Merry Christmas!

I know we are late, and I have been absent lately from blogging. I have been pretty absent from using my computer lately. But now the semester is over, and I have two months off of school. Hopefully that means more regular blogging.

Merry Christmas! Sorry for the late greeting.

For Christmas, Alvin and I went to our friend's house and we had a Christmas brunch. We had all kinds of food from breakfast burritos, casseroles, jouk, to cinnamon rolls.

Afterward, we played a fun gift exchange game. Everyone was supposed to bring a gift to the gift exchange. We then used musical chairs to have the person who is out open one present. After all the presents were opened, each person voted on who they thought would like that present best. In the end, everyone went home with a present.

Alvin received the game "Clue." I received four avocados. Yeah! I won the avocados in a landslide vote. I asked Alvin how everyone knew that I wanted them; he said it was because I screamed with joy when they were revealed. Mmmm. I have eaten two already for guacamole. I look forward to using them in the California rolls I will be making soon.

Identity Crisis Resolved

You may recall back in October when I first wrote about my identity crisis. To recap, for all these years I had only known how to say my name in Cantonese. When it was translated for me into Mandarin Chinese a few years back (coupled with me not really remembering too clearly exactly how to write it), I ended up with the 2nd character in my name written... incorrectly. This was not discovered until my parents came in October, saw my student ID card, and thereby informed me that I had written my name wrong.

Imagine if you were male and your name was Miguel, and you lived in Mexico. Upon moving to the United States, you decide to choose a more-English sounding name. Well, naturally, Miguel probably translates over to Michael... but some Spanish and English speaking friend of yours decides to translate your name to Michelle instead. So, for your first semester of college in the United States, all of your friends and teachers call you... Michelle.

So, ok, maybe my situation was not so drastic - I think the incorrect Chinese name I had through this semester was gender neutral. But still, it was slightly embarrassing letting my teachers know one by one that, well, I spelled my name wrong this whole time.

Last week, I pulled the trigger and asked our department administrator to change my name officially - to the correct character. I received my new student ID today (with the same picture, heh heh!). My name is now written as it should be. But it will take some getting used to for my teachers and classmates to begin calling me by my correct name, and for me to respond to it.

Tea Parties

Yesterday, some friends and I had a tea party with cucumber sandwiches, muffins, and cookies. And also tea. It was fun, and I exclaimed how I love tea parties.

Today, for our last Extensive Reading class this semester, our teacher announced that the reading for class was on Chinese tea and customs. So she had us all rearrange our desks to make a big rectangle. She then brought out Chinese snacks, her tea cup collections and four kinds of tea to try. She explained some of the customs and explained each tea.

The first was an Oolong tea. This tea smelled strong and has a pretty strong bitter aftertaste. I usually like Oolong, but this one was too strong.

The second tea was a black tea whose name literally means "Return of Sweetness." At first it tastes smoky, but then at the end it tastes sweet.

The third tea was "pi-er tea." It was reddish in color. When the students tried the tea, there was an overall sense of, "ewww." I thought it was definitely not my favorite. These tea leaves were dried in a clump and were then aged. This tea was the most expensive. The worst part was trying to keep a straight face in class while Alvin repeatedly whispered in my ear, "this tastes like manure."

The last tea was a mixture of items, very similar to 8 treasures tea. This tea included mo-li flower tea, dried lemon, rock sugar, dried rose petals from the teacher's garden, and red dates. This tea smelled like roses and tasted sweet. I think this one was most people in our class's favorite.

So my ranking of the teas, from best to worst is: 8 treasures imitation, "Return of Sweetness," Oolong, and "Pi-er."

By the end of the class, we all enjoyed learning from the teacher while sipping our tea and eating our rice cake snacks. I looked around the room and felt privileged to have gotten to know our classmates who come from around the world. This semester has been fun, and we are sad to know that most of our classmates will be going back home for the next semester. I am so glad for this experience today to top off the semester. I love tea parties.

Weekend Project: Lamb Bacon

Just wanted to keep the world posted on something I will be trying out this coming weekend.

A few months ago, I came across this article in the NY Times which talked about making lamb bacon. Well, we live in a pork-free zone, and so I have been toying with the idea of making lamb bacon. I tried it once already, actually, in October - but I did it wrong. After curing the meat, I didn't soak it to remove the excess salt - the post-roasting result was way too salty - we're talking, cringe-worthy salty.

I've found another article in the North Coast Journal on making lamb bacon, which I will be trying out. Actually, I already began curing the lamb two nights ago. Will give it another 2 days in fridge. Then, on Saturday... it's on.

But here is the big challenge ahead: smoking. I want to try to smoke the bacon before slicing it and frying it. Smoking meat here is difficult for a few reasons: 1) nobody here has a smoker or ever smokes their meat - "You foreigners are just so strange..." 2) I don't have a backyard in which I can build an underground pit with which to smoke salmon, like Alton Brown; 3) I'm not sure where I can find wood chips out here.

So, there is a chance that I will make a homemade stovetop smoker using my wok. Just need to get permission from the Executive Chef.

Well, I am documenting the process and will keep you posted on how it goes. If all goes well, perhaps we will have bacon on Christmas morning after all.

Squatty Potty

A couple months ago, I was with my friend from the states who moved to my city around the same time I did, and we both went to the airport bathroom. I said, "the first stall is a squatty potty but the rest are western toilets." So she said, "ok." So we separated, and when I came out of my stall, I realized that she went to the squatty. I asked her why, and she said, she now prefers the squatty because you don't have to touch anything (ie. the toilet seat or flusher.) I remember I couldn't stop laughing at the idea of her liking the squatty.

