Nina's Tianjin Blog

Hello, shanzhai. Hello, Nckia

2009-04-29T23:32:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, I bumped into some of my friends from Côte d'Ivoire on the street, and they told me they were going to buy a cellphone. They told me they love Chinese cellphones, and many even bought them for their friends back home. I could not believe it. In the States, we would look askance at Chinese phones and wonder if they might explode in our hands. So I went along for the adventure and see if I could be of any help in the bargaining area.

I was surprised when we arrived in front of this little shop selling Sumsung, Samsang, Nckia, and other knock-off phones. My friend wanted to be able to watch TV, go online, use blue-tooth, use a touch screen, and insert two SIM cards into the phone. He got all of that for 560 rmb (talked down from a opening price of 800). I was pretty impressed that a cellphone had an antenna to receive local tv stations. The phone he got actually spelled Nokia right on the front, and only on one side of the box that it came with did it slip with a Nckia. It was a pretty darn good fake. I'll try to get a snapshot of the phone from my friend in a few days.

Little did I know, today, I read an article here in the NY Times precisely about the topic of "shanzhai" phones. Having seen and experienced them first hand, I have to say they are kinda cool. The tv option is really appealing, and so is the dual SIM card capability, not to mention the sweet price for all the features. However, I do fear the lack of safety checks governing these fakes, and it's rarely compatible with the U.S. cellular networks anyway.

I don't understand these people

2009-03-18T08:43:00.000-07:00

I'm Chinese American. There are many aspects of Chinese culture that I sort of understand because of traditions passed down to me by my parents and grandparents, such as celebrating Chinese New Year, eating with chopsticks, rice porridge to cure a cold, taking tea without any sugar or milk, and treating teachers and elders with utmost respect. Yet, now that I am in China, I find Mainlanders to be incomprehensible.

1) Why does every friendship seem to have an ulterior motive, which in my case, usually is English help? Do Chinese people ever make friends for the sake of the simple pleasure of a person's company?
It seems that this semester, people have decided that their friendship with me has progressed enough to ask me for "favors," "bang yi ge mang." Suddenly, left and right, people are introducing me to their neighbor's son, their friend's friend's son, or asking me to help out at their prep school. They all "just" want to "be my friend." But in reality, they want me to help them with their English for free. Don't they ever think about other people's time? That people might have other things to do, or that if we English speakers helped all of our "friends," we'd be working 24/7, listening to painfully broken English ALL THE TIME. I wonder if, partly, it's because Chinese society is composed of very self-centered, me-driven people. There's so many people (again, the same old excuse that explains all problems in China), so everyone just cares about him/herself, what she/he wants and how to survive and reach one's objective, regardless of what happens to other people. They just care about their need, or in the case of mothers, their child's need to learn English; they don't care about our feelings or the fact that we might be tired or that we might want to learn Chinese. We foreigners might as well just be inflatable, talking dolls or machines.

I come back tired and coughing from almost 6 weeks of traveling, first thing this lady downstairs from my apartment asks is when I can go to her house for a meal. I say I'm tired, I have a cough, I have lots of laundry and cleaning up to do, maybe another day. She doesn't take no for an answer and finally gets me to go to her house. Surprise, surprise, her neighbor and her neighbor's son and the son's friend are there to "meet me" so they can practice their English. It' my vacation, for goodness sake! I'm sick and with a cough! I'm tired and worn out from travel, I have photos to upload and blogs to post. I have sleep to catch up on, and you all don't care and just want me to give free English lessons?! That is why I don't easily accept dinner invitations anymore. I recall a Chinese/cantonese saying that some meals are so hard to digest that the food passes painfully through the backbone; this was one of them. That lady still has the nerve now to keep asking me when I have time to go to her house again for a meal. I politely smile and say that I'm very busy. She doesn't get the message, or rather, refuses to listen. She asks why I'm busy, what I'm busy with. HELLO?! That's my personal business, we are not good enough friends for you to have the right to know. Yet, I politely tell her that I have to teach, prepare lessons, study Chinese, take practice tests for the HSK, train for marathon. Then she still asks me if I'm free Friday to go to her house (totally ignoring all I told her about being very busy),I say I have friends over for dinner, she asks what about Thursday, I say I also have plans. That kept her at bay for a little while, but I just don't know when she's gonna hound me again to go to her house to "eat a meal," with ulterior English-learning motives. It feels so dishonest and sly, like cheating my emotions and feelings. I put my heart into friendships, and they just want to use me. Friends in America are made for good company and fun times, not to be used for benefits. Friendships based on benefits are called transactions.

Earlier tonight, even an older student of mine asked me for "a favor." She wanted me to go to the school that she started and help give mock interviews in English to prospective MBA students. She called me right when I was eating dinner at 7pm, I hesitatingly agreed to help her out, and for almost two hours, I sat and listened to thirt-somethings speaking one at a time in really halting English. My eyes were getting crossed, I was losing focus and could only see the lips moving without any comprehension because it was so difficult to understand through their heavy accents. Goodness, I hope I don't get dragged into another one of these again. How can they get it past their conscience to ask mere acquaintances and ordinary friends to perform such big favors?

Also irksome is the way Chinese mothers here are so annoyingly overprotective. Sure, it's your only child, but an 18 year-old should be able to do everything by him/herself. They don't need mama to hover over and coddle them. They don't need their mothers to bother their friends' friends' friend's English teacher. College and graduate students should be even more self-reliant and independent. Goodness. Many of China's young people don't know how to think or do things for themselves because their mothers and teachers help them with everything.

A video from my trip, finally!

2009-03-18T08:31:00.000-07:00

Yes, at last, after two months, I finally finished a short highlights video from my trip through Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guilin. It took me over 20 hours to edit 3 hours worth of clips into this 9 minute segment, and this is just the scenes from the road, not even of the sites. When I have time, I will post some of the best photos from the trip as well. I'm just so busy these days with preparing for the Hanyushuiping Test (aka HSK, which is the Chinese version of the Toefl), training for a half marathon at the Great Wall Marathon, teaching, and getting ready to go back to the U.S. But I know that the longer I wait to post my photos and blog about my experiences, the harder it will be to recall later on. Well, with no further ado, here is the long delayed trip video! (I used Vimeo because the video quality is much better than Youtube.)

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Southwest China by bus, train, boat, and bike from Nina Ngo on Vimeo.

Yunnan Delights and Mishaps

2009-01-10T13:57:00.000-08:00

It's been a week since I arrived in Yunnan province. Today, we are leaving Dali and heading to the ancient town of Lijiang. The last week has been full of fun sights and crazy mishaps. Highlights of Kunming include visiting the beautiful and peaceful Stone Forest, yet being taken to four different shopping places by the tour guide. We ended up wasting a whole day from 8am to 6pm, yet only got to be in the Stone Forest itself for less than two hours.

In Kunming, I got to visit the Minority Village with 22 reconstructions of typical minority villages and houses. They also hire members of the minority to come here to dress in their traditional clothing and work as representatives of their culture. I was most impressed by the Miao Cristian cherch. I couldn't believe that inside Minority Village Themepark was a Cristian cherch with services on Sundays. I chatted with one of te Miao girls sitting doing embroidery, and she said that there's a small branch of the Miao that are entirely Cristian b/c of a missionary that went there in the 1880s. That's amazing.

While at the Minority Village, I also reflected on the social and cultural implications of a minority themepark. In America, we studied the racist "exhibitions" at the expos of 1892 and 1915, how Native Americans and chinese were cast as the "other," exotic objects to be viewed on passing, and tourists became voyeurs into their fabricated and fictionalized "local habitat." wasn't I doing the same thing by touring these minority villages, recreated for tourists with much prettier decorations than in the real villages? What about the poor girls and guys who leave their home villages and don't get to return home during New Year's b/c it's peak tourist season. They only get 12 days of leave a year and some don't return home for 2 or 3 years. Who allowed the Han majority to showcase and exhibit the minority cultures in such a gawdy, themepark way? are the minorities getting a cut of the profit from the themepark? Do they have a say in how their culture is presented? How could I have criticized the way Americans put the Chinese and the Native Americans on display when I am now enjoying a display of minority cultures in China? Is it not the same?

In Dali, I really loved the yellow fields of mustard flowers and terraced farming. All over, you see yellow and green fields, blue skies, and white Bai minority houses with their grey borders and curved eaves. The peasants wear conical hats while they work in the green staircases of their fields. The views are breathtaking and peaceful. They make you think that life can be very simple and beautiful. I also enjoyed the ancient, walled town of Dali (as opposed to the modern city of Dali, aka Xiaguan). Its narrow alleys and old buildings are so quaint and peaceful. This place reminds me of the little towns of southern Spain. The local colorful scarves, woven cloth, embroidered mats, and tie-dyed sheets are so beautiful and rich. Moreover, I found this really cool hostel for 80/night right in the Dali ancient town. It's just two floors and only has 6 rooms, but there's a sun terrace, free laundry and internet, a tv room, and great decorations from Tibet and local cultures. Everything is fabric-covered or wood paneled, adn there's this really homey, bohemian feel to the place. Even better, it's right across a cherch (gvt authorized one, of course). We're gonna visit today for sunday service.

Crazy mishaps: I left one of my bags on the bus from Kunming to Dali and didn't realize it until I got to my student's house, when my student asked me if I'd left anything. I had to ride all the way back to the bus station and ask many many people if they'd seen my bag or my bus or my driver. Apparently, there is no lost and found in China, there aren't even any signs to distinguish who are the officials at the bus station and who are the merchants. After about an hour of searching, I finally found my bag. The driver had seen it left in the overhead rack, put it with a woman at a little store, but didn't tell the lady it was a passenger's bag. So when I asked the woman before if she'd seen a bag like mine, she said no. But after I finally got a hold of the driver, he instructed me to go to the store and they had it, with all my shampoo, conditioner, clothes, and toiletries all in place.

On Levina's end (the Indonesian girl I'm travelling with), she missed her plane from Tianjin to Kunming. Then when she went by herself from Kunming to Dali, she was left behind at a gas station somewhere midway between the two cities. She had to stay at this place for a night and catch another bus to Dali the next day.

Christmas Eve

2008-12-24T09:54:00.000-08:00

For Christmas Eve, I went with another foreign teacher Mr. Brown and some of my students to a government-approved Chinese church in TJ. I'll update this post with photos later, since I lent my camera to Mr. Brown for his last week in China.

I'd been here with Mr. Brown two times before in Sundays, but this was the first time I saw a church this crowded. People were sitting in the aisles, standing and crowding at the doorways, and I couldn't even get a seat. I was one of the lucky ones to get a cushion to sit on the floor, because we got there at 6:30pm for the 7pm service. Even at 6pm, all the seats were filled. Granted it's b/c of Christmas, but it's still impressive to see this many people in the house of the Father. It must have been what it was like over 2000 years ago, when JC went around teaching and healing, and it was so crowded that people even cut a hole in the roof to get to him.

I'm very surprised that four of my students were eager to come. Three of them had never been before and were quite interested and curious. Unbeknownst to me, the service was 3.5 hours long, from 7pm to 10:30pm. It was a long time to sit, listening to choral music and preaching. I wish they had a projector with the words so I could at least sing along, but often it was just the choir singing and the parishioners listening, not as much participation as in the States. The best part, I think, was the beginning when they had all the little children come up to sing. They were so cute, doing hand motions and everything. The speaker was also very heartwarming. He was this humble 82-year old man who had just had an operation, and would stop midway to sing us a song he loved. He spoke of his trust and his peace, how he did not fear death for it was simply returning to his home above. I loved the peace and serenity that filled his voice and persona.

