Qingdao Sprummer

 Even though its early June, I still feel like it's Spring because of the mid-70's weather during the day, light breeze, and blooming flowers.  Qingdao really is a beautiful city and here are some photos of what I've been up to the past few weeks:

My parents, Mark and Shauna came to visit me in Qingdao!  Here is a photo of my parents sitting on my couch amidst all my teaching junk.  

It was a great weekend and there will be more pictures of their visit to follow, once everyone gets back to the US of A.  Mark and Shauna are still in Hong Kong or Macau and my parents are on the plane back to Amurrrrica as I am typing this post. 

I barbequed outside with some other teachers at a restaurant near the beach.  Yes, it was outdoors and under a tent that was actually made of PVC and metal pipes with plastic tarp strung up to make walls and a roof. 

We roasted all sorts of meat, seafood, vegetables, and bread on the wire pit and the Korean-style pan.  It was a great Friday night and a very Qingdao experience.  Plus, we had beer in a plastic bag.

So that is my spring-summer-sprummery life as of late.  Basically trying to spend as much time as possible outside and enjoying the seaside resort town lifestyle.  One month left until I leave this beautiful city.  Sigh.

Beware the H1N1

This video plays in every single airport in China as well as on the buses, subways, and flights.  It's all really an American conspiracy.  



On an unrelated note, being in America is pretty awesome and I have been hacking down on the food list

To eat:

1. Cupcake (CHECK! 2/5: Sprinkles pumpkin cupcake)
2. Milkshake (CHECK! 2/6: Palo Alto Creamery peanut butter oreo shake)
3. Grilled cheese (CHECK! 2/4: Max's Diner ultimate grilled cheese)
4. Cheese in general (ongoing...)
5. Bread (ongoing...)
6. Ben & Jerry's (CHECK! 2/4: Ben & Jerry's flipped out brownie)

This has ultimately left me with an upset stomach, probably because I need my daily dose of MSG served up with a vat of peanut oil and followed up with floaties in water.  I could really go for some 红烧茄子 or 拔丝地瓜just about now...

New Years Party, round two.

During the new year, Chinese make dumplings together and eat them as a family.  Many classes have hosted 饺子 making parties recently to celebrate with their classmates and enjoy a yummy meal.  I was invited to my Class 14's dumpling making party today and it was a lot of fun!

There is a certain way to roll the dough out into squares and I was taught by my students.  It's a little different than what we know as rolling out dough, and you have to rotate the little circle as you roll towards the center.  You don't roll out, you roll in.

Then we filled the dumplings with various fillings and pinched them shut.  This is also the part I always find the hardest, but some of my students can make some really pretty ones!

Feasting on the dumplings was kind of a zoo and involved a lot of running and squealing.  We had plenty to eat though, and I was pretty stuffed afterward.

Later in the evening, they held a party in their classroom which was more of a talent show.  It was really well organized (this is my second highest level class) and every student got to perform something either by themselves or in a group.

There were students doing a fan dance, kungfu, and nunchuks.  Singing karaoke songs was a very popular option, as was making up a funny skit.  There were also several groups that created their own choreographed dances to songs like "Billie Jean" and many popular Chinese songs.  I even saw a student break dance, complete with the worm!

 

 

These New Years parties are really wearing me thin and I am really behind on grading the final exams (read almost all are ungraded).  Besides the fact that I'm pretty sure I ate my weight in sunflower seeds this evening, the healthy snacks are pretty awesome.  It is also fun to hang out with my students in a more fun and laid-back environment.  So here you go, my class 14!

I'm off to Shanghai tomorrow afternoon to celebrate New Years with Max.  I've never been to Shanghai before and am really excited!  See you in the new decade --

新年快乐！

We're having a party...

I got a call this evening from one of my student inviting me to a New Years party that Class D2 was having so I gladly headed over after dinner.

It was so much fun to see my kids in a non-academic environment and just having fun! First we watched a slideshow consisting of various class photos doing different activities. Apparently they have also had a lot of field days and even a dumpling making party! This class is a hard-working and cohesive one, so I'm not surprised by this at all.

I found it amusing that their snacks were mainly fruits, sunflower seeds, peanuts, and very few chips. There was also something about feeding each other bananas, which I dodged because of my fruit allergy. I guess my allergy comes in handy, finally.

