Tree Planting

The international school took all the students on another field trip, back to the area where they took us apple picking in the fall. This time, the plan was to help the environment and plant a tree.

So to start off, we all painted our names on signs:


Then we, ok, I mean mostly Alvin, dug up a hole and we planted in the "tree." We then tied our signs to the tree.





One good thing is that I didn't do the Jeep ride like last time. Some friends, begged the principal to ride the Jeep, so one Jeep went out for the adventure. I decided to pass this time.

Breakup Walkway

This is a picture of the walkway outside our kitchen window, right next to the heart-shaped sandbox, shot at about 9pm.

We get a lot of noise in the evenings because of the string of booths/restaurants set up just to the right of where this picture is shot. On most nights, you'll hear men doing some weird back-and-forth yelling game, which it turns out is some sort of drinking game involving the counting of numbers. Anyways, we're thankful that our bedroom is on the other side, of our unit, away from this noise.

Aside from the people eating and laughing and yelling and playing drinking games... once in awhile, you will hear the sound of a couple in the middle of a breakup. Ok, I don't know for sure that it's a breakup - it might just be a fight, or the confession or some terrible wrongdoing, or some other thing - but whatever it is, it is dramatic. What clues me in? It's the yelling, which is not, "Hey, we're having a good time on a weekend hanging out" kind of yelling. It's more like (even though it's in Chinese) "I can't believe you're telling me this today, how could you do this to me?" kind of yelling. Followed, often times, by loud wailing from the girl. Really... loud... wailing.

I have seen at least a handful of breakups happen on this walkway. Most at night, sometime between 9pm and 1am. Sometimes in the middle of the day. And I learn things about cultural differences as I watch. Usually, the setup of people looks pretty similar to the picture above:

You have the girl standing off to the side in shock, wondering and crying. You have the guy who just broke up with her - he's the one in the stripes down center - and a friend who is trying to talk to him, maybe asking him to change his mind or to go about it differently. This friend is crucial, because he often goes back and forth as the intermediary between the guy and the girl. And then (no joke), you have the other friend who is sitting off to the distance smoking. He's not so involved; he's just wondering when things will settle down and they can get back to their lamb skewers and beer.

I've noticed that these scenarios usually involve lots of guys but only one girl. My guess is that the guy invited his girlfriend to come and hang out with him and his buddies, but then he took her aside to lay down the difficult news.

I saw a similar scenario a few months ago, late at night, on the street outside our window. Guy and girl in breakup. Girl walking down the street. Guy chasing after her. Girl hitting him and wailing, then continuing to walk. Guy continues to chase. Eventually the friend comes and talks to the girl as an intermediary. Lots of other guy friends standing off to the side, looking at their cell phones or smoking.

It is interesting to me how often these scenarios happen outside in public. And - now, I don't mean to downplay the emotional stress that people in breakup may be under - I also notice that I don't feel like I see people sit down and talk these things out in a healthy way... in a way that makes people feel listened to and understood. I think that the Western approach to conflict resolution is very different from what I often see here.

Well, the wailing has stopped. I can only guess that the guy and girl have gone their separate ways and a few of the friends remained just to finish up the remainders of the food that they ordered. I'm hearing the yelling from the drinking games start up again...

Come On Now, Let's All Be Civilized

In the years leading up to the Beijing Olympics, the bigger cities saw a movement towards being more 文明 (wén míng), which is roughly translated as "civilized" or "cultured."

So, if somebody spits out the window of a bus onto the street (or onto a person walking down the street)... or disregards the line at the bank... or is seen urinating onto the side of a building... you might hear somebody say, "哎呀，真不文明啊。" (āi yā, zhēnbùwénmíng ā), which means, "Aiya... so uncivilized."

But, while I have heard about this movement in Beijing or Shanghai, I haven't felt like we've encountered this 文明 movement so much here in our city. Until I came across this sign today while heading to the post office in the middle of downtown. There is a big and busy intersection, and trying to cross this road is not for the uninitiated. And even though they have had this four-way underpass all along, people still like to play Human Frogger to get from the shopping center to the post office.

What was funny to me was that, right after I shot this picture, crossed the underpass and was about to turn the corner to head back upstairs, I heard someone yelling, "Woooooooooo!" Just as I turned the corner, I saw a grown-man sliding down the side of the stair path (it's flat, for bikes and luggage) in his slippery shoes, having the time of his life. And if I hadn't reacted quickly enough and dodged him, he would have slid right into me and knocked me over. At least he took the underpass, unlike those uncivilized people up on street level.

Homemade Pasta w/ Cheese and Mushrooms

Since Top Chef Masters is back on tv again, it has reignited my passion for cooking fancy foods.

Here is the recipe I used from the Top Chef Masters website:
Homemade Pasta

Below is the recipe, with my changes. Unfortunately, I couldn't find truffles, so I used oyster mushrooms instead. Although, even if I could find truffles in the states, it would be too expensive for me.

