Traveling Diary: December 2007 Archives
Merry Christmas y'all!
Why is it that during the holidays when you are supposed to relax and catch up on everything, you end up doing way too much and running yourself ragged...all to head back to work dizzy and heavier? One of the millions of conundrums of our culture and society, I suppose.
The last week has been quite eventful. So there are a lot of pics, so this blog will be more like a picture book instead of a novel.
It all got kicked off with a party at Val's on Friday, Dec 21st. To the potluck I brought some mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts...yes, my two xmas favorites.
But the following night was when the fun really began. And where there is fun, there is David. We had another wine tasting, and this time May and I brought Gina. She fell in love with David just as I had on my first meeting with him.
So we decided to invite him out to a foreigner bar after the wine tasting.
The night is a big foggy after this point, but I do know I played a few games of pool against the Chinese snooker champion. And during one of the games I actually sunk two balls against him! Meanwhile, as I attempted to line up a bank shot to the corner pocket with what looked like four cue balls, Gina proceeded to make friends with the entire bar and invite them all to the next day's event...gingerbread making!
That's Chinese food on those plates if you were wondering.
Although I can imagine that learning how to make, cut, bake and decorate gingerbread cookies as an adult would make me a bit more particular about it, I can guarantee I would not have been half as meticulous as the Chinese friends we brought over to join us. But, this attitude paid off for them...their cookies were by far the best looking.
Mine and Gina's, on the other hand, looked remarkably similar to how mine looked when I was 5.
As much as one of the last things I wanted to do was eat unidentifiable foods with my bosses on Christmas eve, that was the next event of the holidays for me. I tried frog. It was good. And while attempting to be a good sport, I probably also tried a few things of which I hope never to find the origin of.
As anyone who has ever attending a social for work can understand, it is an absolute god-send to find someone who not only thinks the same as you, but also has the same sense of humor. Travis is my guy for that here at SFLS. He teaches the university level physics, chemistry and biology. So I am his little apprentice as well as his cynical buddy and gangsta hommie. Somehow we got a hold of this pink dog at dinner and were in hysterics for almost an hour about nothing in particular - just potty humor and other lower class humor regarding this poor dog. Here, we are trying hard to look serious for the camera for two seconds.
Then before I knew it, Christmas morning came. And Santa... the a-hole... didn't come to my house!?!? After chatting with my family on the phone, eating a box of cookies, and catching up on some email, I sent off with Gina to check out a local park. On the way, I stumbled across this. Mmmmm, Christmas breakfast straight out of the most polluted river I have ever seen.
Gina and I spent our morning hiking around Tian Ping Hill. It has a park and a bunch of Maple trees that are just losing their last leaves right now.
The signs were Christmas colours. But that didn't seem to help with our inability to read them.
Not even a half hour into the visit, this weird Chinese guy proceeded to try to make friends with us. He didn't speak a word of English and at first we saw it as a great opportunity to practice our Chinese. But about twenty minutes into it I started getting annoyed. However, that was after he inspected Gina from her big feet to fingers that for some unknown reason didn't match his as well as mine did...he also inspected her blue eyes and red hair.
Why is it that during the holidays when you are supposed to relax and catch up on everything, you end up doing way too much and running yourself ragged...all to head back to work dizzy and heavier? One of the millions of conundrums of our culture and society, I suppose.
The last week has been quite eventful. So there are a lot of pics, so this blog will be more like a picture book instead of a novel.
It all got kicked off with a party at Val's on Friday, Dec 21st. To the potluck I brought some mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts...yes, my two xmas favorites.
But the following night was when the fun really began. And where there is fun, there is David. We had another wine tasting, and this time May and I brought Gina. She fell in love with David just as I had on my first meeting with him.So we decided to invite him out to a foreigner bar after the wine tasting.The night is a big foggy after this point, but I do know I played a few games of pool against the Chinese snooker champion. And during one of the games I actually sunk two balls against him! Meanwhile, as I attempted to line up a bank shot to the corner pocket with what looked like four cue balls, Gina proceeded to make friends with the entire bar and invite them all to the next day's event...gingerbread making!
That's Chinese food on those plates if you were wondering.
Although I can imagine that learning how to make, cut, bake and decorate gingerbread cookies as an adult would make me a bit more particular about it, I can guarantee I would not have been half as meticulous as the Chinese friends we brought over to join us. But, this attitude paid off for them...their cookies were by far the best looking.
