Mid Autumn Festival and More

This past week, the lovely country of China celebrated Mid Autumn Festival, which means the whole city was abuzz with Moon Cakes and fun all around. It was an especially exciting time for me because a dear friend Meghan, from my Cambodian adventures happened to be spending some time here in China and thought she’d make a side trip to see me!

We spend the holiday with my Chinese family making more dumplings and chatting. We had a great time being girls and gossiping for three days before she departed. Thanks for you visit Meghan!! You are welcome back at any time!! Also in celebration of the festival, we had a cake-making day at my school!  It was basically a sugar buffet, including frosting in various colors, dried fruit, marsh mellows, candy, pretzels, cookies, and everything else sweet you can imagine for the kids to decorate their individual slices of cake. It was really a hoot!!!! Of course by the end of the afternoon everyone and everything (including Teacher Madi) was sticky and covered in frosting.

Also on the exciting news front….I was in a movie!!! Haha it sounds more impressive than it actually was but was still my first (and probably last) professional acting gig! They paid me and everything! J I stumbled upon the part because a friend of a friend of a friend was working on the set and heard they needed a foreigner for a small part, so they put the word out.  Low and behold, I am indeed a foreigner. My role in the movie was the girlfriend of a Chinese boy who breaks up with me! I even had one line…I’m so proud.  It was quite a bit of waiting around to get the scene right, and made for a 14-hour workday but I met some incredible people and made some new friends.  The movie will air in CCTV-6 (I think that is like the Chinese version of HBO) sometime at the end of October, so we will see if the camera really does add 10lbs….I hope not! Thank you Shu Ke and Leslie for taking such wonderful pictures and bringing me cookies when my tummy rumbled on set!! 

Also just on the random, this is my coworker Kelly with a cricket she found outside. She brought it to work to have as a pet and accidently pulled its leg off….poor thing! Also this is a snail I found in my lettuce when making a salad…you know your veggies are fresh when someone is still making their home there.  Sadly I am a terrible person and I didn’t know what to do with him so I threw him down the garbage shoot with the rest of my trash….31 floors…ooops!!

            Side Note: Is it strange that I identify myself more as an American outside of American than I do at home? At home I am an Idahoan, and more than that, I am a country bumpkin, a daughter, a sister, a sportsmen, a craftsmen, a bad driver, a good cook, a woman of many hobbies, and a zillion other things that I use to label myself to help identify with different groups. Here in China I am simply an American.  I constantly use my nationality to introduce myself and it is always the first inquiry, “Where are you from?” “I’m American.” That simple. I am American; as if those three words can sum it all up, and for many people they do.  No need to say more. People here have seen the movies, watched the music videos, heard the news; America? Oh yeah I know that place. That’s where P-Diddy Paris Hilton are from right? America? I think my favorite chocolate bar comes from there. America? Yeah, yeah, that place that Obama runs.

It makes an individual like me seem so simple, so neat and contained and on most days I find myself abiding by these rules. I look American. I act American. My accent is American. I have even been told that I smell American (however that smells, good I hope…). Back home I identify less as an American because it is already understood. It’s a given and nobody needs any clarification on the subject which allows me the time and energy to be all the things I mentioned at the beginning of this thought train.  The plain truth is, some days I want to be more than just American. Sometimes I want to be from a more specific place than a country of countless acres and 311 million people, somewhere personal. I want to identify with a more specific group of people, to take part in more specific activities. I want to actually do, do more that just be American.  And so I am searching. I am looking for my place here in this new home of mine and when I find it, you will be the first to know. J

Jason Visit

            Yet another holiday fell upon my tiny/enormous city last week!  National day was celebrated in style across the country with fireworks, flag raising ceremonies and lots of time off work! The trains, buses, subways, roads, airports, and sidewalks were jammed travelers on their way to visit family or see another part of the country.  I was one lucky duck because one of my very close friends from back home flew all the way out here to spend the whole week being my partner in crime.  Some of you may remember Jason.  We met in New Orleans on my road trip and he spent last Christmas with us in McCall.  He even brought me fresh supplies and comforts of home. You, my dear Sir….are just the bees knees. 

