I'm still finding new foods to try. Some of them are excellent, for others I have to try not to gag while I talk myself into swallowing. Most of these don't taste bad but their texture and knowing what they are makes them difficult to eat. I never knew how food-biased American culture is. My ideas about what is appropriate to eat override what my mouth tastes; it's all in my head.

They removed the photo caption feature (which is really annoying) so this album includes: black rice crispy treat and meat candy; a truck selling huge twisted fried snacks; rice pillows, which are really like big cold cereal and I was tempted to put milk on them; taro cake, rather pasty; octopus (which I've had before but it never looked like this); Xi'an noodles, the noodles native to the city of Xi'an, a wheat noodle that is cooked into flat pieces (in the round pan in the upper left) then cut up into noodles; and banana, strawberry, and peach flavored microwave popcorn.

One of my friends at work has a three year-old son, Xiao Mo. I've only met him twice, the first time he cried when he saw me and the second time was in the hospital when he had a fever (so sad).

A couple of days ago his dad, Mo Hailiang, told me that they were watching a TV news story about the war in Gaza. Hamas leaders were being interviewed and Xiao Mo recognized they were speaking a foreign language. He mimicked it...blah blah blah...then he said "Lao Bu!" (my Chinese name). I must be the only person Xiao Mo has met who speaks a language other than Chinese, or he thinks I am a Hamas militant!!! We all had a good laugh about that.