Mine and Gina's, on the other hand, looked remarkably similar to how mine looked when I was 5.
As much as one of the last things I wanted to do was eat unidentifiable foods with my bosses on Christmas eve, that was the next event of the holidays for me. I tried frog. It was good. And while attempting to be a good sport, I probably also tried a few things of which I hope never to find the origin of.As anyone who has ever attending a social for work can understand, it is an absolute god-send to find someone who not only thinks the same as you, but also has the same sense of humor. Travis is my guy for that here at SFLS. He teaches the university level physics, chemistry and biology. So I am his little apprentice as well as his cynical buddy and gangsta hommie. Somehow we got a hold of this pink dog at dinner and were in hysterics for almost an hour about nothing in particular - just potty humor and other lower class humor regarding this poor dog. Here, we are trying hard to look serious for the camera for two seconds.Then before I knew it, Christmas morning came. And Santa... the a-hole... didn't come to my house!?!? After chatting with my family on the phone, eating a box of cookies, and catching up on some email, I sent off with Gina to check out a local park. On the way, I stumbled across this. Mmmmm, Christmas breakfast straight out of the most polluted river I have ever seen.Gina and I spent our morning hiking around Tian Ping Hill. It has a park and a bunch of Maple trees that are just losing their last leaves right now. The signs were Christmas colours. But that didn't seem to help with our inability to read them.Not even a half hour into the visit, this weird Chinese guy proceeded to try to make friends with us. He didn't speak a word of English and at first we saw it as a great opportunity to practice our Chinese. But about twenty minutes into it I started getting annoyed. However, that was after he inspected Gina from her big feet to fingers that for some unknown reason didn't match his as well as mine did...he also inspected her blue eyes and red hair.
After he wore out his welcome and we managed to get rid of him, we hiked down the mountain peacefully alone and passed a few cool Buddhist monuments for praying.
From Tian Ping Hill we went to the most Western place we could find in Suzhou....Starbucks... and drank Baileys and coffee for a few hours. Christmas music was playing and we shared with each other some cool Christmas stories and family traditions. And although it was nice, i think it was a bit depressing for both of us. I learned It is better to do things as different from home as possible on days like xmas when you are away from home...otherwise you risk missing everyone too much!
I headed back to the school for the evening as I had been invited to 3 of my classes "Christmas" parties. Basically it was just an excuse for them to get out of night classes and eat a bunch of candy. There was very little Christmassy about any of it due in part to the blind leading the blind, but it was still fun.
I headed back to the school for the evening as I had been invited to 3 of my classes "Christmas" parties. Basically it was just an excuse for them to get out of night classes and eat a bunch of candy. There was very little Christmassy about any of it due in part to the blind leading the blind, but it was still fun.They're really into performing here...even if you suck...so I got to
grind my teeth through more than one unbearable show. Pretty funny too
though.
I kinda felt like a parent because when the kids I taught were performing I thought they were amazing. But when kids I don't teach were performing, I was like, 'lame!'. But honestly, this dance my grade 11's did was not only good, but so racy it wouldn't have been allowed in Canadian high schools
Hope you are all having a great Holiday. It is back to work for me. Although I feel slightly vindicated because I am showing my kids movies all week.
I kinda felt like a parent because when the kids I taught were performing I thought they were amazing. But when kids I don't teach were performing, I was like, 'lame!'. But honestly, this dance my grade 11's did was not only good, but so racy it wouldn't have been allowed in Canadian high schools
Hope you are all having a great Holiday. It is back to work for me. Although I feel slightly vindicated because I am showing my kids movies all week.
'Tis the season to be jolly!
And Gina and I, going against our feelings (or lack thereof) regarding this Christmas season, spent last Friday baking goodies. The effort was threefold: to get into the spirit of the season, to make some presents, and to get drunk. (ok, the last one was just my thing).
Gina spent the early part of her childhood in New Mexico and so our first project was to make these amazing Mexican Christmas cookies called Bisco Chitos. If you want to try to make them yourself, just make short bread cookies, then add about a half a cup of OJ, a tablespoon of anise, and then add more flour to get the texture right. When you put them on the pan, top them off with cinnamon sugar before popping them in the oven at 325F for 10 minutes.
This was the oven we had to work with. It is the only oven on the entire school campus. Val, the woman teacher from Ottawa has it in her apartment. Chinese people don't have ovens for the most part.
