Day 63

October 22, 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China

This week has been pretty good. Filled with a number of things to remind me of America. The trip to Metro on Wednesday allowed me to make dinner last night, provided me with some much needed chocolate, and set up this week's...

Friday Favorites:

My favorite thing this week? Well, To be honest it was:


Peanut Butter and Jelly. Very satisfying.

I know, I know. A whole country at my disposal, a million kinds of things I can't eat in America, and my favorite thing this week was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Yeah, it was. So what?

:-)

Hayden

Day 62

October 21, 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China

So, yesterday's trip to the Metro resulted in the ingredients I needed to make a dinner I've been wanting to make since I got here: Spaghetti! This was the one thing I promised myself I'd find a way to make here, and I finally did.

The location for dinner was Januar and Shelly's apartment, because they have a real, actual kitchen. We needed a few items other than the food, however. They picked up a pot to cook the spaghetti in (they don't really cook, and didn't have anything large enough), and I went to find a can opener. My favorite spaghetti sauce:


Hunt's Four Cheese Spaghetti Sauce. Yeah, I know, my favorite sauce comes from a can.

The hunt for a can opener was an exhausting one. I couldn't find a proper hand can opener anywhere in the Vanguard. There was one kitchen accessory kit that had a crank opener, but it was 200RMB ($30). I finally found what was essentially a camping can opener (no crank, you just sort of wiggle it back and forth), and was on my way to their apartment. On the way, I stopped off to buy some yarn and knitting needles: I had promised Shelly I would teach her to knit.

After an hour or so of knitting practice, I set about making dinner:




Bubble, Bubble. Spaghetti is on its way!

Januar and Shelly don't cook much, so I think they took the minimal effort I had to put in to the pasta as some kind of miracle: They seemed very grateful that I was cooking for them and amazed that I knew how. The finished product:


Spaghetti! Woo-hoo!

I even found Parmesan! Awesome!

Hayden

Day 61

October 20, 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Provence, China

Januar, Shelly, Sanket, and I took a trip to a little place called Metro after class today. Metro is sort of Chinese foreign-goods superstore. We all had to get papers from the Foreign Student Office to even be allowed to enter the Metro. Apparently, it's kind of a big deal.


Metro. As the sign says.

The interior is something like a Wal-Mart: One side is clothes and home goods, the other food. I say Wal-Mart and not, like, Super Target on purpose:


Metro Interior. Looks like Wal-Mart to me.

Even the color scheme (blue and yellow) reminds me of Wal-Mart (or Ikea, I guess, but the store is no Ikea). Anyway, we walked in, registered (as you must), and were met by...Halloween.


Halloween Costumes. Beautiful, just beautiful.

If you ask anyone about Metro, you're likely to hear that the store is expensive. Now, I've learned to be relativistic about "expensive." I mean, sure, dinner at the Cafe might cost 25RMB, which is a lot in China, but that's only $3.45. What's funny is that when people say Metro is expensive, they're right.

Examples:


Three-Ring Binder? That thing is more than $7.00.


What? Who would pay that for evaporated milk? And no, it isn't actually panda milk. (a side note, I think that price is for a case of, like, 12 cans, not just a single can. But, that's still ridiculous).


Coffee Maker? The first coffee maker I found in China, and it's almost $2000? Gah!


And The Winner Is... The $3200 cognac. Won't find that at Wal-Mart.

Still amongst the luxury items, there was also the familiar:


Miracle Whip. Despite its presence, I had to explain what it was to my friends.


Not Just Regular Bacon! Elaborate Bacon! Not sure what that means, exactly, but if this is the crappy, soggy, flavorless bacon they put on everything "American" here, I'll pass.


Crabs. Yeah, I know, they're just crabs, but we're nowhere near the ocean. This is first sea life I've seen in two months.


PB Und J. These babies came home with me.

I picked up a few items: The peanut butter, the jelly, some chocolate (Ritter Sport!), and some stuff to make dinner for Januar and Shelly...tomorrow!

