Dinner and a Show

Location: Jian’ou, Fujian Province, China

As you may know, this month has been a bit trying on our ability to adjust to life in China. K has been really struggling physically with illness and, more recently, dental troubles (Chinese root canal is half over!). We are confident that this is the last hurdle and that things will be blissfully uneventful for the rest of the autumn season

Thankfully, we don’t have to venture far to get most everything we need for day to day life. The bustling vegetable market below our apartment greets us with a burst of vibrant color and activity each and every morning when we step out the door. The market takes up an entire street and, as you will see clearly in the pictures below, sells a whole lot more than just vegetables. For everything from herbs and temple medallions, to meat and poultry, to live eels and frogs, to tables full of ladies lingerie, to oil cakes sizzling in woks, to anything made out of bamboo, this street is the place. We’ve met so many kind and interesting people, most who greet us daily with a smile and already know exactly how many eggs or green onions we’ll need to prepare our weeknight dinners or exactly what type of milk tea V likes to sip on during our walk to school. We’ve also seen some crazy things: guys playing heated poker games during midday break or today (coincidentally) an enormous hog being slaughtered right on the street. We promise it is much less predictable than your average trip to the grocery store.

Our recent efforts working with the children scored us free VIP tickets to a regional variety show. Inside the Olympic stadium, there were professional acts ranging from Chinese opera to acrobatics and dancing to Mongolian throat singing and Morin Kuuhr (horsehead erhu) playing. The thousands of neon lights waving and cameras flashing were truly a sight to behold, and the acts were impressive, despite us only understanding a few words here and there.

In the meantime we’ve been brushing up on our Mandarin and eagerly donning sweaters (and tights, in V’s case), as the weather finally begins to turn colder. We are seeing the inside of Chinese hospitals and teaching the kids duck, duck, goose. We are planning a scary story unit for our high-schoolers, and can’t wait to hear about what all your plans are for Halloween.