It’s the Little Things

Our time in Tianjin is coming to an end.  Not knowing if we may be returning to this area makes for very bitter sweet feelings as I pack our suitcases.   I can’t wait to go back to the US and see our family and friends but at the same time we have met many friends here in Tianjin who have made this stay very special.

I love going to certain street vendors and they know we like extra cilantro and onions in our noodles, or Jimmy at the YY Bar who knows when I walk in at 5pm I am getting coconut chicken soup and Tom Yum for take out, but the biggest impact of all has been the team at our hotel club lounge.

During the week when Greg is working , I am out exploring Tianjin or working in the room here at the Westin .  I spend a lot of time here at the hotel and have become very much a regular at the restaurant but even more at the Executive Club Lounge.   The team at the Club made me feel very special.   Yes, after 7 weeks we have gotten to know them very well and they us, but we have became friends as well.   They know what we like and all that  hotel stuff but more importantly they know how to make me feel welcome- not welcome like a hotel guest , but welcome like they are inviting me into their home.   They understand how to personalize service, being professional without being stuffy.   Over the last 2 months as I got to know them  there been lot of  hugs and laughter.

The Westin Club Team ended our stay by giving us a special gift- what I call “Chinese kissing dolls”. Years from now I know that when we see our special “kissing dolls” on our shelf we will smile and remember the time we called Tianjin our home and the friends we made.

Without trying to make this sound like a hotel commercial I want to say “Cheers” to all the people who make us feel welcome as we travel the world.   Not having a brick and mortar home to return to could make some people crazy, but because of the people we meet as we travel who make us feel so welcome we know that “home “ travels with us.  

Cheers and Good Travel!

 

 

 

 

Making Friends in Tianjin

I  stick out a little here in Tianjin… not too many westerners here.

Everyday people come up to me on the street, quite often it is children practicing their English wanting to say hello.  The shy ones are pushed forward by their parents who are proud they are learning English in school.   A group of college students converged on me last week asking me to sign their banner and started to sing “Born in the USA” and gave me a balloon.   Today in very broken English a cab driver asked where I was from.  I responded “America” , but he wrinkled his brow in confusion, I tried “USA”, and still no luck.   I then said “Obama” and he nodded and said “ooh yes—America!”

Today as I was on my way to the Dublin Irish Pub (yes Irish Pub here in Tianjin) for lunch and last minute Christmas shopping the electric “rickshaw” driver kept stopping at the wrong location.   I repeatedly showed  him the address for the restaurant written in Chinese and he would ask directions from a local and then motor on.   The third time we stopped I knew we were close so I got out and decided to walk the rest of the way.   I walked in what I thought was the general direction and at the corner saw a local getting ready to take off on their scooter and showed them the address hoping they would point the way for me.  Nope- instead they gestured for me to hop on their scooter and they would take me the rest of the way.   Just a few minutes later I was dropped off at the entrance and he refused to take any money for taking me to my lunch spot, but with gestures he agreed to come in and allow me to buy him a beer.  Neither of us spoke the others language but we enjoyed a cold beverage and a game of fooz ball before he went on his way.

This is the way it is throughout the city, people welcome you at every corner.   The food vendors make conversation with me in Chinese and I respond back in English -  most of the time we muddle our way through what is needed .  They are always very honest and lunch from vendors that I assume would cost 20 rmb ($3.20) they would shake their head and give me back 14 rmb in change.     The vendors who try and communicate with me I become loyal to and go back again and again.

The only time we wanted to avoid being pegged as an American was when we were at the Forbidden City in Beijing and we had a multitude of English speaking guides approaching us for “very special tour”.    In trying to shake the guides off we decided to pretend we were from another country and I started shaking my head at English and trying to look exotic started saying “ Parlez- vous Francais?” and Greg went with “Spechen sie deutsch? ”   It worked perfectly and we were left alone!  

I walk the city and people turn their head in surprise to see a Westerner but I always try and catch their eye and nod, then we both smile.  A smile means the same thing in every language.   

Cheers and Good Travel !

 

 

The Everyday Exotic

As we prepare to return to the states in less than two weeks I am more aware than ever of the everyday things I have become used to that will no longer be the norm.    The random things that I see all the time here in China;  street vendors selling wares in the alleyway,  noodles from a cart made to order with a dozen sauces to add (most we have no idea what they are),  the happy panda shaped buns and exotic starfish sold at the local grocery store and one of my guilty pleasures takoyaki.

