Bits and Pieces, Odds and Ends

First, I thought I would list a few things I have a newfound appreciation for now that I'm in China.
1. Peanut butter and jelly. I can't believe I used to think it was boring. Here, it's heaven.
2. Apples with the peel intact. In China, you can't eat any fruit peels because of the pesticides they use. Which means that if you want an apple, you first have to peel off the skin. When I get back to America, I'm going to eat a lot of apples. With the skin intact.
3. Libraries. I love them. And book stores, too. Unfortunately, I can't actually read anything in any of the ones around here. I miss them so!
4. 1% milk. France had no fresh milk. China has plenty of fresh milk, but it's all whole milk, which means it's so thick and icky that I can't drink it. I am going to drink A LOT of milk when I get back home.

Also, I've had some requests for my mailing address in China. Here it is:

Rebekah Farrar
c/o Wentao Song
Foreign Affairs Office
Southwest University for Nationalities
Chengdu, Sichuan
610041 PR CHINA

Finally, I am including some random pictures.

1. My friend Kerry on Chunxi Lu. Chunxi Lu is a street in Chengdu that is known as Walking Street. Lots of shopping. She accompanied me there since I had never seen it.




2. Me in my cooking class! The dish on the left is friend noodles. The one on the right is Yangzhou fried rice. Yes, I cooked both of them, and yes, they were quite tasty.



3. Me and the statue of Mao in Tianfu Square, the center of Chengdu. Apparently (according to Kerry) his statue is in that position because he was always seen trying to hail taxis.


4. My pride and joy! The beautiful, gorgeous, WONDERFUL tea set I bought in Xi'an. There are two more cups and saucers not pictured here.

Longer, more interesting post to follow.