BBQ!

I grilled out the other week with some friends. It was a mixture of American and Chinese grilling.  Although it took a while to get started, we finally were cooking with oil. Haha, literally, we used cooking oil to start it and on the foods...

Brian is setting up

Some of the food we prepared

The view

The cooks

The grill with food!!!

Menus

Ordering food in China is a little different than America. When you sit down at the table the waitress follows you, hands you one menu, and stands there. She is waiting to take your order. You pick your dishes and tell her immediately. The whole table eats the same thing, which can be nice because you get a variety, but also not, if you don't like the same foods.

Sometimes the menu is hanging on the wall. You just walk up and tell the lady standing nearby what you want to eat. Those are harder for me because it's almost guaranteed not to have English. However, most menus don't have English so us Americans just start yelling out foods that we know and see if they have them there. :) I love eating out in China, it's relatively cheap, mostly good, and a great time to chat with others. Sometimes you accidentally order some strange foods and it makes it an unforgettable meal!

on the left: wood ear with mountain medicine (the white stuff- not sure of the English name, but this is the direct translation) it's a delicious dish! on the right: Duck... very hard to eat since it was mostly bone and skin, but still good tasting.

Here is the menu on the wall.

Getting Things Done

I have this bad habit that I "write" blogs in my head. I make them so detailed that I forget later if I actually wrote it, or just thought about this. This blog I "wrote" the first time while washing dishes. So, if you already know this stuff, that means I just forgot I already wrote it.

With that intriguing introduction... let's get started. :o) It's quite interesting how I get things fixed in my home. Maybe it's the same as in America, but I've never rented a house, so I'm not sure how it works.

1. Call, text, or email (or all three) Deborah. She is in charge of paperwork for me getting to China. She's the one we talk to about money and apartment things. Basically anything besides what I teach.

2. Deborah calls Mr. Lin and tells him.

3. Collectively through text messages we come up with a time that Mr. Lin can visit (Mr. Lin doesn't speak any English)

4. Mr. Lin comes with Fixer Guy (no idea who this man is, but he's always the same guy). They look at the stuff. Mr. Lin talks to Fixer Guy. After deciding what they need to do to fix it...

5. We make another appointment for Fixer Guy to come alone. (Usually I can fumble through this conversation without Deborah's help).

6. Fixer Guy comes at or around appointed time.

7. I get to use my newly repaired/improved item!!

8, I hope that it stays working long term. :o)


pictures: These have nothing to do with my blog, but pictures are fun, so here some are. 

This is the meal Britney cooked for us. 17 dishes!!!

Relaxing afterwards. :)

Keeping busy

This semester has started out quite well. I've gotten myself into a bit of a routine, which has been nice. Part of my routine includes tutoring an older man. He's about 48 and is hoping to go to America as a visiting scholar. I don't know exactly what that means, but I do know that it includes being invited by a university and given opportunities to teach some lectures (at least I'm pretty sure). He's trying to improve his English quickly so that he can be accepted into this program. I've been working with him twice a week for the past few months. He's taught me a lot about Chinese culture and isn't shy to talk about ANYTHING! Today we had a fun converstion.

Jefferson： [looking at my pictures on the wall] Jess, you are beautiful, but there is a problem with some of your pictures.
Me： Well, thanks. What's the problem?
Jefferson: Well, the problem is you don't wear enough make up or tight clothes. You would be more beautiful if you did that. In this picture you aren't standing up straight- it makes you look like your not confident. (I changed the English to sound more fluent)
Me: Yeah, I don't like to wear too much make-up, it takes too long.

Hmm... didn't know how to respond to this one... :o) It's ok, he's a great guy and works really hard. Maybe some day I'll take his advice and wear more make- up.

I've also been volunteering at our local English-speaking coffee house. They now have California ice cream!!!!!! This month's flavor.... Mint Chocolate Chip!! For some of you, you know it's my favorite!!! I've had a few already, keep going back for more :o)

Family in China

Most of you probably know about the one child policy in China. Because of the growing population, families are only allowed to have one child. However, there are some exceptions. 1) If you are a minority- not Han Chinese 2) If you live in the country-side 3) If you are rich enough to pay for a second child 4) If you hide your second child from the government-not the best way, but it's better than aborting the child.

