Technology shopping and Ikea

Posted on October 2, 2010 by susan

October 2, 2010

I have a Blu-ray. Surprise, it came with the apartment. Sawyer took me to “technology row” in Hunan Village. We got an I-pod docking system that looks like a fat white pig. You touch his ears and volume goes up on one and down on the other. His smiling mouth lights up green. Randy you told me technology would be so cheap in China because it is made here. Got news for you, NOT! It seems the Chinese export all these name brands to America and then to sell them in China they have to import them back, causing the price to rise. So I probably paid the same price for this little guy as I would in the states. We then went to the disc store to buy DVD’s and CD’s. Now this was cheap and fun. I was able to get six Blu-ray movies all top American summer hits for 10 Yuan each, about $1.50 each. We lounged on the sofa and watched “Julie and Julia” last night after Alice cooked dinner for us. We had to get a wok at Suagao for her to cook a delicious Chinese style dinner of stir fried greens, eggs and peas, broccoli with red chilies and a dish of pesto pasta. I made the pasta. Alice can come and cook anytime.

I feel like a kid in a candy shop when we walk around the city and look at the sites. It was the National holiday yesterday, like our July 4^th. Four red ball lanterns decorate the store fronts and cafes creating a festive atmosphere downtown. Lively and full of people eating, chatting and playing with their little children we walk into a city sitting area, with a pond and large space to see children learning to ride bikes and roller stating. Two old men are squatting on the pavement selling frogs and dragonflies they have made from bamboo leaves. We buy two. Alice wants a yogurt with these little transparent beads and poppy seeds in it, looking like fish eggs floating on top. Sawyer and I have lemon tea. We walk on and shop.

Shopping is getting to be my favorite pastime, or eating! Jenny, my math colleague and her husband Lynn took me to Ikea in their car. What a treat, driving around and seeing the city. This is one large town. Ikea is great and in English too! I was able to find a mattress pad that is spongy for both beds, duvet, blanket, candles, utensils, glasses, rugs, pans and just all that stuff you think you need to survive in China. The afternoon has been fun unpacking all my goodies.

These next few days I am without the internet, so blogging will be interesting. Sarah the parent of my student Filo, is letting me connect to her internet. Yes that is the American name she picked—strange because it makes me think of flaky pastry dough! Students love to pick their own names for us to call them. I have one named Moon, and I would say that was a good choice for a name. Others named Roy, Marina, Arno, and then normal names like Amy and William. Tomorrow Filo and I may go out shopping. This might be fun to see what teenagers like to shop for.

Pondering the past, the gift is the present

Posted on October 2, 2010 by susan

October 1, 2010

I wonder does he ever think about me, worry about my welfare, wish he was here with me, why did he do what he did to cause all this? I don’t know. He is so far from me now, in another world and I ponder over these things on occasion. Do I hear from him? Some. It’s just a facade; he never opens the door, walks in, sits down and talks one to one. Did he ever really talk to me? I don’t remember. It is all a haze now like my morning view of the city. I see the buildings but I don’t know what they are, like him. Who was this man beyond the exterior? I have learned the “one thing” is living your life in the moment. I am stuck in the past, thinking like this. It’s over, move on I tell myself, live life today, the present. Someone said the present is a gift. Looking out my window I see my gift a vast life to explore. I see a five story pagoda on a little hill it keeps calling me to come visit. A tear trickles down my eye. Today I miss what I didn’t have with you. It was a beautiful dream which floated away in a cloud.

A hot cup of honeysuckle tea, music drifting from my downstairs stereo with songs about the story of her life sounds like mine. Alice gave me this CD by Deana Carter. I enjoy the Sheryl Crow like melody. It gives me a lift, makes me smile. Alice and Sawyer will be coming by in an hour. They are going to help me translate the Chinese characters on my TV remotes. They are the best adopted Chinese children a mom could ask for. They take care of me, like Sam, Casey, Randy and Andy do. They fix things I can’t. Sawyer gave me a T-shirt yesterday with a guy fishing in a boat with sharks swimming around. “Big fish?” and “Exploring Unknown Worlds” are printed on it. Sawyer likes fish, like my boys so this is something he got just for me and in blue, my favorite color. Love, you find it everywhere, just look. The gifts of the present and living life in the moment are my treasure.

