Street Scenes

In our neighborhood, many people earn their living by literally taking their business to the streets. Every day we see countless merchants, entrepreneurs, small businesses, and every service, craft, and trade imaginable. It's not at all unusual to work, shop, play, eat, study, exercise, dance, and converse outdoors on the sidewalk or in the park. Here is an album of people at work and play in our neighborhood, all within a five minute walk of our flat.

http://picasaweb.google.com/SteveDC505/StreetScenes#

Because eating street food is so popular, it is important for sidewalk food vendors to display the freshness of their wares. Diners select their own ingredients and the chef prepares each dish to order while you watch. Here are some things you might find on the menu du jour: 

http://picasaweb.google.com/SteveDC505/Food#

Adventures in Shopping .. or WHAT am I buying??

I think I mentioned a few blogs back that WalMart was a welcomed signpost when we got to Dalian.  Let me hasten to say that shopping at the Dalian WalMart is nothing like shopping in the ones in the U.S.  We appreciated a few of the western items in stock, but of course, if the place is to remain in business, it must cater to the local clientele ... all 3 million of them in Dalian.

So, I thought I would give you a little visual experience of items we see when shopping in the majority of the stores we frequent (these would be equal to Kroger's, Safeway, Albertson's).

First, let me say that English is a very popular language.  Even though most Chinese can neither read it or speak it, English phrases are frequently used in advertising, though the phrase is usually absolutely meaningless and has no relationship to the item being promoted.  Here's a little phrasology slideshow for your enjoyment (later captions will tell you what is being promoted).  http://picasaweb.google.com/trucknmama/Phrasology#

Can you name this fruit?    Me neither, until I looked it up after repeatedly seeing it the store of late.  It is a dragon fruit.  Further research (reading, not tasting ... yet) reveals that, once pealed, it has a crunchy texture akin to an apple and tastes like a pear/kiwi combo.  I'll report back.

What would you do if the entire fruits and vegetables sections was filled with items such as this?  Thankfully, that is not the case. However, about 70% of the items I see in the fresh foods section fall into the category of "yet to be explored."  We are working on that list, one item at a time.  We have now incorporated pumpkin squash (which looks like a small halloween pumpkin crossed with an acorn squash) into our meals.  Even items that you are familiar with, sometimes look quite different.  Leeks in the US are fat and short, here they are skinny and long.  Green beans are about 18 inches long and very, very thin.   http://picasaweb.google.com/trucknmama/FruitsAndVeggies#5243981968948992818

I should have begun this post with the seafood area instead of fruits and veggies.  That is the area where I am really out of my comfort zone!  There are more squiggly, squirming, slimey things than I can begin to list.   Keep in mind that the pictures I have included don't show the dried seafood aisle.

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/trucknmama/SeafoodShopping#

At left ... I know these!  Crabs and turtles.  Alas, to me turtles are pets, not dinner --  especially if I have to kill them, what a softie.

 

So we have picked out a few fruits and veggies, passed by the seafood, stopped at the butcher (where I recognize most everything even if I can't say it or want to buy it ... like tongue and other organs that I can't truly appreciate).  Now we're headed for the dairy area and the dry goods.    If you saw this item on the shelf, what would you think is in the package?

If you said MILK ...  you would be correct.  Milk  is packaged in several differnt forms.  These bags contain about 1 cup of fresh, whote, vitamin D milk.  The colorful bags give shoppers a clue as to the "flavor" ... one can have 

plain (blue), chocolate (brown), purple (walnut), green (coconut) ... and there is one other that I can't think of it right now.  These little packets can also be bought by the case (left) -- the case comes with a nifty little carry bag!  One frequently sees children with a straw poked in the bag ... in fact the university students do the same.  Milk also comes in 1 liter boxes ...  UHT (ultra high termperature) and can remain unrefrigerated for a VERY long time.  When opened, it is then refrigerated.  We buy the dancing cow (pink), which designated low-fat milk.

