Snacks and Other Ruminations

Ever had a "Strange Taste Horsebean?" I now can say that I have (and yes, that is the actual translation on the package). How about blueberry flavored potato chips? Richy just had a bag for lunch. Curry flavored yak jerky? Not too different from what I would imagine curry flavored beef jerky would taste like. Every class break is an opportunity to expand our pre-packaged culinary horizons. It helps that we are surrounded by several other curious westerners, so we don't have to shell out the whopping 70 cent price tag to get a taste (we are, after all living on about $7/day). On the slightly less strange and more delicious side, we have also discovered aloe flavored yogurt, pineapple soft serve, crispy sesame ball snacks, and fresh cucumber flavored potato chips (with a slightly tingly menthol-ish after taste). The wonderful thing about the convenience stores on campus is that they hold all manner of curiosities, and we can choose at our pace how much variety we are willing to partake in.

 

When something mysteriously shows up on the host family table, however, the whole social pressure component comes into play. We want to be gracious guests and polite, and we honestly really do enjoy the vast majority of food that appears on the table. At the same time, we don't want to pretend to like things we hate, so we hopefully won't be fed them again. It's a fine balance to maintain. A few nights ago our host family dared us to try duck neck as an evening snack. It tasted a lot like smoked fish with a lot more bones. Luckily our Chinese vocabulary includes "so-so" and "not horrible." The next day, a dish of slightly strange looking meat showed up on the table with the normal dinner dishes, and I decided to take a small bite before asking what it was so my experience wouldn't be altered by any prejudice. It was a little too chewy to be enjoyable for my tastes and Richy later found out it was pig cheek. At least I know I tried it with a pure mind and didn't decide beforehand that I didn't like it. So far, our host family seems pretty knowledgeable about what foreigners find frightening on the dinner (and breakfast) table. I have heard stories about rabbit heads, duck blood and other such delicacies and I am glad they haven't been wasted on us. For breakfast we are usually served a boiled egg, some deliciously fluffy pork or vegetable filled dumplings, and a hot bowl of thick, purplish rice (and bean?) porridge. The porridge is actually quite good, filling, and seems quite healthy, but I am afraid it might be turning my guts into concrete. I am currently seeking ways to enhance my school day diet with caffeinated beverages, prunes, and any other fast moving vittles I can get my hands on.

 

 

 

The things they are teaching us here...

July 12th, 2010

 

Here we are at the beginning of another week in the People's Republic of China. I feel like I am finally getting used to the pace of the language classes, getting to know the people in our training group a little better and learning to function within our new daily routine. Having our breakfast and dinner prepared for us each day still feels strange, and I find myself with extra energy in the evenings which would normally be put to use on cooking and cleaning. Now I make flashcards, go over homework, and try to get as much reading done as I can before I fall asleep. We get authentic practice with our Chinese during the lunch hour, asking prices of dishes and ordering lunch and snacks at the shopping area near the school's south gate. We also make small conversation over the dinner table, alternately in broken Chinese and broken English, since our English-fluent jie-jie is out of town for a while. I imagine if we were doing our own shopping and such that our Chinese would get a little more practical use, but there is something about this sheltered environment that makes it seem more comfortable to try new phrases and grammatical structures knowing that we will still eat and not get ripped off in the process.

 

I didn't write about it at the time, but I have been going over in my mind the things we learned at our whole group sessions last Friday at Sichuan University, especially regarding the "diarrhea dialogue." This might give the folks back home an idea about what kind of education regarding health and safety we're getting here, rest assured – they are leaving no stone unturned. A wholly unappetizing topic, it seems to be foremost in my mind every time I've taken a drink or bite since. Not that I have had any particularly challenging issues in this area, especially after learning the official definition of diarrhea (at least by Peace Corps standards) is four loose bowel movements or more in a day (and try not to call the medical office until you have more than eight). What really struck me was the vast array of methods one could come to acquire this affliction. There is simply adjusting to new foods and levels of spiciness (luckily I had been working myself up to it with the trips to Lucky Strike and extra spiciness wherever applicable), medications, stress, medical conditions, viral infections, bacterial infections, toxins, and of course parasites! Thankfully the methods of avoidance are ones that Richy and I have discovered (sometimes the hard way) through our travels: eat only hot foods, see your street food get prepared, don't eat at empty restaurants, wash hands, wash and peel fruits and vegetables, don't drink the water, avoidance of too cheap bottled water, and trying to consume as many bland foods as possible when that icky gut feeling starts coming on (I hope those of you who plan to visit us here are taking heed). It is comforting to know that when (not if) it hits, the Peace Corps has provided us with several packets of balanced oral rehydration salts, and a handy recipe for making our own in case we run out or happen to have left home without it.

