Okay, fine, I think you all deserve a happier post than the last one.
New Year's Eve found me at a wedding! Tina, of the office staff, was getting married. Well she had already had been certified, but had yet to have a proper ceremony. We were greeted by people holding trays of candy and cigarettes (separate trays), but I couldn't believe the combination. We greeted the beautiful bride and she shed a couple tears. Which of course I pointed out was silly--she probably needed them for later (and she did!).
We (most of the staff + Steve's wife and adorable kids) were ushered to a tea house to wait, where they served jasmine green tea as many Sichuan tea houses do. I, of course, am allergic to jasmine tea? Or so I learned when younger. We returned to the wedding and sat next to a runway-like structure on a table with some appetizers and food.
The lao wai (foreigners) were given the task of throwing paper rose petals as the bride walked down the runway--though they didn't exactly fly far. Tina and her groom exchanged their vows; her groom translating his responses to an enthusiastic "I Do" or "Yeahh...". Then the bride and groom poured wine into a glass that spilled over into a stack of other classes...like cutting cake together? I dunno. The 'service' ended and Tina disappeared and more food appeared.
Tina returned to the floor in a different dress and her husband had on his military uniform. They went from table to table greeting all the guests and having toasts. It was very nice of Tina to include us on her special day.
I returned home and said good-bye to Steve's kids, who refer to me as Uncle Johnny. I spent the next 6 hours cleaning my apartment. After Christmas Eve and all the cooking, I just never put my place fully back together. But with the New Year, and possibly last year, looming, I decided it was a time to re-claim my space. Finally finished, Cynthia and I opened some champagne and we headed downtown to meet up with Maggie, Lynette, Elliot, and Mike (who was visiting).
Confetti flew down at midnight and found me toasting new friends in a new country. And then, of course, I flew back up to the dance floor. Muse's dance floors, like many clubs, are small and about two feet above the floor--so when you dance everyone can see you. Which if you have my level of extroversion, only makes dancing more fun. I had on sunglasses, which don't seem so out of place with all the fog and lights. When were out dancing, we always make it our mission to get other people dancing. So I'll grab a couple and bring them on up and as I'm laowai, they'll often humor me--and then enjoy themselves. I just can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want to dance, or should I say, why anyone who goes to a Chinese club with crazy cool lights could resist the urge to dance. Or maybe--I just watched Step Up.
After Muse, we found ourselves eating delicious eggplant among other dishes before continuing the night at Jellyfish, a foreigner bar, where I was mistaken for being an Australian, which is fine by me. In fact, people never guess I'm American when I'm out. Somehow that feels like a good thing most of the time. Though on the taxi home, the cab driver thought I was 40. Usually I get 30, which is still high. Guess facial hair adds a lot more age in China.
The evening ended, and I awoke on New Years Day quite restless, haven't not gotten much sleep. Cynthia and I grabbed an epic massage. Afterwards we could not move and felt quite drunk; Cynthia realized that perhaps this is what relaxed feels like. We moved at a very very slow pace and eventually made some pizza and watched "My Best Friend's Wedding" and "When Harry Met Sally...". So essentially, I entered the New Year as a couch potato. But a very happy and relaxed couch potato! I had heaps of grading due during this time, which caused much stress as I was also trying to plan out the final exam and other important assignments. Relaxed and content with this New Year, I went to sleep.
On Tuesday, the 3rd, Cynthia and I had Gregory over for dinner. He started calling me 'sonny-boy' or 'my son' early on in China, so naturally, he is now my father, but always pronounced in a Russian accent. And eventually it came to light that Cynthia was his daughter, so we're a Russian-Kiwi/Malay-American family. I produced a chocolate covered spice cake for desert and Cynthia made some lasagna. It was a very nice dinner. I also happened to finish grading the multiple choice questions of my midterm exam (after grading all the students papers and assignments the week prior).
On the 4th I finished grading the students midterms and gave the students time to use for their Final Exam presentations. Their midterm essays were shockingly good and I was filled with hope, though most of the students failed the midterm (it was a hard one though). I went out for dinner with Elliot and Androgeny: fish hot pot. The fish was great, the presence of fish eyes was not. Apparently I like fish...or at least fresh water fish sliced and added raw into a pot of oil with Sichuan peppers, pepper flakes, and pepper corns. Thought I'm not a fan of fish bones! I also discovered walnut milk; not entirely sure what that means, but it was milky and walnutty. The hot pot made the chilly night better.
