What an interesting first month it has been. I've done a lot of the interesting things that I expected to do, such as teaching a class larger than the staff of the McDonald's I worked at, eating unknown foods from street vendors, and understanding 10% of the words used by some of the people I interacted with. But those classes seem smaller each week, those once alien foods are a common sight (but not my common meal) and that 10% has grown on every encounter.
This first month has been largely as I expected, even down to the 'unexpected' elements that I had accounted for; culture, food and language. At this point, I've got my routine figured out and have ceased learning how to survive; I have moved on to exploration. (Minecraft players, you know what I mean when I say "I've finished my house, now I'm digging for diamond and building a portal to the Nether.")
But what kind of adventure is this predictable and linear? Certainly not this one; it was only a matter of time before something came out of left field.
And that's why now is a great time to mention alcohol.
I have always abstained from alcohol, even small amounts offered by my parents, because I hated the taste and did not want that disdain to change. But when the foreign teachers went out for drinks a few weeks ago I decided to join them. Oddly enough, the reason I decided to join was because I was actually in rather safe circumstances; the people I was with were experienced drinkers, had not demonstrated irresponsible behavior, the bar was within 'walking' distance down the street from the school, and I did not have a lot of money on my person.
As they say, 'I'm gonna down some shots, only got 200 yuan in my pocket. I'm lookin', lookin' for a cocktail, this is freaking awesome.'
Alright, I didn't actually do shots. But that night, I did discover that I enjoy cocktails. But before I found that out, we hit a bar whose name I will not mention because they gave me what the teachers think was white rum and a cherry. I had ordered a Martini. We quickly went to a more professional institution called Drinksology, where I ordered an Apple and Elderflower, which I could actually drink, and rather enjoyed. Our troop found a table on the bar's second story and we talked and laughed and traded teaching ideas.
It was when I went to order my second drink that I met a girl from Thailand.
Pause. She did not become my girlfriend.
This Thai chick had a tongue that would make a sailor blush, two phones (Why?), and a rich boyfriend that would show up soon and would definitely pay for all the rounds of beer she kept ordering. By the time the first set of beers arrived, I realized, even through my buzz, that this girl had the most obvious case of "attract attention to compensate for low self esteem" I had ever seen, including my time in Scouts. Her foul language, loud volume and not present rich boyfriend put me on edge, so I slowed down a bit and didn't drink more than I could pay for. Actually, I may have slowed down because I was getting really dizzy. But she certainly didn't help.
After she sat at our table for an hour or two, something really insane happened. This guy Chris showed up. The rich boyfriend that gladly bought several rounds of beer and drank as much as his girlfriend cursed. He actually existed. Chris was a good foil for his girlfriend, and though he was Large-Haldron-Collider-level intense, I relaxed again and kept enjoying the opportunity to drink alcohol.
Unfortunately, I discovered that no matter how much beer someone else bought, I could not stand the bitter taste. I got a third cocktail, I believe it was a Vodka Ricky, and ate peanuts, enjoying the buzz from my first couple of drinks while the teachers accepted the beer and Chris Gan Bei'ed (Bottom's up'ed) at the drop of a hat.
Since that first night, the teachers and I have gone out for drinks a couple of times, and Chris has joined us for each. Since his girlfriend went back to Thailand, he doesn't buy as many show-off drinks, but since I didn't take any to begin with, I consider that a win.
In conclusion, my take away from this new activity surprised me; I cannot stand the taste of most alcohols. Beer and Whiskey are disgusting to me. And I discovered during lunch with my tutoring student's family that I also dislike red wine. So, when I do drink, I stick to sweet beverages. Oh, and I tried a cigarette. What's the big deal with those things?
Now, I think that's enough about 'the devils brew.' Join me next time to read about the ultimate Chinese phone, lights and lasers, and a fetch quest that got lost on its way to World of Warcraft.
This album has just a couple photos of my time in bars. As many may have noticed, I am not a prolific photographer, but the public demands photos, so I'll offer what I have. And one of them is this totally cool shot of me smoking like a boss.
Monday, March 28, 2016
Monday, March 21, 2016
I Survived the Terrible Plague
The Horseman of Plague rode though the school this week, claiming a score of victims with his pestilent touch. It began, as far as I perceived, among the students and it first began affecting me when the teachers began falling. Multiple classes where missing their primary English teachers, and I had to work with substitutes; volunteers from the high school and interns who wanted to exercise their English. It was no great hassle, as I can conduct the class mostly without aid, and they did translate for me when needed.
