My apologies for the extensive delay in the continuation of my travelogue... I could blame schoolwork... Okay, I'll blame schoolwork, it's a handy excuse... better than "I've been lazy..."
We left off on Christmas Day. On Christmas Day after H got back from class, she wrapped her presents for me and then we opened them. It didn't take that long, but it was fun, especially as she opened 2 for every one of mine and I got to see her excited responses to the different things. When she opened J's calendar, she basically started crying... I had to convince her not to... but it was definitely one of her favorite Christmas presents. Another was the webcam... I guess we mostly hung around during the afternoon, we might have watched something on the STAR movie channel (they show the most random English-language movies with Chinese subtitles). I think it was Home Alone 3. For Christmas dinner, we went out for dumplings with five others. It was my first time really trying dumplings (I would write the Chinese name, but my Pinyin is rotten...), and they're definitely on my list of favorite authentic Chinese foods. We had a great time conversing and stuffing ourselves with dumplings (so good!!!). H brought along the calendar to show off, which was fun for her. After we got back in, we connected the webcam and video Skyped with the family. It was funny, because for them it was somewhat early Christmas morning, whereas our Christmas was almost over. We chatted for awhile and showed them around the apartment. It was good. A great memory for all of us, especially those on the US side, who hadn't seen H's face since July. Afterward, we went next door and watched an old 90's Christmas movie I'd never seen before. It was corny, etc, but it was fun to watch it with the others in the group.
Well, that was Christmas. I'll focus on remembering the rest of the trip so that I can finish the account in upcoming days.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Update - Incomplete... Written on Jan 7
Right now I am sitting in the Beijing Airport... I just lost my handy HSM2 hand sanitizer (why they wouldn't allow it on the plane, I don't know...), and my super-cool looking water bottle (when you try to fill a plastic water bottle with scalding hot water, it'll shrivel and shrink... RIP, water bottle). The flight has been delayed about an hour, I believe. There was trouble with the incoming flight (It was late), so we're bumped back some. I've been moved from the back of the plane to the front so that I can get off quickly to make my connecting flight... I hope it works... If not, I've got friends in NYC, so I'll try to spend the night with them... unless the airline offers to put me up at a snazzy hotel... snazzy hotels are fun... But it would be more fun (theoretically) to chill with some friends... we'll see.
So, what's been going on that I haven't written about? Lots of stuff. I've had a much busier (in a good way) schedule in China than I ever would have in the US. (Totally random thought: I wonder if OSU beat UT or the other way around...) Parties, meals, shopping... good times. I already realized that I forgot some things at H's: my little black dress (sniffle... that was a great dress...) and my Dublin jacket (it was so cozy and warm in FL...). C'est la vie. I think I updated you all until the Monday before Christmas... So we'll start there.
That Monday, I taught the writing lesson for the 3rd and 4th times, in the last class, one of the groups did a really excellent job - not only did they look up the assigned words, but they tied them to descriptive writing. It was ery exciting. We did not meet with H's Mon. afternoon Listening class - the English teachers were expected at a department party. The party was interesting. There was much more in the way of entertainment than there would be at an American dinner: Some of the English faculty did a "fashion show", some played instruments, one read a poem. Everyone was essentially expected to contribute to the festivities. As thanks for their contributions, gifts of detergent, toothbrushes, hand cream and other practical things were given. Plate after plate of food was brought in. It was the first 'feast' I'd been to. Only one thing was difficult to eat: cold noodles in gelatin... I definitely gagged on that one... I didn't try the fried chicken stuff because I wasn't certain where the meat was. I tried everything else, though. Some stuff I enjoyed (like the flaky coconutty bread at the beginning), some stuff I didn't (one of the soups). Alcohol was flowing, the other tables got involved in drinking games or something... I held my cup under the table when they came around with the beer, H and K were not so fortunate, so they toasted, but didn't imbibe. My protest when they went to fill my cup was that I was underage... They thought that was pretty funny. We paid our respects and left before the others became too drunk... I wrapped the presents after we got back, even though I was quite tired... I was pretty cranky by the time I was finally finished.
