as a foreigner, i am already watched by most people. (i really cant say anything against this because i watch chinese people as much as they watch me!). now, as a foreigner in a restaurant--i am even more on display. they love to see if we can really use chopsticks...they love watching us order in chinese...they love to see what we choose to eat.

last week, four of us went out to a local restaurant for dinner. we ordered one of our favorites: caramelized sweet potatoes. now...that sounds a little weird but really its SO good! when this dish comes to the table it is piping hot and the carmel hasnt solidified yet. they bring a little bowl of water with it so that you can dip the sweet potatoes in the water. now, for a chinese person- i have no idea what purpose the bowl of water is supposed to serve as because for the most part they dont use it. as foreigners, we immediately dip all of the sweet potatoes into the water because it prevents them from sticking to each other (because of the carmel). if you don't do this, you end up not eating it all because some is stuck to the plate and you also have a hard time pulling pieces off of each other because the carmel really hardens them together. you will not, however, see a chinese person do what we foreigners do. i'm not sure if they havent figured out yet that its a good idea to dip them all in water first or if they just dont mind spending lots of energy scraping the food off the plate. regardless, last week we ordered this dish with our meal. the waiter brought it out and sat it on the table then walked away as meghan began frantically dipping all of the pieces in the water. the waiter saw this and went and gathered all his other waiter friends and they stared at us in awe-- i'm sure they were wondering why the crazy foreigners do this-- but then again, we are wondering why the chinese don't. i'm glad though that we can offer free entertainment to the locals here.


change of topic:  thoughts on dog meat

my team has been talking about trying dog meat all semester. we have a korean friend that claimed it is delicious and said he'd take us. well, the day finally came on monday. we went to a nearby korean restaurant with three university students so we could all try dog. the meat was brought to us in two different forms -both cooked- and we let it simmer a little in the pot of soup/spices/vegetables that was already cooking. bite #1 was okay but i wasnt impressed much because the type i had chosen was a little fatty. but then we put in the other plate of meat....and OH MY GOODNESS.... it was delicious!!!! seriously. it looked and tasted like my mother's roast beef after it sits in her crockpot overnight. it was really tender and soooo good. i ate so much of it!! i didnt really think about the fact that i was eating dog. well, the rude awakening came later as we were standing outside of the restaurant saying goodbye. two cooks came from around the back of the restaurant carrying a gutted dog by its haunches the way they bring in the pig after its been roasted. first of all, i'd like to point out that they then carried the said dog in through the FRONT DOOR past all the people who were eating (how is there not a code against that????). really though, it made me think twice about what i had just eaten once i saw another slaughtered animal being brought in to cook. just so you know--- it wasnt a golden retriever or anything recognizable