Lots of photos in today’s album.
Today Kiki, Nadia and I went to a tea house. I really wanted to do this on our adoption trip, but it was such a whirlwind, that time got away from me. And Mike is not into tea, so I would have been sort of out there drinking it on my own. Kiki loves tea, so I asked her to take Nadia and I – my treat. So she found the best one near her house and we took the bus over there today after Nadia got up from her first nap. When we got to the place there were some businessmen leaving and they told Kiki that her baby was cute or something. And she said it was my baby. And they wanted to know how? She told them Nadia was adopted. One of the men gave me the 2 thumbs up and a big smile. They said she was very pretty.
The name of the tea house is MingZhiGu and it means “The Tea Valley”
Kiki said that we could sit anywhere we wanted and so I picked a table I thought was neat compared to the others. Some of the choices could be closed off for a meeting. It dawned on me pretty quick that babies are not frequent guests at tea houses. Kiki’s husband joined us and I asked about it. They said that tea houses are for conducting business. Pretty soon after that we heard yelling coming from one of the other areas. I told Kiki the woman sounded mad and Kiki said she was yelling at the other person saying, “You owe me 10,000 yuan!” (that’s about $1400). The girl who served the tea got a big kick out of Nadia and I just set her in one of the adult chairs and the girl came running back with a big silk pillow for Nadia to sit on. Nadia thought that was fun and I kept telling her that it was, “Her big girl pillow.” Then she would pat it with her little hand. Too cute!
The girl came back with the tea menu and Kiki translated it for me, except the ones that she thought were too expensive! So I chose one that was not a floral flavor that they said was slightly sweet. So the girl went off to prepare our choice. She came back with the tray and showed me the tea. I just said, “Okay” since I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. It was like looking at the wine bottle or something. So as the girl starts the progress, Kiki is rapidly telling me all the steps. I took a couple of videos during the service, but the rest were photos.
First the girl brought out the boiling hot water and poured it on our cups, the tea pot and everything else on the tray. Kiki said this was to get everything warm. Then the girl put some hot water in the tea pot with the tea. Then she dumped all that out immediately. Kiki said this was to remove the dust from the tea. Then she poured more boiling water into the teapot and let it sit just a few seconds. Then she poured it into the serving pot. Once that was done she poured tea into the tall skinny cup, placed the drinking cup on top upside down and put it on our serving tray right side up. So the tea was trapped in the taller cup. Kiki told me to pick up the tall cup releasing the tea into the drinking cup and then smell the tall cup. She asked if I could smell a hint of flower and the tea flavor. I said yes.
The next step was to show me how to hold the cup and to tell me to finish the whole thing in 3 sips. I did this and then the serving girl refilled our cups and left us alone. Nadia was watching all of this in fascination from her big silk pillow. Kiki asked me on the second cup if I could taste the sweetness. I said yes, but I also told her that is was so different from tea in America. I told her about sweet tea and making sun tea and the color of tea in the south compared to what we were being served. Kiki’s husband came a little bit after our second cup and he had some too and we all talked. It was very nice and “foo-foo”. I found it funny that Nadia was such a sensation in the tea house, but I have to say that I was very relieved that it wasn’t filled with businessmen trying to work some important deals. The only thing that would have made it better would have been to have Jessica P. there with me 🙂
We visited for a while longer and then Nadia was ready to get down and check things out. The manager of the tea house said for her to come over and play this little instrument. Nadia thought that was awesome and really had a good time playing with the thing. The waitress tried to show her a little doll with flowers and was telling her she could touch it and Nadia kept looking back at me. I think if it had been a truck she would have taken the thing and ran, but instead she kept poking the dolls nose, but she wouldn’t hold it. The bill came and Kiki looked it over and then told them we wouldn’t pay it without a discount. So the girl came back and said, “12% off.” And Kiki said okay and they told me the total. That cracked me up!
Kiki sent us home in a cab and the guy stopped right next to the pastry shop. So Nadia and I ran in there to grab some lunch. I took a photo of my 3 favorite things from this pastry shop. YUM! I got Nadia down for a nap and then headed over for my Chinese painting, but that will be a post for tomorrow.
And finally, don’t worry about us and the whole police thing. It was a lot more mellow today. We registered with the local police when we first got here, so we have little forms in our passports in case we ever get stopped. It states where we are living and how long we are going to be here.
