Day Seven-and-a-half: Observations

This one will be quick. Not too much happened yesterday, I decided to relax, read, etc. But you will find the following interesting, I'm sure.

1) Peking Duck is wonderful. Went out with the roommate and got some, and it's totally all it's cracked up to be. One problem, though--they cut it for you and give you the head, which was scary enough, except as I was chowing down, I did not realize the brain had escaped (they cut the head in half), and I stared it down for a while before munching on it. I'm sure the Chinese think it's good for some obscure bodily function, but it was pretty disgusting. Never again.

2) PLA really means People's Liberation Awesome. These guys have a tight precision and respectful manner that top armies could take a lesson from. I got to shadow a whole squad of Embassy Security that were marching out of the Moroccan Embassy to somewhere (they turned off). Their marching was slick, and at traffic lights, the rear two soldiers jumped to the front with red signs (that say "stop" in Chinese) and stood in front of cars trying to turn right (the PLA had the green light, of course, but as you've already read, crossing the street is a constant negotiation with cars and bikes). After their unit passed, the soldiers with the stop-signs saluted the cars, turned on their heels, and resumed marching at the back of the line. Killer: Wish I had had the nerve to pull out my camera, but I was trying to stay respectable.

3) Eating is about the food, not the manners. In the little places I go to, there are some manners for eating, but I've certainly seen even Chinese manners go out the window for the sake of the food (for example: one is not technically supposed to eat right out of a communal bowl, but people do it anyway, when tasting something). Elbows are on tables, noodles are slurped with gusto, lips and bowls connect, and fingers get very busy when necessary, burping is considered complimentary, and bones/organs/whatever the Chinese think tastes good are left in the food--food is often not packaged neatly or easily; sometimes it takes effort to eat. It takes some getting used to. Like with the duck head (that will continue to haunt me). But for the most part, my taste buds appreciate it.