Gao Chali, for my first two months here, has been like my Chinese Dad! Last year, he gave Kim her Chinese family name: Gao. This year, he named both Emily and I: Gao Li and Gao Shan. We are all related! This Wednesday night, Charlie invited the three of us out to dinner. As he drove to the restaurant, we turned down back dirt roads and I wondered where the hell we could possibly be going. We ended up at a pretty restaurant (even though there was a large cage of about 10 chickens and 1 duck outside). I also fell in love with a little puppy that I played with and brought to our table after we had finished eating. He even fell asleep next to me!
Inside, Charlie ordered a ton of dishes! One of the fruits we ate could be anything...I still don't know what it is called but its texture was almost a blend of cucumber and apple. A different plate had tofu cooked with light breading - delicious! Another dish had a pile of vegetables and shrimp. When I say shrimp I mean very miniscule shrimp with feelers and eyes still attached. I had to try them, of course, and surprisingly liked the taste! I ate several little guys as they stared down my throat.
Finally, we were given a large bowl of meat. I thought Charlie had told us we were going to have "wild pig" so I assumed it was pig or boar. Each piece still had all the bones attached so I ate carefully. He told us it was chicken then pulled out the head from the bowl as proof. It was sliced vertically, but the beak and little flappy "hat" could still be seen. I thought to myself, "Where else am I going to taste chicken head?" So, after Charlie said I could have it, I ate some of the skin, the comb (the top "hat"), and even parts of the BRAIN. The comb was very soft ... and yummy! All of it was actually. I am not sure how soon I will be eating another chicken head though. Soon after eating the chicken head, I made my way to the bathroom. To get to the bathroom, I had to leave our room, walk outside, and find my way to the bathroom. The only problem was I had to walk by that large cage on my way. Immediately after eating a chicken head, I stared at 10 live chickens in the eyes.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Qing Tombs
This past Sunday, I was lucky enough to join a trip to the Qing Tombs near Baoding. Kim made friends last year with four young children and their two mothers. This year, Kim, the children, their mothers, Emily, and I were driven by a man in a little van to the Qing Tombs. While there, we made several stops. Maybe about six stops in total.
The buildings were ancient and alluring. We saw replicas of the ancient garments worn by the emperors during the Qing Dynasty. Underground, we were able to see the tombs of one of the emperors and his wife. The wife's tomb had more damage. We learned that a long time ago tomb raiders broke her coffin and stole the treasure inside. The emperor's tomb was left untouched because there was no treasure inside. Instead, there is a secret well under his coffin that holds the treasure and it is still there to this day.
My favorite stop during this trip was the last one: a visit to the Buddhist temples. The statues of Buddha are gargantuas and perfectly painted. We knelt down in front of the first one while a monk watched. Two Chinese Buddhist monks then came over to talk to us. They were interested in where we were from and why we were living in China. As someone who is not slightly religous, this was a moving day for even me. The monks welcomed us to the China and said we would always be welcomed to return to visit or find a job. They gave each of us an apple that had been sitting in front the Buddha statue and told us they were blessed with good luck. I held onto mine for the rest of the day and ate it for breakfast on Monday. China Surprises keep occuring when I do not expect them!
The buildings were ancient and alluring. We saw replicas of the ancient garments worn by the emperors during the Qing Dynasty. Underground, we were able to see the tombs of one of the emperors and his wife. The wife's tomb had more damage. We learned that a long time ago tomb raiders broke her coffin and stole the treasure inside. The emperor's tomb was left untouched because there was no treasure inside. Instead, there is a secret well under his coffin that holds the treasure and it is still there to this day.
My favorite stop during this trip was the last one: a visit to the Buddhist temples. The statues of Buddha are gargantuas and perfectly painted. We knelt down in front of the first one while a monk watched. Two Chinese Buddhist monks then came over to talk to us. They were interested in where we were from and why we were living in China. As someone who is not slightly religous, this was a moving day for even me. The monks welcomed us to the China and said we would always be welcomed to return to visit or find a job. They gave each of us an apple that had been sitting in front the Buddha statue and told us they were blessed with good luck. I held onto mine for the rest of the day and ate it for breakfast on Monday. China Surprises keep occuring when I do not expect them!
National Holiday
After returning from Beijing, I had a short week at school. Due to the National Holiday on October 1st, we all had Thursday and Friday off that week and the following week off from classes. The Monday before the holiday, I showed movies in my classes and had an interesting lunch. Two of my students brought me to a resaurant to try to my first donkey burger. Yes, DONKEY MEAT! It sound weird to us Americans, but Donkey Burger is what Baoding in known for. The meat come out looking a little gross but tucked nicely into a cute panini type bread. I bit into it fearing the worst....and loved it! Okay, I tried donkey and loved it. Now what about dog?
