凉拌黄瓜

In 3 days, it will be my 2 month anniversary in China. Time is actually going by pretty quickly, considering all I do is work and travel and sleep. I try to travel a lot and stay busy so that I don't get bored but sometimes I just need some rest! I feel as if it's hard for me to just take a step back and take it all in, because I'm running around all the time. This upcoming weekend Audre, Kianie and I are going to Lily's and she is going to teach us how to cook some Chinese dishes (Ayman I know you're so excited that I'll get to cook you some Chinese food!) I am planning on having a big dinner when I come back to Vernon Hills, and making only Chinese dishes and using ONLY chopsticks! I'm really glad I met Lily and that she is one of my students because she has helped me out with a lot of things here (haircut, finding buses, learning about Chinese Ethnicities AND she will start to teach me Chinese probably next week!!!) She told me yesterday that she considers me more to be her little sister rather than just a friend (hence where my Chinese name came from). I have to admit she is one of the nicest people I have met in my life. She goes out of her way to do things for me, and she has already given me 3 gifts...so I need some ideas of what to get her from the US (EVERYTHING is made in China anyway). Yesterday she gave be a comb, made from a horn of an animal that is supposed to be good for your hair. I feel like it's somewhat of a weapon too! She also gave me a Tibetan silver bracelet with two fish kissing a flower on it. It is supposed to symbolize luck...

Actually in Feng Shui double fish, in addition to being good omens, in general are considered good luck charms. They say since fish swim in pairs, they symbolize unity and togetherness. In nature, fish are known to have a long period of courtship. So the dual fish represent the love and happiness wished to all married couples, as well as the successful birth of children and overall abundance of wealth. In this case, it can mean friendship or wishing luck in the relationships that you hold. Funny because her boyfriend gave me the chopsticks with the Beijing ducks, which are meant to wish someone togetherness with their significant other. In fact in China, these symbols are very valuable and represent something deeper than just two fish or two ducks. The gifts seem to be planned out and carefully thought about based on what is wished for a person.

Nevertheless, Lily went to see her boyfriend this weekend in ChengDu (where they went to college), whom she has not seen in about 6 months! They started dating in college, and will get married in 2 years (when he's 25 because if you're in the army, you cannot be married before then). I can't believe they go so long without seeing each other, but are so in love! He is a "soldier" as she puts it, and writes articles for a newspaper about the army. She says he's always busy. I have to dedicate some of my post to her, because honestly she offers to help me from the bottom of her heart, not because she has to in any way. She also comes to all my classes (well all 3 levels) and I must admit, her English is getting excellent! I met her my second day here because she went to dinner with my manager and friends, but she would not speak any English at all (too shy and embarrassed). Anyway, I took her out to dinner yesterday and we talked a lot about family, her boyfriend (who is moving even further away for who knows how long ), her parents and aunts and uncles, and subjects like these.

So this weekend, along with cooking this Saturday, we're going to lunch together and shopping for food in the market. I am going to write down prices and items I want to buy in Chinese for future reference. On Sunday we are going to visit a beautiful temple in DaLiang which is pretty close to here, and then we're having dinner at a restaurant where they have amazing tea! I am skipping out on going to Guangzhou this weekend because for one weekend, I just need to take it easy... and I can do that here in Beijiao. So with that said, I have a lot to write about...

To Ashley
Last weekend (in Shenzhen)
Ethnic Minorities
Buddhist Temples
Food

Ash

I went to a few pharmacies on Friday after work to look for some medicinal Chinese herbs for you. One of my students took me, but it is actually hard to find something that would be good for you. What would be BEST is if you came to China and we could go to a Chinese traditional medicinal doctor together, and he would tell you what to buy for your allergies. I'll do my best though, because I am planning on buying lots of herbs and spices before I leave here!

Weekend in Shēnzhèn (深圳)

We wanted to go to a beach for the weekend, but if we went to Hainan (an island to the south of China) travel time would be too long, and it would end up being very expensive. We decided we would go to Shenzhen, which is a city that borders Hong Kong. Allow me to start at the beginning...we woke up around 6 or so, and walked to the bus station. We stopped at McDonald's for coffee (right next to the bus station) and it turned out Audre forgot her passport! So I went back with her to her apartment, and we took a motorbike there and back. It's pretty funny if you don't know Chinese to tell the driver that he needs to wait on the street so we can run in and grab something! Anyway, we didn't make it back to the bus station in time, and we missed our bus, and took the next one to another station in Shenzhen (not the one we originally planned on going to).