            It was a much-needed break from work and homesickness and for 7 days we painted the town.  We started in Beijing of course, and after a late night hotel fiasco spent our first day trekking around The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square in the heart of the city.  To say it was busy would be a colossal understatement.  China’s overflowing population is never more acutely felt than on a holiday weekend at a tourist attraction. A living ocean op people swarmed everywhere as we made our way around the capital city in a hectic lively buzz.  We floated with the crowd going where they went, turning where they turned as one giant tourist organism taking photos and buying street snacks. Pretty entertaining really.

Luckily our hotel with in the Russian part of town which was much quieter, so after a day of jostling about in the masses we headed to our calm neighborhood for some nice warm noodles and Jason’s first ever, Chinese beer. Thanks Muhamet for the hotel recommendation! It was perfect!

            The next day we were met with a rainy morning so we headed to the silk market to do a little shopping.  For those of you who know how well me and shopping get along you can assume I didn’t purchase anything, but it was fun to window shop and translate/barter for Jason who made off with two tailor-made suits, a silk robe for his mom, and a pair of souvenir snow globes.  That afternoon when the weather cleared we had dinner at a famous Peking duck restaurant, which was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!

            Wednesday was filled with a trip to the Great Wall.  You may remember I have been there before but with food poisoning, and naturally I was much more impressed this go around. We hiked as far as we could before our legs turned into mush from the steep grade, and followed it up with workout erasing steamed buns and trinket shopping.

            The following day was a rest day even though we took the train back to Tianjin.  We relaxed and chatted and strolled around the neighborhood in the cool fall air after a filling jiaozi dinner. Heaven really.  The rest was well needed because we were back at tourist grind the next day.  We started out with a morning walk in People’s Park where we rented a paddleboat and spent the next 60 minutes making wake around the park pond.  We imagined we were racing the other boats and really tore it up. I haven’t laughed so hard in ages.

Side Note: Laughing that hard does wonders for the spirit. It makes you glow and tingle inside. It fills you from bottom to top with the notion of possibility. Just consider it a face-lift for your soul.  Teacher Madi recommends a heavy dose of this kind of laughter at least once a day.

When we finally turned our boat over we were exhausted from spinning water cookies and refueled with a delicious Hot Pot lunch and more window-shopping. I haven’t walked so much in a week in my life! Well maybe, but not for a while!

That night we armed ourselves with much sought cheese, crackers, and red wine before heading to a KTV down the street from my apartment.  For those of you who don’t know, the Chinese love to sing in public.  In America karaoke is something done after far far too many jello shots and usually followed by immense shame. Here however, there are huge buildings filled with private rooms where friends gather and sing and snack and drink.  I know it sounds weird, but it is one of the most fun things in the whole world.  Jason and I spent 5 hours singing every song we knew taking breaks only to enjoy some cheese and wet our throats with wine in preparation for the next song. Ahh what a day!!!

After our late night we had an easy morning and went to ride the Tianjin Eye. Similar to the London Eye I hear, but on a bridge.  That night we had dinner in Italian Style Town and took a night boat tour of the river.  It was beautiful all lit up and just the perfect temperature.  We ended our visit that night with gelato and lit a lantern to new beginnings and forgiven pasts.  Jason flew home Sunday morning after his last Chinese meal tired of fun and excited to get back to work…NOT! Thank you Jason for this amazing visit and I look forward to our next adventure! 

It was really fun to have someone to show my city off to. It also made me appreciate it more because I went touristy places and did touristy things. My city rocks, sometimes I just get to wrapped up in nonsense to enjoy it! Well, that’s all for now. Until next time xoxoxo

Lately

My goodness!  Well, I hope you will all forgive me for disappearing for a few months there! To be totally honest, I just got crazy busy and lost all track of well, everything. Forgive me. Ok! Now that you have accepted my apology, here is the very latest….since July!!

