Street Food

Last night we walked the street market in Changzhou. Its amazing how this place lights up at night. They have isles and isles of people with make-shift grills and thousands of different kinds of meat. Most of the chinese food I have eaten so far has been really bland. Just vegetables, meat and rice. But as I was walking down the isle and smelling all the different smells wafting from the woks. Mmmmm. It smelled so spicy and delicious. Just flip them one yuan and you will have the greatest meal of your entire life! I loved talking with the people and playing the little carnival games they had setup. I won a ceramic cup! Its my favorite and now I eat my secret stash of street fruit from it in the morning. 

It was fun walking amongst the people but my favorite part of the night was at the very end. As we were all getting ready to leave, I had fallen a bit behind. An older man and a woman had a tiny little box setup with only three bushels of grapes on it. The woman plucked one of the grapes off and handed it out towards us. The other two girls I was with were hesitant to try it because the other teachers warned us that we shouldn't drink the water or eat the fruit without washing it with our own water.  Not that its bad. It would just make us sick because we haven't been drinking it our whole lives. I couldn't help myself though, they were so cute, so I ate the grape and it was SO delicious. I used one of the only mandarin words I know and just smiled and kept saying "Hao da, Hao da," which just means, "Good, Good!" They laughed and were soooo happy. Then another lady came running over and she said in broken English, "These are my friends, they say you should come back often. Come to visit. Welcome to changzhou." I asked the lady how much the grapes were in mandarin and she was trying to give them to me for FREE! I still paid her and then she squeezed my hand before I left. As I was walking back to the group I couldn't help but think how happy I was in this exact moment. These people. Oh they just have such big hearts. How they survive with so little and give so much... I do not know. But I am thankful.