Delicious!

So I have to start this post off with the one thing that makes the world turn (or at least my world) FOOD!

There are so many different types of food, fresh vegetables, and fruits fruits. There isn't a lack of vegetarian food over here from what some of you were thinking. This morning for breakfast I drank some "Dowh Wa", a soft sweeten hot tofu drink, and ate "Pun Mein" and fresh noodle dish made in a peanut sauce. The Pun Mein was so savory that even Ame would have loved it.

So now as the title suggests there is even more food to talk about then the one dish. The fruits here are so sweet and fresh. Today I ate Persimmion's which melted in my mouth like butter and was sweeter than honey. The fruits over here are sold on really every street corner, off of bikes, trucks, every where you go you are able to buy some for literally less then a phone in Toronto. 1 Orange= 15 cents or 2 RMB.

Yesterday as I walked along the beach I ate these fruits called "Hawtorn"'s that were on skewers and were coated with candy. (they looked like baby candy apples 5-6 on 1 stick). They kind of tasted like tamarind but were very flavorful.

Now saving the best for the last. Last night what I ate changed my world! This is not an exaggeration. I ate for the first time in my life a fruit called "Annona Cherimola". It apparently tastes like "custard apple" a similar looking fruit. The way I would describe to you what the fruit tastes like would be, imagine yourself bitting into a custard pastry or turnover and it being so sweet and soft in the inside almost to the point that you could drink it with a straw. It has officially become my favorite fruit to eat. DELICIOUS!

I wish I could post pictures and videos up on the blog but i'm not able to because of the network limitations imposed by the Chinese government. When I have a chance in a couple months, when I travel out of Xiamen I will post them for you to see.

Until next time.

Arzan

Day 1 and 2

Hey Everyone,
I arrived in Xiamen yesterday afternoon (12:30pm my time 12:30am your time) as I walked out of the airport I saw palm trees.... fountains...and mountains-- it is gorgeous! The best way to describe Xiamen is-- it's a cross between California ( the weather, beaches, ocean etc) and New York city ( the tall buildings, millions of people, crazy drivers).

In Xiamen, they built this light rail system (without the light rail trains..it was taking them too long to get approved by the government) and so they have this above ground bridge across the city that is only meant for this one bus company (ex. ttc) and buses come every 2 minutes and they are packed! but very inexpensive to ride; 7-8 cents USD. I had my first experience with street food last night and bought seasoned grilled tofu for 8 cents.

People over here are so friendly and so excited to see foreigners--they get all happy as they don't see many white/brown/other people around. Today I just came back from the largest market they have in the city (its massive!) think of it spanning from dundas to king/front st. and 2 blocks wide. They had live EVERYTHING --regular chickens, white chickens, pigeons, turtles, rabbits, ducks, endangered deep sea crab, eels, and a lot of other fishes, fruits, nuts etc. It was really cool to see but smelly at the same time. There was this one Chinese guy in the market making fresh noodles out of dough. If I can figure out how to post a video on the blog you MUST watch it...you won't believe your eyes.



Over all this place is awesome I really love it so far. It is very hard for me to see China as a developing country but more as a developed country. The city is really clean, maintained and there is a lot going on. Maybe when I travel to other parts of the country I will see a difference.

I tried to write in my travel blog today but found out that the Chinese government has blocked ALL blogs, youtube, facebook, twitter, etc. I have found away around this using a VPN (hence my post)but in the future I may not be able to get a connection.

Hope all is well in T-dot and you're holding down the fort while im gone.

Arzu

And it begins!

So I am at Pearson airport right now waiting to board and figured it would be an appropriate time to write in the blog. I have to say I never thought it would be this hard saying "good bye/see you later" at the airport. Sorry but I couldn't turn around for a final glance...it was to hard to leave you all behind.  I am leaving everything I have known for the past 23 years behind and flying to the other side of the world to learn, serve, understand, and experience a new culture.

I'm going to miss all my friends, and family. You all have been very supportive in my endeavors and you will all be in my heart. The next time I write I will be either in South Korea or China. Thank you everyone for everything. See you all soon.

Love always,
Arzan

T Minus 2 weeks

Hey Everyone,
So I have never written a blog before but have been inspired to start one so I can share my experience in China with all of you. So far my journey to China has led me to take a TESOL Certificate course so I can teach English while in China. The course itself isn't that difficult but there is a lot of written assignments attached to every unit (20 Units total).

I intend to start writing in this blog more frequently when I arrive in Xiamen, China. I will be leaving Toronto on October 27th at 1:30am and arriving in Xiamen in the evening of October 28th.

I look forward to keeping in contact with all of you. Please keep in touch via email (arzanb@gmail.com) for now until I get a phone number/bbm working in China. I still haven't figured out all the tools I can use with the Blog but as I figure them out I'll add picture and possibly videos if I can do that...

Until next time,

Arzan