After a couple of weeks, I started to realize that she has a point. If you roll up your pant leg before going, then you just squat and then you are done. With a western toilet, I would squat anyway because there are no toilet seat covers. Then, I might even have to use my own tissue paper to have to clean up the toilet seat.

So now, when I go to the pizza place that has a choice of western or squatty, I choose the squatty.

Fireworks Show! Celebrating UAE's 38th?

This was the view from one of our bedroom windows this evening at around dinnertime. No idea why we had a fireworks show today (only partially visible... most of it was behind the buildings). Perhaps here, too, they are celebrating the 38 year anniversary of the United Arab Emirates becoming an independent country. Or perhaps - and this is quite possible - they are just celebrating the grand opening of a restaurant or a new superstore.

Fireworks are less common than firecrackers. We hear firecrackers often, though less so during these winter months. Whenever somebody moves into the complex (usually a newly married couple coming to their home for the first time)... their friends will light a long string of firecrackers right outside their building entrance. Sometimes, it is the appliances delivery people who light firecrackers for them. If there is a restaurant grand opening, they often put up a huge display and light firecrackers - usually on a Saturday morning - to let the whole neighborhood know that they're open.

I need to find out where we can buy these firecrackers.

School Quarantine

Our school has been quarantined since Oct. 15th to try to prevent the spread of H1N1. You may wonder what this means.

I will give you a break down.

Basically, all local students who live in the dorms have not been allowed to leave the campus walls for almost two months, except in cases of emergency. Then the teacher must write the student a pass. Those students who live off campus, students who work, or international students, have a pass they show the school guards to get in and out of campus. Only students or teachers can get onto campus. To enter, all students and teachers must get their temperature read with infrared thermometer.

The students living on campus, must check their temperatures three times a day, and if they have a fever, they and the rest of their dorm mates are quarantined in the school hotel. In the beginning, many students were scaling over the walls to obtain freedom. Soon, the school threatened the students with withholding degrees if they are caught trying to escape. Therefore, the jumping over the walls slowed down.

Although the precautions may seem different, there has been very few cases of H1N1 at the school.

One sad thing is on a Friday or Saturday night, I see a lot of the students lined up near the fence talking to their friend, family, or loved one on the other side of the fence. Sometimes, I see a couple hold hands through the fence and looking longingly at each other with the look, "when can we finally be together?"

One happy thought is that since the school shortened the Oct. week long holiday for H1N1, we will be getting out in Dec. instead of Jan. this year to make up for the lost vacation days.

Conquering A Fear

One of the fears that is closer to the top of my list is that of having to go to the bathroom really really badly, but being in a public place where bathrooms are unavailable. I think this fear goes back to some bad experiences at Disneyland in 1989.

Well, they say that one of the best ways to conquer a fear is to face it. Tonight, I conquered my fear.

After a nice, yummy dinner of hot pot with friends, out in the other part of the city, we began making our way home on the bus. This is typically a 40 minute bus ride back home, and often it is spent standing up in a crowd full of people. About halfway home, I realized that I was starting to get a pretty bad stomach ache. This was a crucial decision-making time. I had 2 options.

Option 1 - Try to wait it out, which means another 20 minutes of bus riding and another 6 minutes to get from the bus stop to our complex, up the stairs, and into the bathroom.

Option 2 - Get out of the bus now, and find a bathroom.

I went with Option 2.

Why not Option 1? Because I've done Option 1 before, when the requirement was something like 10 minutes - and it was a miserable 10 minutes. Trying to do Option 1 for 26 minutes simply means being miserable for 10 minutes and then settling for an even more urgent Option 2 anyways.

So, I told Bethany I would like her packet of tissue, I would be getting off the bus, and I'll see her at home. And then, I got off the bus.

At 9:30PM, with most places either not having a restroom or being closed anyways, I knew that my chances of finding a restroom were... slim. In fact, I already knew - as soon as I got off the bus - what Option 2 really meant. It meant joining the ranks of the hundreds of millions of Chinese in this country who have gone to the bathroom in places that were not bathrooms. Do you think hundreds of millions is an exaggeration? You wouldn't if you lived here.

As I walked down the street, I was not looking for an open restaurant or hotel with a bathroom. Because I knew I wouldn't find any. I was looking for a long, dark, empty alley. And within about a hundred feet, I found one. In and out of the alley in probably less than 90 seconds. Then, I hopped on the next bus and headed home, just 10 minutes behind Bethany.

I apologize to the country for having to do what I did. But I'm pretty sure I see somebody duck into an alley or a roadside or a field - to do what I did - at least a few times every week. So I don't feel too bad. Better in the dark alley than on the bus.

Now that I have conquered my fear, I don't think I will make this a habit. But at least, I know it can be done if absolutely necessary.

Guacamole

On Friday night we heard a rumor that avocados were spotted in our city. So on Saturday, Alvin hopped on a bus and took a ride downtown to look for them. He was able to find them at this one grocery store that sells some western food. So he bought a couple for us and some for our friends. The price was expensive even for avocados in the states. They are imported from Mexico (see picture below).

I have not had an avocado in six months. I even forgot how an avocado tastes like. But here they are:


So today Alvin made guacamole. Originally, we were going to serve Mexican food to our friends who just moved to town. But then we found out that our other friends, who we bought some avocados for, also was going to serve them Mexican food with guacamole the night before we were serving dinner. So we decided, I guess we will have to eat the guacamole all by ourselves. Don't worry, we will serve our friends something else instead. Also, they probably don't appreciate the guacamole as much either since they just arrived from the states. For me, I think this was the best guacamole I have ever had, but maybe it is because I have been deprived for so long.