Afterward, I went with two of my students for some shaokao, and got a chance to share how I came to know JC. When the clock struck midnight, we toasted and wished each other Merry Christmas over lamb kebabs. It was nice, kinda like Yorkside buffalo wings and garlic bread late at night in college; it really hits the spot.

More street foods in Tianjin

2008-12-24T08:55:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to post more about the local street foods, but I either forget to take pictures or forget to blog about the photos after I download them onto my computer. Here's a month's worth of foods I've meaning to write about:

Kettle Corn
Unlike the kettle corn cooked and sold in bathtub-sized cauldrons in farmer's markets all over California, the kettle corn in China is made in small batches. You buy a batch for 5 yuan, which gives you the equivalent of one large movie theater bucket. The popcorn is coated with sugar and strange combinations of flavors can be added, like chocolate, black sesame, melon, tangerine, and blueberry. It kind of reminds me of caramel corn.

There is a little stand across the street from my apartment building that sells this kettle-popped corn every day, 7 days a week. Across from this popcorn place is a stinky tofu stand, so every time I pass, I first get a sweet whiff of butter and sugar, followed by the pungent, sour smell of stinky tofu. I bet in 20 years, the smell of stinky tofu mixed with sweet popcorn will still transport me back to TUFE all over again.

Tong yuan
Recently, the fresh fruits and vegetables markets have some newcomers selling little white balls of floury dough. I immediately identified them as tong yuan, the little chewy balls of tapioca with various filling inside. However, I have never seen such a variety of fillings before. Back at home, my Dad just makes two kinds: the ones with a sweet and salty mung bean filling and little balls of dough with no filling at all. After much lobbying and begging, my Dad made some with red bean filling one year, but that was an exception not repeated the following year. So imagine my delight to find 10 different kinds of filling: black sesame, peanut, tangerine, strawberry, chocolate, cocoa, red bean, dates, pineapple, and mixed fruit. There are no distinguishing features to any of them, and they mix them all up in the same bag after your purchase, so eating tong yuan becomes like picking from a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get.

Here's a pic of the tong yuan, which I ate with a dark brown sugar and ginger syrup--that's the way we eat it in our family. Apparently in Tianjin, the locals just boil the little balls and eat them straight, no sweet syrup, because the filling is sweet enough. I like mine with the ginger syrup though.

I know this post is supposed to be about "street" food, but I figured I'd just sneak in an amazing fruit in there. I love tropical fruit, and the pineapple is no exception. I love the tart and sweet flavor combination and the intensity of flavors. The pineapples in the States have gotten worse and worse each year, each batch more sour and bland than the next. Grocery stores all have these dark green pineapples that were picked too early and taste like lemons. Only in Hawaii can you get good, ripe, sweet pineapples. But in China, they have these smaller varieties that are very very sweet. I haven't had a sour pineapple here so far. Best of all, every supermarket peels and pits the pineapples for you free of charge. It's full service treatment! Here's the pineapple I carried home (in a plastic bag, of course)after all the cutting and peeling was done. Isn't it a beauty?

Last but not least is the famous Tianjin Kebabs (Shaokao). They are not famous in China, but every student and young person loves to eat it. Nothing hits the spot late at night like a good shaokao and beer. This kebab place is supposed to be one of the best in TJ and I went there with my Japanese, Mongolian, and Ivory Coast classmates from Chinese class. It was an unexpectedly long night because I thought we were only going to dinner and only later found out that they had plans for ktv and shaokao afterward as well. The lamb kebabs were indeed very good, and it was nice having the coal brickets right on the table to keep our skewers warm. At other places, you either freeze your head and butts off sitting over a coal roaster outside, or you eat meat that has cooled already since it left the grill. Shaokao is really good stuff, well worth the risks of diarrhea.

Skiing on the Bunny Slopes

2008-12-07T04:38:00.000-08:00

I went skiing with some of my students from the university today. For a mere 80 yuan, we got a bus ride, ski rentals, and admission to a local man-made ski slope in nearby Ji county. It's such a weird experience to see brown, dry hillsides, and then suddenly see a patch of white with people skiing (or learning to ski). This patch of white is entirely man-made and very easy. It's a long, rolling gentle slope, so basically the entire ski area is just one big bunny slope. I think some of the Reno and Tahoe bunny slopes are even steeper than this.

It was pretty easy, since I have skied once before in college, and like riding a bike, the knowledge sort of stays with you. I wish there were something a little steeper, but nevertheless, I had a great time. I really like skiing; the feeling of freedom, flight and exhilaration as the wind brushes against your face is so amazing. Because these slopes in China were so easy and tame, we could do all sorts of things, like skiing down in a line, holding onto each other's waists.

Here are some pictures of my students learning to ski and on the way down.

There were long lines for the "ski lift" which is not a typical bench like at other ski resorts, but just a metal bar that you hold onto. You put the metal bar and its attached circular seat-like thing between your feet, remain standing, and the bar drags you and your skis up the hill. It's really more of a ski "drag" than a ski "lift." So rather than wait in line, I just snapped off my skis and walked uphill. Surprisingly, the ski "drag" was so slow that I passed a couple people just by walking. My friends stood in line, and after I'd walked up to the top and skied down, they were still in line for the lift.

Heartwarming dinner parties and hot pot

2008-12-05T07:50:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago, I invited my Chinese gal friends to come over and have a home-cooked meal made by yours truly. They really liked the meal of winter melon soup, stir-fried shrimp, stir-fried veggies, and slow-cooked pear soup for dessert. I am by no means a great cook (my father often refuses to eat what I cook because he thinks the lentils and curry dishes I cook look too much like poo), so I was very happy that they kept singing praises of my amateur efforts.

This week, these same friends invited me to hot pot. It just so happened that today was one of the coldest days in Tianjin so far, so it's perfect for hot pot! I love to eat this super easy, super delicious, and super healthy type of meal. My friend Berber bought a spicy soup base, mixed it with water, and added green onion and ginger for the broth. Apparently, that's the Tianjin way of eating it; in America, our hot pots at home usually just start out with a plain chicken broth, no spices or other ingredients. Here's a pic of my friends preparing the hot pot in their dorm room. Isn't it so cute and cozy, dorm room hot pot? :)

Then we ate boiled fish balls, seaweed, lamb slices, beef slices, mushrooms, tofu, crab sticks, and veggies for two hours. In TJ, they like to use a sesame paste dipping sauce, and I have to say, it's a quite sweet and tasty accompaniment to the meat, tofu and veggies.

After stuffing ourselves with hot pot, we had the pineapple meringue cake I'd made with the little toaster oven in our shared kitchen. That little oven has gotten a lot of use from me lately. I'm amazed how much I can make with a toaster oven: cookies, banana bread, pineapple cake, baked meringue. Granted, the quality isn't on par with the bigger ovens in America, but it's still quite good, and gives me a nice taste of home. I didn't photograph the cake b/c 1)I forgot, and 2)it really didn't look that photogenic. I initially made the pineapple cake, and it came out a little too brown to look very nice as it was, so I decided to frost it. I initially meant to make a butter cream-egg white frosting, but after unwrapping the stick of butter I bought two or three weeks ago, I saw a small moldy dot on one side, a red blob on another side, and I smelled a cheesy smell. Knowing the whole milk fiasco here, I decided to toss the whole thing away and just make a pure meringue frosting. I was nervous about the meringue b/c I don't have cream of tartar here, and most recipes call for it to help stabilize the egg whites. I found a recipe that used salt as a stabilizer, so I whipped and whipped with a fork (b/c I don't have a whisk here) until my arms got sore. Finally the egg whites formed soft peaks, and I added the sugar syrup and whipped over a double boiler, half cooking the frosting. Then I put some banana slices on the pineapple cake and frosted the whole thing with my frosting. Then baked the entire cake loaf. I garnished with some superfine grated coconut. If I had some chocolate, I would have melted it and drizzled it over for decoration. That would have been beautiful.

I was surprised and glad that my friends liked the cake so much. It was moist, and the soft meringue added a nice richness, but definitely not what I would consider a terrific dessert in American terms. Yet to Chinese, it's novel and yummy. The three girls managed to eat all of it (granted it was a small cake) and still raved about it even while washing the crumbs from the plate.

Where there's a will...

2008-12-04T09:38:00.000-08:00

Senior year in college, I interviewed for a prestigious teaching in China program my college offered. I really wanted that fellowship because I wanted to live in China and felt called to come here. But either the timing wasn't right, or I didn't try hard enough to get here, but it took me three whole years to finally fulfill this dream. Lo and behold, the position I have here is much better-paying and much more suitable for me than the fellowship I so wanted to receive, although with less of the prestige attached. This just shows that there are many paths to get where one wants to be.

I thought that the fellowship program through my university was the most reliable and prestigious, so I relied on that one. When I was rejected, I became heartbroken and very sad. I gave up looking towards China, but that desire kept following me for three years. On my own, through Internet searches, I found a very good position here in Tianjin. So perhaps we don't always have to go through the brand name schools to get where we want to be, we just need to work hard and keep looking.

Food poisoning (Warning: Contains graphic descriptions. Readers are advised not to eat while reading.)

2008-12-03T18:12:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, I ate at the Ganxun restaurant downstairs from my apartment. I and two other people went there after services on Sunday and had three dishes. One was a taro, sweet potato, grape tomato dish, one was a fried silky tofu dish covered with brown sauce and mixed with meat and shrimp, and one was a stir fried chicken and onion dish. After eating it, I felt uncomfortably stuffed and didn't have an appetite for dinner, but b/c I made dinner plans with friends already, I went anyway and ate bbq kebabs with them. I don't know if it was the lunch or the dinner that didn't sit right, but later on that night, I started having loose stool and feeling chills. The next day, Monday, was my busiest teaching day. I had to teach two classes in the morning, then rush to catch the bus to go to another university, then stay in the district for a few hours until my last evening class with another company. Since I was still suffering from uncontrollable, watery stool and I was out and about all day, I had such a hard time feeling weak, tired, and nervous that I would have an accident all over myself. It was terrible. I felt like I needed to fart all the time, but when I released the fart, watery stool came out, and sometimes you just can't control it and the stale air and foul water mixture just sputters out. (I warned you, it's graphic!) Because of this, I was afraid to eat all Monday long. Whatever water I drank came out of my butt as opposed to the urinary tract.

After I got home, around 9:30pm on Monday. I was relieved to be back with a clean bathroom accessible at any time, but I had to use it even more often. The entire night, I kept waking up, in total about 6 or 7 times throughout the night, to stumble towards the bathroom and let out watery poo. Then I would waddle sleepily back to bed and immediately fall back asleep again. Luckily, I only had one class to teach on Tuesday afternoon, so I stayed in bed resting until mid-morning. The loose stool still lingered, although not as strong as Monday, so I didn't eat much on Tuesday either. Wednesday, I had lunch and dinner plans with students, so I ventured to eat half a bowl of rice noodles for lunch at the student cafeteria and half a bowl of potato starch noodles for dinner. That sat a little bit better, but last night (wednesday night), my stool was also pretty watery, although not as bad as Monday. So today is day 4 of the food poisoning saga, I think I'll just eat a bowl of pork and veggie soup I made last week, since I don't know how clean the cafeteria food is. Best to avoid eating out.