Serves two people:
* 1 cup of Flour
* 4 Egg Yolks
* 1/6 cup Water
* 1 ounce Mozzarella cheese (shredded)
* 3 cups of Oyster Mushrooms (large dice)
* Salt
* Pepper
* 1/4 cup + 3 tablespoons Olive Oil
* 2 tablespoons Butter
* 1 cup of water
* 1/2 cup Grated Parmesan
* 2 cup spinach
* 2 tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar


To make pasta:

1. Mix flour, egg yolks, water, and a pinch of salt. Let dough sit and roll out into 8 x 5 sheets.

2. Cook in boiling water for approximately 2-3 minutes. Remove and place in ice water.

3. Once pasta is cooked, lay it out flat on a towel.

4. Sprinkle cheese and some of the mushrooms onto the pasta and season the mixture with salt and pepper. Fold the pasta around the mixture.

5. Place the little packages of pasta seam side down in a oiled (olive oil) baking dish .

6. Bake for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees.


For Mushrooms:

1. Sauté mushrooms in the 3 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter. Cook until brown.

2. Deglaze mushrooms with 1 cup of water and reduce by 1/2.

Spinach Salad (for Garnish):

1. Dress spinach with 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar and 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Plating:

1. Distribute mushrooms evenly over cooked pasta.

2. Sprinkle 1/2 cup grated Parmesan on top of pasta and garnish with spinach salad.

Here's a picture of my dish at the end:
(It tasted good, but I think it is because it was packed with cheese inside.)

Yu Min Hong Lookalike

On more than a few occasions, different people in this city have told me that I look like this guy named Yu Min Hong (俞敏洪). A few of my teachers have said this, along with a good handful of Chinese college students here.

Finally, I did some searching around on the web to look this guy up. What do you think... resemblance?

Yu Min Hong is famous among the education circles in this country, particularly as it relates to learning English and studying abroad. He was formerly an English teacher at Peking University, and in the 90's started the Beijing New Oriental School, which does GRE, TOEFL, and SAT training. As the wikipedia article says, he is known as the Godfather of Study Abroad.

I believe that Yu Min Hong is around 15 years older than I am. So maybe this is what I will look like in 10 to 15 years. Although maybe I already kind of look like this now.

I watched a short video clip of Yu Min Hong giving a presentation at the Harvard Business School. I was relieved to discover that my English is better than his. But his Chinese is better than mine. I wonder if he and I could partner up as a single person, where he does the appearances that require Chinese while I do the appearances that require English. Or what would be really cool is if we did appearances together and translated for each other.

Kyrgyz Birthday Party

Our class has 5-6 students in it depending on the day. Two of the students are from Kyrgyzstan, and one of them was in our class last year. This week, one of the Kyrgyz guys celebrated his 20th birthday, and invited Alvin and me to his birthday party at a restaurant. It was a really interesting and fun cultural experience.

Our friend threw his own birthday party. He invited about 20 friends, about half were international students, and the other half were local friends. There were a couple culturally different things that happened during the party.
1) Our friend had assigned seats for all his guests. He wanted to have his international friends sitting next to his local friends.
2) Our friend ordered food for both tables. His one rule for the food was that both tables had to have different food. He really ordered well and it felt like a banquet.
3) Our friend and another Kyrgyz guy went around filling up everyone's plate with food, and then walked around filling up our drinks. I don't think he even ate.
4) The birthday boy also was the first to toast the guests, and then he made a diplomatic speech about being friends with all cultures.
5) At the party were Chinese friends, Kyrgyz friends, a Pakistani guy, a Japanese guy, a French guy, a Mexican guy, and Alvin and I represented the Americans. The most common language was Chinese, so almost all of the conversations were in Chinese, except for a few English phrases and a lot of charades.
6) Our birthday boy had a mix CD on his stereo system. This CD had quite a variety: some Bob Marley, Rihanna, "Eye of the Tiger," "Beat It," Romanian music, and my favorite was Madonna's "Like a Prayer." Some of the conversation during the night was about how weird Lady Gaga looks, and then one guy announced that Britney looks fat. Oh, I didn't notice.


Overall, I had a really fun time at the birthday party. I felt like culturally the party was different from a typical American birthday party, but I am not sure if all the different items were Kyrgyz culture or just this guy's preferences.

Puzzle Pasttime

The week before last, I was out with a cold for about 3 days. Was feeling pretty lethargic.

About a week before that, we happened upon an unopened 1000 piece puzzle. I think the two of us like doing puzzles - it's therapeutic, a fun challenge, and a good way to have good conversations while you're sorta doing something else.

Well, since I was just looking for a way to get some rest and pass the time, we decided to open the puzzle and give it a go. This puzzle features the Cracker Jack logo along with one of the brand's characters. It took us about 2 hours just to get the edges. And then, over the next few days, we spent time putting together the logo and the picture of Sailor Jack and Bingo.

That all ended last Sunday. The rest of the puzzle, we feel, is impossible. The rest of it is just... cracker jacks. Like, popcorn and peanuts. No other distinctive colors or patterns. Just... popcorn.

So the puzzle has just been sitting on our kitchen table, taking up half of the table, untouched for a week. We are paralyzed. There's got to be at least 400 pieces left to go. All look same. Maybe we'll just box it back up.

I Am Have Many Question

This announcement flyer posted right outside our building for international students learning Chinese. For an English-only flyer, I would put the grammar and word usage at about 95th percentile relative to everything else we've seen out here that's in English.



What's interesting to (besides the English) is that, you would think that - if there was anybody on campus who had an English operating system on their computers - it would be the foreign students. I don't understand why we are their market audience.

And also... in regards to operating systems, anti-virus software, or other software... who wants to make a bet that this is authentic non-pirated software?