Hayden

Day 49

October 8, 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Provence, China

The national holiday is over. Boo. Back to school. Boo.

Anyway, it's Friday, so:

Friday Favorites:

In general, I'd have to say the outdoor art was the most (significant and) important part of my week. But, the art already got two posts this week. So, what is my favorite thing about China this week, then? Well...


Latte. Sweet, sweet bitter coffee.

This is a latte. It is approximately the size of my forearm, and although expensive in Chinese terms, it costs around $3. And, it makes everything all better.

Hayden

Day 44

October 3, 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Provence, China

I slept in today. It was much needed as yesterday wore me out. I had plans with Ianuar and Shelly to go to the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda to see the night version of the fountain show. We set out around 6:30 to try and find some dinner along the way. Our choices were limited until we stumbled upon a giant, Chinese mall. Outdoor mall, I guess. It reminded me of a Chinese St. Johns Town Center. We ended up eating at Papa John's, of all places. I didn't take any pictures, but let's just say the place looks like the Ritz. The food? EXACTLY the same as in America. But, you know, I like Papa John's.

The mall, as it turns out, backs right up to the pagoda. I found this sort of funny since the other side of the pagoda is that giant water feature. The plaza around the pagoda was PACKED with people:



Everyone is Out. I guess Sundays are big Giant Wild Goose Pagoda days.

We made our way around to the opposite end of the complex and staked out standin' spots right in the center. Forgive my blurry photos, but it was night time and I was trying to take pictures of moving water.


Giant Wild Goose Pagoda. a view of the pagoda at night.




Waterworks. The fountains at night.

I have a nice little video, but unfortunately uploading it doesn't seem to be working. Oh well, you get the idea.

Apart from the light show on the ground, there was quite another light show happening in the sky. About half way through the performance, I noticed what I thought was a helicopter hovering around the top of the pagoda. The "helicopter" floated silently around as the show went on, then moved over the top of the fountain field. Ianuar and I had a discussion about what it could be: There were just too many lights on it to be a helicopter, and it seemed really, really big. The lights were strobing from end to end on its edge. I figured it was maybe a part of the show, or something of that nature. I leaned over to a guy in the crowd, figuring the Chinese might have a better idea about this than the foreigners, and asked "那是什么？" ("What is that?"). He turned around and said, in English, "I don't know. But its WAY too big to be a helicopter." His girlfriend jumped up and down going "UFO! UFO! UFO!"

As the show ended, we decided to walk toward it, hoping to get a better angle. As we approached it, we realized it was shaped like a giant triangle. Ianuar said something about hoping it was a kite, and I said it was a kite the size a building. Then, as if it had never been there at all, it vanished. Not a trace of it, not a flash of light, not a jet stream. Nothing. Just gone.

Hayden

Day 34

September 23, 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Provence, China

Day two of my lock-down. It's raining outside, and cold. I think it might be colder than yesterday, actually.

Today consisted of:
Watching Fringe
Running to the market
Eating at KFC
Watching Fringe
Napping
Watching Fringe

That's about it. I wish the weather were better. I dunno, not a very exciting day to live. Or to read about, I guess.

Incidentally, at KFC I tried a menu item they only offer in China:


Tender Beef Pentagon. A beef option at the Chinese KFC. Photo stolen from http://shanghaiscrap.com/.

The packaging claims that the flavor of the beef is "Sichuan," which in Chinese terms seems to mean "Sichuan pepper." Honestly, it's in EVERYthing here. It is amusing, however, that KFC in China essentially sells Crunch Wrap Supremes, and that they're made of beef instead of chicken. Maybe the first Chinese Taco Bell isn't far off. Who knows.

