It was clear that my host family was disappointed when I said that I was a vegetarian. However, I redeemed myself when I told them I liked spicy food. They gave me a little packet of spicy tofu to try just to make sure that I could handle Xi'an's level of spiciness. A quick "hen hao", and I regained their approval.
They've accommodated my "peculiar" diet very well. When we went out for lunch the first day, they ordered completely vegetarian. Since then, if there is a meat dish on the table, it is a small one.
The biggest difference here meal-wise is that Chinese people like everything to be warmed up: water, milk, etc. The first morning, my host dad tried to heat up my cereal milk for me. I politely declined, and since then, they've caught on that I enjoy my beverages "leng" instead of "re".
Besides warm milk, the food here puts American Chinese food to shame. Everything is made right before it's served. Yesterday, I bought pomegranate juice off the street that tasted exactly like a liquified pomegranate: the street venders were squeezing the pomegranates before our eyes, and the result was delicious.
I thought it would hard to adjust to a Chinese diet, but now, I'm thinking it might be harder to adjust back to an American one.
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