I awoke on the 5th, my 23rd birthday, in China! Yeah it still surprises me sometimes. I went to school in the afternoon and listened to student's presentations. They were awful in my eyes, full of jokes and unnecessary media after I'd warned them of the latter. The students chatted the whole time and I eventually gave up on shushing them. All of the presentations were too long and I had to stop them short. It felt as if they all took it as a joke, though it has since come to my attention that some groups really did spend days on them--though I think the days part was more for the acquiring of pictures than of information. After the last group, I walked slowly to the front of the class and they actually quieted down a bit. They knew. I was angry, but unlike my last angry lecture, I was calm. I explained how rude they were to talk over each other and how it often seems like they don't respect each other or me. I explained the break homework and then left as I was now late for my own birthday dinner.
Maybe I was to hard on the students; maybe my expectations were to high. But I know these students, we've worked for three months together, and I know they could've done better, much better. Not sure how I am to grade them.
I found Cynthia waiting for me in the office urging me that we had to go (as she had to be back for evening study) so we left. I wasn't sure where we were going, but I knew we were meeting Sarah's mother and Sarah for dinner. Then outside a restaurant, I saw Steve and Simon. "Cool," I thought, "they're coming too!" Then I saw Sarah's mother and then Cynthia said, "Johnny, look!"
I turned to the back of the restaurant where Steve's wife and kids: Arwin, Emma, and Adam, Leon, Jessie, Charles, and Mark were sitting. And there was a cake! I couldn't believe it--but was so irritated at my students that I didn't give them the best surprise reaction. Cynthia had organized the whole thing for me and I was caught quite unawares--I'd always wanted a surprise bday party on my birthday. Dinner was dumplings, which were adequate, but I was quiet content. Everyone sang, there were candles, and the cake was good. THEN, Sarah's mom gave me a wrapped package, as did Steve's kids! Steve said his kids think I'm an alcoholic--which stems back to Tina's wedding where Jessie decided to get the venue staff to give me a bottle of wine to take back that I defended from the other foreigners much to the children's delight--and gave me a bottle opener that's stuck to my fridge.
After dinner I walked with Sarah's mom, as Sarah was late from a meeting at Dipont. She and her husband found us and went to dinner...with me! So I ate again, though not much. Sarah's mom wasn't full after the dumplings, though she had gestured that during the meal. I opened the gift from Sarah's mom and found red socks with dragons on them--the ones I'm supposed to wear January 22nd for the start of the year of the dragon (my year!). Sarah produced a gift from Tina, some sweets, and I was a very giddy boy.
(Sarah's mother is very sweet. She urged me to buy a warm coat and said I had to if I wanted to visit her home over the break, so I did. She has also told Sarah that I am too young to be on my own in China and that she admires how I try everything she serves to me when I have dinner at their home. Sarah's mother know no English and if I could learn some Chinese, it would be for her to thank her for all her kind words, meals, and mom-ness. It's always good to have mothers in our lives).
Cynthia finished evening study and we walked back to Zhong hai and went to August to hand out with Jerry and Cindy. After some drinks, Jerry and Cindy said they'd take us to KTV. I couldn't wait! So we hopped on the bus, a tad tipsy, and eventually arrived to the KTV. Two of Jerry's friends met us there and we booked a room at around 12:30AM for until 5:30AM. I was sure we'd leave before then--we didn't. We were the LAST people to leave. But with so many songs to sing, how could we not stay! From Gorillaz to Eminem ft. Rihanna to The Carpenters to George Michael and more, we sang for 5 hours while drinking beers and eating noodles. A very Chinesey bday and way too much fun! My voice gave a bit as the night wore on, but I was pleasantly surprised how long I can sing for.
We exited the KTV and thought that breakfast would be a good idea, but McDonald's wasn't serving breakfast yet, so we walked to another one which was closed and ended up at Dico's eating awful food, but very much enjoying life. The buses had just started running around 6:30, when we ended up taxiing back. I was home by 7:20AM and in bed by 7:45 as it looked light.
I awoke at 5:00PM to fading light, I cannot believe I slept the whole day though I probably needed it.
My birthday was wonderful. Seeing all the staff at dinner was nice, getting a cake was nice (even if it is a Chinese cake--they don't understand moist), and having people give me gifts was too nice. I felt spoiled, especially as I celebrated a Chinese lunar bday three weeks prior with my Chinese friends. I am still at awe with how nice my bday was. I feel very fortunate to be someone that can not only travel, but who can also meet nice and friendly folk. And like my other 22, I found myself surrounded by loving people while blowing out candles and grinning ear-to-ear.
