In celebration of a place i love #3: Day to day life

Continuing on with my Chinese posts...

So I came across a couple of emails explaining different aspects of day to day life in China. This generally meant that something seemingly 'simple' was inevitably the complete oppositte. Washing yourself and washing your clothes ranked highly! They still tickle me now.

Clothes washing (when out of town one time):

'Weather has turned crappy again, so I have gone from shorts to full thermals and woolies! 

There's so much pollution from the cars (the word unleaded is not even known) and coal here that my chest is dying. In addition I have inground dirt in my nails, hands and ankles and all my clothes are a dull shade of grey now. Delightful!

The only way of cleaning my clothes is the hotels crappy twin tub thing. The delightfully helpful contraction plays jingle bells as it works and you have to fill and empty with water yourself.  Come to think of it, it doesnt even rinse the clothes,  so technically I'm hand washing everything to a dodgy Christmas tunes! Brilliant!

To make things even better, our shower nevers runs with hot water, and being on the 4th floor I wouldnt even say that the water runs...it kind of dribbles (and slowly). You can imagine how great I look right now! The head scarfs are definately coming in handy.'

Showering:

'..am giving up showering forever! Its just too much hassle, even when there is water - unlike today!

To explain the ritual it goes something like this. First I get down as little clothing as I can bear in the bedroom (the only room in the flat with any form of heating ed. in the winter the weather would get as cold as the UK with no central heating. Brrrrr!) and brave myself for the experience to some.

So then I sprint from the bedroom to the bathroom where I don the bathroom flip flops (plastic) and turn on the cold water tap/pipe which is FREEZING.

The bathroom made marginally less grim 'cheered up' by me with a few acrylic paints I had with me

Next I run shuffle at top speed (slippers are way too big) into the kitchen, swapping bathroom slippers for house slippers (woolly ones) to turn on the gas cylinder and ignite the water heater system.

The Kitchen...not much I can say about that really!

Then I shuffle back to the bathroom (swapping slippers) to check the temperature of the shower. If its too hot or cold its back to the kitchen (changing slippers on the way - natch!) to adjust. And no you cant leave it on the same setting as it changes according to water pressure and the wind it would seem!

So back and forth I go until I finally leap into the shower hoping  that the water pressure doesn't drop, kicking off the gas (leaving you mid shampoo having to sprint back to the kitchen to restart everything). Oh the fun!

Just to show that my flat did at times look a tad friendlier...

pic 1. A summer shot of my flat looking marginally more friendly (my balcony was quite a nice - if dusty - sun trap) 
pic 2. With my adpotive mother, her daughter and my friend Martin during the winter 
pic. 3 Sharing a home cooked meal with some of my students (cooking with/for the teacher was a very motivating prize apparently! I learnt all the Chinese cooking I know from these meals - there were many. Lots of fun all round). Note the head scarf - they were my perpetual friends in China!

 

In celebration of a place I love #2: Banquets!

In celebration of Chinese New Year I'm blogging a few stories, emails and photos of my time there.

Today - Chinese banquets! 

I wrote this post on my Chinese blog (which has long since dissappeared :-( ) after returning from observing my student teachers on teaching practice in the country. Despite having enjoyed endured many banquets at to this point, the concentration of banquets I experienced on this short 4 day trip almost pushed me over the edge. I felt 'i was made to eat lots' didnt really sum up the experience so this was my attempt to explain the phenomenon known as the Chinese Banquet! 

*** N.B. I feel that its important at this point to make a disclaimer and say that I do actually LOVE chinese food. Its my absolute favourite and I still search for 'authentic' chinese food in the UK. If you ever get the chance to try the genuine non-sloppy, salty, sour and hot food from Hunan or Sichuan do. You wont regret it! ***

One of my students 'Fairy' (self chosen name) doing a great job teaching one of her first classes
 
Chinese banquets are something of a lavish affair and are given as a standard gesture of welcome.  Despite the fact that China is still a developing country, they will always have at least 3 times more then everyone can eat, even in the smallest towns and villages. That’s even after you have eaten way more then your fill and are splitting at the seams ‘post Christmas dinner’ style! 

A banquet is an occasion where your guests will try to impress you by giving you the best/ richest tasting dishes. They will order the most expensive specialties of the area, which means you will inevitably get a goats head,  sea cucumber, snake or something equally as nauseous set down in front of you: the most expensive dishes are generally the odd ones!  As a foreigner in China, wherever you go, no matter why you are there, you stand out like a sore thumb, and because people want to impress you (its a great source of pride for them that you would visit),  you are very lucky to avoid a banquet. 

An ornately carved bird made from pumpkin to help decorate the table

Now banquets would be quite pleasant occasions, if it wasn’t for the fact that you didn’t know what tortures you would have to endure to keep your guest happy.  

