I’ll Take a Lettuce Leaf & Dragon Fruit Please ~ A Tour of my Neighborhood Market

 One of the great things about living in a small Beijing neighborhood (I actually live on a university campus but our area is peripheral and functions as a regular neighborhood) is the access to fresh food items sold daily from little market stalls. My own neighborhood market is located amongst winding cobbled pedestrian alleys that snake haphazardly between apartment buildings. Permanent vendors set up in the market’s low concrete building which is accessible from both ends- creating a dim corridor of wonderful counters selling everything from loose grains, fresh produce, live fish, dried fruit and hunks of meat. 

Lets go on a tour shall we?

I always park my bike on the far entrance to the market, starting here because my favorite fruit vendor occupies the first stall on the left. He has the biggest selection of fruit in the market- featuring exciting varieties like durian (which is delicious but smells awful), mini pears, dragon fruit, enormous grapefruits, ground cherries, fig fruit and yellow watermelons. A petit man with a good sense of humor, this vendor likes to joke with me even though I don’t understand him and always beams a wide smile when I come around.

Always intrigued by the novel edibles available around me, I attempt to try something new each time I visit the market. The other day I sampled dried red dates from the dried nut and fruit stall across from my fruit vendor friend. These red dates are very popular in China and lend their flavor to a few processed food products- my favorite being red date yogurt. Generally these dates come dried and have a light brown spongy interior and a smooth sweet taste. I have taken to cutting them up and using them as ‘raisins’ in my cereal in the morning.

Further down the row is the grain vendor who sells all types of beans, lentils, peas, rice, dried peppers and grains, but since I don’t have a working stove at home (I am too lazy to put the batteries in) I usually pass by the grains and admire the colorful and speckled eggs at the next counter.

The eggs come in amazing colors and sizes ranging from light blue to dotted brown. Despite my excitement the stall keeper usually continues to casually doze behind the counter.

Across the way are several vegetable stands with mouth-watering selections of yummy and unfamiliar greens (I really like vegetables). Perfectly round eggplants, rapeseed, long slender shoots and leaves, and boxes of fungus mushrooms cover the counter in colorful tantalizing heaps.

Proceeding down the market corridor you pass several butchers flinging hunks of meat from tabletop to scale and into bags, a counter of frozen animal cuts and pre-prepared dishes in long ice cream coolers and a vendor with 12 tanks filled with living sea creatures.

Then the hallway opens into a larger room that acts as a small food court- a chwar (kabob) stand, a noodle shop and bakery counter occupy the corners while the side walls are crowded with a few dingy tables and happy locals on their lunch break.

This little market is one of my favorite neighborhood places because it is filled with the necessities of daily life and engages my curiosity about food and the differences present in my new life here in Beijing. Additionally it feels great to be in a comfortable serene and safe place where I cannot only live happily but shop, eat and make friendships. In fact I just exchanged names today with my favorite prepared foods vendor (I always buy his vegetable offerings) in a smaller market up the street- using some newly acquired Chinese vocab of course!

Sean Kingston ~ Island Flavor in Beijing

It seems improbable, but Sean Kingston actually appeared in Beijing last weekend performing for a live audience at a small yet flashy club named Le Nest. Psyched for some island flavor in land locked Beijing, I jumped at the free tickets a friend offered to attend the event. With video screens, mirrors and metallic covering every surface, Le Nest is an easy place to get subsumed by nightlife splendor and sin. After arriving we elbowed our way into the packed club, I rejoiced that there was finally some racial diversity back in my life (three quarters of the crowd was black), grabbed a table and ordered the club classic whiskey tea. A Korean pop performer climbed onto a small raised platform near us and began to serenade our party as large flashing glow in the dark wands spread throughout the crowd.

Considerable carrying on later, Sean Kingston stormed onto stage. A friend and I tried to squeeze through the crowd, but it was impenetrable so instead we snaked our way to a booth on stage right and danced on the plush the whole set. Sean sang his classics, gave the crowd a lot of island love, and we had to be restrained from crowd surfing. Even the post show dancing was epic- everyone was on a Caribbean high, and I definitely felt right at home in a mix between China and the islands.

Small White and Fluffy

Americans like things supersized: their people, their incomes, their Big Macs and definitely their dogs. 

In contrast, China has a passion for teeny tiny small dogs- only a few times have I spotted a dog bigger than a handbag on Beijing’s city streets. Not only do Chinese like small dogs, but the whiter and fluffier the better. It is pretty funny and ridiculous to see the urban landscape dotted every so often with a little fuzzball scurrying along at ankle level. 