 

July 18^th, 2010

 

Another week of training has passed and although exhausted, I am content that this experience is adequately preparing us for service. Hours and hours a day of language training is beginning to sink in, as I discovered today logging into my lingt.com account, I was able to identify several more terms that eluded me just last week! I still most look forward to our Thursday sessions at Sichuan University (despite getting up at 5:30 to catch the bus at 7:20 that got us there 45 minutes early), which have proven to provide the most practical survival tips and reassure me that all those lessons we learned the hard way in Korea were valid. This week we covered how to avoid unwanted attention and preserving personal space by throwing elbows and making ugly noises and gestures, and how to avoid getting so drunk at Chinese social functions that you can make it home with out needing stitches (now who would need that kind of information?).

 

Our host family invited us to join them in the evenings this week watching a television show called "Chinese Bridge." Think American Idol meets It's a Small World meets China. In this show, more than 100 foreigners try to show off their skills in Chinese language, singing, and other pop arts while basically making complete fools of themselves, all while dressed in "traditional" attire. For example, the woman from Egypt was dressed in a glitzy Cleopatra outfit, while the Korean woman danced around in her hanbok and several others were wearing kilts, lederhosen and other rarely seen European ensembles. The prize for winning the competition is apparently a round trip plane ticket home and back to China, and a scholarship to continue their Chinese studies. It's quite entertaining, especially since their Chinese performances are generally easy for me to understand, but there is also something unsettling about the way these people are so willing to make themselves into ethnic caricatures for the Chinese audience. Then again, this is probably a function of reality television programming everywhere, although I can't really imagine Americans watching a show where foreigners compete to show how well they speak English.

 

 

 

First Week of Home Stay

July 11th, 2010

It's been an interesting weekend so far. We walked for a few hours yesterday to get into the center of the city to see some of the tourist sites. First we saw the Anshun Bridge and took some photos. It's in the fancy hotel and foreigner district in town, so things around there were pretty nice and upscale. Then we walked to the Tianfu square, home of the largest statue of Mao Zedong, and several impressive dragon fountains. Tianfu is in the midst of a large shopping district, so we took the opportunity to buy some cell phones. The most interesting event happened when we decided to take a cab home. Luckily we buckled our seatbelt, and our cab driver started off driving like all other Chinese drivers - absolutely crazy. Of course this kind of driving leads to accidents, which is exactly what happened. As another driver was merging into our lane, our driver laid on the horn to indicate he would not make room, the other driver paid no attention, and we ended up scraping their rear bumper. Both drivers stopped in the middle of the road and started screaming at each other. We looked at the amount on the meter, handed the money to the cab driver in the midst of his argument, and hopped over to the bus station that was thankfully nearby. Good thing the Peace Corps doesn't allow us to drive in China, I don't think I could handle it.

July 7^th, 2010

What a difference a few degrees can make in this humidity! Today was a bit cooler, and therefore considerably less exhausting. We had a three and a half hour block of language today, and I think I have solidified how to ask and tell the time. During our lunch hour, we discovered an Internet café (the family only has dial-up which is too slow for my computer patience level) and coffee shop that claims to sell real espresso, which we will test at tomorrow's lunch. Another three delicious meals of Sichuan food made me wonder how long it will be before we start craving western food enough to travel to the city center to partake in some overpriced burritos. At this point, I'm thinking never.

This evening we had a lovely bonding experience with our host family, which started with some light beer drinking over dinner (kids included). After the dishes were cleared, Ge-ge spread out sheets of newspaper and pulled out his calligraphy brushes and paper. He demonstrated his calligraphy skills by writing our Chinese names (An MeiLin and Bei Rui) and writing poetry in Mao-style cursive. He let us have a try at it, and the girls showed off their own developing styles. He even wrote the name of the city with the brush in his teeth! It was one of those genuinely fun and educational experiences, of which I am sure there will be many in the coming months. Afterward, the parents retired upstairs, while I settled in with the girls to watch some cartoons and finish my language homework. Sunny was so sweet in helping me with my pronunciation, and introduced me to all the main characters in the Yang-Yang cartoon. I think she's becoming wo de xiao pengyou (my little friend). We also discovered that we'll be on our own for the weekend, (Jie-Jie will be out of town and Ge-ge will be busy with work) which will give us the perfect opportunity to explore the city on our own. As much as we love our host family, I don't want them to feel that they are required to entertain us all the time. I think if we can see some sights on our own and make it home in one piece they will be relieved and so will we