 My first tale begins a while back when I went “hiking” with my friend Kelly at a near by mountain called Pan Shan.  If you are wondering why there are quotations around the word hiking, it is because it was anything but. I should have known when she said there was a temple at the top of the mountain it would be trouble.  Being a spoiled Idaho brat my whole life, my idea of hiking, is in dry forest on dirt trails with Charlie enveloped late morning sunshine and the fresh smell of pine, but that was certainly not the case here. First of all the mountain is so lush that the humidity was absolutely crushing and only slightly less crushing are the swarms of mosquitos that accompany it.  We had to stop every 20 minutes or so just to wipe the sweat out of our eyes and liberally apply a fresh coat of bug-spray.  Also the whole “trail” was built with massive stone blocks made into stairs, lined with handrails, and went straight up the mountain. Instead of hiking, I felt as if I had just climbed 600 flights of stairs, leaving my poor knees sore for days to come. But determined to make it to the top, Kelly and I trudged on and eventually arrived at a lovely although much less impressive than we had hoped temple where we caught our breath, did a 180’, and headed down. All that nuisance aside I was in fabulous company and the mountain and temple were lovely to look at. So here are some pictures of the loveliness, and you can enjoy the view without the experience of “hiking” in China in the summer.

Also, I was invited to a friend’s house for a hot-pot dinner, which was amazing and reciprocated the following week by having them over to my place for a good old American BBQ…well, kind of.  I made tomato soup, grilled ham and cheese sammies, baked beans, macaroni salad, green salad GORP Chex Mix and cucumber water.  I have no oven here so it’s really the best I could do in a rice cooker….Oh! The joys of living abroad! 

It is turning into Fall here now which is fantastic because its cooling off and the humidity has died down considerably which is a bonus because my hair no longer looks like a lions mane…seriously in July and August I would have ruled the Savannah and had my very own pack of lionesses…not cool…

Also, I am very pleased to report I am FINALLY enrolled in a language school where I attend class 4 days a week.  My classmates are the nicest Korean and Japanese ladies (and one guy!) ever! We all get along very well and it is great practice because they don’t speak English and I clearly don’t speak Korean or Japanese so we use Chinese in order to study together. It’s just really really wonderful and I enjoy it immensely.  I met some other foreigners at the school including a Spanish girl, a French man, and three British boys who remind me of the Three Stooges.  No Americans yet, I am afraid we are a rare breed here!

While we are on the subject of meeting people, meet Sean!  Sean is my co-worker turned friend through the mutual love of food.  He is from Turkmenistan and in the past few weeks has taught me how to make Turkmen style dumpling and palov, which is a sickeningly delicious rice dish with carrots and beef. We have been having a swell time together over the past few weeks and I will be very sad when he returns to his home country next month. Safe travels my dear!

 On the down side, last month I got fairly ill and had to go to the hospital to get some IV’s where they charged me an arm, a leg, a kidney, and my first born because I am blonde and my Chinese is lacking in the medical terminology department. But, not to worry all is well now thanks to the most supportive friends a girl could ask for: Thank you Stephanie and Echo for being my translators in a time of need!!

Speaking of illness, I do have a bit more bad news. My dear friend and coworker Echo is leaving work for now because she has to have a rather large tumor removed from her throat.  If any of you have extra room in your prayers, I would appreciate you adding her name in.  It’s not life threatening, but the tumor is in a tricky spot and the surgery will cause her to be in the hospital for a while.  What a bummer.  We had a big going away dinner for her last Saturday with everyone from work at a near by restaurant, where we ate too much and had a fabulous time whooping it up and disturbing the other diners…yeah we were totally those people. It was great and we gave her a proper send off after working for the company for over two years.

