Saturday, December 20, 2008

China So Far... to sum up...

It's Saturday! (Not morning anymore...)

I've just spent a decent amount of time updating my blog, typing up the diverse and sundry observations I've made in my notebooks, and now that that's out of the way, I'll give you something straight, not belated.

I arrived safely (obviously) Monday night. As I got into the CC baggage claim, I spotted H waiting for me on the other side (in other countries (not just China), people have to wait outside the baggage claim area... I guess it helps to make sure that no one else takes your luggage, 'cause at least here they checked both my baggage claim tickets before letting me walk out to greet H.), it seemed like forever before I got my luggage. Thankfully, though, my luggage was among the first to be unloaded, so it really wasn't too bad... H started to cry when we hugged, so I started talking about kinda funny stuff to get her to stop... it worked... One of H's friends (the one who gave her the snacks for me) came with her to interpret for the van driver. We chattered the whole way to H's school, and thankfully, some friends appeared to help with the luggage (4 flights with 150 lb. is nothing to sneeze at). I met a number of people (remembered fewer than I met...), and we got my stuff into H's room. One of the first things I did was to give her the Paris pics (which she loved! High five on that one, J!). She gladly showed them off to her friends (who, I think by the time I go back, will definitely be my friends as well...), they were properly impressed. I unloaded my carry-ons so that H could appreciate what I had lugged through the airports for her... And in the process, I accidentally gave her some 2nd Xmas presents on 1st Xmas. Oh, well... I got a shower/bath at H's insistence and was kinda frustrated because I wanted to get a shower, but I couldn't figure out how to make it work, so I settled for a bath instead. (The next time, I got it figured out, so now I'm good, hooray!) I was certainly ready to sack out by the time I was done...

Tues morning, I woke up to H's wake-up music, and wound up going to class with her. The students were happy to see me and one of them (a local) gave me her number, so we can hang out some time. I seriously felt like a celebrity (and the feeling has continued through all of H's classes...). After class, we walked to H's favorite hang out, the bookstore, and got something to drink. I had cider. Afterward, H introduced me to Hot Pot, which you've already heard about...

Wal-Mart was fun, I'll definitely be back to shop for myself (stock up on foreign chewing gum, since I'm nearly out of French and Greek...). While we were eating at KFC (which is attached to Wal-Mart) we ran into some of the others in H's company, which was neat, even though I was fairly tuckered out by then. On the way back, some more of H's friends saw us and helped us carry our stuff from Wal-Mart for a bit.

Wednesday, we got up and cleaned some, then we rode the Ching-wey (sp?) (CC's El system which is used to get all kinds of places... like Wal-Mart (here it's called War-Mar)) to the bookstore across town, where we had something to drink, then on to the end of the line, where we got off. A taxi took us to Shin Tien Di (Sp?), a mall with a Carre-four (French supermarket) in the bottom level. However, our first visit was to the 3rd floor... H made me close my eyes on the last level of escalators, and when I opened them, I saw... Venice! Yep, part of the 3rd floor was (fairly accurately) modeled after Venice, complete with a pseudo Piazzo San Marco and a canal with bridges, even steps going into the water... very cool (or here, tai cool). We wandered around, and on the 4th floor (which has a mini amusement park) we ate at a restaurant which promised European cooking... it wasn't great, but one thing I did enjoy was H's appetizer - fries served with creamy wasabi sauce. It was ideal, because you got some flavor of wasabi, but the heat was killed by the starch of the fries. Clay, you might want to work on replicating the sauce... It was about 3 hours after we had arrived in the mall that I realized that my mitten was gone... It was very sad, and even though H and I walked all the way through where we had been on the 3rd and 4th floors (which was a lot of ground!), no sign was found. We stopped in the Carre-four to pick up some ice cream and cheese for H's Secret Santa present, and then we were on our way back. Back in the dorm, we had a Dr Pepper party next door for the other members of H's company. It was quite fun, and the fun-sized candy caused as much excitement as the Dr Pepper. The others enjoyed watching the Bon Qui Qui at King Burger video over YouTube (I realized after I got to China that H had missed that craze, so I figured the others would get a kick out of that, too). Despite our intentions, we wound up going to sleep kind of late, and had to get up early to finish getting my lesson ready.