But then, my voice was stolen. At first I believed the demon to be over-use. After all, I was talking above scores of children in a dry atmosphere, and my lesson for the week was about sound and song, requiring me to speak more often and at greater volume than usual. However, upon the break of the third day, I knew I was suffering no normal sore throat. I too had succumbed to the dread disease.
The first symptom, the sore throat matured slowly, gradual impairing my performance as I told kids about sounds and how to describe them. In the beginning, I simply didn't sing along when the lesson came to the musical portion. But as my condition worsened, I lost the ability to imitate the sounds I talked about.
Almost as soon as I moved on to my six grade classes, which thankfully did involve music, another symptom manifested; a runny nose that seemed inspired by Poseidon himself. Though it did not significantly increase my encumbrance, as the sore throat persisted, it did affect my life outside of school. I possessed naught, but paper towels to thwart the flow.
In a sick twist of irony, I next became exhausted by the lethargy of the ill, too tired to run errands. I made due with the paper towels and frequented the restaurants across the street for my meals, but I could not bring myself to trek to the supermarket to buy anything else. Fortunately, it seemed the fatigue was not a symptom of the disease, but of the healing afterwards, and it only lasted a few days, marking the end of my illness. And because it struck at the end of the week, it did not interfere with my ability to educate.
And at last, I am healed! I battled that harshest fiend, the illness that preyed upon me, and I emerged victorious, not even allowing it to interrupt my good work. Over today, all my symptoms have ceased to bother, and I made a much needed trip to the market to replenish my rations, including my crucial lifeblood: Mountain Dew. Energy restored, Green Dew replaced, and fresh week ahead, I am ready!
Yeah, so that's why this post is a couple days late.
Fortunately, I took a video of a class from just before the plague struck, so you guys can finally see me in action! Unfortunately, it is too big to fit in this album, where I keep everything else, and Blogger won't take it, so I'll have to figure something out, like cutting it down perhaps.But I'll let you know what's up with that on my next post!
But then, my voice was stolen. At first I believed the demon to be over-use. After all, I was talking above scores of children in a dry atmosphere, and my lesson for the week was about sound and song, requiring me to speak more often and at greater volume than usual. However, upon the break of the third day, I knew I was suffering no normal sore throat. I too had succumbed to the dread disease.
The first symptom, the sore throat matured slowly, gradual impairing my performance as I told kids about sounds and how to describe them. In the beginning, I simply didn't sing along when the lesson came to the musical portion. But as my condition worsened, I lost the ability to imitate the sounds I talked about.
Almost as soon as I moved on to my six grade classes, which thankfully did involve music, another symptom manifested; a runny nose that seemed inspired by Poseidon himself. Though it did not significantly increase my encumbrance, as the sore throat persisted, it did affect my life outside of school. I possessed naught, but paper towels to thwart the flow.
In a sick twist of irony, I next became exhausted by the lethargy of the ill, too tired to run errands. I made due with the paper towels and frequented the restaurants across the street for my meals, but I could not bring myself to trek to the supermarket to buy anything else. Fortunately, it seemed the fatigue was not a symptom of the disease, but of the healing afterwards, and it only lasted a few days, marking the end of my illness. And because it struck at the end of the week, it did not interfere with my ability to educate.
And at last, I am healed! I battled that harshest fiend, the illness that preyed upon me, and I emerged victorious, not even allowing it to interrupt my good work. Over today, all my symptoms have ceased to bother, and I made a much needed trip to the market to replenish my rations, including my crucial lifeblood: Mountain Dew. Energy restored, Green Dew replaced, and fresh week ahead, I am ready!
Yeah, so that's why this post is a couple days late.
Fortunately, I took a video of a class from just before the plague struck, so you guys can finally see me in action! Unfortunately, it is too big to fit in this album, where I keep everything else, and Blogger won't take it, so I'll have to figure something out, like cutting it down perhaps.But I'll let you know what's up with that on my next post!
Monday, March 14, 2016
Singing will continue until moral improves.
Today I was asked to leave a class. It was almost the end of the period, and it was because the teacher had some choice words for the unruly students that she didn't want me to hear. Based on what I have listened to, she must have been preparing to unload some heavy ammunition at those kids, but they deserved it. I packed my laptop as quickly as I could and left the room. The students all said goodbye, likely unaware of the hurricane that was about to strike. I wonder if this sort of thing ever happens in American classrooms when the class misbehaves for a guest speaker, I suspect it does, but only if it's politically correct.
