61st Anniversary of the Founding of the PRC Banquet

So, Jess and I along with Jon, Jacob, Becca and Sammy went to a banquet in Zheng Zhou to celebrate the founding of the People's Republic of China 61 years ago.  I let my class go a little early so we could leave at 5.15 and so I had to teach for four hours in my banquet clothes, hair and make up. 

We got there and it was in a really nice hotel with marble everywhere.  Dinner was upstairs and we were some of the first ones to arrive.  Our early arrival was partly due to the fact that we were able to go through a checkpoint on the freeway where police men were diveriting traffic to a detour and our official banquet invitation got us through on the main road.

We sat down with Jess, Jacob and Sammy out our table as well as Julian who works in the Sias office with Becca.  There were also five Chinese people at our table, one we talked to was a lawyer and his daughter lives in San Fransisco.

The food:
First round of 'cold' dishes:
1. Jellyfish (ate it!)
2. Duck (ate it) with an awesome brown sauce
3. Tofu noodles (ate it)
4. A black fungus that is everywhere in China. (have eaten it before, will not do so again)
5. Veggies: lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions (yay tomatoes!)
6. Sliced cooked beef heart (ate it!)
7. Little whole shrimps in a spicy rub (ate it) with their little black eyes looking at you as you eat them whole.

'Hot' dishes:
1. Roasted chainsaw chicken (when they cut up with chicken into pieces without removing the bones first)
2. Chicken soup
3. Noodles
4. Fried rice (the best!)
5. Shanghai Greens
6. Fried lamb
7. Some weird potato and green pepper dish
8. Something else I didn't recognize but had mushrooms in it.
9. Sweet red bean soup (which was pretty awesome)

Dessert:
1.Coconut mochi balls (pounded rice cakes) with seseme on the inside.
2. Fruit (watermelon, cantelope, dragon fruit)
3. Baijou.  This is infamous in China, it's rice wine that's like 40-60% proof. It can really mess you up if you drink a whole bunch at a time, but they serve little baby shots of it as an after-dinner digestive helper.

Before dinner started there were a few speeches about how much China has improved since the PRC was established and how we need to follow in the steps of Deng Xiao Ping (not the Chairman!) and how Henan is a central part of this process.  We toasted lots and lots of people, us foreigners making a special point to speak with all the other foreigners in the room (for moral support being in a country where we don't understand the language or the food).

We met some folks who were the foreign teachers at Zheng Zhou University and there are only 6 of them.  It looks like they all get along, but I can't imagine having my community that small and personalities that don't get along.  It certainly makes me glad I'm at Sias with the 120 teachers we have. 

We also met a guy named Carl who teaches at a primary school here, he and his wife and their four children have lived here for three years.  I actually ran into him a couple days later at Home Depot in ZZ when I was there on a shopping trip.  Apparently he has a motorcycle that he's been working on.

I've decided that I do like going to banquets.  It gives me something to do and try interesting food (some of it good, some of it not).  There certainly are some down sides to banqueting, like Chinese people choosing your food that ends up with things like jellyfish and tofu ten different ways in weird sauces.  But at this point the pros outweigh the cons and I'm not jaded about stuff like that.

I have a whole bunch of posts coming from my vacation, I just need time to write them!!

Things you shouldn't do with chopsticks

The first time I ever went to China, we were coached in Chopstick edicit.  If you have a bowl of rice, don't stick your chopsticks in it, that's what Chinese people do when they leave rice for their ancestors.  Don't use them as drumsticks, especially at a banquet.  Don't let the tips touch the table, always keep them on your plate or your bowl.  Never stick them anywhere inappropriate, the like.

Wellllll....  sometimes it's too much fun to resist.

Aaron and Winston are culture partners and because Winston and Jessica (my culture partner) are dating, we go on double dates.  Or whatever it is when only two out of the four people are dating.  A four wheeled date?  Half a double date?

This is Sarah, who is the teacher of the culture student program, who is now teaching sophmores that the culture program is done for the summer.  She's doing 'two fingers,' a ninja sign that the culture students made up when playing our favorite game called Ninjia Star.  It's like Big Booty only with ninjia signs.  It's pretty awesome.

This is Eileen doing wolverine, our shout out to Hugh Jackman in Ninjia Star.

Either a bumblebee or a new creature from the Star Trek universe.  (I had been watching some Star Trek movies before this dinner.)