And that just makes smile more.
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Canned Pumpkin
Tuesday found me wanting to go to USC because I sat in on Megan's, from USC, pitch to the Senior 1s and a couple Senior 2s. I learned all about USC and by the end, was sold...then I realized I've already gone to college! Weird to be back in that audience. I was a bit embarrassed that no one in the audience seemed to have a dream or a goal in life when asked to share. Guess that's what I'll work on during my Tuesday evening college talks: goals and dreams (besides making money).
So, the Senior 3 students were gone this past week as the other students had midterms. Which meant, I was freeeeeeeeee! For whatever reason Mark didn't schedule me to proctor. Cynthia and I discussed maybe climbing the other peak at Qingcheng Shan or maybe seeing the Panda center (where something like 30% of the world's Panda's live!) on Wednesday (and she was off for the day).
But on Wednesday, at 7am, when we said we'd do something, we both slept in! So eventually we dragged ourselves out and about! I spent the morning researching Emei Shan and other adventure ideas for my next few days of no-teaching. Though staying in Chengdu also sounded nice: relaxing, learning more bus routes, and planning classes.
Cynthia and I bussed #30 to Tianfu Square and we walked to the bus station for long distance buses. There was a big picture sign of all the places to go (which reminded me of Dr. Suess's Oh, The Places You'll Go; which reminded me I am in China, such a cool place to go!). Cynthia thought we could just hop on a bus and go anywhere, but without cameras and my desire to investigate some things in Chengdu, I declined. I want to be that impulsive, but I liked to have a tiny bit of supplies when being that impulsive!
We walked down one of the main drags and ended up at Bookworm; a foreign library/coffee shop/restaurant. It was cozy, they had pumpkin pie on their menu, and free Chengdu maps in English/Chinese! I grabbed a couple for me and other teachers and Cythina and I ordered a bit of food. Her hummus appetizer left much to be desired: flavor. I had a tomato, pesto, mozzarella sandwich on focaccia. The pesto was decent, the mozzarella was actually real, but the focaccia was more like white bread, no good crunch. But the fries (chips) served were delicious! We discussed careers as food writers, but realize we'll eat what we ordered unless it's really really really bad.
Then Cynthia showed me Sabrina's Country Store, which is a foreign import store. There I found allspice, cloves, nutmeg (all ground), wax paper, cocoa powder, crisco baking sticks (pie crust), and CANNED PUMPKIN! Sure it was all a bit too expensive, but what's a guy to do? Thanksgiving is coming fast and I refuse to not eat pumpkin pie. All that's left is an oven-proof pie plate and evaporated milk and I'm good to go! (For whatever reason the pie plate I purchased, had a booklet that said in English that it can't go into a pre-heated oven. Which I found after removing all labels and washing it. What a silly piece of glass!!!) Making a pumpkin pie in an electric oven will be interesting, but hopefully will be successful!
Also, if I failed to mention, I already possess heaps of cinnamon. In fact I have a flour jar and I have a cinnamon jar...what else would I need? And today, I was given a small PUMPKIN PIE by the Korean woman who runs a small shop that has butter and cheese and real milk close to where I live! I bought frozen bagels the first time from her. She's pretty fly!
After Sabrina's, Cynthia and I stopped for a 'bathroom stop' at Shamrock, the Irish Bar (every city has an Irish bar, even in China??). Of course bathroom stop is Kiwi for mojitos (though it was probably my idea)! But it was five o'clock, so it was fully justified. We resumed our quest for food sources and stopped at Auchon, a French store that boasts a large international section and also sells decently prices liquor. I grabbed a couple things including some Capt. Morgan Rum. (My dear cousin Xanna once mentioned something about one our ancestors being a pirate of sorts. Never fully explored, it has still heavily influenced by drink of choice. That and Pirates of the Caribbean...oh media, you powerful force! Part of me also thinks that this movie actually started the news media's obsession over pirates. --Ever the psychology major/over-thinker.)
Finally we found ourselves home and combined forces to make pasta with tomato sauce and heat up (toast!) breaded fish...that still had scales on it...underneath the breading...and was very old and smelly and NOT eaten. Lynette joined us for a brief visit.
