Wow... what a day! It's 9:30 PM right now in Tangshan, China, and I've been up since about 5:30 AM. So I guess I'll start from the beginning:
I got a full 8 hours of blissful sleep last night, albeit on the hardest bed I've ever slept on. My adviser (An) said that he was woken up numerous times in the middle of the night by a bunch of loud high school band kids from England. I never heard a peep! :) We met up for breakfast at 7 in the hotel lobby. My favorite part of breakfast was a milk steamed sticky bun. There was also a rice and starchy water porridge that was OK. I also had a hard boiled egg, as well as some bok choy (the Chinese cook bok choy way better than I've ever had before). We set out for the China University of Geosciences, where my adviser was giving a 10 AM talk on Tibetan geology to about 200 people. Yesterday, I met the graduate student we will be working with in the field, Liu Kang. Liu and I met for about an hour and a half while An gave his talk. We spoke a lot about the geology we were going to be investigating, but also had many side topics that we discussed. This included me being Jewish (which surprisingly to me came up multiple times today), our ancestry, signiatures, and sports. Liu seems like a nice guy, and dilligent enough that the language barrier should not be a problem. After An leaves, it will likely just be the two of us in he field for about 3 weeks.
Next, we met up for lunch after An's talk was complete. We ate in a school cafeteria hall. It was glorious! In China, you can request a special room, and a waiter or waitress will take your order, then stand in the room and refill tea glasses, beer, etc. Lunch was quite tasty, and my favorite dish was an eggplant and potato stirfry. There was also a fabulous corn dish. It hasn't been too bad so far about keeping kosher. It actually makes my life easier (as you will see with dinner), in that I don't have to eat everything that is put on the table.
At lunch, An introduced me to two of the students he works with when he teaches there over the summer. The girl, Jinyu, gave me a tour of the campus. We also walked across the street to the University of Science and Technology, Beijing. This is home to the largest climbing wall in China. They also had a "playground" with a soccer field, track, numerous basketball courts (Yao Ming advertises for so many things here!), and tennis courts. People were also doing a synchronized jump rope... Haven't seen that in probably 10 years! Jinyu's english was very good, and at one point she said that the tone with which I was pronouncing her name meant 'goldfish' instead of it's actual meaning. The complexity of this language is astounding! The word 'ma' said with different tones can mean mother, hemp, scold, or horse. I can't even get "thank you" right!
After An's talk was done, Jinyu and I met up with him and we headed back to the hotel to pick up our luggage. We then set out for Tangshan!
The drive took about 2 1/2 hours. Beijing is set up radially. There are five main rings that you drive around going outward from Tiananmen Square at the center of the city. To reduce pollution, you can not drive in the five circles on certain days, depending on your license plate number. Today, Professor Qu (An's colleague here) could not drive in the city (except on side streets), so it took longer to get out to Tangshan.
The drive was... well, not what I would call beautiful. China is a lot more brown than I expected. Once you get outside the city, it is much more slummy. Wheat is the major crop grown, with corn and tree farms also yielding some income. Tangshan is developing quickly, and An told me that there are plans to DOUBLE the size of the city in the near future.
Our hotel in Tangshan is very nice, however only the equivalent of $50 a night for my room. (The place in Beijing was ~$40/night) My room is huge! It has two twin beds, that are rock hard, of course. There is also a large thermos with hot water for tea. The award for most amusing goes to what is on the desk. To put it pleasantly, there are... personal items--for two. The phrasing on the back is hilarious. There are also underwear available in a pouch for ~$2. The ladies briefs are called "I show" while the man's bikini underwear is deemed "I cool."
OK, on to dinner. This was an event! In total, there were 13 of including the current and past heads of the province's earthquake administration (very honorable guys). Professor Qu is the head of the Chinese Earthquake Administration, and is the guy China sends to respond to any large earthquake. There was also a trenching expert there who will accompany us out to the field tomorrow.
One of the newer business customs in China is to toast to everyone a billion times during dinner. So between the 10 of them who were drinking, they managed to polish of 3 bottles of vodka (probably equal to a handle) and 5 or 6 big beers. Also, 5 of them were chain smokers and went through 2 1/2 packs of cigarettes over our 2 hour dinner.