Because of this, most Chinese my age don't have many cousins. They probably have a few aunts and uncles, but each one probably only has one child. They are shocked to hear that I have 18 cousins and flabbergasted when I tell them my mom has 100! They also don't have many or any siblings, but for some reason they always talk about their brother and/or sister. Hmm... how does that work?

It's their cousins! Family here is very close. Everyone lives in the same town, probably in the same area, maybe even the same house. (Although as always, there are many exceptions). Being in Bella's hometown, I got to see first hand how close family is here. We went to so many relatives homes and by the end of the three days I felt like her cousins were my cousins. We were in the country, but the homes were still right next to each other. Children walk easily from home to home. Your cousin lives 4 minutes away walking. At one place we were at the grandparents lived in one part of the house, the uncle and his family lived in the other part (I'll show a picture).

I think it's amazing how close Chinese are to their family. They help each other with no question, they work together, they have each others' back. Most can't fathom the idea of nursing homes. You just don't do that.

Sorry, these pictures aren't in a very good order, hard to organize sometimes.

Hallway outside

This is their bathroom. A bit different than yours, huh?

Bella's brother with two of their cousins

I realize that I already uploaded this one, but I like it so here it is again. :)

apparently I like this one too.. second time for this one as well

Doesn't matter how simple the kitchen is, it can still produce amazing food!

Bella's Grandma's super simple kitchen.

Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

I've been back in Wuhan for a few days now. I start teaching next Monday, so I've enjoyed some time to relax and get ready for the next semester. At the end of last semester a coworker who was leaving gave Nicole and me a blender and small crock pot. For some reason that has made me get into a cooking mood. I have been cooking like crazy! Here's what I've done in the past few days...

Breakfast- hard boiled eggs, healthy oatmeal muffins, strawberry-banana-oatmeal smoothie

Lunch- french toast (yeah, it's kinda breakfast, but I ate it at lunch), applesauce

Dinner- chicken breasts with cream of mushroom soup, onions, and corn served over rice

Nicole, being the lucky neighbor that she is, gets to share in this great enjoyment I've had the past few days. Recipes coming up... Sweet and sour chicken and pulled chicken sandwiches. Do you have any good recipes that use simple ingrediants and a crock pot or blender? I'd love to hear them!

I'll get more pictures/stories posted about my traveling soon. Especially my time during New Years!

What IS that?

I went to a noodle shop right outside of my apartment. It's super close so I figured it would be nice to be able to get some food there. I walked in, looked at the menu and just stood there... I don't know how to read any of the foods. Sure, I know some of the characters by themselves, but once they are put together in this way, I have no clue. So, I decided that the first one on the list is probably pretty popular.

I knew the first character so I said that pointed and said that one, the first one for 9 rmb. He said, "OK" and got to work making my noodle soup. It all looked good until he delicately poured something on top. I didn't know exactly what it was until he handed me the bowl. Even at that time, I didn't exactly know what it was. I took it upstairs, knocked on Nicole's door and said, "NICOLE, I have something to show you... what IS this???"

We both were flabbergasted (not sure what this word means exactly, but seems like a colorful word to use here). It looked like a bird, or a mouse, or... half bird/half mouse. I took a picture so I could remember it forever. Then I turned around, went back outside to get food that I would actually be able to eat.

I later found out that it was a quail. They steam the quail and then carefully place it on top. You can still see the ribs, tail, and head. Not my cup of tea! That's for sure.

I didn't know which picture was the best, so I included all of them.

I think you can see the ribs on this one.

Another quick animal story...
Today I was walking to the store. Next to me was a man carrying two large, plastic bags. All of a sudden, a huge fish jumped out of a bag and flopped around on the ground. The man walked up to it, kicked it, it died (or was knocked out) and he put it back in his bag. Then he continues to walk as if nothing happened. I was shocked and sort of giggled at the same time. There was his supper and it almost got away!  Oh, China... you never know what will happen next...

Jumping Shrimp

This food deserves a post of it's own... by the name of it, you know that it is shrimp and that it jumps. BUT did you know when it's jumping? Yes, it's jumping when it's taken out of the boat. It's also jumping I'm sure, when they are transferred to the restaurant. However, the worst time to see shrimp jumping is when they are sitting on the table ready to eat. Yup, this shrimp is served to you jumping...

