What would a trip to a foreign country be without a food-related incident? I'm sure there will be plenty while I'm here, but I had my first one today while eating at a restaurant down the street from my hotel. Choosing from a picture menu is helpful but it didn't preclude my picking a dish I wasn't quite sure how to eat. I chose a braised pork and green bean soup dish with a side of rice but I didn't realize the chopped up pork meat would still be attached to the bone. After putting the first piece of pork in my mouth I realized my mistake but found no quick remedy except for spitting the bone out and placing it beside the bowl. It has seemed to me so far that the Chinese eating etiquette is limited compared to ours, with the slurping and placing two arms on the table, so I thought I'd be okay. There were no Western utensils to cut the meat off with and my chopstick experience is s
parse so I kept going with my meal. Later the waitress offered me another plate on which to place my bone scraps along with a curious smile. The adventure only cost me $3.65 and a little piece of my dignity.After an all-day rain yesterday I've seen the blue Beijing sky for the first time today. I also had my first class today after taking a placement test on Monday. They grade the classes as A, B, C, D with three levels in each grade and "A" being beginner. I got into the first level of "B" along with my roommate, Jose. Jose and I both went to Embry-Riddle and we had met a couple of times at school but had never gotten to know each other very well. We went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch yesterday, a Korean restaurant last night, and then an Islamic restaurant on campus today. The district of Beijing that we're in, Haidian, is very diverse because of all the universities around. My class this morning was from 8 am to noon and it seemed very intense but I think I'll learn a lot.
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