Working Breakfast and Talking Politics

Today has brought me a few vocabulary lessons.
If a Chinese person says they want red tea, this means black or breakfast tea. When literally translated over, the words for black tea actually mean red tea in English.
If you ask for Chocolate Syrup, be first prepared for them to believe you mean chocolate cereal. They pronounce and understand things like syrup and cereal to be the same word in such a way I could not possibly begin to explain the phonetics, you just have to hear it for yourself. Second, be prepared for them to say, "well, we only have chocolate jam."
Chocolate Jam = Chocolate Syrup
Along those same lines, I misplaced a label at breakfast that read "Peanut Jam."
Peanut Jam = Peanut Butter

I've also eaten a lot. As always.
Chinese sushi = awesome. Sure it originates in Japan as far as culture, but they do a great job. It tastes amazingly fresh.
I also encountered my first Dim Sum and enjoyed it for breakfast of all things. Holy frick. It was awesome. When I asked what was blended up inside the little folded pasta, the answer was "pork, shrimp, corn, and something I don't know the word for in English."
Well, my ignorance was bliss.
Also on the breakfast menu: steamed rice with fried egg, peas, and carrots as well as a shrimp dish with veggies. For breakfast!
Why don't we start breakfast like that!?
Seriously, I could have dim sum, that rice, and the shrimp dish everyday for breakfast and die happy.
I hate to admit it, but my cravings for an American diner breakfast are starting to diminish.
At a guest's request, I also mixed apple and grape juice together. I know it's no super-cultural breakfast, but if you haven't done it, go to the store right now and buy both.
It's like the tangy flavor of a jolly rancher that's semi-healthy. Frick, I need some right now.
On the flip side, they serve bake beans which are of much lower quality than the southern style I'm used to, I'll admit.
And it seems every cookie the serve is hard.
Sidenote: No, I didn't have cookies for breakfast. My shift ended as we were setting up for afternoon tea. Don't judge.
Not stale hard, but that nasty regular, not chewy, chips ahoy kind of cookie. Why enough people eat those hard cookies to continue to drive that market enough that they keep making the damn things, I will never know.
On the social side, I had a guest mention how far ahead China is on development and building structures, yet how far behind they are on social things and general organization.
He made a good point. China has only had 60 something years of being the people's republic and, what, 30 of a modern government, to try and catch up to what has taken us 200 years to get to and we are one of the youngest!
The longer I am here and deal with governmental stuff, the more I realize how unorganized they are and generally lacking strategy, but he made me realize that I need to have more patience towards these kinds of things.
I mean, we had a civil war within a 100 years and we were already over 75 years in by that point.
So, yes they have stupid things like one-child policy, which my fellow co-workers disagree with, but are actually quite happy that China has been receptive enough to allow many people to have a second child in recent years. Sure there's a fine and I'm not saying some of the things that go on are okay, but as my new friends say when commenting on the recent story, "that is not common. Those things never really happen. I mean, we are just trying to figure out the population. I want to have kids one day, but I also understand that resources are tight."
My other lunch mate smiled happily when I agreed with her that I was thinking producing was a no-go for me. If Disney World wasn't birth control enough, then the kids that ran around terrorizing breakfast that morning were.
These things happen in a country that is still so young and still trying to figure things out.
I mean, aren't we, too?
We are still fighting over gay marriage when France has been finished with that for years.
In summation, let's cut them some slack and have some patience.
Well, that's the end of my political rant.
I got a card in the mail from the boyfriend today.
I have been playing charades with the security guard all week about whether or not I had mail (he speaks no English and I, well, duh, I don't speak Chinese). When I walked in today, he jumped up and plopped a little envelope addressed to yours truly in my hand.
 I totally felt like some dorky kid that got mail from home at camp. It could have been a weather update from home and I wouldn't have cared, it just felt awesome to get mail. As in, "See people, I may be a freak here, but back home, I have friends. Suck on that."
Much love.