Hotpot for One

I went into the center a lot this week, getting to know my colleagues and other students, but I would end up staying late and be starving by the time I got home. On Thursday, I decided to treat myself to food I've been craving -- hotpot! I left a bit early, went to the grocery store and bought super small quantities of all the vegetables I like, a hotpot soup base and sesame paste for dipping. It took a lot of work to clean and chop everything, but it all looked very nice when I'd finished.

I ended up using my rice cooker to boil/ keep the soup warm on my table. It work really well and I wasn't stuck eating in the kitchen.

After I was ready and the pot started boiling, I realized I was missing one of the essential things that I love about hotpot -- people to share it with. Unlike things I had been eating recently, hotpot is a slow meal, meant to be eaten over an extended period of time, usually chatting with friends for an hour or two as you slowly devour piles of raw meat and vegetables in large varieties. As I sat in my beautiful new apartment, the private space I had been dreaming of while spending two weeks on my friends couch and a semester with a roommate in Harbin, I realized that I missed having people around. I called FD to fill the silence for a bit before starting up Hulu where John Stewart and the cast of Modern Family kept me company as I ate round after round of broccoli, mushrooms, and pumpkin. Then two, well three, of my neighbors knocked at my door. My neighbor with the seven-month-old boy was having a hard time getting him settled down, so she and her mom brought him to my apartment for a change of scenery. He was quiet almost immediately. I was glad they felt comfortable enough to come see me (we often chat in the hallway and my neighbor's mother has bequeathed me with the nickname 美女阿姨 beautiful aunt), and I was glad to play with the baby while the relished the moment of peace.

They stayed for about 45 minutes which was probably all the little boy could take; he was getting sleepy/ crabby. After they left, my apartment, though still big and empty, seemed less lonely. I'll have to think of some way to get them over more often.

Happy New Year

I am finally feeling somewhat settled here in Xi'an, though it's taken me about three weeks. I have been living in my new apartment for about a week and started cooking again and doing some simple yoga in the morning. Yesterday I also went into the office at Northwest University to catch up with my coworkers and keep working on our joint project -- writing a textbook for an experimental psychological health course that will be implemented at 35 rural middle schools this coming semester. They've already taken base measurements of the students' psychological health at these and 35 other schools that will not get our class (control group), so hopefully after a year we'll be able to re-do the tests and find that the class helped students improve their overall psychological well being! Technically, I'm only here for the next 10 months, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. I'm really excited to be a part of this project, and that's what counts.

Here's a couple of pictures of my apartment (more on facebook). I'm really satisfied with it. It took me 3 days to find a place this nice. It was exhausting; by the end of the first day I was getting tired enough to settle for a place with almost no natural lighting. Thankfully I stayed strong.

My adorable humidifier.

Aside from working, I've been spending a lot of time with my friends here. There are two other Fulbrighters who, like me, spent time in Harbin - AS and MG, along with another Fulbrighter who arrived only yesterday - JN. I'm afraid I don't really have pictures of them... Last week I spent a lot of time with YM. He was super helpful while I was apartment hunting, but now he has tests coming up and needs to study, so I haven't seen him much. I also have two other great friends in Xi'an. They participated in the ACC program in Beijing with me. It's amazing to me that even though we have never seen each other in the states, we have been able to meet twice in China. They (JP and AJ) are currently teaching elementary and middle school in a rural village southwest of Xi'an, but come back to the city on the weekends to relax, get warm (they have no heating in the countryside), and plan the next week's worth of lessons. A few days ago we met up at the amazing pizza place I found near my apartment, owned and operated by a real Italian man!

I hope everyone had a great new year's eve/ day and is looking forward to a fantastic 2013!