I'm going to say this picture is the most attractive one of me, ever.  This also got the most laughs out of the culture students.  Erin is practicing her vampire fangs because she gets to play Bella in the upcoming Twilight skit for Culture Week.  And for those of you who know Erin (hi Erin's mom!), it's really ironic because we all hate Twilight with a fiery passion.  The fire of a thousand suns.  But they are doing a parody, so I guess that makes up for it.  A little bit.  Matt Hux is going to be Edward (hi Matt's mom!).  I can't wait to see it.

Faith jumped in on this action too, as a pretty convincing walrus.  An interesting note: that's Aaron in the yellow shirt before he shaved his head.  Good before and after of him in this blog.

There will more more, in the future, but I thought I would post these now.  I don't think they have been a major fau-paux (is that how you spell that word?) and I have been on my best behavior at the banquet I've been to. 

We just had our opening ceremony at Sias, and there was a banquet with the bigwigs of the university before hand.  Some of the foriegn teachers needed to go, so Jess and I volunteered.  It was a great idea, because there was a four course meal.  First was salmon and bacon with a quasi Ceasar Salad with REAL olive oil!!!  Next was a great tomato soup with cheesy garlic bread.  Then there was chicken and mashed potatoes and tiramisu for dessert!  And Jess and I got all dolled up to go, which was half of the fun part.

We have both volunteered to go to a banquet on Wednesday in Zhengzhou of university leaders and the govenor of Henan provience.  I have a feeling that will be more of a traditional chinese banquet (hello fish eyes and chicken feet) but it will still be pretty fun.  My parents (and Jess's (hi Jess's mom!)) taught me how to be polite and smooze, so why not practice and get some good food in the process?  I'll let you know how it goes.

Have Aviators, Will Travel

So, when I was in Zheng Zhou I wanted to buy a new pair of sunglasses and we found these aviators on in the open air "walking street" market.  I tried on a whole bunch of pairs and the Chinese students I was with (and Sarah, who has been in China for a while) talked me into buying these white aviators.  I usually like darker brown frames, but they said these 'popped' against my dark hair and earrings.  I decided that hey, I was in China and China fashion is different and I'm a foreigner so basically anything I do goes or is written off as a silly foreigner fashion, so I bought them.

Turns out, this is the best purchase I've made, leading to endless hours of entertainment.  This post is a result of these glasses.

We went to the resturant called Water Under the Bridge (I don't know if that's the Chinese name translated or if that's just what the American teachers call it) and we put these classes on the lazy susan in the middle with my camera facing opposite.  Then we set the 10 second timer on the camera and started spinning and hunched down to see if we could time it right.  This is Erin who was the first to get it lined up.

We decided these pictures would make great profile pictures.

This is my friend Jess who I drink coffee with in the mornings.  She is a TA for a business management class and super smart.  And super gangsta.  She just bought an air soft gun to join the rest of us in our BB adventures.

Boo-ya.

This is Erin and Seth.  Erin taught here a long time ago (before they required teachers had their degrees) and she and Seth were students two years ago for a semester.  So they know all the cool things to do, like bumper cars in the park that would be totally illegal in the States, and where to buy things like air soft guns.  They are also movie buffs, so we have watched a lot of movies in their room.

Nick is the other member of our group, and this is his first time to China.  He and Seth have planned out a whole Zombie movie starring us, defending Peter Hall against a zombie invasion.  Its pretty sweet.  Hopefully we start filiming soon.  I will be one of the few survivors.

This is David and Aaron.  They are also new teachers this year, David is a TA for one the buiness classes with Matt and Aaron is teaching history (his MA beat out my BA in history for the job).  We are working on swapping classes after the midterm so I can maybe teach a brief section on Mayflower history....!

And of course, Neil, who is in his element with all things Chinese.  He helped me download Rosetta Stone on my computer so I can work on my Chinese too (which I haven't touched for a week.  Maybe I should get on that...)

This is Jessica (not to be confused with Jess) who is now my Chinese culture partner.  We are going to spend 12 hours a week together until the October Holiday and I am going to visit her family in her town which is 3 hours drive away.  We've already spend quite a bit of time together so I'm excited that we were paired together.  Next is Amanda, who I've also spent a lot of time with, she helped my buy my cell phone and get my internet banking set up (which is a process, like anything in China).

This is Winston and Michael.  Winston has been hanging around a lot, he wants me to help out with the English choir that he is a part of, rehersals start next week.  Michael is Nick's Chinese culture partner and Nick is working on talking him into matching Dragon playing double necked guitars while surfing tatoos.  I don't think Michal will spring for it...

