Day Four

Sally* showed me the market which is just around the corner from me. Apparently there are markets like this all over China. In the market building, vendors have stalls reserved for them. There is a covered space outside where local farmers come and sell their produce. The best time to get there is before eight in the morning. There are a lot of fruit, vegetables, spices and meat I haven’t seen before. Seeing a dead chicken being plucked was also a first for me.
It’s nice to be able to buy fresh pomegranate and fresh dates just by going around the corner. In the UK I have only seen dried dates. I bought ginger, dried chilli and star anise. There is a bean curd stall in the market and bean curd is also available in the supermarket. So far I have not encountered any tofu dishes when eating out — they all tend to be meat. If you’re vegetarian and like to eat out, Jingzhou will be a difficult place for you to live. Cooking for yourself or a friend cooking for you is fine. As well as tofu, there is a variety of nuts for sale in local shops.
I am discovering drinks I have not encountered before. For example, a chilled green bean drink which was nice and sweet. I only tasted the green bean briefly thanks to all the sugar. Milk tea is like British breakfast tea, milk and sugar but all in a sachet of powder. I am really getting into it.
I wasn’t able to get a Chinese mobile phone as I need a certificate from the school to do so. The air walking down the street is not as nice as the UK and the city centre seemed smoggy to me.
Across from my flat one evening someone was playing Chinese music and after a while a woman started singing along. I think it was being played live. Listening to Chinese music and singing near me in a Chinese city was a really nice way to spend part of the evening.
I went to the supermarket by myself to buy a mop and when I got to the till, a member of staff was trying to tell me something in Chinese. The mop didn’t have a price on it and I thought she was asking the price, so I wrote 99 on the wall with my finger. However she kept talking and her colleague went and got another mop in a box, so it turned out the first woman was trying to tell me I need to get a mop in a box. We got it sorted out, even if I didn’t understand a word of it. I went to the bigger supermarket which was quieter and bought noodles pointed out to me by a shop assistant. I bought what looked like a Swiss roll cake but at each end there was something that tasted a bit of fish.
Being out on my own I noticed a lot stares from the locals. I haven’t seen any other Westerners so I do stand out.
*not her real name