Festival of Sacrifice

This last Saturday, in our city, many local folks celebrated Eid al-Adha (in Chinese, 古尔邦节), or, the "Festival of Sacrifice." In Islam, this commemorates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his own son. In turn, here in this city, many cows and sheep are sacrificed, slaughtered by the local imam.



Many families will pay quite a bit of money for a sheep (maybe about 800 RMB, or USD $120) or a cow (maybe about 3000 RMB, or USD $450) that has been sacrificed on this day. And then, if I understand correctly, 1/3 of the meat is given to the local mosque, 1/3 is given to friends or family or the poor, and the remaining 1/3 is used at home for family gathering meals.

I saw more slaughtered sheep this last Saturday - when I went venturing into the city - than I have on any other day here. But the picture above shows a rack full of sheep similar to what I sit right next to and under whenever I go hang out with the butcher.

I'm reminded of somewhere where it says that it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

On Friday night, we had a Thanksgiving banquet with our international friends from around the world. Although Thanksgiving is an American holiday, people still like to come together and eat food. Someone imported turkey from somewhere in the country, and was able to feed a huge group of us.

Tomorrow, we will have a Thanksgiving lunch with a small group of friends. We also have some friends arriving that morning from the States. No turkey this time, but I made a chicken stuffed with Chinese sticky rice. Hopefully, it turns out ok being cooked in a toaster oven.

On Thursday night, instead of having turkey, we had some friends over for hot pot. Here is our spread:

You may notice that the broth is red. People here like their hot pot spicy. Alvin and I now prefer spicy to regular chicken broth. Also, I made cooked ginger chicken on the side of the pot.

It was going well, until we had a black out. That may be the worst thing to happen during hot pot dinner because our food needs to be cooked by an electric pot. After about fifteen minutes, the lights came back on.

Here is a quiz. Guess which hot pot food is Alvin's favorite and which one is my (Bethany's) favorite:
A. Fish Balls

B. Crab Sticks

C. Beef Slices

D. Golden Mushrooms, Napa, Tong Hao

A Vist to the Butcher

One of my favorite open-market activities is to visit the butcher. The butcher's shop is an open 8 feet by 8 feet booth. When you go to the butcher, here is what you'll see:

- A long rack with meat hooks, on which are hanging 6-10 skinned cows and sheep - we're talking, whole animals, minus the head, the innards, and the hooves.
- The meat grinder and the scale at the back of the booth.
- At the front, a little counter with different parts of a sheep already cut and laid out.
- In the middle of the booth, a little coal furnace heater for warming your hands (it's winter, it's outside, and it's cold)
- Two stools.
- The chopping block. The chopping block is a tree stump - about the size of one of the small round tables at Starbucks. This chopping stump is never washed (that I can tell), and is just red and white from all of the bits of meat (and fat) chopped on it all day (week, month, year) long.

Whenever I visit the butcher now, he invites me to come sit in the booth with him just to hang out. Our family and their family have become friends. I could sit in that booth for hours.

But I should warn you, sitting in the booth... may not be for the faint of heart.

Today, when I went by, one of the stools had a huge cow hind leg bone on it. Hardly any meat on it, used for making soups... but huge like a bowling pin huge. The butcher said, "Come on in and sit awhile!" He tossed the bone off to the side, took that stool (phew), and gave me the other one. We sit and we talk.

I love going there because he's very friendly and does most of the talking, which is great listening practice for me. And, I love watching him interact with his customers. A lot of customers usually bicker with him, saying this or that piece of meat is too fatty or has something wrong with it - they say that to try to get a lower price. But he knows that he sells good meat, and he knows that they'll buy it. So he'll argue with them. In the end though, it's all just playful banter, a pretty typical shopkeeper-customer interaction.

Oh yes, and as you sit in the booth, you get to watch him chop the meat - bones and all - on the chopping stump, with his giant chopping knife (seriously, the blade is about the size of a box of See's Candies Nuts & Chews). Little bits of meat and bone go flying everywhere - yes, sometimes even onto my clothes. Today, I watched him chop the bowling pin beef bone into four pieces. It was sold for 16 kuai, to be used in a soup.

A few weeks ago, I recorded some of the butcher's interactions with two older women who had come to buy some leg of lamb. You can get a taste of what the butcher shop is like by listening to this one-and-a-half minute clip. Oh, you'll also notice that there is quite an accent, both from him and the women.



At first, you'll hear one of the women tell him not to bother taking the lamb leg off the hook... it's got too much fat. "Too much fat? No...", he says, while taking leg down and getting ready to chop it for her. Then the lady says something about lamb tail. They continue to bicker about the lamb leg. He says, "Fine fine, I'm going to chop up the leg for you and get it all ready. You go walk around the market... if you find a better leg, buy it. If not, you come back and take this one." See, he knows they'll buy his meat.

Then you hear him chopping. Imagine bits of bone and flesh flying into the air.

At the end of the clip, he tells them it's 97 kuai. Then the two women start bickering with each other, each wanting to pay for it. He tells them not to grab, not to grab... he'll take their money either way. And at the end, I think you hear the women saying the meat (and the price) is ok after all.

Care Package

Last week, we were so happy to get two care packages from the States from our friends in LA. This is our second mail from friends we have gotten (shout out to CW for being our first).