I had talked about maybe going to Emei Shan the next day and Cynthia was encouraging me the whole day. I hemmed and hawed. I wasn't feeling my best, having a case of the stomach abroad! (Dun dun Dunnnn!) And then I, while talking to Cynthia, I realized: I've jumped out of a plane. Actually, I hitchhiked with a friend to a hostel, found it, and then the next day jumped out of a plane and hitched back. What happened to all that confidence to travel? I'll tell you: language barrier! Consciously I'm not scarred of it, but I think it was the source of the hemming and hawing. In New Zealand, I could hitchhike alone and feel secure, because of the same language. Here in China, I am apprehensive to get on a bus out of Chengdu! A bus which has a destination and a plan makes me apprehensive all because I can't speak. Sure I can say a little and gesture a lot, but it's all so new.
Cynthia left late and around twelve I had decided to go. I needed to do this for myself. I needed to pull myself out of this helplessness feeling and go have an adventure: it's like the cure for the common case of anxiety. So there I was at 12:30AM frantically putting supplies on my table, making sandwiches, and gathering warm clothes. Finally I relaxed into sleep around 1:30, though I still wasn't sure if I would go. All depended on how I felt in five and half hours (to be continued).
Pumpkin, cinnamon, cocoa powder, Italian herbs, and more are very much helping this place feel homey. I hope to stick to mostly Chinese food and really live like they do, but it's nice to feel I have a home base stocked with pasta sauce! Now to work on that teaching!
So, the Senior 3 students were gone this past week as the other students had midterms. Which meant, I was freeeeeeeeee! For whatever reason Mark didn't schedule me to proctor. Cynthia and I discussed maybe climbing the other peak at Qingcheng Shan or maybe seeing the Panda center (where something like 30% of the world's Panda's live!) on Wednesday (and she was off for the day).
But on Wednesday, at 7am, when we said we'd do something, we both slept in! So eventually we dragged ourselves out and about! I spent the morning researching Emei Shan and other adventure ideas for my next few days of no-teaching. Though staying in Chengdu also sounded nice: relaxing, learning more bus routes, and planning classes.
Cynthia and I bussed #30 to Tianfu Square and we walked to the bus station for long distance buses. There was a big picture sign of all the places to go (which reminded me of Dr. Suess's Oh, The Places You'll Go; which reminded me I am in China, such a cool place to go!). Cynthia thought we could just hop on a bus and go anywhere, but without cameras and my desire to investigate some things in Chengdu, I declined. I want to be that impulsive, but I liked to have a tiny bit of supplies when being that impulsive!
We walked down one of the main drags and ended up at Bookworm; a foreign library/coffee shop/restaurant. It was cozy, they had pumpkin pie on their menu, and free Chengdu maps in English/Chinese! I grabbed a couple for me and other teachers and Cythina and I ordered a bit of food. Her hummus appetizer left much to be desired: flavor. I had a tomato, pesto, mozzarella sandwich on focaccia. The pesto was decent, the mozzarella was actually real, but the focaccia was more like white bread, no good crunch. But the fries (chips) served were delicious! We discussed careers as food writers, but realize we'll eat what we ordered unless it's really really really bad.
Then Cynthia showed me Sabrina's Country Store, which is a foreign import store. There I found allspice, cloves, nutmeg (all ground), wax paper, cocoa powder, crisco baking sticks (pie crust), and CANNED PUMPKIN! Sure it was all a bit too expensive, but what's a guy to do? Thanksgiving is coming fast and I refuse to not eat pumpkin pie. All that's left is an oven-proof pie plate and evaporated milk and I'm good to go! (For whatever reason the pie plate I purchased, had a booklet that said in English that it can't go into a pre-heated oven. Which I found after removing all labels and washing it. What a silly piece of glass!!!) Making a pumpkin pie in an electric oven will be interesting, but hopefully will be successful!
Also, if I failed to mention, I already possess heaps of cinnamon. In fact I have a flour jar and I have a cinnamon jar...what else would I need? And today, I was given a small PUMPKIN PIE by the Korean woman who runs a small shop that has butter and cheese and real milk close to where I live! I bought frozen bagels the first time from her. She's pretty fly!
After Sabrina's, Cynthia and I stopped for a 'bathroom stop' at Shamrock, the Irish Bar (every city has an Irish bar, even in China??). Of course bathroom stop is Kiwi for mojitos (though it was probably my idea)! But it was five o'clock, so it was fully justified. We resumed our quest for food sources and stopped at Auchon, a French store that boasts a large international section and also sells decently prices liquor. I grabbed a couple things including some Capt. Morgan Rum. (My dear cousin Xanna once mentioned something about one our ancestors being a pirate of sorts. Never fully explored, it has still heavily influenced by drink of choice. That and Pirates of the Caribbean...oh media, you powerful force! Part of me also thinks that this movie actually started the news media's obsession over pirates. --Ever the psychology major/over-thinker.)
