Sweet n Sour Snake Anyone?

Last week we received the following email invitation from the head of a local hospital.


Director XXXX would like invite you and your wife to have dinner ( the delicious sea food) tonight in friend way.
So, dress code for lady：following her heart, as beautiful as she can.


After spending a few minutes trying to decipher what they were saying (I'm assuming "in a friend way" meant "in a friendly way") we accepted. I know it’s a total cheap shot to make fun of their emails, considering I can’t even begin to write them a response in Chinese, but the dress code was priceless. So after following my heart, I selected a black frock and we headed to the restaurant. As is customary, we walked around the various tanks of seafood pointing to things we wanted to eat (or rather, things we were pretending we wanted to eat). At least half of the fish were floating dead at the top of the tanks, which is probably not a good sign. And then we reached the "piece de resistance": an iron cage containing several hissing snakes, next to a bucket of eels. If only I had learned the Mandarin phrase for "get me the heck outta here." Luckily, Harrison declined the snake appetizer for me (while sneakily taking a picture of the reptiles), since I ran to the opposite side of the restaurant feigning interest in the tank of shrimp.


Last night was our final dinner with SaiSai, her parents and Hong. We indulged in "the delicious sea food" passed around the lazy susan for (hopefully) the last time. Hong seemed obsessed with wanting to know if he would be able to download Chinese computer games when he gets to America without the FBI coming to arrest him. We told him we would look into the issue and get back to him.....What I really wanted to say was "it might be best to put down the Pokemon and make some friends."



Post dinner, we retired to a private room for a high-end tea tasting. I guess tea is to China as wine is to Americans. Except, of course, indulging in too much tea doesn't result in terrible dance moves and late night pizza runs. Yet another reason why there are no fat people over here. The different varietals can set you back some serious RMB and we were informed that their teapot was from the Ming Dynasty.......riiiight. It's funny how EVERYTHING over here somehow seems to be from the Ming or Ching Dynasties......Looking forward to heading to Shanghai tomorrow to attend the Duke vs. China National Team basketball game with Harrison's former employers.

Back to the Future

Hong Kong was definitely a highlight of our summer- the breathtaking views of the harbor, the restaurants and the shopping made for a wonderful weekend trip. Everything seemed so modern and hip! We were there from Thursday to Sunday and enjoyed every second. Our favorites included: taking the tram up to Victoria’s Peak and having cocktails overlooking the harbor, Italian restaurant 208, and British restaurant The Chinnery. It was definitely a “foodie’s” trip. We felt like we were back in the good ol’ USA- everyone spoke English. In fact, I think we saw more American and British bankers in Hong Kong than you would on the streets of New York.
We hit up a few of the local markets for some cheap goods and had a blast bargaining for our Chinese Halloween costumes. Harrison was intent on buying a laser pointer, which has now become the bane of my existence. In his free time, my husband/ 12 yr old roommate uses the pointer to zap unsuspecting Chinese citizens from our window. When they notice the light, he hides behind the curtains laughing. He also employs the device to point out different stocks or news stories on the TV screen. Lastly, he discovered that you can point it at the ceiling in circles creating a disco-tech effect. “It’s such a versatile device” he says. Lucky me!

Harrison gifted me with a spa treatment for our final evening which was very thoughtful! I chose the Chinese Meridian Massage, described as follows: Focus is on acupressure points and directional flow of the Qi in the body. Chinese meridian massage is more than a system of relaxation and tension release. The attention is on the subtle energy channels which influence the Qi in the organs.
Yes, I’ll admit, it sounded a little “crunchy”, but I figured, when in Rome…………

Harrison accompanied me to check-in for the appointment. As I was filling out the requisite forms, they casually mentioned: “You will have dark circular bruises covering your back for about a week due to the “cupping” technique we use. Will that be OK?”

Ummm, I was about to ask if it would be painful, but before I had chance, Harrison intervened and said that I should choose something else- perhaps he was afraid of the accusatory looks we would get walking down the street- his wife covered in bruises.

Sidenote: I actually was behind a woman this morning at Starbucks who had the tell-tale cupping bruises-they were extremely dark and painful looking- so glad I dodged that bullet!

Today officially marks the 1 WEEK COUNTDOWN til we board a flight to Newark and then Boston. Home SWEET home. We will spend the last 4 days in Shanghai. As my time in China winds down, I’ve become a bit nostalgic. We are so lucky to have gotten the chance to observe the everyday quirks of living in a foreign land. China is a mysterious place that we are only beginning to understand. What I cherish the most about our last 2 months is the abundance of time I got to spend with my best friend, Harrison. It was so wonderful to be able to share this whirlwind adventure together (all together now- awwwwww).