Teaching frustrations

2008-11-29T22:06:00.000-08:00

I've been teaching a lot more lately, and the long-term exposure to Chinese people trying to speak English has seeped into my subconsciousness. I had a dream the other night, and everyone was Chinese speaking heavily accented English. It's not the first time I've been influenced by the country I'm living in, when I was in Spain and Argentina, I dreamed of people speaking to me in Spanish. But here in China, I should be dreaming of people speaking to me in Chinese, not in broken English! I bet I hear more broken English these days b/c of all my classes and students than I hear Mandarin.

This also brings up an issue that's disturbed me lately. I sometimes feel a little used by my students and friends. It's terrible, but I often find myself wondering if a person wants to be my friend b/c she/he likes me as a person or b/c he just wants to practice English or get free English tutoring from me. I know I should be generous with my time, but I recently became a little upset when a student texted me wanting me to meet with him every week to help tutor him in English. First of all, he knew that I have other part-time teaching jobs, that I charge a lot for my time, and that I'm busy, yet he wanted me to meet one on one to help him with his English every week. I already listen to Chinese people speaking broken English for 6 hours a day, it's really tiring to sit there and wait while they stutter, pause, and try to think of the word. I'd rather they just say what they want to say in Chinese b/c I can understand them better that way. I wouldn't mind helping different students with a specific question, but his English is very very bad (making it especially tiring to listen to) and he sounded like he wanted private tutoring for free. In the end, I told him I was busy that week, but that I could meet him for lunch this coming week, no promises of other sessions though.

Doing the dishes - a litmus test

2008-11-26T18:09:00.000-08:00

I've recently discovered a strange but very effective way of testing if a guy is considerate or not: Dishwashing.

Most guys will seem nice and kind in everyday conversation because we don't see them do anything. But it's their attitude towards chores and how they treat females that they are not interested in, that's when we see their real character, because after 20+ years of marriage and the motivating passion is gone, you need a guy whose character is solidly built.

I've recently had two opportunities to observe guys and how they approach dishwashing. One Chinese student of mine, after eating a dessert soup that I cooked and invited and another to enjoy, eagerly told me to sit down, he'll take care of it, and brought the used bowls and utensils to the sink, making like he was going to wash them. To my surprise and amusement, his whole act only consisted of bringing the bowls from the kitchen table to the sink 7 feet away and filling the stack of dirty bowls with some water from the faucet. He left the bowls there for me to wash. Gee, thanks. And the other Chinese student of mine didn't even offer to help. So both fail the litmus test of a considerate gentleman.

Today, I happened to be in the kitchen making breakfast when my British hallmate came in for breakfast too. He fixed up a bowl of oatmeal while I had my veggie soup, and we talked and chatted over breakfast. After I was done, I put my bowl in the sink, tossed away my trash, but just as I was about to wash my bowl, I realized that the trash can lid was malfunctioning (it's one of those step and open types), so I bent down, looked, and tried to fix it. After I fixed it, my hallmate had finished his meal and was washing his dish at the sink. I now had to wait for him to wash his bowl before I could wash mine. As I stood there, I thought, you know, a female hallmate would probably have just washed my bowl for me, since she was washing and had her hands wet anyway. It's a small and unnecessary gesture of kindness, but that's what I would do and that's what my female friends have done for me, and heck, it's what my brother-in-law does. But after my hallmate left and I started washing my bowl and spoon in the sink, I thought, yet another one has failed in the considerate man litmus test. I think I've only met two guys in my life who have been genuinely considerate, even to girls that aren't their girlfriends. A good Brother takes care of all his Sisters, not just his wife. I think when I find someone who passes the dishwashing litmus test, he'll be the one for me. :)

It's a small town after all.

2008-11-22T06:15:00.000-08:00

I taught at my part-time job today, and at the end of my last adult oral English class, one of the students asked me if I taught at TUFE. I was surprised b/c I don't know him and I didn't tell my students which university I teach. I said yes, and he asked me if I know this guy Tang Tao, I was like, wow, I do, actually. It turns out this student of mine goes to TUFE and is a 3rd year Finance major just like my friend Tang Tao; they're classmates. But still, I was puzzled how he could know that I know Tang Tao. This student told me that he saw my photo on the internet! I was a little shocked and worried at first, but it seems he saw a group photo from our trip to Fragrant Mountain last month, which either Tang Tao or one of the other girls had posted on some blog or facebook-like site. So he recognized me. Still, it just shows that I have to be on my best behavior, I never know when someone I know or who knows someone I know will recognize me. My, it was bound to happen...I teach at so many places throughout Tianjin.

Remnants of Autumn on Campus

2008-11-19T05:07:00.000-08:00

Although I gripe about the long 15 minute walk from my dorm to the classroom everyday, especially on cold frosty mornings, the walk also takes me past one of the prettier sections of campus. Unlike the modern cement covered section of the east campus, the older, west end of campus (where our dorm is) has treelined pathways and ivy-covered walls. There's a gentle disrepair about it that grows on you and makes it feel much more intimate and romantic than the glass and steel structures of the east end.

Comfort Fruit

2008-11-19T04:35:00.001-08:00

Last Saturday, I taught the rowdy children at EF again and my day started extra early since they switched my afternoon classes to the morning. From 7:30am (b/c it's a 1 hour commute to EF) to 3:30pm, I was working in some manner or another. The kids' class requires the most preparation and also gives me the most grief. The parents complained about my being just a couple minutes late to class because I had mistaken the start time, since they switched up my classes. In turn, the tactless Chinese "liaison" had a "talk" with me about the right procedures for getting to class and how I should behave so as not to offend the parents. Obviously, she was using the Chinese way that she deals with employees on me. I'm not one of your docile, desperate Chinese employees willing to do anything for a meager 2000 yuan a month. I'm American and I don't take micromanagement, and I certainly won't put in extra time for free. She can take her "we expect our teachers to arrive here at least 30 minutes before the first class" b.s. and shove it. I don't know if it's a cultural barrier or b/c she thinks I look Chinese so I can be pushed more. So that tactless Chinese woman just annoys me a lot. She wasn't the one who interviewed or hired me. The Australian woman Janet was, but Janet's gone to Tibet, so I'm stuck with a micromanaging Chinese slave driver.

But why do I have a photo of a mangosteen for this post? Because the mangosteen completely cheered me up after a long and tiring day. After the 1 hour bus ride back to my university area, I went to the supermarket and splurged. I bought mangosteens for 14 yuan/500 grams. For 14 yuan, I only got about 4 or 5, but I was so excited to take those little purple baseballs home and crack open their juicy, luscious white interior. I still remember the first time I tried them in Vietnam, my cousin bought it for me and I had no idea what they were or how to eat them. She squeezed the red-black ball between her palms until the rind caved in and split to reveal the juicy wedges inside. The taste in your mouth is sweet and mild, with a hint of tartness. It's completely addictive and comforting. I've never had anything like it. So on my tiring, frustrating saturday, I decided to treat myself to this "queen of fruits." The moment I stepped through the door to my room, I immediately dropped my purse and groceries on the bed, tore open the plastic bag containing the mangosteens and cracked one with my palms. I plopped the smooth, cool slivers into my mouth and closed my eyes. It brought me back to the humid, sweaty, hot summers in Vietnam, and back to the carefree happiness of my college days. I felt better immediately. No prozac needed.
In fact, this photo was take after I'd already devoured two mangosteens. I realized that I should quickly document it before I eat them all. Really, these are my favorite fruit in the whole world. Give me a choice between this and chocolate, I'd choose a mangosteen.

Stressed

2008-11-16T05:20:00.000-08:00

This week is really stressful because of the pressures of law school apps, a ton of really problematic resumes and cover letters to correct for my classes, and the need to prepare for my different part time classes. Mainly though, it's the apps that hang over me like an anvil around my neck and heart, draining me of energy and joy. I NEED to get them done, and yet they're so tedious and long.

On some days, Tianjin can be beautiful too.

2008-11-11T08:24:00.001-08:00

Since I've been teaching at the university district, which is also near the Tianjin TV tower, I've gotten a glimpse of another, more developed part of TJ. Here are some pics from Tianjin University, one of the oldest universities in the city, on par with Nankai.
A short obelisk-like monument greets you at the main entrance of Tianjin University.

They also have a very pretty man-made lake in the center of campus. I think their lake is much prettier than TUFE's.

A cool art structure I saw in front of a kids' playground on the way to the Foreign Bookstore. It's a great combination of traditional Chinese culture with sculpture (it rhymes!).

Last but not least, a blue-sky framed view of the Tianjin TV tower.

Although TUFE (Tianjin University of Finance and Economics) is off in the outermost southern edge of town, bordering the rural farm fields and such, it has its beautiful moments. I came out of my Friday afternoon class last week utterly amazed at the sunset. I didn't think I could see skies like that in foggy TJ. I think the fall breeze really helps blow away the pollution.

Local friends

2008-11-11T07:51:00.000-08:00

Time for another Tianjin life post. I haven't been posting recently b/c I've been pretty busy interviewing for part-time teaching jobs, and now, preparing lessons for those jobs. It's crazy, but I now teach at three different places near Nankai University and Tianjin University because none of the part time jobs offer me enough hours, only max 4 hours. But the pay is relatively good, and it's good experience in how to teach different sized classes and different levels. Most stressful is the Saturday afternoon 6-7year old beginner English class. The boys, being spoiled only children, are little monsters who scream, jump up and down, and can't sit still. After two hours, my ears are ringing from the constant high-pitched noise. I've decided that teaching adults is much much easier and more enjoyable.

Yet in the midst of my busy-ness, I've had some time on weekends to hang out with new Tianjin friends. This is the kind middle-aged couple I met on my trip to Taishan. They graciously took me under their wing, and invited me to their home for dinner two Sundays ago. It was so good of them! Aunt Tong made homemade potstickers, babao zhou (literally 8 treasures porridge, with red beans, dates, pumpkin, and other nutritious ingredients). She and her husband Uncle Wang also cooked some lovely seafood dishes. I also got to meet their daughter and son-in-law, and their big fluffy white dog WangWang. The dog is really quite beautiful, with such soft fur. Aunt Tong's daughter and son-in-law also took me to visit the famed Tianjin greenhouse and wholesale flower market as well as the pet market (where there are rows and rows of caged dogs howling and barking at you). Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures there. I'm getting too settled into life here and forgetting to whip out the camera. :/ At the end of the night, Aunt Tong also prepared a whole bag of potstickers and 8 Treasure Porridge for me to bring home. It was so generous and sweet. The abundance of food lasted me for over a week.

Last Friday, I also went out to dinner and karaoke (KTV) with some Chinese friends from the university. They're all like 4 or 5 years younger than me, but when we're singing Jay Chou and S.H.E. songs together, the age difference doesn't show at all. It was pretty fun singing so many Chinese songs with Chinese people. They couldn't believe how many mandarin songs I knew. I guess I'm pretty well-acquainted with Chinese pop music after all.

I understand the coffee stains now

2008-11-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

Back in college, my friends and I would often complain and laugh about TA's who returned our essays with coffee and food stains on them. We would speculate on what they were doing with our essays, and why they always came back dirty.

Today, I finally experienced it from the other end. I was reading some of my students' homework during dinner, when I splashed brown vinegar on one student's paper. Trying to multi-task, I was eating jiaozi (dumplings) while grading. One dumpling slipped from my chopsticks and fell into the little dish of red wine vinegar, causing a big splash all over a student's paper. I quickly wiped it up, but, like the coffee stains on our papers in college, they'll remain for the student to speculate what his teacher was doing to his work.

