Back at Work

So I know I haven’t exactly been posting regularly, but can you blame me? I’ve been pretty busy. I had a very nice last few days with my mom and Marie-Eve. We did more shopping, visited the 798 art district and even went to a cooking class.

798 was interesting. It was full of wacky statues and some modern art galleries. It was free to enter the area, but they charged for all the galleries so we mostly stuck to the gift shops and saw the art on postcards. It was quite hot so we didn’t spend all day there, but we had a nice time and it wasn’t quite as complicated to get to as I thought it might be.

The cooking class was amazing. It was at a place called The Hutong and we learned to make baozi (stuffed buns). We made 3 kinds of fillings (lotus root and bok choy, pork and brown sugar), learned about all the ingredients and the history and even got to take home leftovers and a recipe. The only sad part was that we overdosed on buns and thus decided not to go to our favourite bun place for lunch the next day.

I eventually caught my mom’s cold and got quite sick with a fever yesterday so I wasn’t up to doing much. We packed and went for lunch before taking a taxi to the bus station. My mom accompanied me in and then she and Marie-Eve left for the airport.

They tried to catch a plane yesterday, but the odds were not with them (since they were flying stand-by), so they are trying again today. Keep your fingers crossed for them!

I was back at work today and put the finishing touches on my Excel booking calculator. It is now completely usable and easy to update and comes with simple instructions as well as a document detailing its inner workings so somebody else can update/modify it someday.

On a different note, anyone reading this should a) like the Schoolhouse at Mutianyu Great Wall on Facebook and b) Enter our caption contest.

Beijing Adventures

Pam and Marie-Eve arrived around 7:30 pm on Monday and I met them at the Brickyard where they had some soup before checking in. I knew that that evening was going to be my only time off while they were there so I rushed to show them around Beigou village. They got to see inside 3 of our homes (Mumanyu, Stone Forest and Big Rock House) as well as get an idea of the village. I let them go to bed and headed back to my room to pack before heading to sleep myself.

I got up early to have a proper breakfast (the best meal we serve) with them before work and saw them periodically throughout the day. As it was raining they decided to wait to go up the wall, but had a nice walk between Mutianyu and Beigou on the way home. I worked night duty and thus got to spend lots more time with them at night even though I was constrained to the Brickyard. Once most of the guests went to bed we curled up on the comfy chairs and did some travel planning.

On Wednesday Marie-Eve, my mom and I headed to the Schoolhouse after I finished the morning shift of night duty, where they stayed until the early afternoon as it was still raining. They did make it up to the wall -- but not the toboggan. I finish work at 6 so we aimed to take a bus to Huairou and then another to Beijing. However, guests were late checking in and it was about 6:30 by the time I was done. The last bus to leave Huairou was at 7 so we were in a crazy rush. Alice was amazing and organized a car to take us to the bus and we just made it there on time. Ma Hombin came with us and we got stuck with our backpacks and suitcases in the seats because the driver didn't want to open the bottom of the bus. It was quite squished, but we eventually made it there. We checked into our hostel, had a so-so dinner in a hole in the wall and went to bed.

We got up quite early on Thursday since my mom and Marie-Eve were still fairly jet lagged and had a lovely free breakfast at the hostel before heading out to Tian'men Square. We decided that Marie-Eve didn't really need to see the Forbidden City, so we just showed her the front gate before heading to a nearby park from where she got an aerial view of it. We walked all around and even took a paddleboat on the large lake in the middle.

Then we headed off to Nanloguxiang, a trinket shopping street where we bought lots of scarves and some other cool stuff. Instead of heading back near the hostel for dinner, we took a cab to the red lantern street (I don't know what it's actually called, but it has a gazillion red lanterns) to try to go to a restaurant where my mom and I had our best meal last year. However, there was a 40 minute wait so we went next door instead and had a fairly decent, though perhaps not particularily memorable, meal.

On Friday we went to a couple of markets for more shopping and some more good hole in the wall food. We ended up at Quianmen -- a restored famous old Hutong (Alley) street -- at night since the  markets all close early and got even more shopping in before what was perhaps the best Beijing duck I have ever had.