Tuesday... On Tuesday, we had class again I talked about Christmas while H gave the Oral exam, and wound up telling the Christmas story, which was pretty exciting. In retrospect, it was like skiing - I wasn't certain if I was doing it right, but I couldn't stop, and I didn't want to. I also got to meet the rescheduled Listening class. Tuesday evening was the party when I got my Chinese name. I also got to try a lot of neat snacks, including some I didn't like quite as much... I again went solo to the convenience store for drinks (for the party), this time, I found the grape. There were about 30 girls there, evidently guys don't do parties so much...
Wednesday was Christmas Eve. I don't recall what happened, exactly... No, we went shopping - My first trip to Gui Lin Lu (pronounced - Gway-lynn-lou or low)(It's not unlike Canal St. in NYC). H got a headache too quickly, and I tried one of her curry restaurants. After GLL, we made a stop at War-Ma (aka Wal-Mart), then headed home. There was a small gift exchange with some others when we opened our stockings. It was quite fun. (That was when I got my cool water bottle that just died...) H and I had been invited to Christmas dinner in the flat of a couple from the company. It was tasty, but I felt a bit guilty eating things I could get in a few weeks when the others hadn't enjoyed some of the dishes in months. Afterward, we chilled upstairs singing Christmas songs with some of the others. We also watched How The Grinch Stole Christmas and A Charlie Brown Christmas.
Thursday morning I decided to stay put when H taught her 8 AM class. Soon after we got up, we found the Skype video cards from the family, which we thoroughly enjoyed. (Especially a certain point when K made a perfectly-timed comment that would only cause hilarity in our family.) While H was gone, I cleaned in the kitchen. Kind of a Christmas present, I guess.
**At this point, it was time to wait to board the plane. I was able to make the connecting flight with time to spare, in case you wondered (despite a bit of fun with customs...). More to come, honest!
So, what's been going on that I haven't written about? Lots of stuff. I've had a much busier (in a good way) schedule in China than I ever would have in the US. (Totally random thought: I wonder if OSU beat UT or the other way around...) Parties, meals, shopping... good times. I already realized that I forgot some things at H's: my little black dress (sniffle... that was a great dress...) and my Dublin jacket (it was so cozy and warm in FL...). C'est la vie. I think I updated you all until the Monday before Christmas... So we'll start there.
That Monday, I taught the writing lesson for the 3rd and 4th times, in the last class, one of the groups did a really excellent job - not only did they look up the assigned words, but they tied them to descriptive writing. It was ery exciting. We did not meet with H's Mon. afternoon Listening class - the English teachers were expected at a department party. The party was interesting. There was much more in the way of entertainment than there would be at an American dinner: Some of the English faculty did a "fashion show", some played instruments, one read a poem. Everyone was essentially expected to contribute to the festivities. As thanks for their contributions, gifts of detergent, toothbrushes, hand cream and other practical things were given. Plate after plate of food was brought in. It was the first 'feast' I'd been to. Only one thing was difficult to eat: cold noodles in gelatin... I definitely gagged on that one... I didn't try the fried chicken stuff because I wasn't certain where the meat was. I tried everything else, though. Some stuff I enjoyed (like the flaky coconutty bread at the beginning), some stuff I didn't (one of the soups). Alcohol was flowing, the other tables got involved in drinking games or something... I held my cup under the table when they came around with the beer, H and K were not so fortunate, so they toasted, but didn't imbibe. My protest when they went to fill my cup was that I was underage... They thought that was pretty funny. We paid our respects and left before the others became too drunk... I wrapped the presents after we got back, even though I was quite tired... I was pretty cranky by the time I was finally finished.
Tuesday... On Tuesday, we had class again I talked about Christmas while H gave the Oral exam, and wound up telling the Christmas story, which was pretty exciting. In retrospect, it was like skiing - I wasn't certain if I was doing it right, but I couldn't stop, and I didn't want to. I also got to meet the rescheduled Listening class. Tuesday evening was the party when I got my Chinese name. I also got to try a lot of neat snacks, including some I didn't like quite as much... I again went solo to the convenience store for drinks (for the party), this time, I found the grape. There were about 30 girls there, evidently guys don't do parties so much...