High Rise Living

Posted on September 29, 2010 by susan

Living in a Chinese high rise is a new experience for this Texan. Looking out at dusk over the city as lites are popping on and fire crackers are exploding at a near by street I realize I am looking at something totally different than I ever saw from any of my past homes. In celebration of my move I am having a French Bordeaux wine in my Confucius Temple mug while boiling some spiral pasta to have Pesto Pasta I purchased at the Carrefour store. Plus some Spanish olives on the side. A very internationally prepared set of ingredients for this new to China cook. It will be yummy.

My move has kept me cleaning for a couple days. Meeting up with the landlady, I realized the place had not been cleaned, just painted and lights fixed. I need it clean! She had two maids come and the washing machine man fix my washer. Seems everything needed repaired. The maids got most of the dust, but the folks that lived before never cleaned anything. So every nook and cranny needed attention. I could not locate bleach, or any kind of American cleaners in the grocery store. Sawyer said to use Mr. Muscle cleaner, which I found for every job you need. It works! There are no paper towels in Chinese stores, which makes it interesting wiping grim away using cloth dish towels. I have dusted and mopped the floors so they are sparkling. You can walk around bare footed or wear Chinese house shoes that are at my front door. Debbra Carrol is worried about my bathroom facilities having read about the trenches. Deb- I have two western toilets, just like in the states! I don’t have an oven to bake or dryer for clothes, seems that is not a necessity in China, something I will have to learn to live without. Maybe I will buy a toaster oven, no major cooking of pies, cookies, artichoke dip, or lasagna. Darn! There is a box like contraption on my kitchen wall that comes on with an exploding sound of gas igniting when I turn on the hot water. That is taking some getting use to. I have three wall air conditioners, which don’t seem to have a filter system, or at least I don’t think so. Air is pulled in from the outside along with the dust and I am finding a thin layer deposited daily on my floors. No wonder Chinese don’t like these units. Central AC/heat is the way to go.

My king size bed was an interesting find. It had a blue mattress with an old mattress like pad on top and on top of that was a rattan mat. I sat on it and no comfort did I feel. I tossed the pad and rolled the rattan mat up and stored it. Then I bought a brush to sweep the blue felt like mattress. I thought I might be able to take the cover off and wash it, but not hardly. When I started to unzip it I found this hard Brillo pad bed inside. Impossible to remove the cover from a Brillo pad! Off I went to the Suguo and bought a new mattress pad. I found my American sheets I had brought from the states and made the bed. I did buy another pillow. My giant down comforter and soft pillow I brought from America topped off the bed. My first night was not so comfortable, as the bed needs a few more of those mattress pads. Jenny, my Math colleague said she would take me to Ikea to get more! Yeah a shopping trip in a car.

My first morning I made scrambled eggs and coffee. I can cook again. Coming down almost thirty floors by elevator, I am thinking, wonder what happens when the electricity goes off. This is a long minute or more ride. I walk out onto a beautiful morning. The air is fresh and blowing my hair. Men are busy digging up something in the man holes right by the back door. What in the world are they digging up, oh my it is raw sewage. Then I get a sniff and realize they are bagging it into large flour sack bags. What a job, not mine, thank God. I am about to the point of running as I move past them and notice they have about a hundred bags of pooh next to the cement fenced wall. I hope this not a daily job! That evening when I came back all the bags were gone and there was no smell. It has made me notice that there is many small excavations around town, wonder if this is a town wide plumping issue? Oh well, I’m high enough I shouldn’t smell it, right?

“Tacos,” a Massage and bad mushrooms!

Posted on September 24, 2010 by susan

“Tacos” is the name of the cafe I walked to yesterday, thinking some Mexican food would be great. A western name for a more Chinese style cuisine. Yes I did see an enchilada looking meal on the menu. I am thinking does this waiter understand me well enough to explain to the chef I am wanting a vegetarian enchilada with a taco? Probably not! So I say I am vegetarian and he points to the pizza. Ok a pizza it is plus garlic bread, lots of carbs. There is reading material next to the table on a display rack, I check it out and some is in partial English. I read there are five churches, and ten museums. There is an article about local westerners not losing weight, cause the food is so good! Yes, I can agree. Pizza arrives, and it has corn on it, just like at S.I.T. (Sculpting in Time cafe) This must a traditional recipe. Cheese is blah, can’t even tell what kind it is, no Parmesan or mozzarella. Oh well, it is still tasty.