They put these tiny tiny shrimp into a bowl full of cilantro, peppers, alcohol, and I'm not sure what else. The most important thing is the alcohol. These shrimp are "jumping" because they are drowning from the alcohol. You can wait until they are dead, or you can kill them in your mouth. My co-worker killed it in his mouth and he wanted me to do the same. Hmm... let me see... that would be difficult. If it started to move around in my mouth, I would probably spit it out. However, I did get a video of it, so I hope I can upload it and you can enjoy watching him eat jumping shrimp.

Nicole had one in her bowl (waiting for it to die) and it jumped and splashed soup on my shirt. I almost got a stain because of a drunk shrimp! I couldn't eat mine alive, so I took my spoon and cut off it's head, then it went down ok. They actually tasted quite good. I do have a video of it, but I tried downloading it right now and it didn't work. I'll try it again later. Otherwise, I'll show you all this summer!!!

Looks good, huh??? :)

Bread

I just finished my weekly Chinese lesson, when my teacher pulled out some bread, "Want some?" she asked. Sure, I like bread. Here was the conversation that followed...

Me: It's good! It reminds me of bread from back home in America.
Teacher: Really? Why do you eat so much bread there if it tastes like this?
Me: (Trying not to laugh) Well, in America we usually put something on our bread, like meat or peanut butter.

Chinese bread is usually a little sweeter and you don't usually add anything to it. So, if you get some good 'ol wheat bread, it might taste a little plain. But oh.. it was so good!

Traveling with School

I didn't know what to expect. But, I guess here, that is probably the best way to approach things. Don't expect anything and you won't be disappointed. I found out that I would be traveling with 80 people. Hmm... 80 people! How's that going to go?

Here was our police escort.

We set off Friday afternoon around 2:45, arrived at the town about 6:15. We waited at the edge of this small town of merely 1 million people for a moment. Not real sure what we were waiting for, but I've learned not to ask a lot of questions (mostly because I can't speak Chinese well enough to ask). Once we got going again, it was great! We seemed to have hit every red light. We got to the hotel quite quickly. Later, I found out that when we waited outside of town, we were waiting for our police escort. This escort stayed with us everywhere we went for the next day and a half.

There were some great things on the trip. First of all, the hotel was amazing. We had a computer in our room, two nice sized beds, a TV, and a clean western bathroom. The food was also very delicious! We had 6 huge meals. Every time we ate, I got excited for the food. One time, there were 10 of us on our table and they served us 20 different dishes! (That didn't include plain rice.)

Delci and Nicole enjoying the food.

Here was one of our smallest meals... 10 people, 15 dishes (usually you order 1 dish per person)

As far as the traveling, it wasn't that great. We went to a cave. Nice, but a little boring and A LOT of steps! Next we went to a tomb of an emperor. Also, somewhat nice, but a little boring. We had a tour guide at every place, but, of course, they only spoke Chinese. The second day we went to a rape flower museum... really boring! We also went to the rape flower fields, but the flowers already stopped blooming, so it was just a plain field of green.

Best part of the cave. :)

What kind of caption do I put on this photo?

Behind Nicole is the actual tomb of the emperor.

Our Students' adviser, Lisa, and us.

As always, I learned a lot more about Chinese culture during this trip with my school. I'll tell you those stories in person. Too difficult to explain via a blog.

A busy day

I knew today would be a fun-filled day. I started making plans a few days ago about what I all wanted to do. You see, It's Saturday, but according to school it's a Monday. We have a holiday next week, so to make up of our days off, we work the weekend. I don't work Monday's, so I had a free day anyways. I knew the weather would be great, so I packed in the activities.

My morning started with Chinese lessons. Got up, rode my bike up to to my friend's place, learned some Chinese, and rode home.

15 minutes later, I jumped in a cab to find another friend and help her move into her home. Luckily, Chinese people don't pack much, so with three of us it only took 3 trips each. :) She treated Nicole and me to lunch, put us in a cab to go back to our place.

On our way back, a different friend called me because he arrived at my apartment. I told him I'll be there in 5 minutes. Nicole and I ran upstairs, grabbed our bikes and we were off to play some badminton. My friend drove my bike, I rode on the back of Nicole's. We were off to the Sports University.