Halloween Party

2008-11-11T02:43:00.000-08:00

The TUFE foreign teachers: Alex, Jim, and me.

For Halloween, I worked with another foreign teacher to throw a Halloween party for our students and friends. Unfortunately, because costumes are extremely come by in China, I was the only person who showed up at the party in costume. I arrived late by about 15 minutes, and already, many students had shown up. They were there playing beer pong. I entered the room, saw crowds gathered around two tables, spotted ping pong balls flying around, and groaned. I knew it must have been the suggestion of the frat boys from San Diego State. See their gangsta looks in the photo? Teaching my innocent students beer pong...

I was really surprised that the students were so prompt. Normally, Chinese people in America are fashionably late. "Asian time," we call it. You say 6pm and people show up at 7pm. Yet it seems that Tianjin folks are different. They were there and I, regretfully as the host, was late. When I came in and my students began to recognize me, they grew really excited and even wanted to take pictures with me. It was my five minutes of fame and movie star treatment. Really fun and hilarious and, of course, flattering. After about half an hour though, my jaw began to feel sore from all the smiling and grinning. I had a good time, and my students got a taste of American parties, for better or for worse.

Proud to be American

2008-10-30T10:59:00.000-07:00

On Monday evening, I received my absentee ballot sent to me from the U.S. Words cannot describe the pride, joy, and awe I felt holding the envelope in my hands. I was afraid that it would not arrive in time, but it did! And my local registrar sent it by Air Mail to me all the way in China! Even though I'm miles and miles away, the government still protects my right as a citizen. It's willing to send the ballot to wherever I am, be it China or Africa. That's what I love about America. Our lives are worth more; our rights are protected (or at least there's a legal recourse if they're not); our voices ring loudly and are heard by the government.

I was particularly keen on voting this election because I want to be part of this historic moment. I want to look back years later and know that I made my voice known, I took part in the vote for the first black president or the first female vice-president in U.S. history. It is such a rare privilege to be able to live in a dem0cracy where there are free and, arguably, fair elections. I want to stand up and exercise that hard-earned right.

Yet I did not have much time to get the ballot back to the U.S. California voting laws dictate that the ballots must be received, not postmarked, by Nov. 4. I got the ballot Monday evening 10/27 and Wednesday 10/29 was the deadline to get the ballot to the U.S. embassy or FedEx drop-off location in Beijing. Because I had to teach, there was no time for me to go to Beijing by the Wednesday deadline. Still, I obtained the FedEx Air Mail slip and decided to go to Beijing today (Thursday) and see if the Embassy or FedEx will still take my ballot back to the U.S. even though the deadline has passed. I went to the Embassy, and the people there were immobile: the election deadline is over and there's nothing we can do for you now. I begged them to tell me what I could do, to find a way, and all they gave me was a phone number for FedEX, and that number didn't even work.

Luckily, I did some preparation on my own before, and found out the numbers of FedEx locations in Beijing. I called one and explained my situation. I wouldn't let the guy get off the phone until he told me some place I could go to talk to someone in person. :D This is China, where there is a will, there is a way.

The FedEx office building he told me to go to was within walking distance of the U.S. Embassy in LiangMaQiao, so I walked there. After convincing the receptionist to let me speak to the person in charge of the program, this director guy came out to help me. I told him my situation, how I came all the way from Tianjin to Beijing to submit my ballot, and how I was only 1 day past the deadline. He relented after much supplication, and he found some way via Hong Kong to get my ballot mailed to the U.S. for free. Because I didn't have a printer and was only able to save the Air Mail bill printout on my USB drive, he even used their printer to print the copies for me. That's how kind this staff at the FedEX in Beijing LiangMaQiao office was.

I still don't know for sure if my ballot will reach the U.S. in time because there is no more guarantee after the 10/29 China deadline, but I think so, or hope so. At least I left in ignorant bliss, believing that my vote would be counted. It also made me believe again in the kindness of strangers. I've encountered a few mean Chinese people who are rude or even try to take advantage of you beneath their smiles, but it's nice and refreshing to meet a stranger who'll go the extra miles to help someone in need.

Shopping for Halloween in Da Hu Tong

2008-10-30T08:38:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, I went with my new Chinese female friend (whom I met on the trip to Fragrant Mountain), and another English teacher from the Philippines to the big wholesale shopping district of Da Hu Tong. I found out that you can actually get to Dahutong by subway and just walk about 3 blocks. It's much faster and convenient than the bus, which takes over an hour. As you can see, we tried on wigs, feather boas, and lots of silly things in preparation for Halloween. I'm excited about the Halloween party us foreign teachers are hosting on Friday night. I've never been a big Halloween celebrator, but somehow in China, I feel the need to represent and get in the spirit.

The Fragrance of Friendship

2008-10-30T07:35:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, a Chinese friend of mine called me to ask if I wanted to go with him and some friends to Fragrant Mountain 香山 in Beijing. I'd heard so many people talk about Xiangshan that I'd been wanting to go for a long time, so of course, I was thrilled at the chance. When we got there after a 2 hour bus ride, we found that we were too late in the season to see the red and yellow colors of the leaves in the height of beauty. Most of the leaves had fallen or were more brown and yellow than red. Plus, there were so many people along the way that we probably saw more human heads than leaves.

China's autumn scenery, while pretty, doesn't compare with New England's fall scene. I always loved leaf-jumping and running up Prospect Street underneath flaming red trees and golden, sun-kissed maple trees. I still remember those two beautiful bright red trees that frame Cross Campus and the entrance to Sterling Memorial. I still remember apple picking through crisp, sweet-smelling orchards, warm homes permeated with the spicy smells of mulled cider, and of course, buttery apple pie. I now believe New England's autumn is the best in the whole world.

So although Xiangshan didn't compare with New England, it was fun just for the mountain-climbing/hiking and the new friends I made. I finally met some Chinese female friends.

Conspiracy?

2008-10-21T16:10:00.000-07:00

Here in China, I find myself frequently wondering if there's a conspiracy against me that makes sure my emails and text messages don't get responded to. There's been like four people I've emailed on pressing matters, and I get _NO_ response. Chinese and Americans alike. It makes me wonder, are my emails getting through? Have they been sucked up by the Chinese internet watchers? But no...because after about two weeks, one reply will come, and another reply will come. Is it me being too impatient or others being too slow to respond? Same thing with texting...I've come to the conclusion that I don't like texting, maybe even abhor it. There is so much room for confusion and misunderstanding because the other party doesn't get to clarify or ask questions. Plus, the other party doesn't have to respond right away. You sit there waiting and waiting for a reply that may or may not come. I often wonder, how hard is it to just send a short message of "no, I can't make it," to an invitation to dinner/lunch, instead of ignoring the message and sending no reply? That leaves the sender in complete uncertainty of if or when you'll reply.

Tianjin Fog

2008-10-21T16:08:00.000-07:00

This entire week, the city of Tianjin has been enveloped in thick pollution-mixed fog every single morning. You wake up, look out the window, and all you see is white fog. It's like living in a cloud. You go outside and cannot see 15 feet in front of you. Because my students and I all live on campus, our classes have not been interrupted by the weather. But for the Chinese teachers (ie. my Chinese class) who live off-campus, the fog causes major traffic delays, and they arrive to class 45 minutes late. For the foreign teachers who have to teach at TUFE's Pearl River campus, they have to sit 2 hours on the bus, instead of the usual 1 hour bus ride. I used to like the fog in California, especially the Golden Gate mists. I loved going to the redwoods and seeing forests mysteriously covered in morning fog. Yet in China, I know this fog ain't good. I see people wearing masks over their mouths on foggy days. What's worse, this fog doesn't burn off until 11am. It's not like in the U.S., where the fog is gone by 9am most days. So you go out in the morning wrapped in layers because it's cold, and by 11:30am, it's hot and a little humid.

Below is a photo of the main entrance to my dormitory. As you can see, we're on a main thoroughfare, with buses and subway trains passing by. Luckily, my room faces the parking lot, where it's much quieter. No car honking and bus rumblings, just annoying birds in the morning. The first photo above is the view from my window. Aren't the fall colors pretty?

Around the Campus

2008-10-21T14:01:00.000-07:00

I've posted so much on my travels that it's time to post on campus life. Last Saturday was the 50th anniversary of Tianjin University of Finance and Economics (TUFE). In the two weeks leading up the the anniversary celebration, we saw a sudden surge in construction and beautifying activities around the campus. One of the normally shut off/broken elevators was suddenly functioning again, workers went around testing every light bulb in building hallways, bathrooms were cleaner, colorful flags were hung along major walkways and (this is the biggest deal) this really old and dilapidated building in the center of campus was torn down and converted into a tree-lined park within a week! Every day, I would smile at the irony. The school's allowed light bulbs and elevators to stay broken for months and years, and suddenly in two weeks, to show a pretty face to alumni, it's getting its act together. Wonder how long this superficial act will last...

In celebration of the 50th Anniversary, TUFE also set up a stage and lined up a number of student performances for Saturday evening. Having heard some of my students say they might perform in one of the acts, I decided to go have a look. Not wanting to go by myself, I called up my MBA students to go with them. Man, it was torture sitting through all those Chinese folk dances and folk music performances. First of all, the level of performance was totally amateur and completely gawdy. It was exactly like those New Year's celebration dancing and high-pitched singing that you see on Chinese channels, only worse. I was taken back to Chinese school growing up and having to sit through two freaking hours of evening school celebrations every semester. You'd have to watch little kids dancing cheesy, sugary sweet dances and older kids dressed in shabby Chinese costumes that were clearly reused year after year. Back then, I didn't have a choice, but now, at 25, I DO have a choice, and yet I still had to sit through the lame Chinese dances. Why? Because of peer pressure. My two MBA students looooved it. I can't tell you how shocked I was to know such old-fashioned people. Even my undergraduate English majors told me this week that most of them either skipped the performances altogether or watched a couple and left because they were so bad. Yet these two older MBA students loooved it. Maybe it's their rural background and they'd never seen anything like this before. Maybe rural folks love this kind of folk music and dance. My goodness. There were too many people standing in the audience area to get a good view of the performers, so they led my along this whole roundabout way to sneak into the front. I frankly could have cared less and was not thrilled about scurrying about from backstage to front stage to find a good spot, but they were adamant. Finally, we score a spot on the floor in the front of the audience, and they keep asking me to take out my camera to take pictures, "it's so pretty," "take pictures of this, Nina." I just kept thinking: "No, I don't care about these performances. The photo's not going to turn out nice b/c it's too dark." Finally, I just handed them my camera and let them take pictures of what they wanted. If I'd been by myself, I would have left after about 5 minutes, but instead, I was roped in and forced to stay for the whole thing.

Weekend by the Beach

2008-10-15T10:12:00.000-07:00

Here in China, where grey brick and cement cities abound, I almost forgot how much I loved beaches. When I looked through my guidebook for places to visit in China, Qingdao paled in comparison to places like the mystical Huangshan, the historical Xian, and exotic Silk Road oases of Xinjiang. Yet I surprisingly enjoyed myself immensely in Qingdao this past weekend. Of course, it's not as beautiful as the beaches in Portugal and Spain, but it's as close to a European seaside town as one will get in Northern China.