Whew, we're almost done.  Of course, being in China.  We better pick up some rice.  I think Steve provided a previous image of me bagging up about 3 pounds of loose rice when we found it on special one day.  Rice is usually bought in much greater quantities -- I'd say 5 pounds minimum.  Some bags are so large we couldn't get them out of the store between the 2 of us.  We usually buy loose, brown rice and purchase about 2 pounds at a time.  We have a nifty little rice cooker that we call "Miss Piggy"  ... visual detals to follow. 

A few other details to complete your shopping experience.  

I was VERY happy to see that there is a big campaign in progress to encourage shoppers to bring their own shopping bags ... and most do.  If one forgets, it is possible to purchase a plastic bag at checkout ... 2 cents.  In large department stores (no supermarkets), the shopper usually 1) selects the item for purchase, 2) the clerk writes it up on a carbon receipt, 3) the shopper takes it to a central cashier (several on every floor) and pays, 4) the cashier multi-stamps (red ink) one of the carbons, 5) shopper takes carbon back to clerk to retrieve item.  Why do things the easy way?

The concept of customer service is alive and well here in China.  In the above scenario, when one is looking for an item to purchase, it is not uncommon to find 2-3 clerks in one single aisle offering assistance.  In our case, much of their energy is wasted because we cannot understand the nuances they are describing.  On the other hand, when we have purchased electrical items, the clerk takes it out of the box, shows you that all the parts are there, PLUGS the item into the wall to demonstrate that it actually does work!!!!  In the case of a light, the clerk retrieves a lightbulb to perform that function as well.  Can you imagine that happening in a US store???

I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted.  Time to catch the 101 bus home with my 3 tote bags.  I'll be back day after tomorrow because the goods are fresh, the refrigerator is small, and the tummies are hungry.

http://picasaweb.google.com/trucknmama/AdvertisingPhrases#

Don't forget to check out the answers to advertising quiz!

First Day for Freshmen

The first day of class here at Liaoning Normal University was back on Monday, August 26, but the incoming freshmen didn't arrive until almost two weeks later. Excitement was in the air as the first-year students and their parents finally arrived on campus today (Friday, September 5).

The LNU sophomores are responsible for welcoming the new students. All last week, my students were busy cleaning the freshman dorm rooms from top to bottom and doing other chores to prepare for their arrival. Today, my sophomore students got up at 4:00 AM to begin greeting the newbies. They basically run the orientation process -- greeting incoming students, helping them register, showing them around the campus, and even carrying their bags and other belongings to the dorms for them.

The sophomores love being entrusted with the important task of welcoming the freshmen and they were especially proud to show me all of their hard work.

Classes for freshmen won't begin for yet another two weeks. First, they will have fourteen days of group-building exercises with their new classmates, including various drills, marching in formation, rigorous physical training, singing patriotic songs, and various orientation lectures. The same cohort of 25-30 classmates in each freshman "platoon" will stay together for all of the classes in their major for all four years. I'll try to add some pictures of freshman activities in the near future.

Here is a little album of scenes from the hectic activity on the day when the freshmen arrived:

http://picasaweb.google.com/SteveDC505/FirstDayForFreshmen

Flashback: New Mexico

If you are looking for more pictures of our adventures in China, don't look here! If you click on this link, you'll find an album of captioned pictures from our summer sojourn in Jemez Springs, New Mexico. Credit where it is due: many thanks to Charlie Ess, Ralph Stone, and Rose Mary Harty for sending me some of their great pictures.

http://picasaweb.google.com/SteveDC505/FlashbackNewMexico

Dinner Party

In our first three weeks here, Susie and I have been invited to three wonderful dinners and a fancy luncheon. The pictures in this album might give you a taste (at least a visual taste) of what such an occasion is like. The meal takes place at a round table in a private dining room. A "lazy susan" holds the many dishes (seafood, pork, beef, various sauces, vegetables, fruit, small cakes, etc.) and each diner uses chopsticks to help himself to a morsel as the table is rotated by one's companions. We often begin with a glass of bai-ju (a clear and slightly sweet distilled spirit) and then graduate to wine or beer. The host offers the first toast, after which we take turns toasting one another throughout the meal. On one occasion (not the one pictured here), the evening also included some of the diners singing along to a karaoke machine. Click here to view a small album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/SteveDC505/DinnerParty

Needless to say, everything is incredibly fresh and delicious. We may not know the name of the dish or its ingredients, but we know what we like!

