth it! Also, we had dinner at the Ferney's, but they called it "trough dinner." I just assumed left over but when she pulled out a legit trough with everything in it I was shocked! So awesome.

My Oreo cookie cake-mix concoction. 

The Trough for trough dinner!

            The next day was Saturday and the Ferneys hosted the Spring Social for Relief Society. All of us ILP girls went to the Suguo (like the Supermarket) and got fruits and veggies to add to the delicious coconut rice, fresh salads, normal rolls, and INCREDIBLE shredded, crockpot meats. Dad, next time you make some shredded pork throw some cloves in there. To die for. It was nice to eat and socialize with all the Relief Society ladies. Then we played some games, practiced our Easter song, and went our separate ways. It was nice to have a relaxing weekend here in Nanjing instead of traveling. Don’t get me wrong, I want to travel as much as possible, but one weekend at home every once in a while is nice.

            The fashion here is nothing like I can explain… basically everyone can get away with wearing anything and everything. Platform shoes, scrunchies, loose baggy sweaters, g-ma’s outfits, spikes, way tall high heals, 50s style shirts with lace and buttons, mini skirts with tights and boots, overalls, super fancy, sweats, and so many layers! The Chinese wear full on winter coats when it’s 75 degrees outside… they are always asking us girls if we are too cold when we wear our shorts and sandals. Haha no way!

The very last thing for this post is the smell of cut grass. The workers around the school have started weed-whacking (I don't know if they have mowers here....) and outside smells incredible like happiness, swimming pools, picnics, and BBQs :D Thumbs up China!