Then I decide to walk to my fitness center to wear off the carbs. Nice walk and a beautiful sunny cool day for a change. I find the massage/spa area and ask if there is time for a massage. Of course she speaks no English, and I somewhat show her I want a full body massage with hand gestures. She points to 68 yuan. Deal! She hands me this Chinese cotton PJ outfit to put on — ok the top wraps around and ties, can do. The pants are another thing, they look like a kids size 12 and I didn’t even attempt it. Hopped on the table with a towel, underwear and Chinese top and in walks this young skinny Chinese male masseur. Never had a male massage, first time for everything right? My colleague Peter, had said he got a great massage the other day and it was “legit!” So we will see! No oil, and no skin to skin, ah that is why the PJ outfit. Hope he can handle the no PJ bottom part and he seems ok with it. He has a small sheet and works my back with his palms till I think every bone has cracked a few times. Then we does some thumb pressure points and pushes a second time real hard, that can be painfully interesting! I think he even tried to straighten my bowed legs by bending them entirely the other direction, wow! Finally he rolls me over and massages the wrinkles off my face and then does the same to my ears and head. Massage is over, it is legit and a mer ten American dollars for one hour. I am calm and ready for a nap. Head back to the hotel and sleep for hours. Delightful.

Woke up to the TV running and a guy painting with ink and a bamboo brush. Wow, I can learn this easy enough. He shows his mixture for ink and then starts with the bamboo stalk, then the branches and lastly leaves. It was a great art demo and easy to follow. I have ink and a ton of bamboo brushes at school, think I will give it a try tomorrow when I am teaching on Saturday.

Then the news showed three sick little children in the hospital, unconsciouses, on air and hooked up to an IV. Now what is this about? There is a peasant looking mom, bad teeth and tired eyes speaking. Then mushrooms show on the screen. Did she pick bad mushrooms and cook them for these kids? OMG yes! The newscaster is on the scene in the woods with her and she shows them the four kinds she picked, a yellow tree fungus, white toadstool , brown and one with polka dots on the inside. None of these look edible to me…only hallucinogenic. The scientist on the show, take four white lab rats and make a concoction serum of each one of the mushrooms and inject into the poor little rats. The clock ticks away two hours, four hours, ah at six hours we have some unsightly little rats! There tails and feet are different colors, no longer sweet pink! And one is spread out on all fours like a pancake, with eyes bugging out, I would say he is “tripping!” Ah ha the mushroom that is the culprit was the plain white one. Although the other three they marked with a big X too……. The story ends happily, kids get treated and are smiling again. Mom gets a lesson in mushroom picking along those of us who watched the story and the rats had an exciting day tripping in the lab!

Autumn Moon Festival at Confucius Temple

Posted on September 23, 2010 by susan

September 22nd was the Autumn Moon Festival, celebrated by eating moon cakes. A moon cake is given to friends and is a pastry with a variety of fillings. I’ve tried a few and some have lotus or bean paste inside. One had a honey, brown sugar gummy bear texture. They taste somewhat like a Fig Newton. Cute as a button, they have Chinese characters stamped on top.

The Moon Festival is a myth about Chang’e the goddess of the moon, and once a year she can come down from the moon to visit her husband and family. The Chinese regard this day as a national holiday and to see the reflection of the moon in the lake is a good omen. We went to Confucius Temple (pronounced Foo Zi Meow!) last night to view the moonlight, but alais the mist and rain clouded our vision of the moon. The temple was an education in Confucius (Kong Zi) philosophy from 500BC. The book I purchased discusses his personal and governmental morality along with justice and social relationships. He is a leader in the teaching of benevolence. As stated in my book; “If the emperor is fond of benevolence, he will be unconquerable all over the world. Now some princes want to be unconquerable in the world, but do not implement benevolence. That’s just as someone feels extremely hot but is unwilling to take a bath.” The lesson goes on to state if a person has the desire to help others, he will be kindly looked upon. Is this not a lesson we should be teaching our children? What a peaceful world it would be to have kind feelings or express goodwill toward one another. Have I become a student of Master Confucius or maybe I was a student in a past life?

