Archives for Category "China"
White Rabbit Chinese Candy
In preparation for the wedding (which is a good excuse not to have been updating the blog lately, right?), we’ve been on the lookout for White Rabbit candy. White Rabbit is a Chinese treat that’s chewy like a Tootsie Roll but has more of a milky taste. Each piece is wrapped in edible rice paper and is pretty much the best candy you’ll find in China.
Today, we went to our favorite Chinese supermarket to get some, but would you believe it, they were sold out! The employees told us White Rabbits don’t stick around very long, because these pesky Americans like them just as much as the Chinese patrons. I guess White Rabbits aren’t a secret anymore.
There was some good news at the store, however. A pamphlet at the checkout was advertising an Asian mall that’s coming to Salt Lake in October. If there’s one thing Salt Lake needs more of, it’s Asia. The pamphlet also brought back some good memories. It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to read bad Engrish like, “It will provide a must-to-go place for others,” and, “It will offer people who have been to the Asia in renewing the pleasant Asian experience.”
Differences of Chinese and American Dining
After so many months of eating out in China, I had kind of forgotten about all of the little differences between Chinese and American restaurants. It wasn’t until I started eating out in the US with someone from China (my fiancee) that it all came back to me.
What really stands out to her is how tipping is customary (nay, mandatory) in the US. Nobody ever tips in China. It’s not that people are being rude; it’s just something you don’t do. In fact, if you try to give your server a tip, he/she will probably refuse. Servers already have a normal wage that doesn’t leave room for extra tips. Having worked as a cook and dishwasher in a restaurant, I like the idea of all employees being treated equally. It’s the one thing I’m not particularly fond of concerning US restaurants.
Other differences include how American restaurants will try to bring everyone’s food at once, whereas in China, they bring it to you as it’s ready. Your friends could be done eating before you even get your plate! Of course, the tradition is to share food, so Chinese people don’t mind this as much as we do. As for drinks, there are no refills in China. If you order a Coke, you’ll most likely get an unopened plastic bottle instead of a cup from a fountain machine. And if you want water, you’ll either have to buy bottled water or be content drinking piping hot water.
Drinking in China and the US
I didn’t really start drinking alcohol of any kind until I went to China, and the alcohol laws there are much more relaxed. From what I understand, the drinking age is 18, and there is no buying age limit. Even if there was, though, I’d image that, like most other “laws” in China, it wouldn’t be heavily enforced. I was never asked to show my ID, whether I was picking up a six-pack at a small convenience store, ordering a bottle at Papa John’s, or walking into a bar or club.
Now that I’m in the US again and have gotten into the habit of having a beer with dinner, I keep forgetting how often I’m required to whip out my driver’s license. I can’t just show it to the clerk, either. I have to let them fondle it and punch some numbers into a computer. It turns buying beer into a big spectacle, like I should feel guilty about doing it. While I understand the ID scrutiny is there for a reason, I do miss not being treated like a suspect every time I want a drink.
Hefei’s Hidden Treasure: Zipengshan
As I’m going through my old China photos, I came across the few pictures I had taken of Zipengshan in Hefei. Zipengshan was like my little treasure during that 2005 trip. I had no idea what I was getting into when I went out there. I just told my supervisor I really wanted to see a farm, so she wrote down the name of a nearby mountain and told me to wait on the street until I saw a bus come by with the same name on its window.
Well, that mountain region had what I was looking for: a few rice paddies and not much else. As the other teachers and I walked around, though, Zipengshan started to reveal that it was more than just a farm. By accident and after walking through a forest for an hour, we stumbled into a clearing where an elaborate “story” had been carved into the side of a cliff. At the end of the carvings were these three humongous statues:
Wow… it was like discovering the Great Valley! When my supervisor first sent me to Zipengshan, she had warned it wasn’t very interesting, but maybe she didn’t know about this place. Or maybe she was trying to protect it! Whatever the case, this small area of Zipengshan was amazing, took me by complete surprise, and is still one of the most memorable trips I went on.
Putting up with American Chinese Food
When lunch time rolls around, my co-workers will often head out for Chinese food in the form of Chinese Gourmet (pictured above) or Panda Express. Sometimes, without thinking, they invite me, then quickly realize their mistake, “Oh, crap. Clark’s had authentic Chinese food. He doesn’t want to go there.”
Yeah, chicken feet and pig liver are so much better than Panda Express…
Well, once you’ve had authentic, good Chinese food like noodles, eggplant, dumplings, and anything Sichuan, you do notice just how bland American Chinese food is in comparison. But I never cared for American Chinese food, anyway. If anything, having been to China actually makes me more tolerant of these restaurants. True, they aren’t as good as the real thing, but my time in China didn’t turn me into a picky eater. If anything, it did just the opposite.
SARS, I’ll Overcome You
The first Chinese school I taught at in Hefei had English sayings plastered all over the inside and outside walls. As I’ve been looking through my old photos (’cause I’m bored), I came across this particular favorite:
SARS, I’ll overcome you!
As a bonus, I’ll let you in on a little secret. When I was getting ready to leave for my 2005 China trip, I’d been told about ILP teachers in the past being boarded up in their schools due to “SARS being in that city.” I thought they were talking about czars and was both excited and worried about the idea of foreign teachers having to hide from rulers passing through the area.
Passed the Guangzhou K-1 Visa Interview!
We submitted our K-1 visa application in July 2010. Now it’s March 2011, and the wait is finally over. My fiancee went to Guangzhou for her visa interview last week. While there, she had to get a medical exam on Friday, turn the results and some other paperwork into the consulate on Monday, then attend the actual interview on Tuesday. The visa officer only asked her three things:
1. What is your fiance’s name?
2. How long did you two work together?
3. What pictures did you bring?
Then he said, “Your English is excellent,” and approved her for the visa!
But… it’s like… all this work, all this preparation, and the interview was about a minute long with three questions?! We had a rock solid case, though, and you know they’ve already made up their mind whether or not someone is going to pass. The only thing that would change that is if the person showed up and couldn’t speak any English. At that point, the applicant would just be asked to come back with proof that the American petitioner can at least speak Chinese.
So the interview is done, but Sarah still has to stay in Guangzhou until the end of the week before they issue the visa to her. And she probably won’t come to the US for another month so she can get things ready. Still, it’s nice to have the worst of it over with and know for certain she’s coming this year. It’s been a long, difficult journey, but we did it.
For a view of the overall process, you can check out the visas tag on this website.
Chinese Souvenirs: Bottle Opener
Of all the things I brought back from China, this gets more use than any of them. Sure, it’s just a bottle opener, but it looks like a Beijing opera mask! It’s red on one side and green on the other. How cool is that?
The bottle opener was a gift. When I first arrived in Changzhou in 2008 (wow, it’s been two and a half years… I should write about that… but that takes too much effort), I worked at a training school that was just celebrating its one-year anniversary. They made a big spectacle out of it, threw a party at a local hotel, made their foreign teachers perform something, and handed out lots of prizes. I received two items. The first was a toothpick holder that I quickly pawned off on someone else. The other item was the bottle opener.
The following year (that’s 2009 if you weren’t paying attention), I once again found myself working at the same training school when their next anniversary party rolled around. It wasn’t nearly as big of a deal as the one before, though. We gathered at a restaurant, ate a cheap buffet, and went home with no gifts, no cheesy toothpick holders… and no Beijing opera bottle openers.