Furthermore, you see these dogs in the most bizarre places. I spotted a dog with an outrageous hairstyle perched in an old man’s bicycle basket, another pooch roamed a couple’s café table as they sipped coffee, a third balanced precariously on a delivery rickshaw’s front cabbie bench and many others uselessly strain at their leashes while their owners, usually grizzled old men and women, plod slowly up the side walk. 

Certainly these poofy little pups have captured Beijing’s affection.

Chinese Here, There and Everywhere ~ Officially a Student Once Again

I thought college graduation might finally mark the end of tiresome homework, intellectual confusion, and endless hours of studying. On the contrary, as soon as I escaped these burdens I found myself desperately and gleefully signing up for classes again- this time in Chinese!

Dreaming of Beijing before I arrived, I had assumed that many people living in this international and cosmopolitan city would undoubtedly speak some basic English. I was woefully wrong. Upon arrival I realized that in reality the foreigners speak pretty good Chinese and most of the Chinese I interact with in daily life don’t know a lick of English. Ordering lunch, buying subway tickets, asking directions and dealing with the apartment repairman are interactions facilitated wholly through mime- for me at least. Thus, after living in China for about a month I am itching to communicate and simplify my daily life.

So, it’s official: I have begun my Chinese language crash course- counting down 8 weeks, 5 days a week, 1.5 hours a day of hardcore learning.  When I visit home on December 10^th I look forward to not only maneuvering my way to the airport and buying a snack verbally instead of using my usual exaggerated gestures, but also impressing my folks and friends at home with my dazzling new Chinese speech and comprehension. In January I will return to China ready to rock and roll. 

At least that is the hope/dream/miracle.

The language adventure begins: after haggling with several Chinese language schools over email, I decided to forgo expensive 1-on-1 tutoring lessons for a diverse and solid beginners class at nearby language school called Global Village. After last week’s free trial class I signed up, bought the book and hope to never look back.

Despite missing the first two days of class, it has been smooth sailing so far thanks to constant in-class review. By ‘smooth sailing’ I mean I am totally clueless but haven’t given up yet.  Our teacher (laoshi > pronounced like ‘lao shuur’) is named Guo Wen Ting and is a gentle and friendly Chinese woman in her late twenties. In addition to her fabulous enunciation, she must have a heart of gold and the patience of a turtle because we have been learning basic greeting phrases for 3 days straight- enough to make me crazy even though I barely know what we are talking about.

Although the laoshi is great at speaking exercises, the homework she assigned to us last night was totally out of left field. We were tasked at practice writing 19 different characters. Although this might seem quick, simple and easy, the stroke order when writing Chinese characters is particular and important- and we had spent no time in class learning how to write! Her advice was to get a handwriting book that shows the strokes and order. So I did. But even better, Julia and my other American friends in Beijing are excited that I am learning Chinese and are eager to help with my menial homework! Wayne, my new Chinese savior, spent almost an hour and a half teaching me how to write each of the 19 characters correctly- truly a labor of love. I thought my head might fall off when we finished but Wayne was so helpful and it was rewarding to see the characters come alive on the page.

My Chinese class is confusing, but also entertaining when you notice the class composition. Beside myself, the only Meiguoren (American- pronounced like ‘mA gwO rn’), my classmates include a middle aged Korean couple, several European college kids, a Nigerian woman, a Saudi Arabian tech student, a Korean businessman, a saucy 80 year old Japanese woman (I’m not kidding she told us today) and a 7 year old Russian boy who sometimes cries a little. Thus it is quite an interesting crew, all of us struggling to wrap our foreign brains around the seemingly convoluted basics of Chinese.

The Marvels of Wangfujing Snack Street

So I like food. And snacks. And kebabs (pronounced ‘chwar’ here in China). But nothing could prepare me for the obscene sensory overload that hits you as you walk through the ornate Chinese gate that crowns Wangfujing’s tucked away Snack Street. Although set back from the rest of the sprawling high end commercial avenue- the snack street’s hidden location is obvious by the hoards of Chinese visitors flocking toward its entrance.

H&M and Rolex fade away as the street narrows and the crush of bodies dangerously wield their pointy kebab sticks in your direction- distracted by the 10,000 other writhing creatures skewered and grilled in moments before their eyes. I’m talking scorpions the length of your pinkie to the size of a mans fist, bugs and weevils I don’t care to know the name of, ornate sea creatures like starfish and sea horses (which I’m sure are grotesquely crunchy), whole lizards stretched like flying squirrels, snake and rabbit meat.

