Point and Guess

1. I don't know if you know this, but they speak a different language here. And when I say different, I mean... DIFFERENT. There are these things called characters and these other things called tones.

2. I do not speak this language. I am learning a little at a time. I'm kind of at the stage of a toddler. I know a few words but can't really do the whole sentence thing yet.

3. Eating a meal at a restaurant can cost you between .50 and 2.00 usd... unless you go somewhere fancy. And it's a lot easier than cooking and, oh my goodness, it's delicious... and healthy (usually). So, I pretty much always eat out twice a day.

4. But once you leave the gates of campus... no one speaks English (unless you run into some brave students or take a friend with you) and the menus are filled with those character things mentioned in number 1. They look like this:

5. So, We've invented a new game. It's called Point and Guess.

6. I am slowly learning how to recognize a few of the characters. I know the character for noodles, rice, stirred/mixed, beef, chicken, pork, and vegetable.

7. So, we inspect the menu for familiar characters... and then...

8. You got it! We simply... POINT and GUESS. You never know what you're going to get. There has only been one time that I was really not happy with the results (some kind of fish soup... edible... but not delightful).

9. Brittany, one of my co-workers/neighbor and I have one other game we like to play. It's called... Follow Them! When we don't know where we want to eat, we pick a group of people out of the crowd and follow them to whatever restaurant they are going to. :)

10. This was the result of the point and guess ordering at this particular meal. It was really really good. I wasn't excited about the sprouts when I saw them, but the taste was unbelievably good! And the dish in the back, you might notice, was filled with red peppers and haojiao, but if you picked out all the chicken (which had pretty much happened by the time we took the picture) it was SOOOO good. Spicy. But GOOD! :)

11. I love adventure! And this Life in Panda Land I'm living is full of it... even down to the small things, like ordering your food. :)

12. So, who wants to come play Point and Guess and/or Follow Me??? The game of your life is just a plane ride away!!! :)