Wednesday was Christmas Eve. I don't recall what happened, exactly... No, we went shopping - My first trip to Gui Lin Lu (pronounced - Gway-lynn-lou or low)(It's not unlike Canal St. in NYC). H got a headache too quickly, and I tried one of her curry restaurants. After GLL, we made a stop at War-Ma (aka Wal-Mart), then headed home. There was a small gift exchange with some others when we opened our stockings. It was quite fun. (That was when I got my cool water bottle that just died...) H and I had been invited to Christmas dinner in the flat of a couple from the company. It was tasty, but I felt a bit guilty eating things I could get in a few weeks when the others hadn't enjoyed some of the dishes in months. Afterward, we chilled upstairs singing Christmas songs with some of the others. We also watched How The Grinch Stole Christmas and A Charlie Brown Christmas.
Thursday morning I decided to stay put when H taught her 8 AM class. Soon after we got up, we found the Skype video cards from the family, which we thoroughly enjoyed. (Especially a certain point when K made a perfectly-timed comment that would only cause hilarity in our family.) While H was gone, I cleaned in the kitchen. Kind of a Christmas present, I guess.
**At this point, it was time to wait to board the plane. I was able to make the connecting flight with time to spare, in case you wondered (despite a bit of fun with customs...). More to come, honest!
Friday, January 2, 2009
Skiing!
Ow. I am in pain. This pain was not caused by falling 5-10 times, nor by slamming into some random Chinese guy while traveling several mph on skis. The pain was not caused by walking several miles, nor by hauling skis up a slope 3 times. No, this pain was caused by attempting to slide down a huge pile of snow which had a notch carved into it not big enough to fit my hips... I'm certain I'll feel pain from everything else later, but for now, I feel bruises forming on my legs...
Today was a good day. I got up at seven, put together a lunch and piled on several layers. Then I walked out to the main gate, took a taxi to the Ching-way (sp!), and waited to meet a friend around 8. This girl is from H's company, she is from Singapore, which was a very good thing, since she speaks (and reads!) fluent Chinese, since everyone else is initialled, we'll call her R. So we met in the Ching-way station around 8 and took the train away from the main part of town. We rode (not really meaning to) to the end of the line. Our stop was the next to last stop, but the doors closed before we could get out. We just waited awhile for the train to go the other way. We got off, R had some trouble since she only had gotten a 2 kuai ticket, but needed a 3 kuai one for the distance she had travelled. We walked from the station to the park (we paid 30 yuan at the entrance), then over the lake (so much fun! Though it turned out to be less efficient to have done so... It was quite cold, too... so cold that our breath frosted the stray hairs near our faces.) to another part of the road, then down the road to the skiing area. (Our purpose overall was to go skiing, it was her 2nd time and my first.) Our first inkling that something was different came when we got to a stretch of road that had Chinese police posted every 10 feet. It turned out that today was a huge skiing festival/international 50k cross-country ski race that lasts four days. By the time we got there we were quite cold, and ready to warm up a bit. We went ahead past the ski lodge (sorta) to the area where the race fun was going on. On the way, we stopped at a vendor and got tea eggs. I was a bit hesitant about these strange brown eggs with bits of black stuff sticking to them, but I went ahead, shelled my egg, and tried it. It was good! I'm going to try to make them when I get home, but that was a good egg. (Essentially, tea eggs are eggs boiled with water and tea leaves.) It was also hot, which helped warm my hands for awhile. We wandered around the race area for awhile. Twice, people had their picture taken with me (random, but fun), and we took our picture with the mascot fellow for the race: an Alpen grandfather type guy. We walked some more, seeing the random things, including some neat snow sculptures, ice bikes, little sleighs drawn by reindeer without horns, little dogsleds with room for two people. We tried some food from another vendor: it looked like a piece of wood, but it broke easily and turned sticky in your mouth, R and I thought it might be frozen molasses, we're still not sure. We made a loop and wound up near the ski lodge, we bought 5 more eggs (2 for her, 3 for me (I told you, they're good!)) and went in the lodge. We discovered it was 200 yuan to ski (100 to ski, 100 deposit) for two hours. So first we had our odd lunch: Tea eggs, little orange creme filled