Hello everyone, this is Hailey giving you a bimonthly report of things, here in Ya’an.
We’ve been living in this little slice of heaven for little over a month and a half now, and the time seems to be flying by. Filling our time with adorable pandas, card games, laugher, and lots of food. We’ve encountered interesting, strange and delicious food from many of our favorite establishments. There are many restaurants in Ya’an, but we as interns can often be found eating in one of two places.
In the morning, we can often be found eating at our favorite dumpling place, dubbed “happy face”, where the family who runs the establishment has our orders memorized, and are always ecstatic to feed us. The woman, is constantly bringing out new dishes for us to try (yesterday Bryan and I tried chicken comb, we were also informed that she could make us chicken comb noodles). No matter the time or day, they are happy to feed us, take pictures with us, and speak Chinese to us even though we don’t understand.
The other place that we can most commonly be found is, “hot wait staff”. Here the staff is phenomenal, always making sure that we have enough rice, tea and are happy. We are able to show them pictures on our phones of dishes that we want, and they make it to order. They are very understanding of D’s dietary restrictions (vegan) and always supply her with fresh vegetables. Hot wait staff cooks a variety of food, but we have a few staples that we consistently order; twice cooked pork with leeks, spicy garlic string beans, egg and tomato, spicy potatoes and rice. When we go, we always try to show the ladies pictures of pandas that we have taken from that days study, which are greeted with squeals of delight.
It’s such a comfort to be living far from home and have phenomenal people who are more than willing to always feed you, and help you with anything you need, as well as with spending time with my three new best friends.