Hungry??

One of my favorite pictures!! Look closely! Look whats hanging over all the fruit--- slabs of meat. Its a one stop shop! (this was another one of those moments where my mom questioned me and asked if that was normal...)

Every part of Chicken and some beef part imaginable

And, its all available as fast food on the street!

Now this is the good stuff-lamb! This is from my city- since we have such a large Muslim population here we can get lamb everywhere- its so good! Cooked and sold right off the street!

We call this "xiao chi's" - small speciality foods famous in its city (this was one of Chengdu's-I'll get some pictures for my city)


Since I love to eat- and especially love Chinese food and all the different diverse foods here- I'll continue to post pictures of it

My mom noticed this...

I was walking down the street (in Chengdu) and wanted to get a picture of the Monk that I was about to walk by... that was my main objective!



Later, when I was talking to my mom on the phone, the first thing she noticed was not the Monk.... but the car on the walkway!

"Stacy.... umm.... is that car on the walkway.... why isn't it on the street and why is coming straight towards you in the picture." Asked my mom.

"Oh.... yeah.... thats common. I just move out of the way... sometimes people will drive on the walkway instead of the road. Not sure why, but oh well.... you just kinda get of the way." I replied.

Now... to me this was very normal... and I had just become accustomed to it. But for my mom she was just astonished. Realizing now that certain things that would seem abnormal or unusual, or out of the ordinary.... just doesn't even phase me anymore but are common.

"I am going to vomit..."

I just wanted to share with you another huge, significant, funny, language blunder that I have been struggling with! (-thats a lot of adjectives-but the only way I could describe it).

This time its with my pronunciation of the C and T sound in Chinese - to anyone who speaks English- it sounds very, very close. However, in Chinese the sounds are completely opposite.


But for the most best humorous part of this all.... is the actual definitions of the words I was attempting to say....


Its so important to use the new words we learn, so I started slowly trying it out a new phrase I learned....before I used "I am not correct," but learned a different way to say it which translates as "I am wrong." However, after I used it in some situations people would take a step or two away from me.... I was a little confused. I wasn't sure if I was offending them or what...

One evening I went out with two good friends and in the middle of the conversation I used my new "I am wrong" statement. My friend quickly asked me if I had eaten something wrong or if I needed help... I was so confused... after another minute of me butchering the 'I am wrong' statement and smiling as I did it, they just busted out laughing when they had realized what I had meant to say and what I had actually said....!!

Instead of saying "I am wrong," I was actually saying "I am going to vomit!"

We laughed about it for a long time and I sat there and thought about the few times I had used it before and remembered how the person would step away from me.... it all makes sense... I was accidentally saying "I am going to throw up."

Also... to add more to the fire.... with just the slightest different sound it means "I am going to steal." So.... anyway I say it, its not going to be good if I mess it up. So I will be spending a lot of time this week with my tutor listening and mimicking the sounds and pronunciation!

Just for fun, below are the characters, pinyin, and definitions

tǔ
吐
vomit

cuò
错
wrong

tōu
偷
steal

Trip to Chengdu!

About two weeks ago I went to Chengdu with Sean and Krista! Sichuan is famous for its spicy food and pandas!

Sichuan is also where the earthquake was in May where an estimated 70,000 or more people died and around 18,000 still claimed as missing. We got to talk to some of the people there and it was interesting to hear how people are still fearful for another earthquake, and if they hear of a report will sleep outside. One lady we spoke with said her daughter is still very scared about having her class on the 3rd floor-however it was cool to hear how she said people are really coming together as a community and she explained how she is experiencing how people are looking after one another.

It was such a great trip-to get away for a few days, rest, and have a lot of fun! I also just posted tons of pictures from the trip - Click here to see!

A bowl full of red hot lazi (Spice-Sichuan is the spiciest) and green beans with ma (hot numbing spice) - What a great lunch!

We got to see the cute pandas!

Bamboo walkways!

The cubs were adorable!!

I ate Yak! Its Tibetan food- and definitely is now considered one of my favorites!