We did get candy, salt and vinegar chips, Stampin Up catalog, Pepto, Trader Joe's food assortment (yummy!), lots and lots of warm clothes, and many other great items. Thanks friends for those who contributed. Alvin and I can't believe how generous you all are and we just felt the care as we looked through the package.

I got some warm pajamas and I have been wearing them daily. On Saturday, I didn't leave the house so I wore them all day. Also, I almost finished my salt and vinegar chips. That is part of what I did on Saturday.

Extracurricular Chinese TV

A lot of our Chinese friends tell us that we should watch Chinese soap operas to help improve our Chinese. I don't doubt that - conversational dialogue is one of the best things to learn. But I haven't really spent too much time researching on what actually is a good soap opera series to watch. So... that one is on hold.

In the meantime, I have found a different show for my extracurricular Chinese TV (er, watched on our computer, that is, since we don't have a TV). It is...

托马斯和朋友 (tuō mǎ sī hé péng yǒu).

For the English speaking 3-year-olds out there... that would be "Thomas & Friends." Yes yes... Thomas the train.

Thomas & Friends launched in Chinese in April of this year, airing on CCTV-1. I've been able to find about 30+ episodes online.



It is all in Chinese, along with Chinese subtitles. It has been a great way to hear some basic language, basic conversation, and cover some fun topics. So far, I have learned about bravery, pride, sacrifice, asking for help, and forgiveness.

So, can you guess the trains below based on the Chinese transliteration of their names?

托马斯 - tuōmǎsī
邓肯 - dèngkěn
艾蜜莉 - àimìlì
高登 - gāodēng
培西 - péixī

And as a bonus, who is this character (not based on transliteration)?

胖总管 - pàngzǒngguǎn

Extracurricular Chinese Reading

As part of my language learning, I decided awhile ago to find some extracurricular reading. So, I have picked up 3 books which I have been "reading" in the last few weeks. I say "reading" because it's definitely not like I understand everything that I'm reading. I see how many of the characters I can pick up as I go along, guess at the meanings of other characters based on context, and try to draw conclusions about main ideas or points here and there. Once in awhile, if there's a character I keep running into, I'll take the time to look it up and learn it.

This is helpful for me in retaining characters, basic reading comprehension, and in seeing how words ought to be used when in their proper contexts. And best of all... there's no pressure. No assignments to complete, no teachers to answer to. Just... leisure reading.

Of my 3 books, there's really no rhyme or reason as to which book I choose to pick up on any given day. Maybe it's my mood, my current interest, my desired level of difficulty, or how long I think I'll last before I fall asleep.

Currently, here are my 3 extracurricular reading books:



FIVB 排球竞赛规则
(The FIVB Official Rulebook for Competitive Volleyball, 2005-2008 Edition)

This has been a great resource for learning volleyball terminology, like setter, libero, rotation, and referee. Sure, it's a specialized rulebook which, even in English, wouldn't be considered light or fun reading. I'm reading it mostly to learn specialized terminology.



Web 界面设计
("Designing Web Interfaces" - an O'Reilly book translated into Chinese)

Also helpful for learning specialized terminology. Actually, I'm excited because it seems like there's a whole set of translated O'Reilly books which available on the Chinese Amazon site. And these are a lot cheaper than if bought in the States. This book, for example, was about USD $9. If I tried to buy it in the States, it would be USD $32.



纳尼亚传奇：狮子，女巫和摩衣柜
(Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe)

My Chinese tutor, who is reading this with me, mentioned that the translation from English to Chinese is noticeably unnatural. That is slightly disappointing. But, it still makes for a great story, and I am learning some new vocabulary... and it's a story written for children, which makes it slightly easier to read.

Steak and Eggs with Creme Fraiche

So I am still able to keep up with watching Top Chef and one of my favorite things is to try to replicate Top Chef recipes that are posted on BravoTV.com. The problem is that I can't replicate most of the recipes because of limited resources. For example, the chefs did a whole quickfire on cactus. Not available here. They did a whole challenge on pig. Not appropriate to cook in this province. A lot of the chefs use fish. Hmm, they sell fish here, but it is fish from the lakes here and they sell it to you whole and alive. I am not sure how I would tell a fish seller that I want a fillet of artic char. Also, a lot of chefs now use chemicals in their cooking. I am having trouble finding sour cream in this province, I don't have time to look for xanthan gum. Lastly, there are some basic ingredients that are not easy to find here: whipping cream, sour cream, basil, rosemary, chocolate chips, lemons, limes, wine, etc.

After going through the entire recipe list for season 6 of Top Chef, I found 3 recipes that I can make here, and then I attempted one with substitutions.

I made the Steak and Eggs made by Kevin G. I also went to this site to look for substitutions: Food Substitutions

Here is the recipe with substitutions: (Also, instead of making hash browns I roasted potatoes).
For Beef:

* 1 New York strip steak, 2” thick
* Pinch of Turkish ground coffee
* Salt and pepper

For Eggs:

* 6 large eggs
* ½ cup heavy cream 1/3 cup sweet milk plus 1/6 cup butter
* 1/3 cup sour cream 1/4 cup milk, 1/4 tsp lemon juice and 1/6 cup butter
* Scallion tops, thinly sliced



The result was really good, but I guess adding butter to anything is tasty (although not so great for your health). I really like soft scrambling the eggs in a make-shift double boiler.

Some of my best Chinese practice happened as I was...

... teaching English. Isn't that strange?

I don't really intend to do too much English teaching out here, but I have gotten to know a young man who is a college student, and he is preparing for an English exam in a few months. He has been a great conversation partner for my Chinese learning. So, I thought perhaps today we could go over some of the materials that he is studying in preparing for his English language test.

