Fishing in China

So today has been pretty fantastic. Ben's school invited us to go out to "the countryside" (it was like 6 miles from downtown) and go fishing! Now, this being China of course it was raining when we wanted to go outside. Not a problem though, I absolutely love my new pink rain coat!

The fishing poles in China are weird... Its just this super freaking long pole with no handles, and they only use worms as bait. They throw this giant ball of something that looks like dirt, but its supposed to bring all the fishies around. I am very proud to say that I put my own wormy bait on the hook, even though it was gross and all squishy.

                                         

                                        
                                        

                                        

So after fishing we played cards for a bit, then we had lunch. I was not anticipating a special banquet for us, but alas, that was the case. Banquet food is no good.  I like that it is on a lazy susan, but its all super fancy, and very fishy. Literally. Right in front of my seat was an entire fish on a plate, with its gross little yellow eyes glossed over but staring into my soul. But that wasnt even the most interesting part of lunch. It was the pig tongue and duck neck. Honestly, if I didn't know what they were it wouldn't have been that bad. But I kept thinking about what I was eating so I did not finish it. But the important thing is that I ate it! Assessment: duck neck was a little spicy, and a lot of work to get just a little meat hopefully without gnawing on the actual neck bone. The texture of the tongue was weird, but swallow-able. But it just weirded me out too much for what I was eating that I only took a handful of bites. I probably wont ever eat either again, but I had to try! I am not trying to get the guts to gnaw on a chicken foot, but we will see if that happens or if I chicken out (pun not intended).

Our new Chinese friend, Zeo! She speaks excellent English, and taught us to play a really fun game of cards, which we had fun playing for hours. Zeo's mother was looking over my shoulder and helping me, it was great!

Ben's liaison's (from here on out called Yao) daughter. She may not speak English, but she kept me VERY entertained for the car ride. Being in  a car was super weird, and so nice! No one was honking at me specifically, I had my own space and I was right next to a cracked window, with no horrid smelling person next to me.

OH MY. So by some miracle I got to sit in the front of the car on the way home. Well, then Yao comes in and is trying to situate two bags. Well, I offer to hold them in my lap because thats just what you do when you ride shotgun. BAD CHOICE.  The bag starts flopping all around and I freak out just a smidge. THERE IS A LIVE FISH. So I put it on the floor and try not to cringe as the fish flips  all around right next to my feet.  Yao keeps saying "it is just a fish, no problem." Oh there was definitely a problem. Who wants to sit and have a fish tail sit and smack their leg as they try to focus on speaking slowly and answer questions about America? Not I.