Everyone Needs a Tera

Introducing my new friend Tera. Tera recently graduated from college in the US with a degree in international business and a minor in Chinese. She decided to evade the working world for a year to come teach English in Harbin. I did not know her last semester; she was too busy teaching 10 hour days. This semester Tera decided she did not want to spend all her time in China in a classroom. So she cut back her teaching hours, signed up for Chinese classes, and found herself with a lot more spare time.


After I met Tera, I explained my rice research project. I told her I was trying to visit some of Harbin's street food markets in the morning. The problem is that the markets are all open at 6am and need to be closed by 8am (Harbin law). Its early and cold outside at that time. I could easily wake up that early if I needed to be somewhere, but with no one expecting me to be there, I had not been motivated to get to visit them. Tera knew of some in her neighborhood and immediately offered to get up and show me around one morning. Then I told her I was planning to visit another market and she offered to come with me. At 6 am. She offered her services as a personal research assistant.

When I plan to meet her, I have to be there and I have no excuse not to go outside. Having someone there to meet me makes me go. And I have had some productive mornings at the markets. I'm not collecting much information at the markets, just seeing how many rice stalls there are and the varieties of rice they sell (hoping that one day when it actually gets warm here I will spend more time at the markets). I don't need Tera there to do anything aside from walk with me. She keeps me company. It works well for her because she wants to go to grad school for a PhD one day so she is getting exposed to (the fun part of) graduate work. Sometimes she stops to pet the fish for sale.
We also stop to pet dogs, examine the rice, taste test fresh peanut butter, avoid looking at the dead animals being sold for meat, and marvel at the tropical fruit being sold outside in the snow.

Markets are pretty fun places.Here's some rice!

And when we are finished, we stop at a nearby KFC to warm up and wake up with hot coffee.