The bus stations in China are an experience in itself. People are smoking inside, the people over the loud speakers are loud and obnoxious, and at the same time, everyone stares. The "managers" really couldn't care less whether you get a ticket for your bus or not...and out of 8 ticket windows, 2 are open... I managed to sneak into the front of the line once we got our tickets because I just smiled and pretended to not know ANYTHING going on around me (this also happened at the pool in Shenzhen--it was only for hotel guests, but we went in and pretended not to know anything...and once the manager realized we were foreign, he just let us stay)

I slept the whole 3 hours on the bus and once we got to the bus station it took us a while to find the subway but eventually we did. It would have been so easy to just go to Hong Kong... people come from HK to Shenzhen to buy cheaper products and get massages, go to the spa, and get manicures.

We then took the subway to the hostel and we met an American, two French people and a Chinese guy all from Shanghai! We ended up making new friends and we all went to the beach together. It was predicted to rain, but actually the weather was lovely! It was hot and sunny. The bus to the beach took forever, but thank God we had Charlie with us (the Chinese guy from Shanghai) because he clearly did all the talking. I'm not sure Kianie, Audre and I could have figured out how to get to the beach by ourselves... the bus ride alone lasted 1.5 hours. The beach was an experience...people kept taking pictures of us, and when I wanted JUMP AROUND pictures the girls wanted to jump in theirs also...so we took some and noticed a photographer took pictures of us and he told us what newspaper he worked for, and our picture would be in it the next day. We checked, and there we were!

(Our walk after the beach, overlooking Hong Kong)

We also had the most revealing bathing suits out of all the girls on the beach, but that's because the girls here dress very conservatively on a day to day basis. We also swam really far into the water (which by the way was salt water and when it got into my mouth it was gross!) where there were a few guys hanging on the divider of where to swim and where not to swim... I guess not many Chinese girls like to swim. We walked around the beach a little and actually met some older man from Chicago! (Sidenote: if you see foreigners in China in smaller cities you're bound to talk to each other because there are NOT MANY of us here) What a small world. After the beach we went to eat and then played drinking games in the hostel (our own version of circle of death). Oh I forgot to mention I pretty much got trampled on the bus, I got smooshed, and all sorts of other things...too many people in Shenzhen over the holiday, especially at the beach!

The second day Audre, Kianie, Stephen (guy from Australia) and I went to the "Spa Resort". This place looked like it had seen it's fair share of visitors. We took another long bus to get there and after a few misses and fails we FINALLY walked into basically what looked like a semi-abandoned tourist area. A lot of the buildings were locked and looked worn out. We eventually walked around enough to find the spa we paid for, and once we saw the hot tubs, milk tubs and such, we were feeling better. This place looked kind of like a stereotypical Chinese garden, but it had a bunch of tiny pools for people to soak in. Some cool ones were: a milk pool, a flower pool (had a bag of flower petals in it and it smelled good), a waterfall with lukewarm water, some tubs that has HOTTTTT water, and a big pool to swim in and lastly, a tub with little fish in it that ate your skin (or the bacteria off your skin). We had to pay extra for that one but it was cool! The fish biting tickled me, so I couldn't keep still for too long. Audre sat in there for a while though!

(Chinese women laying in the fish pool)

After that pool I went to the salt pool where you scrub yourself with sea salt. The weather outside was so nice, so the really hot pools were a little too hot for me and I only dipped in them and got out. One pool that I really enjoyed was the one with cool water in it with a waterfall that came down to an area where you could sit or lay, and it massaged you. I sat under it for quite a while, but I get bored easily...so that didn't last too long either! Nevertheless, the natural hot spring spa was a great experience. I guess some of the pools had natural hot spring water in them... When it was time to go, we were so hungry! We met at the hostel with our new friends (Charlie, Kevin, Clemont, Sandra) and went to dinner! We ate at a pretty pricey restaurant, but we didn't order like Chinese do--too much food that half gets thrown away at the end because everyone is full. Instead we ordered what we would eat and after we went to get coffee and tea. I'd like to mention that I am getting very used to drinking tea with every meal now. It feels good to wash your food down with warm flavored tea...Maybe it helps digestion even (and women always take a walk here after a meal)! Afterwards everyone was so tired that we just hung out in the hostel, walked around town, and went to sleep.

