The Adventure Continues...
This morning I thought I was going to be a part of a massive traffic disaster when our bus (that's right, bus) decided to pass another bus (right again, BUS) on the wrong side of the road. When the driver honked at the oncoming traffic, however, those vehicles slid over into the bicycle lane, and the bicycles either swerved or pulled over. The Chinese people on the bus didn't even seem to notice. It was at this point that I decided just to stop watching the road.
All week I've been taking the bus to class; well, I've been taking the shuttle bus from the apartment complex to the public bus station and then the public bus to the campus. The shuttle bus driver is pretty aggressive, but at least he only passes cars on the wrong side of the road and not
busses.
Class wasn't nearly as exciting as the ride to class, but that was quite alright with me. Our first professor is always really entertaining. He obviously enjoys his job, and he's good at it as well. He's often a little blunt in his correction, but it's always offered and taken in good fun. As he likes to say, we're students; there's no loss of face in making mistakes or asking questions. The second two hours are more of a struggle. Our second professor's English isn't as good, and class isn't nearly as engaging. This combination means that I have to force myself to pay attention and make the effort to understand what the professor's saying (It's good practice, though). After class I went to the cafeteria for lunch. The food is pretty good, and it's really inexpensive. The menus are all in characters, however; some of which I can read and some of which I have to guess at. Today I tried to order a chicken and noodle dish. I told the man at the window what I wanted, but when he repeated it back to me it wasn't the same thing. I told him again, he again repeated something different, I smiled and nodded. Fortunately, the result of this interchange was a tasty little noodle bowl. I'm really not too concerned about ordering something gross; the meals cost about $0.75 on average, so if I don't like what I get I'll just buy something different, although I haven't had to do this yet. It's just fun to feel adventurous.
After class I went to the grocery store to buy ingredients for tomorrow's breakfast, which I've offered to cook for the host family. I've already described the grocery store, so you know that just going is an adventure. Trying to find specific items was even more exciting. The bacon was pretty straight-forward since it comes in a clear package. The eggs and milk for French toast weren't too hard either, but cinnamon was a little more of a challenge. I actually knew the characters for what I was looking for, so I found the spice isle and proceeded to search, displacing random shop assistants as I looked. The best I could do was cinnamon sticks. That will do. The store had about 10 kinds of honey but no syrup. Oh well. Next on the list: powdered sugar. I found the sugar and started poking at packages trying to decide which one was what I needed. There were a couple of packages that seemed right, but they said things like "Infant-suitable kind" and "For Adults," so figuring that powdered sugar shouldn't be age-specific, I passed over these packages. I found one that looked o.k. and headed to the check out counter. After leaving the store with my purchases, I decided to stop for a bottled water at one of the corner concession stands that are all over Beijing. Here I made the most exciting discovery of the day---red bean popsicles!!! I love red bean ice cream, but that's Japanese, so I didn't think I'd find it in China. The popsicle was made out of the same stuff! I happily paid the vendor one "kuai," about 13 cents, and went on my way. A short taxi ride later I was back at the apartment. I put away the refrigerated items for tomorrow's breakfast, and checked out the spices.
The cinnamon worked out well; host dad had the great idea to crush it with a rolling pin, which took some elbow grease but produced suitable powder. I wasn't so lucky with the powdered sugar, however. It turned out to be either baking powder or baking soda. Sigh. Oh well. I guess the host family won't know the difference. After I put everything away, I went to play ping pong with host dad in the 'game room' of the apartment complex. This is a big room under one of the buildings;I think it might have been built as a parking garage. It has a pool table, some tables, bookshelves with books, a plastic ball pit like they have at McDonalds playplaces in the states, and two ping pong areas that were fenced in so that run-away balls won't escape. I haven't played ping pong in years, but this went much better than tennis had a couple of days before. Host dad coached me on proper ping pong technique, and I was able to give him a decent game. We played for awhile and went back to the apartment for dinner. The adventure continues, even when the itinerary
doesn't include exploration, per se.