I haven't eaten any starfish but have eaten more than my fair share of takoyaki.  Takoyaki  is a small ball shaped snack of batter cooked in a special pan and filled with diced octopus, bits of tempura scraps and onion.   Several are put in a to-go bowl then a dark takoyaki sauce , a wasabi sauce and a mayonnaise based sauce  are drizzled over them and then finally shavings of bonito are sprinkled on top.  Bonito is dried, fermented, smoked tuna that is sliced sliced paper thin, tasty but not a favorite of mine as they stick to the roof of my mouth.  I usually skip the bonito and go for double wasabi!

Takoyaki is a traditional Japanese snack which is a version of the Danish ebelskivers.  The overpriced  Danish ebelskiver pan can be found in the Williams Sonoma catalog along with “ebelskiver turners” for $12.95 otherwise known as wooden chopsticks here in China.   My older sister and I went through a phase of making those sweet ebelskiver concoctions on vacations and when I saw a street vendor in China making a similar pastry it brought many memories of vacation breakfasts in Bear Paw.   Instead of sweet chocolate and maple syrup I  get savory squid, wasabi and dried tuna but I have to say the savory ones are even more delicious.

I am not sure if the Danes or the Japanese invented this wonderful snack first, but I think they have been perfected here in China.

Cheers and Good Eating!

 

        

 

 

 

 

 

Traversing Tianjin

The biggest challenge in Tianjin?   Most of you  probably assume my biggest challenge is  communicating in a world where most people don’t speak English.  For example  trying to make sure you order chicken instead of snake hearts or not accidentally paying 1000 rmb instead of the 10 needed to pay a street vendor.   But that is not the case,  the true everyday challenge that keeps me on my toes and trying to avoid sudden death  is the simple task of crossing the street.

The streets are filled with cars, pedestrians, bicycles, scooters, vendor carts,  rickshaws of the electric type and human powered, along with the random street cleaner and cart laden with wood or cardboard at least 10 feet higher than the driver.

When crossing the street as a  pedestrian you must always remember everyone else deems that they have the right a way- even if they are going the wrong way down a one way street.    I think that is the secret here; if you act like you are going in the right direction and  if you pretend the light is green it gives you the confidence (or stupidity) to navigate your way through these streets and not get killed.    Going the wrong way down streets is quite common with the  rickshaw drivers; in fact we search them out for transportation during rush hour as it’s much quicker to get around.   Cars are also known to take advantage of this and in fact it is so  common that there are street signs requesting that people go the right way down the streets.

Most of the locals don’t look right or left when approaching the point of crossing; but I am still very American and not only look right or left but do it about a dozen times.   You must also be aware that cars can always turn right on red and not only are they not required to stop before truning it seems to be the law that they speed up.

To cross the street as if you were  a local you must act like you are going to start crossing as soon as you get to the crosswalk- no pausing just start walking in front of cars.  There could be dozens of cars going each way but that doesn’t matter—forge on!   If you are a rookie you should opt to wait for a break in the traffic or any car willing to slow down for you,  but even then you  must still take a step or two into the street.  NO ONE waits on the sidewalk,  in fact very few actually wait until  the light changes.  Quite often you will see multiple people in the middle of traffic waiting for a gap to dart to the next lane.

Once you commit to crossing do not hesitate, this is where I fail and Greg beats me in the crossing the street “survival game “ each and every time.  We walk the streets hand in hand all throughout China , however when we get to a street crossing there is no holding hands and I am on my own.  This is fine with me as  Greg likes to “Out Chinese the Chinese” when crossing the street (or as my daughter would say he’s a honey badger ) and  I am much more cautious so am quite willing to wait for the light to change .

 

(stay tuned for video - unable to attach at this time)

Good Travel and Good Street Crossing!

 

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving from China

We got as close as we could to a traditional Thanksgiving dinner:  mashed potatoes and gravy, fried chicken, pumpkin pie and chicken feet.

Cheers everyone and Happy Thanksgiving Chinese style!

 

Must Love Dogs

Barney, Winnie,  Hazel, Chance, Gus, Chip, Blackie,  Nayla, Bo, Kenai, Lady ...…. these are just a few of the special dogs that are no longer with us but have touched my life either directly or indirectly.
One of my favorite dog quotes is   “ There is only one great dog in the world, and that is every child’s dog”.     That of course means the child in all of us… young and old, American or Chinese.  

