Author: Louanne

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.

Today Kiki came to tutor me and told me that I am doing great on the pronunciation, but still need to work on the grammar. It’s a killer. Then we started the next lesson and it added about 30 new words. I foresee that the lessons are just going to get more intense over the next 2 weeks. At least I finished my homework for today 🙂

Nadia had her blanket wrapped around her like a towel and so I told her she could make it a cape. I got one of the clothespins for the laundry and set her up. She looked so cute it just cracked me up. Then I asked her if she wanted to make a cape with her “baby” and she nodded. So we got cute photos of Super Nadia! In between naps I decided to take Nadia on a walk in a new direction from where we usually wander. I found that you don’t have to walk far from our area to find a more poverty stricken area. I snapped a couple of photos, but from a distance because I didn’t want to make anyone uncomfortable. You can see in the background there is a lady selling fruit and veggies and she just has them all laying out on the ground. So as people walk by, the dirt gets all kicked up in it. Down that little street there were a bunch of tiny (like 2 tables) restaurants or just people with a burner out cooking food and trying to get people to buy their offerings.

We walked a little farther down Chengfu Lu past Microsoft and found a bunch of little stores. There were clothing places, eyeglass places, barber shops, a place with DVD’s for $1.80 each, another little grocery store, an ice cream place and a store that sells hair clips and makeup. I went in there and bought Nadia some cute clippys with frogs on them. When we got back to the apartment, she wanted all but one of them in and I tried to get a photo, but the photos didn’t come out good because she was moving around a lot. I took this photo of “Wall Street English” next to Deutsche Bank at the bottom of the Microsoft building because I was entertained that they are next to each other. In the Lotus Center the English place has a little kiosk set up trying to recruit people everyday.

Another thing I want to comment on, but didn’t take a photo of for obvious reasons, was the amount of police that were out yesterday and today. I would think some of you have seen the news about the riot in Tibet over some anniversary of a protest 40 years ago or something. China shut that down pretty quickly as I am sure they don’t want bad news coming out so close to the Summer Games. Yesterday I told Mike that the cops were EVERYWHERE Nadia and I went. Even on the little side alley where the playground is. They were on every street corner and their cars were parked up on the curbs. Today was the same, everywhere you looked there were cops out. Mike and I think it’s because of the area we are in – The University District and very close to the Lama Temple. I guess they just want to make it clear to the college students and everyone else that they are watching what is going on very closely. It is sort of a surreal experience, not like I feel like anything is going to happen, but I have just never seen that kind of thing in Texas.

No joke people. How did we find this out? Mike was up at school the first week and Nancy said, “The plants in your apartment are rented. Could you please ask your wife to water them?” Mike said, “Oh, I watered them last night.” She looked surprised and said, “Oh, you did. Okay.” Ah the gender differences of China. So you know I was laughing when I found out they were rented. No towels, no toilet paper, but dang it people – we have plants!! So at least the apartment had some happy plants to make us feel welcome.

The picture above is from when the cute girl was having fun playing with Daddy tonight. She was playing what is the favorite game of all toddlers at some point…she hides behind you or some other object and you say, “Where’s Nadia?” and out she pops like it’s a big surprise where she was hiding.

While Mike was working this afternoon Nadia and I went to the grocery store. We dropped the stuff off at the apartment and headed back out to go exploring. I wanted to do a reconnaissance trip to the other bakery to see if they offered as good or better items than the place closer to us. Next door to the bakery is a little shopping area that is made up of a bunch of little stalls selling clothes, shoes and undergarments. Nadia and I strolled through the whole place causing a commotion. One woman came up and asked if she was Chinese and I was able to tell her IN MANDRIAN, “Yes, but now she is American.” The lady said, “Hen Hao, Hen Hao.” or That’s good. There was the cutest little jammie place in there, but the large looked like a petite small. I knew they wouldn’t fit when the guy didn’t even TRY to get me to come into his stall to convince me to buy some – even though I was looking at his wares very closely. I told Mike when we got back that going through that little place made me feel like I was the size of a whale. Which is insane because I am not overweight or something. It’s a good thing I don’t worry about stuff like that or living here would give me a complex. The funniest thing is that they had a place with fancy little Victoria Secret type bras in all colors, but they all looked the size of a middle school girls training bra!

Back to the bakery- it’s called Tous Les Jours and even though the name is French, I read yesterday it’s a Korean based company. The place was swank! Lots of sitting areas for coffee and snacks, flat panel TV’s playing music videos, and pastries galore. They also offer sandwiches, cappucinos, smoothies and get this – a Bacardi Breezer (like a wine cooler) for 138 yuan. That’s almost $20 US! I can’t believe they ever sell any at those prices. There were a lot of students and white people hanging out in there. I got us some lunch and headed back to the apartment.

On another woman’s blog I read that they had a thing called a Totoro bun. It was delicious! Cream filled yumminess! The main reason I had to buy one was that Mike and I adore the movie – My Neighbor Totoro. It is so, so, so cute!! So here’s a photo of the DVD cover and of the little guy I bought today. We have shown this movie to several people who have stayed with us in the last year and they loved it too. So I end today’s post recommending that you rent this movie. It’s Japanese and if you don’t go for sub-titles there is a version out now with Dakota Fanning and her sister doing the voices, but I haven’t seen that one, so I can’t comment.

P.S. They also had Corn-bread. Don’t cringe you Southerner’s, it was tasty too.

Today Kiki came to tutor and the best thing she said was, “Don’t be afraid of Chinese, you are doing well.” She also said that my pronunciation has come a long way since last week. I find that the hardest thing for me is the grammar. I can remember most of the words and what they mean, but putting them in the right order just throws me for a loop. And don’t get me started on the measure words. Apparently, pretty much every noun has a little “measure word” that has to go with it. I am not even sure I understand how to use them, much less all the different ones.

Tonight was the “social night” for the school. Our social evening was to go out and have the famous Beijing Roast Duck. None of the other students came, so it was just us and Nancy and Crystal who work at the school. We went to a place that is close to our apartment called Dong Lai Shun and it was very good. For starters we had sugar snap peas stir fried in garlic, kung pao chicken, tempura shrimp and fried corn (also in the tempura batter). We had that while the duck roasted since it takes about a half hour after you order. Then the guy came with the duck and carved it table side and we got some photos. The duck is served with these little pancakes (tortillas for you Texans), sliced cucumber, sliced scallions and a hoison sauce. So you roll them up and enjoy! I thought all of the food was wonderful and I was very happy to try the dish that the city is known for. And we brought the left overs home for our lunch tomorrow. YUM!

Nancy told us that the most famous restaurant in town for roast duck charges 3000 yuan for the duck!! That translates to $420 US….just for the duck!! She said that the only time she ever went there was during the SARS incident because they offered it for half price. And she said that the place was empty and in the end it tasted just like the ducks she had at other places. We were talking with her about how cheap it was to eat out and she said that prices have really gone up in the last year. Her example was that the kung pao chicken was 12 yuan last year when she brought some students. Tonight it was 18 yuan, so 50% mark up in less than a year. She told us that there was a very important meeting going on in Beijing this whole week that involved issues for the whole country and asked us if we were aware of it. She said that one of the things they were going to talk about was the rising food costs and how the government could control the costs to help the people. I told her that Kiki told me about it one day when she came to tutor.

And here is the traffic out our window before we left for dinner.