Hanukkah in Harbin

This Fulbright experience is definitely full of firsts. After my first Thanksgiving abroad a few short weeks ago, I am not currently celebrating my first Hanukkah abroad. When packing my suitcases in July I didn’t spend much time thinking about how/ to what extent I wanted to practice Judaism in China. I didn’t pack a prayer book or my talit, or any other items to represent my Jewish heritage. Instead, I’ve mostly been practicing through my diet, i.e. avoiding pork and shellfish (not so easy). When holidays come around, I try and eat the special things I would at home—apples and honey on Rosh Hashannah, fasting on Yom Kippur… latkes on Hanukkah? I tried. This has been a Hanukkah of dealing with limited resources. Let me explain…

It all started when one of our classmates arranged a holiday party last weekend to give our Chinese roommate’s a taste of the holiday spirit before we all left. She also asked if some of us would be willing to explain how we celebrate our holidays with our families. Three or four people volunteered to speak about Christmas, and I realized that I really wanted to share Hanukkah with my classmates at CET. Coincidentally, the party fell on the very first night of Hanukkah, and I had no menorah and no candles… I managed to find birthday candles at our school supermarket and they fit perfectly into the holes of the cribbage board I brought from home, thus, my impromptu menorah was born! I have been using it quite successfully ever since, inviting different classmates to light candles with me every night.

Impromptu Hanukkah Menorah

My roommate ZL

My suite mate ZR

The night of the party, everyone was very quiet and respectful as I explained the story of Hanukkah and lit the candles. Many students, both Chinese and American, asked me questions about the tradition and thanked me for sharing. I didn’t really realize how little most people know about Judaism. I’m really glad we had the party. I’m not sure I would have done anything to celebrate if I couldn’t share the holiday with others.

Latkes you say? Oh yes, I was naturally craving latkes on Hanukkah, but with final exams coming up, I was unwilling to spend all the effort to make them myself. Instead, I went to the local Carrefore and purchased applesauce and the closest thing I could find to sour cream (yoghurt), then invited some friends out for potato pancakes. I asked the cook if he could add some onions to the potatoes, and with applesauce on top, they tasted excellent (the yoghurt was nasty and not at all like sour cream). My friends had fun eating with me.

I have to wrap this up. I have my very last final in 20 minutes. My bags are mostly packed and I’m nervous and excited to move on to the next phase in my project. I’ll have a lot to do in a short amount of time after arriving in Xi’an, so please send your love and support my way!! Missing all of you!

Fall Break in Yunnan

… was 3-4 weeks ago, before Harbin’s first snowfall, Obama’s reelection, and Halloween, but that doesn’t make it any less important! Also, I know some of you are eager for pictures of one Miss FD and her surroundings. First of all, let me begin by saying that going to see her was no easy task, although everything ended up going rather smoothly. FD is teaching in a small countryside village in southwestern Yunnan, China’s southwestern-most province, so coming down from China’s most northeastern province naturally takes a bit of time, or more specifically: one airplane, two buses and one car ride, with random taxi’s and shuttles in between. I spent 3-4 days of break in transit, but it was worth it to see an old friend and learn more about a different part of China.

To put it briefly, this small Yunnan village is very beautiful and extremely poor. Students don’t have access to computers, and not even teachers can be guaranteed electricity on a daily basis. Many students’ parents are illiterate and the dropout rate here is still quite high, though class sizes are still much larger than middle schools in the states (50-70 students). The village itself does not have a high school; successful students board in a nearby city if they are competent enough to continue their education. FD is facing all of these challenges with energy and enthusiasm!!!!!!!! Much love <3

During my time with FD, I attended many of her English classes, sitting in the back row or up in front of the class, trying my best to act as a good role model (since my presence alone drew a lot of attention, being the second foreigner to visit the village). During the last 10 minutes of class, FD gave her students the opportunity to ask me questions. They were all adorable. The elementary schoolers asked me what my favorite color and animal were, while the middle schoolers asked me if I had a boyfriend and if I had ever been to an NBA game.

I also got the opportunity to spend an entire day shadowing one class of students to get a better idea of their lifestyle. It was a long day. Aside from their normal classes which run from 8-6, they also have one morning and two evening “study hall” periods, which can also double as normal classes. They don’t really have recess aside from 10 minute breaks between classes, which are often spent prepping for the next class, and a short mid-day break which they usually spend napping.

I became particularly close to one delightfully inquisitive student in the class I shadowed, WFQ. At every break she would come over and chat with me, ask me questions and try to persuade me to sing her a song. She eventually succeeded and we ended up singing Adele’s Rolling in the Deep in the teacher’s office during breaks. After the last class on Friday, she came to the office to say goodbye and we both shed tears.

