Buying Items Online & Chinese Meals

I had a mini-Christmas of sorts yesterday when two packages came for me. The mailroom called and told me to come pick them up before the afternoon was over. One was from the Sister, a package of Christmas cookies, my favorite variety!! She must have remembered that white chocolate raspberry are my favorite!

The second package was my order of clothes from the Gap. Unfortunately when I ordered a bunch of things, about half were out of stock. Even more unfortunately, when I received them, almost all of them were too big. :( The super-cute plaid pleated mini skirt I bought is supposed to be a size 8, but I guess I'm no longer a size 8 OR their sizing is way off. Could this mean that at Gap I'm always going to be a size 4?


I got to the gym yesterday, which felt good. There are times I don't feel like I'm in China, especially when I'm working out or running on the treadmill. If I shut my eyes or focus on the TV while I'm running, I can almost imagine I'm back at Penn in Van Pelt running after work. There are times when I'm out at restaurants when I think that too, especially in Western-type food chains. But then I look around at the people or pay my bill and I'm distinctly reminded that I'm in China.

Lunch yesterday was my first experience at spicy noodle guan. The girls (the BFF, L, and D) go out to a small noodle shop down the street from the Consulate to get their spice fix. Knowing that my tolerance for hot things is minimal, the BFF didn't insist that I come but suggested that I would be able to find things that I liked that weren't too spicy. It was a success! The staple dishes were the bowl of noodles in beef broth with chili peppers and veggies. We also had one of my favorite easy dishes: szechuan green beans with garlic and MSG (yes, it's used as the main spice here in China). As bad as these things are for me, they taste fantastic. I'll hopefully learn to make them myself and use salt instead. Realistically, though, the MSG is what makes this dish awesome. It's SO China.

The food in general wasn't crazy spicy, but I can't say that it was mild, either. I had a bit of a runny nose afterward, which was quite refreshing :P Buying meals in China is always an adventure. Between getting what you want ordered properly, seeing ALL THE FOOD you ordered come out, and then paying for it. The four of us got one order of fried tofu with chilis, one plate of shredded sweet potatoes with chilis, two noodle bowls with soup, one large order of shredded pork with veggies, two cups of rice, and the green bean platter. Each of us paid about 12.5 元, which equals... oh about US$2.00. Fabulous, huh? ;)