The temple was full of interesting legends, history, sculptures, stelai, one large drum, a gong bell and different presentations. It was a plethora of information.

I so enjoyed the musical presentation by a Chinese singing, bell ringing and instrument playing team of Chinese ritually dressed young people. The music was typically old style Chinese and I wanted a CD, where upon Alice said I could find this kind of music in the disc stores around town. We also saw a stick puppet presentation by puppiters behind a sheet illuminating the figures through it. Now this was clever to watch as the wolf attacked the man and the tree spoke philosophy with a mouth. I believe this is for children, but the adults were mesmerized including Alice and me. Sawyer smiled and laughed. If you saw the movie “Karate Kid” released this summer, you will remember the puppet drama is the same.

We walked up and down the streets by the temple where vendors sold trinkets, which I bought many of. The brightly lit stores lined the street full of people with umbrellas and wet feet. It was a delight to behold.

Faculty dinner and the back door

Posted on September 20, 2010 by susan

The high school had a lovely dinner for all the new teachers, IB and the public school teachers the other night at a very nice restaurant. One fun tradition was lifting your wine glass and cheering, each table would walk around and cheer you, then your table would stand up, walk to each table, toast and cling each glass. We had six large tables of twelve each so it took some time. The food was served with appetizers first, some vegetarian dishes, red wine and some kind of boxed booze, everyone said stay clear of that stuff. It was 45% must be an “Ever Clear!” Dinner was many dishes of meat, whole fish, a bowl of guts in a sauce, BBQ beef, pork and chicken. All my meat eating western friends, did enjoy these dishes. John and I waited patiently for the vegetarian food and it finally did arrive, but to our surprise was in chicken broth. We just gave in and dipped out the mushrooms and set them on our plate and ate them. We had a bowl of steamed weeds, that is the best description I can give. John liked them, I could hardly get them down. Reminded me of the seaweed soup I had the other day. Every time I took a sip, smelled like fish and just couldn’t eat it. Melons came and we all enjoyed that. Someone set off a major fireworks display on the front door of the restaurant, causing me to jump and check it out. WOW this was spectacular and right on the sidewalk. My sons would have loved this and gone outside to see the action.

My school has a back door entrance, mainly an exit to purchase food from the local street vendors, but you can see all kinds of activates, from men playing checkers, to ladies washing children and vegetables, to many types of food for sale. I’ve had Thai food, steamed dough dumplings with different fillings pronounced bowser, milk chai tea and fresh fruit.

Coming back in from an excursion on the back street to the high school grounds, one finds serenity and peacefulness. Yes, this high school has lovely gardens and a stream with fish. It has many multistory dorms, for those students who come from a long distance to school. Many buildings are open air including our teaching facilities. It is a wonderful campus.

I sometimes like to stand by the stream and look at the fish or listen to the waterfall. It is so calming and makes me realize how relaxing this is for my overtaxed, multitasking American brain. Yesterday in the corridors of the first floor, students were learning Karate. The master teacher was so fluid in his high kicks showing them how far and hard he wants them to kick. Partnered up, one student would kick and the other held a padded hand paddle to kick too. They would kick and laugh trying to get their feet up in the higher pose. Each day is so delightful.

I saw a UFO!

Posted on September 18, 2010 by susan

I saw a UFO night before last! Walking back to the hotel about 9pm looked up and this set of green lights in a semi-circular pattern were flashing on and off. It was hovering around and then would change the light pattern into a triangle. I saw the hotel guard and signaled for him to see it. He agreed “UFO”– universal word, as he spoke no English. Other people walked up and some showed me on their English/Chinese hand held computer translator they thought it was a kite or a helicopter. NO way Jose, this is a UFO. It was higher than the skyscrapers and just floated around, maybe twenty minutes. I went to my room and tried to photograph it but can’t seem to get the shutter to stay open long enough. Need to read up on time exposures in my Nikon book! Alas no proof, darn!