Our hostel was located in the Tibetan section of town- the streets were lined with these stores full of golden statues of Buddha, clothing, jewelry, everything you can think of to use to worship Buddha...


It was very interesting culturally... to be passing Buddhist monks from Tibet on the streets and then to be eating with them in the restaurants


Downtown they had these huge dragon water fountains/statues

The huge statue of Mao in front of the university


We found a TCBY in Chengdu!! Chengdu is definitely more western then our city, so this was a special treat!

Sean and Krista standing in front of the museum-just loved this pic

One of the BEST highlights of my trip was visiting this museum!

These were the two owners! - It was located in the most bizarre place-middle of a neighborhoodIt consisted of a small room completely packed literally from the floor to the ceiling with Mao Zedong paraphernalia

The owner had collected all the stuff from the Cultural Revolution-he had an amazing story!

Look what we found!! This is definitely not in our city!! We were so excited!!!


This was such a special treat for us to be able to eat real pizza!! We don't eat a lot of western food in our home city - mostly stick to noodles and rice dishes (and some home cooked meals)- but this was so great!

Do you have worms?

I went down to the Muslim part of town and met some of my friends. Over eating a really good bowl of noodles and chatting in Chinese... my friend was explaining to me that she sometimes gets sick when eating Chinese spice (lazi). Here its a very open and okay to talk about bathroom talk- and I was asking her if it hurt her stomach 'often...' and instead I had accidentally asked her "Do you have worms?" I had said the correct word 'often' in Chinese but said the wrong tone... and the look on her face when I asked.... Oh goodness! When we both realized what had happened.... we just started laughing! I love learning Chinese, and its fun along the way with my friends, as they continue to help me and laugh along the way with some of my language blunders.

Huo Guo! - Hot Pot!

Last night I went to Emerson (American company) that does some outsourcing work here. I was invited by a friend to share a little about American culture and customs to a class. We talked about the reason we celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas and what we're thankful for! It was a great night getting to have fun, learning, and meeting new people!

Afterward, my friends took me to his parent's restaurant! Which they're specialty was Huo Guo! Eating Huo Guo is considered a very nice dinner!

In the middle of the table is a big hole where the pot sits and the oven underneath. Half of the bowl is the really spicy side (the best!) and then other side is a white fish broth

The soup boils and then we throw in the raw meat and veggies and wait for them to cook

Then we enjoy! This was my bowl with the fish


The tail and head are delicacies-which I've eatten before! My friend was enjoying them!
Fish head! Mmmm.... :)

Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is almost here! Yah! Obviously, Thanksgiving isn't a holiday that is celebrated here. But we are preparing!


So we were planning to have a chicken, because its very hard to find a turkey here. However, Sean found a store that has a few imported turkeys-so we get to have one for Thanksgiving! Yah! We also had a friend just come back from Shanghai and she actually found a can of pumpkin pie mix!! Whoa! Something you definitely cannot find here! Little surprises and blessings that go a long way!

Just wanted to show you our decorations we put up on our front door! We made hand turkeys!!

Being Sick in China

Before the heat turned on, I ended up getting sick for two entire weeks... :( It was not fun! It seemed like everyone was sick during the same time. Here is some of the medicine I took.



I usually don't get sick... but sad to say I got a sinus infection and was not feeling good . What an adventure it was going to the pharmacy and trying to figure out what I needed (thankful for having a good friend to help me). PS by the way, here you don't need a prescription to get medicine, you just tell them what you want and they give it to you. Makes it easy.... if you know what you need!

HEAT is ON!

WE HAVE HEAT!

We've had a few days of it being really cold and me wearing 2-4 layers sometimes! Our apartment is surrounded by cement walls so it just keeps our place always cold! At night we wrap up in blankets and put boiling water into our water bottles and hold onto them to warm us up! Each night we also throw a hot water bottle into our beds to warm them up before we go to sleep.

Today was the official day the government turns on the heat... so its starting to warm up our home! It will take a little while-our part of the city is heated by coal-smoke stacks.

An estimated 8 million people live in my city

These pictures were taken in September-when it was warmer!

The smokestack is right next to our house!