Finally we found ourselves home and combined forces to make pasta with tomato sauce and heat up (toast!) breaded fish...that still had scales on it...underneath the breading...and was very old and smelly and NOT eaten. Lynette joined us for a brief visit.
I had talked about maybe going to Emei Shan the next day and Cynthia was encouraging me the whole day. I hemmed and hawed. I wasn't feeling my best, having a case of the stomach abroad! (Dun dun Dunnnn!) And then I, while talking to Cynthia, I realized: I've jumped out of a plane. Actually, I hitchhiked with a friend to a hostel, found it, and then the next day jumped out of a plane and hitched back. What happened to all that confidence to travel? I'll tell you: language barrier! Consciously I'm not scarred of it, but I think it was the source of the hemming and hawing. In New Zealand, I could hitchhike alone and feel secure, because of the same language. Here in China, I am apprehensive to get on a bus out of Chengdu! A bus which has a destination and a plan makes me apprehensive all because I can't speak. Sure I can say a little and gesture a lot, but it's all so new.
Cynthia left late and around twelve I had decided to go. I needed to do this for myself. I needed to pull myself out of this helplessness feeling and go have an adventure: it's like the cure for the common case of anxiety. So there I was at 12:30AM frantically putting supplies on my table, making sandwiches, and gathering warm clothes. Finally I relaxed into sleep around 1:30, though I still wasn't sure if I would go. All depended on how I felt in five and half hours (to be continued).
Pumpkin, cinnamon, cocoa powder, Italian herbs, and more are very much helping this place feel homey. I hope to stick to mostly Chinese food and really live like they do, but it's nice to feel I have a home base stocked with pasta sauce! Now to work on that teaching!
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Finally found NOODLES!
Food.
Breakfast was American. A good cure for my now mostly Chinese diet. I find it helps keep Chinese food fresh and gives a boost of confidence to the stomach. Today started with omlette 2.0, and updated version from yesterday with cheese--which was a bit strange, but edible. Gregory's burners make a slightly browned omlette that holds together well. I think I'm in love with these Chinese burners. You may think this is an over-exaggeration but perhaps not when I mention the upcoming wedding of Johnny to Chinese burners. See, it wasn't just some silly foreign fling, it was a real connection. But I digress... These burners happen to be the same ones that are in my apartment, which makes me happy. Small victories.
After breakfast, my silly jet lag started lagging. I forced myself to fight it and began planning out my first lesson: What is Psychology? It was kinda fun--not that I finished. (Of course as I finished typing that sentence my principal just called, he's finally back in the country and can hopefully help me tomorrow). I heard from Gregory, Elvis (a Senior year 2 (junior)), and Mike (an ex-Chengdu teacher) that the students rarely, if ever, read what is assigned. Which may not be as crucial for math or science, but is more crucial for psychology. Unlike the other subjects, one cannot just memorize all of psychology's quick facts because there are essays on the AP Exam. The students are great at memorizing facts, but not in learning new concepts, so this could prove to be very tricky. The book I picked seems good and easy to follow. I went back-and-forth this morning with: what the hell am I doing here as a teacher, to oh this is gonna be so easy. Guess I'll find out Saturday.
Then lunch time came around. I had hoped to grab some noodles with Charles, but did not hear back from him so I headed out with Mike, the ex-Chengdu teacher, and his young Chinese girlfriend Lynette. I heard from Charles later that he was feeling a bit under the weather. All that sneezing was the start of allergies or a cold he thought. I offered to bring him anything, but said he was gonna try to go find something to eat.
Lynette had gone to pick up a friend, Emma, so Mike and I walked to meet them at a restaurant. I brought my camera in my messenger bag to look less touristy, but then felt weird taking pictures of the food with people I didn't know too well. Where did my confidence go? Whatever, I will eventually bust it out. Lynette and Emma had ordered and the food arrived right after we did. Fried jumbo shrimp served with fried corn landed on the table. After eating shrimp in bacon yesterday, I decided I could probably handle this too. The breading was more American, than Chinese. I'm not sure what that means...maybe blander? It was good, not such a shrimpy taste and the fried corn was wonderful: juicy corn within a crispy breaded crunch. The other two dishes looked spicy with loads of peppers and peppercorn (my stomach shudders as I type peppercorn).
