Day 5- Expat land, my hair smells good, questionable ethics, and street food

So on day 5, I decided to venture out a little more during the day.   I had a little work to get done, but I had time to look around.

 

I decided that I would return to the area where Cannefour is (the grocery store they took me to on the first day) .  I knew they had chosen that store because it has a foreign section, but I did not realize the grocery store is actually a French store.

 

I had my hotel help me write out the name of where I was going in Chinese and they gave me a card to help me return.  

 

So I get over there and its like entering into ExPat land.  Everyone is speaking English and there is a Starbucks.  I went into the Starbucks and I could totally see that it felt like home for many people living here from abroad. There was a Mommy group there meeting with their kids. Little blonde hair blue eyed girls.  I sat for a while and read.

 

I asked two of the Dutch ladies to tell me if there were good restaurants around for lunch.  She suggested a few really American places and she also explained the health code signs. They have a smiley face if the restaurant is clean. They have a flat minus sign face to show they are not as clean.  (Bethany told me that lots of restaurants have this – it may just mean a warning) . She said that she had not seen a frown yet.. and she thinks they may close it down.

 

So I walked up and down the street looking around at restaurants and such. I stopped in an outdoor store and bought one of the most expensive hats I own now.. for 147 rmb ( 21 dollars) but it's a really nice hat and it was the warmth I needed.

 

I then went into the sports mall. It was grandly decorated for Chinese New Year. It becomes more and more obvious to me that this should be my year – since I am a Tiger too..  and that is the year that is coming.   I walked and read the smiley faces on the doors and ended up eating at Blue Frog- a Chili's like restaurant..  I ate the and had a make your own bloody mary bar – and it was great!!!  I ran into Bethany, her husband, and one of the English Teachers from SMIC out for lunch. 

 

While in expat land I realized that the Chinese stare at every ex-pat not just me.. J  It was kind of comforting over there, familiar – but I realize its not the real China.. (latte in hand)

 

Carrefour

After lunch I went to Carrefour and browsed the aisles.  I had forgotten it was an over a mall with fast food type places – I wish I had remembered.. I would have just as fine with that as the expensive meal I ate. There is one called Yummie House that is just all different kinds of curries.  I might get to try that another time.

 

I had fun looking around.. I bought myself a little tiger doll to remember Chinese new year (you see them everywhere) for 8 rmb.

 

I sought to get a bunch of snack foods to bring home for Kent and the boys to taste.. If you are Kent or Ben – skip this section.. I don't want to ruin the surprise.

 

Snack Foods:

Did much worse this time, but will have some things to share with the folks back home.

 

Watermelon seeds – yuck..  very hard and fibrous and just taste odd.  I also bought pumpkin seeds but I doubt you can screw those up. Have not tried those yet.

 

Corn flavored Jelly candies – I  am not even going to try these. Its really just for effect.

 

Royal Ju Ju Bee's – these are Chinese new year candies. They look like they were fine.

 

Bean Curd snack – does not taste bad – I bet its good for you.. it's a little square of bean curd that you can have as a snack. The girl on the bag, she seems to really enjoy it.

 

Dengying beef snack – this is a special beef snack that is seasoned with peppers.  OH yuck..  the first bite I threw it out.  But I will bring it home. http://bangbangwa.com/ I think I could link to the site but its all in Chinese – and kind of funny.

 

Better things:

I got some grilled banana chips and I also found Milk tea. It is instant – which I really wanted the milk tea bags – but this has been good to drink at class.  I wish I had found it on my first day.

 

I got a couple of milk teas and milk lattes.. They are 3.80 rmb for a 20 oz of latte or milk tea – which is around 56 cents US. (and they would cost between 2 and 4 dollars here)

 

Afternoon

 

After Carrefour I returned to the hotel and finished some things for class.  Mary Beth emailed me and offered to meet me for a hairwashing and massage.. Sounds great to me and she then offered to help me buy street food.

 

We met at 4 at the gates. We walked down a hair salon down the street. I asked her how often she did it.. and she said when she first arrived she would have hair washed three times a week.  For both of us to have it done, it was 12 rmb (1.75)..

 

First each girl lathers your hair in the chair  - she uses very little water – and gets suds and suds and suds…  massaging your scalp.  Then they take you back and rinse it out.  Then they bring you back to the chair and they rub your shoulders, your back, they snap your fingers, and rub and articulate the joints in your arms. Oh and they also clean out your ears with a q-tip.

 

The girl kept saying to me relax relax.. but it was all so new.. but I could totally see getting into that.. She then blow dried  my hair out..(perhaps the most relaxing to me). My hair was soft and smelled great.. wonderful.

 

Next Mary Beth went with me to help me buy street food. She was such a good sport – because I wanted to take pictures.  First showed me the noodle lady she liked -  but we came back for that..

We went to this more Chinese apartment area, not related to SMIC.  They had an alley that had several street vendors.  They also had a small market with fresh fruit and fish.

 

So the alley first had a person with what looked like a crepe maker. She put a small amount of batter on the round griddle and then would add onions, spices etc. Then she would fold it up like an omelet.  A lot of students were eating these on the weekend and would pick them up on the way to class. They were like 3 or 4 rmb.

 

We went to the Chinese muslim station – aka weager (sp??)  he had a little booth marked with the Muslim symbol of a crescent moon.  He had a trough that he had charcoal in. He had a table of different kabobs of meats and vegetables that you could choose and he would grill for you and fan the flames with a bamboo fan.   People gathered while they waited for their food and we ended chatting with another teacher from Arkansas as we waited.   It cost 4 rmb for both of us.

 

After we had our Lamb with spices (and it was really good) Mary Beth took me down the street and showed me how they make homemade noodles at muslim noodles (one of Andrew's favorites).   They make a big ball of pasta and then use something that looks like a veggie peeler to make noodles in the broth.  It was cool to watch.

 

I ordered a yam from an old main. He had a special cart that had coals on the bottom and then little tubes that each hold 3 or so sweet potatoes.   He would take one out, and weigh it and tell you what it costs.  It was 2.60 rmb for mine.

 

 

Next we walked back to the school. On the way I became a hypocrit. My ethics are "Up in the Air" but really "It's complicated" but I enjoyed having something to watch in my room later.  3 of them was 10 rmb (1.50).  I admitted my deficit to my students.

 

We stopped at the noodle place on our way into the class. It was great.   They took an egg and cracked it in a wok and added oil. We could choose from 3 kinds of noodles. They added onions and spices.   We had wide noodles and they were great.  I think each of us paid 4 rmb (60 cents).  

 

Class was good.. we started with a reflection question, and people worked on editing audio and video and posting it on their Wikis. Micah explained Chinese law that he knew for websites.  I think the students will be fine with a US hosting site but I do think that they need to have them password protected and they need to be careful about watching them. In addition, since the great firewall can knock down access to a site unexpectedly, we talked about keeping copies of the links etc.. in case at one point it becomes inaccessible.   Overall, the students have some workarounds for the great firewall, but in a way its like a school with poor technology. You learn how to make it work.  They are quite adept at creating appropriate uses for their students.

 

I am looking forward to seeing everyone's audio and video on Wednesday – they are not going to be as education as I was thinking – but they are all learning and more importantly they are supporting each other and really showing that they are truly a cohort. The community of practice is obvious and strong. 

 

Jeez.. this is a long entry – for those reading this.. if anyone is..  I was not trying to write my version of One day in the life of Ivan Denosovich.. I swear!I just had a very full day that I don't want to forget.

 

 

Terri