A date with Cathy, eating my first brain and a rant about Chinese drivers!

Cathy is a star.  She is the teacher who helped us both get sim cards towards the start of our time here.  She has put a huge amount of effort in to both me and Anna (now gone North) to make us feel at home. Cathy likes Chinese food.  Anna did not.  I don't mind.  So often 'dates' with Cathy ended up with a clash as to where we ate food.  Usually Cathy gave in before Anna, and we ate 'western'.  I am now back in Jiangkou and know that Cathy will be leaving in a month, and won't return for a year.  She has won a prestigious scholarship at a University.  Anyhow, I am back in Jongkou and thought I'd catch up with her.  It appears that she is in the middle of a driving test.  This surprised me, because the driving here is appalling!  Everyday I am still amazed at the things I see, some of it just beggars belief!  There are so many examples, but the one that really still annoys me is the combination of pedestrian and car.  If you are trying to cross the road even at a legitimate place, and even when you , in theory, have right of way, and a car is coming in your direction, it does not slow down.  It 'beeps' and steers.  It either steers in front of you, or behind you, but does not slow down.  It is not a deliberate calculated steering, just a sudden reaction upon realising that you are there.  And, if the car steers behind you and then the driver realises that there are other people behind you, then it will try to steer in front of you, but still wont slow down.  As you can imagine, this is really dangerous.  I am so fed up with it that recently I have watched how some older Chinese people cross the road and I've imitate them.  It takes a lot of courage and does not always work.  I first try and pick a place to cross where there are no cars.  I then start to stare down the approaching driver, hold my umbrella out in front of me and stride purposefully into the road.  Usually the driver is unfamiliar with the technique and slows down, but not always!  Back to Cathy.  I sent her a message and asked if she fancied catching up with me.  She seemed keen to do so, so I offered to take her to a place of her own choosing for a meal of her own choice.We went here:  the restaurant, not the motorbike, it's part of a chain of hot-hot restaurants.  She made a good choice!  The food was good!

 the restaurant, not the motorbike, it's part of a chain of hot-hot restaurants.  She made a good choice!  The food was good!

In the background, Cathy.  The picture really does not do her justice! In the foreground is the hot-pot 'bowl'.  One side has a spicy 'soup' and the other side has a plain 'soup'.  To the sides are the items that you drop into the 'soup' to cook.  Kind of like a fondue!

 I laso had my first taste of brain!  Not  sure what it was the brain of, but it was an egglike consitencty when cooked and didnt taste of much!  That's it at the far side of the bowl!

When we left the restaurant we went back to Cathy's parents house and I met her mum and dad.  The way there was like the way to all low-rise Chinese dwellings.  Plain concrete steps.  The flat itself was lovely, as were her parents.  It never ceases to amaze me how some grey concrete stairwell can lead to such nice accommodation!

I left Cathy's house as a couple of her parents co-workers arrived for dinner, and popped off to the park.  It felt like a good night for dancing so I joined in.  The locals find it really fun to watch the foreigner trying to dance along to the dama music!  I enjoy it provided there are not too many turns in the dance.  Too many 'turns rounds' and I get lost.  I wait for the day when I have actually learned the dance and am not doing 'monkey see monkey do' dancing!