Coming back to Harbin after a week in Yunnan was difficult. I had a hard time readjusting to both the climate and the homework, resulting in a bad cold and worse spirits. Though it took both time and tears to get out of my funk, I can now say I am back in full health, both physically and mentally. Only one month left with CET Harbin!

North Korea, Fireworks and Hospital Visits; or What exactly has Emily been doing this past month?

Of course, not all of those things happened at once, nor probably in the way that you would expect them to, but at least it got you interested. As I have been absent for quite a while this may be a long post, but I’ll try my best to keep it word light and picture heavy.

Also, in case you don’t make it all the way to the end, I am in the process of getting ready for a short trip to Yunnan (southwest China) to see the lovely and talented FD. The weather should be excellent and I am very much looking forward to seeing her and her situation (teaching English is rural China). I will do my best to post again immediately upon my return, because I have noticed I tend to slack after relocation/ vacationing. Not this time! Now back to our regularly scheduled program…

If you remember, my last post came right before our class trip to Dandong, a city right on the border of North Korea! We didn’t cross over of course, but we got pretty close at various points in our trip. We also explored smaller areas around Dandong including a cool mountain with temples and a beautiful park that has mountains similar to Guilin and Guizhou. This park is apparently the northernmost location in which they can be found. Ok, PICTURES!

Me on a boat on the border of North Korea.

KL playing with a dragon on the mountain we climbed.

Locks on a chain in one of the temples on the mountain. Many people do this to symbolize their love for each other.

Cool spiders we found. They were huge and everywhere.

For one night we stayed in a "rural village" and slept 5 to a kang, a stone bed with a furnace underneath.

One of the parks we went to, Bingyugou.

The scenery was just like Guilin and Guizhou.

Some classmates having fun.

Puppies in the village

The (severed) bridge between China and North Korea (i.e. the black spot on the other side of the bridge). The North Korean side was extremely dark. We only saw a few lights on the entire strip.

We also climbed part of the Great Wall in Dandong. Apparently this is the easternmost section of the wall.

View from the top

Me with North Korea in the background. We were that close.

The characters on the stone read: One Leap, because that's about how close were were to North Korea.

 

The first weekend after we got back from Dandong, China celebrated two national holidays: the mid autumn festival and the anniversary of the founding of the PRC. We didn’t really do anything to celebrate the latter, but for the mid autumn festival my friends and I went out on the town for a nice dinner and then took a stroll along Zhongyangdajie, a shopping district that is built on a cobblestone road left over from when Germans and Russians occupied Harbin.

Remember the China-Japan conflict over those islands? Many stores began using the slogan "The Diaoyu Islands belong to China" to advertise merchandise. This store even has a new line of clothes that all sported the nationalist logo I LOVE CHINA.

Me and KL at a nice restaurant.

Me eating a mooncake at the end of Zhongyangdajie near the Songhua river while people sent off paper lanterns into the night. KL and I later bought one and released it into the sky, but not before writing our wishes for the next year on its tissue paper skin.

We serendipitously ran into two other classmates (and fellow Fulbrighters) who were lighting sparklers alongside Songhua river.

Two more classmates/ Fulbrighters waiting for their own (heart shaped) paper lantern to fill with enough hot air to lift itself into the night sky.

 

Speaking of Russians, in the 1920’s or so many of the Russians in Harbin were Jewish! I went to the old synagogue (now a museum) with KL and her professor.

 

That weekend YM also arrived in Harbin to spend his break with me. Unfortunately, the weather did not agree with him and he got a pretty bad cold/flu, so we spent a lot of time in doctor’s offices, which in China means the hospital as there aren’t really clinics. By the time he was ready to go back to Xi’an he was feeling better, but we didn’t really get to explore Harbin together the way I had hoped.

Obligatory picture with university sign.

Chapel of St. Sophia at night.

YM eating the famous and delicious Russian ice cream on Zhongyangdajie.

 

I’ve had a few more small adventures since then, but those do not require much explanation.

To celebrate one classmate's birthday, we went to a Cultural Revolution themed restaurant and sat at one of the largest round tables I have ever seen, giant lady susan included.

This past weekend we visited "Old Harbin" which has a thriving Muslim district.

Me in front of the mosque.

The architecture was even more old and European than Harbin proper.

 That's all for now folks! Tune in next week (so long as I remember to update) for more interesting China adventures.