Archives for December 2008
Pots and Bowls
I didn’t really have a Christmas dinner since I stayed on campus the whole day, but the following night I went downtown to have Hot Pot with a certain someone. Hot Pot is a popular type of restaurant where you cook your own food in a pot of spicy and/or chicken-flavored broth.
Another bestseller around here is Suan La Fen. It tastes much better than it looks. I promise. And it only costs five yuan for a bowl, though you always have to wait in a long line.
Then there’s my personal favorite, Dao Xiao Mian (knife-sliced noodles). I make an attempt to eat this stuff almost every time I go downtown, much to the dismay of “certain someone.”
Shengdan Kuaile
Christmas is much more popular in China than I thought it would be. Carols are playing everywhere. Christmas decorations are on display everywhere. Life-size, dancing, robotic Santas are giving kids nightmares… everywhere. The holiday is still kind of new here, though, and no traditions have really been established. Christmas parties are a rarity. Nobody is expected to exchange gifts. Most people don’t even get the day off. I think they just like to recognize Christmas in an attempt to be more “mainstream.” The younger generations will eventually turn it into something bigger once they have their own families.
Until then, it’s business as usual. And I expected today to feel less like Christmas and more like another day of teaching. Which it did. But when I stood in front of the first group of students and said, “Okay, let’s sing,” to start class like we do every every every day, instead of singing “Hello, How Are You,” they unexpectedly started singing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” Then the school gave me a present: a set of combs (as strange as it sounds, Changzhou is actually famous for its combs).
Last night, I also went out for a French dinner with other foreigners. It was nice to be somewhere where we could eat turkey, drink wine, and share stories about how we usually celebrated Christmas. It’s a little hard to be away from home for the first time during the holidays and not being able to spend it with my family, but, thanks to a package my parents sent me, I still got to eat a couple chocolate-covered marshmallow Santas. And that’s the true spirit of Christmas.
China, Please, and Step on It!
There are so many taxis crawling this city like raccoons looking for garbage cans to tip over, it’s pretty easy to catch a ride. If, for whatever reason, you can’t hail a cab, though, or you just have an abnormal fear or dislike towards licensed taxi drivers, you can always fall back on something even more scary and unlikable. There’s this secondary taxi “service” that runs rampant in China. Maybe it’s a little underground, a little entrepreneurial, but it’s just as big of a business, because these guys are everywhere.
Some of them ride motorcycles, others silver vans, and the rest small, dangerous things that are barely classifiable as vehicles since they look like they were just slapped together in a junkyard. But they all look the same, so they’re obviously coming from a single source. And you can find one just as easily as a real taxi. It makes me wonder if there is really such a demand for this kind of transportation? I don’t see a lot of people using them, and yet they’ll congregate in large groups outside the supermarket or the school or the bus stop, gladly getting in everyone’s way:
That picture is a rather tame afternoon. Come night, the number of motorcycles will double, and the supermarket starts looking like its under siege as all the entrances get blocked by them. Would you people just go away, already!
Sick Teacher Needs an IV
I’ve had a miserable cold for the past many days. Coincidence would have it that the book’s dialogue this week is about having a stomach ache or a headache or just being plum ill. As difficult as it is teaching with a sore throat, it’s been kind of amusing, too. I play Tic-Tac-Toe with the students to help them build sentences like, “Amy’s got a cough,” or, “Sam’s got a sore foot.” I always throw myself into the game as a joke, so the kids end up saying, “Mr. Nielsen’s got a headache,” and I nod and smile and say to myself, “Yep. I sure do. I sure do…”
When I admit to others (or they just notice; it isn’t hard) that I’m sick, though, their first suggestion is to go see a doctor. I’ve noticed the people here are very quick to run to the hospital whenever something is wrong, even if it’s just a cold. Back home, you would never bother a doctor over a cold, or if you did, all he/she would tell you is that you need to drink more water and get some rest. In China, the answer to everything is an IV. You have a cold? Here’s an IV. You have food poisoning? Here’s an IV. Your leg is caught in a bear trap? Here’s an IV.
I’ve had this miracle IV before when I was sick in Wuwei, and while it probably played a big part in my speedy recovery, I don’t particularly like sitting in a dirty, smelly hospital room full of sick people who all have a needle stuck in their wrist and a bottle hanging over their head. I’ll take my chances with my own immune system, thank you very much.
Four Times a Day
You wanted more video. You got it.
Right after I took this footage, I went into reviewing other things you can say besides, “I’m fine” (because, you know, they have a serious problem with that). I asked several students, “How are you?” and I got responses like, “Good. Great. Not Bad. Okay. Alright.” Then I asked the funny, little girl in the bright green coat, and she blurted out, “TV!”
Guzheng Concert in Liyang
This is an older video, something I recorded from a performance during the foreign teachers’ retreat last month. I just wasn’t able to upload it until now, because I hadn’t yet been introduced to the awesomeness of MPEG Streamclip. It will blow your mind.
The instrument these kids are playing is a guzheng.
You Got Feet in My Peanut Butter
Eating at a school cafeteria can sometimes be a surprise. Like, “Wow, this meal is actually good!” or, “Wow, I actually know what I’m eating!” or, “Wow… duck feet…” Guess which one today was?
I’ve already been exposed to chicken and pig feet many times, but duck feet was a first. Nothing turns me off lunch faster than seeing a couple of webbed toes hanging over the cafeteria tray. Except maybe turning over a piece of meat only to find a giant pig’s toe nail stuck to it.
I admire the Chinese for using all the parts—and enjoying them, no less—but no matter how tasty or good for you everyone claims feet are, I just can’t bring myself to chew on something that still resembles the animal it came from.
Lather, Rinse, Repeat
If you had attended my class earlier today, wearing a wire for whatever reason, you would have gone home with the following recording:
“I want us to sing a different song today. A new song!”
“A new song.”
“It’s about a fire truck.”
“It’s about a fire truck.”
“Shhh, shhh, shhh. Quiet…”
“Shhh… Quiet…”
“And this fire truck…”
“And this fire truck…”
“No, no, no. Listen to me.”
“Listen to me.”
“No. Don’t talk. Just listen.”
“Don’t talk. Just listen.”
“Stop repeating after me!”
“Stop repeating after me.”
“Shhhhh! Stop! No talking!”
Sadly, the kids don’t do this to be funny (their solemn faces prove otherwise). It’s merely a regression into an obnoxious habit they no doubt picked up from their Chinese English classes where verbal repetition is king. Since they can’t really differentiate between when I’m trying to drill something or just explain something, though, they assume everything I do means repeat after me. And then I go home with a serious headache.
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