Yesterday we decided to be a bit more cultural and went to the Capital Museum. We all decided it was a very poorly arranged museum, but Marie-Eve and my mom enjoyed a number of pieces they saw. It was supposed to show the history of Beijing but was sadly lacking in text and cohesion. On the other hand, I'm really not a museum person so I may be too quick to judge. We were all very hungry by the time we finished so we decided to try the reasonably priced buffet at the museum. It was by far the worst meal we have had. We didn't realise it was closing soon and assumed they would be refilling the mostly empty trays. The pasta tasted like it had ketchup on it and the Chinese food was very North American. We headed back to the hostel for a nap and bought some buns and pastries on the way, which were much tastier.

After the nap we headed out for an acrobatics show. It was perhaps not as good as some of the ones I have seen here, but the highlight was a motorcycle act. There was a giant metal ball and a man on a motorcycle rode in and all around -- including upside down -- in it. That might have been very impressive for someone who knew little about physics, but when they added a second motorcycle, nobody could deny the skill and fearlessness they must have had. We hardly dared watch when they added a 3rd, 4th and 5th rider, all crisscrossing paths and going at crazy speeds.

Apparently we were also part of the show because we had half the audience trying to talk to us -- especially my mom -- before the show started. They fed us chips and dried meat, played peek-a-boo and exchanged e-mails with my mom. One of them even asked me if all Canadians talk as much as my mom does. That made Marie-Eve and I laugh for a good long time. We had dinner with a guy who had come with us from our hostel and he is studying Chinese so he was explaining some of the characters to me. It was quite fun!

Today was a bit more of a lazy day. We switched hostels this morning and then headed to Yashow market to buy some fake LeSportSacs -- of which my mom bought many. We had a wonderful lunch of dumplings and buns at a hole in the wall place my mom and I discovered last year and headed back to the red lantern street for an early dinner at the same place we tried to go to the other night. They told us again that it would be a 40 minute wait, but we decided to stay. They were used to the large crowds so they had had bowls of sunflower seeds, water and even popsicles they were giving out for free. 40 minutes turned into 2 hours, but eventually we got in. We were very disappointed to find out that they no longer makeour favourite dish from last year, but ordered a number of others that mostly turned out to be far too spicy. It wasn't exactly what we had hoped for given how long we had had to wait, but we got some kebabs on the way home so it was all good.

It has been crazy hot and humid here, but somehow my mom seems to have a cold. We're planning on visiting the 798 art district tomorrow and then going for a cooking class on Tuesday.

40 Hours in Inner Mongolia (Part San)

When we got up on Thursday morning we had our last wonderfully tasty breakfast before heading out to do some shopping. Tana got some dried meat and beautiful Mongolian earrings before we both found the candy aisle. I managed to control myself and only bought 2 bags -- I had to get more than one kind to try and share around!

We headed back to have an early lunch of fennel and spinach soup and then Tana had a nap while I read for a little while. After she got up, her mom decided that the dumplings we had had for lunch and dinner weren’t good enough so she had to make some of her own for us for dinner. They were amazing! Did I mention that I have never had better meat?

We ate quickly before heading off to the bus station. Then came my next big surprise: A bus with beds! I thought those only existed in Harry Potter! It was actually quite comfortable and practical. We chatted for a good part of the way back and I really felt like I got to know Tana better, which was very nice. About two hours before we arrived in Huairou, the bus stopped outside a restaurant so that everyone could get out and have dinner. We weren’t particularly hungry so we just sat outside on the curb. Some girls came over to ask if they could take a picture and they were quite surprised when they found out Tana spoke Chinese... On the other hand, a guest at the restaurant told me my English was quite good the other day :p

We made it back to Beigou at around 12 (about 7.5 hours after we left) and headed straight to bed.

New recent words: North, South, East, West, keys, kitchen, fried bread, noodles

I have also started Teaching Tana French :)

40 Hours in Inner Mongolia (Part Èr)

Before I restart my tale, I just wanted to take a few minutes to explain how to comment on my blog, since many people seem to be having trouble and I love reading comments. Once you read a post you want to leave a message on, simply click on the number of comments at the bottom. It will say something like "1 comment." It will open up a box to leave your message. Type it in and then choose how you would like to sign it from the drop-down menu. The simplest is perhaps "Anonymous/Name" - just put your name - though you can also do it through a number of different accounts. Click "post" and you're done!

