Creepy Crawlies

I have officially eaten my first Asian bug. Before coming to China, I had heard the horrors of Asian bug cuisine, but thought that perhaps I could just avoid the whole thing. However, reason gave into curiosity and the opportunity for bragging rights. That’s right, I can now add fried bees, bee larva and centipedes to my list of ingested substances. And I must say – it wasn’t all that bad. Luckily, a good deep-fry can turn pretty much anything into an oily crunch. No, this was not my first experience eating prepared bugs. In Oaxaca, Mexico I indulged in grasshoppers, dried and seasoned with lime and chili powder. I became a big fan of this protein-rich snack, a perfect food to carry around in my backpack while traveling. However, the bees proved a bit more challenging for me as they are not the innocent jumping critter sort, but an evil, vicious variety that has caused me much pain and fright throughout my life – especially the last few summers that Fairbanks was plagued by the little villains. Scott coaxed me into the experience by suggesting that this was my chance to get revenge on the world bee population. Well, it worked - though, I can’t say I’ll eat them again. The centipedes on the other hand, were actually pretty tasty.

Our bug eating experience, which Scott is demonstrating in these pictures, happened yesterday while having lunch with our new employer Tina. We have new part-time jobs; weekend moonlighting in a city two hours north of Kunming. Last week I received a mysterious call from a woman named Tina, who said she needed English teachers. We met up with her and agreed to try out teaching on Saturdays and Sundays at her private school for children aged 7-12. She’ll arrange for a van to pick us (me, Scott and Gaetan) up on Friday nights and bring us back to Kunming on Sunday evenings. We have a large, brand new apartment to live in and free Chinese lessons during our down time. It’ll be a good way to get out of Kunming each weekend and earn some extra cash. We start the first weekend of December and if all goes well, we’ll continue through the end of the semester and possibly next semester as well. This makes job number three for Scott, so he’s going to be busy.


Yesterday, Tina picked us up, explaining that she needed to take our pictures. We then stopped by a professional portrait studio and nabbed a few photographers with their equipment and drove to the ritziest neighborhood I’ve seen in China. The beautiful, southwestern designed townhouses are up on a hill and surrounded by lush gardens. I felt like we’d left Kunming and been transported to colonial Mexico. There we had to pose for numerous pictures that Tina will later blow-up and display at the school. After the photo shoot, she took us out for a delicious Chinese lunch that included the before mentioned bugs.

Tina is an interesting character as she is the first non-feminine Chinese woman I have seen here. She is quite masculine in both hair and style, smokes like a chimney and drinks heavily. In fact, she’s also the first woman I have seen smoke cigarettes. Considered unladylike, smoking is reserved for Chinese men. We still don't know how Tina got our phone number, but I guess it doesn't really matter. She's an extremely nice woman and we're excited to work with her.

Next week we have Thursday and Friday off as the university is holding a sports tournament. We have been asked to participate in the opening ceremonies on Thursday morning, where we only have to walk around the track with the other foreign teachers and wave. The school had asked us to wear “sports clothes” and gave us a shopping allowance of 700 yuan (almost $100) to outfit ourselves. As clothes are ridiculously cheap here, it seems we’ve gotten a little early Christmas bonus!

Well, that’s about it for now. Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends and family! I wish I could be in Fairbanks for dinner at my Aunt Linda’s on Thursday. We have been invited to spend the holiday with Scott’s hockey teammate from Minnesota and his family.