(TL;DR, if you're just here for the photos and videos I promised, here's the link.)
Other than that class, Grade 5 (2), my other classes have been great, especially as I get better at teaching. The improvement is largely because I've begun lecturing less and integrating more student interaction into my lessons. Initially, I was hesitant to do this because it meant I was communicating less material, and the the immense class size complicated any interaction. But, after I realized just how hard it is for some kids to understand me, I determined that games may teach them more than I do: Even if what they learn is not as complex as an idea that I could explain, if they can't understand that explanation then it has no value anyway.
After realizing this, I also sidestepped the class size problem by using a song as the interaction mechanism. As many people know, songs are an interesting and potentially powerful teaching tool. If the students concentrate while they sing, it is easy for them to memorize rather long passages of meaningful English, which they can practice and consider without a written aid. In a few classes I've attended and some I've seen, teachers have used meaningless or overly repetitive songs to teach kids, which sort of bugs me. I, with negligible musical skill, memorized some pretty long songs when I was a kid, and some of them had almost no repetition, like the National Anthem, or Weird Al's 'White and Nerdy.' So, when it came time to choose a song for my lesson I knew I wouldn't be using nursery rhymes, I would be using contemporary pop and classic rock. Both genres often have songs with simple lyrics that tell a story, catchy tunes, and cover a wide variety of subjects. Also, both genres are popular internationally, so it is likely my students will have heard songs from these two genres.
Today's Grade 5 lesson was about sounds, so choosing music was easy. After all, the was an international hit single released recently that was just about one sound. The Fox's sound. And that is how I got sixty kids to sing 'What Does The Fox Say.' But, I've only taught this lesson twice, and one of those was G5(2), so I'll have to observe my other classes to see if they get something out of this song. I hope they do, because it's an easy tool for me to use.
Finally, on a different note, I finally have some visual records of the school! I've taken pictures and videos from around the primary school, generally to show how big it is, and I've posted them in this album. You know, the one with the buy-one-get-one frogs. I'll continue to add more photos and videos here, so you can bookmark it if you want, but I'll try to link to it in each of my posts. And I promise the quality of my videos will improve, but some of the ones here are shot while I'm moving. Eventually, I also hope to film a few of my lessons, when I get good enough to film. I did capture about ten minutes of G5(2), but for the same reason they earned that teacher's wrath, I'll only use that video to analyse my own work and what I should improve, but I'll not post it. Tomorrow, I think I'll film a better class.
(TL;DR, if you're just here for the photos and videos I promised, here's the link.)
Other than that class, Grade 5 (2), my other classes have been great, especially as I get better at teaching. The improvement is largely because I've begun lecturing less and integrating more student interaction into my lessons. Initially, I was hesitant to do this because it meant I was communicating less material, and the the immense class size complicated any interaction. But, after I realized just how hard it is for some kids to understand me, I determined that games may teach them more than I do: Even if what they learn is not as complex as an idea that I could explain, if they can't understand that explanation then it has no value anyway.
After realizing this, I also sidestepped the class size problem by using a song as the interaction mechanism. As many people know, songs are an interesting and potentially powerful teaching tool. If the students concentrate while they sing, it is easy for them to memorize rather long passages of meaningful English, which they can practice and consider without a written aid. In a few classes I've attended and some I've seen, teachers have used meaningless or overly repetitive songs to teach kids, which sort of bugs me. I, with negligible musical skill, memorized some pretty long songs when I was a kid, and some of them had almost no repetition, like the National Anthem, or Weird Al's 'White and Nerdy.' So, when it came time to choose a song for my lesson I knew I wouldn't be using nursery rhymes, I would be using contemporary pop and classic rock. Both genres often have songs with simple lyrics that tell a story, catchy tunes, and cover a wide variety of subjects. Also, both genres are popular internationally, so it is likely my students will have heard songs from these two genres.
Today's Grade 5 lesson was about sounds, so choosing music was easy. After all, the was an international hit single released recently that was just about one sound. The Fox's sound. And that is how I got sixty kids to sing 'What Does The Fox Say.' But, I've only taught this lesson twice, and one of those was G5(2), so I'll have to observe my other classes to see if they get something out of this song. I hope they do, because it's an easy tool for me to use.
