Breakfast on the Street

Dear Class,

Man, does China have a lot of good food on the street. They have so many varieties. They have crabs, ducks, fish and oh I could go on and on. Every morning I get up and go out for breakfast.

Ming zi ni shi? (What would you like?) said the person selling fried treats.

The treats were in medium-sized silver trays which were obviously scrubbed very early in the morning. Next to the stand was the place where I liked to get twisty bread, which looked sort of like this <><><><><><>.  There was a whole row of stands on that street with delicious food items.

I made up my mind. I pointed to the fried rice sticks and held up one finger. She got a plastic bag, picked one up, rolled it in sugar and held up first one finger then two (that meant 1.2 yuan).

I paid and walked on.

One yuan in China is only 15.7 cents in the U.S.  One dollar is 6.38 yuan (officially known as renminbi (RMB) or "people's currency"). So how do you figure out how much something costs? Simple. All you need to do is get a calculator. Punch in the amount of the thing you want to buy. You could multiply by .157 or you could divide by 6.38. I usually divide. 1.2 yuan is 18 cents in the U.S.

Chinese salespeople often use hand signals for prices, especially if you don't speak Chinese. Here is a video about that.

For breakfast we usually buy steamed buns (black sugar, pork, leek/tofu and plain) flat bread, fried bread, fried rice sticks and twisty bread. 

 Pork

Black Sugar

Near the breakfast stands is a wonderful market.The first time we visited the market, we passed a chicken stand were they beheaded the chickens right in front of you. We passed another shop with wriggling eel in baskets. I covered my nose. The last stand we passed had beautiful soft shell crabs that pleasantly snapped around in the bucket. Mom promised me once we got our apartment we would cook them all.

There are also fruit stands. A while ago we got this really crazy looking fruit called a dragon fruit. It looked like this.

Yesterday I got fed up and homesick so I decided to sleep an extra 3 hours till 1:30. When I got up Mom asked me what I wanted to eat and I made a decision that I never thought I'd make. I had a craving for McDonalds.

The memory is kind of fuzzy but the clear part is that I remember enjoying the quality of the fried chicken. I asked mom if we could come here again. I vaguely remember her saying once a month.

I miss you all very much.

Love,

Parker