The MARKETPLACE!!

Last week we finally were shown the Marketplace. The outdoor, open air market to buy fresh fruit, vegetables, breads, and meat if you choose. Ann, my co-teacher, (a Chinese English teacher paired with us to help us with anything), showed us how to take the bus too get there. it is near the hospital so we know where that is too! The market is an experience in itself! I was able to buy many fresh fruits (pears (asian), apples, grapes, bananas, mangoes), vegetables (tomatoes, corn, cucumber, onion, peppers), and meat (chicken, a ton of pork, and beef). I thought I had spent a ton of money on food to cook and eat. In the end it was less than $20!! It amazing to see a difference in prices - I do like China's better!! The market has a mixture of sights and smells that at times are indescribable. The bakery areas are always good of course. The spices are hard to tell what is what. Meat, of course all you have to do is look at it. This by far is one of the biggest culture differences to me. In the market people take pictures of us walking and buying foods from their stands. It is pretty incredible!! Everyday at 11:30ish it basically shuts down. A few "shops" stay open. Majority of it is like another dead alley where nothing is happening. Just a few minutes ago this was a busy place that was so crowded you were pushing people just to get through!! At lunch time almost everything shuts down in the city. Even at school there is a 2 1/2 hour break for lunch and a nap!!
The first time (we have been many times now), it was definitely a shock!! There is beef hanging on the sides. Chickens are in cages. You point to one and it will be defeathered and in a bag in YOUR hand in a few minutes!! The "butchers" have all the body parts on their tables, feet, necks, head, "gizzards", we have even recognized kidneys!!! Pick what you want and it is yours in a matter of minutes. Being american and cooking for one means that I do not want to buy a lot of food. If the vegetables you choose and put in the bag for them to weigh do not weigh enough they will add more!! So choose enough!! There are animal heads on the floor, pigs feet hanging, dead fish in buckets, scorpions in buckets, food galore lining the streets, and sounds of chickens taking their last breath as they scream. Will I go back?? Oh yes, many times!!! It is the best place to go shopping for fruits and vegetables! If you come visit I will show YOU!!