Finally, on a different note, I finally have some visual records of the school! I've taken pictures and videos from around the primary school, generally to show how big it is, and I've posted them in this album. You know, the one with the buy-one-get-one frogs. I'll continue to add more photos and videos here, so you can bookmark it if you want, but I'll try to link to it in each of my posts. And I promise the quality of my videos will improve, but some of the ones here are shot while I'm moving. Eventually, I also hope to film a few of my lessons, when I get good enough to film. I did capture about ten minutes of G5(2), but for the same reason they earned that teacher's wrath, I'll only use that video to analyse my own work and what I should improve, but I'll not post it. Tomorrow, I think I'll film a better class.
Monday, March 7, 2016
Life is like a box of chocolates: sometimes you get those stupid nougat things.
It is high time I talk about my actual job while I am here; teaching English. I am starting my second week at work and I think everyone back home wants to hear how things are going.
First of all, I had no idea what this job entailed until I arrived. I had no curriculum, no notes, I hadn't even researched ESL teaching techniques. I didn't know if these kids were already mostly fluent, or if they couldn't compose sentences. I had been told that I would be teaching middle school, probably 10-12 years old, but I was not sure if that was a guarantee or an estimate. I certainly didn't know my hours or how big the classes are. I was flying blind until I arrived.
Last week, the day after I landed, I finally got details:
Now, I know my situation is a bit odd, but shouldn't they have mentioned that? Don't they have a book they teach from? Well, I do have lots of writing and speaking experience, it shouldn't be a problem. Also, the other teachers said there are given prompts and themes to base their lessons, so maybe I can use that too.
At this point, I was a bit confused, but still pretty chill with things. 60 kids is a lot, but the Chinese are more well-disciplined than Americans, right? 21 classes is also a lot, but since they are only 35 minutes long, I figured I wouldn't have trouble keeping up the energy to teach. And even if my assistant teacher didn't show up, I knew enough Chinese to make do if the class needed clarification.
As for curriculum, the head of the Primary School suggested I start by teaching out of a movie. Forrest Gump was a good choice since it had lots of clearly spoken English with varying levels of complexity, and even the most advanced students could learn about American culture. This lesson was going to be great.
Though there were a few hiccups, it looked like this job would go great. Now I just had to spend the week observing the other teachers so I could get an idea of what a class was like! The first person I observed was Maggie, who taught grade one.
That was when I found out I was going to be a terrible teacher.
She exhibited so much energy, acting out nearly every word she said, that I felt exhausted just watching the lesson. How can I charade everything I say during even a simple English lesson for 13 hours a week?! And I would feel downright clownish doing this in front of the older kids.
Next I sat through Ross' lesson, and I realized that perhaps it wouldn't be so bad. He taught grade three's, and not only did they not need a full Broadway performance to stay engaged, Ross didn't have a game every five minutes. Perhaps I would be fine.
The final teacher I observed was Kirstie, who teaches grades 7 and 8, and by that time I realized that as long as I didn't drone or lecture without a visual aid, I would be fine. Kirstie's a great teacher, but she is as intense as a cell phone ring.
Now, after all this, it was time for my first class. Monday morning, 9:20, showed up a few minutes early to set up my laptop. I had my Gump lesson, a sharp outfit, a full water bottle. I was doing great. The lesson?
It went terribly.
I discovered that Forrest Gump is at least three grades too advanced. Also, my presentation's organization was terrible. And I speak too fast. And whenever there was a lull in my lecture, or if I tried speaking a few words of Chinese, or if I said something a bit interesting, the class would start generating as much background chatter as the Dulles Airport control tower.
So, I started editing my slides between classes, I tried speaking as slow as possible, and I learned that the classes are trained to quite down when the teacher claps. So, my lessons quickly improved.
The night after that first day, I also completely re-wrote my material. Forrest Gump 'ran like the wind blows' out of my lesson and America colonized in his place. Now, I spent my lesson telling my students about my home country and talking about myself in more basic language. I threw in a couple more sections where the students could talk, and looked it over to make sure I used an elementary vocabulary for all written text.
And everything, finally, went well.
I know this is a lot to read, but for any readers getting bored of my text adventures, I suggest you stay tuned. I'll be uploading some pictures and videos soon to show you guys how big a 60 kid class is, how loud a 60 kid class is, and what it looks like when 1200+ kids do their morning exercise. Oh, and I may include some video of one of my lessons, one that goes well.