We arrived about 10 minutes before our other friend who was "in charge" of finding a place to play. He had a friend at the University, so that friend came out to show us around. (That friend is a study friend from a different part of town that Nicole and I also knew-small FoC) This is when it became confusing...

We went to not 1, not 2, not 3, but technically 4 different places to look for courts (number 4 was just returning to number 1) Since it was a school day, everyone was around practicing or having classes on the courts. After returning to place #1 again, our friend decided to work his charm. He told us that we were teachers at his university and all of the other people were students. We laughed and said "ok"

He walked up to a guy and told him that we were foreign teachers and we wanted to play badminton. They guy made 2 girls share a court with another group and we got to play. We played for about 1 1/2 hours until my next activity would begin.

This was the gym we played in. You see Adam (in black) and Edward (in red)

I jumped on my bike and rode home. Grabbed my shopping bag and went to the fruit and veggie market. I had 4-5 friends coming over tonight and I was making them Chinese food! I planned the menu, bought the materials, met my friend on the way back (she was a little late to help me buy most of the stuff) and got a call from someone. This was another friend who was coming to help cook. I thought she would be lost since she's never been to my place before. I asked her where she was and she replied, "I'm outside your door." "AHHH!! So sorry! I'll be home in 10 minutes."

Got home, threw together some delicious Chinese/American food (I cook a little with an American influence) and enjoyed supper. Afterwards, we played Rummikub with the group.

The girls for supper.

Our food: from bottom- pea pods; chicken, cucumbers and carrots; pork, potatoes, mushrooms; cabbage and mushrooms

Nicole didn't even get to play and someone won. :(

That was my day: Chinese, moving, badminton, supper, and Rummikub. Altogether I hung out with 8 friends. What an amazing time in China!

Cooking lunch via a QQ teacher

QQ is a messaging system in China, very similar to Skype, but works better in some ways, not as good in others. I was talking to a Chinese friend who is currently working in America, Olli. He is a very good cook and I wanted some advice on how I can cook potatoes, pork, and mushrooms together. I was hoping for something super simple that even I could do. What I got was a recipe with at least 10 different ingredients/steps. The hardest part was that most of the ingredients are an estimate. You "just know“ how much to put in. I'm not at the "just knowing" part, so sometimes it's not quite right. Here is how it turned out.

I put in garlic, ginger, oil, and two other Chinese spices in the wok. After heating them for some time, you add in the cubed potatoes. Next, you put in the cut up pork. Then the tricky part. You add a little thick soy sauce, then a little more thin soy sauce. A really little bit of vinegar and a little baijiu (it's like cooking with wine), sprinkle some pepper on the whole mixture. Cook for a little, then throw in the mushrooms. Put water in the wok, cover it, and let it cook for 15 minutes. After it's finished cooking, you turn up the fire and boil off some of the water. Alacazam... it's done!

Dish some rice into a bowl and enjoy! Surprisingly, it tasted pretty good too!!! I got really excited. I might be able to make it again without the "recipe".

Here are pictures to help you understand my step by step process of the cooking.

I started the rice because it usually takes a while. It ended up being finished before I started the other food.

Here is the raw food I cut up. Pork, mushrooms, potatoes, garlic, ginger, and some spices

Here are the other sauces/spices I added to the mix.

Potatoes went in!

Here is the mixture just before I covered it to boil for 15 minutes.

Final product!!! I like how you can see the steam. :)

Come on over!

Sunday nights I have off. Really the only night I have completely off every week. So, I like to have some friends over if possible. Last night I decided to invite Rachel and Chenjing. They are both "members" and have been going to studies for a long time. However, I have never had them over to do anything. Tonight would be the night to change that. I texted Rachel at about 12:30 to invite her.

I also wanted to make some western food. So, I got materials for Sloppy Joe's! I cleaned my home and prepared for their arrival. At approximately 4:00 another Chinese friend called and asked if two others can come over. Sure! Why not... but hm... I don't have enough Sloppy Joe's for all of them. He said he would buy some meat and veggies for supper if I need him to.

I planned my menu and texted him what I needed. Luckily, I've been learning how to cook Chinese food, so I can whip something up when needed.

