A couple of days ago, the nearest cafeteria to our building (the "er shi tang" or "second canteen") opened its doors for the new semester. We were excited to have cheap, fast, and filling food once again. Yesterday we met some students for dinner and one of my fellow teachers exclaimed, "I was so glad to come back to cafeteria food." Our students gasped in disbelief. "You will never hear anyone else say that! Cafeteria food...ugh!" A moment later I was gasping in disbelief as I watched a man on a motorbike ride into the cafeteria and zoom in between the tables, bold as you please. Maybe he, too, was excited to get a meal at the canteen. We wondered if he was in for some genuine "fast food".
Today, I ordered noodles at one of the small food stalls/kitchens in the "second canteen". This little place specializes in "la mian", a kind of noodle made by pulling, stretching, and separating the dough by hand. As I waited for my dish of noodles, I noticed that two little boys, (one or both sons of one of the cooks) were kneeling on a bench, looking into the kitchen through the open window space, both dressed in matching green sweaters. Their cuteness was magnified when I heard what one of the little boy was repeating: "Oppa gangnam style!" he would say softly, watching his mom deftly work the noodle dough. I just had to take a picture. Some days, China just makes me smile.
So cute !
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