Week 31
on Tina's Journal (China), 26/Sep/2009 06:06, 34 days ago
Late in the evening in Simao, especially in the old town, you can find stalls selling Barbecue food, kebab style. Most of the stalls have small tables and chairs set up, so you can enjoy the food in the smoke filled air. Last night was my first experience of eating out this way. There was a range of meats, vegetables and fish to choose from. I was with a few friends and we crouched around a low wooden table with small benches and tucked in to the very tasty food. The atmosphere was relaxed and friendly and there were several tables occupied by men, loudly knocking back theBai Jiu(white spirit). This is not an unusual scene, as any restaurant you go to you will always find the men drinkingBai Jiu,often playing cards too, at the end of the meal. Barbecue meals are not the cheapest way to eat out, many local restaurants give you much better value for money.The last week I have been doing some preparation for the upcoming training courses which we are running for two weeks next month. I am quite excited about the training as I have not run these types of training courses before, so I think I will learn a lot from them. I also did an interesting Chinese lesson with Andy, as we did somestudy of Chinese Characters and how to find them in the dictionary. Writing the characters is a skill in itself! I personally feel disappointed with my level of Chinese, I thought after 7 months in China I would be able to speak much more than I do, however, I am not giving up just yet. I know I should dedicate more time to learning.Next Thursday (1st October) is National Holiday here in China. This year it is even more special because it is 60 years since the founding ofThe People's Republic of China (PRC).There will be official celebrations in Beijing. Lesley will take part in an official dinner there as part of receiving her National Friendship Award. The holiday means we get a full week off from the 1st to the 9th. I am hoping to do some travelling, and again head up to Northern Yunnan this time to visit Zhongdian, also known as Shangri-La, a Tibetan town on the boarder with Tibet. That's the plan at the moment! :-)