First of all, I had no idea what this job entailed until I arrived. I had no curriculum, no notes, I hadn't even researched ESL teaching techniques. I didn't know if these kids were already mostly fluent, or if they couldn't compose sentences. I had been told that I would be teaching middle school, probably 10-12 years old, but I was not sure if that was a guarantee or an estimate. I certainly didn't know my hours or how big the classes are. I was flying blind until I arrived.
Last week, the day after I landed, I finally got details:
- I will be teaching grades 4-6.
- The kids would have a full spectrum of fluency; some can hardly read, some can speak like natives.
- I will be teaching 21 classes a week, 35 minutes apiece. Each class contains 60 kids.
- Most classes would have a teacher present, to translate on occasion, or reprimand troublesome children. But, I heard, they are often not present.
- The school did not have materials for me.
Now, I know my situation is a bit odd, but shouldn't they have mentioned that? Don't they have a book they teach from? Well, I do have lots of writing and speaking experience, it shouldn't be a problem. Also, the other teachers said there are given prompts and themes to base their lessons, so maybe I can use that too.
At this point, I was a bit confused, but still pretty chill with things. 60 kids is a lot, but the Chinese are more well-disciplined than Americans, right? 21 classes is also a lot, but since they are only 35 minutes long, I figured I wouldn't have trouble keeping up the energy to teach. And even if my assistant teacher didn't show up, I knew enough Chinese to make do if the class needed clarification.
As for curriculum, the head of the Primary School suggested I start by teaching out of a movie. Forrest Gump was a good choice since it had lots of clearly spoken English with varying levels of complexity, and even the most advanced students could learn about American culture. This lesson was going to be great.
Though there were a few hiccups, it looked like this job would go great. Now I just had to spend the week observing the other teachers so I could get an idea of what a class was like! The first person I observed was Maggie, who taught grade one.
That was when I found out I was going to be a terrible teacher.
She exhibited so much energy, acting out nearly every word she said, that I felt exhausted just watching the lesson. How can I charade everything I say during even a simple English lesson for 13 hours a week?! And I would feel downright clownish doing this in front of the older kids.
Next I sat through Ross' lesson, and I realized that perhaps it wouldn't be so bad. He taught grade three's, and not only did they not need a full Broadway performance to stay engaged, Ross didn't have a game every five minutes. Perhaps I would be fine.
The final teacher I observed was Kirstie, who teaches grades 7 and 8, and by that time I realized that as long as I didn't drone or lecture without a visual aid, I would be fine. Kirstie's a great teacher, but she is as intense as a cell phone ring.
Now, after all this, it was time for my first class. Monday morning, 9:20, showed up a few minutes early to set up my laptop. I had my Gump lesson, a sharp outfit, a full water bottle. I was doing great. The lesson?
It went terribly.
I discovered that Forrest Gump is at least three grades too advanced. Also, my presentation's organization was terrible. And I speak too fast. And whenever there was a lull in my lecture, or if I tried speaking a few words of Chinese, or if I said something a bit interesting, the class would start generating as much background chatter as the Dulles Airport control tower.
So, I started editing my slides between classes, I tried speaking as slow as possible, and I learned that the classes are trained to quite down when the teacher claps. So, my lessons quickly improved.
The night after that first day, I also completely re-wrote my material. Forrest Gump 'ran like the wind blows' out of my lesson and America colonized in his place. Now, I spent my lesson telling my students about my home country and talking about myself in more basic language. I threw in a couple more sections where the students could talk, and looked it over to make sure I used an elementary vocabulary for all written text.
And everything, finally, went well.
I know this is a lot to read, but for any readers getting bored of my text adventures, I suggest you stay tuned. I'll be uploading some pictures and videos soon to show you guys how big a 60 kid class is, how loud a 60 kid class is, and what it looks like when 1200+ kids do their morning exercise. Oh, and I may include some video of one of my lessons, one that goes well.
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
News from the East: A taste of the West, just South of the North city.
I FOUND IT! I can Do the Dew, Dude! I found Mountain Dew!
It's a wonder of wonders, but it turns out that underground market I mentioned in my last post has a better selection of soda than I thought, and I picked up a small bottle of Mountain Dew to make sure it's as good as it is in the states. Also, 500 ml is the only size of Mountain Dew they sell, so I'll have to buy several next time I go back there, which will be tomorrow. Anyway, that's not really a problem, since it's a healthy reduction from the amount I consumed back in the States. I won't disclose how much I used to drink, but I'll admit it was an 'American' portion. For now though, it's a bit too late in the evening to be drinking caffeinated soda, so I'll hold off on my Dew until tomorrow.
