I hope this means the monsoon season has come early this year. According to the Xinxian weather station Liaocheng is predicted to get almost three millimeters of rain tonight! Yipee!
I can’t wait until I am back on the swampy east coast of North America.
The other day I went to a Sichuan restaurant located in the West Gate area ordered the spiciest thing on the menu in Chinese, Mala Doufu (Spicy and Numbing Tofu). It was after the main lunch rush, so most of the staff had nothing to do but to stare with confused, incredulous faces at the laowei eating a plate of tofu lava. It was delicious! And made me sweat like I was in the Amazon rain forest wearing a parka and running a marathon. Needless to say, I was doubly proud of myself for ordering the food in Chinese and eating it under the supervision of Sichuan natives.
I think that the combination of the semi-arid climate, the bitter, dusty wind and the pollution is slowly killing me. I’ve been sick more often this past year than I have ever been before. Maybe it is a test- a hero’s challenge. Survive this and you’ll get a prize. Of course the prize is often times self-discovery, something that I’ve been doing a lot of here.
In China, if you want to get people to purchase your products the only obvious thing to do is to dress up some poor college or high school students as your products and parade them around the city. This was a bei jiu (fermented rice wine) parade. I don’t know about you, but after seeing that parade of giant humanoid inflatable alcohol bottles I could go for a shot or two of that face numbing brew… on second thought, I’ll pass. The idea for the parade most likely was hatched after sampling the product six too many times…
I apologise for the poor quality of these images, I saw this event from a moving bus.
Da-Q, real name Ji Cheng, is a friend of mine who proves the myth that Chinese people are naturally short and slim is false. Very false. At least six feet five inches tall and three hundred pounds false. Could kill you in one punch false. You get the idea.
Da-Q is a nickname given to him by a (female) classmate and city fellow. Da-Q means two things due to the fact that Mandarin has a great multitude of homophones and puns: the first is “Big Penguin” and the second is “Big Cute (cutie?)”. He is incessantly smiling and laughing, radiating mega watt optimistic energy. He was generous enough to invite me and Martine (my meimei, younger sister, for those who don’t know) to a Spring Festival feast at his home in Qingdao. Much fun was had by all. I really like this guy… you couldn’t dislike him if you tried really, really hard. Which brings us to today’s photo…
Last Friday, most likely just to amuse himself, he challenged me and Yvon to an arm wrestling contest.
Apparently Spring only lasts about a month in this part of the world. It’s summertime!
The university is closed to host the “Sports Meeting” which we would simply call a glorified pep rally but they do school spirit boosting things so rarely here whenever they hold a pep rally, the school is closed for two days. Doesn’t make sense to me either. The English language staff took the opportunity to enjoy the summer weather and travel around town.
First we were off to Dongchang Fu (East Lake District) and to the Chinese Canal Culture Museum. The next day we were off to the heart of Liaocheng’s Old City. The 1,000 year old Old City is a man made or man modified square island located in the center of the East Lake connected to the mainland by causeways radiating out from the Guanyue Luo (direct translation is something like “Luminous High Mountain Multi-Storied Building”, built as a combination fortress and Visiting Emperor’s Palace in 1347. We were then off to the Shanxi-Shaanxi Assembly Hall, a Merchant’s Guild Hall built in the early 1700’s when the city was still in its heydays.
The food in China is obviously very different than Chinese food is back in the States. Most of the common strange foods I don’t even think of as strange anymore: Stir-Fried Mu’ar (Wood ear) Black Fungus, Sauced Eggs available in single serving plastic wrap, Salt Boiled Duck Eggs, Pickled Eggs and Soft Dofu, Seaweed (kelp) Soup, shrimp, fish and chicken all served in their entirety- head to tail. “Numbing” used as an accurate way to describe food on a menu. Fish Flavored Pork, Beef, or Eggplant.
Here are some of the stranger things I’ve eaten so far: (these are things that even the locals think are a little strange)
Stirfried Ox Sinew (I think. “it comes from an ox” I was told) Barbecued Cicada. Pig Feet. Chicken Feet. Chicken Heart. Chicken Lung. Goat Bone Essence (marrow). Pig Ear. Cow Stomach. Deep Fried Whole Soft Shell Crab. Deep Fried Chicken Spine. Chicken “Skeleton” (mostly bones with a little meat served with a !spicy! cumin rub). Bitter Melon. Dragon Heart Fruit. Fire Heart Turnip. Some strange vegetable that tasted like the love child of zucchini and okra. Winter Melon. Stir Fried Pig Stomach with Green Chile Peppers. Sushi done Chinese style with ham, strawberries, bananas and dried pork. Dragon’s Beard (it’s a sea vegetable of some kind).
More interesting things to come- so you can live vicariously through me- YUM!
Those people are the Chinese professors of the School of Foreign Languages preparing for an intra-university faculty exercise off. I was told that they won second place. Not sure who won first- I’ll have to get back to you on that.
I’ll sort through my photos and post another “What the %^$# is Going on photo Here?” tomorrow
I woke up the other day feeling that I was ready for a new beginning. China was certainly new but most of what I’m teaching now was the material that I had been working with the past four years or so. Words, words, words. I’m sick of words. It is time for something new!
Utilizing my new contacts in China, I plan to study Herbal and Traditional Medicine in China and the United States and perhaps, if I am extra lucky as my Chinese zodiac implies I will be, in other countries as well. I am glad to be leaving academia behind!
Alexander Conquers China 