*I've been asked to explain squat toilets. Basically they're holes in the floor that flush. Some are nicer than others. I've taken pictures, which I'll try to post once I get back home.
**Breakfast turned out o.k., thank goodness.
All week I've been taking the bus to class; well, I've been taking the shuttle bus from the apartment complex to the public bus station and then the public bus to the campus. The shuttle bus driver is pretty aggressive, but at least he only passes cars on the wrong side of the road and not
busses.
Class wasn't nearly as exciting as the ride to class, but that was quite alright with me. Our first professor is always really entertaining. He obviously enjoys his job, and he's good at it as well. He's often a little blunt in his correction, but it's always offered and taken in good fun. As he likes to say, we're students; there's no loss of face in making mistakes or asking questions. The second two hours are more of a struggle. Our second professor's English isn't as good, and class isn't nearly as engaging. This combination means that I have to force myself to pay attention and make the effort to understand what the professor's saying (It's good practice, though). After class I went to the cafeteria for lunch. The food is pretty good, and it's really inexpensive. The menus are all in characters, however; some of which I can read and some of which I have to guess at. Today I tried to order a chicken and noodle dish. I told the man at the window what I wanted, but when he repeated it back to me it wasn't the same thing. I told him again, he again repeated something different, I smiled and nodded. Fortunately, the result of this interchange was a tasty little noodle bowl. I'm really not too concerned about ordering something gross; the meals cost about $0.75 on average, so if I don't like what I get I'll just buy something different, although I haven't had to do this yet. It's just fun to feel adventurous.
After class I went to the grocery store to buy ingredients for tomorrow's breakfast, which I've offered to cook for the host family. I've already described the grocery store, so you know that just going is an adventure. Trying to find specific items was even more exciting. The bacon was pretty straight-forward since it comes in a clear package. The eggs and milk for French toast weren't too hard either, but cinnamon was a little more of a challenge. I actually knew the characters for what I was looking for, so I found the spice isle and proceeded to search, displacing random shop assistants as I looked. The best I could do was cinnamon sticks. That will do. The store had about 10 kinds of honey but no syrup. Oh well. Next on the list: powdered sugar. I found the sugar and started poking at packages trying to decide which one was what I needed. There were a couple of packages that seemed right, but they said things like "Infant-suitable kind" and "For Adults," so figuring that powdered sugar shouldn't be age-specific, I passed over these packages. I found one that looked o.k. and headed to the check out counter. After leaving the store with my purchases, I decided to stop for a bottled water at one of the corner concession stands that are all over Beijing. Here I made the most exciting discovery of the day---red bean popsicles!!! I love red bean ice cream, but that's Japanese, so I didn't think I'd find it in China. The popsicle was made out of the same stuff! I happily paid the vendor one "kuai," about 13 cents, and went on my way. A short taxi ride later I was back at the apartment. I put away the refrigerated items for tomorrow's breakfast, and checked out the spices.
The cinnamon worked out well; host dad had the great idea to crush it with a rolling pin, which took some elbow grease but produced suitable powder. I wasn't so lucky with the powdered sugar, however. It turned out to be either baking powder or baking soda. Sigh. Oh well. I guess the host family won't know the difference. After I put everything away, I went to play ping pong with host dad in the 'game room' of the apartment complex. This is a big room under one of the buildings;I think it might have been built as a parking garage. It has a pool table, some tables, bookshelves with books, a plastic ball pit like they have at McDonalds playplaces in the states, and two ping pong areas that were fenced in so that run-away balls won't escape. I haven't played ping pong in years, but this went much better than tennis had a couple of days before. Host dad coached me on proper ping pong technique, and I was able to give him a decent game. We played for awhile and went back to the apartment for dinner. The adventure continues, even when the itinerary
doesn't include exploration, per se.
*I've been asked to explain squat toilets. Basically they're holes in the floor that flush. Some are nicer than others. I've taken pictures, which I'll try to post once I get back home.
**Breakfast turned out o.k., thank goodness.
posted by Mike and Jean Anne at 3:01 PM
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