Woke up to a Chinese cooking TV show this morning. Ok sauté some garlic, add some chili powder and water, looks like soup we are making, um. Now the main ingredient oh my gosh it is a fish head! They sprinkle it with a dark vinegar (No soy sauce is used here at all! Surprise, that must be a Japanese custom) and fry it. Then plop that head in the soup and add some fresh eggplant, tomatoes, green beans with a corn starch thickener. Ok I am going to pass on cooking or eating this!

Infomercials are here too. I saw one for buying uncirculated Chinese yuan, probably proofs. Another was a rubber set of breasts with a hole in them to increase your bust size, yet still have nipplies and the last was a Blender-Boiler to make hot soy milk! My favorite TV show is the Spanish Bull fights translated into Chinese! I’ve never really seen a bull fight — so this has been a new education, watching the matador get pierced in the leg by a bull’s horn. He tries to save face and not look like he is dying from severe agony and continues to hobble and coax the bull to ram his cloak. I think the Chinese like “blood and guts” on TV. I saw a news show with a child that was backed over by a car and the driver just didn’t see him. He then proceeded to drive forward, hit him again, open the door jump out then the car rolls back over the kid. What a mess, I never could figure out if the child survived. In America we just wouldn’t see all the gory details.

Walking toward the back entrance of the University I meandered by a sweet little pond, with huge red-orange goldfish. I heard the sweetest melody, someone is singing a Chinese opera song. I saw a very old gray haired lady just strolling around the pond singing I guess to the fish. I was transposed and couldn’t move. She looked up, saw me, smiled and kept on singing. What a charming moment in time! Walking on, I come to a tunnel with a ten inch thick cement door. Ok now what is this? I walk in and see the light at the end of the tunnel. (Spiritually I am looking to see the light at the end of my tunnel!) As I walk though, I realize it might have been a bomb shelter, damp, dank, with exposed wires running the length of it for lights and a trench on the sides collecting water and what ever else is wet and smelly.

Leave the tunnel, and hop on a taxi. Today it is sunny and I notice my cab driver has on a short sleeve T shirt with pull on sleeves he has added that tie at the wrist and upper arm, plus white gloves. Well this is an interesting fashion statement! Later I learn that the Chinese want to stay light complexed and I am wearing a tank top to get what little bit of direct sun I can find to tan. We have the windows down even in the heat, and we drive past men pulling carts with piles of Styrofoam packing pieces, one with used cardboard boxes flattened and tied down, and another with old lumber pieces bouncing around. All of this looks like trash to me, but may be someones treasures, I don’t know. I see a biker with twenty or so helium brightly colored balloons, maybe he is going to the hospital down the road. Another man is walking balancing two large bowlfuls of fruit on ropes with a stick across his neck. Then out of the blue we stop at a red light and I hear this god-awful coughing up and hocking of a loogie right next to my window. Seems this is quite accepted and I hear and see this many times a day. The thing is, don’t step on it when walking! Another reason to leave your shoes at the door of your home.

A lesson in math for Texas 5th graders!

Posted on September 16, 2010 by susan

Nan Shu Foo Zong is the name of the school I teach at. This is the IB area. The hallways are open air and we are up 100 stairs! No elevator.

My colleagues at their desks working, or napping. Lunch is one and half hours, so a “siesta” is accepted at lunch time. My Tex-Mex language seems to pop up when I am trying to speak in Chinese. the other day I asked for water and said “Agua Por favor!” and someone commented was that a dialect of English, yeah if you are in Texas! No it is Spanish and I am speaking it here and no one understands Spanish, nor my choppy Chinese.

My desk is right behind Peter, my Aussie colleague. Looking out the window from our office you can see a wonderful highrise, that is my apartment complex. I will be moving soon, this makes me very excited. It will be a short walk to and from school, no more taxi’s and city buses to school. It will cut down on expense, the bus is 2 RMB and taxi is 14RMB. How much is that in dollars? A lesson on money:

The yuan (sign: 元; code: CNY) is, in the Chinese language, the base unit of a number of modern Chinese currencies. The distinction between yuan and renminbi (RMB) is analogous to that between the pound and sterling; the pound (yuan) is the unit of account while sterling (renminbi) is the actual currency.

