What do you eat?

I eat a lot of cereal. In college, I would usually have at least three kinds of cereal at a time. Cereal for breakfast. Cereal for lunch. Cereal for dinner. Cereal for snacks. I love cereal. I loved cereal in India where I drank whole milk that came from a carton that didn't require chilling until opening. I love cereal in China where the milk is closer to 2% and is chilled and is about double the price of milk in India and about the same price as milk in America. The cost of cereal here is outrageous. I pay about $4 for a standard size box of cornflakes. Chinese people do not like cereal. If I want to buy a box of imported Honeycomb or Honey Bunches of Oats, I'll be paying closer to $7. If I want to afford cereal, I go to Sam's Club, but they have for some strange reason stopped stocking corn flakes. 

Here is what about $17.50 will buy you in China:

I went to the supermarket Auchan (the one you can see out my apartment window) first and bought the homemade noodles you see in the bag on the lower left for about a dollar, that bag of dish soap, which I will put in our old bottle, for about $0.25, milk for $2, and cereal for $5--best I could do for that chain of stores. Then I stopped by my favorite fruit shack (about one long Chinese block from my house the other direction) where they cut my pineapples for me when I buy them and bought the bananas, apples, and oranges. They work in 500 gram units here (1.1 pounds), which is confusing because India sold by the Kilogram, and it took me awhile to realize that it's half that here and way more expensive. I paid for my fruit in change and brought my own bags-fruit guy was pleased! Then I walked about 20 meters around the corner to the veg shop and bought the carrots and cucumbers. Veg guy likes me also because I bring my own bags when I remember, and he always takes out the better carrots when I come. He tried to sell me fish a few times also, but I'm just not ready for that. AND, I carried it all in my 31 bag from Grandma! It can hold a lot of weight!

This is my favorite pumpkin dessert at my favorite Sushi spot.

We've also been eating a lot of pastries!

The taste of Pollution

As it is cooling off in Suzhou, it's currently 49 degrees with a high of 57 tomorrow--rough, I know, the pollution is also on the rise. Today, the air quality index reached a high of 237, which is purple, or very unhealthy. Read more about the AQI here.

The first time I was fully aware and conscious of the pollution was about a month ago. We had cross country practice, and the AQI was around 180. I could taste it. It was like walking into a construction site where every material ever required was being cut, painted, and glued. The air gets hazy, and the buildings you normally look at out the window are difficult to see.

To mask or not to mask? Lots of research both ways. Some masks are better than others. This mask was free! I wear it when I bike to school. It gets weird when you smile at strangers.

Here's also a great story and photos of what happens in Beijing when important people visit and the pollution disappears. 

It's a great day to run. It's a great day for the Amazing Race. It's never a great day for touch rugby.

We participated in the Amazing Race Suzhou last weekend. Anwer and I paired up with another new staff couple Bonnie and Kevin to take on the challenge. Bravely, we entered the race with no Chinese speaking members, but we were unafraid. The day started pretty easily with a mushroom challenge and ended with eating stink tofu. Ick. Our newness to Suzhou definitely slowed us down, but we managed with a fourth place finish, which impressed most. I think it's fair to say we'll be gunning for first next year!

This past weekend I got convinced to go to a touch rugby tournament in Shanghai. Earlier in the year, they requested female staff to join because it was a mixed division. I was like, sure, I'll try this out. So I managed to get to two practices and concluded that touch rugby was not very fun. I didn't know what I was doing, and no one was teaching me effectively what to do. My HOD was the person organizing the trip, and I tried to get out of it. I said I didn't want to go unless it was absolutely required. 

Next thing you know, it's 5:45 AM on a Saturday, and I'm waiting on a corner for a bus. We show up to the tournament, and I'm a bit shocked by how much better the other teams appear to be. When our first match rolls around, we realize that we are in fact playing an all male team in a mostly all male division. My face goes from annoyed to pissed in 0.2 seconds. Yay! Our team proceeds to get our butts kicked for the next five matches of the day. I managed to score once in a game, but the rest of the day was a miserable experience of just waiting for the bus to leave. 

Shanghai Burbs

Borrowed some shoes from a kid so I'd look more legit. 

oh hello pollution, so nice to see you!

The highlight of my week was probably my amazing Halloween costume. This is how it started:

And this is how it ended:

Cruising around on our e-bike! Enjoying the final warm fall days!