All in all, I counted 25 distinct dishes that were brought to the table, and I didn't start counting until they'd already removed some! This was truly a feast. Some of the food included duck bills (they were soooo gross looking), squid, pigeon (!!!!), sea cucumber, chicken, beef, shrimp, whole crabs, bok choi, fresh vegetables, fry bread (apparently China's take on croissants), and many, MANY more. I was already full at this point. Then they brought the steak. We each got about a 4 ounce portion of steak, cooked to order just outside our room. It was served in a yummy sauce, with six mediocre cold french fries and some vegetables. I finished mine very happily, and was promptly brought another. The most boisterous (read: drunk) and heaviest smoker of the group decided I hadn't eaten enough (boy, was he wrong!) and donated his to me. He said I hadn't eaten enough of the good stuff, and he wanted me to have his steak. I finished his politely, and just as I'd put my knife down, the waitress brought A THIRD STEAK. Much slower this time, I finished the third steak, very thankful that they had not brought any other dishes out. But alas, more was still to come. Apparently, fancy meals in China are finished with a heaping bowl of freshly cut noodles. I got through half of mine before surrenduring. I haven't eaten a meal this RIDICULOUSLY ornate in longer than I can remember!
And with that, I need to hop in the shower to wash away the oh-so-delightful odor of cigarettes mixed with 500 pounds of food. Again, thanks for reading, and I'll try and add pictures soon. Tomorrow we're going to do some recon for a field site with about 6 of us, I think. Breakfast at 7:30... Lord knows I won't be hungry!
I got a full 8 hours of blissful sleep last night, albeit on the hardest bed I've ever slept on. My adviser (An) said that he was woken up numerous times in the middle of the night by a bunch of loud high school band kids from England. I never heard a peep! :) We met up for breakfast at 7 in the hotel lobby. My favorite part of breakfast was a milk steamed sticky bun. There was also a rice and starchy water porridge that was OK. I also had a hard boiled egg, as well as some bok choy (the Chinese cook bok choy way better than I've ever had before). We set out for the China University of Geosciences, where my adviser was giving a 10 AM talk on Tibetan geology to about 200 people. Yesterday, I met the graduate student we will be working with in the field, Liu Kang. Liu and I met for about an hour and a half while An gave his talk. We spoke a lot about the geology we were going to be investigating, but also had many side topics that we discussed. This included me being Jewish (which surprisingly to me came up multiple times today), our ancestry, signiatures, and sports. Liu seems like a nice guy, and dilligent enough that the language barrier should not be a problem. After An leaves, it will likely just be the two of us in he field for about 3 weeks.
Next, we met up for lunch after An's talk was complete. We ate in a school cafeteria hall. It was glorious! In China, you can request a special room, and a waiter or waitress will take your order, then stand in the room and refill tea glasses, beer, etc. Lunch was quite tasty, and my favorite dish was an eggplant and potato stirfry. There was also a fabulous corn dish. It hasn't been too bad so far about keeping kosher. It actually makes my life easier (as you will see with dinner), in that I don't have to eat everything that is put on the table.
At lunch, An introduced me to two of the students he works with when he teaches there over the summer. The girl, Jinyu, gave me a tour of the campus. We also walked across the street to the University of Science and Technology, Beijing. This is home to the largest climbing wall in China. They also had a "playground" with a soccer field, track, numerous basketball courts (Yao Ming advertises for so many things here!), and tennis courts. People were also doing a synchronized jump rope... Haven't seen that in probably 10 years! Jinyu's english was very good, and at one point she said that the tone with which I was pronouncing her name meant 'goldfish' instead of it's actual meaning. The complexity of this language is astounding! The word 'ma' said with different tones can mean mother, hemp, scold, or horse. I can't even get "thank you" right!
After An's talk was done, Jinyu and I met up with him and we headed back to the hotel to pick up our luggage. We then set out for Tangshan!
The drive took about 2 1/2 hours. Beijing is set up radially. There are five main rings that you drive around going outward from Tiananmen Square at the center of the city. To reduce pollution, you can not drive in the five circles on certain days, depending on your license plate number. Today, Professor Qu (An's colleague here) could not drive in the city (except on side streets), so it took longer to get out to Tangshan.