As we went through an article that he was reading in his study book, I helped him with some pronunciation but mostly with explaining words and concepts and the meanings of each sentence. Although the article was in English (and because his English is not quite that good yet), I had to do all of my explanation in Chinese. This was excellent Chinese practice for me.

Having to teach or explain something in Chinese is a great way to practice Chinese. It's kind of like playing Taboo. You might not be able to say a certain word (because you don't know that word), so you use roundabout ways to explain something to get your point across. The primary goal is clarity of meaning.

And then, after I have explained something the best that I can in Chinese, my language partner says (in Chinese), "Oh, you mean ______!" Yes! That's what I meant! And just like that, I have learned a new word (and already have my definition for that word, in Chinese, since I came up with the definition before even having the word).

Secondly, having to teach something in Chinese can have some immediately gratifying results. If my language partner (English student) learns the points of the article, and the meaning of the words and their usages, then I feel like I was successful in my use of Chinese to explain all of these things.

Gift from School

Today after class, an administrator at our school comes in the classroom and asks if we have gotten our rice. So Alvin goes outside to see what it is all about.

Well, our school was giving a ~20 lb bag of rice to every student. All we had to do was sign outfor it. So all the foreign students went home with rice. It was good timing because Alvin and I just ran out of rice last week. We were planning to buy more rice at the store on the way home.

So now our very generous school has given us a thermometer, moon cakes, and now rice. Also, they took us on that fun apple picking and jeep ride adventure.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

No major news in our lives to blog about today. Though the snow stopped falling a few days ago, there are still remnants of snow (and iced pathways) all around. We might see a bit more snow in the next day or two.

Since there's no major news, we thought we'd share this one picture for you. The other day, I must have thought somebody was at our door or in our stairwell, so I went to look through the peephole. No people. Instead, this is what I saw:



Our guess is it was just an ordinary fly, nothing more.

Our Winter Clothes

Our first snow fell on Tuesday, but we were prepared for it.

The week before, I went and bought some winter clothes. In August, I was already wearing 6 layers on top, but unfortunately, these layers all were very thin. I wore a tank top, a short sleeve, a thin long sleeve, a turtleneck, a thin sweater, and a jacket. I didn't think that I could fit anything else on and it was laborious wearing so many layer.

But as of last week, my life has changed. I bought long underwear for the top and bottom. These long underwear are not like regular long underwear. They look like sweats with fuzz on the inside. Wow, they are so warm. The only color that I could find was red, and so when I wear them I feel like a red monkey. So today, I only wore three layers on top (my long underwear, a thick sweater that I bought, and my jacket. My long underwear purchase revolutionized the way I dress.

I also bought another long underwear for my bottoms for the really cold days. This long underwear looks like scuba pants. They are black, they feel really slick, and then on the inside is fuzz. I heard that they need to be slick because they are so thick and so the pants can hardly fit around them.

I also purchased some sweaters, a face mask, and ear muffs. I also bought Alvin some long underwear too, and he says it is warm.

Here's me modeling my winter wear:


Notice that nothing but my eyes are showing. They are the only part of my body that gets cold when I bike. Sometimes I think, "man it is cold, I think my eyes are getting frozen." And then I blink some tears, and then I feel better.

Ahh... Winter

This was the scene about 2 hours ago, just as we came home from class today:



It had already begun snowing a bit in the morning when we left for class (we opted for taking the bus instead of biking today). In the last 2 hours, the snow has picked up considerably. I am looking at the window now, seeing large snowflakes... and snow is flying through the air in all different directions (even up).

So this is what Winter is supposed to look like. Growing up in Southern California, I never knew. Even in Dallas, it's not like we ever had anything more than a dusting of snow maybe once every two years. This is nice. (Of course, I'm staying inside.)

But this isn't even close to what Winter will really feel like here. It's only November. Ok, sure, it's about 30°F outside right now; but in January, we will have lows in the teens and highs in the twenties.

Welcome to our lives, Winter. For me today, it's going to be a hot cup of coffee and some catchup time on work and study.

Noodles for Chicken

Another funny incident happened in class. We were reading about unique traits of chickens, and one of the unique traits is how chickens eat noodles. Most people would think they would just pick at the noodles, but what they do is pick up one end of the noodle, and then, without biting, just slowly swallow the noodle until the whole noodle is gone.

So I asked the teacher, "This is a joke right? Chickens don't eat noodles, do they?"

The teacher said, "Of course they eat noodles." And then she gave me this look like I was crazy to have doubted the book.

Wow, Chinese chickens really get it good. Not only do they get seed, but they also get noodles. This means that someone has to hand make the noodles first, and then feed it to the chickens. What luxury. Poor chickens in the states. They are missing out.

The Settlers of 卡坦岛

卡坦岛 (kǎtǎndǎo) is the Chinese transliteration of the infamous Catan Island.



Tonight, while browsing on the taobao site (that's like the Chinese equivalent of ebay), I discovered that Settlers of Catan is available in Chinese, and you can buy it online, new, for about 70 RMB, or just over USD $10.

And this production looks like a legitimate, authorized release of the game, not some cheap knock-off. Box, instructions, board, cards, everything... looks good, and it's all in Chinese. Very impressive. And what a great way to practice language!

I can read the Development cards (er, at least, the titles... maybe not the descriptions just yet)! 最大士兵 (zuì dà shì bīng) means Largest Army, and 最长道路 (zuì cháng dào lù) means Longest Road.

Tempting to buy. But, we'll see.

Schooled in English

The other night, I went to visit some local friends living in the dorms. They then busted out the accordion and started singing songs. We varied between Chinese songs and English songs.

