Food and Things

I guess we need to back track a little bit. I’ve skipped around a bit and failed to discuss things that I said I would. I’m an airhead, what can I say? Speaking of airheads, I could go for one. Keep in mind though, candy is expensive out here.

Let's talk about Houhai Lake at night. I did end up going back two days after Lantern Festival. It was pretty cool. I’ll definitely be making numerous trips there throughout the year. It’s not that far and easy to get to. But yea, it was pretty neat. It’s cool seeing it all lit up and being there when it’s a little more happening. There’s a lot more people there at night for a couple reasons. For one, it was Saturday night. Satur-day! Satur-day! Satur-day! I’m sure you didn’t get the reference there. Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting by Elton John.  Come onnnnn.  Secondly, there are plenty of bars and clubs around Houhai Lake. Lady bars also if you’re interested. I’m not. Should you find yourself searching for one though, make sure you ask if STDs are included in the initial price. Anyways, I went out with my hotel roommate and the guy from Wales. It was a nice relaxing night, which included some beer and live acoustic music. I only paid 10rmb/beer this time. Yes, you can negotiate for beer in some places. Guys/girls (mostly guys) stand outside the bars and try to lure you in with their prices and what not. Most will make more than one offer if you keep walking or don’t like their price. We went out around 7:00 PM or so and managed to avoid the crazies that come out after 11:00 PM. Oh and the best part? I finally got to see some lanterns! Mission complete. I only saw two, but I would have been happy with one.  I don’t exactly what they are, but they look like a candle surrounded by some sort of paper box. They look like they could burst into flames at any minute and vaporize, but I watched them go as far as I could see. Very cool.

OH, and by the way, I’m not completely satisfied with the Chinese and their oranges yet. While teaching in the classrooms, almost all of the kids know the picture and the word ‘orange’. Coincidence? We’ll find out. If one of the kids doesn’t know many of the fruits, he’ll almost always know the orange. Interesting, very interesting. I’ll tell you more about school later; I’ve got other things to discuss.

I'll tell you a little about the food I’ve eaten this far. It would be much easier to show you through pictures, but unfortunately I haven’t really been going out and bringing my camera when eating. You’ll see a few, though. Strawberry Oreos. Yes, they were awesome. Do they make them back in the states? I’m sure they do, but I’ve never seen them. Not Chinese, but awesome. I had to mention them. When I was in the hotel, I got what my hotel roommate called ‘meat on a stick’ a few times. Meat on a stick. Yep, we’re Americans. I didn’t get a chance to try the squid on a stick, but I’m sure I will. Most of the time, I ate some sort of pork or beef. I really don’t know which it was. They always put the same sauce and spices on, so it’s hard to say. I think I also ate donkey on a stick the one time. I can’t be sure. A little chewy, but not bad. A lot of the stuff that I’m going to mention initially came from the shopping mall that’s near the hotel.  The 6^th floor contains a big food court with many different things that are fairly inexpensive. I probably mentioned this before, but I just wanted to refresh your memory regardless. I ate these sesame seed ball things that get fried and contain bean in the middle. It doesn’t sound it, but they’re actually pretty sweet. I also ate these things that look like pizza slices sort of. They’re really just two pieces of dough I guess, fried, with pork in between the two pieces. They’re pretty good. What else? I bought this pretzel looking thing from a shop on the side of the street. (Not a street vendor.) This was very sweet, too sweet. Hard to say exactly what it was. Mostly sugar and maybe some sort of syrup congealed together. Let’s see. I ate a piece of beef candy. Yeah, beef candy. It was beef in a little candy wrapper. Yeah, I don’t know. I mean it’s good, just odd. Last night, (Monday) I ate some dumplings accompanied with hot sauce and Chinese vinegar mixed together. Simple, but good.  Hmmmm. Uhhhh. Oh, I ordered this thing from a vendor at the Silk Market. It started off sort of like a pancake, but then stretched ultra thin. This was sauced and seasoned, and an egg was spread over it. Before folding it up, the woman put a crispy wafer type thing on it. You may think this sounds kind of boring and bland, but it was actually fairly good. And how could I forget? I ate at this little place that’s maybe comparable to a diner, open 24 hours, right next to the hotel one night. Food ranged from 10-30rmb if I’m remembering correctly. I looked through the menu, and ended up choosing this dish that appeared to be some sort of meat with maybe potatoes or something like that. Wrong….It was fricken tofu and small fishes that were about 4 inches. Man, I was so disappointed with this meal. Again, I ate through it simply because I paid for it. I could not eat all of the tofu and by no means did it fill me up. There was barely any meat on the fish and it wasn’t easy removing the spines. Luckily, my hotel roommate did not much of his dish. I capitalized on that. His meal consisted of these dough balls that get opened up in in the centers in order to shove in some bacon (or something like bacon) and some sort of vegetable. Pretty awesome. Especially after the meal I ordered.

I know what you’re thinking. All this mystery meat is probably dog or cat. The fact is - most of it is either pork or chicken, and maybe some beef. I’ve been told you won’t really find cat in major cities like Beijing. If you looked hard enough though, you could probably find it. As for dog, I was informed that Koreans are the people eating the dogs. That’s enough to make me vomit. I mean I have looked at Goober and thought about throwing him on the grill from time to time. KIDDING. I would never eat dog, but after seeing some of the dogs out here; I can understand why some people may eat them. They’re so FREAKING tiny. Seriously, they’re all small and many of them don sweaters. Some even have little booties. At some point in time, some Korean probably got really hungry or mistook the dog for some small creature and it all went downhill from there. Yeah, I’ll pass. And I don’t know what kind of training methods the Chinese are using for their dogs, but I’m impressed. They walk the ‘sidewalks’ and streets with their dogs following; no leashes. You’ll see leashes once and a while, but it’s not nearly as common. I even saw a dog following a woman a bike. One kid claimed that he saw a dog wait for its owner outside of the grocery store. Crazy.

Spit. All over. Everywhere. Watch your step. I’m not kidding. Every one spits out here. I’ve seen men, women, and children spit. Many people don’t care where they spit. They’ll spit right on the sidewalks, on the street, on their dog, on their friend walking next to them, etc. Just kidding about those last two. Seriously though, be conscious of where you’re walking or you’ll end up stepping in a nice wad of spit on more than one occasion.

I guess I’ll cut it off here. I’ve gotten through two days of teaching classes. It’s been going pretty well so far and it will get easier once I don’t have much preparation to do. It’s a lot of repetition so it’s really not that bad. It can be a little tiring and mundane, though. You’ll hear all about it soon enough. I’m ready to relax for the night and do nothing. I just ordered some beef and potatoes so it should be a good meal. There are no tips necessary or expected in case you didn’t know.

-Jeff