Recap #2

Okay, so, where were we? Right. Xi'an is big. But I'm getting ahead of myself. We got out of the train station and smack dab into urbanity and we made a beeline for the first familiar face: a McDonald's. Apparently my resident director, Darren, who is basically our mother hen, had never had pancakes in China before, and upon discovering that McDonald's now served them, we really had no choice but to humor him. One interesting thing that I learned there was that at every restaurant, or really any service industry-type place, you get a receipt that does two things: it proves that the establishment is paying their taxes (and not you yay for no sales tax), and also gives you a chance to win up to fifty yuan(!!!). That's right, it's also a lottery ticket. And the funniest part is that if you win, the government doesn't pay you, the restaurant has to pull it out of their own register. To avoid the chance of this, or perhaps to evade taxes, some places offer you a coke in lieu of the receipt. Darren says in this situation take the coke. It's a free coke I mean who wouldn't.
So we get our food and pile into a van and drive to the hotel. Told you about the hotel, it's pretty snazzy. Smells a little funny, due to some mysterious and enduring plumbing problem, but I'm getting used to it. I tried to use the Dhoop sticks Darby got from Italy, but the stick broke in the little holder and I can't get it out. Sorry for wasting your Dhoop, Darb, but I promise I'll bring it back. After that we went to dinner at a hotpot restaurant famous for its mushrooms which, let me tell you, was great. Remember that bit about being jealous about my foodgasms? Well let's just say that time has come. A hotpot is a hot pot (heh) of soup in the middle of a round table, made this time from a mushroom base, into which a lady puts mushrooms, meatballs, spinach, basically anything you could desire. You then mix up your own dipping sauce from different pastes of sesame, chilies, tofu, leeks, and garlic, and dip everything into that. So sososo good. And you will never have it, unless you come to China. Ever.
So that was Sunday I guess, days are a little wonky for me right now, but the next day we met with our Chinese teachers at a Yunan-style restaurant for lunch. They asked who liked spicy food, and I raised my hand, and they pointed to one dish and said "zuo la", which means most spicy. Of course, I had to pick it, because I didn't want to look like a wuss and I also didn't know what the heck anything else was. I cried over that bowl of soup. I have never cried from spiciness before. I cried that day.  It was kind of epic and made me feel very cold afterwards.
I should tell you right now that I am experiencing diarrhea now, most likely because of that dish. Now you know, and you can't unlearn it. Let me say for the record: it was worth it. And don't worry Mom, I'm drinking lots of water and taking my Acidopholous every day.
Today's Tuesday, and i just got out of my first classes. But that will have to wait for another time, because it's dinner time and I'm am very hungry and yes, you will likely be jealous again.