May 25 Part 2 -eating in Beijing v the American South

"Not going to work today b/c they have set aside today for apartment-hunting. So
I'm using the one laptop that everyone here at the hotel has to share; I'm not
used to laptops, so in addition to reply boxes in Chinese and the slow connection,
I'm learning how to use a laptop better! It's all good; it's about time I
learned.

Yes, there are much much more exotic ingredients in Chinese food (exotic = nasty
in many cases) but I am avoiding all of those for now. I'm amazed at how
comfortable I feel here after only 4 days and not knowing any language except
hello and thank you."

"I told someone I wanted to try fried crickets and they said there is a certain section of town where you can find them and that's it's mainly for the tourists.
However, in my wanderings I have seen a lot of strange ingredients, so I'm not sure that's true. The Chinese have been poor for a long time and even had mass
starvation 40 years ago, so they have a history of eating everything it's possible to eat. You find this in all poorer countries; even in Italy the
restaurants had innards that you would never see on an American menu.

Also, there is a big dichotomy between the provinces and the big cities. The big
cities are changing very quickly, but there are a lot of people who moved here from the provinces who still like their home food, much of which is 'exotic'. I
think it's akin to pig's feet and chitlins in the South. Because people were so poor 1 or 2 generations ago, it's what they grew up with and it's their comfort
food. But your average Southerner does NOT eat these things. The students at our schools also don't eat these things, but their parents do or did at one time.

Apartment hunting today!! Also hope to open a bank account and buy a phone. I brought my phone from the states; my employer gave me a SIM card with some money
on it but the phones in the US are usable only w/ a particular carrier. Here, you can use any phone w/ any carrier."