Now where was I? Oh ya, the midafternoon nap... When we got up we all piled into the car and headed out to a field, where we were to pick some famous Mongolian flowers. I got to see more of the grasslands and animals (horses, cows and sheep) as we drove. I mentioned to Tana that this reminded me much more of home than the rest of China -- sort of like Saskatchewan actually. About 30 seconds after we got out of the car we decided that our plan was not going to work because there were a gabazillion mosquitos (if you are not clear on the concept, this is a gazillion bazillion mosquitoes). We quickly ran back to the car, where I discovered that somehow I didn't have a single bite whereas everyone else had been eaten alive. Apparently this was not exactly true as some of mine appeared the next morning, but there were still only five or so even though I am usually the one whose blood they love!

 

 

 

 

We drove for a little while longer and ended up in a new field with a bit more wind and very few mosquitoes :) We got out to walk and climbed up a little hill. There was sand everywhere, so Tana and I both took off our shoes and ran as one might on a beach. Except it was better than a beach because there was a hill which lead to... you guessed it... running/sliding down it and getting covered in sand. Perhaps you had to be there but I think it might have been the highlight of my trip. I got lots of wonderful pictures which I will try to post tomorrow when my internet starts working better again, so do check back.

Tana's niece also had a great time and started crying when we had to leave. We drove back and had some leftover dumplings for dinner (as too many were bought for lunch). They were just as wonderful as before. Tana's husband is working on a paper he is trying to get published about plants, so he asked if I would be willing to proofread it for him. I happily did so and found it quite interesting. I sense my arts and science degree coming together -- Tana was surprised to hear I used to do this for friends and tutor English.

I'm going to leave my tale here for tonight -- at bedtime and pick it up again tomorrow (or whenever my internet lets me blog again).

On a more recent note, somebody please explain to me why tonight, in the middle of a thunderstorm, not one, not two, but three of our groups in our houses decided they wanted to have barbecues! Crazy people!

New recent words: Bus, Intern, pancake bread, hat, sofa, go home, house, mutton, toilet

40 Hours in Inner Mongolia (Part 1)

Inner Mongolia was so Amazing that I think I’m going to have to spread this out a bit over a few blog posts.

We finished work at 6 pm on Tuesday and headed back to the residence, where we met up with Tana’s husband, father and cousin, and then drove to Zheng Lan Qi, Tanna’s hometown in Inner Mongolia, with them. We had a nice time in the car but Tana got a bit car sick and you couldn’t see much of the beautiful scenery as it got dark fairly quickly. On the other hand, the parts that we did see as we were leaving Beijing were magnificent. There was some wild wall and beautiful mountains.

When we arrived, we were treated to a wonderful Mongolian meal of sweet breads, milk tea and mutton. The milk tea and mutton deserve a further explanation. Milk tea is a traditional Mongolian drink that is much like regular black tea with milk, but it also includes salt and sometimes butter. Families keep a large pot of it in a thermos and drink it throughout the day. It also becomes a kind of soup because you dunk all your food -- from mutton to dumplings to bread -- in it. As for the mutton, we had traditional meat that literally translates to “Hand grab meat.” Basically it’s a pile of bones with the best meat I have ever tasted on a plate in the middle of the table. Everyone takes a knife -- or teeth or hands -- and pulls it off to eat it. I have never eaten more or better meat in my life!

I went to bed around 12:30 but apparently Tana stayed up talking to her family late into the night. They gave me a comfortable bed on the couch and I slept very well. In the morning, I discovered that what we ate for our midnight snack was typical breakfast food and got to enjoy lots more. I also met the cutest and happiest 2 year old I have ever met -- Tana’s niece.

Around 9 o’clock we headed off into the grasslands for the Mongolian cultural festival that was going on. We watched singing, dancing, horseback riding and even some poor monkey being trained. Tana’s very generous mother bought be a beautiful traditional Mongolian necklace when I wasn’t looking. They made me try on a beautiful traditional Mongolian dress, but I’m pretty sure it must look better on Tana because I looked very silly.

We made our way back to Tana’s parents’ place and had a large variety of tasty dumplings for lunch (all with mutton of course) and then an early afternoon nap.

I am going to try to get some pictures on Facebook soon and continue my tale tomorrow.

Preview: mosquitoes, sand dunes, shopping and bus ride