When China Gives You Lemons...

...you freak out. But Really. 

Remember that part about me being freaked out by weird meat? Well keep that in mind for my next story. 

Sometimes it is very easy to forget that you are halfway across the world in a totally different culture. That is, until you step outside on the street. While we have people walking everywhere, texting, chatting, trying to get to their next lunch date, etc etc...China has a whole culture on the street. Street venders EVERYWHERE selling everything you can imagine (fake OPI? Check. Your newest dress? also check.), people playing with live chickens, beggars getting in your face asking for money, and so on. It is so vibrant, a totally different way of life and is just the thing that quickly puts you back into the real world. Food will also very quickly make you realize you aren't in Kansas anymore. It is possibly the hardest part of being here. You never quite know what you are getting into with dishes because you never quite know what you are order. (My previous post on the egg is a GREAT example as well as the bamboo I ate yesterday, and the weird rice-ball congealed soup that is actually really good. 

Okay, now that I have painted this picture...let me get back to my story.  Casually eating lunch with our teachers the other day (they always order THE BEST food), I decided to go for some sort of chicken dish. Back to a little explanation--if you didn't already know, chinese people always eat family-style in a restaurant. So mostly you use a spinning glass table for easy access and on occasion have to stand up to reach something. I stood up to reach this big dish so I couldn't see what I was grabbing. Not hearing what the chinese conversations were around me, I grabbed some meat and sat back down. Little did I know, one of the teachers and my friend were telling me something and I just wasn't listening. I GRABBED THE FOOT. Literally. There was a chicken foot on my plate. Thinking to American culture, that is NOT something that is associated with a chicken dish so I was not expecting to grab it. Let's just say I freaked out big time. Usually if I prepare myself, I can have a very calm reaction to something like that, but this was an utter freak out of surprise. I think the teachers were a wee bit scared.  

Lesson learned. Stay away from the foot.