I’ve outlined some of my favorite and least favorite things about this summer below.

Things I Will Miss About China:
1) Weekend travel: so many exotic and memorable sites close by
2) Daily maid service
3) Nightly turndown service
4) Daily breakfast buffet
5) Cab rides that never exceed $2
6) Dumplings and noodles
7) Being the only blonde on the block
8) Saisai and her family

Things I Will NOT Miss:
1) MSG
2) Having only 2 TV channels in English (CNN International and BBC)
3) Squatty Potty
4) Exotic sea urchins for dinner
5) Only having 2 friends (besides Harrison): Chris- Manager of Club Intercontinental and Chloe- waitress at Club Intercontinental
6) Smog/ Constant Haze
7) Saying “wo bu dong” (I don’t understand) to everyone that tries to talk to me in Mandarin
8) Loud belching/spitting in public

Hmmmm, unfortunately the majority of the positives involved living in a hotel…….

We Survived Typhoon Muifa (or at least I hope we do)

I am writing you in the midst of my first ever typhoon which is aimed to make landfall directly in Qingdao sometime Monday. Scientifically speaking, a typhoon is the same thing as a hurricane (the storm is just labeled differently according to which ocean it originates in). Apparently the local government evacuated thousands of people- we must’ve missed this memo due to the fact that the local news is in Chinese- so here’s hoping the sandbags that line the marina below our hotel are sufficient…………

In preparation for the storm I headed to the grocery store for some supplies. As I scoured the aisles looking for a little slice of home, I came upon something that brought a smile to my face: The Great American Food Festival. I’m not sure it was fair to label it a “food festival” per se, but it was a stationary display that contained something Harrison and I had dreamed about since we arrived: Pace Picante Salsa and tortilla chips. I was so excited to show Harrison the spoils of my shopping trip that I almost forgot to pay. I spent the walk home trying to think of creative ways to display the jar of goodness in our hotel room to surprise him. Instead, I simply held it above my head like a trophy when he entered

He accurately commented: “I haven’t seen you this excited since I proposed.” Hmmm…..In my defense, he was equally stoked and accompanied me back to the store to see what other goodies were up for grabs- we nabbed some Oreos and Pringles, which made quite the set up for our rockin “Typhoon Fiesta”. We even decided to invite all of our friends over to celebrate the storm…..Oh wait….we don’t have any friends. Guess that means more salsa for us!
Harrison and I pushed back our trip to Hong Kong for next weekend due to an onslaught of business meetings at the hospital and the weather. Instead, we had a Stay-cation in Qingdao this weekend.

I was pleased to learn (albeit not until that very evening) that it was Chinese Valentine’s Day on Saturday. My Valentine treated me to American fare at our favorite local haunt, The Diner (where we have eaten both lunch and dinner for the past 3 days). Nothing says romance like Chinese cheeseburgers and fries. We even got a free dessert to celebrate the holiday we had no idea existed.

On Sunday we headed to an English-speaking Christian worship service taking place at our hotel. We were welcomed by a group of about 40 (mostly American) people. After hearing recent stories on CNN about the Chinese government using harsh intimidation tactics to prevent locals from attending churches, we weren’t sure what to expect. In fact, when the Frists’ were in Shanghai for Christmas last year, they were forced to show their passports to gain entry. Sure enough, the following warning sign was displayed at the beginning of the service. Overall, it was a wonderful service (free from any government interruptions) and yet another reminder of how lucky we are to worship freely back in the US. God bless you all and we will be sure to keep you updated on the storm!

Who ya gonna call.......Ghostbusters

Some of you might be imagining me frolicking along the sandy beaches of Qingdao working on my tan all summer....... but you would be wrong. Despite the fortunate fact that we live in a coastal city in China with panoramic views of the harbor from our hotel room, we have yet to go for a swim, or even touch the sand. And here's why.......Qingdao has been besieged by a thick green slime.




However, this hasn't stopped the Chinese tourists from hitting the waves. Perhaps they know something we don't about the health benefits of algae.........Hope everyone is taking advantage of the last few weeks of summer stateside. If you are enjoying the crystal blue waters of a beach somewhere, it goes without saying that I am GREEN with envy.