Tuesday I showed a movie in one class and played games in another. I decided my holiday should be two weeks, not one and a half. On the actual National Holiday, I watched the parade/celebration on TV. It took over Beijing and was MASSIVE and very long. It was quite beautiful though. Emily, Kim, and I made a lazy day of it and had Korean food delivered to our building. A couple days during the week, Emily and I tested out the tennis courts with our new, super cheap tennis rackets. Overall, I think I did less than most people in China during the holiday because I did not travel outside the city. However, it is all worth it because I was able to relax, meet up with new friends, and save money for future trips.
On day, three of my students brought Emily and I to the Baoding Botanical Garden. It is humongous and beautiful. We did not even go to the Winter, Summer, Autumn, or Spring gardens. We walked through the middle and to the back with the massive buildings and the serene lake. A man sold us cotton candy that he made by using his bike's momentum. We then rented a paddle boat and stayed out in the water for about an hour. It was a lot of fun! We even saw about 6 couples getting their wedding photos taken. In China, the bride and groom will dress up in their wedding outfits and go to a beautiful location to take pictures before the wedding. I had heard we would be lucky to see one couple but we saw six. It was such a lovely day and as a way to repay my students (who did not let us pay for the boat), we took them out to dinner the following day.
The National Holiday was a relaxing break from classes!
Tuesday I showed a movie in one class and played games in another. I decided my holiday should be two weeks, not one and a half. On the actual National Holiday, I watched the parade/celebration on TV. It took over Beijing and was MASSIVE and very long. It was quite beautiful though. Emily, Kim, and I made a lazy day of it and had Korean food delivered to our building. A couple days during the week, Emily and I tested out the tennis courts with our new, super cheap tennis rackets. Overall, I think I did less than most people in China during the holiday because I did not travel outside the city. However, it is all worth it because I was able to relax, meet up with new friends, and save money for future trips.
On day, three of my students brought Emily and I to the Baoding Botanical Garden. It is humongous and beautiful. We did not even go to the Winter, Summer, Autumn, or Spring gardens. We walked through the middle and to the back with the massive buildings and the serene lake. A man sold us cotton candy that he made by using his bike's momentum. We then rented a paddle boat and stayed out in the water for about an hour. It was a lot of fun! We even saw about 6 couples getting their wedding photos taken. In China, the bride and groom will dress up in their wedding outfits and go to a beautiful location to take pictures before the wedding. I had heard we would be lucky to see one couple but we saw six. It was such a lovely day and as a way to repay my students (who did not let us pay for the boat), we took them out to dinner the following day.
The National Holiday was a relaxing break from classes!
Beijing
I took my first trip to Beijing during the last weekend in September. Emily, Kim, and I took the faster, more expensive train. It felt as if we were on an airplane. The seats were nice and I actually had a lot of leg room. For about $7 we made it to Beijing in an hour. Oddly, the first feeling that came over me as I stepped into the big city was "am I leaving?!" Beijing is definitely a Chinese city but has many modern buildings. This was my first time leaving Baoding since landing in China. For some reason, all I could think about was returning to a city in America and my brain kept saying, "I can't leave my students yet!" I really am attached to them!
Not to worry though, I had an amazing weekend in the big city. We met up with a former foreign student of Hebei, Kim's Russian friend Slava. He was hilarious and spent the night with us. We all had dinner together with a main course of BEIJING DUCK!!! Yes, the same thing as Peking Duck. I can honestly say it is in my Top 5 of Favorite Foods Around The World. That's how good the meat and sauce tasted. It certainly lives up to its name.
All three days, we stopped at Ya Show. It is a large, 6 floor shopping center. The "stores" are all open fronts with clothes, trinkets, shoes, belts, maps, and paintings. It can be overwhelming if not for all the products, then for the workers. Most of the workers are young women trying to make as much money as possible. It is normal to bargain (they might tell you shoes cost 400yuan and you can get them for 60yuan). The trouble is standing up to this little Chinese women who say, "I am going to be poor because of how much you want to pay me!" or "Please, friend, help me out here." I ended up with two new button down shirts (40yuan or $6 each) and two matching pairs of socks (15 yuan for both, about $2). I also bought a few DVDs at a store around the corner. The trip felt like a shopping success.