First you HAVE to try ALL of the ‘delicious’ dishes – bear in mind that the most scrumptious things in the eyes of your host are likely to be the things you least want to see sitting in your rice bowl. As a general rule, your guest will pass you the choicest morsel, whether that be the meatiest eyeball, or the fattiest turtle leg (always telling you its medicinal properties or how good these things are for your skin) and then watch you with eager anticipation, to see just how much you enjoy gulping down said item. To refuse would mean that your guest would ‘lose face’, something to be avoided at all costs in Chinese culture.  I have however become very crafty at hiding the bits I don’t want to eat under everything else in my bowl. Then comes the drinking...

 'Ganbei!'

Now drinking is usually one thing I enjoy doing very much on all but one occasion – this one! The alcohol is usually not one of your choice (no g&t's in rural China) instead the preferred lunchtime tipple (and I think I’d be safe in saying this) of a great number of Chinese men is Baijui: rice wine – on average 50% proof - tastes and smells like puke. You can still feel the full after effects for up to 3 days afterwards as it has a tendency to repeat on you! 

Now the average Chinese man has been drinking this for years, at lunch and dinner time so they are pro’s. I on the other hand drink of little of it as possible as it does really nasty things to me, but when it comes to banquets, there is usually little choice in the matter. Hence more torturous moments (unless you learn the trick as I did recently, of very swiftly tipping the contents of your glass out when the host is otherwise occupied – they now think I’m fab at drinking Baijiu!).

The average banqueting conversation (usually with as many officials as you can fit in the room) generally goes like this:

Headmaster: “Miss Katie, Welcome to our school, thank you so much for teaching the students. Ganbei!!!

(all in Chinese of course – even the English teachers barely speak English – Ganbei means that you stand up and finish your glass. The literal translation is ‘dry glass’– so whether its beer (very seldom) or red wine(something that resembles what red wine is really like in appearance, but is disappointingly much more like a very sickly sherry  – nothing like a good Merlot here) or Baijiu – usually Baijiu – you have to drink up.)

Headmaster: “Have the ducks (or fish’s) head” – always given to the most important person at the meal.

Me:  “No thanks, seeing eyes staring at me from my bowl kind of puts me off my food.” (so they put stomach in your bowl instead)

H: “Nevermind. Let me toast you then. Ganbei!”

Minutes later…

H: “Have a goats foot ”

Me: “Erm, thanks, not really too much meat on feet is there?"

H: “Of course there is, just nibble around the toes. Would you like to try the dog hot pot then?”

Me: “ Well… actually in our country we don’t like to eat dog. We usually keep them as pets”

H: “O.k. well help yourself anyway. Ganbei!!!”

We then down another glass of alcohol.

Cries of “Ganbei!” proceed throughout the meal with everyone having to ‘ganbei’ everyone else as a sign of respect with people standing and sitting with such regularity its like a game of musical chairs. 

The meal in all its excess continues for about 2 hours, with different dishes being brought at regular intervals. It usually comes to an end with jaozi (meat dumplings) and rice, by which time you would be hard pressed to find a single spare millimetre left in your stomach to put any more food!  Everyone departs from the table staggering and swaying along from the excesses of food and drink – and that’s only at lunchtime!

'Maybe ban gan bei???' (half gan bei?)

Needless to say that after observing teaching practice where I was banqueted noon and night for 4 days (I wish I was exagerating!), I didn’t need to eat another thing for about a  week! 

I did however learn how to play my comrades at their own game...

At one point I thought I’d cope better drinking wine or beer instead, so I played the sweet innocent female, saying that baijiu was too much for me, and being a woman, they allowed me to swap beverages (if I were male I would have been stuck with baijiu!). Every time I toasted one of them I made them join me in whatever I was drinking and soon discovered that when they move away from their normal alcohol, they actually get drunk very quickly! Lol! Consequently, I had lots of fun with that and decided to use my foreign status to my own advantage. I started requesting that we Ganbei in beer instead (being the request of the foreigner they complied), and there were actually occasions where I was the soberest one at the table!!! Ha ha! I can actually say that I’m now looking forward to the next banquet! I’m requiring quite a reputation for being able to hold my own and I think I have them running scared!!! World domination is next!!!

In celebration of a place I love

For anyone reading that doesnt know, I lived in deepest darkest China (Hunan province - surrounded by stereotypically tradtional rice paddy fields, people wearing conical hats and water buffalo) for a couple of years. It was both the best of times: the food, the language, the people, the randomness of everyday life, and worst of times: the food, the language, the people, the randomness of everyday life! However I came away having made friends for life, with a distinct change in food taste (my taste for salty hot food is still firmly there even 10 years later), and with a love of a culture that is unlike any other I've come across so far.

An average street on an average day in Hunan

Having dinner with my adoptive Chinese family, a younger version of me (behind the steam) with the 'handsome dark stranger' that had come to visit me in my town. The visit prompted much excitement for my students and pretty much the entire local area, regardless of whether they knew me or not. Speculation was rife as to whether we would marry... turns out the speculation was right :-)

In celebration of the upcoming Chinese New Year (January 31st) I'm going to do a few posts about China, not for any other reason that it will give me happy feelings and give me an excuse to reminisce. It will mainly be excerpts from my diary and emails that give a flavour of life over there, a few photos (in a time before digital photography mind!). I'm also going to share a handy guide I wrote for a friend visiting Beijing.