Peking Duck, Duck........Goose

This weekend we ventured to the Red State capital to brush up on our Chinese dynasty history. After hearing negative things about Beijing in general (pollution, traffic, etc), we viewed the trip more as an obligatory thing to check off our China list. Boy were we pleasantly surprised though!
Saisai is living in Beijing for summer and greeted us at the airport with her driver- which she graciously loaned us for the duration of the weekend. For our first meal, she whisked us off to a restaurant called “Da Dong” for a taste of the famous Peking duck. It was a trendy establishment where you have to reserve “the duck” in advance and it’s ceremoniously carved tableside. We unfortunately forgot to tell her that we had also reserved “the duck” for dinner that night as well…..so we decided to loosen our belts and dig in to the ten course lunch. When in Rome……

SaiSai is taking a GRE class in the afternoons and evenings, so she set us up with a tour guide for the weekend- a pint-sized ball of energy named Vivian. Her English teacher gave her the American name, Vivian, because she had trouble in class pronouncing the letter “V” and he thought she needed to overcome the obstacle. Well, that turned out to be a cruel joke because she has yet to master the “V” and now calls herself Rivian. But what she lacked in English skills she made up for in enthusiasm and love of country.

Our first stop was Tian’anmen Square (in the rain). On the way we decided to breach the controversial topic of the massacre in 1989. Rivian, who had clearly been sipping on the Communist kool-aid since birth, explained that the majority of Chinese students had no idea that anything controversial happened. When we pressed further, she explained that the “protestors were not smart” because they had been warned repeatedly to leave and refused to listen. I guess that’s one way of looking at it….errrrrr……

Chairman Mao’s portrait looks ominously over the Square and every light pole is flanked with no less than 15 security cameras in order to “keep the peace”. Rivian provided us with a good summary of the Ming and Ching dynasties as we wandered through the Forbidden City.

That night we serendipitously had the chance to dine and swap stories with our friends (Amanda and John) from DC who were in town for a business school trip. We enjoyed great food (more delicious duck) and convo!

We took off early Saturday morning for the main event- The Great Wall. There are several different sections of the wall to visit nearby Beijing, but we opted to drive a little further to a place called Mutianyu to avoid the crowds and take in a more dramatic, mountainous landscape. While it rained throughout the night, we were fortunate to have clear, sunny skies and a cool breeze for our visit. Our experience from start to finish far exceeded our expectations and is something we will always remember. Walking along the wall is no joke and definitely not for the faint of heart.

We elected to take an open air chair lift to reach the top of the mountain, despite Saisai’s warning about the questionable safety standards (perhaps that’s why we were the only people on the extremely steep lift without a guardrail). The views during the ride were breathtaking, even if we were scared about mechanical malfunctions. We hiked along the wall for about an hour without running into too many other people- a shocking experience for anywhere in China. All I can say is “Wow”! Mutianyu also offers the rare opportunity to take an individual toboggan ride down the mountain- also not so safe, but quite the thrill as we snaked down the track.

Next we hit up the Summer Palace that was entirely too crowded to be enjoyable. We took a Dragon Boat across the lake and then head back to our hotel for some much-needed American food. In the afternoon we hit up a few markets where Harrison proved to be the master bargainer. After I ruined his negotiation strategy twice by getting annoyed and throwing a couple of RMB at the salesgirl just so she would stop talking, we finally devised a plan where I waited around the corner while he worked his magic.

That night we dined at a posh American/ French style restaurant that overlooked The Forbidden City- which was beautiful to see lit up at night.

On our last day Harrison toured a few hospitals (with me in tow) to get a grasp on the private healthcare market and we had a traditional Cantonese dim sum breakfast with Saisai and her uncle- Chairman of one of China’s successful State Owned Enterprises. We were sad to leave such a great town with fabulous restaurants, shopping and history – hopefully we will get a chance to return again someday.

Heavenly Hangzhou

This weekend we visited Hangzhou, China for a bit of traditional Chinese culture and architecture. Hangzhou is pronounced "hong-jo", which is further evidence of why I decided to ditch learning Mandarin. All the guidebooks lauded Hangzhou as “heaven on earth” and it did not disappoint.

Our hotel was located right on the famous West Lake, so we kicked off the weekend with an early morning boat ride to get our bearings. An old, toothless Chinese manned the helm of a rowboat and steered us around for a few hours. We felt really bad for the dude since the weather was absurdly hot, but he wore a constant smile throughout the ride. That’s when we realized he was laughing all the way to the bank- making a killing off of the stupid Americans who didn’t know enough Chinese to bargain prices. Good for him….nice to see capitalism at work in the Communist country. The ride was really peaceful with lots of beautiful pagodas and bridges built into the lush setting. We were lucky to visit during Lotus Blossom season, which was lovely, but the ideal time to go is in the Fall or Spring because the stifling summer heat and humidity made any midday activities impossible.