Kim had to leave Saturday afternoon but Emily and I stayed until Sunday. Saturday night, Emily and I paid 180yuan each to hostel and received transportation to and tickets for a Kung Fu show. Chun Yi: The Legend of Kung Fu is a famous show seen around the world but mainly in Beijing, China. I loved it! The stage opened up several ways. The actors did crazy tricks. There were people from various nations in the audience. It was a great experience!
Overall, a great first trip to Beijing with many more to come. As I write this, I am two days away from going again...
Not to worry though, I had an amazing weekend in the big city. We met up with a former foreign student of Hebei, Kim's Russian friend Slava. He was hilarious and spent the night with us. We all had dinner together with a main course of BEIJING DUCK!!! Yes, the same thing as Peking Duck. I can honestly say it is in my Top 5 of Favorite Foods Around The World. That's how good the meat and sauce tasted. It certainly lives up to its name.
All three days, we stopped at Ya Show. It is a large, 6 floor shopping center. The "stores" are all open fronts with clothes, trinkets, shoes, belts, maps, and paintings. It can be overwhelming if not for all the products, then for the workers. Most of the workers are young women trying to make as much money as possible. It is normal to bargain (they might tell you shoes cost 400yuan and you can get them for 60yuan). The trouble is standing up to this little Chinese women who say, "I am going to be poor because of how much you want to pay me!" or "Please, friend, help me out here." I ended up with two new button down shirts (40yuan or $6 each) and two matching pairs of socks (15 yuan for both, about $2). I also bought a few DVDs at a store around the corner. The trip felt like a shopping success.
Kim had to leave Saturday afternoon but Emily and I stayed until Sunday. Saturday night, Emily and I paid 180yuan each to hostel and received transportation to and tickets for a Kung Fu show. Chun Yi: The Legend of Kung Fu is a famous show seen around the world but mainly in Beijing, China. I loved it! The stage opened up several ways. The actors did crazy tricks. There were people from various nations in the audience. It was a great experience!
Overall, a great first trip to Beijing with many more to come. As I write this, I am two days away from going again...
Friday, October 9, 2009
Chinese Zodiac
Ni hao!
I still have to write a few longer blogs about my last two weeks (they have been a lot of fun with only 2 days of classes!), but for now I thought I would talk about the Chinese Zodiac. One thing I did over this vacation was visit the Baoding Botanical Garden. Near the front of the HUGE garden is a sundial surrounded by carvings of the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac. I took pictures of each one - you can see those on my photobucket!
If you want to know which animal you are, go to this website: http://www.orientaloutpost.com/chinese_zodiac.php
I like that website because even though it has a shorter description of each animal, it is easy to understand and figures out your animal by having you put in your birthday. This is good because even though my parents were born in the same year, they are different animals because my mother was born at the end of a Chinese year, shortly before the near year. Therefore she is technically the animal of the previous western year. Check it out!
Here is another website: http://www.qi-journal.com/Culture.asp?-token.SearchID=Astrology%20and%20Zodiac
This one provides more a description for each animal and includes what element you are depending on your year. You may be wood, metal, fire, earth, or water.
And finally check out the wikipedia page for Chinese astrology: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_astrology
More information on the elements can be found here, as well as a chart of when the new year occurs each year. This year the Spring Festival is actually quite late and not until February 15th, 2010.
What sign are you? Do you think it describes you?
I just thought this was fun to look at even if you do not believe in astrology at all! Let me know what animal you are... ;-)
I still have to write a few longer blogs about my last two weeks (they have been a lot of fun with only 2 days of classes!), but for now I thought I would talk about the Chinese Zodiac. One thing I did over this vacation was visit the Baoding Botanical Garden. Near the front of the HUGE garden is a sundial surrounded by carvings of the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac. I took pictures of each one - you can see those on my photobucket!
If you want to know which animal you are, go to this website: http://www.orientaloutpost.com/chinese_zodiac.php
I like that website because even though it has a shorter description of each animal, it is easy to understand and figures out your animal by having you put in your birthday. This is good because even though my parents were born in the same year, they are different animals because my mother was born at the end of a Chinese year, shortly before the near year. Therefore she is technically the animal of the previous western year. Check it out!
Here is another website: http://www.qi-journal.com/Culture.asp?-token.SearchID=Astrology%20and%20Zodiac
This one provides more a description for each animal and includes what element you are depending on your year. You may be wood, metal, fire, earth, or water.
And finally check out the wikipedia page for Chinese astrology: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_astrology
More information on the elements can be found here, as well as a chart of when the new year occurs each year. This year the Spring Festival is actually quite late and not until February 15th, 2010.
What sign are you? Do you think it describes you?
I just thought this was fun to look at even if you do not believe in astrology at all! Let me know what animal you are... ;-)
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