Lessons learned from fruits and veggies....

I have found there are many positive things about living in China.  One of them is the price of Fruits and Veggies.  They are very inexpensive. 

I bought all of this:

1 Chinese Mango
A bag of strawberries
A bag of potatoes
3 leaks
2 onions
2 heads of cauliflower

It cost me 29 Yuan or about 4.59 USD....I think that is pretty good.  I don't know the cost of fruits and veg right now in the U.S. but I think getting all of that for less that  $5.00 is good.

It is very interesting because the view about food is opposite here.  In the U.S. I always heard  talk shows and new shows discussing the problem of obesity in the United State.  One reason that would come up is  because fresh food costs more than fast food or processed foods.  I was talking to my language instructor and telling her that fruits and veggies are very cheap in China and she said matter of factly, "it is because the majority of Chinese people are poor."  That makes sense.

A lady who volunteers with me at Hopeful Hearts was telling me how she went to visit one of the children that was able to get heart surgery because of Hopeful Hearts.  The family was from the country side and they were very, very poor.  She the little girl who got the surgery was eating a little serving of mashed potatoes from Kentucky Fried Chicken, which is EXTREMELY popular in China.  They LOVE KFC.  My friend said that the little girl's grandpa was trying to teach her the value of money and how she was fortunate to be able to eat those KFC mashed potatoes.  He told her those mashed potatoes cost 4 yuan...which is about .63 cents USD.  He told her that is extremely expensive.  Back home in the country side, he told her, we can buy a whole bag of potatoes for that amount of money.  My friend was telling me the story because it touched her.  She is of Chinese descent but only just recently moved back to China.  She said that it amazes even her how the Chinese can live off so little money and they really take nothing for granted because they have so little.  She said it made her cry when the grandpa was talking to the little girl.

That  is one thing that I also am learning in the almost 6 months that we have been here.  How easy it is to take things for granted.  I am learning to try and be more conscience of how I spend my money.  I have to say having Xiao Li and Yi in my life helps me with that.  Xiao Li was cleaning out the fridge and she showed me that she was going to throw some strawberries away because they had gone bad.  I had forgotten about them and I felt so bad when she showed me because I knew to her that was probably so wasteful.  I was embarrassed, so having them around helps keep me accountable.

On a funny note, my driver Yi keeps me accountable by telling on me.  The other day I bought something for the house in the "as is" section of IKEA because it was a great price.  ☺  Michael called me on the way home from work and said Yi told me you bought something big today at IKEA.  Luckily Michael had already approved of the purchase, but Yi did not know that and we thought it was funny that he felt the need to let Michael know.  I told Michael I am not going to be able to get away with buying stuff on the sly anymore! ☺