As I start my travels around the world not knowing what to expect Greg always tells me  “ People are People” and that continues to hold true.   In every country I continue to see families and children having fun, arguing, and just getting through everyday life.   One thing I have noticed in China is their love of dogs, so here I adapt the saying to “Dog People are Dog People” .

( OK—this is the opportunity for someone to tell a bad  joke about what is eaten here, but I will tell you we are in North China and dog and cat are not served for meals here.  That is in the South.   They say the Northern Chinese like their noodles, buns and dumplings and the Southern Chinese like their “weird food” .  )

 Most of the dogs I see are the tiny “ mop type  dogs” but that fits with the Chinese city life.  Small spaces work for small dogs, and  I have only seen  a few “big” American type dogs here.  One mutt Barneyesque type dog was always waiting behind a gated courtyard near our previous hotel location … .....I walked by that gate all the time just to get a look at that face, hear the deep bark and  it would make me smile.   I saw a Golden Retriever being walked down the street and another  time a Husky ran past us on his own as we left a restaurant; but 99% of the dogs are the under 15 pound type.    The locals here love their dogs; they are carried, transported in bicycle baskets, dressed in silly sweaters, pampered and loved as they share a meal of street food.   The Chinese love dogs as much as I do … as a companion and someone to enjoy a good walk or a heart to heart talk with.  

On my daily walks when I see dogs and owners out and about I greet them and ask permission to pet their dog.  They don’t understand English and I don’t understand Chinese but as I tell them what a beautiful dog they have the language is universal and they smile.

This is dedicated to Hazel and all the special dogs out there that have touched our hearts and have  gone to Dog Heaven.

Chickens or Hookers?

No this is not an Irish bar joke, or a country song but a reference to just how hard it is to learn the Chinese language.   There are 4 tones in the language so you can have one word  but say it with 4 different tones and each tone will make that one word mean something completely different.  The tones  derive from the four phonemic tones of Middle Chinese, and are named even AKA level (平 píng), rising (上 shǎng), going AKA departing (去 qù), and entering AKA checked (入 rù).

So by learning the subtle tone rules you can understand what word is meant  to be said, but all rules are meant to be broken upon occasion and that brings us to  chickens and hookers.   At a Korean bbq dinner the other night one of our translator friends was teaching us different words and we focused the lesson on the food we were eating.    He was teaching me  how to say  chicken  “ ji  “ , but then explained that means live chicken .   If you are going to talk about chicken you are going to eat you say “  jirou  “  which means chicken flesh.  But in the next breath he informs me the exact same word and tone for chicken also means hooker……… at that point I gave up and just ordered another “pijiu” (beer).

 

We have met several ex-pats here in China and some tackle the tones and speak as traditionally as possible, but then others throw the tones out the window, butcher the language a little but don’t stress over it and focus on getting the main point across     I lean towards that version of learning Chinese and have only mastered a few words, but when I am out in public I am starting to hear people  saying words and not just sounds.  For the first time I overheard people talking and due to my rosetta stone lessons I understood they were talking about eating lunch with their children…. it’s a baby step but it’s progress.

Cheers, and next time you are ordering your next Chinese take -out make sure you order chicken …. or you never know what will show up at your door.

Moon cakes and fireworks

During our stay in Tianjin there have been two different holidays celebrated with a “bang” …. fireworks that is.   Fireworks are used to celebrate about everything it seems and are set off at any time of the day.  There are many weddings outside our hotel and all weekend long fireworks are set off in celebration.   

The Festival of the Moon and National Day were both celebrated this fall and enjoyed by everyone  just like we enjoy holidays in the US ; time off work, great food and celebration with family.    During the Festival of the Moon one tradition is to give moon cakes as gifts to family and friends.  There are many different kinds of fillings from traditional red bean to the more exotic tiramisu.  They are sold everywhere with hotels and bakeries taking orders months ahead of time and are sold by the thousands.  Making and sharing moon cakes is one of the hallmark traditions of this festival as in the Chinese culture the round shape symbolizes completeness and unity.

I never did get to eat a moon cake during the festival however one of the translators  that Greg is working with recently brought us homemade moon cakes made by her mother and they are wonderful.  They are rich, dense, have a fig like filling and are extremely addicting.  I have been nibbling on them constantly for two weeks.

The Moon festival seems to have  several different stories behind it.  My favorite story is an ancient fable from the Zhuang  people saying the sun and moon are a couple and the stars are their children.   When the moon is pregnant it becomes round and then becomes crescent after giving birth to a child. 

