Sometimes It's Better Not To Know...

Everyone from our group has gotten sick to some degree from the food we are eating. (I’m not talking seriously sick, mostly just “拉肚子” - diarrhea) Why? Because we are eating three meals a day from street vendors. We don’t have our cafeteria cards yet, so we have to eat-out in restaurants or off the streets (which is much cheaper). A dozen street vendors have set up carts outside the gates of our school, selling a variety of different Chinese xiaochi. I don’t really notice as much anymore, but sometimes I just have to question how sanitary the food we are eating really is. These people cooking our food don’t wear gloves or hairnets like you would see in the United States. Sometimes I just want to ask if they wash their hands or utensil with soap? How long has that been sitting out for? Is that cigarette ash floating in my soup? But then again, sometimes it's better not to know...

I’m to the point that I won’t eat anything that I haven’t seen cooked. While waiting for our sandwich today, we watched as the man pulled raw chicken out of a plastic grocery bag hanging from the side of his cart and tossed it into the grease. (He had no refrigeration, not even a cooler.) Turning to Josh: "Should that worry me? Yeah, probably. Does it worry me? A little. Having seen that, will I still be back her for lunch tomorrow? Yup..."

Now don’t get me wrong, I am actually a huge fan of eating off the street. I personally think the food is delicious, and you can’t argue with the price. One of my favorite street vendors sells a sandwich that is comparable to what you would find on a McDonalds menu, but it only cost ¥3.5 (about 50 cents). 

To be blunt about the water here, it isn't safe to drink. People living in China have to buy bottled water, use a filter system, or boil it. (Most people use a combination of the three.) Here in our apartment we have a large thermos that we fill with boiling water from a machine in the laundry room. After letting it cool overnight we fill our water bottles with this lukewarm water. It's a daily process.