Because it was under German occupation during the latter part of the 19th century, the city retains a lot of European architecture. Throughout the city, there are colorful German-style mansions and villas, tree-lined cobblestone streets, and red-tile roofs. It almost makes you forget that you are in China. When I arrived at the Qingdao train station at 12:30pm, the first thing that came to mind was: Spanish beach town, Malaga. The sun was shining brightly (not the muted, haze-filtered light of Tianjin, but real yellow sunshine) and the sky was deep blue. Then, when the taxi driver drove me through the windy, hilly streets, I was reminded of the old Alfama quarters in Lisbon. There's a relaxed and sophisticated feel to the city, remnants of its international past.

Another attraction to the city is the abundance of parks and trees. The old German Concession villa quarters, called BaDaGuan, remains shady and cool throughout the day because of the abundance of foliage. There's a ZhongShan Park in memory of Dr. Sun Yat Sen, and it's incredibly romantic to stroll there at sunset (esp. with a significant other). During the spring, the cherry blossoms, magnolias, peonies, and wisteria bloom, so I can only imagine how much more romantic it'll be. Since ZhongShan Park is free and open to the public, plenty of locals were having family picnics, playing evening badminton, and obviously enjoying themselves. I thought of Central Park in New York, and how important a large public green space is beneficial to the health of urban dwellers. I wish Tianjin had a large public park for its citizens. When will Chinese urban planners realize that cement plazas and treeless streets make peoples' lives hotter and more uncomfortable? Beijing is particularly bad, with long, long stretches of sun-baked, unshaded city blocks.

In addition to the Zhongshan Park, Qingdao also has a LuXun Park in memory of the 20th century Chinese novelist (author of The Story of Ah Q). It's another idyllic setting. The Luxun Memorial Pathway is bordered on one side with marble walls etched with the author's poems and pine-shaded, spectacular views of the rocky sea cliffs below.

An Unexpected Boon
I found out upon arrival that my hotel, which the director at the place I volunteer at had booked online for me, was pretty far away from the beach and touristy sights. It was a great hotel and all, one of many Home Inn chains in China, and the cleanest hotel room I've stayed at since I got to China. But the location was too far from the attractions. At first I was bummed out, but with persistent asking, the folks at the front desk told me various bus routes and places I could go around the hotel. I ended up at the TaiDong pedestrian shopping street. My new friend Wu Lin was from Qingdao and she'd told me about TaiDong and the night market there, so I just went with the flow and strolled through TaiDong for the rest of the day. It was a little like Tianjin's Binjiang Dao, but much smaller and cheaper. Plus there are two cool-looking buildings with murals painted on them.

The night life around TaiDong Street is really fun. There are tons of food vendors selling huge BBQ squid for 10 kwai each, BBQ tofu for 1 kwai each, stinky tofu, Bing Tang Hu Lou candies, and Chinese-style hamburgers "hanbao." The clothing and accessories stalls are packed together with a single fluorescent light bulb casually roped over a balanced horizontal bar. They sell everything from socks, jeans, shoes, purses, underwear, and pajamas to necklaces and scarves. The prices here are pretty reasonable and when you bargain, they only go down a little or not at all, showing that they don't do the price inflation like in Beijing's Silk Street. When I got back to TJ, I found that prices for things like tights, necklaces, and shirts I'd bought in Qingdao were about half of that of TJ prices. Yes, the farther south you go, the cheaper clothing gets. I don't think I would have visited or spent as much time in the TaiDong Shopping area if it hadn't been for the location of the Home Inn, which forced me to go there first. So in the end, it was a pleasant turn of events.

The other pleasant turn of events in Qingdao was the boat-tour-turned-bus-tour that ended up taking me to this red onion-shaped rotating viewing tower that I would have never known about on my own. Although the boat tour was just supposed to be a 30 minute ride and they slyly neglected to mention the mandatory bus tour of Qingdao afterward, I was glad they forced us to see places that I would never have gone to on my own. The "red onion" tower was amazing. Situated on a hillside, it offered spectacular 360 degree views of Qingdao from above, and the floor of the observation deck slowly rotated, just like Equinox in San Francisco. I'm learning that, in China, sometimes you get pleasantly surprised by going with the crazy flow of things. Don't get upset or frustrated, just take it in stride and let it be. Although, maybe that's also why the bad practices don't change; people passively accept it without protest.

Resting area for visitors near the end of the LuXun Poetry Walkway. It's a great place for a family picnic and terrific sea views.

My National Holiday - Part 2 - Beijing

2008-10-07T15:51:00.000-07:00

THE TIANJIN-BEIJING BULLET TRAIN
After returning from Shandong on Wednesday morning, I stayed in Tianjin for two days and then went to Beijing on Friday morning. After my last horrific experience pushing and shoving and then standing for 2 hours on the regular train to Beijing, I decided to go all out and pay extra for the bullet train. True, the bullet train costs 58 yuan, double the price of regular train tickets, and it takes you to the Beijing South Station, where there is no subway stop and you have to take a 20 minute bus ride to the nearest subway line, but that 30 minute train ride is so luxurious. No crowds, no pushing, no line-jumping. Everyone has an assigned seat; no one stands, and the stewardess even gives you a free bottle of water.

SHOPPING
On Friday, I went shopping in the famous Silk Street market by myself because Janny, my high school friend from the U.S., had signed up for a 1-day Great Wall and Ming Tombs tour. I ended up buying too many things and probably paying too much for them, since I tend to make poor judgments alone. I always end up giving a price that's too low and angering a vendor, and then I feel bad and give a price that's too high at the second vendor. But the shopping, haggling, and hurrying through the holiday crowds in Beijing tired me out pretty fast.

On Saturday morning, I headed out early (before 7am!) to grab some breakfast and try to get to Tiananmen by 8am to meet Janny and her cousin. At 7:45am on the subway, Janny calls and tells me that she's still in bed at her hotel and she's moving hotels. So I propose that I meet her at her current hotel. After 45minutes of commute, I arrive at the hotel that she's supposed to be at, and Janny tells me that she's just arrived at her new hotel. By this time, I'm a little upset. I was patient when she wanted to meet at 8am in the morning to go to the Forbidden City; I was patient when she suddenly changed the meeting place from Tiananmen to her hotel; but this, leaving when she knew I was on my way, irked me. She couldn't have waited an extra 10 minutes until I arrived? I almost wanted to give up meeting with her and just go off on my own in Beijing. But then I remembered how a few days ago, I had fallen asleep and completely missed my dinner appt with my hallmate Alex, Chinese friend Wang Rong, and three of my MBA students. They must have been pretty upset with me for being so flaky. They graciously forgave me. So, remembering that everyone is flawed, everyone needs grace, I took a few deep breaths and went to chase down Janny at her new hotel. At last, I met up with her, her cousin, and her Chinese lawyer friend Lynn.

AT THE SUMMER PALACE

In spite of the rough start, we ended up having a very good time that day. Lynn, being our fearless guide, navigated us through the confusion of Chinese bus stops. Even a Beijing resident like Lynn didn't know what bus to take to get from where we were to the Summer Palace. (Goodness, you'd think that SOMEONE in the population of 1 billion would know something about metropolitan transportation planning. How hard is it to keep an updated bus route map and to do upkeep on the bus stop signage? Or how about starting a traffic and public transportation hotline like the 511 we have in the Bay Area?)
Summer Palace was packed with tourists for the National Holiday week, so we got so sick of the lines and crowds that we explored some of the side paths instead of the main lakeside pathway. That was exactly what I wanted, since I'd been to the Summer Palace before and done the whole typical touristy routes. The Summer Palace is so big and beautiful that it's more rewarding to meander at a leisurely pace exploring side tracks and detours. I really like parks and nature, especially now in people-filled, cement-filled Tianjin, so I enjoyed the time of respite immensely. Even better would be to bring a picnic and spend the whole day exploring, but Janny and her cousin wanted to hit the other popular attractions like the Bird's Nest and Wangfujing Street, so I was happy with a morning's full of natural scenery.

FUN AT THE OLYMPIC GREEN
Michael Phelps is larger than life in China.
A little girl learns to use the camera.
Kites soar over the Olympic Green.

FOOD
The most exciting thing about this Beijing visit was the food. I had Beijing Roast Duck for the first time!! At last, I was with enough people to try it. I've wanted to eat it for a while, but I was always alone and one person can't eat a whole duck. Lynn, our Beijing lawyer friend, took us to a place near her work, which she said was 1) less expensive than the oh-so-famous QuanJuDe, 2) tastier than the other places she'd been to in Beijing, and 3) had a terrific atmosphere. Indeed she was right. I can't compare the taste of the duck with other places, but definitely the price and atmosphere was amazing. For 98 yuan, we got a whole package of duck with the pancake wrappers and the duck bones stewed in cabbage soup. It was enough for 4 people. The skin was super crispy and luxurious. My friend taught me to roll the skin first in raw sugar crystals and then to eat the sugar-covered skin by itself, no sauce, no wrapper.

The texture in your mouth is quite interesting. The sugar crystals add crunch and sweetness to the crispy duck skin and make it taste lighter and less oily. With the duck meat, green onion slivers, cucumber, hoisin sauce, and thin pancake wrapper, you get a very nice balance of sweet, salty, crunchy, chewy, rich and refreshing tastes all exploding in your mouth. It's very nice. The only complaint I have is that I'm used to HongKong-style roast duck being seasoned with Oriental spice rubs. Beijing roast duck isn't as flavorful and is quite bland without the hoisin sauce. The sauce makes a big difference in this dish.

See the video I took below of the chef's quick, skillful slicing of the duck skin.

After a filling dinner, we also went to Wangfujing and strolled through their Food Street. Good thing we ate already, because everything looked so tempting. Even I caved in and bought a cool looking PaoPaoCha 泡泡茶, which is sweetened tea with a piece of dry ice dropped in. It tasted just ok, sort of like Coke because the dry ice makes the tea fizz in your mouth. It sure looks cool.

PaoPao Tea

Colorful jelly dessert being sold on Food Street.

Roasted starfish and silk worm cocoons, do you dare to try?

Little pots of Swallow's Nest for consumption.

Vendors shouting above the din to sell their candied fruits to passersby.

Tianjin's GouBuLi Buns are famous even in Beijing.

My National Holiday - Part 1 - Shandong

2008-10-05T05:27:00.000-07:00

Friday Night Bash
My National holiday fun started Friday 9/26. Friday evening, Alex (a foreign teacher from Britain who lives across the hall from me) and I met up with two American students studying abroad at our university. Turns out they bumped into a Chinese friend that one of them knew and so all 6 of us ate dinner and had good laughs. Next, our American student friends took us to an "international students" party. I use quotation marks because it really was a Korean students party. TJUFE has tons of Korean exchange students here studying Chinese. So the emcee spoke entirely in Korean and played some rowdy games like having couples eat Pocky sticks from opposite ends and work towards the middle. We also saw some really weird/hilarious talent shows of dancing and singing Korean-style. It was pretty fun, even although Alex, our two American friends, our Chinese friend Leo, and I understood nothing of it. After that, we went for late night kabobs and dumplings and had a great time laughing and debating with our majorly drunk American friend Chad, aka "the Legend." (He gets his nickname from his "legendary" status among all the Korean, Japanese, and Chinese students at TJUFE. I don't think there's any student at the university who doesn't know of the American guy who can speak a ton of Mandarin.)
Below: Korean guy singing and dancing in the talent show.

