China Has Been Good to Me

I was afraid being a vegetarian in China would be very difficult., I was told that often tiny bits of meat become something of a seasoning for many dishes, making it impossible to avoid. This turned out to be is true, and sometimes the cook will not even consider the dish to contain meat., However, I have also found an equal number of restaurants and cooks who will happily not put any meat at all in my food and even charge me a few dollars less because it’s cheaper for them to not put meat in my food.

I’m a creature of habit. Every morning I go to the same convenience convince store to buy steamed buns and a tea-soaked egg. About four weeks into the semester they started selling out of the buns before I would arrived at 7:30., I told the attendant (same one literally every day, it seems like she never takes days off) I was sad that they kept running out. The next day I came back and they had exactly two left. She told me she started making two extra /just for me/.

I like decaffeinated iced coffee, which is difficult to find even in Americaa sometimes. I had been to every coffee shop within a mile radius of my dorm, only to find that none of them carried decaf. , One day, I was talking to the owner of the coffee shop closest to my building about differences I had noticed between America and China, and I brought up that there is simply no decaf in China. She paused for a moment, then asked me how often I drink decaf. I said everyday. She told me to come back next week. I came back next week and sure enough she had special ordered decaf coffee /just for me/.

Almost everyone I talk to is interested in learning about where I come from, what I do, and what I care about, and almost everyone is willing to share what they know about living in China with me. Even when I speak Chinese badly everyone will tell me my Chinese is good., I think they’re just excited that I’m trying. I came here hoping for an opportunity to learn and share, and I have not been disappointed in the least.