We live on the 23rd floor! These are the views from our windows on a really clear day (which doesn't happen a lot). We're thankful for when it rains because it always pushes the pollution out.

We are in the process of decorating our apartment! Which includes painting on canvases (the creative side of us is coming out), hanging up our photography, and hanging a huge canvas on one of the walls to post all our pictures and fun stuff we find! Its really beginning to look like a home here! Which we are all so thankful for!

I'll post those pictures as soon as we're all finished! Which will hopefully be by next weekend!

Halloween in China!

So Halloween isn't a holiday here... but we couldn't pass up the opportunity to not celebrate!


Some friends held a small party at their place! It was a Super Hero Party! Some of us decided to make up our hero costumes and powers! It was a great time hanging out with friends!

Rach and I

Mr. Street Cleaner! (He also had mops on his feet)!

The Zoo!

We took a bus out of town about a 40 minute ride to go to the ZOO with some of our friends!

Checkout the cartoons above the sign-thats Tigger

Playing on the statues!

Talking to the monkeys

More fun!

Playing on the statues! (this one is for you mom)!

A fierce monkey!

So.... this was the bus you got in to go see the wild animals!! Checkout the bars on it!

Yah for good times with friends!

Roommates and Fish!

I officially have two roommates now! Which is exciting! They are amazing!!

Funny random story... Krista brought home a goldfish from the market one day. As soon as I saw him I thought he looked lonely and needed a friend. So the next day Krista brought home a friend for him.... It was Earl and Lennard. That night... Lennard died.

So the next afternoon I went to the market to get Earl another friend (I shouldn't have been the one to go- there were so many fish and I had such a hard time choosing)-so that night we ended up with 6 more friends for Earl!

Slowly after each day a new fish would past away (we hadn't even got to name all of them yet)-by the third day, they were all gone. We tried everything.... I just had to show you the documentation taken of getting rid of our goldfish... so we decided we're gonna stay away from fish since we can't keep them alive. :(

^Krista using chopsticks to get the dead fishes out... :(

"Then we had our burial at sea"-our fish flushed down the toliet

A Chinese Wedding-Hui Style

So we were invited to attend a Chinese wedding with some friends (the groom was a nephew of the family). Lets just say we had no idea what was about to happen...

Its Friday morning and we left at 11am and headed to the ceremony.

Since we didn't know the bride and groom we assumed and thought best if we sat in the back of the restaurant (where the ceremony was). Nope! We were sat at the table closest to the front right next to the couples' parents. Oh goodness... probably also because we were laowai (foreigners).



We ate lots of food and watched as the family and friends make fun of the couple. There were actual firecrackers and fireworks that shot out of the stage (that was a huge surprise), and we listened to people in customs sing!

The ceremony came to an end, and we thought we were headed home.... when suddenly we found out that we had been invited to the new couple's house-where the festivities and cermony for the close family takes place.



Throughout the evening jiaozi (Chinese dumplings) were made by the aunt off the side of the street so we chowed down and enjoyed the evening!
We take a rickshaw there through the Muslim district and pull out chairs onto the side of the road where we sat for a few hours waiting for the next part to begin. Now... for the next part your about to hear... we had heard rumors... but thought they were just playing jokes on us....


Thats Big Momma carrying the chains... see the cute little grandma in the back and the bride (dressed in pink)... they're a little worried



It is Hui tradition to kidnap the groom and best man and chain them to a tree.... Oh yes! And we got to take part! When the groom and best man pulled up, we saw friends and family run towards them, they were chained up very tightly to a tree out front. The bride was taken away to go 'play games.' While the poor groom and best man was left outside, they had hot tea thrown on him, black paint smeared all over their faces (also tradition), while everyone stood around and made fun of them.


It was actually hard to watch at first, but when I got through the crowd and took a close look, they were smiling and laughing along.


We made some new friends and it so happened that one of the girls is getting married next month. So we've been invited, and at least this time we actually know the bride!

We left the ceremony around 7:30pm (over 8hrs of festivities), we were told the groom and best man would be unlocked sometime in the middle of the night....