Last but not least is our friend Ole, (rhymes with holy moley not the spanish Ole!) (is is playing the guitar) who has been here for 4 years.  He was friends with Seth and Erin when they were students and knows all the best card games and has a wii.  Needless to say, he plays Guitar Hero on expert.  It's sick to watch.  I'm still on easy.

So, that's pretty much everyone.  There are some returning teachers that we are also friends with (like Matt and Mel and Vernon and Ashleigh and Jon and Lee) but I don't have pictures with them yet and I thought this would be a good start.

Zheng Zhou Shopping Trip

On Saturday we were able to head into the capital city of Henan Province, Zheng Zhou for a shopping trip.  They have a few western things there, like Wal-Mart, Metro (a foreign goods import store in bulk, kind of like Costco), and Dairy Queen (real ice cream!).  They also have a huge technology market, outdoor fashion market, and fabric market.  So many things to do, and so little time.

The bus ride took 1.5 hours and I got to sit with one of the Chinese culture students named Jessica.  We've been hanging out quite a bit during the cultural activities, and I like her a lot.  So, we talked and folded cranes, and she volunteers at an orphanage on fridays and I want to go with her.  One of the other foreign teachers leads the program and I'm excited to start volunteering there.

We made it to Zheng Zhou and went en masse to the technology market.  Since I will be teaching an academic class, I need a USB flash drive to take my power point files to class.  I also wanted to get a wireless router so I can use my iPad and computer anywhere in my appartment.  I was able to find both, the first costing me 50 RMB ($7) for a 4 GB drive and 120 RMB ($18) for the wireless router.  Sure, the instructions are all in Chinese, but we figured it out and now its up and running. 

Note: RMB is the shorthand for the offical Chinese term for their currency, which is yuan.  On the street, yuan are called kuai.  RMB = yuan = kuai.  Just in case I use all three terms, I don't want you to be confused.

We took the bus in the city, which only cost 1 RMB ($0.14) and it was cramped.  Top row left to right: Winston, Seth, Nick.  Bottom three: Erin, Michael, Jessica (who I sat next to on the bus).

Then we headed back to the shopping mall for Indian food for lunch.  Most of the Chinese students had never had Indian food before, so I ordered some things that I liked (paneer naan and chicken tikka masala) and found out that our Chinese students really just like Chinese food the best.  There were mixed reactions to the curry (more for me!) and we had a discussion about American food and international food.  They were surprised that I ate Indian food so often (once a week with Mom in the U District during school) and we tried to hash out what was really American food and what was food brought in by other countries.  I decided that pie was really a truly American food (thanks to pioneer women) as well as hamburgers.  We have a lot of American style foods, but few that didn't originate from somewhere else.

Anyway, we did see some interesting street food (I will do a whole post of street food later) but I had never seen this before, and certainly not near Sias.  I think its a pretty cool way of serving melon, it almost makes me wish I like eating it.

After lunch we went to Wal-Mart so I could buy butter to bake some stuff (which I won't do for a while, but its more of a security blanket than anything because I feel better just knowing that it's in the freezer section of my mini-fridge.)  However, I was shocked how much butter was compared to other Chinese things.  To give you a comparison:  a bottle of water costs 1 RMB ($0.14) and a bag of chips is 3 RMB ($0.42) and 20 pork dumplings are 6 RMB ($0.85) and a really nice meal cost 20 RMB ($2.85) and one block of butter costs 25 RMB ($3.50).  That is the normal American price for butter, but in China it's shockingly expensive.  I bought coffee too, which was also expensive (50 RMB) and GUINESS!!!! which was 10 RMB a bottle compared to the Chinese brand Tsing Tao which was 3.5 RMB a bottle.  So for the most part I'm sticking to Chinese things, but I'll splurge every once in a while on coffee, real stout, and butter.

After Wal-Mart and a quick stop at Dairy Queen for real ice cream (Chinese ice cream has a weird taste and texture, its not made with real dairy and doesn't taste as good) we came to this open market to look for things like sunglasses and earrings and fake purses, etc.  I got a pretty swanky pair of white aviators for 15 RMB ($2.14) and resolved to come back for a purse that I really liked. 

The only thing that I haven't really found is a foam pad for my almost rock-hard bed.  Maybe I'll buy a whole bunch of pillows and sew them together (puts a whole new meaning on the term "pillow top").  We'll see.

More to come!