That Sweet Green Dew isn't the only Western beverage I picked up today; I picked up some Blue Sprite as an experiment. It caught my eye, sitting next to the Mountain Dew, and I figured I should sample something exotic; it looked like some kind of Sprite of version Baja Blast with a bright blue shade. Mind you, all the labels are in Chinese, or so I thought, so I really had no idea what it was when I bought it. When I got home, I discovered that the back of the label was in English, and that English told me the flavor was "Icy Mint." Remember when I said they cater to different (Very) non-western tastes? I have little interest in trying Chinese, Minty Sprite, so I'll wait to try that one tomorrow too.
I also got some milk! You know, some nice, healthy calcium to balance that sugar. The Chinese take on milk is very different than I, as an American, am used to. Evidently, they treat milk as a high-end commodity, selling it at a premium in 1 Liter cartons that cost about $5 a pop. Surprisingly, they don't keep these liters in refrigerated displays; either they have a lot of faith in pasteurization or they don't have much invested in the cow product, which is not reflected in the price. And the milk is imported from Germany. For some reason. Finally, they sell it with 1.5% "Fett" which I think is similar to the American 2% I'm used to, and they also sell 3.5% and Whole Milk. Is that 1.5% supposed to be Skim Milk?
That's about enough of my little shopping story, but there is one more thing that I want to mention; prices. Aside from the soda, which was fairly normal, almost all the other western foods I've purchased have stood out above 'normal' food. Bread can be pretty steep, and they like to sell it in half-size loaves, Peanut Butter is about $3 for 340 grams, and (Imported!) Corn flakes were pricey, even at Walmart. So, I need to start adapting a more Chinese diet if I want to save some money to bring back home. Maybe I'll start frequenting that place that sold those good dumplings. But what do I eat for breakfast?
It's a wonder of wonders, but it turns out that underground market I mentioned in my last post has a better selection of soda than I thought, and I picked up a small bottle of Mountain Dew to make sure it's as good as it is in the states. Also, 500 ml is the only size of Mountain Dew they sell, so I'll have to buy several next time I go back there, which will be tomorrow. Anyway, that's not really a problem, since it's a healthy reduction from the amount I consumed back in the States. I won't disclose how much I used to drink, but I'll admit it was an 'American' portion. For now though, it's a bit too late in the evening to be drinking caffeinated soda, so I'll hold off on my Dew until tomorrow.
That Sweet Green Dew isn't the only Western beverage I picked up today; I picked up some Blue Sprite as an experiment. It caught my eye, sitting next to the Mountain Dew, and I figured I should sample something exotic; it looked like some kind of Sprite of version Baja Blast with a bright blue shade. Mind you, all the labels are in Chinese, or so I thought, so I really had no idea what it was when I bought it. When I got home, I discovered that the back of the label was in English, and that English told me the flavor was "Icy Mint." Remember when I said they cater to different (Very) non-western tastes? I have little interest in trying Chinese, Minty Sprite, so I'll wait to try that one tomorrow too.
I also got some milk! You know, some nice, healthy calcium to balance that sugar. The Chinese take on milk is very different than I, as an American, am used to. Evidently, they treat milk as a high-end commodity, selling it at a premium in 1 Liter cartons that cost about $5 a pop. Surprisingly, they don't keep these liters in refrigerated displays; either they have a lot of faith in pasteurization or they don't have much invested in the cow product, which is not reflected in the price. And the milk is imported from Germany. For some reason. Finally, they sell it with 1.5% "Fett" which I think is similar to the American 2% I'm used to, and they also sell 3.5% and Whole Milk. Is that 1.5% supposed to be Skim Milk?
That's about enough of my little shopping story, but there is one more thing that I want to mention; prices. Aside from the soda, which was fairly normal, almost all the other western foods I've purchased have stood out above 'normal' food. Bread can be pretty steep, and they like to sell it in half-size loaves, Peanut Butter is about $3 for 340 grams, and (Imported!) Corn flakes were pricey, even at Walmart. So, I need to start adapting a more Chinese diet if I want to save some money to bring back home. Maybe I'll start frequenting that place that sold those good dumplings. But what do I eat for breakfast?
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