In the mean time "Xīn Nián Kuài Lè" - "Happy New Year" in Mandarin. May the Year of the Horse bring you much wealth, health and happiness!

Food Glorious Food!

As I mentioned the other day I found myself in China Town at the weekend, so to switch things up a bit, I thought I do a food inspired post rather than a crafty one.

For anyone reading this that doesn’t know, I lived and worked in rural South West China for 2 years some time ago and loved, loved LOVED the food! I was lucky enough to live in one of the 3 chilli regions of China and the range of fresh (straight from the fields that morning), hot, salty and sour food was incredible! Since being back in the UK I haven’t been able to find anything even vaguely authentic so as often as I can, I cook up some of the dishes that my Chinese friends taught me.

Jiao zi (dumplings) are a favourite dish of mine and oh so simple to make.

They are a great Saturday night dish to cook up with family and friends as everyone can get involved in making them up. Heres a quick tutorial if you want to try them for yourself.

For approximately 50 Jiaozi (Myself and Mr. T manage about 15 each in one sitting) you need:

• About 500 grams of pork mince (if you get some that has a bit of fat in it rather than the completely lean stuff it makes a nicer dumpling)
• Several garlic cloves (finely chopped)
• 3 or 4 spring onions (finely chopped)
• 4 cm chunk of fresh ginger (finely chopped)
• A couple of good pinches of salt
• Soy Sauce
• Chinese Vinegar
• Chinese Cabbage or Bai Cai (finely chopped)
• Fresh or dried chilli (optional)
• One pack of Jiaozi Skins (round ones) like these…

You can get most of the ingredients in the average supermarket although the chinese vinegar and Jaiozi skins are well worth a trip to the local Chinese supermarket. I usually buy a couple of packs of the skins as the freeze really well.

Mix all of the mixture together with a few glugs of soy sauce, a decent glug of Chinese vinegar.

To make the gorgeous little parcels, get yourself ready with a floured plate or two, your mixture, jaiozi skins nand a bowl of water.

Take one of the skins, place a decent teaspoon full of of the mixture in the centre.

Next dip a finger in the water and baste around the edge of the jiaozi skin

Now comes the tricky/fun part – folding the jaoizi. What you are aiming for is a parcel that fully seals the meat filling inside the parcel so ultimately, so long as you fold the parcel and press the edges together hard you will be all good. To make the pretty half moon shapes however... first hold the skin in half and press firmly in the middle.

Next fold one side in (getting a bit of an overlap on the top side) and do the same on the other side. Now sqeeze the edges together.

(Bonus shot taken by Mr T catching me in the middle of cooking)

Place on the floured plate. Put on a nice big pan of boiling water (with a bit of oil in the top) and drop in the dumplings. I’d advise doing them in rounds so they don’t all stick together. They should only need to cook for about 3 minutes. They’ll float when cooked.

Serve with a dipping sauce (3 parts vinegar to one part soy sauce and a nice spoonful of chilli – adjust to taste) and if you are feeling extra ambitious some stir fried greens (cooked with garlic and salt).

Tasty - even if I do say so myself!

Lazy Sundays

I had big plans to post about all the stuff I’ve been up to this weekend, but you know what – I am bushed! So a short but pretty post for a lazy Sunday evening…

On Saturday I ended up in China Town buying orchids. I wouldn’t normally buy any (they are not my favourite flower/plant), but I had to make up the balance to be able to use my card and they were the nearest things to hand. But how glad was I that I got them – they are gorgeous!

They have brightened up the whole house - quite literally!

Here they are on the mantle piece…

( I love those old fashioned cola bottles)

…and in the bathroom…

(note the slight sad looking recovering orchid sitting along the shelf from its pretty neighbour. Hopefully it will be inspired - I've been waiting for it to re-bloom for about a year!)

…and in the bedroom…

(I love that small Chinese calligraphy. It was for me by my shu fa (calligraphy) teacher before I left China for home. More on Chinese inspired bits and pieces in the week)

Aaaaaah – So pretty! Perfect for a lazy Sunday. :-)

p.s. Had I have been on the ball I would have joined in with Kirsty's 'Snoop' with something like this a few weeks ago - I always find that kind of thing interesting. In a way this can act as a late entry...

There are quite a few random bits and pieces lying around our house, like the fabric tape on the mantle piece that I made this weekend and my buddha picture from thailand that really needs to be put in a proper frame! I always forget they are there - but see that flash of red up at the top of picture two  - that is my chinese Tai Ji (Tai Chi in the west) fans. I learnt a bit when I lived there. Mostly I associate the fans with what was my favourite time of day - dusk. I'd go out running on the college track, the bats would be flying overhead and the chinese grandmothers would be doing Tai Ji Fan in the centre. As I ran past them I'd periodically here the clack of the fans opening and closing in the dark. I've just had a quick shufty and theres a good utube video of Tai Ji Fan here if you are interested. Its great for calming/ centring yourself. Plus its a martial art that is kick ass and uses fans - whats not to love!

Anyway I digress... bedtime I think!