And yes, there just so happens to be a drink in my hand. It is champagne and orange juice. So Christmassy!
The following night, Gina, Linsey and I went to our first Chinese birthday party. The lucky birthday boy was Mickey, some random guy who stopped to talk to Gina last week while she was struggling to determine what the heck she was looking at while shopping for groceries. This is the crew that came to dinner. Mickey is the guy furthest on the right. They were actually quite unreserved for Chinese peeps, so it was really fun.
Birthday parties in China are different in a few ways. For one, the birthday boy pays for everything. For two, it revolves around food and a very long meal. And for three, you are not really supposed to get the birthday boy a present...they are supposed to get you something! Needless to say, I was stoked to be a guest!
We ate hot pot for dinner. This is like a soup version of fondue. There is a big, boiling bowl of broths in the middle of the table and you order whatever you want (in this case, extra pig intestine and whole, live shrimps) and when it comes to the table, you plop it into the broth and then fish it all out with your chopsticks as the night goes on.
I ate a shrimp whole. It was.....crunchy....and I couldnt get the eyes, brains and antennae out of my head. Too many invertebrate labs in my Univesity career. But I managed to swallow and then guzzled some beer to make it all better.
Which brings me to yet another story about me drinking. Well, I didnt really drink a lot that night. Even so, the Chinese kids at the table started calling me Janada Jiugui (pronounced jew-gway). This directly translates into Canadian alcoholic. (They were somewhat stunned that I was shooting 56% bijiu...that Chinese white wine I have told you about) But really they claimed it just means someone who likes drinking.... Yeah I do!
It is very rare for Chinese women to drink. And you would never find one keeping up with the boys...it would be considered unrestrained, of which Chinese women are made to believe they should always be. Hey, at least they don't bind their feet anymore.
If you look closely, the only person in this picture without beer in their glass is the Chinese girl.
And Gina and I, going against our feelings (or lack thereof) regarding this Christmas season, spent last Friday baking goodies. The effort was threefold: to get into the spirit of the season, to make some presents, and to get drunk. (ok, the last one was just my thing).
Gina spent the early part of her childhood in New Mexico and so our first project was to make these amazing Mexican Christmas cookies called Bisco Chitos. If you want to try to make them yourself, just make short bread cookies, then add about a half a cup of OJ, a tablespoon of anise, and then add more flour to get the texture right. When you put them on the pan, top them off with cinnamon sugar before popping them in the oven at 325F for 10 minutes.
This was the oven we had to work with. It is the only oven on the entire school campus. Val, the woman teacher from Ottawa has it in her apartment. Chinese people don't have ovens for the most part.
And yes, there just so happens to be a drink in my hand. It is champagne and orange juice. So Christmassy!The following night, Gina, Linsey and I went to our first Chinese birthday party. The lucky birthday boy was Mickey, some random guy who stopped to talk to Gina last week while she was struggling to determine what the heck she was looking at while shopping for groceries. This is the crew that came to dinner. Mickey is the guy furthest on the right. They were actually quite unreserved for Chinese peeps, so it was really fun.
Birthday parties in China are different in a few ways. For one, the birthday boy pays for everything. For two, it revolves around food and a very long meal. And for three, you are not really supposed to get the birthday boy a present...they are supposed to get you something! Needless to say, I was stoked to be a guest! We ate hot pot for dinner. This is like a soup version of fondue. There is a big, boiling bowl of broths in the middle of the table and you order whatever you want (in this case, extra pig intestine and whole, live shrimps) and when it comes to the table, you plop it into the broth and then fish it all out with your chopsticks as the night goes on.
I ate a shrimp whole. It was.....crunchy....and I couldnt get the eyes, brains and antennae out of my head. Too many invertebrate labs in my Univesity career. But I managed to swallow and then guzzled some beer to make it all better.
Which brings me to yet another story about me drinking. Well, I didnt really drink a lot that night. Even so, the Chinese kids at the table started calling me Janada Jiugui (pronounced jew-gway). This directly translates into Canadian alcoholic. (They were somewhat stunned that I was shooting 56% bijiu...that Chinese white wine I have told you about) But really they claimed it just means someone who likes drinking.... Yeah I do!
It is very rare for Chinese women to drink. And you would never find one keeping up with the boys...it would be considered unrestrained, of which Chinese women are made to believe they should always be. Hey, at least they don't bind their feet anymore.
