Food and More Food

Yesterday started with a banquet at a local temple, where the food just kept coming. At one point the plates were stacked three high in the middle of the table. At the end they brought out bags to take stuff home, but since we don’t have a fridge, we couldn’t take any. The little ladies were circling, just waiting for us to leave. In the afternoon we had an open house to show our design proposals and get feedback from the community. After that the Next Generation (Meinung youth organization) threw an Indonesian barbeque. The food was fantastic! Some of it was standard fair, chicken, lamb, and beef, but there were also skewers of chicken intestine (a bit to chewy) and a local dish which is made from rice and duck blood. The consistency reminded me of Cream of Wheat cookies. After that a group rode out of town to an irrigation ditch where we wallowed around in about a foot and a half of water. It may sound strange, but it felt oh so good. There is silt in the bottom of the ditch, but the water itself is clean, and it is one of the few chances to immerse in cool water and stave off the heat. On the way home I got a push from one of the guys on a scooter. He rode up beside my bike and put his foot on the back fender, and I just coasted along. Beats peddling like a chump. Since it was Friday we went to the night market. At one point I was the only foreigner in the group, and even Payee (sp?) couldn’t understand everything because the others were speaking Hakka (dialect). We ate hot-pot and played a game similar to pachinko. All in all a good day.