A yuán (元) is also known colloquially as a kuài (块 – “piece”). One yuán is divided into 10 jiǎo (角) or colloquially máo (毛 – “feather”). One jiǎois divided into 10 fēn (分).

This is what I had in my purse. If 6.7 yuan = 1 US dollars. Can some one tell me how much yuan I have? The large coins are 1 yuan each, the gold is .5 yuan and the tiny coin is .10 yuan. IF you can add it up correctly I will send you a Chinese post card! Why am I giving you a math lesson, because my friend Linda in Friendswood told me she has given my blog site to her friend who teaches 5th grade. These students are reading my blog and learning about the culture for their English class. I thought to keep them interested I would do some teaching from across the world to them!

Yesterday I taught the Chinese IB faculty about my life through a power point presentation. I gave a show about my family, Thanksgiving and how we pray and eat, Christmas, a craw fish boil in Austin, going on vacation to Taos and the Native American Pueblo, Tahoe, Galveston, Wimberly, San Fransisco, and Durango. I had pictures of pets, snow, my backyard and art studio. Many of this was very foreign to my new colleagues. The comments that I received in my email from the TOK teacher are this:

Susan,

Thanks a lot for the presentation, nice. What I found most amazing is :

1. the muddy houses very very simlar to the ones where people in Shan Xi province used to live. The only difference is ours are cave-like houses. But mud.

2. the claw fish that’s almost the answer why you like Nanjing without knowing it. People in Nanjing are crazy about claw fish and it’s almost a scence in summer.
One table with a big bowl of claw fish, some people sitting around the table…

3. Budda

I can’t believe it.

One thing I am learning is we are all the same, but different. The next thing I am learning is a good teacher is always a student. This student (art teacher) is learning more than her little Rolodex brain can hold. I feel like it is spinning and information cards are flying out. Anyone still have a Rolodex? Does this tell how old I am or just that I have an antique vocabulary.

Speaking of antiques, I made mention to Jonathan (British colleague that has lived here six years) I can’t find very many old architectural buildings or antiques shops. He told me the Chinese government had the people destroy all the old artifacts years ago and much of the old architecture is destroyed for newer buildings. I’ve seen more Asian jade art in the Crow Museum in Dallas than I have found here. I will keep looking, it has to be here. Religion is non existent. I have seen the Buddhist temple, no Buddhist tho and one Catholic church. In Texas there is a Baptist church on every corner like McDonald’s! My new Chinese friends don’t practice religion, that I can tell. School will meet this and next Sunday for regular classes. (Remember we have a funky holiday next week and we work weekends for the weekdays off) I will have to Google my church in Dallas to read what is going on, and listen to the podcast to get my religion fix or go to the Buddhist temple and light incense and say a prayer. That is a nice way to pray. I will let the wind carry my prayers in the smoke from my incense to God. Like I said all the same, but different.

A Chinese holiday or holidays Chinese style!

Posted on September 14, 2010 by susan

Woke up to torrential rains and a massive headache. Could it be the barometric pressure causing my head to spin? Up early and out of here, need to catch a taxi before everyone else gets going. Umbrella in hand, rain jacket on and Keens on feet, a hike to the taxi stop and then a 20 minute wait. I get a female taxi driver and off to school we go. Michael fixes me a strong coffee for my headache, maybe I am caffeine deficient he says. He maybe right! How nice to have a man fix me anything. What wonderful colleagues I am working with. By noon I’m back to normal.

After classes the IB coordinator and I check out the Art Supply shopping district! Oh my a new “hog heaven” for me, and some one tell mom it is right next door to the antique vendors. We need to take a day and go shopping. Yes, next day off I will return for an art and antique expenditure day.

Speaking of next day off — we have three days off next week, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. It’s a holiday, or maybe not! To get this holiday, we teach our Wednesday class on this Sunday and the following Saturday and Sunday we teach our Thursday and Friday class. Someone explain to the Chinese that we don’t give up weekends for three days off in the middle of the week! Maybe it is like a “Chinese fire drill”—- were things get lost in translation and everyone does things “bass ackwards.” Oh well, guess that holiday will be my art and antique shopping day!

