At a typical dinner out in the city, a few friends and I will gather around a large round table with a spinning glass plate in the middle. Then the menu will arrive, often with only Chinese characters and no pictures. We'll call the fu wu yuan (waiter) over and ask "Ni xihuan cai shenme?" ("What are your favorite dishes?") and whatever he responds with, we will order. When the feast of 10-12 dishes arrive, they are placed on the spinning glass plate. We spin it as fast as we can to get the best dish in front of us. Sometimes we make it a competition of who can get food from each dish before anybody else. For example, once, I stole a plate of fresh, juicy pineapple off the table so I could have it all to myself! When arriving at a restaurant, we are always asked if we'd like to eat in the main room or pay a little more to have our own private dining room. I love this second option best because you can be as loud as you want and you don't have to sit on a tiny stool for the whole meal. Everyone receives a cup of cha (tea) to drink since water is not provided at meals unless you pay for bottled water. Meals are cheap as well, with the majority of dinners costing only about ershi kuai (a little over $3) per person! That's cheaper than a McDonald's Happy Meal back home!For breakfast and lunch though, as you can probably guess, I eat at the school cafeteria. Usually, I try to avoid these in America, but the food provided is so flavorful and filling! For breakfast, I usually get sweet pumpkin bread and a fresh apple from a nearby fruit vendor. But lunch is the most exciting.