Day 3 - Ahhh... Southeast China in the Summer

Did I mention it is the rainy season here. It is like living in a planetarium. The rain pours down, turns to steam, floats up, and then it all starts over again.

the pictures you see are of my dinner: Chinese Hotpot. Basically, you make a soup full of "flavor enhancing ingredients", bring it to a boil, and then you throw meats, veggies, and things from the "other" category in to cook. In this case, half of the pot was "regular" soup and the other half was "make a grown man cry" spicy soup. As you can see, on my plate is tofu (my parents would be so proud), two types of mushrooms, garlic cloves, cabbage, and some lamb. At the bottom of the picture, you will notice a small round seed. My host told me that it is a seasoning, but if I chew on it I will receive a strange sensation in my mouth. Since I am always willing to eat something stupid once, I popped it in and started chewing (in spite of the terrible taste). She didn't tell me I only needed to crack it, and then spit it out. As soon a I began feeling the "tingle", I swallowed the seed and chased it with some hot tea. By then, it was too late. Beginning with my tongue, my entire mouth became numb, except for the incessant tingling. My saliva glands were working overtime as my mouth began to fill up with spit. As soon as I would chase the spit down with the hot tea, my mouth would fill up again. It only took five minutes to recover most of the feeling in my mouth, but it was the longest five minutes of my life. The good news is, my hosts got a good laugh. Ha Ha, very funny! The paralyzing seed and I now share the same name: Numb Nut.