cakes, lemon cracker sandwiches, and beef-flavored Cheetos (I also had a cup of nai cha (milk tea)). I didn't like the Cheetos as much as I thought I would. C'est la vie. After we were thoroughly fortified, I bought a pair of gloves (the ones I've been wearing were letting too much cold through, so we layered those over my new ones, and we went to ski. It took a little while to get suited up, get a locker, (me to learn how you put everything on... I was quite helpless at first) and get out on the beginner's slope. We stood in line for the ski lift, (I'll insert here that standing in line in China is about as cutthroat as you get, if you don't aggressively move toward the front, all kinds of people will just go in front of you... As I was hapless/helpless on my skis for awhile, it was a challenge...) which isn't a lift, rather there's a disc that goes between your legs connected to an overhead line which draws you along. As you take the lift, you aren't sitting on the disc, you're sliding along on your skis, so if your skis go the wrong way (say, out from you in a V), you're going to have some problems. Guess who had problems! I fell off, which was the second time (I'd already committed the V error getting to the lift), so R got off, too. There was some fun getting up (you have to take the skis off to get back up, and I kept trying to get up with them on...), and we coasted back down, allowing me to get used to the skis. We decided to just walk up the slope instead of standing in line again. Walking with ski boots is plenty of fun... They're not exactly traction-oriented, since you're supposed to be wearing skis under them, so you have to walk carefully, nay, nearly gingerly to get somewhere (and trying to ski up the slope was not an option, since to do that you have to pull yourself along on your ski poles, which is murder on the arms...). We finally reached the top, put on our skis, and rode down. It was at that point that I understood why people ski. I was sort of trying to go slower, to keep my skis in an inverted V and not let them get to the error V, but I flew along, all the way to the bottom of the hill. It was fun. We hiked back up, after trying for awhile to pirate a ride on the lift from people who fell off, and we went again. This time, I was trying to be more controlled, and to go slower, keeping a larger inverted V, but with that as my focus, I wasn't trying as hard to sort of steer, which is when I slammed into the random Chinese guy... yeah... There was a chain reaction: I slammed into him, we both slammed into the ground... It was kinda weird, 'cause it almost seemed like he was standing there waiting for me to run into him... He and his friend helped me back up, and I had gotten my ski back on and was fixing to coast down the rest of the way when some girl got tangled up with me, and I met the ground again. Finally I coasted back down (By that time, R had come back and helped me up) the slope. R decided to try the intermediate slope, while I gave the beginner's another shot, by this time we were 35 min away from 2 hrs. My final ride was great. I sighted early on where there were gaps in people and focused on a. staying up and b. not running into people. I decided against another run, even though there were 25 min left, and made my way back to the ski lodge. It was slow going, and I asked a Chinese lady on the way to take a picture of me on skis. It took a couple tries, but we got a good pic. I waited for R back at the lodge, since she had our shoe claim tags. I tried to claim mine, since time was running out, but the guys behind the counter, amid Chinese, asked me to "Wait a moment, please." I went back out to wait for R, and finally saw her. We got our deposit (and shoes) back, then went to try out the snow slide that other people (mostly kids) had been having fun on. We chickened out for the higher one, opting for the one that had the too-narrow notch... We learned our lesson and went down the big one next... it was terrific fun. We were tired from the skiing, so we started to walk back to the entrance. We hadn't gotten far before a taxi van driver asked us if we needed a lift, so we took the fast/easy option and took the van to the Ching-way station. After I got back in the room, I decided that a nap was in order, but it took a loooong time before my legs stopped emitting cold and I was able to sleep comfortably. I woke up later, started to write this post, then H and I went out with some friends and had a good (big) dinner, then came back, and now I'll probably take a long hot shower to forestall the aches which are sure to come (or as Jamaicans would say, "Soon come."). I'll do my best to catch everyone up on what else has been going on over the next few days, but for now, tsai chien (phonetic spelling), or goodbye, from China.
