Global Jim's China Adventure II: Nov 24, 2006

Okay...As usual I have been having problems with my blog.
This time the Great Firewall of China was back up for a while and I have had to post the past few posts on my first blog.
So if you want to see my trip to Shanghai and Nanjing...Click on the link on the right side that says "Global Jim's China Adventure I".

Anyway...Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Last night I had Thanksgiving dinner with some of the other American teachers here in town, Adam, Eva and Robyn. And some of the administrative staff at my school. We were also joined by a guy from Sweden who is here talking with the local government officials about opening a company here in Changxing.
His name is John Johnston. That's him on the far right

Besides being Thanksgiving...it was also Forest's birthday.
Forest is an administrator in charge of foreign affairs at our school.
He speaks with the greatest British accent.
That's him on the right....with his hand in front of his face.
The guy on the far left is the vice principal at our school.

Here is a good shot of Mr. Forest...making sure everyone is getting enough wine!

The birthday boy and Jenny...I think he got enough wine too!

I have yet to see a turkey here in China...but I kinda' had this feeling Forest was going to surprise us with a typical American Thanksgiving dinner just to make us feel at home.
Boy was I wrong!!
Instead of a roast turkey we had roast dog.
{That's right...ROAST DOG}

With a side of pigs feet!

I passed on both...I just can't eat a dog...and I had pigs feet the night before.
Not that had I ordered them, but I had dinner with Forest at school and that's what they brought us...So I nibbled and acted like I liked it.

All the usual Chinese trimmings...Veggies, shrimp, tofu, date, fish and some great little fried pumpkin cakes.
They also had a roast duck so I did manage to get a drumstick.

Last week I went to the Fear Factor market and to tell you the truth I've been doing a bit of shopping there.
With the weather much cooler is seems like the fly factor is down and I just feel like the meat is safer...being in a cooler climate all day....even though I do my shopping early as possible on Saturday morning.
I usually pick up some pork chops and vegetables...and some fruit.

Then I noticed a table with what looked like skinned dogs on it.

And it was!

Warning........

Do not scroll down if you have a weak stomach..........

Or are a dog lover..................

DON'T

SAY

I

DIDN'T

WARN

YOU!

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Now I think that I've gotten to the point to where I think I've seen it all.
I've been in China for about 5 months now and seen a lot of culturally different things.
And to tell you the truth...I didn't seem shocked at all.
I have talked to many Chinese people about eating dogs.
Some feel it is terrible and some think it is OK and some love it...Maybe only in a soup.(VICKY)
Being a dog lover...It was a little hard to take...But as I looked at them on the table..without their skin...they just reminded me of a skinned deer.

I've skinned a few deer in my days so it wasn't so bad.

BUT I STILL WASN'T GOING TO EAT ONE!!

It may seen cruel....just because we seem to love our pets so much.
But here it's just a fact of life....Most animals are eaten. That's the way it is in many countries.
But as an American we just aren't exposed to it...even on PBS.

This lady was so nice...she just couldn't stop smiling.

After seeing this...there was no way I was going to eat dog!
My new friend from Sweden didn't seem to mind.

I'll stick with the duck!

Jim