One of the girls loves English songs. But sometimes, she would sing an English song perfectly, and I wouldn't recognize it. Most of them are from the states, but some of them are from the UK. She kept asking me if I knew Westlife. The most embarrassing part is that sometimes I would know the song, but I didn't know the lyrics well. This girl asked me if we could sing Kelly Clarkson. I love Kelly Clarkson, but I only sing "Since You Been Gone" on Karaoke. The girl never heard that song (probably because it is not a slow ballad). Instead, she wanted to sing Breakaway. So I tried to sing with her, but she had to feed me the English lyrics. How embarrassing it is to have a non-native English speaker have to teach me the words to Kelly Clarkson. She also knew all the words to The Carpenters song "Yesterday Once More." I could only contribute on the "sha-la-la" and the "wo-wo-wo."

I now have to go study more slow ballads. It sounds like Richard Marx is a must know. I should have known for me to be successful here, I must learn my Marx.

Don't Miss the Fish Head

Today in listening class, a funny thing happened because of a language misunderstanding. The class was listening to a tape of two people talking. After the conversation, we have to answer multiple choice questions.

The conversation went like this:
Guy: I will go buy drinks.
Girl: Don't go, you will miss the head.

The question was:
Where are the guy and girl most likely at?
A) Bus Station
B) Movie Theater
C) Restaurant
D) Post Office

I thought it might be a movie theater because that is where a guy could go to buy drinks. But that didn't explain the "head" part. So I started thinking that it might be C) Restaurant, because Chinese restaurants have fish heads, and if the guy gets up to buy a drink, he may miss getting to eat the fish head, which some think is the best part. So when the teacher asked, I said "C" and explained why. She laughed and told me I was wrong. The answer is "B." I guess the word "head" with the Beijing "er" on it (or tou2er 头儿), can also mean the beginning of a movie. Wow, I learned something new about the language.

Not Winter Yet, eh?

All of the local folks I have talked to say that it is not Winter yet. Come on, it's only November 2nd! Winter isn't for a few weeks!

So then, I point outside to the ICE that has frozen up all of the plants and bushes and walkways...



... and they respond, "Oh, this isn't cold. You'll see. When January and February come... that will be cold. This isn't so bad."

So, umm, ok... it's not winter yet.

And granted, it is pretty arid and dry where we live, so we're not expecting much precipitation... in the winter, we probably won't get much rain, and might get just a little bit of snow.

But when you leave the sprinklers on, and the nighttime low reaches -4°C (24°F)... you look outside in the morning, and it sure looks like Winter is here. And when you bike to school in the morning and your face feels like it will freeze, crack, and fall off your skull, it sure feels like Winter is here.




But, ok, I'll take their word for it. It's not Winter yet.

Nonetheless, for my morning bike commute, I have broken out my fleece-lined jeans, my thickest jacket, and my snowboarding gloves.

My Dish vs. Our Dishes

The other day in class, my teacher was talking about the differences between Chinese restaurants and western restaurants. The topic started focusing on how people view ordering. Alvin and I talked about how in most western restaurants, each person usually orders their own dish and everyone just sticks with eating their own dish. The teacher then preceded to explain the differences of community vs. individualism based on the model of western restaurants and Chinese restaurants.

She believes that most westerners, when they order a dish, they think this is his/her dish, and he/she has the option of sharing it with his/her companions. Chinese people, on the other hand, when they order a dish, believe that each dish ordered is the community's, but the companions have a choice whether or not they choose to eat all the dishes presented. The teacher then went on to talk more about how this is reflective on the culture's view of community and individualism.

I found this statement, just based on ordering, to be insightful on my culture I grew up in as well as the culture I where I am now living.

Another little insight from the teacher came during her discussion of taking home leftover food. Usually at a restaurant, if I have leftover food, I take it home. I do this because I don't want to waste food, and then I can also save time by eating leftovers on the following day. The teacher challenged us to think about the cultural implications that taking home food can have on local friends. For example, if someone is hosting your meal, and you take home food, it can look like you are stealing from the host because he/she paid for it. If you are the host, and then you take home food, you look cheap because you are trying to save on money by taking home extra food. Looking cheap is one of the worst offenses that can be made in this culture.

I don't have any conclusions to this cultural insight, except that I still have a lot to learn about this culture. The only thing I know it that there are probably so many things I do that may be rude in this culture, just because I am unaware of the cultural implications. I really enjoy learning about culture, but I am scared for the mistakes I will have to make to learn.

Kitchen Duties, Top Chef, and Teamwork

In our oral conversation class today, the teacher asked us about household chores, wanting to know how chores are divided up in different homes and among different cultures. When it came our turn to talk about how chores are divided in our home, I managed to say, "我们家的杂务平分的。 她做饭。 我吃饭。" (In our home, the chores are divided up evenly. She cooks. I eat.) The teacher and students got a kick out of that one.

In the kitchen, Bethany and I have come to a pretty established routine regarding the division of labor. This is especially the case when cooking up a big meal for guests. Usually, I get the tasks of washing and chopping vegetables, and of washing dishes. Bethany gets the task of cooking and managing stoves and pots and mixes. This has worked out quite well for us. I like chopping vegetables and using knives. And Bethany is gifted at the actual cooking, putting together delicious meals. In the end, we have garlic and green onions that have been minced well, a meal that is delicious, and a kitchen that is clean.

There is really only one tv show that I will watch, fairly consistently, with my wife: Top Chef. I think that this has given us both a glimpse of what it looks like to cook in a professional kitchen, put together great food, and work under time pressure. And, at times, we get to see how different chefs work together and relate while under pressure.