Marine Life Quiz

Presenting the first Dalian Web Quiz of 2008. Dalian is important as China's northernmost ice-free harbor and boasts the third-largest amount of ocean-going traffic of any of the nation's seaports. Therefore, it seems appropriate that our first topic is Marine Life. The quiz consists of five multiple-choice questions to test your aquatic IQ. To play the game, simply click on the following link and answer the incredibly repetitious questions. The correct answers appear in the caption to the fifth and final picture in the album. Good luck to all our contestants!

http://picasaweb.google.com/SteveDC505/MarineLifeQuiz

How did you score? Did you qualify to take away the home version of our game?

(Hint: The fifth picture shows a tank of sea cucumbers, a rare, expensive, and health-giving local delicacy that has been served to us twice alongside sea anemone and sea urchins. They are also the main ingredient in sea cucumber wine, a pricey concoction that one presents to one's host on special occasions.)

New HGTV episode: Design on a Yuan

It's about time! Some blog entries ago we promised to give an update when we got the apartment squared away. Not that we have been living in a hotel all this time, mind you, but it always takes a bit of time when you land in a new city (country) to find just what you need to make your space feel like home -- we have always referred to his concept as "outfitting the nest." I won't elaborate on how to get your sometimes cumbersome (4" thick double-bed, mattress), purchases home.

In our photoalbum, you will see that we have developed a decorating scheme that utilizes craft items from our new country with a New Mexico twist of color. It is always fun to discover just exactly what your new country has to offer in terms of household fitout (http://picasaweb.google.com/trucknmama/DesignOnAYuan). The smallest thing can sometimes be the biggest challenge (dish drainer, ice cube trays). I'm sad to say that I have not found a HomeDepot or Lowe's. But then again the university probably would not appreciate my tearing down a wall to enlarge the livingroom space. I was eventually successful in acquring a hammer, multi-head screwdriver and box of nails/screws. (Note: Before I found the tools, I was able to repair the vacuum cleaner and install a water filter only using Steve's swiss army knife!).

Of course, in an earlier blog we made reference to WalMart. Let me just say that options in an American WalMart vastly overshadow the options an average Chinese person has to purchase utilitarian household items. Where we would find a row of seemingly infinite choice of towels, sheets, bathmats in every color, size, style, & quality imaginable, here there is a single row with maybe 12-15 choices. Higher end stores carry imported goods -- organized by brand, not by function. So if you are shopping for towels, you might find them in several different locations or even on several different floors throughout the store. Makes for interesting (and always lengthy) shopping experiences. We have been very hard-pressed to find dental floss an only recently found this product at a store that caters to western clientele in the "development zone." This is an area where those who represent foreign companies live and work in Dalian, but have very little interaction with their host country and its culture. I much prefer shopping at the neighborhood grocery -- there will be another blog on that shortly.

I am pleased to say we have discovered several locations that carry very good quality local arts and crafts. These range from simple, but intricately tied "luck knots" to beautifully carved jade. Alas, the beautifully carved jade is out of our decorating budget, but we have been able to acquire one or two very nice, hand-painted scrolls that are now decorating our rather bland, white walls. In addition, we have a very nice Lucky Knot that offers all visitors good luck when they enter our home. The scroll at left hangs in our main room and represents the craggy, karst landscape that occurs more in the southern part of China (note small sailboat at bottom right) than in the area where we live. There is an area just north of Dalian, the Bingyu Valley, that we hope to visit on a week-end trip in the near future. This smaller scroll depicts red berries on a thorny bough. Works with the color scheme!