Man does time fly! Its already been a month since I've moved into my permanent site, Liupanshui City. The students here are the sweetest and they are so motivated to learn. My colleagues are also very encouraging and sweet. As a PCV who is in the TEFL program, that is all I can really ask for! Other than being busy with lesson planning and classes, I've had many chances to meet students and teachers to enjoy the local dishes. There is something called the "Dou Mi Huo Guo", Bean Hot Pot, which is really famous in Guizhou and so far every time I've had it, it never seemed to disappoint me! I've also had "Suan-La tang" which is translated to Sour-Spicy Soup. It is also another type of hot pot but the pot is divided into 2 and there is the sour side and the spicy side. I've also had several other types of hot pot but I must say that the bean hot pot is so far the best. Also, for those who do not know, hot pot basically is when you cook your own soup with the stove on the table and you can add any vegetable, meat, fish and additional sauce you want. The differences between all these hot pots are the soup base and usually what type of meat or fish is available to you. I usually don't put any fish nor meat, just a lot of different types of vegetables.
Now, you probably ask why I've been eating so much hot pot and why everything is a type of soup... Well, my city is known as the "Cool Capital" and to support that, by the end of September I saw people with down jackets and every type of furry clothing you can imagine to keep themselves warm. So the food here tends to center around keep the people's body warm. Its a lot of hot pot and soup,but I can see myself eating this everyday because it is so good!
My host family and I have also drove up a mountain to a restaurant with a chicken farm in the middle of the woods. They ordered 4 different chicken soup in which was in the form of hot pot as well. The chicken was killed and prepared right there behind the restaurant. I'm very glad that I did not see this preparation but despite all this, the soup was really good and tasty. Also, I learned to play mahjong the Guizhou way and attempted to play against some family members which meant my host mom was looking over me playing for me. hehe!