At about 5:30, another friend called and asked if he could join too. The more the merrier, right? At this point i was getting a little nervous. I hope I have enough food for them all...

It was an amazing night. Only 4 ended up coming, but that was ok. They are close enough friends that it was very relaxed and natural. I even delegated some of the cooking and had them help prep and cook the foods. Our menu: Potatoes (not sure how to translate how they are cooked-maybe Fried Potatoes), Pork and Mushrooms, Egg and Tomato, Sloppy Joe's, and Rice. We ate the Sloppy Joe's Chinese style. We just put the meet on our rice.

I really enjoyed this fun time with friends. They all seemed to enjoy it too. I also had on Koine music all night. They are one of my favorite bands.

Rachel and Chenjing making egg and tomato.

Our meal! The sloppy joe's are under the pork and mushroom.

A Day in Hanoi

Here is a picture from the boat. It's about 3 hours from Hanoi

Today we started out on a walking tour around Hanoi. We called for a taxi and went down to get it. However, since the maid (yup, our host has a maid) called for the taxi, we had no idea which type of taxi they called. So we got in the taxi that was waiting down there. Little did we know it was a tourist taxi which means they charge double for a ride. All well, it got us where we wanted to go.

I was the tour guide. We walked around the lake, then went to explore the old parts. Not sure if you have tried walking tours from books, but they are not always easy to follow. This one... was ok! I got us around the winding streets and all the way to the end. It's quite interesting to walk in the streets. The sidewalks are full of parked motor bikes so we have to walk on the street, which is also packed with motor bikes!

Here is part of the "meat market". Notice the picture frames in the background... so unique...

Here you see all of the motor bikes on the sidewalk. So... we have to walk on the street. Do you see a good dominoes opportunity?

We are here just before Tet which is the big Chinese New Year celebration. For some reason orange trees have a big part during this celebration. Motor bikes often carry these small trees throughout the streets.

We stopped for lunch and ate some Pho, which is just like Chicken noodle soup from America. Also similar to Beef noodles from China.

After touring our host's (Coral) school, we walked to a museum and then jumped in another overpriced tourist taxi home! Now we are waiting for supper... Tomorrow we fly out early for Ho Chi Minh.

Before I forget

I just got home from a long afternoon/evening/night. I wanted to blog before I forgot what I did. It's Chri-tmas weekend, which means I'll be super busy until Late Sunday night. I was asked a month ago or so if I wanted to go to one of the kids' study kid's piano recital. I said, "If I'm free, I'd love to go". It's a fun experience and good to support our study friends outside of study. It wasn't the typical piano recital like you may be thinking. Here's what it was like.
1. It was for 3-12 year olds
2. It cost $45 to attend
3. There were 100 performances
4. It was fancy!
5. I was impressed! These young children, some very very young, would go on stage (often alone) and perform in front of at least 300 people. There were lights, microphones, and MC's. The real deal! They would play from 20 seconds to 2 minutes all memorized. Some of the songs I could play, some of them I couldn't (unless I practiced a while)
After the performance, which lasted 3 hours (7-10pm) the family of the boy wanted to take me and 2 other friends out for Evening tea. This isn't just tea and snacks as I thought, It was a whole BIG meal! Overall, a very interesting, fun night. I'm a little surprised I stayed awake during the whole 3 hours of little kid piano playing. :) I have a picture of all the kids, but I'm too tired right now to get my purse and upload the picture.

Tomorrow we have a Chrstmas Eve Day service, then lunch, gift exchange, nap, supper, and SHOPPING! Chrstmas Eve night here is like the day after Thanksgiving morning!!! I'm excited to see all the people! But now, it's bedtime. Merry Chstmas everyone!

A trip to the Arcade

Sunday a big group of us went to Burtons. It's a western coffee shop, restaurant, and bar. We went during the restaurant time. Got a lot of great Western food, talked, and had a good time. Altogether there were 17 of us. 11 of so Chinese and the rest Americans. We payed and ate the good 'ol Chinese way (at least at my table) We all ordered the food we wanted, then we split the bill evenly, then we ate off of everyone's plates! Sort of defeated the point of ordering our own food, but it was delicious! Steak, pizza, salad, mac and cheese, french fries... Mmmmm....