I realized today that most all my students wear glasses, no contacts! I suppose Lasik is out too. No makeup on women, no bleached hair, no manicures or pedicures– no nail polish on anyone, but my little toesies! (No manicure shops for that matter) No need for botox, or stomach stapling, no one has wrinkles or is overweight. People are healthy looking here, all this walking and biking, no wonder. Most Americans would have a coronary within a week of living in this environment. And by the way, they don’t like Air Conditioning or cold anything, including water and beer. Even yogurt is hot. The weather is somewhat like Galveston, hot, humid and gritty. I always said I was the one person that liked Houston weather, well here I am on the same latitude lines! Must admit, I like it tho. Daniel told me today he drew a picture of the sun and put it on his desk! He misses the sun with all the overcast, smoggy, cloudy or what ever these skies are days! I’ve always liked warm, just need to get use to no AC! That is hard. I am too Americanized –soft!

Eating, praying, shopping!

Posted on September 12, 2010 by susan

Saturday I spent the day with Alice and Sawyer. We started our day eating, what else would you do? Eating is so much fun here. Maybe shopping is as fun, but will save that for later. My new favorite place is the JiMing Temple, today we light three incense sticks, put them in the sand table and said prayers. We prayed for each other. It’s raining so we scurry up the steps to the top of the temple where the restaurant is and order our vegetarian meal. Today we have dumplings (like a bread ball with veggies inside) fake duck and beef, fried rice and their delicious plum juice. Another wonderful meal with my new Chinese adopted grown children.

Sawyer says now we must have Coffee, so off to “Sculpting in Time” the western Coffee shop. We order our Cappuccino and Lattes. I notice a John Lennon paperback for sale and bring it to the table to ponder over. It is philosophical sayings by John in Chinese. Alice opens the book and translates to English for me. It is about Communism and how John didn’t really believe that there was Communism. The three of us have a long discussion on the Beatles and politics. Off we go to a mall called MUJI, somewhat like the Galleria in Dallas. So many cute and very fashionable outfits and hundreds of shoes. At this time I realize sizes run small – if not tiny and many won’t fit my size 9 body. I need to be thin as a pencil to wear Chinese fashion. Shoes are hard to fit, Chinese feet are thin, I can find the right size but not wide enough. Later Alice shows me a shoe shop by the University that carries Merrell’s’ and Timberline, American walking/hiking brands. (John Garrott you would be proud! You trained me well about good walking shoes, thank you.)

Take the subway to a bus stop. Not so bad, but then I have translators with me. The University street has many cute shops and I find a jacket and sweater to layer with my T-shirts. Then on the bus we go to Alice’s mom’s home. Jump off and walk into a bakery. Alice wants to order a birthday cake for her mom, will be ready in 15 minutes, so we walk up a back street and eye food while we wait. I find a woman selling live frogs to eat. We see all kinds of cooked meat to purchase, including feet,stomachs, colons, duck heads, gizzards and livers. There were other parts I couldn’t even guess where they came from. Sawyer wants meat, so he gets a sampling of things boxed to go. Up four flights of stairs to Alice’s mom home. Mrs. Wong is simply daring with chopped short hair and teeny tiny reader glasses half way down her nose. She has lived in this home twenty years, where Alice grew up. The kitchen is small but she has every space utilized, chopping all shorts of vegetables. Sawyer’s favorite is a bitter gourd, which is bright grass green in color, long like a cucumber but has warty bumps all over it. Xiao Wong slices it in half and then in thin pieces. She pours boiling water on top and lets it soak, drains, adds salt and vinegar and that magic powered spice I saw Sarah use last night. She stir fries snap green beans with a bit of chilies. A second dish of sliced carrots mixed in a variety of mushrooms including a fungus mushroom is fried. The last stir fried dish is a fresh chive like plant with long thin sliced mushrooms. All of these were tasty except Sawyer’s favorite dish the bitter gourd. I just couldn’t enjoy the taste like he did and he proceeded to eat the entire bowl. We had a lovely bottle of 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon to toast to Xiao Wong’s birthday and new friends.

Time to cut the cutest birthday ever, with fresh fruit on top and in the filling. I so enjoy the family style atmosphere the Chinese continue to cultivate in their homes and during their meals out. This is something we as Americans have given up for fast food and always on the go lifestyles.

Susan Tadlock

Eat, Pray, Teach

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