Ugh, this one has been quite miserable. I bought new paper that is a “drawing pad” instead of a “sketchbook”, hoping that it can withstand my erasing better and not be so icky with absorbing my ink. But it turned out icky anyway. Plus when I went to scan, it appears that the paper is too big to fit onto the scanner whole (wtf, 9′x12′ paper?) Plus it turns out that the paper is very beige and I totally didn’t notice. So a lot of time was spent making it white again. Plus I was trying this weird black panel thing and fiddling thereof… And now I think the panel layout is waaay too cluttered. Oh well, learning experience.
Anyways, midnight snacks are awesome. My favorite memory was sitting by the beach on Qingdao eating lamb and beef skewers. Mmmm….. There was also the time when a bunch of us were eating 麻辣烫 and getting quite drunk.
These hole-in-the-wall places are generally full of sketch. But China manages sketch with style. What stops me from eating at these places more often is the worry about sanitation. Some foods that locals can eat, I can’t, because my stomach is not prepared to conquer Chinese Street Food Bacteria. poo.
I think I’m done with the food arc of this comic for now. I started with food because, well, I’m Chinese, and food is important. There’s a few more food topics I eventually want to get around to (using chopsticks to pick up EVERYTHING, the lack of non-sweet bread, buying dumplings with a pot, street vegetables, the difference between 5rmb food and 200rmb food, etc.) But now that we have ventured outside the household, I don’t really want to do another thing related with food. I think the next one will be about Chinese parks.
LOL, Chinese parks. Are you going to talk about those awesome panda/dog/lion trash cans that I loved to “feed” when I was little?
Oh god, the hokey-ness. I was intending to talk more about the sheer amount of people in the park dancing/playing badminton/doing tai chi, etc. But yes, hokeyness is also important. I’ll have to figure out the right approach given that I only have 1 page.
Don’t forget all the young couples hiding in every half-secluded corner they can find. Also, why are Chinese parks all fenced in, anyway?
Also… mmm, Chinese street food. I ate so much meat on a stick in Shanghai. I guess my stomach is pretty strong, because I never got sick off of sketchy Chinese food, and I ate a lot of it. Though I did try to avoid anything that had been sitting out for a while, which probably helped.
My personal experience is there is no difference between sketch and drawing pads (they lure you into paying more). Bristol paper is really nice, but kinda expensive (and only seems to come in small pads) Still, your end result turned out well
please please tell me 串 means food on a stick (its one of the characters I “figured out” in Japan, along with 丼) oh and I’ve been playing a “learn Chinese” game on the DS, which is pretty hopeless but still feels educational.
串 totally means food on a stick!
Jono’s mom gave him that Learn Chinese game! It’s not too bad, but it doesn’t give you conversation practice…
串 is my favorite character for exactly that reason.