Do you fancy a bird? Whole? One vendor was amused at my photo snapping so he decided to snap me!~ with the beak of one of his cherry red skewered pigeons! A nice peck right on the forehead. Needless to say I shrieked, bystanders died laughing, and my iphone almost ended up on the grill. 

We moved on to sparrows, snails of all sizes, stinky tofu and bottom feeders. We smiled at the candy twirler, grimaced at the bowls heaped with spiny intestines, and ogled the misty teas, candied fruit and colorful (probably foul) dumplings.

   

I was happy to look and document, so I am sorry to report to everyone’s eager ears that none of the writhing scorpions (already on their death sticks) contorted my taste buds. Every kind of sick gastronomic fantasy was on display and ready to be eaten- it was a thrill just to wander through the madness.

 

Obama Debuts in Beijing

There is a beacon of democracy in China! My Beijing friends and I joined other politically minded Americans at a beer and pizza gathering on Thursday night to screen the first US Presidential debate, which was hosted in Denver earlier that morning. Dynamic Ada Shen, who founded the evening’s organizing group Americans in China for Obama in 2008, hosted the debate gathering. 

Although I’m used to seeing other foreigners on the street, it was almost bizarre to know that the entire room that night cradled fellow Americans- sharing common citizenship, identity and political intrigue. To all of us, time spent in China has been a sharp and constant reminder of the US birthright to political and personal freedom we often take for granted.

The debate gathering was a perfect combination for all- political content and warm camaraderie. Volunteers registered individuals to vote- complete with all the online forms, printing, scanning and mailing that completes the absentee ballot process. There was pizza and beer aplenty, political drinking games were hatched, claps and boos thundered, and we all embraced a familiar feeling of home away from home- our American kin were here.

Post debate Ada debriefed the crowd and the evening fell into political conjectures. See you at the next debate gathering! American democrats in China are voting strong.

Happy Holidays ~ Golden Week & Mooncake Madness

Fall in China is chock full of holidays, both traditional and political. Thus October, my favorite month, has taken off with a bang.

Late September ushered in holiday consumer frenzy with advertisements for mooncakes on every corner, subway station and magazine page, bringing with it a sea of festive red and gold shopping bags. Everyone was getting ready for the September 30^th Mid Autumn Festival- a traditional Chinese holiday that dates back over 2,000 years and occurs every year on the 15^th day of the 8^th Lunar month, usually around the time of the autumn equinox. Widely celebrated throughout China, the Mid Autumn Festival holiday brings families together in reunion to gaze at the full moon and eat tasty mooncakes. 

But what is a mooncake?

It is a delicious little pastry about the size of personal tart. With a round form and scalloped edges, mooncakes are beautifully decorated with intricate traditional designs and characters. Dry and sweet, their dense interior contains various smooth paste fillings flavored with nuts, fruit, red bean, green tea, chocolate, meat and Haagen Dazs’ trendy ice cream.

 Around festival time these little confections are sold from every nook and cranny- you can buy trendy and expensive mooncakes from international companies like Starbucks or just pick them up from a local bakery shelf or packaged at a convenience store. The nicer ones come wrapped and nestled within ornately decorated individual boxes, which are then arranged in a larger grand package. It is popular for friends to exchange mooncakes, students to gift them to their teachers, and of course to bring a nice selection to your holiday family gathering.

 And so the Mid Autumn Festival arrived, complete with mooncake madness!

The next day- October 1^st- marked National Day and the beginning of Golden Week. During this holiday the Peoples Republic of China celebrates its October 1^st 1949 founding and gives the entire country a weeklong semi-paid vacation. Mayhem ensues. 

Ignorantly, Julia and I dreamed about traveling to Tibet, Burma or domestic Guilin during this week off, but with the 740 million (that’s actually a statistic) other trips planned for the 8-day holiday, tickets were either too expensive or just plain unavailable. Thus we planned a lovely Beijing stay-cation instead. Good thing too, the city was mobbed! I have never seen so many Chinese with cameras, candied fruit kabobs and street maps in my life- they descended on the 798 Art District where I work like a tidal wave, making the people watching marvelous. 

 As for our own national week, Julia and I filled ourselves to the brim with fun- snack markets, the China tennis Open, concerts, gallery openings and fashion shows, the Korean spa, hutong vintage shopping, vegan eats, movie thrillers and American reunions during the presidential debates. When Beijing is your stomping ground, vacationing at home is plenty exciting.