(A new paragraph to do this justice.) The first of the two dishes was...eel. It actually arrived first on the table, but the shock value is worth the switch, no? Eel looks terrifying. It's brown, long, wide and reminded me of a tape worm with the head piece, which Mike said I should not eat. I took my time with some of the vegetables in the dish before I chopsticked an eel. It was probably 6 feet long or, actually, 5 inches. But it was a long 5 inches. I set it right into my mou---the bowl. Where I watched it, making sure it was dead. As I learned later at dinner, eels are placed on the cutting board (alive) and a knife slits them open, the insides tossed (or probably used in some other dish) and then the fleshy part is cooked. The eel looked dead (and clearly was) so I decided, hey, people must eat eel for a reason. (Though China is known for eating all pieces of animals due to lack of funds as much as for taste). I bit an inch or so off my eel and was pleasantly surprised. The texture was firmer than anticipated and the taste was heavenly. I don't think Lynette or Emma believed me that I liked it, so I ate another one later. Eel is flavorful (as is all Chinese cooking, at least in the Sichuan province) and good. Boy was I shocked. Then my attention turned to the 2nd dish put down.
Emma looked at me and smiled, "Do you know what this is?"
"No."
"Frog."
"Frog????"
"Frog. Try it, it's good. Be careful of the bones".
"Frog????"
I again went for the vegetables. In the frog stew was the same lime green vegetable that was in my first Chinese meal on my own, though Emma nor Lynette could not tell me what it was. Well, I thought, I've tried eel, how bad can it be? Just something about a frog made me more hesitant. But I found the frog piece in my rice bowl, and eventually I found sweet, delicious frog in my mouth. I couldn't believe it, I mean it was good, like really good with a texture that was superb. There were some tiny frog bones to place on my napkin, but my gosh was it good! However, as good as the eel and the frog were it is still hard for my eyes to eat them. That's really were the hesitation comes from, frog bites and eel slices do not look very appetizing. All throughout the spicy and delicious lunch, I was laughing at myself for failing to take it slow with the new food.
Emma just graduated from Sichuan University with a degree in English (like most of the graduates). Thus like most American English graduates, she works as a waitress. But unlike American English majors, she works in a Chinese karaoke bar. Where one can also ask for a girl. Not a prostitute, but you are allowed to touch(??), according to Mike. How is this okay? I wonder, forgetting that such things exist in the US as well. Mike likes Chinese girls, especially Lynette, and thus assumes that I must be crazy about Chinese girls as well. He and every Chinese girl I've met assumes I want to know how to get a Chinese girl. I assure them that I want to find friends first, but I'm not sure they believe me. Mike mentions how I could easily find a girl to live with me and do my laundry, cook, and clean up in front of the girls, even suggesting Emma. Granted I assume when Emma was a roommate of Mike's, Mike paid her share of the rent and thus, perhaps, more fair than it sounds, but it still struck me as an awkward arrangement. Not wanting to explain all my views on gender equality, I instead mention that I can cook for myself. Lynette smiles, and I switch the conversation to music before biting into the peppercorn from hell. Or the fires of Mt. Dune. Or maybe the red hot sun:
My celebration about all this new food was severely dampened by a mistaken bite into a Sichuan peppercorn. My mouth caught fire and then went numb. My gums felt strange and all of a sudden it dawned on me that I may not have only eaten something spicy, but my body might be slightly allergic. I'm not sure. My face flushed to the slight concern of Emma and all of a sudden I was exhausted and all my glee about new food was gone. I kept my composure and after a few minutes, my tongue, cheeks, and gums regained sensation. My lips were warm for maybe an hour or two after and the exhaustion eventually lifted. Hard to say how much was jet lag, anxiety, or the actual peppercorn. Regardless, I will not be making that mistake soon. My stomach was not very happy at the end of lunch, nor my mind. So I found myself at home, in my bed, in jet lag comma.