I sense we take some of our cues from what we see on this show, especially when Bethany is managing 2 pots and an oven while I am breaking down a chicken and chopping garlic, ginger, and green onions. We have come to work pretty efficiently and well together. I think we make a pretty good team.

Green Onion "Bings"

In this city, they sell "bings" with meat and green onions inside. One day, Alvin and I wanted to do an activity together, so we tried to make it. Here is what the process looked like:

First we made the dough. I didn't have a recipe, but I have made a lot of things with flour in the last few months. I have used more flour in the last 5 months than maybe I have used in one year in Dallas:


Then we formed the dough into 5 inch logs:


The secret to making the dough was letting it sit in oil for 10 minutes. Bad for you, but it makes it easier to roll:


We made the meat out of ground lamb, green onions, white pepper, sesame oil, and salt:


Then we rolled out the dough:


We put the filling in a ball at the top of the dough:


Then we wrapped until no filling is sticking out, and then stretched the dough to wrap several times more in the same direction.


Here is what the roll looks like:


Then we squished the roll down:


Then we pan fried it in oil, and here is the final product:


It tasted pretty good. The street vendors sell really big ones, but I do like this tiny bite one.

Audio Blog: Starbucks VIA Challenge

Today, we performed our very own Starbucks VIA Challenge for two willing participants. Can our participants tell the difference between French-pressed Extra Bold French Roast beans from Starbucks and the newly released Starbucks VIA instant coffee?

This VIA challenge takes place over 9000 miles away from Starbucks Headquarters in Seattle, Washington. I am pretty sure this VIA challenge takes the prize for farthest-from-home.

(Audio clip is just under 8 minutes)

Gifts from Home Winners

And the winners of the Gifts from Home contest are E/T/J/J/M and Michelle S.

Although they both refuse to be counted for the contest, they got the most points in the contest. (They also were the only participants.) Also, we wanted to thank them for contributing to the gifts from home. So as a result, we have sent E/T/J/J/M a pack of gummy bears and Michelle S. a pack of Via.

Congratulations winners!

Audio Blog: Biking to School

When my parents visited a few weeks ago, they brought me a new toy - a Zoom H2, which is a dual-microphone high-quality audio recorder. This will serve 2 purposes: 1) to record key language learning moments when we're out and about, for later listening and review; 2) to do some audio recording of the sounds of our lives out here, so that you can better experience what we experience.

So, for our first "audio blog" entry, here is a recording of our Tuesday morning bike ride to school (edited down 8 minutes, 45 seconds). Come along and join us for the ride!

The Classroom Experience

I've gotten a few requests to shoot and show more pictures of "daily life" for us out here. What does your neighborhood look like? What does the market produce and butcher booth look like? What's it like to bike to school? What does your classroom look like?

I'll try to do a little more to help folks experience even better what life outside of the home is like for us. First, here is our classroom, where we have all of our classes every morning:



We shot this picture when my parents were in town and we were taking them around our campus. And yes, we're sitting in the very seats that we normally sit in every day.

So, first, you might be wondering what our weekly class schedule looks like. We have 4 different types of Chinese classes - Intensive Reading, Listening, Oral, and Extensive Reading. Every morning, we have 1 class from 8:10-9:45 and then 1 class from 10:15-11:50.

Our weekly schedule looks like this:
Monday: Intensive Reading, Listening
Tuesday: Oral, Extensive Reading
Wednesday: HSK Preparation, Intensive Reading
Thursday: Intensive Reading, Listening
Friday: Oral, Extensive Reading

The Wednesday HSK class is a test preparation class that many of our classmates are required to take since they are in an undergraduate study-abroad program and will be taking the HSK test. But since we may or may not take the HSK, and even if we do, we won't take it for at least a year... we use our Wednesday 8:10-9:45 time to get a little bit more sleep and catch up on some homework.

Our classmates are the same through all our different subjects through the week, since we have all tested into the same level (Intermediate 1). So we're kind of similar to a "cohort" in a graduate school program. We may be seeing the same 14 classmates for the next two years. We're coming up on 8 weeks in class now, and I think our cohort is finally starting to loosen up and feel like we are getting to be friends with one another. We may even try to do a pizza and study party with a few of our classmates in the next few weeks.

The classroom is super basic, as you can see. Wooden desk with cubby hole, wooden chairs, undecorated white walls, tile flooring, and mostly-working fluorescent lights. This is probably pretty typical for what a small college classroom looks like out here. It's not fancy, but it serves its purpose just fine. There is heating, which they will probably turn on in a month or so, once it really starts to get cold.

Time with Bethany's Parents

Alvin's parents came to visit, and they left town on Sunday morning. On Sunday afternoon, my parents came in to visit.

The first tour spot we took them to was a cave where many army people hid hundreds of years ago. At this spot, we were able to walk on the Great Wall (even though it is more like a mud hill). Apparently, the Great Wall is not all build by brick. In this area, the Great Wall is built by mud. As a result, it was harder to keep up the maintenance of the wall. We were also able to ride camels:


Before I left, some of my relatives teased that in this city, we were going to be riding camels everywhere. That is not true, but many of the scenic spots include camel rides.

On the second day, we went to visit the mountains near our house. Here is a picture of us before we made it to the mountains.


Overall, the visit was very good. I was really happy to have been able to see both sets of parents. They were very encouraging and really liked seeing us doing ok in our new city.

