Impromptu food post

Green tea & honey drink

I seem to have taken a few pictures of the food and drink I've been having the last 24 hours. So even though I wasn't going to post anything today, I thought I would include these anyway for those of you who were interested. I have found purchasing food here a little difficult. There are some small restaurants and eateries I go to as they have pictures of their meals on the wall that I can look at and point to. But mostly, these are written in Chinese or you have to speak with the owner. My Chinese is still pretty crappy so trying to order things can be a mission. I communicate with the little Chinese that I know, a lot of pointing and miming and a great app I found called Pleco. These three things get me the basics.

I receive a free school lunch every day from Monday-Friday. Lunch begins at 11.20am and classes resume at 1.35pm. The lunches are not what I imagined they would be (I think I had visions of yum cha, peking duck and lots of wonderful and delicious food being handed around). The reality was a little different. It is rice, a soup (either sweet or savoury), some boiled greens, salty meat, a small fried fish, and

Those berries

 yesterday it was a piece of corn. Sometimes it can taste better than it looks but it is the saltiness that I am still getting used to. 

Yesterday, I happened to find the only cafe in town and even though I am not much of a coffee drinker I couldn't resist having one. It was a little expensive (22rmb), just over $4 and not that hot but the coffee was good and they were even playing English songs - country western music lol.

Yesterday, I went fruit shopping and noticed these berries that are quite popular here. For $2 for a bowl I decided to give them a  try. They looked a little like blackberries, but they weren't tart. They were sweeter and really nice. I will be definitely getting these again.

For dinner last night I succumbed to one of the local snackes which was a stuffed pancake with some green veges inside. I have avoided wheat for a few years now but I seem to be in a town that loves their carbs and bread and my will power is weakening. I have to say that the pancake, hot from the oven was great. It was $2 and so big I couldn't eat it all!

School lunch

Stuffed pancake

Drinks in my cupboard

My first Chinese coffee

The cafe