If you look closely, the only person in this picture without beer in their glass is the Chinese girl.
I've gotta give Linsey props for not only shooting bijiu with me (although she did not know it was 56% when I poured her a shot) but also trying a whole shrimp with me. Atta girl!
I know, it's been too long....
The trouble is, nothing really exciting has happened over the last few weeks. Just the usual random run-ins and near death experiences - but nothing really to write home about. Also, sadly, I have been not only working too much but also slaving away at my thesis during my 'spare time' so have been caught up in the real world over the last little while. Nonetheless, I have found some time for fun. Besides lying on my death bed all last week with what I think was food poisoning but may have just been MSG poisoning...(definitely a major downer here) I have also enjoyed one tourist attraction and one girl's night. I'll be honest, it's tough get excited about much soon after a trip to the Great Wall or Shanghai. Alas, my horoscope the other day said 'things that were once unthinkable will begin to seem mundane to you now.' Not that I'm bored or anything, but the initial shock and excitement is certainly wearing off. Now it is just like, "yeah I'm living in China...like it ain't no thang!"
However, I don't think these amazing signs will ever get old!
The Master of Nets Garden is one of many famous gardens in Suzhou. I know, the thought of me going to a garden just to walk around and relax and breath it all in is maybe somewhat unbelievable. But it was one of those things you just have to tick off your list. Gina and I went (which made it all the more bearable) last weekend.
The Master of Nets Garden is like the Chinese equivalent of an old man's hunting and fishing cabin in northern Ontario. Somehow "fishing retreat" was loosely translated into 'master of nets' although I have a feeling it was simply to make it sound better for the tourists. There are even special rooms for smoking, reading...and then with the Chinese spin on it, there are special rooms for all their concubines.
The
detail in the wood and stone carvings at this garden were ridiculous.
Steven, you're in for a real treat when I show you the design of the
back deck (overlooking the ocean) for you to build me on
my property in Nova Scotia.... it will be all inspired by this stuff!
An Aside: When I got to class this afternoon, my overseas junior 1 class (grade 7) all wanted to watch a movie. I told them no and we were going to learn a poem instead. They started chanting 'movie! movie! movie!" This kind of thing does not happen in China. Alas, I caved when one of the kids (remember Charles from the halloween entry?) dared me to a game of paper rock scissors. If I won, they had to learn a poem and there would be no movies all week (bad for me) but if he won, they got to watch a movie (good for me). Little did he know, I wanted him to win. I won the fist round and the kids went crazy. He won the next round they were standing on their chairs. Then Charles won the third round and the entire class (including me) jumped for joy and we put in a movie. Ah, the little joys of being a teacher.
The girls night on Friday was fun (although I was still a bit sick to my stomach). And Gina and I took Ling and Amanda (two Chinese teachers at our school) to a Mexican restaurant that had all you can drink, free margaritas for ladies. Hey-yo! We also managed to catch the tail end of a really cool water show by the lake on our way to get liquored up.
A few margaritas in, Gina and I started asking our Chinese counterparts about the dating scene in China. I can only assume with many of the cultural differences, the culture of dating would be no exception; and I have have been curious. After asking some potentially embarrassing questions and some other obvious questions, I had decided I was ready to test the waters. So, in that moment, Ling became my matchmaker. Now you are asking: What do I need to do? How can I find a 'boyfriend'? First things first, you need a ring on your pointer finger. This says to people that you are not only available but also interested. So the next night I went to a night market and bought a ring for 4 kuai (50centsCDN). Based on how much I spent on the ring, you can tell how much value I put into this endeavor!