Identity Crisis

Many Chinese characters are made up of 2 components. On the left side is often a commonly used radical, usually indicating a certain type of pronunciation or associated with a certain type of meaning (For example, the 3-dot water on the left of 汤，河，港 all associate these characters with water - they are the characters for soup, river, and harbor). On the right side might be a combination of radicals or other strokes. So you may have two characters with the same right side, but with (ever so slightly) different left side radicals - these characters differ in pronunciation and meaning.

So now... my identity crisis.

Up until a few years ago, I had only known my Chinese name as it was pronounced in Cantonese. And though I had learned to write it a few times over the course of many years, it never really quite stuck with me. And I think at the time I was learning to write it in traditional rather than simplified.

Two years ago, I was having a conversation with a Mandarin-Chinese-speaking person who was asking me what my Chinese name was. I said I only knew it in Cantonese, and I said my name. Since he spoke Cantonese too, he said, "Ohh... in Mandarin, that's so-and-so" and then he proceded to write the name on paper. I looked at the characters he wrote, and they looked as I had remembered them. So there it was... my name. And it is the name I have used ever since.

And then... last week, my parents came into town. And I showed them my student ID card. My dad looked at it and said, "Oh, your name is written incorrectly." What?! "That's not your name. Your name is written like this..."

And then my dad proceded to show me that the first character of my given name is written with a different left-side radical than I was told two years ago by that man (who shall remain nameless). The left-side was, in fact, not ⻉ like I was told; no, it's ⻐.

Implications: for 4 months, I have been pronouncing my name incorrectly. I have been writing my name incorrectly. All of the important, official documents still use my English name... but there are a few documents (like my student ID card) which have my... incorrectly written name. My teachers all call me by my incorrect name. My newly made friends all call me by my incorrect name.

This is the English equivalent of finding out that my name is actually Alfred, and that I've been spelling and saying it wrong all these years.

So now I face a dilemma. Do I begin using my correct name, which means having to explain sheepishly to all my friends and teachers that I've been writing and saying it wrong all this time? Or just go on using my incorrect name, which was not chosen for me by my parents but rather by a guy who duped me into trusting his Cantonese-to-Mandarin translation skills?

I have yet to decide what I will do, or if I will do anything at all.

On a separate note, isn't the Chinese-style id photo totally cool looking?

Gifts from Home Plus Contest

Back before we moved, we packed two suitcases of winter clothes and art supplies, and we asked Alvin's parents to bring it for us since they were planning to come visit us in October. Somehow though, through generous gifts from them and the rest of the family, the suitcases went from two suitcases to four suitcases.

We were shocked when we opened up the suitcases. Two and a half suitcases were full of snacks, candy, and coffee. It felt like Halloween. We did request some of the items, but some of the items were a nice surprise. The most popular gifts included Starbucks Via and gummy bears. hehe, I am glad that people in my family are faithful blog readers.

This is only three of the four suitcases. The last suitcase was not brought over to our house until a day later.


So here is the game: Whoever can name the most items listed in the picture wins. You can't name anything that has already been named in earlier comments. Double points if you know the names of the stuffed animals. Entries must come in by Thursday, Oct 15th, 11:59pm PST.

I will send the winner their choice of either gummy bears or a box of Starbucks Via.

Mom and Dad come to town!

My parents came into town yesterday, and it's been so good to spend some time with them. I don't have time to write a long blog entry, since it has been a long day, and we have to be up early again tomorrow morning to go out exploring with them again.

Today, we took them to the mountains to our west, took a ski lift up part of the mountain, hiked up another part, and then took a ski lift down the mountain.



Then, after lunch, we explored the neighborhood around our home and university... the outdoor market, the streets, and the campus. Then it was hanging out at home and just relaxing, resting, and drinking tea. After that, a nice leisurely bus ride into the old city for dinner (duck!).

We had such a good time with them today, and were just so glad that they could come and experience a little bit of what life is like for us out here.

Tomorrow, it's off to the desert...

Beat It

Yesterday, as Alvin and I were shopping on "Walking Street", a strange thing happened. We were looking at a person selling walnuts. Then, all of a sudden he put the walnuts on the back, and started booking it. We looked down the street and there was a huge rush towards us of street vendors with their merchandise. Alvin and I were scared for a second because we thought maybe it was an emergency crisis happening and everyone was rushing towards us. Turns out, it was a just a police man coming down the street. The street vendors must not have had the proper licenses. The funny thing is that one of the street vendors was playing the song "Beat It." Alvin commented that maybe that is the cue for the street vendors to beat it.

Heads Up

Many of the units in our apartment complex are still in the process of being renovated and prepared for residence. So it is pretty common to hear workers and tools - in our building, and in the buildings around us. Not too long ago, we noticed from our window a large pile of rocks in front of the building across the way. Apparently, some of the renovation work meant hammering out some of the cement walls.

These were big, heavy pieces of cement. That sure is a lot to carry... especially down 5 flights of stairs. Then we realized... they weren't using the stairs.


Instead, at the bottom, near the pile, was a man standing guard. No safety helmet, nothing. His job is to yell to the guy upstairs just in case somebody happens to be walking out the door, right into the drop zone. And probably, his job is also to yell at those people who are about to wander into the drop zone.



And then up above, every few seconds or so, is the man on the 5th floor... throwing rocks out the window.



I'll admit... that's probably how I would have done this job too. Doing five flights of stairs over and over again... is a lot of work, especially if you're carrying heavy rocks. Still, I think I would have implemented some safety measures - maybe a safety helmet, some yellow tape to cordon off the area - oh, and I probably would have moved that guy's bike for him, just to be nice.