Afterwards, some of our Chinese friends decided to do a little shopping. I happily joined along. Didn't need anything, but I enjoy hanging out with them. So glad I did! We ended up going to an Arcade (while one of the girl's shopped) It was me and 5 friends, 4 boys and a girl. I have never been to an arcade place in China and even in America, all I know is Shakey's. So... one of the guys "adopted" me and we went to play some games. We did drums, basketball, bowling, air hockey, throw balls at  bugs, and ended with me riding a horse. I was a jockey and had to ride the horse in the race. 1) it was very tiring! 2) I had quite the crowd of people watching me. :)

Overall, an amazing night! I had so much fun hanging out with my friends. Monday morning I woke up with a sore arm... guess I need to exercise a little more. :)

Thanksgiving in Wuhan

Thanksgiving has come and gone and now the Christmas season is here. I hope all of my friends and family enjoyed their Thanksgiving with loved ones. This year was yet another year to be thankful for all the wonderful things HE gives us every day. I'm working on a list of what I am thankful for, tell ya later. For now... I will tell you about Thanksgiving half the way around the world.

 First, China doesn't celebrate this American holiday. I asked my students what they know about Thanksgiving and most of them only knew that we eat Turkey (which in Chinese translates as "fire chicken"). Don't worry, I taught them all about the Pilgrims and Native Americans. Then, as a discussion topic, they had to pretend they were turkeys and Thanksgiving was near. They had to tell the class why we should eat their partner over them. Quite entertaining!

Thursday evening the four of us in the middle area of the city (Nicole, Peter, Darin, and myself) treated our friends to a Thanksgiving meal- Chinese style. We found a restaurant with a big private room and ordered the dishes. Altogether we had 15 people show up. It was a great time to show our friends how thankful we are for them.

Vivien, Joanna, Peter, John Wayne, Tracy, Bruce, Edward

Sherry, Jacquline, Nicole, Julian, Darin, Jonathan, Lisa

This was our Chinese Thanksgiving Feast! From the rice going clockwise: Rice, spicy bean sprouts, mushroom broth, something I forgot, donkey/cucumbers, spicy french fries, sweet and sour pork, eggplant, in the middle is tofu.

Today (Sunday) we had our FoC Thanksgiving meal. We all met at Beth and Sarah's home and worked on our feast. The final result was amazing! It felt just like a real family dinner. We had potatoes, chicken, rolls, veggies, fruit, cornbread casserole, sweet potatoes, stuffing, bacon wrapped hot dogs, wine, and of course... pie! After dinner we played some games and people fell asleep on the couch while watching football. Kidding... no football here. We watched a movie.

Our Western Feast!

Before tonight it didn't really feel like Thanksgiving, however, having our whole "family" together is a great way to spend the holiday. I am Thankful for my great support system over here. Keep us in your thoughts especially as Winter comes and sicknesses are seeming to conquer us one by one.

Unrelated topics

I got three tidbits for you. First, if you haven't been checking facebook regularly to see my updated posts, you may have missed that Nicole found an amazing thing at the grocery store! Frozen pizza! One thing I do miss from back home is a good 'ol frozen pizza for supper, or lunch, or breakfast. It was a bit expensive (5x the price of an average Chinese lunch), but it was time for a treat. Nicole did the honors of baking  and cutting it. It was great. Not as good as American pizza (it's from Germany), but close.

Not sure why this picture is this way. I even tried downloading it again. Here's the pizza and Nicole cutting it with the meat clever. You use meat clevers in China for everything. Cutting meat, veggies, pizza, doesn't matter.  We lack a pizza cutter. Probably cause this was the first time we ever needed one.

Next unrelated topic. I bought a pillow yesterday. It was very small see...

Super small! Do we have pillows like these in America?

Then I cut it open and it became really big!!!

Now she's happy!

As you can see, one chopstick. The other one fell on the floor.

Third, I made myself a Chinese meal the other night. The mom at our kid's study taught me how to cook a dish. Mushrooms and lettuce. However, everything was prepped when she taught me, so I didn't know what kind of mushrooms or what kind of lettuce it was. I had the wrong kind of lettuce, added too much oil and too much salt, not enough garlic. BUT overall, I would call it a success. :)