After catching up on news and Domino's, a friend from Vassar who is Auparing in Germany, blog, which is wonderful, I went back to the task at hand of lesson planning. Then Linda arrived. She was just promoted at her work in the US consulate. Though should I ever go there I can't mention I know her. She is 23 (Lynette being 22) so I have met some people my age. We headed out to dinner with Mike to get...NOODLES! Lynette ordered off the all-Chinese, no picture, menu and the noodles were delicious. Some sort of meat, garlic, onions, spices, MSG, soy sauce; the best really. Over dinner we talked about US vs. Chinese governments, Linda's desire to vote and search the web unrestricted, good clubs, good food including snake, snake eggs, deep fried scorpions, and more. Lynette and Mike were headed to a new club, but I felt I had to blog--no, not really. Mike seems to party very very hard and that didn't sound like a great idea with my body this week. Linda and I exchanged numbers, as I did with Emma. I now have four phone contacts of people who speak Chinese and English, the other two being Sarah from Dipont and Lynette. Linda said she wants to work on her English and I desperately want to speak Chinese--at least enough to order food and ask someone how they are and understand their answer...maybe directions too. I head back to Gregory's where gwy-gwy greets me.
A good day for new foods and new friends. And an okay day for lesson planning.
And maybe my "my gosh I'm in China moment" won't ever come. Or maybe I'm still in disbelief. Or maybe I'm worried about teaching and my job before I can take the mental energy to process this move. My money's on maybe I just need to see a panda.
Breakfast was American. A good cure for my now mostly Chinese diet. I find it helps keep Chinese food fresh and gives a boost of confidence to the stomach. Today started with omlette 2.0, and updated version from yesterday with cheese--which was a bit strange, but edible. Gregory's burners make a slightly browned omlette that holds together well. I think I'm in love with these Chinese burners. You may think this is an over-exaggeration but perhaps not when I mention the upcoming wedding of Johnny to Chinese burners. See, it wasn't just some silly foreign fling, it was a real connection. But I digress... These burners happen to be the same ones that are in my apartment, which makes me happy. Small victories.
After breakfast, my silly jet lag started lagging. I forced myself to fight it and began planning out my first lesson: What is Psychology? It was kinda fun--not that I finished. (Of course as I finished typing that sentence my principal just called, he's finally back in the country and can hopefully help me tomorrow). I heard from Gregory, Elvis (a Senior year 2 (junior)), and Mike (an ex-Chengdu teacher) that the students rarely, if ever, read what is assigned. Which may not be as crucial for math or science, but is more crucial for psychology. Unlike the other subjects, one cannot just memorize all of psychology's quick facts because there are essays on the AP Exam. The students are great at memorizing facts, but not in learning new concepts, so this could prove to be very tricky. The book I picked seems good and easy to follow. I went back-and-forth this morning with: what the hell am I doing here as a teacher, to oh this is gonna be so easy. Guess I'll find out Saturday.
Then lunch time came around. I had hoped to grab some noodles with Charles, but did not hear back from him so I headed out with Mike, the ex-Chengdu teacher, and his young Chinese girlfriend Lynette. I heard from Charles later that he was feeling a bit under the weather. All that sneezing was the start of allergies or a cold he thought. I offered to bring him anything, but said he was gonna try to go find something to eat.
Lynette had gone to pick up a friend, Emma, so Mike and I walked to meet them at a restaurant. I brought my camera in my messenger bag to look less touristy, but then felt weird taking pictures of the food with people I didn't know too well. Where did my confidence go? Whatever, I will eventually bust it out. Lynette and Emma had ordered and the food arrived right after we did. Fried jumbo shrimp served with fried corn landed on the table. After eating shrimp in bacon yesterday, I decided I could probably handle this too. The breading was more American, than Chinese. I'm not sure what that means...maybe blander? It was good, not such a shrimpy taste and the fried corn was wonderful: juicy corn within a crispy breaded crunch. The other two dishes looked spicy with loads of peppers and peppercorn (my stomach shudders as I type peppercorn).
(A new paragraph to do this justice.) The first of the two dishes was...eel. It actually arrived first on the table, but the shock value is worth the switch, no? Eel looks terrifying. It's brown, long, wide and reminded me of a tape worm with the head piece, which Mike said I should not eat. I took my time with some of the vegetables in the dish before I chopsticked an eel. It was probably 6 feet long or, actually, 5 inches. But it was a long 5 inches. I set it right into my mou---the bowl. Where I watched it, making sure it was dead. As I learned later at dinner, eels are placed on the cutting board (alive) and a knife slits them open, the insides tossed (or probably used in some other dish) and then the fleshy part is cooked. The eel looked dead (and clearly was) so I decided, hey, people must eat eel for a reason. (Though China is known for eating all pieces of animals due to lack of funds as much as for taste). I bit an inch or so off my eel and was pleasantly surprised. The texture was firmer than anticipated and the taste was heavenly. I don't think Lynette or Emma believed me that I liked it, so I ate another one later. Eel is flavorful (as is all Chinese cooking, at least in the Sichuan province) and good. Boy was I shocked. Then my attention turned to the 2nd dish put down.