Check out pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009646&l=85cd9&id=92700607
Today was a good day. I got up at seven, put together a lunch and piled on several layers. Then I walked out to the main gate, took a taxi to the Ching-way (sp!), and waited to meet a friend around 8. This girl is from H's company, she is from Singapore, which was a very good thing, since she speaks (and reads!) fluent Chinese, since everyone else is initialled, we'll call her R. So we met in the Ching-way station around 8 and took the train away from the main part of town. We rode (not really meaning to) to the end of the line. Our stop was the next to last stop, but the doors closed before we could get out. We just waited awhile for the train to go the other way. We got off, R had some trouble since she only had gotten a 2 kuai ticket, but needed a 3 kuai one for the distance she had travelled. We walked from the station to the park (we paid 30 yuan at the entrance), then over the lake (so much fun! Though it turned out to be less efficient to have done so... It was quite cold, too... so cold that our breath frosted the stray hairs near our faces.) to another part of the road, then down the road to the skiing area. (Our purpose overall was to go skiing, it was her 2nd time and my first.) Our first inkling that something was different came when we got to a stretch of road that had Chinese police posted every 10 feet. It turned out that today was a huge skiing festival/international 50k cross-country ski race that lasts four days. By the time we got there we were quite cold, and ready to warm up a bit. We went ahead past the ski lodge (sorta) to the area where the race fun was going on. On the way, we stopped at a vendor and got tea eggs. I was a bit hesitant about these strange brown eggs with bits of black stuff sticking to them, but I went ahead, shelled my egg, and tried it. It was good! I'm going to try to make them when I get home, but that was a good egg. (Essentially, tea eggs are eggs boiled with water and tea leaves.) It was also hot, which helped warm my hands for awhile. We wandered around the race area for awhile. Twice, people had their picture taken with me (random, but fun), and we took our picture with the mascot fellow for the race: an Alpen grandfather type guy. We walked some more, seeing the random things, including some neat snow sculptures, ice bikes, little sleighs drawn by reindeer without horns, little dogsleds with room for two people. We tried some food from another vendor: it looked like a piece of wood, but it broke easily and turned sticky in your mouth, R and I thought it might be frozen molasses, we're still not sure. We made a loop and wound up near the ski lodge, we bought 5 more eggs (2 for her, 3 for me (I told you, they're good!)) and went in the lodge. We discovered it was 200 yuan to ski (100 to ski, 100 deposit) for two hours. So first we had our odd lunch: Tea eggs, little orange creme filled cakes, lemon cracker sandwiches, and beef-flavored Cheetos (I also had a cup of nai cha (milk tea)). I didn't like the Cheetos as much as I thought I would. C'est la vie. After we were thoroughly fortified, I bought a pair of gloves (the ones I've been wearing were letting too much cold through, so we layered those over my new ones, and we went to ski. It took a little while to get suited up, get a locker, (me to learn how you put everything on... I was quite helpless at first) and get out on the beginner's slope. We stood in line for the ski lift, (I'll insert here that standing in line in China is about as cutthroat as you get, if you don't aggressively move toward the front, all kinds of people will just go in front of you... As I was hapless/helpless on my skis for awhile, it was a challenge...) which isn't a lift, rather there's a disc that goes between your legs connected to an overhead line which draws you along. As you take the lift, you aren't sitting on the disc, you're sliding along on your skis, so if your skis go the wrong way (say, out from you in a V), you're going to have some problems. Guess who had problems! I fell off, which was the second time (I'd already committed the V error getting to the lift), so R got off, too. There was some fun getting up (you have to take the skis off to get back up, and I kept trying to get up with them on...), and we coasted back down, allowing me to get used to the skis. We decided to just walk up the slope instead of standing in line again. Walking with ski boots is plenty of fun... They're not exactly traction-oriented, since you're supposed to be wearing skis under them, so you have to walk carefully, nay, nearly gingerly to get somewhere (and trying to ski up the slope was not an option, since to do that you have to pull yourself along on your ski poles, which is murder on the arms...). We finally reached the top, put on our skis, and rode down. It was at that point that I understood why people ski. I was sort of trying to go slower, to keep my skis