Hayden

Day 27

September 16, 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Provence, China

Sigh. Today was exhausting. With our visa deadlines quickly approaching, Jordan and I made plans to go to the security bureau to drop off our passports and paperwork. Jordan picked up his documents from the Foreign Student's Office yesterday, so I stopped by to get mine today. The office is always full of people, and the one or two people who are actually working there are stressed out beyond belief. I sat down with one of the counselors, the other was out, and she thumbed through my paperwork:

"Did you turn in four photos?"
"Yes, almost a month ago."
"Copies of your passport?"
"I turned them in at the same time."
"A copy of the receipt for your housing?"
"Yes."
"None of that is in here. Can you just come back next week? When does you visa expire?"
"Monday."
"Monday?!"

Yes, Monday. Which wouldn't be a problem, except for the fact that your office lost everything I had already turned in. It's not as if I could do any of this earlier, since I didn't get my health exam results until last week. So, I spent the morning running back and forth from the school to my room trying to find the items I needed to complete my visa documents. I missed one session of my second class (we have two sessions per class per day), in order to accomplish this. After I got everything I needed, I sat down in a chair while she v-e-r-y s--l--o--w--l--y c---h---e---c---k---e---d o----v----e----r t-----h-----e f------o------r------m------s....I was worried that her speed would cause me to miss the second half of my class. Luckily, she finished just after the bell rang, 15 or so minutes later.

This would be mirrored in my later experience at the security bureau. Let's cut past the fact that we left two hours late, and that I didn't get to eat lunch because we were waiting on others to go to lunch who were apparently at lunch and didn't bother to mention it. We'll also cut past the 20 minutes it took us to get a taxi during this sudden September heatwave, and my complaining about how they won't pick up foreigners. We'll cut right to the security bureau, where we waited in the un-air conditioned building in a long line while one woman poured over every single person's documents. ONE! This is so typical of China, there are 8 million people here, any given store employs 30,000 of them to jump on you if you seem remotely interested in buying something. But banks? Or government offices? There will be dozens of desks and one person running the whole show. If you need to get something done, it's probably not happening today. Other employees even came in while we were waiting, made a joke to/at the lady and then walked off. AND she took, like, three phone calls while we waited. You know, just hanging out in a line sweating to death.

God we were sweaty. Anyway, the actual document "interview" consisted of sitting in a chair while she looked to make sure everything was in order. It was, so we went downstairs and paid (400RMB, by the way, on top of the fact that we paid $200 to get our visa already).

We hunted for food or water or a taxi, and found water. Then a taxi. This driver was actually quite a change for the better. He was so friendly. And, he explained to Angel, our Chinese friend, that he had been going on his lunch break but decided to take pity on us.

We ended up eating at Subway, which was not my choice, but I was starving. I ordered a foot long, and they cost about the same comparatively. I got somewhere around 2/3 of the way into it and didn't think I could make it. Chinese food has shrunk my stomach.

"Come on, finish it, you wimp." Angel said.

Hayden

Day 23

September 12, 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Provence, China

So, yeah, today. Today we went to Saga (pronounced "Saige" but not spelled that way, apparent. Actually, it's spelled "S@ga") again, so that meant another trek across this part of the city. We took Angel with us, who is Chinese. I'm not sure what her Chinese name is, actually.

After Saga, we walked around a bit and discovered:


Wal-Mart. Conveniently located in China.

Wal-Mart was supposed to be an interesting look at Western Cultural inroads into China, what it was, however, was mostly boring. The store is about the same as an American Wal-Mart, which I guess is saying something, but, oddly the prices are higher than you would get at any local market. They are not China's "Low Price Leader." Also, I guess it should be noted that the Wal-Mart was INSIDE a mall. Yeah. That was the strangest part of it for me. Not very interesting, I'm afraid. But, I did see these while I was there:


Happy Buns. These buns seem very happy.

The one thing that should be noted about Wal-Mart is the lack of air conditioning. This is actually pretty widespread in China, but since Wal-Mart is completely enclosed without a single window or outward-facing door, this was VERY noticeable. It was like an over-lit sweat lodge. I had a vision of the Wal-Mart smiley face. He told me I should expect low prices. Always.