Shandong Adventures
The next day (Saturday 9/27) I left for my Chinese tour of Taishan, Jinan, and Qufu (Confucius' hometown). The travel agency was terribly unclear about a lot of things. For one: they told me it would be a 4 hour ride. It ended up being 5 hours. From 2:30pm to 8:30pm, I was sitting on the train with my legs squeezed together, unable to pee because that would mean leaving my bags unattended. For two, I found out when I got to Taishan that I was not going to arrive in Tianjin by 9/30 as the tour pamphlet suggested. Instead, i would take an overnight train and arrive in actuality on 10/1. They didn't mention this important detail to me. That foiled a lot of plans I had made.
When I got to Tai An (the town at the foot of Taishan), it was raining really hard and I couldn't find the guide who was supposed to be holding a card with my name on it. It was a little scary, but I had the cell phone number of the local contact and eventually found her. To be honest, it's stressful and a little lonely to travel on my own. But I often find myself doing that a lot because it's so hard to find people who share my interests and love of travel.

The first night I got to the hotel, I was feeling sad being in that double-bed hotel room by myself. There were only five people on our tour: two couples and me. I had to pay 70 yuan extra every night to make up for not having a roommate. The room was of course better than that hutong hotel I stayed at in Beijing, but still not good by American standards. The bathroom was a showerlette (shower and toilet in one) and the drain in the floor had cracks and a few tiles missing. A bunch of little jumpy, winged bugs also crawled or flew out of the drain, even though we were on the second floor. The toilet was a sit-down one, but the seat was cracked. I don't understand how they could let customers continue to use a cracked toilet seat. The carpet was threadbare and stained in several places, so I wore slippers with me all the time. They called this a two star hotel, but it would never pass inspection in the U.S. On the positive side, at least I didn't see any roaches and I didn't get bitten by any fleas/bed bugs. I could manage.

The same night I got to Tai An, I asked for directions to the nearest internet cafe (mainly b/c I had some business to attend to via email). It was just two stores down from the hotel. I ended up going there every night. Just like in Vietnam, Internet cafes give me a taste of home. When I see the familiar New York Times homepage and the familiar Gmail inbox, I am transported from this foreign, lonely place back to the English-speaking cyberworld I am used to in America. The 1.5yuan I spent every night for 1 hour of familiarity and comfort was well worth it.

The next day, our tour guide took us to Jinan, the city of springs, to see Lake DaMing (大明湖）and Baodu Springs (趵突泉). Because it was still a day before the start of the National Holiday week, there weren't that many people and our walks around the gardens of Baodu Springs and Lake DaMing were very peaceful and serene. I enjoyed the natural scenery, fresh air and trickling sounds of water.

Taking a sip of fresh spring water from Baodu Springs (the tour guide said this spring water is supposedly good to drink without boiling, I was cautious and only took a small tiny sip)

Look at the goldfish swarming around me! Someone before me was feeding them.

One of the last lotus flowers still in bloom at Lake DaMing

A toddler baby in downtown Jinan running around with his butt wide open. To save on diapers, many Chinese parents dress their babies in pants with a split in the front and back and they pee or poo out in public.

The next day, we climbed Taishan. Because it was only the first day of the National holiday, there weren't as many people as there would be later on, but still, it was a busy place. We took a little bus halfway up the mountain to the Mid-Heaven Door 中天门, and then walked the rest of the way up to the peak. The path was all staircases, and in some cases the steps were so steep I felt afraid to look down. For most of the area around Mid-Heaven Door, we were surrounded with mist (see photos). But as we ascended, we found ourselves above it. Nearer and nearer to the top at South Heaven Door 南天门, we could see oceans of clouds below us and the bright blue sky above us. It was the freshest air and bluest sky I've ever experienced in China. No pollution, no haze, just pure nature, earth, and sky. Amazing.

Here's a short video of the view above the clouds.

The little bus we rode from the foot of the mountain to Mid-Heaven's Door 中天门.

Beginning the climb up Taishan from 中天门.

All produce and goods on Taishan are carried up by human laborers bearing loads balanced on their shoulders, just like in the old days.

Police officers and tourists crowding a bridge on the way up to Taishan. Notice the heavy fog.

Taishan's famous Welcoming Pine 迎客松. See how the lone pine tree stretches its branches out in welcome to us visitors.

Twisty, gnarly trees enveloped in mist.

We get past the mist and glimpse the first sight of South Heaven Door 南天门, but we still have a long way to go.

Oceans of clouds brushing against Taishan.

The crowds approach the South Heaven Door 南天门.

Right after passing South Heaven Door, there are restaurants, bathrooms, souvenir shops, and hotels all along Heaven Street 天街.

Vendors everywhere sell these Chinese crepes wrapped around a scallion. They are dry and hard and don't taste very good, but these 煎饼卷葱 are supposed to be a Taishan specialty.

Locks being sold at a temple on Taishan. People leave a lock at the temple to "lock in" their prayers and blessings.

Dreamy rooftops and distant mountains. A heavenly sight indeed.

Sitting on top of the world, with the clouds behind me.

The highest part of Taishan. Notice all the locks in the background.

Riding the tram down halfway. Look at the cars disappearing into the mist.

Qufu 曲阜- Confucius' hometown and burial place. I enjoyed Qufu the least because it was the day after climbing Taishan and I was still tired. Also, it was the second day of the National holiday, so there were so many more people than before. There was no place to move and you just kept being pushed ahead by the people behind you. Also, there's not that much to see in Confucius Temple, Mansion and Forest.

View from inside the world's largest Confucius Temple

An ancient tree in the Confucius Temple. They call it Dragon Tree because it looks like a dragon. Right beside (not pictured) it is another tree they call the Phoenix Tree.

People pushing and clawing to touch one of the legendary trees for good luck.

Confucius' Tombstone in the Confucius Memorial Forest

FOOD
Another great thing about Shandong province was the food. The city of Tai An is supposed to be famous for its tofu because the water used to make it comes from Taishan, it's sweet mountain water. I have to admit that the tofu fa and soft tofu dishes I had here were delicious, so smooth and silky, like butter that melts away in your mouth.

Northern Style breakfast: Savory tofu fa with cilantro, carrots, chili sauce, and soy sauce.

A refreshing cold plate appetizer of soft tofu, raw green and red peppers, onions, and pickled duck eggs in a light soy sauce. So silky and smooth.

The Green Onion Pancakes here are awesome. So crispy and fried right in front of you. They sell by the pound. I got a ton for only 2 or 3 yuan.

Other great Shandong breakfast foods are the pan-fried buns 煎包子 and filled crepes 韭菜煎饼.

Wow, they even sell rabbit here.

We have roasted lamb skewers in Tianjin too, but have you ever seen so many being cooked all at once? There were at least 50 skewers there.

In the end, I really enjoyed my time in Tai An, especially after the nice older couple from Tianjin took me in and looked after me on the way back to Tianjin.

No way, Jose

2008-09-28T07:03:00.000-07:00

I saw in CCTV news reports today that Hu Jintao visited Tianjin supermarkets today and drank milk to reassure consumers and demonstrate the safety of the milk. Yet when I read American news reports, we hear a completely different story. More and more countries are banning Chinese dairy products and more food items have been found to contain melamine.

As the Washington Post reports, melamine wasn't the first chemical to be added to milk to boost protein levels. Before, it was urea, a component derived from urine. Yum. And even if they don't dilute and add stuff to cheat the tests, the cows are already loaded with antibiotics and stimulants that will induce them to produce more milk. So rest assured consumers, there's no melamine, only antibiotics, growth hormones and stimulants.

I almost wonder if I should go vegetarian here in China.

The chestnuts are here!

2008-09-25T06:03:00.000-07:00

Winter time in China and Hong Kong are famous for roasted chestnuts. Even in a little town in Portugal, my friend Jess and I came across a little stand serving piping hot chestnuts in hastily folded newspaper cones. There's nothing like holding the little warm pebbles on a cold windy day. After Sunday's rain, Tianjin has suddenly gone cold. While it's still not really cold, there's been a 20 degree drop from mid-80s temperature to low 60s (yes, I'm still thinking in Fahrenheit). The last couple of days have been cold enough to require a light jacket when going outside. With the temperature change has come the chestnut peddlers with their roasting carts and stands.

Today, I went to one of the larger stands run by a big store/pastry place Daqiaodao 大桥道. The chestnuts are much smaller than the ones I've had in the U.S. and Portugal. These are half the size of the American ones. But what's really cool is that they give you a little plastic rake to pry the chestnuts from their shell. It's a really nifty little tool that helps you get the chestnut out whole, unbroken.

The smell of the chestnuts is amazing, like caramelized sugar with a smoky undertone. I kept sniffing the bag on the way back.

Blue pork?

2008-09-24T04:35:00.000-07:00

I had some leftover raw pork from cooking on Saturday. I kept it in the fridge and took it out today to use it in some stir fry. I was disturbed to find that a corner of it was blue. It was a darkish royal navy blue color. I sniffed, and it smelled like stinky Chinese calligraphy ink. I should have tossed the entire thing, but I stupidly just cut away the blue part, washed the remaining lump of meat and tried to cook with it.

After I sat down to eat and bit into my first bite of stir fried meat, I could still taste the calligraphy ink smell. Again, I stupidly ate two more pieces to confirm that it really was bad. After the third piece, I finally determined that it really was bad and even cooking the meat in high heat didn't make it edible. I tossed the remaining meat into the trash, and now when I open the trash can, it still smells like stinky ink. I'm sitting here slightly nervous about self-induced food poisoning, and wondering if it's my imagination or whether my stomach is feeling a little queasy.

Lesson learned: cook all my meat the day I buy it. Meat in China doesn't refrigerate well like in the U.S. And try not to cook pork. I'll stick with the little chickens instead.

Life Around the Campus

2008-09-23T02:45:00.000-07:00

In China, all college freshman have to go through a month of military training. For the whole month of September, I've been seeing young boys and girls clad in camouflage colors with red badges on their arms. Sometimes you just can't help but admire the sophistication of the Chinese government in "maintaining stability" among the population. Hot-blooded 18 year olds leaving families, entering a new life stage of independence and searching for identity are ripe for revolutionary ideas and actions (re: 1987) so the government dumps them into military training first, where they learn discipline and patriotism.

The sight of all those young, impressionable minds dressed in military uniform does leave me slightly disturbed every day I pass by them. Orwell's 1984 anyone?

Why do I keep forgetting to take photos?

2008-09-22T08:12:00.000-07:00

I carry a little digicam with me everywhere I go, and yet I somehow always forget to use it until I get home and want to blog. So this blog will, unfortunately, lack pictures. It catalogs all the things I've done recently but forgot to take photos of:
- cook dinner consisting of 3 dishes, 1 soup, and rice in a pot (without a rice cooker!) for my hallmates
- eat Tianjin's famous savory crepes, called jianbingguozi 煎饼果子. It's a crepe filled with crunchy cracker/fried dough pieces, fried egg, cilantro, and a sweet and spicy sauce.
- eat lots of charcoal roasted veggie and meat kebabs
- eat dinner with my new Chinese friend who took me to this literal hole in the wall place for spicy lo-mein and kebabs
- go out for shabu shabu/ hot pot with my hallmates and follow-up with 3+ hours of karaoke (or as they call it here, ktv).

Hehe, yes, the most interesting things happening in my life here revolve around food...

Something free in China!!

2008-09-21T07:40:00.000-07:00

I've encountered my first FREE tourist attraction in China! You can actually climb up to the top of the Tianjin Drum Tower without paying an admission fee. The inside looks like other old Chinese towers and structures I've seen, but the fact that it's free makes it better. :) You get to see the little souvenir booths below and see the contrast between ancient Chinese architecture and the modern high-rises in the background.

