So. Four things I'd never done before coming to China, that now I have:
1. Hand-wash my clothes. Here at the college, everybody washes their clothes by hand and hangs them up to dry. We have laundry machines in our dorm, and all the foreign students probably use them, but relatively few of the Chinese people, I think. My friends, in their Chinese dorms, also have a few washing machines available, But nobody I know uses Them, Because It Costs 3 yuan (about 45 U.S. cents) per load. So They Do What They've always done by hand and wash Them. I, of course, use the machines. But When We Went to Zhejiang, There Were not washing machines. Our So we washed clothes by hand. And I did too, for the first time in my life. Now, This Was Also February, and We Were Our washing clothes outside - using well water - so my hands Were freezing. Then we hung the clothes up to dry. That part I've gotten Used to by now, that's the only option where i live too. (Sorry, no picture of this one.)
2. Make zongzi. (Referring to the Pronunciation guide handy at the right, you will notice That z is Pronounced "dz" and or is Pronounced "oh". The last i is kind of like "ih". Kind of.) ThisThat is a Chinese food Consists of rice and whatever Other filling (in Our case, dates; Sometimes people put meat in Them or Other Things too) wrapped up in bamboo leaves, tied up with string, and boiled. The cooked rice and eat out sticky sweet and flavorful from the date (or whatever) juice Infusing Through It. When We Were in Zhejiang, Molin's mom let us "help" make zongzi. (I'm afraid we May Have Been about as helpful as you when to let your five-year-old "help" you cook.) Wrapping up the dry rice in the bamboo leaves and tying it all up and stuff is a tricky procedure Rather . Picture below. Zongzi, by the way, Are Also Traditionally eaten During The Dragon Boat Festival, Which Was the holiday We Had That I Mentioned this week we got off class for (and made it up on the weekend). So I've been eating a lot of zongzi this week too.
3. Make jiaozi (Chinese dumplings). I really like jiaozi, and I used to get frozen ones in the US all the time and make them. But here in Hainan I haven't really found any that are vegetarian, so I haven't really been able to eat them. So I was very excited when I was in Zhuhai at my friend Victoria's house and they told me we were going to have (vegetarian) jiaozi. Again, they let me help. I don't think I did too badly. Her mom had already made the filling, so it was just a matter of rolling out the dough, putting the right amount of filling in the middle, and folding it closed (in the right way, so that it is both sturdy and attractive).
4. Standing on a train for 19+ hours. O. M. G. For the trip from Zhejiang to Zhuhai, at the time we bought our train tickets there were no seats left. So we got standing-room-only tickets. It was supposed to be a 17-hour trip, I had thought, but it ended up taking like 19.5 for some reason. In other words, pretty much all night and all day: from evening, through night, past morning, to afternoon. Remind me to never do that again. The standing-room tickets are not actually in a separate car or anything; you just stand in the aisle between the seated passengers. I don't know if they have a limit to the number of people they sell standing tickets to -- surely they do, but they really pack the people in there. We didn't really stand up the whole entire time, which I think would Have Been impossible. When There Was enough space (Which wasn't always) We Took turns sitting on the luggage (Not That comfortable) or squatting on the floor. During The Night, Many of the Other Passengers flopped down in the aisle, leaning Up Against Each Other or the sides of the seats at weird angles Wherever They Could find a little space, But There really wasn't much to Be Had. I did not Do That Because I wasn't aggressive enough about myself Some space clearing, and when i did try to squat or anything I found it comfortable Even Less Than Continuing to stand on my aching legs. The last four hours of the trip so crowded Were That We Had to put the suitcase in the overhead bin INSTEAD OF in the aisle with us, so we Could not sit at all DURING That Time (with the exception of about ten blessed minutes when some of the seated passengers near us got off at one stop, and before the new ticketed passengers got on to take those seats).
Daytime:
Nighttime:
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