Next time you are staring at a full moon know that she is pregnant and about to give the world one more star.

 

Sushi at 7-11? Don't knock it until you have tried it

After spending a month visiting my parents back in the states I am back to the loud, smoggy, fast paced city of Tianjin which we currently call home and I am loving every minute of it.  With the thirteen hour time difference the first days are a haze of jet lag as I adjust to the change.  

We decided to change locations in Tianjin so moved to the Westin in the heart of the city.  Centrally located and surrounded by restaurants, malls , parks, mom & pop spots and the huge bonus is the 7-11 across from the entrance of the hotel.   Big deal you say?  Trust me it’s a bonus ….. it has a variety of cold beer, wine, sushi and onigiri wraps and a variety of hot items.    Do you think of eating sushi from a 7-11 and cringe?   Don’t forget we are in China and this isn’t sashimi/raw fish sushi…. They are a variety of small rolls or onigiri triangles with a center of shrimp, ell, pickled vegetables or crab wrapped around rice and nori.   Along with the variety of sushi they have about 6 different hot lunch options and the mystery bin.     The mystery bin is Tianjin’s version of the NYC hot dog cart.   You don’t want to know how long the food has been floating around in the liquid and you aren’t really sure what it’s  made of… but it tastes so good so you don’t really care.   There are about 12 different items to choose from and I have no idea what any of them are, so I randomly choose a different item each time.   I think I have had tofu, sausage, ground something or other and some kind of shell fish on a stick.   A quick lunch with one sushi roll and a couple of items from the mystery bin costs about 11 yuan or $1.65 and it’s just as good as a NY dog with double onions, relish, kraut and mustard.

Cheers and Good Travel!

and picture of my 7-11 mystery bin.......

You Buddha Believe It!

Entering the average covered “ farmers” market in China is a special experience each and every time.   Most markets will have a variety of mini restaurants around the perimeter with vendors throughout selling their wares.    At these markets you can  have a lunch of bei fang 北方 (noodles) along with buying items to cook for dinner that night.  You can choose from a variety of things such as a live fish jumping out of a bin, piles of rice, fragrant spices, vegetables, and fruit along with bins of  preserved … stuff.   I am not sure what 90% of it is so I am just going with "stuff".   The chickens are in cages waiting for someone to choose them for dinner that night and there are 10 different kinds of raw and cooked eggs in piles for  you to pick through.   Duck eggs, pigeon eggs, chicken eggs..... raw, smoked, cooked in tea or boiled in water, you want a particular kind of  egg and I bet it is there. 

One of the most unusual things I ran across were Buddha shaped pears .   The pears are grown in a special clear casing which forms them into different shapes  and then are given as gifts on special occasions.    The perfect gift for someone who has everything!

 

Stopping at a market during the lunch time rush we were beckoned in by owners of one of the food stalls and given the single table in the kitchen that was set up in a 10 x 10 permanent booth type structure .   The owners spoke about 3 words of English which was enough for us.  We were sat at the table and watched as bowls were covered in bags and then filled with wonderful vegetables , spices, noodles and broth.   They were set in front of us with chopsticks and we dug in.   Wonderful!   Somehow the owner knew something was missing for Greg, so he reached over and gave him several sliced garlic cloves .     That made it a perfect, spicy, garlicky lunch.  

After 15 minutes of watching the couple cook together and welcome us with different tastes, we paid our 4 US dollars and took home wonderful memories along with  two pounds of noodles to eat later.

 

 

Cheers and Good Travel!

Lost in Translation

No not the movie with Bill Murray but everyday life when walking around Tianjin.    As with all languages it’s never an exact match when you try and translate.     Most of the signs are picture signs such as the street sign that tells people not to drink and drive - that is a car in a wine glass.    Random signs have both English and Chinese and some of the translation can make you smile or just scratch your head in wonderment….

Greg ran across one sign at the factory “Safety Hatch Prohibition Jamming” --    that sign meant Don’t Block the Entrance.

 

This one is my favorite and means  Stay off the Grass and Stay on the Path
"Grass on Your Smile, Please you around a Winding Road"

 And I am sure the translation is fine but you still have to wonder why…….

 

 

Cheers and Good Travel!

Top Five Things not to forget when visiting Tianjin

5- Pee before you go out.   The bathrooms are few and far between in Tianjin and the ones you can find are sketchy at best    the only “American” toilets (where you get to sit) are found in hotels and the occasional McDonalds or KFC.   All the bathrooms you find in Tianjin are stand up /squat toilets and are rarely clean.   I always cross my fingers hoping to get the toilets with the individual hole in the ground instead of the trench that goes across multiple stalls.    Public bathrooms are only used when completely desperate and I hold my breath the entire time.