Cute Souvenirs
At one of the booths at the foot of the Drum Tower, I also saw these really cute bean sculptures. I was so enamored I got two of them for 25 yuan. If it wasn't starting to rain, I could have bargained a little more, but 12.5 yuan apiece is okay for these cuties.

Come in and listen

2008-09-21T07:04:00.000-07:00

I headed to Tianjin's old Drum Tower this afternoon and found an unexpected sight: people passing out flyers about the Great Commission. Right in the midst of souvenir shops, knick knack booths, and embroidery galleries were two or three middle aged Chinese women passing out flyers about JC. Curious at the historic-looking entrance from which they beckoned as well as by their open, outright recruitment of visitors, I stepped in.
Entering a small little outer courtyard, you go through a little tunnel-like entryway, then another smaller courtyard, and finally reach the sanctuary. Inside was a very old lady talking about the story of JC's birth and death. It was very small, probably seating about 40 people, and a little rundown, with visible water spots and stains on the yellowing walls. As I left, one of the volunteers approached me asking me to stay a little longer. I told her I already knew JC and asked if it was one of the government sanctioned cherches. She said yes. That explained the very open distribution of flyers in the tourist district. Nevertheless, I'm amazed this place exists amidst the shops selling little lucky charms and Buddha head figurines.

烧饼 Shaobing

2008-09-21T05:36:00.000-07:00

I finally tried some of the Tianjin shaobings a couple days ago. I saw a line of 4 or 5 people lining up in front of a 烧饼 sign, so I lined up too. I asked the older woman in front of me what flavors were the tastiest, and, unfortunately, I only understood about half of what she said. She had a heavy Tianjin accent, so all I could catch was something about baiguo 百果 being good. I couldn't catch what she said about the beef shaobing, so I skipped it just in case (meat is usually really skimpy and not very good in China, so I've learned by now). I also paid attention to what several ppl ahead were ordering, and they kept saying something like "juner." So I went up and ordered 1 baigo and one "juner," mimicking the way they seemed to say it. I don't know if the attendant really understood me or not, but she nodded and put two shaobing in a bag for me. When I tasted the two, one turned out to be filled with colorful candied fruit (like the kind you put in fruitcake). I guess baiguo means hundreds of candied fruits. The other mysterious "juner" one was a date filling. Not the Mediterranean dates, but more like Chinese dates. The outer pastry was very crisp and flakey, and they reminded me of the Chew Chow taro-filled cakes we get for Mid-Autumn and Chinese New Year's. The shaobing are really greasy though, because lard is the secret to the flakey crust and smooth, creamy fillings. Shaobing, like mooncake, don't really fall into my favorite foods list.

Best things since sliced bread

2008-09-18T18:52:00.000-07:00

Even in September, it is still hot and humid in Tianjin. Everyday, I find myself thirsty and dehydrated. Even when I bring a bottle of water in my bag, it's usually warmed up to room temperature and barely satisfying. Enter the brilliant thermos bottle! I got the idea to chill water at home and put in in the thermos to keep cold. Surprisingly, even without ice (I had not yet bought the ice cube tray yet),the water remained cold for over 4 hours. It's a great thermos for 22 yuan.

This is an ice cube tray with a COVER! What a brilliant idea!I've always hated how ice cubes would get dirty and contaminated in our over stuffed freezer. It would absorb fishy smells, get little specks of flour or dirt frozen in, or spill water all over on the way from the sink to the freezer. Finally, an ice tray with a cover is just what we need, why don't they have this in the U.S.?

Cheap Eats

2008-09-17T05:43:00.000-07:00

I tried some other food besides dumplings and brown sauce stir fry these last couple of days. I'm amazed by how good some of the cheap food is. Across the street from the jiaozhi (dumpling) place is a Xinjiang Beef Noodle Soup place. They call it 拉面（LaiMian). The noodles are pulled and stretched right in the front of the store. They come out uneven in thickness but very chewy and bouncy. It tastes wonderful. The soup is spiced with Xinjiang spices like cumin, yellow ginger, and cilantro. The waiters wear Islamic caps on their heads. The only complaint I have is that there are only two thin slices of meat in the whole bowl of noodles. I had to add a fried egg for an extra 1 yuan. Otherwise, it was a delicious bowl of noodle soup for 5 yuan.

Last night, I went to RenRenLe supermarket and found a whole bunch of little food carts in front. I was really excited to see so much street food. There were Japanese takiyakki (octopus balls), bbq squid on skewers, fried stinky tofu, fresh chow mein, bbq corn, steamed corn, meat and veggie kabobs, and much more! I was in street food heaven. For 2 yuan, you could get kabobs, stinky tofu, and lots of other yummy snacks. There was also a popcorn (爆米花) stand with tons of weird flavors: black sesame, coconut, banana, melon, strawberry, and even chocolate! I decided to try the black sesame. I got a huge bag enough for 4 people for 5 yuan. They use an oldfashioned cast iron popcorn popper that makes small batches at one time. Who needs to pay $8 USD for kettle corn when it's just 5 yuan for so much here!

Fruit here is pretty cheap too. Most apples, pears, and grapes are around 2 yuan for 1 kilo. I know, I'm not supposed to eat pesticide-laden Chinese grapes, but they looked so inviting at Wal-Mart and were so sweet when I tasted one that I decided to get a small bunch. Here, they call green grapes 水晶葡萄 (crystal grapes), how can you resist such an attractive sounding name?

I tried some of the street stands near our school today. This is a DaBing 大饼 filled with a fried breaded chicken, seaweed, and veggies like cucumber, carrots, and cabbage. It is the Chinese version of a chicken tortilla wrap. There was this sweet and spicy sauce first slathered on the dabing wrapper, and it tasted a lot like the red Korean sauce you put in Bibimbap stone pot rice. I wonder if it's influenced by Korean food. The wrap sandwich was huge and filling for a mere 4 yuan, but I didn't quite enjoy the texture of the dabing; it was a little too chewy for me. I might try a different wrapper next time.

Milk not so good after all...

2008-09-17T02:34:00.000-07:00

I retract my previous positive post about Chinese milk. See this New York Times article about the kidney stone-causing baby formula. The factory that produced the problem formula is in Shijiazhuang, Hebei, which is really close to Tianjin. I read in my guidebook that it's a 1-2 hour train ride away. Apparently, the two big Chinese brands Mengniu (Mongolian Cow, which I took a picture of several posts ago) and Yili have recalled some of their products. I'm not drinking Chinese milk anymore. Better to suffer from osteoporosis later than to get kidney stones or melamine poison.

What are the odds

2008-09-17T00:56:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, after arriving in Beijing. I went to Tiananmen
to find a hostel for two nights. My hallmate had said there's lots of cheap hostels with single rooms in the area. I eventually found one for 140 yuan a night, which was rather expensive, but I was just so sick of lines and walking around that I settled for the first one I was offered. It was a huge mistake. Although the location was great, in a hutong right next to Tiananmen Road (the direct North-South road pointing straight at Tiananmen). However, the facilities were terrible. The air conditioner on the wall was so old the plastic had turned a yellow brown, and it barely worked. The bed was hard and so used you could feel the metal springs beneath. Worst of all was the smell and the dirt and grime all along the corners of the wall. You smelled must and mildew the moment you walked in, and even after I left after only one night, my clothes still had that soggy mildew smell. I don't know what those cleaning ladies do all day, but clearly they don't clean the rooms because the floor was dirty, especially the corners. I spent Saturday night so disturbed by the smell and the sight of a cockroach that I didn't dare take off my socks or any thing. I even put on a long-sleeved shirt so that less parts of my skin would be exposed to potential bedbugs or mosquitoes. I didn't dare use their blankets because I was afraid they didn't wash it. I just laid down stiff as a board and put an extra shirt between the pillowcase and my head so that I wouldn't catch any potential lice.
The next morning, I woke up really early and checked out. I could not stand another night there. I liked the intimate neighborhood shops selling fresh steamed baos, hot soymilk, and fried Chinese doughnuts, but other aspects were intolerable. I had a very "local" experience with the hutong, but one time is enough.

Chance Meetings
After packing my bags and leaving that wretched hostel on Sunday morning, I decided to go visit the Beijing International Fellowship. I intended to make it to the 9:30am service, but I got lost coming out of the LiangMaQiao subway station. They said to go two blocks east or west, but I got confused and went the opposite direction. Beijing blocks are like 1/4 mile long, so it took me 15-20minutes to go 2 blocks west, then retrace my steps, then go two blocks east. At this time, my feet were also killing me because of all the walking and standing I'd done since Saturday morning. I decided to sit at a nearby coffee shop (Alpha Bakery), and wait until the 11:30am service. The Beijing Int'l Fellowship meets at this big, ritzy looking hotel. The service is held in the hotel's huge auditorium, which probably sits close to 800 people, maybe more. I went into the auditorium from the right door, and looked up and down the rows, deciding where to sit. Looking at the faces all around, I wondered if I'd bump into anyone I knew, but I figured it wouldn't be likely, since this gathering was so big. During the greeting time, I was introducing myself to the person next to me when I heard a loud exclamation of "Nina!" I turned around and lo and behold, Marilyn, Josh, and Justin from New Cherch Berkeley(yes, I am purposely spelling this wrong) were sitting behind me.

I was so surprised and glad to see someone I knew in Beijing. Truly, it felt like divine intervention. Of all the services I could have gone to, of all the places I could have sat, I sat there, right in front of the small New Cherch Berkeley contingent. I happily went with them and another of Justin's friend (I forget her name) to eat lunch and Marilyn and Josh invited me to stay with them for the night after hearing about my previous night's ordeal. Even nicer was Marilyn inviting me to a Mid-Autumn celebratory dinner at her work. It was a really cool artists' commune where several Chinese documentary filmmakers live and work. I got to meet some cool Chinese filmmakers and interns, eat really good homecooked Chinese food,and even get my belly written on in Chinese (in Marilyn's words, to make my impact on the Chinese contemporary art world). It was so nice not to be spending Mid-Autumn festival alone. Since 8/15 is a holiday where you're supposed to get together with family to eat and gaze at the moon, it would have been a little kelian (tragic/pitiful) to sit alone at a restaurant. Sniff, sniff.

So, I was completely blown away by His blessing. He knew how much I needed a familiar face and place to stay in a strange city, and allowed me to bump into such hospitable friends Marilyn and Josh. I am so grateful.

Tired in Beijing

2008-09-16T15:26:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday, Sunday and Monday, I went to Beijing to spend the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday. I had the true "China" experience of lines, crowds, and sore feet.

The Train Ride
On Saturday morning, I woke up at 6:30am to catch the bus to the Tianjin train station. The ladies downstairs told me to take the wrong #97, which took me to the old temporary train station instead of the main one. When I got to the end of the line, I asked the bus driver, and he said I'd taken the wrong bus and now I had to wait for another one, #24. Finally, I get on #24, and 1 hour and 45 minutes after I left the dormitories, I arrived at the train station. I find that there's hundreds of people trying to get into building where they sell tickets. We have to go through security checks and there's only so many x-ray machines, so the lines and crowds are pushing and shoving to get through the doors and through security. I doubt that, with all the crowds and hurrying people, they're doing a thorough job of checking for dangerous items. It's probably more for show and intimidation.