The following day (Monday) we went to a botanical garden (which I found online before the trip)which was also a pain to get to unfortunately. It involved a lot of walking uphill and up stairs, but it was cool! The sun was shining and we went to a temple where I got free Buddhism hymnals along with a CD. I also think I found a treasure! Where the books were laying, there was an old hymnal that looked worn but so beautiful! I took it, but before I did I asked the person sitting behind the window if I could, and he signaled yes, and gave me some other books. This is something I will definitely hold on to. People were probably thinking, "Why would she want some old Buddhist hymn book?"

(Not the old hymn book I'm talking about, but another one that was still cool)

(We climbed up the pagoda and this was the view from the top)

(The candles people lit in the temple. They are in honor of the gods or their ancestors)

We also went to a garden with trees that were really old...They weren't growing anymore and they had been petrified: turned into stone. Literally. By that time we were so tired that we took a "Green Car" down to the exit and went to the hostel to grab our things and headed to the bus station.

(Petrified Trees)

Getting a ticket home was also an adventure because no one really understood us, we went to the wrong part of the bus station, etc etc. I had no patience by that time because people were either ignoring us or shouting. I can't fail to mention that now in touristy cities, I expect people to speak English, but that is really not the case here. I need to lower my expectations a LOT! Eventually we found the station, bought tickets, and made it safely on the bus. But wait! For a while we didn't know if we were on the right bus. I must admit I was nervous. At 9PM, stranded on some bus that is going to somewhere...and we don't speak Chinese. It turned out the bus made it back to Beijiao (not to BeiZhen like I saw a sign for) and we again, walked home. Of course I still didn't have internet in my room (after a week minus one day), so that was great to come home to. I had been out of touch with the world for about 5 days... Nevertheless I ate noodles, went to sleep and then to work in the morning!

Ethnic Minorities

The Ethnic groups in China are incredible! Of course Lily sent me pictures of each ethnic group in China, in their traditional wear...but it's astounding how they vary so much! Some ethnic groups use a completely different language and different writing! Before I came to China, I thought Chinese was just Chinese (well I knew there was Mandarin and Cantonese), but that is not the case at all. It's just that a high majority (around 92%) are Han, so that is what most people think of as the typical "Chinese", but every area is different here. I'm very excited to learn about these minorities and their cultures.

Buddhist Temple

As I've mentioned, we went to yet another temple. We were invited to see the highest Monk of the temple, but in order to do that we had to bow to him...I have to say I don't really feel right bowing to someone because I don't really know much about the religion, and to me it's like as if I were bowing to another god, besides the one I believe in. So we stood in line, changed our minds, and left. I asked Lily about all the statues in the temples, and all temples are different. There are different statues to pray to depending on what you are praying for. For example, the most famous deity is Guānyīn (觀音), the goddess of mercy [originated from Avalokiteśvara(अवलोकितेश्वर) from Sanskrit], but we saw a statue of Qian shou guan yin... which is Guānyīn with 1000 arms. The story behind this is that Guānyīn could never rest until all people had seen mercy, so Amitābha (another deity) granted her more heads so she could cope with the suffering of the people. When she wanted to help people, she was granted 1000 arms by Amitābha again to reach out to everyone who needed her. Basically, it is said that each arm/hand has a purpose. This deity is pretty interesting because if you need money, you can ask it, if you want fertility or love, that can also be prayed for. Buddhism and Daoism (道教) are some things I need to read and learn more about while in China. It owuld be nice to speak to an English speaking monk...

(A picture I took in the temple on Sunday)

Food

Two of my favorite vegetable dishes: 凉拌土豆丝 and 凉拌黄瓜. Search on google images, because those who are lucky enough will get to taste these when I come back to the States. YUM, I could eat these everyday! Next time I order them I will take lots of pictures so I can post them on my blog (some of my facebook pictures do have these dishes in them). I also tried lotus root a few weeks ago, which tasted interesting...unlike anything I've ever tasted before (凉拌藕) It had a spicy flavor to it but when you bit into it, it tasted a little raw. The root itself is the size of a person's palm, and it has holes in it. I've never seen it in the US, but I know that trying it one time is enough, because it's not a flavor you can eat over and over. The same night, I also ate 地瓜丸 which were DELICIOUS! The literal translation is "sweet potato balls", but the inside was warm and purple, so I think it was taro. The outside was fried and so good...I could also eat those everyday! All this food talk is now making me hungry...luckily I have leftovers in my fridge that I'll actually eat!