(Nimen hao: that's "hello" to all!)
My dearest apologies for not writing sooner- who would have guessed that schoolwork persistently pushes all other priorities out of the way? Thankfully, I enjoy exercising my brain, and continue to squeeze in plenty of excursions. While each adventure is more amazing than the last, random discoveries are what keep everyday exciting.
For instance, my classmates and I suddenly realized that upon every package for food and drink is either a cute cartoon animal (piggy, cow, dog, monkey, etc.) or a fashionable pop star (browse the beverages and one will see many young men and women grinning as if the drink that they grace is the most exciting they've ever encountered- our favorite is the Korean guy on Wahaha bottles of water because he looks ridiculous). Such a simple realization has evoked both laughs and our obsession with cute cartoon animals (which is easily satisfied by the abundance of cuteness everywhere)!
When everyday the weather is humid and at least 85 degrees Farenheit, and the air is so polluted that one forgets what a starry sky looks like, a clear day is quickly cherished. Such beautiful weather occurred one day last week, and everyone could not help but smile for the comfort of a blue sky and dry air. The cheerful spirit seemed to last through the night, when locals turned the plaza in front of Beijing Normal University's library into a roller-skating rink, learning to skate and expertly spinning across the same smooth stone that I walk upon to my calligraphy elective.
After "only" 4 hours of class each morning, I am generally free to do as I wish, besides occassional electives and tutoring sessions. Thus, I go to lunch with friends at restaurants near campus, one of the many colorful cafeterias around campus (ridiculously cheap and comforting: made-to-order chow fun, fried rice and chow mein, rice plates, abundant veggies in non-spicy/non-greasy sauces and lots of watermelon), or our newest favorite restaurant, an on-campus Shanghai dumpling shop!
They may not be truly authentic, but the fresh bundles of flavor are quite addictive- I simply cannot resist the ecstasy of biting into tender pork and juicy shittake mushrooms wrapped in the slightly sweet soft dough, and tasting the fragrant soup released in that first bite. I can hardly wait to go to Shanghai for the real thing! How delicious it must be! For now I will have to simply enjoy local Beijing cuisine, namely the food on sticks.
Food on sticks? Like corn dogs? Not quite. Skewered lamb, chicken wings, beef, squid, tofu, big candied grapes, pineapple and kiwi would be more characteristic of the famous street food of Beijing.
Now that my body has normalized to both the humid weather and common cuisine, I have tried more local street cuisine (though I still stick to the freshly cooked, steaming hot foods). While on an exploratory biking expedition with my roommate north of our campus, during which we unexpectedly found a small picturesque park full of locals walking tiny dogs and doing tai chi, we spotted a half a block of sidewalk filled with tables of locals chomping away on edamae, boiled peanuts and various meats on sticks. We figured the popularity of the three small restaurants literally spilling into the street could only mean a delicious meal. So we joined the masses and attempted to order something we recognized on the barbeque menu- lamb and chicken. Within a few minutes, our skewers arrived, but wait! Where was our chicken? We didn't order squid! Oh dear. It was indeed chicken... chicken cartilage!! A bit crunchy, and slightly strange, but nontheless tasty brushed with a delicious spice paste (paprika? pepper? sweetness?), which also covered the juicy lamb. I ordered more lamb, as well as sticks of chicken wings (pointing at the grill helps avoid misinterpretations of menus!), while my roomie tried five different fish balls, which were too starchy and only varied in their shape and colors. Despite the duds among our dinner, we could hardly wait to find more tasty food on sticks.
Not three days later we headed to the largest bookstores in Beijing, a half-hour subway ride to Wangfujing, a block of high-end clothing stores, tea shops, electronics stores and Beijing's largest outdoor television screen, quite the tourist attraction. The bookstores put any American chain to shame, with several large floors of books in Chinese regarding any subject imaginable, as well as a nearby branch exclusively selling foreign language books rivaling the size of Border's. My purchase of two Chinese dictionaries and the Insider's Guide to Beijing (perhaps the most useful books I've ever possessed) was quite exciting, but the discovery of a long block of stick-food vendors put me in a wide-eyed stupor! Cheerful vendors in red and white uniforms shouted their goods to crowds of foreigners and locals strolling under red lanterns pointing at the usual meats as well as various organs, centipedes, scorpions, beetles, starfish, seahorses, grasshoppers and corn on sticks.
I declined to try these delicacies, but could not resist the fried ice cream! Strangely, I felt at home during such a warm Beijing night among bustling people, bright lights and delicious food. I have twice mentioned electives, of which I have two: calligraphy (书法) and Chinese cooking. These last for about an hour, each once a week, and have thus far been nothing but fun! Calligraphy is quite relaxing despite my intense concentration on properly holding the brush, applying the perfect pressure and writing the five basic strokes until they more or less look the way they should. I'll be lucky if I can write my simple Chinese name (卓元元) by the end of the summer! Cooking on the other hand is more gratifying, most because we get to eat what we cook! Last week we made "mapo doufu", and it was more spicy and oily than I prefer, but today's yochoy with shittake mushrooms was much tastier. We are taught by the chefs in the restaurant within our apartment building, and I am impressed by their survival skills in the stuffy kitchen next to stovetops for woks that resemble the intensity of jet engines spewing flames!
Among these new experiences is school, and of course my tutoring sessions. While classes have become more comprehensible as I prepare extensively for the next day's lessons, tutoring presents a new challenge: my tutor is lively and talkative, with a speech rate beyond any native I've yet to encounter, which substantialy lowers my comprehension. However, her help has already been invaluable, and I can only expect that my attempts at conversation with her will improve my fluency.
The past weekend has been another adventure of its own, which I will save for later, lest your eyes tire of reading. For now, dream of delicious dumplings, like I do!
Much Love,
Kenzie
2 comments:
I remember Wahaha from the last time I was there (2004), I think I still remember the guy from the wahaha bottle. . . I don't think he'd survive prison.
Anyway speaking of funny product names, there's a brand of milk in trinidad called Dairy Dairy: "the milky milk" . . . Which Kinda begs the question: How do you get dairy more dairy-y? I don't think I trust dem trinis. (Although their milk was hella milky)
I think you should ask for pork from the kabob guy in the funny hat.
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