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| Street-view from my bedroom window (Ningbo, China) |
If you were to take a stroll along the block near my apartment, you'd discover a supermarket, various fast food places & whole-in-the-wall restaurants, bread shops, a medicine shop, clothing stores, a spa, hair salons, a coffee shop, a bank, a car wash, and multiple convenience stores. Anything you could ever want or need is available at practically an arm's reach. Perfect! Having all of these convenietly-placed stores near my home has been great, but my favorite spot on the block is the fruit shop (no contest).
Fruit seems to be an integral part of everyday life for Chinese people. As I mentioned before, when visiting someone's home they often offer you fruit as soon as you enter the door. Similarly, at work, often times my officemates will share their fruits with me throughout the week. This may include grapes, apples, sugar cane, oranges, grapefruit, berries and sometimes fruits I've never even seen or heard of before. I rarely (if ever) see them snacking on sweets or potato chips as we would in the United States. Fruit is always their snack of choice - it's kind of a big deal. Having learned this, and as a part of my cultural assimiliation, I have been trying to adopt this fruit-eating habit since living in China, but sometimes it gets a little tough for a sugar-addict like myself.
On my street there are 4 fruit shops, so I really have NO excuse to not eat healthy throughout the week. The store clerks are so kind and get really excited when they realize I can understand a bit of Chinese. The best part, though, is that they offer a wide variety of fruit that is really cheap, and each time I visit the shop I notice a new fruit I didn't see the previous time. I've tasted some of the most delicious and juiciest fruits I've ever had. Ever. I think America should catch on to this 'fruit shop' idea instead of having a liquor store and beauty supply on every corner - The fruit shop is definitely the move.
- FBG
