Dumplings for Dinner!

Wednesday, September 24. I sleep late this morning (until 8:30 or so). Still feel as though I might be getting a cold. Put some crystalized Vitamin C in what passes for orange juice here and it tastes awful! Very sour. I'm hoping to go to the supermarket today and will look for 100% orange juice which is not always easy to find. Most of what they have is some kind of orange drink.

Work on blog, do laundry. Organize travel materials to take to travel agency this afternoon. Pack up more teaching supplies to take over to FT office. At 2:20 p.m. I walk over to FT office to work there for awhile until class at 3:25.

I think I've lost about 10 pounds since arriving in China. This is probably a combination of things: walking up and down 10,000 flights of stairs every day; the extraordinry heat; and eating with chopsticks (it's so much work that, after awhile, you just decide you've had enough!)

Later: No going to the travel agency today. At about 3:15, I find out that the other Senior School English teachers are taking us to dinner at a local dumpling restaurant. This is so typically Chinese: last minute invitations! Also, Mr. Z asks me if I can teach for him on Tuesday morning as he is presenting his thesis abstract to his committee then. On top of teaching Saturday, Sunday and Monday, in preparation for National Day holiday, this means I won't be able to leave Zhuzhou until Tuesday night instead of Monday night as I had planned. But I am happy to do it.

Even later: I'm definitely not complaining about not making it to the travel agency. First, we have a lot of fun with the Chinese English teachers. They are a good group. And secondly, this little dumpling restaurant is fabulous! It would actually be worth making a trip to Zhuzhou to eat here! And I'm not exaggerating. It's a tiny place, run by a husband and wife from the North of China, and they make everything themselves. The other food is good too, but the dumplings are simply out of this world. Literally the best I've had since being in China. In fact, I'm thinking about skipping traveling next week to stay in ZZ and eat dumplings! So much for losing 10 pounds!