My goodness from the looks of this blog, all I appear to do here is eat! Well you know me, no patience for an empty stomach…although all the food pictures would explain this layer of chub I have acquired…I will justify it by reminding you that the winter is on its way and from what I hear torturously cold and windy here. Like a baby walrus, I need it too keep warm and adorable…I’ll just call it my rice blanket ;)

Meanwhile back home, Charlie seems to be doing just fine under the care of Mom…what a little troublemaker!! I hope every one is doing well wherever you are and what ever you are doing!! I would love to hear about it! Until next time (I promise not to wait so long between entries again)! xoxo

Dumplings and Birthdays

            Hello again from the smoggy city of Tianjin! On a side note before I get into the meat of the blog, thank you everyone for the wonderful birthday wishes.  It was so nice to hear from my family and friends back home! I miss you all dearly and love you all very much! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

            Ok so things have been pretty busy around here the last few weeks. Work is going great and I even found a language exchange buddy whom I meet with on Thursdays.  I help her with English for an hour which is fun because I know NOTHING about grammar and when she asks why the word would and wood are spelled different but pronounced the same, I get to smile and say say, “I dunno…it just is.” Yeah, I bet that really clears things up for her…. In return I get an hour Chinese lesson, which is mostly me asking how to say sentences vital to my existence, such as, “Please don’t talk about me in Chinese while I’s standing next to you, because I understand and it’s awkward.” “Where can I buy a screwdriver?” “Why are you so surprised I can feed myself with chopsticks? I’m not impressed you can use a spoon…” “Do you have these pants in a bigger size my? My American tushy doesn’t fit in a size 0!” and most importantly “Please don’t smoke in the elevator right next to the clearly marked NO SMOKING sign. It forces me to suffocate for a 31 floor ride down to ground level and therefor lowers my overall happy meter for the day.” Yey!

I am still on the lookout for actual Chinese classes, but as it turns out there aren’t too many foreigners here so it’s proving a bit more difficult than I imagined. I’ve also gotten the chance to explore outside my neighborhood more, and am getting better oriented in this decent sized city.  The other day I took a walk down to the river at night when it was all lit up and there were people dancing and selling things and even a few older men fishing!! It was pretty neat to see.  It kind of made me wish people did stuff like that back home, or maybe they do just not in Idaho haha.  Next time I won’t bring a purse that I have to worry about so I can join in the fun!! Sorry the video is sideways…I can’t for the life of me figure out how to rotate it, ugh technology.  The weather is getting pretty hot but we have the occasional rainstorm blow through just long enough to clear the air and flood the streets for a day. It’s a real treat.

Also one of the girls at work asked me over for lunch to her house the other day where her parents showed me how to make dumplings and let me pick cucumbers in the garden!! Her Mom is a pro and makes like two dumplings per second (exaggeration…sort of) and her Dad showed me how to make picked cucumbers.  Not like we think of pickles, but still very delicious! It was a real hoot, although turns out I have a lot of practicing to do before I can make pretty dumplings…mine were more like dough blobs really.  After lunch we just chatted and watched Chinese Idol (Yes, it’s a real thing AND it is EXACTLY like American Idol…but I don’t recognize the judges…dear God, what is this world coming to?!), and they even sent some leftover dumplings home with me! What a treat!!

            To add to the fun, last week was my birthday and I had a great time!! I was given this tiny cake and some other adorable gifts, including a doll, a mug with a Chihuahua on it, and a monkey purse.  I felt so loved! On the Sunday after my birthday all the girls and I went out for a big hot pot dinner (boiling pots of broth in which you cook meat and noodles and veggies…so simple and so so good) at the mall to celebrate and I felt really lucky to have such great co-workers and friends in my new city!!!

            Although I did not really celebrate Fourth of July this year (I know…shame on me!) I received this picture of how Charlie spent his holiday.  Such a great picture right!! Thanks a million for getting this to me Angela, you’re the best doggie-sitter ever and I miss you both!

Last but certainly not least, just in case anyone is dying to be my pen pal, this is my mailing address here in Tianjin (Yes it ALL has to go on the envelope and it’s probably just easier to print it off and glue it on):

Madison MacNichol

天津市南开区

北城街245号

吉的堡少儿英语

300000, 天津

中国

Tianjin Nankai qu

Beichengjie #245

Jidebao shaor Yingyu

300000, Tianjin

China

Also please don’t send much more than letters and absolutely nothing of value.  Mail customs has a dirty little habit of opening foreign incoming packages, taking all the goodies and forwarding the empty box to the recipient.  True story.

Well I think that’s about all to report for now! I miss you all! Please let me know how things are going in your neck of the woods (Al Roker moment sorry ;). xoxoxo