A Riddle

A few days ago, Tram took me to a grocery store other than Wu Mei for the first time. It was a small place,with a hole-in-the-wall Jin Bing stand and a Coca-Cola sign sticking out the front, but it had a great number of things that I had resigned myself to never finding in China.

First, I found a Gillette combination razor/shaving cream pack. You'd think this would be easier to find, and it probably is- it just wasn't in Wu Mei and I still haven't bothered to go to any other shopping center (we have a Wal-Mart AND a Carrefour). Something would seem terribly wrong if I went to Wal-Mart in China (maybe they have "made here!" and "crafted locally" stickers on everything) and so I choose not to go. Anyway, having bought the razor/shaving cream, I can now place it in a prominent spot and look at it from time to time, occasionally chuckling and shaking my head as if to say "not today, friend."

Next, I found instant milk-tea. I don't know if I've mentioned milk-tea before, but it is a hot drink that manages to combine the smooth creaminess of milk with the slightly metallic herbiness of tea. Maybe that's not a great description. It tastes good. You have to stir it, though, or it just tastes like hot water and then there's a big clump of really strong tea/sugar stuff at the bottom.

Perhaps the most important purchase I made came as a pair- sliced bread and a jar of peanut butter. These are two items I had pretty much given up on, and I have been taking full advantage of having them. I don't have a knife, so I just dig the bread into the jar and go for it. This is not a "sharing" food. I was very, very happy about the peanut butter and bread.

Moving on from the grocery store, I've been meaning to share the following story for about a month now. To preface- in order to appreciate the story, you just have to believe that Peng is not a sketchy person and that everything he said was delivered simply because he thought it was the most logical reaction...

So there are a group of us at the English Bar, and this girl named Jordan is explaining to us, and to Peng (the owner of the bar) how the students in her class really like to hear riddles and jokes and things like that. Peng asked her to give him one of the riddles. It was, as follows:

"What is greater than God
More evil than the devil
Rich people want it
Poor people have it
and if you eat it, you will die."

She then explained that the answer would be obvious once you figured it out, and that there was only one correct answer. We (the Americans) threw around a few ideas for a minute while Peng sat there quietly. After all of our answers were rejected, Peng confidently (though whisperingly) said "It is cocaine."

Jordan said "well that's a good answer but it's not right..." And Peng responded "are you sure? It makes perfect sense with all the clues! It MUST be cocaine." And Jordan said "Actually, the answer is 'nothing.'" We all said "ahhh" and realized how dumb we had been. As we were leaving, Peng said "Nothing works, but I still think it's cocaine. It is a better answer."