in an inverted V and not let them get to the error V, but I flew along, all the way to the bottom of the hill. It was fun. We hiked back up, after trying for awhile to pirate a ride on the lift from people who fell off, and we went again. This time, I was trying to be more controlled, and to go slower, keeping a larger inverted V, but with that as my focus, I wasn't trying as hard to sort of steer, which is when I slammed into the random Chinese guy... yeah... There was a chain reaction: I slammed into him, we both slammed into the ground... It was kinda weird, 'cause it almost seemed like he was standing there waiting for me to run into him... He and his friend helped me back up, and I had gotten my ski back on and was fixing to coast down the rest of the way when some girl got tangled up with me, and I met the ground again. Finally I coasted back down (By that time, R had come back and helped me up) the slope. R decided to try the intermediate slope, while I gave the beginner's another shot, by this time we were 35 min away from 2 hrs. My final ride was great. I sighted early on where there were gaps in people and focused on a. staying up and b. not running into people. I decided against another run, even though there were 25 min left, and made my way back to the ski lodge. It was slow going, and I asked a Chinese lady on the way to take a picture of me on skis. It took a couple tries, but we got a good pic. I waited for R back at the lodge, since she had our shoe claim tags. I tried to claim mine, since time was running out, but the guys behind the counter, amid Chinese, asked me to "Wait a moment, please." I went back out to wait for R, and finally saw her. We got our deposit (and shoes) back, then went to try out the snow slide that other people (mostly kids) had been having fun on. We chickened out for the higher one, opting for the one that had the too-narrow notch... We learned our lesson and went down the big one next... it was terrific fun. We were tired from the skiing, so we started to walk back to the entrance. We hadn't gotten far before a taxi van driver asked us if we needed a lift, so we took the fast/easy option and took the van to the Ching-way station. After I got back in the room, I decided that a nap was in order, but it took a loooong time before my legs stopped emitting cold and I was able to sleep comfortably. I woke up later, started to write this post, then H and I went out with some friends and had a good (big) dinner, then came back, and now I'll probably take a long hot shower to forestall the aches which are sure to come (or as Jamaicans would say, "Soon come."). I'll do my best to catch everyone up on what else has been going on over the next few days, but for now, tsai chien (phonetic spelling), or goodbye, from China.
Check out pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009646&l=85cd9&id=92700607
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Tues Evening
I now have a Chinese name: Shang Guan Xiao - Xiao Xiao to my friends (pronunciation guide - Shan Goo-an Shee-ow). It basically means Princess Laughter... Xiao is laughter and Shang Guan is a rare family name that is reserved for nobility/royalty. Maybe I'll have a kid I name Xiao... or it'll be my Chinese pen name...
I just got back from a party in the downstairs lobby with 3 of H's classes, only girls showed up (there's a dearth of boys in her classes, anyway, most only have 2, and there are 5 boys in one class, but only 4 come with any frequency...), which wasn't a problem. We solved the tree decorating thing by letting the students decorate the tree, then I carefully carried the tree upstairs with the decorations on it, H and I may tweak some of it or just leave it alone. The party was extra special because one of the ladies from H's company came and read a story about the 1st Xmas, which seemed to go over well.
I just got back from a party in the downstairs lobby with 3 of H's classes, only girls showed up (there's a dearth of boys in her classes, anyway, most only have 2, and there are 5 boys in one class, but only 4 come with any frequency...), which wasn't a problem. We solved the tree decorating thing by letting the students decorate the tree, then I carefully carried the tree upstairs with the decorations on it, H and I may tweak some of it or just leave it alone. The party was extra special because one of the ladies from H's company came and read a story about the 1st Xmas, which seemed to go over well.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Saturday and Sunday...
H has minimal Xmas spirit... I never really realized it until this week... (She says it's due to the over-commercialization of Xmas.) I suppose in the past I knew, but I forgot over the rest of the year... Is there anything more depressing than decorating a Christmas tree by yourself or trying to get excited about Christmas around someone who doesn't want to hear Christmas music? Inevitably. But for now I'm enjoying a bitty pity party...