The drive was... well, not what I would call beautiful. China is a lot more brown than I expected. Once you get outside the city, it is much more slummy. Wheat is the major crop grown, with corn and tree farms also yielding some income. Tangshan is developing quickly, and An told me that there are plans to DOUBLE the size of the city in the near future.
Our hotel in Tangshan is very nice, however only the equivalent of $50 a night for my room. (The place in Beijing was ~$40/night) My room is huge! It has two twin beds, that are rock hard, of course. There is also a large thermos with hot water for tea. The award for most amusing goes to what is on the desk. To put it pleasantly, there are... personal items--for two. The phrasing on the back is hilarious. There are also underwear available in a pouch for ~$2. The ladies briefs are called "I show" while the man's bikini underwear is deemed "I cool."
OK, on to dinner. This was an event! In total, there were 13 of including the current and past heads of the province's earthquake administration (very honorable guys). Professor Qu is the head of the Chinese Earthquake Administration, and is the guy China sends to respond to any large earthquake. There was also a trenching expert there who will accompany us out to the field tomorrow.
One of the newer business customs in China is to toast to everyone a billion times during dinner. So between the 10 of them who were drinking, they managed to polish of 3 bottles of vodka (probably equal to a handle) and 5 or 6 big beers. Also, 5 of them were chain smokers and went through 2 1/2 packs of cigarettes over our 2 hour dinner.
All in all, I counted 25 distinct dishes that were brought to the table, and I didn't start counting until they'd already removed some! This was truly a feast. Some of the food included duck bills (they were soooo gross looking), squid, pigeon (!!!!), sea cucumber, chicken, beef, shrimp, whole crabs, bok choi, fresh vegetables, fry bread (apparently China's take on croissants), and many, MANY more. I was already full at this point. Then they brought the steak. We each got about a 4 ounce portion of steak, cooked to order just outside our room. It was served in a yummy sauce, with six mediocre cold french fries and some vegetables. I finished mine very happily, and was promptly brought another. The most boisterous (read: drunk) and heaviest smoker of the group decided I hadn't eaten enough (boy, was he wrong!) and donated his to me. He said I hadn't eaten enough of the good stuff, and he wanted me to have his steak. I finished his politely, and just as I'd put my knife down, the waitress brought A THIRD STEAK. Much slower this time, I finished the third steak, very thankful that they had not brought any other dishes out. But alas, more was still to come. Apparently, fancy meals in China are finished with a heaping bowl of freshly cut noodles. I got through half of mine before surrenduring. I haven't eaten a meal this RIDICULOUSLY ornate in longer than I can remember!
And with that, I need to hop in the shower to wash away the oh-so-delightful odor of cigarettes mixed with 500 pounds of food. Again, thanks for reading, and I'll try and add pictures soon. Tomorrow we're going to do some recon for a field site with about 6 of us, I think. Breakfast at 7:30... Lord knows I won't be hungry!
Hi Debbie! Sounds like you are going to have the time of your life. I can't wait to see pictures and read more! I shared your blog with a co-worker of mine. His wife travled to Kathmandu, Nepal in September and spent a month there. Take care, I love you, Verna
ReplyDeleteYou gotta be kidding me about Liu Kang's name...MORTAL KOMBAT!!!! Same spelling and everything, high-larious. You need to mention this to him every day until he gets so angry that he attempts his signature flying bicycle kick!
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Kang
So DebDeb, How was breakfast? When you're in that room with the heavy smokers, there's nowhere to run! And it's probably not polite to make the faces, so keep your cool on the topic,and shower frequently.
ReplyDeleteDadders
Liu Kang was really excited when I told him about Mortal Combat... He hadn't heard of it, but thought it was cool that he was a famous martial artist!
ReplyDeleteDebbie---i have pictures of the qualis heads that were offered when i went to that wedding....i coulda warned you---you will see some intersting food
ReplyDeleteJust found you Cuz! Your mom sent the right link which explains why I thought you hadn't been able to write. Look out for the duck bills. You're in China and you ate three steaks?
ReplyDelete