The more interesting yin to Wal-Mart's boring yang would be our choice for dinner.


Pizza Hut. Hmm...the outside seems familiar.

Ah, Pizza Hut. I had been looking forward to finding one of these for some time. They have commercials for them here, illustrating their abundance of available side dishes. What I didn't expect, however...


Pizza Hut Interior. Well, that's different.

...is that Pizza Hut is a FOUR-STAR RESTAURANT in China. The place was incredibly fancy on the inside. Small tables, mood lighting, a hostess. I didn't really know what to think of it. And the menu items:


Pizza Hut Menu. A look at the first (of ten) page(s) of the Pizza Hut menu in China.


Lamb Shank. Pizza Hut offers many additional dinner choices.


Escargots. Yep, you can get an escargot appetizer at Pizza Hut.

They did, of course, have pizza as well. Some options were more foreign than others:


Stuffed Crust Pizzas 1. Two choices for additions to your pizza crust.


Stuffed Crust Pizzas 2. This pizza has pigs-in-a-blanket built right into the crust.

We looked over the extensive menu and settled in on a classic: A Supreme Pan Pizza. It arrived and we were very happy:


Supreme Pan Pizza. From the Pizza Hut in Xi'an.

Just like home. Well...almost. There's always an almost, isn't there? It should be noted that a Supreme pizza in China comes with everything you're familiar with...and pineapple. Not that weird, but it's a surprise when you bite into it without realizing it's there.

Hayden

Day 22

September 11, 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Provence - China

I had planned to go to the city wall today, but that didn't pan out. So, I slept in nice and late.

I've been having a little problem. You see, I have money in China. I took out my spending cash so I'd have it if I needed it. But, I don't have much money in America right now. This problem seemed to be fixed by the announcement that my tuition disbursement was happening this week, a whole month early. That excitement was tempered when I received an email saying that an error had messed up the Cashier's Office and refunds would not be going out. This was, of course, after I received the receipt for my refund in a previous email. Blah. They said they've fixed the problem, and things should be OK by Monday.

Nothing too adventurous today. A little trip to the market, lunch at KFC. Not totally exciting. My lunch today did come with...


Egg Pie. Courtesy of KFC.

...an egg pie. It's sort of a sweet custard in a flaky crust. Pretty good.

Also, my birthday is soon. I'm not sure how that's going to be here in China. Jordan said he'd buy me dinner for my birthday if I buy him dinner for his. His birthday is on the 19th of September, incidentally. In any case, I bought myself a present today:


Bread Head. I have no idea, either.

He was only about $2. And he's a bank! I'm not sure why this cube man has bread on his head. I'm also not sure why his butt has "It's So Delicious!" printed on it.

Hayden

Day 21

September 10, 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Provence, China

This afternoon, we trekked across the (southern part of the) city to Saige, a giant, four-story electronics store in the "electronics" district. They have districts here. The bus ride was...let's go with awful. It was hot, and crowded. And small: It was like a van. We arrived after what seemed like forever and made our way to the third floor to look at pocket translators. Pocket translators are something of a must here for foreigners, but they are SO expensive in the states.


Saige. It's huge.

The floors are divided by what they sell: First floor is mostly cameras and cellphones, second floor is computers, the third is a variety of hand-held devices like pocket translators and eReaders, and the fourth is peripheral stuff like keyboards and webcams. There is also a large section of bootleg material:


Bootleg DVDs. Titanic 2? Too soon?

I really liked the cover of the Inception DVD. The photo on the front of Titanic 2 was from Revolutionary Road. I wondered if the film was just that, having nothing to do with the original at all. The description on the back was priceless, however. Something about Jack being frozen for 80 years and then thawed by researchers. He escapes the research facility...blah, blah, blah. All of this was in the best Chinglish, by the way. And I think that description comes from an MTV Movie Awards sketch with Ben Stiller and James Cameron. So, who knows what movie is in the case.