Okay, party's over.
Since I last wrote, plenty has happened. Most of Saturday was spent lazing around in our pajamas (Matching flannel pajamas was my 1st Xmas gift to both of us, I'm definitely glad for them, especially since it is so cold outside, even though it's plenty warm inside...) (one of the company members has an unheated apartment which is larger, it's kinda sad, and I have to admit that I'm glad it's not me/H). Anyway, so we lazed around and watched an adorable Korean movie with a really good-looking lead actor, Daniel Henney, who's a Korean-American Korean actor/celebrity. You can see him on some Bean Pole clothing commercials on YouTube (with Gwyneth Paltrow). We stopped halfway through the movie to meet some of H's students for dinner. We weren't certain when exactly H had agreed to meet them, so we wound up chilling (literally) in the lobby of H's dorm for about 45 mins, and having our ears bent for about half that time by this guy called Cook... he was very bad at taking hints, and he "likes to make friends, especially American friends." Yeah, quite a guy. As we were escaping him to go back to H's room, the students came for us, so we went out after all. We had Mi-son again, and it was quite tasty again, but I had to leave far too many noodles and broth for my preference... then again, they are huge servings... We had fun chatting and getting to know each other. After we ate, we did KTV, aka karaoke. If you've ever read a manga or seen an Asian show with a karaoke scene, you would understand it, but as you likely haven't, I'll explain. Karaoke is a group thing, you and a bunch of friends (sometimes single friends looking for potential bfs/gfs) get a room which is decked out with a comfy couch (here, the room was decorated in orange, and the couch was a big U which took up the back wall and continued halfway along the other two walls... yeah...), table for drinks and snacks (which our group (5 girls) smuggled in), a big TV for the main screen, a smaller touch screen by the couch for choosing and queuing the songs, and some cool lighting effects. We KTVed for about 1 1/2 hrs, H and I found some random/fun English songs, I sang (too low) along with Frank Sinatra as he sang The Lady is a Tramp (one of my favorite Frankie songs). Most of the songs the other girls sang were in Chinese, so I had no clue what they were saying (one of the music videos had a young Jackie Chan), but one English song bothered H and me: G()d is a Girl... yeah, disturbing... very disturbing... and catchy... Thanks to the song, I thought about what that would imply, and I am exceeding and abundantly thankful it's not true... We got back, finished the movie, then meandered toward bed.
Sunday we woke up and got off to our meeting, we were among the last few to arrive. It was a good meeting, we got to hear from some who visited another city and had good talks with the people there, which was very exciting. The leader talked about several things which really hit home with me. Overall, it was a very good time. The people in H's company are very warm and welcoming, and it is good to spend time with them. After the meeting, we ate with a few friends and I tried some new food, which was a bit heavy on the oil, but tasty. We then browsed at an import store nearby, went to the bookstore, chatted for awhile with a local woman, then left for VnM's (a very hospitable couple who host the company, and allow company members to use their flat for parties) for a summer camp reunion party of H and A's summer camp students. The party was great fun: Chinese youth love laughing and having a good time as much if not more than we do in the US. One of the guys brought a snack of sticky puffed rice, it tasted sweet and smoky, not super unlike rice crispies' 3rd cousin - pretty good stuff. We returned to the bookstore, where we had milk tea and shopped a bit. I got a great clutch purse! It is dark greyblue, it isn't large, but it's a beautiful purse and it holds everything I need to fit in it. Best yet, purchasing it benefits my brothers and sisters in the general area. We got back and wound up squabbling a bit over the Xmas tree... I was tired, and H prolly was, too. I'm tired now, incidentally, but if I went to sleep now, I'd wind up waking well before 6. Maybe I will, regardless.
Okay, party's over.