July 6^th, 2010

Looking back over my last posting after a long day of rigorous study, I can't help but sigh at yesterday's enthusiasm. Things are still going well, but 4 hours a day of hardcore language study is certainly an exhausting endeavor on top of everything else. We left for class this morning at 8 am in the already sweltering humidity, and twenty minutes later arrived for our first session soaked in sweat and craving caffeinated beverages. The day continued on in such a way, with a host family debriefing, our first language session, a tour of the campus, lunch with our teacher, a TEFL training introduction, and finally another 2 hour language session. We arrived back at the host family residence, again soaked in sweat at about 5:45, dug into our third meal of Sichuan-style Chinese food for the day and then commenced with the homework-ing. Wo tai lei! (I'm too tired!)

On a positive note, Ge-ge got us started off right on a marvelous breakfast this morning. The meal began with a steaming hot bowl of soymilk, served with baozi (steamed bread dumplings filled with meat and vegetables), followed by tang-yue, sweet soft boiled dumplings filled with ground sesame and sugar. As much as I love Korean food, this sure beats that first cafeteria breakfast of kimchi, seaweed soup and boiled quail's eggs with beef (a delicious meal in it's own right, but not my idea of breakfast).

July 5^th, 2010

Today we met and moved in with our fabulous host family near Sichuan Normal University. Our host mom (or older sister "Jie-jie") is an English teacher, and speaks English well, which has made communication a breeze, but might make learning Chinese at home a little more challenging. The husband (our "Ge-ge") works in administration at the college. We have two adorable and friendly little girls running around, their daughter Yao Ying, 6, and her cousin "Sunny," 8. Their house is a spacious condo-style apartment on the top floor of a building in a gated community. Each available window seems to have a balcony (including the one in our room), and they have all the modern amenities, with the exception of an oven of course, since baking is not a traditional Chinese cooking mode. They showed us how to make authentic Sichuan-style dumplings (jiao-zi) for dinner and we sat around and made them with the kids. I learned how to crimp each side with three opposing folds to make an s-shape that resembles a swimming fish. Our jie-jie served them up with a spicy oil and vinegar concoction and provided bowls of chopped garlic, chives, ginger, and hot peppers to further season the sauce to our liking. The food here is so good, I think it will be a challenge not to put back on all the weight we lost at home. After dinner, we took a leisurely stroll around the campus and saw all the amenities it has to offer. The community we live in is upscale even by American standards, complete with a gorgeous pool and gates with guards. The pathways were crowded with other families also enjoying their evening strolls and the activity on the sports field rivaled a high school track event. It definitely seems like all our needs can be met between this lovely home and the wide array of shops and restaurants available on the campus. I am ready to settle in for three rigorous months of study!

- By Katie

Update

Things are going great with the host family, but the Internet is dial
up so it's not so accessible. I'll upload my blog postings with more
details when I get a chance!

Love and hugs!
Katie

Moving Right Along...

Shengri Kuai Le USA (Happy Birthday USA)! I hope all the folks back home are having a festive holiday. For us, the most exciting thing about today was finally getting our training site and host family assignments! Richy and I found out that will be completing our training at Sichuan Normal University (Main Campus) and living with a host family about 15 minutes walk from campus. Our whole group of about 90 people have been split up among 4 universities in Chengdu to live with host families and complete our language, culture, and teacher training before being placed at our more permanent sites in the fall. What we know about our host family so far is that they are a married couple with a 6 year old daughter and that their hobbies include reading, calligraphy, and table tennis. I am interested to see if they will be willing to help us learn some Chinese writing (assuming we'll have any spare time). We will be meeting them and moving in tomorrow afternoon!

The last few days have been a whirlwind, especially with the jet-lag. We've attended many sessions on language, safety and security, health, Chinese history, TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), and on Peace Corps administrative details. We've eaten out with our language teacher, been vaccinated against hep A&B, rabies, and Japanese encephalitis (which stung) and passed out in our hotel room in-between. Our daily language classes are starting back at the basics, but it seems to be good review and I think it's really helping improve our tones and pronunciation. The language groups will be re-organized in a few weeks. We have also found out that in the next few months we will be spending a week with another host family at the site which we will be placed at after training (kind of a trial to help us get to know where we will be for the next two years, and what skills we will need there). In a lot of ways it's nice to have so much support and training, but it's also exhausting! I can't wait to get placed in our host families so we can develop daily routines and stop living out of our suitcases.