Then it was karaoke hour...

 

Then I met their homeroom teacher, who turned out to be really cool. Then a food fight ensued and sunflower seeds, banana peels, orange peels, and various cookies were thrown across the room.

This food fight ended after they ran out of ammo and it was all on the floor. There was also a growing number of girls hiding behind me. Apparently they thought I was immune to the attacks, which was proven wrong later. Don't worry girls, Ms. Alison will protect you!

Then we lit the birthday cake, which had this really awesome flower on it. When you lit the top wick, the petals all came down slowly and there was a huge flower flame in the middle as it played the tune of "Happy Birthday." Oh these Chinese people. This cake was everyone's birthday cake and essentially was for the New Year too. There is an old Chinese belief that you should just celebrate everyone's birthday on that one date, or something like that.

And then this ensued...

 

 

 

I was involved in my first legitimate food fight, complete with icing smashed into my hair and thrown around the room. I eventually washed my face off in the sink, but when it's about 25 degrees F outside, this was not a fun thing to do! I told my kids "this is how much I love you!" and they laughed.

So thank you, class D2, for an eventful Monday night that I will never forget. Just another day in my life.

Eating Diaries, Part II

Korean Food

Whenever I get talked into eating Korean food, I always order Bibimbap.  Basically it is a sizzling hot stone pot with rice, veggies, and a raw egg (and meat, for the carnivores out there) that you mix with a chili paste so that it sizzles and cooks in front of you.  The result is a steaming pile of mixed fried rice, that when mixed correctly has a really amazing texture and can be really crunchy.  I found this in the Korean alley in Nanjing and it was one of the better ones I'd had since being here.

This dish was also accompanied with a very entertaining Korean singing-dancing show that I couldn't stop watching.  The girls were just covered in all sorts of cutesey things (one group was wearing bear paws and ears) and doing some sort of 'sexy' dance.

And this is where I declare my war on Korean flat metal chopsticks.  Dear Korean people, a spoon does not justify your stupid chopsticks.  Use the Japanese or Chinese style.  Get over it.

Cheese! And Bread!

When I checked out of the hostel on Sunday, I had a couple hours to burn before I went to the airport so I went to a nearby cafe with wifi for lunch.  I had also heard from Ryan that there was an amazing bakery down the street so figured this was it.

That is a tuna sandwich with cheese on a ciabatta roll.  I was pumped to eat this and it was worth all 25RMB (~$4).  The cafe was actually supposed to be a German bakery complete with New Zealand butter, German cheese, and freshly baked bread.  And yes, I paid the extra 15RMB for a cappuchino too and it made my day infinitely better.

If the Chinese are lining up, it must be good

Let me set this straight -- the Chinese NEVER line up for anything.  A bus "queue" is actually a frenzied mob pushing towards the door of the bus like the apocalypse is coming, complete with squealing girls and a yelling bus driver.   So if they're lining up for anything, I take notice.

 

They were lining up for some sort of cake that I ended up not purchasing because you had to buy it by the jin (about a kilo) or at least a half jin.  They smelled really good and I watched the workers make the fried cakes covered in sesame seeds.

These people were actually waiting 10+ minutes for a fresh batch of these little cakes!  They must have been that amazing for the Chinese to actually wait patiently without freaking out at the workers. 

Airplane Snackies

Remember what it was like to get real service and actual food on flights in America?  I remember flying American Airlines and getting offered a choice between a cheese pizza or a southwest chicken salad on every single flight.  I was so sick of the two choices because it was like every time I was on a flight, they were trying to force feed me.

And now we get charged to check our bags and for food.  Thanks, Land of the Free.

Well at least in China they still give food and snacks on planes.  I've taken the 1-hour long flights to Qingdao from Nanjing and back from Beijing -- I always got some sort of snack.  On the way to Nanjing, I got a package of peanuts and a juice box (a throwback, woah!).  Returning to Qingdao, the flight attendants not only served us water like crazy when our take off was delayed, I also got crackers.  And not just a small package of crackers, I got this:

That is a full package of crackers.  Take that, America!

So there it is, my food post about my Nanjing trip.  Today I booked a ticket to Shanghai for New Years Eve and I am very excited about that little excursion, especially since I've never been to Shanghai before!

Next post: What the Chinese think about Christmas