Then Ling asked what I wanted in a guy. Seeing as it was going to be just for fun, I listed four essentials (if it were serious the essentials list would be about quadruple the length, and in a much different priority order) 1. rich, 2. good looking (tall, nice teeth, nice skin, thin), 3. funny, and 4. can speak English. Unfortunately, that pretty much narrowed it down to 0% of the Chinese male population. Ling was discouraged and as she typed these things into her cell phone and sent them around to all her friends, responses came back that made us realize I would need to seriously narrow down my essentials. So after a few more free margaritas, as drinks tend to do, my standards lowered. I told Ling that all I needed in a guy to date just for the hell of it were two of three things: rich, good looking, and speaks English. Any two of those three things would be ok. Well.... it turns out even that is a bit of a problem!?! Nonetheless, I am officially in the game. So maybe in the next few weeks I will have some hilarious stories to tell about that! Until then, I will flash my 'single ring' every where I go and see what kind of business I can drum up;)
The trouble is, nothing really exciting has happened over the last few weeks. Just the usual random run-ins and near death experiences - but nothing really to write home about. Also, sadly, I have been not only working too much but also slaving away at my thesis during my 'spare time' so have been caught up in the real world over the last little while. Nonetheless, I have found some time for fun. Besides lying on my death bed all last week with what I think was food poisoning but may have just been MSG poisoning...(definitely a major downer here) I have also enjoyed one tourist attraction and one girl's night. I'll be honest, it's tough get excited about much soon after a trip to the Great Wall or Shanghai. Alas, my horoscope the other day said 'things that were once unthinkable will begin to seem mundane to you now.' Not that I'm bored or anything, but the initial shock and excitement is certainly wearing off. Now it is just like, "yeah I'm living in China...like it ain't no thang!"
However, I don't think these amazing signs will ever get old!
The Master of Nets Garden is one of many famous gardens in Suzhou. I know, the thought of me going to a garden just to walk around and relax and breath it all in is maybe somewhat unbelievable. But it was one of those things you just have to tick off your list. Gina and I went (which made it all the more bearable) last weekend.
The Master of Nets Garden is like the Chinese equivalent of an old man's hunting and fishing cabin in northern Ontario. Somehow "fishing retreat" was loosely translated into 'master of nets' although I have a feeling it was simply to make it sound better for the tourists. There are even special rooms for smoking, reading...and then with the Chinese spin on it, there are special rooms for all their concubines.
The
detail in the wood and stone carvings at this garden were ridiculous.
Steven, you're in for a real treat when I show you the design of the
back deck (overlooking the ocean) for you to build me on
my property in Nova Scotia.... it will be all inspired by this stuff!An Aside: When I got to class this afternoon, my overseas junior 1 class (grade 7) all wanted to watch a movie. I told them no and we were going to learn a poem instead. They started chanting 'movie! movie! movie!" This kind of thing does not happen in China. Alas, I caved when one of the kids (remember Charles from the halloween entry?) dared me to a game of paper rock scissors. If I won, they had to learn a poem and there would be no movies all week (bad for me) but if he won, they got to watch a movie (good for me). Little did he know, I wanted him to win. I won the fist round and the kids went crazy. He won the next round they were standing on their chairs. Then Charles won the third round and the entire class (including me) jumped for joy and we put in a movie. Ah, the little joys of being a teacher.
The girls night on Friday was fun (although I was still a bit sick to my stomach). And Gina and I took Ling and Amanda (two Chinese teachers at our school) to a Mexican restaurant that had all you can drink, free margaritas for ladies. Hey-yo! We also managed to catch the tail end of a really cool water show by the lake on our way to get liquored up.
A few margaritas in, Gina and I started asking our Chinese counterparts about the dating scene in China. I can only assume with many of the cultural differences, the culture of dating would be no exception; and I have have been curious. After asking some potentially embarrassing questions and some other obvious questions, I had decided I was ready to test the waters. So, in that moment, Ling became my matchmaker. Now you are asking: What do I need to do? How can I find a 'boyfriend'? First things first, you need a ring on your pointer finger. This says to people that you are not only available but also interested. So the next night I went to a night market and bought a ring for 4 kuai (50centsCDN). Based on how much I spent on the ring, you can tell how much value I put into this endeavor!
Then Ling asked what I wanted in a guy. Seeing as it was going to be just for fun, I listed four essentials (if it were serious the essentials list would be about quadruple the length, and in a much different priority order) 1. rich, 2. good looking (tall, nice teeth, nice skin, thin), 3. funny, and 4. can speak English. Unfortunately, that pretty much narrowed it down to 0% of the Chinese male population. Ling was discouraged and as she typed these things into her cell phone and sent them around to all her friends, responses came back that made us realize I would need to seriously narrow down my essentials. So after a few more free margaritas, as drinks tend to do, my standards lowered. I told Ling that all I needed in a guy to date just for the hell of it were two of three things: rich, good looking, and speaks English. Any two of those three things would be ok. Well.... it turns out even that is a bit of a problem!?! Nonetheless, I am officially in the game. So maybe in the next few weeks I will have some hilarious stories to tell about that! Until then, I will flash my 'single ring' every where I go and see what kind of business I can drum up;)
