The Eel Who Loved Me

I went today with my host mother to the open air fruit, veggie and animal market. There were kiddie swimming pools filled with snakes, eels, frogs and other live animals. As I walked by an eel pool, one of them somehow managed to "jump" out of the pool and landed near my foot. I think he knew I was a vegetarian. I had to leave him to his own devices, though. Quickly leave him.

The open air market was amazing: fruits and veggies, bread, dumpling dough, meat, chickens, ducks, geese, birds, pigs, (both live and in parts), everything you could ever want to eat that hadn't been processed and treated. Most things are measured in jin, which is a half a kilo, which is just over a lb. My host mother (who does not speak English) made me ask for prices. It was great practice with the language, but also a chance to see how much things cost when a local, rather than foreigner, is buying them.

Almost all fruits and veggies cost about 1.50 RMB per jin. There are currently about 7 RMB to the dollar. Tomatoes were even cheaper, 80 mao (cents) per jin.

Also, here is a picture I took at lunch yesterday. The Americans? Not always so good with the chopsticks. Those hashed potatoes were a killer. It is easy to spot where the Westerners sit.