New Adventures

Excellent. Post worked quickly and was completed. There are so many other things that I have not yet conveyed to you! One of which is the modest realization that here I am exotic, which means that here I am also beautiful. I have been told so by many people now, though at first I thought they were just being nice, but then when people said that when they wouldn't gain anything from it (like a good first impression) I was a little shocked. I have decided that I am Pretty in China.

But that isn't even the fun adventure stories. I tend not to believe compliments while auditing. Buttering up the auditor is a classic trick. It actually works more than you might think. Usually by complimenting the auditors intelligence, or "cleverness" as they put it here. I know I am clever, but thank you, now bring me that record.

The new adventures, however, start with the new foods and flavors. In general I don't ask what I am eating because there is always the chance that you will retch right onto the table. I think it is actually, scientifically, and literally called the "yuck factor." Something that I find revolting even without ever tasting it (such as chicken feet.) But today I had to admit that something revolting ended up being good (like the first time that I had pate.) Today I have eaten "fish belly." Don't ask me what that actually is, but it has a salty flavor with a bit of fishiness, but nothing so overwhelming or gross that it is spit out immediately. It was good. I also tried lotus root, which was kind of like hicama and covered in a nice, sweet and spicy sauce. It was lovely. There was one more, but perhaps I am purposely forgetting, because I honestly can't remember.

Right, bite-sized pieces. Well, the first new adventure was an adventure in food. (To which I must add that I saw something today that I would NEVER eat but that I found intriguing to the highest degree. Outside of the restaurant that we ate at there was a woman with sheets of honeycomb. Thinking that she was somehow procuring natural honey, I went over to check it out. The comb was crawling with live bees, which she was plucking off and putting into a bowl. For some reason they were stunned or dying, so they didn't fly away. Then she would pluck away the outer crust and pull out...the grubs. The bee babies. The squirmy, yellow, plump, little bee babies. These, we were told, are roasted and eaten. You can keep your grubs, thank you.)