J+100 ... A sentence I should use with caution...

I told Nicky I wasn't afraid of her threats about how "creepy" Chinese food can get.

This had an immediate and direct consequence on my dinner! We both took the underground, and went to eat in Xin jie Kou together. I let her order... She didn't miss that chance.

I was served a bowl, of .. (it looked like soup) .. Her smile was up to her ears, "taste taste !" She said.

I had a try, ate one of the brown lumps.. In the soup. Difficult to chew, not so tasty.

- I was informed, that the bowl was in fact "internal organs".

Yeah. I ate a bull's heart, liver, lung, stomach and.. Big intestine...

 

J+99 The PE lessons in Chinese middle school.

This topic deserves little article. The PE (Physical Education) lessons have turned out to be the most surprising thing in School for me...

I was expecting something very very hard, exhausting, taking account of the Chinese disciplined way of training... But NO.

In fact it is more like a break. In France, we had no choice, it was obligatory to run unless we wanted a terrible grade.

In my PE lesson, there are 3 classes. We all go up 6 floors, into a hall, with Badminton courts and ping pong tables. The teachers chat with some of the students, and people can do pretty much as they want! A lot of students even bring their homework ... with the hope this will allow them to get a little more sleep at night.

As far as I am concerned, this is always a great moment and opportunity to see my friends from the other classes. Besides, I do enjoy sports!

I am surprised by the extent to which teenagers here are in bad physical health. They are far from being fit, this includes most of the boys. The truth is, they simply don't have any time to exercise, so everybody thinks I am a exceptional runner here, I have more endurance than them.

J+98 Usual winter dinners...

Since the weather as been so cold in Nanjing, (it feels very cold), must people eat 火锅 (hotpot), specially in the evening. My aunt prepares it quite well. She cuts enough vegetable for a whole week, and then makes a "juice", a sort of soup with spices and herbs, we then add ingredients ourselves (meat, rice noodles, tofu...)
This dish is brilliant, it warms up the whole body!
I also enjoy having Taiwan food after school with my friends. It is slightly sweet, I'm not sure how to call it. Next time I will take a lot of pictures!

 

J+98: Usual school day...

Nothing special happened today.
I just thought this view was interesting,...It caught my eye. What people wouldn't do in Nanjing to secure a parking space... Indeed this is a big problem here, I have been told parking a car can take up to 2 hours.

J+97 invited for traditional dinner ..

This evening I had the honor and privilege to be invited for supper by one of my school mates, at her grandparents home.
She told me her grandmother (fathers mother so "奶奶", for the mothers mother we say "外婆") was very excited about cooking for a foreigner!
Her family welcomed me so warmly, we all laughed happily together, in Chinese.. They didn't speak a word of English!
They had asked me two days earlier what I usually fancy eating, I answered "I can try anything!!" ... The people who know me, will remark a change here; indeed, I have decided to be the most open minded person Nanjing people will ever meet! I give this answer all the time, I used to be a little .. Insecure maybe, (I always sticked to habits, yeah, a form of security..daily routine, don't try so many new things..)
Now, on the contrary, I hear many people saying "the French girl likes everything, she tastes everything, she's so sunny, so happy!"
I just wish my parents would witness that! .. I look back on my stubborn behavior, refusing to have a taste of something ..
The girl, who's name is Yan Ling, is in grade 11, one year above my grade, so she's my age. We didn't take any pictures, I regret it, but we didn't take our phone to eat so I couldn't. This picture was taken by her father, before we arrived. (They insisted, asking me what I liked to eat.. I said I liked vegetables, as you can see, 奶奶 got the message quite clearly!)
We had ribs, (delicious), Fish, rice, soup, crab, shrimps, beef, vegetable, fried egg, spicy omelette... We drank coconut milk, this dinner was so tasty!

Later on, we went back to her home, after having said goodbye to the grandparents, (they invited me to come back, as often as I wanted.. That's good to know!) we went back to Yan Lings home, not so far.
I stayed about an hour, with her parents and herself, she has a beautiful flat, very homely, colorful.
We ate (again...) fruit, biscuits, and drank one of my favorite drinks : warm (homemade) soya bean milk, it is specially good when we have this cold weather..
Her father took me back home.
(Of course, useless to mention during all of that time, my sister, had been hardworking in her bedroom.. I found out she is probably the only student in her grade who works this intensively.. Because the people I go out with are her classmates!)

Tonight I also realized, that my friends here, were all part of the students who "applied to receive me"! This is maybe the 10th time, I meet a friends family who tell me they had filled in the form, and were willing to welcome me for a year, and are very sad they weren't chosen!

Unfortunately the only photo I have of Yan Ling is her QQ profile one.. So not very natural!

 

J+ 96 Photo-shoot!!

Today Lisa took me out for a photo-shoot in the afternoon. I had in mind a traditional Chinese one, but it turned out it was nothing of the sort! I was very impressed by her own posters on her walls in her home. She phoned up the studio and booked it for me.

When we arrived there, they started by making up my face, and decided the style I should be going for.

It was hard to choose, half of them made me look like a 5year old, wearing a pajama, and little butterfly outfit... Lisa said "no no no, we want something sexy!"

They asked me if I disagreed, I just told them to go for it, I trusted them.

The photo-shoot lasted about 2 hours, we have more than 350 shots. I have to go back next week and pick a hundred of them, Lisa will come with me.

The pictures I have just there are just taken by Lisa, behind the photographer, and the one with the black dress was during a break...

Once I get the real shots, I shall share some with you.

 

J+95 Zhangzhi's "rebellion" against strict Chinese teacher...

My best friend and classmate, Zhangzhi has a different sense of humour from most Chinese people. Her English is almost fluent, this allows her to appreciate the flexibility and quality of foreign humour.. Thank God I have her, because most of my classmates laugh about childish Japanese cartoons all the time.. Not quite my cup of tea!

So..... We both often have our private jokes! She sits three rows in front of me in the classroom, and just turns round, makes a facial expression only I can understand, and that's it.. We both laugh..!

Last week, dear Zhangzhi had a rather bright idea.

~ they received old English homework, from two weeks ago~

Zhangzhi turns round..looks at me, giggled, and said "he he he... we don't need this anymore.. do we justine?" smirking...I replied "indeed, we don't." She said "oooooohhhh that is mighty brilliant. Hold on a sec' girl!"

The next thing I see.. She is smiling in triumph, very proud of herself.. a little laugh filled with pleased guilt..holding up the paper.. With a HUGE tag on it, written with a thick black marker:

*"CREEP MOTHERFUCKER"*

Doesn't end here. No no, this is the beginning. It gets interesting!

Our head teacher, takes her microphone, steps on the stage, not longer than 40 seconds after this, and says : "I will collect the papers at once. Are you clear?? I want them back, now."

Zhangzhi's face went absolutely CRIMSON (this is rare for a Chinese).. Her face just froze, she was petrified! Before she could do anything, her work of art was taken away... You can guess what happened next..

"Zhangzhi, to my office!."

Apparently, it seemed our head teacher did not appreciate the little message my friend had left her!

... I saw Zhangzhi's little face turning at me, desperate.. Hopeless..

Next thing I see, when I come back from my lunch, she was cleaning the classrooms.. This is a sort of punishment. Anyhow, she was lucky. This could have gone quite far.

I laughed a lot that day, simply couldn't help myself. This, in china, writing this to a teacher, is probably as bad as walking in a Mosque wearing nothing but a bikini.. Inappropriate and potentially dangerous!