Emma looked at me and smiled, "Do you know what this is?"
"No."
"Frog."
"Frog????"
"Frog. Try it, it's good. Be careful of the bones".
"Frog????"
I again went for the vegetables. In the frog stew was the same lime green vegetable that was in my first Chinese meal on my own, though Emma nor Lynette could not tell me what it was. Well, I thought, I've tried eel, how bad can it be? Just something about a frog made me more hesitant. But I found the frog piece in my rice bowl, and eventually I found sweet, delicious frog in my mouth. I couldn't believe it, I mean it was good, like really good with a texture that was superb. There were some tiny frog bones to place on my napkin, but my gosh was it good! However, as good as the eel and the frog were it is still hard for my eyes to eat them. That's really were the hesitation comes from, frog bites and eel slices do not look very appetizing. All throughout the spicy and delicious lunch, I was laughing at myself for failing to take it slow with the new food.
Emma just graduated from Sichuan University with a degree in English (like most of the graduates). Thus like most American English graduates, she works as a waitress. But unlike American English majors, she works in a Chinese karaoke bar. Where one can also ask for a girl. Not a prostitute, but you are allowed to touch(??), according to Mike. How is this okay? I wonder, forgetting that such things exist in the US as well. Mike likes Chinese girls, especially Lynette, and thus assumes that I must be crazy about Chinese girls as well. He and every Chinese girl I've met assumes I want to know how to get a Chinese girl. I assure them that I want to find friends first, but I'm not sure they believe me. Mike mentions how I could easily find a girl to live with me and do my laundry, cook, and clean up in front of the girls, even suggesting Emma. Granted I assume when Emma was a roommate of Mike's, Mike paid her share of the rent and thus, perhaps, more fair than it sounds, but it still struck me as an awkward arrangement. Not wanting to explain all my views on gender equality, I instead mention that I can cook for myself. Lynette smiles, and I switch the conversation to music before biting into the peppercorn from hell. Or the fires of Mt. Dune. Or maybe the red hot sun:
My celebration about all this new food was severely dampened by a mistaken bite into a Sichuan peppercorn. My mouth caught fire and then went numb. My gums felt strange and all of a sudden it dawned on me that I may not have only eaten something spicy, but my body might be slightly allergic. I'm not sure. My face flushed to the slight concern of Emma and all of a sudden I was exhausted and all my glee about new food was gone. I kept my composure and after a few minutes, my tongue, cheeks, and gums regained sensation. My lips were warm for maybe an hour or two after and the exhaustion eventually lifted. Hard to say how much was jet lag, anxiety, or the actual peppercorn. Regardless, I will not be making that mistake soon. My stomach was not very happy at the end of lunch, nor my mind. So I found myself at home, in my bed, in jet lag comma.
After catching up on news and Domino's, a friend from Vassar who is Auparing in Germany, blog, which is wonderful, I went back to the task at hand of lesson planning. Then Linda arrived. She was just promoted at her work in the US consulate. Though should I ever go there I can't mention I know her. She is 23 (Lynette being 22) so I have met some people my age. We headed out to dinner with Mike to get...NOODLES! Lynette ordered off the all-Chinese, no picture, menu and the noodles were delicious. Some sort of meat, garlic, onions, spices, MSG, soy sauce; the best really. Over dinner we talked about US vs. Chinese governments, Linda's desire to vote and search the web unrestricted, good clubs, good food including snake, snake eggs, deep fried scorpions, and more. Lynette and Mike were headed to a new club, but I felt I had to blog--no, not really. Mike seems to party very very hard and that didn't sound like a great idea with my body this week. Linda and I exchanged numbers, as I did with Emma. I now have four phone contacts of people who speak Chinese and English, the other two being Sarah from Dipont and Lynette. Linda said she wants to work on her English and I desperately want to speak Chinese--at least enough to order food and ask someone how they are and understand their answer...maybe directions too. I head back to Gregory's where gwy-gwy greets me.
A good day for new foods and new friends. And an okay day for lesson planning.
And maybe my "my gosh I'm in China moment" won't ever come. Or maybe I'm still in disbelief. Or maybe I'm worried about teaching and my job before I can take the mental energy to process this move. My money's on maybe I just need to see a panda.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)