That night we caught a performance of a Chinese folktale choreographed by the guy who did the Opening Ceremony for the Beijing Olympics. It was kinda like Cirque de Solei meets Miss Saigon- very neat special effects. We had no idea what was going on because they were singing in Chinese, but it was more fun to make up our own storyline.

The next morning Harrison was intent on renting bikes and following a rather grueling bike route through the countryside that one of our guidebooks described- the famous Chinese green tea called Dragon Well is grown in the nearby fields. Our concierge strongly recommended against doing it, claiming that the hills were much too steep and it would be “cruel to make the wife participate”. Well, that just made Harrison even more resolute. I was excited about the prospect of some exercise, which has been fairly nonexistent since we got to China. However, I was really worried about the safety aspect, especially since helmets were not an option. I mean, the driving here is atrocious. There are normal looking lanes and stoplights, but apparently they serve no functional purpose. Being a pedestrian or a biker like playing Russian Roulette. The simple act of crossing the street becomes a survival of the fittest routine. When we walk around Qingdao, Harrison usually takes my hand, looks for an opening, and then yells “sprint”. This doesn’t make for the most romantic strolls. I can’t be certain, but it’s like they view pedestrians as bowling pins- I swear they speed up when they see my speck of blonde hair enter the intersection. Nonetheless, the guidebook made the bike ride sound challenging, but with scenic views that were well worth the effort. We decided to go.

It was honestly one of the neatest experience we have had in awhile (except for the 5 minute pause in the ride when I was convinced I had been bitten by a killer Chinese spider and needed to be taken to the hospital before the poison coursed through my veins- turned out to be a mere mosquito bite...oops) . Biking through the beautiful rolling hills of tea fields into sleepy little tea villages along streams was definitely the highlight of our trip. We highly recommend visiting Hangzhou if you find yourself in China.

Dumplings Doozie

I will readily admit that I’m no Martha Stewart, but I have definitely put more of an effort into cooking since marriage- I even enjoy it sometimes…… Eager to expand my recipe repertoire, I jumped at the chance to learn the art of dumplings from SaiSai’s parents- especially since Harrison has become quite fond of the savory nuggets. We were also interested to see where they lived, since we’ve only frequented the insides of restaurants and hotels since we arrived.
So last night we got a sneak peek into the everyday life if a Qingdao resident- scratch that- a sneak peek into the life of an extremely wealthy Qingdao resident. Due to the overcrowding issues in China, seeing actual houses is a rarity. Instead, most people like the Songs live in apartments. I was under the impression we were going to have a simple dumpling making lesson culminating with a taste test. However, we were in for a real surprise when a chef, who they lauded as being the top 5 star restaurant chef in the city, greeted us at their apartment. We jumped right into the lesson- in Chinese with SaiSai translating. They took us to the various dumpling assembly stations set up around the kitchen- first mixing the various meat and veggie fillers, then rolling the dough to make the dumpling shells, and finally forming them. We all got involved in the action with gusto. They said Harrison had a real gift for the process-while the chef slyly took all the dumplings I had made off to the side to re-do…..typical.

I got rather frustrated when the insides of my dumplings kept leaking out and secretly wanted to pelt the little balls against the wall and run to the nearest McDonalds screaming. After about 20 minutes of letting us make a mockery out of Chinese cuisine, they let the chef take over and we took our places at the table. I never really got to see how the dumplings were actually cooked- but we sure did get to taste….plate after plate after plate of all kinds of dumplings- pork, beef, veggie, sweet onion…. I thought I was going to explode, but that was just the beginning. Not accepting “I’m full” as an excuse, out came sweet and sour fish, shrimp, candied yams, carrots, bok choy, mushrooms. It was honestly the best meal I’ve had in a long time. Eating in China is like a marathon, not a sprint, and Harrison and I need to start learning how to pace ourselves before we come home looking like sumo wrestlers.
Overall it was a lovely evening. They sent me home with boxes of the local green tea (which is delicious) and I can’t wait to share it with you. SaiSai’s family has been incredibly welcoming and generous to us- opening our eyes to a whole other world outside our Intercontinental Hotel.