Since I last wrote, plenty has happened. Most of Saturday was spent lazing around in our pajamas (Matching flannel pajamas was my 1st Xmas gift to both of us, I'm definitely glad for them, especially since it is so cold outside, even though it's plenty warm inside...) (one of the company members has an unheated apartment which is larger, it's kinda sad, and I have to admit that I'm glad it's not me/H). Anyway, so we lazed around and watched an adorable Korean movie with a really good-looking lead actor, Daniel Henney, who's a Korean-American Korean actor/celebrity. You can see him on some Bean Pole clothing commercials on YouTube (with Gwyneth Paltrow). We stopped halfway through the movie to meet some of H's students for dinner. We weren't certain when exactly H had agreed to meet them, so we wound up chilling (literally) in the lobby of H's dorm for about 45 mins, and having our ears bent for about half that time by this guy called Cook... he was very bad at taking hints, and he "likes to make friends, especially American friends." Yeah, quite a guy. As we were escaping him to go back to H's room, the students came for us, so we went out after all. We had Mi-son again, and it was quite tasty again, but I had to leave far too many noodles and broth for my preference... then again, they are huge servings... We had fun chatting and getting to know each other. After we ate, we did KTV, aka karaoke. If you've ever read a manga or seen an Asian show with a karaoke scene, you would understand it, but as you likely haven't, I'll explain. Karaoke is a group thing, you and a bunch of friends (sometimes single friends looking for potential bfs/gfs) get a room which is decked out with a comfy couch (here, the room was decorated in orange, and the couch was a big U which took up the back wall and continued halfway along the other two walls... yeah...), table for drinks and snacks (which our group (5 girls) smuggled in), a big TV for the main screen, a smaller touch screen by the couch for choosing and queuing the songs, and some cool lighting effects. We KTVed for about 1 1/2 hrs, H and I found some random/fun English songs, I sang (too low) along with Frank Sinatra as he sang The Lady is a Tramp (one of my favorite Frankie songs). Most of the songs the other girls sang were in Chinese, so I had no clue what they were saying (one of the music videos had a young Jackie Chan), but one English song bothered H and me: G()d is a Girl... yeah, disturbing... very disturbing... and catchy... Thanks to the song, I thought about what that would imply, and I am exceeding and abundantly thankful it's not true... We got back, finished the movie, then meandered toward bed.
Sunday we woke up and got off to our meeting, we were among the last few to arrive. It was a good meeting, we got to hear from some who visited another city and had good talks with the people there, which was very exciting. The leader talked about several things which really hit home with me. Overall, it was a very good time. The people in H's company are very warm and welcoming, and it is good to spend time with them. After the meeting, we ate with a few friends and I tried some new food, which was a bit heavy on the oil, but tasty. We then browsed at an import store nearby, went to the bookstore, chatted for awhile with a local woman, then left for VnM's (a very hospitable couple who host the company, and allow company members to use their flat for parties) for a summer camp reunion party of H and A's summer camp students. The party was great fun: Chinese youth love laughing and having a good time as much if not more than we do in the US. One of the guys brought a snack of sticky puffed rice, it tasted sweet and smoky, not super unlike rice crispies' 3rd cousin - pretty good stuff. We returned to the bookstore, where we had milk tea and shopped a bit. I got a great clutch purse! It is dark greyblue, it isn't large, but it's a beautiful purse and it holds everything I need to fit in it. Best yet, purchasing it benefits my brothers and sisters in the general area. We got back and wound up squabbling a bit over the Xmas tree... I was tired, and H prolly was, too. I'm tired now, incidentally, but if I went to sleep now, I'd wind up waking well before 6. Maybe I will, regardless.
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...
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...
Bright and Day (Fri Morning)
I am currently sitting in H's 8 AM Friday Fresh. Oral English class.
There are two boys in the class (which happen to be sitting next to me), Bright and Day. To borrow from Frank Sinatra - Bright and Day, Day and Bright... According to H, they are very close friends, but very different. Bright is studious, Day is a slacker. Day flirts, Bright doesn't... Day smokes, Bright doesn't. Kind of nice guys, though...
There are two boys in the class (which happen to be sitting next to me), Bright and Day. To borrow from Frank Sinatra - Bright and Day, Day and Bright... According to H, they are very close friends, but very different. Bright is studious, Day is a slacker. Day flirts, Bright doesn't... Day smokes, Bright doesn't. Kind of nice guys, though...
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