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.......