4- BYOTP!   OK- yes you will see a theme now.   Along with the sketchy toilets you will never find any toilet paper.   Everyone carries packs of tissues with them and you will see families standing outside of public bathrooms and moms handing out one tissue to everyone.  Bonus is the tissues always work as napkins as most restaurants don’t have napkins and if they are available there is a charge for them.

Don’t forget to bring the soap as well.   If you are lucky enough to get a sink outside the bathroom there will never be soap or towels.   I declared myself Tianjin’s “soap fairy” and I leave a bar of hotel soap at every bathroom I stop at.   No hand sanitizer is to be found in Tianjin and I will be bringing some back with me on my next trip home.

3- Bring your translation dictionary!  I use “charades” quite often when I am out and it’s actually a lot of fun.   The other day I forgot my translation dictionary and needed envelopes at the local Wal-Mart type store.   I spent 10 minutes looking for a box of envelopes and gave up and went to a service assistant.  OK—imagine explaining to someone who didn’t speak English that you needed envelopes.   After about 5 minutes of me pretending to write a letter and fold it and put it in an “envelope” with a stamp she understood what I wanted.    We had a lot of laughs but it was seriously frustrating for her and for me.   By the way they don’t sell boxes of envelopes, only exotic looking packs of 5, which is why I couldn’t find them the first time. 

2- doesn’t forget your hotel direction card.   I carry the handy dandy card the hotel gave me to show a taxi driver that I want to get back to the Sheraton.   This card works about 80% of the time as I still get refused because I don’t speak Chinese or they don’t know where the location is even with the translation card I carry.   This card saves me on a regular basis- I would be screwed without it and would be wandering the streets lost.

1-Your sense of adventure-   Everyday I try and wander into a new part of Tianjin.  Sometimes I end up at “safe” Expat areas with restaurants that have napkins and menus in both Chinese and English but quite often I end up turning the corner into a completely unexpected adventure.   There are street markets where they sell whole roasted ducks hanging from a cart that are chopped to order for you to eat on the street.   Vegetable vendors with corn and vegetables strewn out on blankets with chickens wandering around pecking away at the produce you are looking to buy.   The chickens are for sale as well they will capture it, kill it and clean it right there for you.   Fish vendors with shrimp and live fish jumping out of the bins.  Small mom and pop restaurants with children running around the kitchen and jars of rice liquor filled with snakes and herbs.  

We are constantly felt welcome here in Tianjin but locals and Expats alike and every day I look forward to a new adventure.

Cheers and here is to Good Travel!

TIANJIN- THE PLACE WHERE JOGGING IS BAD FOR YOU

A front came through Friday and we could see the blue sky as the breeze swept the smog away.   Our Air Quality Index dropped to the Moderate level of 81!   Big deal you say?   The AQI shows the level of the pollution in the air, and any time it gets to 100 or more it hits unhealthy, and over 200 is Extremely Unhealthy.  Tianjin has been over 200 the majority of the time we are here which shows in the perpetual haze that hangs over the city.   You don’t see any joggers outside here and many of the people walking or biking wear masks due to the pollution.

To put that 200+ number in perspective here are a few numbers from your neck of the woods:

New York City 68

Melbourne, FL: 27

Sydney Australia: 18

Bennington VT: 12

Los Angeles: 74

The smog just made us appreciate the sunny breezy weekend even more.   A meandering walk had us going down a local street with vendors, butchers and handymen out for business.    Huge meat slabs sit on counters as they wave a swatter back and forth to keep the flies away.  At one butcher there was a 2-3 foot tail sitting out to be purchased.   We couldn’t figure out what the tail belonged to- horse maybe?    Next to that butcher was a variety of smoked parts with a very large brain cut in half.      We moved on – no brains or tails for us today but we stopped at a small shop and purchased some wonderful steamed buns filled with pork and ginger.

The town is filled with traffic, scooters and bikes but then every once in awhile you turn a corner and see a serene shady grassy spot with someone practicing tai chi. Yesterday we came upon a group of elderly gentlemen sitting in the shade with one of them playing a traditional Chinese instrument that sounded like something between a cello and bag pipes.  Another local was singing along and everyone was enjoying the beautiful Sunday afternoon.

Good Travel!