Thursday morning, we got up around 6:30 and got the last minute things ready for the class I was to teach: Jr Writing. Class went all right, but things certainly needed to be improved upon, so we tweaked afterward. We went to a nearby convenience store to work out H's cell phone issues (her 1s had looked like 2s, so there was a whole fiasco that took awhile to work out... but it was finally solved in the end). At the convenience store, I found 2 things: 1. my first Fahrenheit-endorsed product! (a package of wafer cookies) and 2. fountain pens!!!!!!!!!! (quite exciting...) I'll go back later and probably wind up buying both... We stopped in a little resturant for brunch and had dan chow fan (aka egg fried rice) which was wonderful!!!! I think it was a combination of great flavor and finally being hungry at the right time... I ate half of a heaping plate (seriously, there was a lot of rice there...), and the rest went into a little waxed paper take out box (it was a really nifty box...). We got back and napped, then we were off again to the bookstore for H's Chinese lesson. Her tutor wasn't ready for the lesson, so I wound up chatting most of the time with the tutor (who's a sophomore) and the friend who came in the van. We had to leave after an hour so that H could hold her office hours. I chilled (quite literally) with her and met her office mates, who are quite friendly. After that, we had to hurry to the Ching wei because H and another company member were holding English Club at another university. English Club went quite well, they seemed to like my dramatization of getting out of the window seat in the airplane. Afterward we ate Mi-son (sp?) (which I really enjoyed) at a little restaurant near the university (and their Ching wei station). To get to the restaurant, we had to cross a somewhat busy road (not unlike Drew St), and as we crossed, we talked about how in China, you can jaywalk, and you won't get hit if you give the drivers enough room to slow down, and if you cross when there's space between oncoming traffic. We got across safely and ate. The food was sort of like hot pot, only this time mine wasn't spicy. Basically there was a lot of noodles, some meat, a few greens, and three quail eggs (tasty!) in a large pot of broth, each of us got our own pot, but only the other company member finished his. A, the other company member was fun to talk with. He's a rather quiet guy who is fun to tease and gives as good as he gets. We ate and visited for awhile, then we had to get going. That night, we did go to bed early.

Friday was quite fun. I made omlets for breakfast in the morning, but didn't have time to eat mine, as H had to get to class. We had Freshman Oral English at 8, with Bright and Day (and the rest of the class), Day was late, so he sang Do a Deer (evidently he's seen Sound of Music a few times...), as per H's classroom rules (if you're late, you sing a song). While we were in class, it began to snow, (as you've already heard) it came down heavily all through class. During the 5 min break, I got to chat with some of the girls in the class, which was fun. Jr Writing in the next class went well, quite a bit more smoothly than last time, and probably the last 2 Jr Writing classes will go even more smoothly. At the end of class, we had time to learn 1 Christmas carol, and after H and I sang a verse each of Joy to the World, some other one, and Deck the Halls, they voted nearly unanimously to learn Deck the Halls. As we left to return to H's apartment, I made a snowball, and threw it against a wall, to my satisfaction. I finally ate my breakfast, and we watched an asian movie, Secrets, from crunchyroll, it was pretty neat. We got naps, and at some point, the power went out... dum dum dummm... As the sun was going down around 4:00, H sent me to the bookstore for candles. I purchased 3, and stopped at another store to buy a lighter (I like this lighter, it's not child safe, so there's no wheel to spin and burn your thumb on, just a clicker to push down...). So, my first independent venture was successful! As I was leaving for the bookstore, though, I was disappointed to see that the snow had taken on a beige-tan tint from being blown together with dirt in the wind. It was very sad. I did a second independent trip to buy drinks for a party while H finished in the kitchen (she's been making a chicken soup, which we'll enjoy for a late lunch today). The second trip did not go as well - I couldn't find the green-label grape soda, so I bought an apple soda instead... come to find out, I was looking for a green-labeled bottle of white grape juice, which explains why there was nothing purple with a green label... The apple soda, btw, was pretty bad... By the time I got back, it was time to go to the party. We also brought along the mini candy canes, which were thoroughly enjoyed since everyone there was part of H's company and were also ex-pats. (Seriously, sometimes I feel like I should have a red and white hat and a white beard, these people enjoy the candy, etc so much...) It was a very enjoyable party, and there was a Secret Santa exchange, which was exciting to watch. I didn't expect anything, but H's present was for both me and H, so before I leave, we're going to a spa!!! (Nice!!!).

Other random things: Since getting here, I have learned: A. Chopsticks are called quai-tzah (spelled phonetically) B. Paul Kim is a funny guy (He's a Korean-American comedian...) C. WongFu Productions makes some neat YouTube movies (J, you should check out their Together At Last video, it has some neat photog ideas... D. China is a pretty neat place... even though it is acceptable to hawk and spit anywhere... (eww...)

So there you have it! China so far...

2 comments:

J. said...

So far, great! It is exciting to observe how much you have been able to familiarize yourself with the place and the people in a brief time. Great that you can be with H. to share in this time. Today 12/20 would have been G&G M's 67th Wedding Anniversary. How they would be grateful to delight in your exploits.
Love, --D

AsianCaucasian said...

I like what the first discovery at the convenience store was... sounds like you two are having quite a time together!!
Tell H hi for me! miss and love u both lots. but h moreso since it has been a longer time since i have seen her...k well have a good time! and make sure to keep an eye out for my two presents...
♥ always
Kai