Environment

In some ways, China is actually ahead of us environmentally. They passed a law this June that stores must charge for plastic bags, and as a result each market dutifully sells large canvas bags with slogans like "For a better world." There are trash cans on the street, and outside of a few cigarette butts, the streets are pretty clean. Everything gets recycled, since there are poor people who make their living going through the trash and salvaging everything they possibly can. I don't know what pollution controls are in place for vehicles, but I haven't seen black exhaust coming out of any busses, cars or trucks, which I did notice, surprisingly, in Bellingham this summer. And check out those bike lanes! There are trees lining all of the streets around here and quite a few parks, so it helps to cool off this already hot "footprint." 30 years ago, this area was a sleepy fishing village, and today the entire Shenzhen region is home to 11 million people.

The first time I walked into the Park & Shop, the grocery store attached to the school, I thought that something was rotten. Didn't take too long to figure out it was the infamous durian fruit! It's a bit larger than a cantaloupe and covered in sharp spikes, but I haven't had the stomach to buy one and experiment, so I can't tell you if it's as delicious as some people say. I also loved the looks of the dragon fruit, though I haven't been brave enough to try that either. Right now, I'm playing it pretty conventionally in my diet, too, and willing to pay more to buy familiar foods like bread, cheese, peanut butter, yoghurt, spaghetti, and familiar vegetables, but I do have an "ayee" ( housecleaner) who comes in once a week, and she cooks some tofu and noodle dishes to last me a few days.

My first week of school was chaotic, but I think I'll save that for another post. The important thing is that by Friday afternoon I was able to start breathing a little easier, and a foot massage and beer with other teachers after work definitely helped put things into perspective!