Friday Favorites:

Okay, so this is gonna be a little out of left field. For me, anyway. After Saige, Jordan and I walked around looking for the bus stop. We had planned to have dinner at Pizza Hut, because we found out there was one about 2 km from our school. In our wandering we ran across...


McDonald's. The McDonald's near Saige in Xi'an.

...McDonald's. At this point I was tired and quite hungry (for the first time in days!). So, you know, let's do it. We walked upstairs (apparently they're usually upstairs. First floor rents are more expensive and they have the name recognition to get people to walk up a flight of stairs), made our way to the counter, and ordered. Jordan got the equivalent of a Double Quarter Pounder, but without cheese. I ordered a Big Mac. And a small McNugget to check out their sauce options.

We sat down at a table, I opened the box, took a bite, and...its was exactly like a Big Mac. Well, almost exactly. I think there was mustard on it rather than thousand island dressing. But, that's not the point: The bun, the burgers, the cheese, the lettuce, the pickles. It was all the same. Exactly the same. It was like biting into a Big Mac in the US.



Big Mac. Just like home.

Now, I'm not even really a fan of McDonald's. That's no secret. I like Egg McMuffins, but that's about it. But, in this instance, it was just right. It was the first thing I've had here that was supposed to taste American that actually did. And the fries! My god, the fries. They were so HOT. The remained at maximum temperature for more than 15 minutes! I was having trouble eating them after we had sat there and ate nearly everything else!

The McNuggets, too, were on point. Although, to be fair, they have always been a little Asian. They are tempura battered, or something like it. The sauce options were:


McNugget Sauce. Malay, American, and Italian, respectively.

I tried all three. The Italian was spaghetti sauce and the American was BBQ sauce, so, you know, smoke flavoring. But the Malay was amazing. It was satay sauce, and I know that I'm harping on American familiarity here, but we need this in the US. It's perfect on the nuggets.

Most things were just like a US McDonald's. One key difference? Well...


McDonald's Pies. I guess apples aren't as popular here.

The pies here aren't apple, they're purple yam. ((shrugs))

Hayden

Day 15

September 4, 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Provence, China

The weekend was pretty low key. Saturday consisted mostly of hanging out around the room. Xiao Liu accompanied me on an errand, however. We were walking to the little market bazaar on the other side of Chang An. While on Shi da, a little dog came out of one of the cafes. The dog is always around that cafe, I assume the owner works there. The dog is small, a border collie I guess, like a 15 pound collie. Xiao Liu jumped and hid behind me. I told her it was ok, that he "was a good boy." I put my hand out and he licked it. Xiao Liu was having none of it. "I do not like." She kept repeating. She was terrified. I gave the dog a look and said "回家！" ("go home!"), and he walked right back into the cafe. "You...you can control dogs?" Xiao Liu said, relieved, as if I had just stopped an out-of-control taxi with my mind powers.

The only other event of interest was the pizza (比萨）. Jordan and I didn't want to eat in the cafeteria again, so we decided to try Hello Pizza!, Shi da's very own American-style pizza restaurant. The menu was full of a number of interesting topping choices, like tuna. I assumed it involved tuna salad somehow, like a sandwich was just dumped out on top of a pizza.


Menu. The menu at Hello Pizza.

Jordan and I zeroed in our choice: Meat Lovers. I mean, was there really any doubt?


Meat Lovers. The menu's description of our pizza.

The definition of "meat lovers" is a bit looser here. I think it had ham cubes and some kind of chewy beef on it, and peppers and onions. It was really good, but I wouldn't qualify it as "meat lovers."


Pizza (比萨). Our pizza at Hello Pizza!

The restaurant also offered a few other curious items:


Other items. Mmm...banana split. Wonder if that's a pizza topping...?

Chinese restaurants are just sort of like that: Anything goes. Menu's needn't have rhyme or reason.

We also snuck up onto the roof Saturday to snap a few photos of our neighborhood. Enjoy:



The roof. Xi'an, from the "11th Floor."

That haze you see is pollution. It always looks like this.

Hayden