Kunitzer in China

It's been 3 1/2 weeks since we arrived in China and I'm surprised at how quickly we have been able to settle in so far. Daily life is so much different than the States, it's just not possible to tell about it all in one posting. In fact I don't know if I could do it in a hundred postings! But the thing I can easily say is that our actions and reactions to being in China have already changed quite a bit during the past 3 1/2 weeks.

This past Saturday (August 12th) turned out to be a rather enjoyable day despite not doing everything we planned on. Our initial plan was to get some lunch and then go to a local amusement park because we wanted the girls to do something fun. Seemed like a good plan, so we head out for lunch to The Blue Marlin.

We heard that The Blue Marlin serves excellent hamburgers. Since I had been eating nothing but Chinese food for 3 weeks straight, I was willing to eat even a crappy hamburger. So my vote was for The Blue Marlin. Even Renee was looking for a little variety, so she was willing to go along. The Blue Marlin is only about 1/4 mile from our apartment, so we decided to walk - the two girls rode in the stroller. It was only 11:30 am, but it was already >90 degrees F. Mira fell asleep on the way there, so she didn't care how hot it was, but the rest of us were dying.

I don't know if it was the heat or if it was just giving in to being in China, but we quickly drank the water we were served when we sat down. Until that moment, we treated a glass of Chinese water like we would treat a glass of Mexican water - we wouldn't drink it unless it was bottled. But at that moment, the cold water looked so good. (First of all, you have to understand that nearly evertime that water is served at a meal, the water is hot. I don't know if it's because the people here are accustomed to drinking tea (not Charleston sweet tea either because that's a future posting, but can you see why it's not possible to tell about everything in one posting? I digress) or they are are accustomed to boiling (read "sterilizing") their water before drinking. Secondly, you have to understand that Chinese standards of cleanliness are completely different than American standards of cleanliness and clean dishes, hands, food, you name sure isn't the same to us as it is to them - certainly another future posting (or more), but again I digress.) Throwing caution to the wind, and figuring we are going to get sick sooner or later, and imaging how great that ice cold water is going feel, we all drink our water. Sixty hours later, we still have yet to get sick, so we will probably be up for it again.

Of course the burger was delicious. It was real Australian beef! With french fries made from real potatoes! And real ketchup! And real draft beer! Chinese beer, but hey, I was willing to look the other way because it was real draft beer! Normally I wouldn't get this excited about a hamburger, but let's see you eat fried rice and won tons 3 times a day for 3 weeks and not get excited about a hamburger and fries. I can't exactly say that I've had fried rice and won tons 3 times a day for 3 weeks straight, but that's because I don't really know what I've eaten for 2 out of 3 meals for 3 weeks straight. Again, another future posting (or more) of discussion.

Although I spent so much time writing about a glass of water and a hamburger, I can't say that that meal was the highlight of the day. The rest of the day had it momemts of taxi-riding (another future posting), taxi-dodging (another future posting), getting stared at (this one's good for at least three more postings), shopping at Auchan (Chinese version of Wal-mart - this one's also good for at least three more postings, if not a good half dozen), getting a haircut (again another posting), eating dinner (by itself this is good for a future posting, but since our housekeeper made dinner for us this is definitely good for multiple future postings), and walking at the lighted fountains (deserves at least one posting because it seems like it should be exciting but when compared against all the strangeness of just trying to live through each day isn't really as exciting as I would expect it to be).