After you get into the ticket purchase area, you have to line up again to buy tickets. This time, at least the lines are orderly and straight, although I still had to wait 15 minutes for the 10 or so people in front of me. When it was finally my turn, many of the tickets had sold out. It was slightly before 9am and the earliest bullet train ticket available was the 10:50am one. The other option was the 9:30am regular train, but there were no seated tickets left. I decided to go for the earlier, but slower train, even if I had to stand. I figured it was better because the slower train stopped in the main Beijing station, where the subway lines stop and everything. The new bullet train stops in Beijing South station, which is pretty far from city center and only accessible by bus or taxi.
Little did I know, that the regular train would be horrendous. My standing tickets were pretty cheap, only 20 yuan, but I will gladly spend the 58 yuan for bullet train tickets every time from now on. After buying the tickets, you have to go out the building, and then push and shove to go through security again to get into the main terminal. That is the most ridiculous and inefficient setup I know, but it's China, things have to be complicated and difficult, toughens you up, you know. Finally I get into the main terminal and it's huge, like an airport. The picture at the top is of the Tianjin Train Station terminal. The masses of Chinese people everywhere will leave you dumbfounded. Almost every seat in the huge terminal was occupied, and there were people sitting on the ground, lying down, leaning against their bursting red, white, blue striped hemp bags, it was crazy. You could clearly tell many of them were from the countryside by their much darker, leathery skin, their dress, their bundles after bundles of hemp bags instead of suitcases, and their heavy accents.

When my train was called to board, I had to stand in line and shove yet again for ticket checks. This photo is the view of the train platform right after the ticket check, as we descended the escalator to the ground level. Notice how people on the ground are running to the trains. I didn't know why until I got in and saw that they were packing the train like sardines. Not only do you not have a seat, you don't get much breathing space either. 1.5 hours is a long time to stand after you've been standing in lines already at the train station before. My feet got so tired I sat on my backpack half an hour into the ride. One guy with a seat pitied me, so he gave me 4 inches of the edge of his seat to sit. So I squeezed and got some rest on my weary legs. But not much, for getting out of Beijing station was equally taxing.

We're already in Beijing, you would think it'd be ok, no more rushing or pushing to get out. But it's still a pain. You push and shove to get to the stairs to go toward the exit, then there's another train ticket check (why the redundancy? because it's China.) Getting to the ticket check is crazy because everyone is pushing to go toward the limited 6 or 7 ticket agents. Even after ticket checks, there's a constant hand or foot at your back pushing you towards the main doors to outside. For some reason, people are slow getting out the door and the people behind are impatient, so people like us in the middle get pushed into the people in front of us and you feel like a human sandwich. I was so glad to get out into the open air and not be squeezed into tight spaces. Yet that was not the end of lines. I still had to line up for 45 minutes to buy my return ticket on the bullet train. (in hindsight, I didn't need to because there were plenty of tickets left on Monday, but I didn't want to risk having this horrendous experience again.)

This is still not the end of the lines, because there are lines to buy subway tickets, and another line to go through security check to get into the subway station. I looked at that 40 person line, and decided to go eat and sit down instead. I was too tired and hungry. If I didn't get food and a seat, I'd probably scream or start murdering someone. So I went and found a place across the street to have a cold glass of soymilk and noodles. It was a nice respite for a weary traveler. After resting, I went to the other subway entrance near the restaurant (across the street from the train station instead of directly in front of the train station), and there were no lines to buy tickets or to enter. It was such a revelation. Walk a little farther, work a little harder, and then the air is clear and crowdless.

宾江道 (Binjiangdao) and 和平路 (Hepinglu)

2008-09-11T17:01:00.000-07:00

I went to Binjiangdao again today, and since I didn't make it to the end last time, this time I walked all the way to the end, where Binjiangdao meets Hepinglu. I love the wide, clean, paved avenues and the tons of shopping malls. Yes, it's very westernized and not authentic China, but sometimes you just need a taste of home. Seeing Starbucks around is so familiar and nice. Too bad the Starbucks here don't have my favorite Passion tea. Even seeing the super Wal-mart here was nice, even though I usually don't like to shop at Wal-mart in the U.S. At the end (or start, depending on which way you look at it) of Hepinglu is the 3-story Walmart with fresh produce, meat section, a food court, and tons of household items. It's pretty amazing to look at. I tried to find cereal here, and had almost no luck. I say almost because after 15 minutes of searching, I found 1 box called "yingyangpian" 营养片. Roughly translated, it means nutritional flakes. There were no Cheerios, no Kellogg's, no General Mills, just this no-name Chinese brand of "nutritional flakes." Good thing I brought one box of cereal from home. That should last me about 2 months, maybe I'll find more selection in Beijing.

Dumplings Galore

2008-09-11T06:13:00.000-07:00

My hallmate Alex showed me a really good dumpling place today. We stuffed ourselves with a wonderfully delicious meal. We had both steamed and pan fried dumplings. We also ate a northern appetizer, some kind of slippery, crystal rice noodle mixed with red pepper oil, chives, crunchy soy beans, and sesame. One of the best meals I've had here, on par with the da bing.I love dumplings, so perhaps in a year's worth of meals, I could probably try their whole menu of dumplings, lamb filling, pork with corn, pork with celery, beef with bok choy, beef with shrimp, crab with tofu, so many varieties!

The Land of Milk and Shopping Malls

2008-09-10T04:36:00.000-07:00

This morning, I tried the Mongolian milk I bought from the big supermarket RenRenLe. I looked and looked yesterday and could not find any reduced fat milk, so I had to settle for a carton of Mongolian brand milk. When I added this milk to my cereal this morning, I was completely surprised at how delicious it was. This doesn't taste at all like the whole milk we get in the States. It's much more rich and flavorful. I don't know if in China, they have a different breed of cows, or whether it's because they're mongolian cows, or if because the cows still graze on grassland, but I thoroughly enjoyed the fatty milk. There's no way to describe the complexity of taste.

Later in the day, I went to downtown Tianjin, a huge avenue called Binjiangdao. Man, when I got off the subway and saw all these 4 or 5 story shopping malls and wide paved avenues, I was in seventh heaven. THIS was what I expected TJ to be like. It turns out that my university is just really far from the city center, that's why some roads are not paved and buildings look rundown. Binjiangdao totally reminds me of Mongkok in Hong Kong. There's tons and tons of 4 story malls with escalators. In one of the malls, there are hundreds of little shops full of cheap clothing, handbags, shoes, and jewelry. You can bargain with the shopkeepers. In the malls and on the streets, there are little food stands selling stinky tofu, kebabs, ice cream, and fruity iced drinks, just like in Mongkok. There are also tons of chain clothing stores like Kappa, Esprit, Baleno, and Giordano. Most of the brands, although they were priced much higher, were unfamiliar to me; they must be Chinese higher end brands. Because I was afraid to bargain and a lot of the listed prices seemed comparable to the U.S. when converted, I didn't end up buying anything. I figured I had plenty of time here to explore and shop around. Nevertheless, I'm definitely going back to Binjiangdao, it was such a long shopping avenue that I gave up and turned back before reaching the end.

Binjiangdao is also where I tried my first "ma huar" and "goubuli baozi."
Ma huar is this sweetened snack that is fried until completely crisp like a cookie and lightly covered with sesame seeds. It's actually not that great, since I don't like such oily fried snacks. The goubuli baozi is a small bun (bao) filled with pork and steamed in a metal/bamboo steamer. It comes out looking exactly like Shanghai soup dumplings (xiaolongbao), but I was disappointed to find the inside lacking the delicious broth of their Shanghai counterparts. Also, goubuli baos are made with a real yeasted bread dough, not just a chewy wrapper, so there was too much bread and not enough meat or broth. I wanted to take a picture of the baozi and in front of the goubuli sign, but I forgot my SD card. All in all, I'm not blown away by TJ's two most well-known foods so far.

I'm in Tianjin and connected!

2008-09-08T23:34:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Tianjin last night (9/8) and got settled into my dormitories. The experience so far reminds me of Vietnam, when I went to visit with my Dad in 2002. I'm a little alienated and overwhelmed in this completely different world. This is supposed to be the land of my ancestors many generations back, but I'm experiencing even bigger culture shock than when I went to Argentina or Spain.

Vents
I don't understand how things work, why there is nothing written on paper, why websites are not always updated at a modern university. I also don't understand why the older parts of the campus have been left to be taken over by weeds and crumbling brick walls nor why people choose to build new buildings from scratch instead of renovating the old ones. I also don't know why occasionally walking along a campus road, you'll smell a whiff of rotting trash or sewage. It's a whole different way of doing things here.

Several of the streets here are unpaved or full of potholes; I thought the 4th largest city in China would have entirely paved streets. But I guess I'm technically on the outskirts of Tianjin, perhaps the downtown area is much more developed. Another irksome thing is the pollution, which is thicker than fog over the Golden Gate bridge. I literally cannot see one city block ahead of me because the haze and pollution is so dense.

The outside of my dormitory looks a bit rundown, and I was initially anxious when my host and driver pulled up in front of this building. But when you go into the rooms themselves, they're actually not too bad. Definitely not state of the art or modern, but simple and practical. I have my own bathroom. I share a kitchen, fridge, and washer with my other 2 hallmates. There's a wall-mounted AC system in my room, and a flat screen tv with all the regional broadcast channels in China. I can watch over 50 channels of Chinese language tv from the Mongolian channel to the Xinjiang channel to the Guangzhou channel in the south, but there's only one CCTV channel in English. I appreciate the special treatment that us foreigners get, it's actually quite good by China standards (the Chinese students have 2-4 to a room, no AC, and have to use public showers).

Things I'm Grateful For...
I LOVE my internet. I just got it this morning! People said I just go to the CNC place to buy an internet card, and I could get online. So I fumbled my way there, got a little stressed out by the cashier who spoke really fast and asked me stuff I didn't understand, but finally I obtained an 80 yuan card good for 31 days of unlimited internet access. I'm so happy I can communicate with the outside world now! (side story: my hallmate who's been here a year now, said that they lobbied a long time last year to get internet set up here. They didn't have in-room internet before and had to bring their laptops to Starbucks and the on campus wifi locations, even in the middle of the cold, snowy winters. I'm so thankful of their efforts!)

First meals
The school contact who picked me up from the airport was thoughtful enough to have a McDonald's Spicy Chicken sandwich waiting for me when I arrived at around 6:30pm local time. I would have starved otherwise on that 2 hour ride from Beijing Airport to Tianjin. Another great experience was my first Chinese breakfast of "da bing" with egg and some sort of spicy hoisin sauce I got off this little street stand for 1.5 yuan. It was crispy and flakey like green onion pancakes, and served piping hot with egg and a spicy sauce. I look forward to eating the roasted corn and BBQ kebabs on the street stands in future meals. I LOVE street food!

The Ganxun Spot
Right next to our dormitory building is the Ganxun Cafe, where you can get different varieties of brown sauce veggies and meat over rice for 6.5 yuan. It is close, cheap, and the portions are big enough for two meals. But it can get a little monotonous, since I've already eaten there twice today: lunch was beef, bell peppers, cucumbers, and onions in brown sauce; dinner was the exact same mix of veggies except with tofu instead of beef. They have chicken and eggplant options too, but I'm getting tired of the same brown sauce flavors. :P It's a little like the Chinese restaurant I went to in Bolivia, where the entire restaurant had 9 dishes: chicken w/ veggies, pork w/ veggies, beef w/ veggies, chicken fried rice, pork fried rice, beef fried rice, chicken chow mein, pork chow mein, and beef chow mein. Ganxun is close and comforting, like Ivy Noodle in New Haven, but not the best tasting.