Posted in Daily Pictures of Life in China, tagged 3 men bedding shop watch TV in China, Canon 400 D (aka Rebel Xti or Digital Kiss X), Canon ES-71II 50mm lens, Changsha, China, China street scene, expat life in Changsha, expat life in China, nighttime in China on July 2, 2011| 2 Comments »
Nighttime in China Street Scene – Boys watching TV, originally uploaded by Serenity in China.
I guess it must be girls night out . . . I think in bedding shops it’s usually women selling stuff . . . but I don’t think the gendered division of labour is as segregated as what I’ve seen while living in Korea.
J
Posted in Daily Pictures of Life in China, tagged Canon 400 D (aka Rebel Xti or Digital Kiss X), Canon ES-71II 50mm lens, Changsha, China street scene, expat life in Changsha, expat life in China, nighttime in China, Nighttime in China Street Scene Bus Stop on July 2, 2011| 1 Comment »
Nighttime in China Street Scene – Bus Stop I, originally uploaded by Serenity in China.
I’m posting this picture because you can see the * by the bus number which means that this bus has air conditioning and you have to pay 2 yuan for the fare.
Now newbies to China, myself included, should realize that just because there’s a * doesn’t mean that the interior temperature and humidity levels will be cooler than the outside conditions–in fact, a fair amount of the time it might even be hotter and more humid inside!!!
Tonight, the bus we got on actually had good air conditioning . . . and this really helps Julianne and I not get irritated by the sardine-packed-conditions of the bus we were on. There were so many people that more couldn’t enter anymore by the front entrance of the bus so they’d just climb in the back exit doors . . . this is not unusual, either, for bus culture in China from what I’ve seen.
Anyways, the extreme bus culture of China is definitely not something we will miss after leaving!
J
Posted in Chinese Food, Chinese Restaurants, Daily Pictures of Life in China, Stories about life in China, Stories about living in Changsha, tagged Canon 400 D (aka Rebel Xti or Digital Kiss X), Canon ES-71II 50mm lens, Changsha, China, China nighttime shirtless men beer snacks, China street scene, expat life in Changsha, expat life in China, nighttime in China on July 2, 2011| 4 Comments »
Well, Julianne and I are slowly nearing the end of our time in China–we leave in a couple days.
It’s been extremely hot and humid outside now for several days. Sometimes there’s a semi-cooling breeze that keeps things tolerable in the shade, and sometimes there’s not and you begin to feel like you’re walking through an outdoor sauna . . . and it’s only going to get hotter as the summer progresses!
Anyways, tonight we went out for dinner with friends. One of them had a brother visiting from America, and they had just returned from Beijing and traveling around doing the tourist thing.
We went out for Korean food and had a good time talking about the brother’s first experiences in China. I also got a great picture of him trying kimchi for the first time–he pretty much did the classic contortion and smile to try and hide the shock at how spicy/sour/salty/unlike-anything-you’ve-ever-eaten-in-your-entire-life-before-face . . . it was FANTASTIC!
Later, as we were walking around to do some shopping I saw a classic THIS IS CHINA nighttime street scene.
Shirtless, cold beers, snacks, and sitting with friends by the street having a good time . . .
Awesome!
J
Posted in Stories about life in China, Stories about living in Changsha, tagged Betty Crocker brownies in China, Canon 400 D (aka Rebel Xti or Digital Kiss X), Canon ES-71II 50mm lens, Changsha, China, expat life in Changsha, expat life in China, making brownies in China on July 1, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Julianne’s Brownies, originally uploaded by Serenity in China.
At Metro you can buy Betty Crocker brownie mix . . . yum.
While I think I’m a fairly decent cook when it comes to baking and making western style foods–Julianne is a thousand times better.
I’ve made brownies using the Betty Crocker mix, and thought they were good.
Then I tried Julianne’s brownies that she made with another package of the same Betty Crocker mix . . .
Julianne’s brownies are superior–no contest.
This morning Julianne baked up a ‘last batch of brownies in China’ for us . . .
Don’t they look good?!
J
Posted in Stories about life in China, Stories about living in Changsha, tagged Canon 400 D (aka Rebel Xti or Digital Kiss X), Canon ES-71II 50mm lens, Changsha, China, expat life in Changsha, expat life in China, foreign/western foods in Changsha/China, making Indian food in China on July 1, 2011| 1 Comment »
Julianne’s Curry Chicken II, originally uploaded by Serenity in China.
Julianne and I get asked a lot by our students and other university teachers here in China if we like Chinese food and how often we eat it, etc.
We really like Chinese food and there are very few dishes we’ve come across that we didn’t like when eating at the restaurants in Changsha.
We also, of course, like to eat western foods from North America, and foods from other cultures like India, for example.
Since we haven’t heard of any Indian restaurants in Changsha we decided to make some curry style chicken when we came across a packet of seasonings in Metro (similar to COSTCO) a few weeks ago.
The only problem was that even with the ‘prepared’ seasonings the recipe on the package called for ingredients and items we don’t have in our apartment. We also knew we couldn’t find them in Metro.
Anyways, Julianne improvised with what we had in our kitchen and produced a really good tasting curry-esque chicken dish (I’m sure substituting ketchup for pureed tomato might have altered the dish a wee bit, lol).
As a side dish we had baked potatoes which are surprisingly cheap to buy here.
It is possible to cook western/foreign food dishes here in Changsha but it pays to bring spices you love from home on the plane. You can get quite a few at Metro and Carrefour, but others are impossible to find.
Next week I’ll be back in Canada and can’t wait to go into a grocery store and experience the extreme reverse-culture-shock of seeing so many choices . . . it really hits home how privileged one is to live in Canada after being overseas for several years.
Happy Canada Day!!!
J
Posted in Chinese Restaurants, Daily Pictures of Life in China, tagged Canon 400 D (aka Rebel Xti or Digital Kiss X), Canon ES-71II 50mm lens, Changsha, China, Chinese food, expat life in Changsha, expat life in China, Mao's favorite foods in Changsha Hunan, Maojing restaurant in Changsha Hunan province on June 25, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Chinese Food at Maojia Restaurant, Changsha (14), originally uploaded by Serenity in China.
Well, today was my birthday and Julianne and I went out for dinner at Maojia’s Restaurant with our student assistant and his girlfriend.
Apparently the owner of this restaurant is a relative of Mao’s and the menu has several of his favorite dishes. We ordered some of them and I took close-up shots of each dish which you can see on my flickr page.
I found it a ‘little’ ironic that the menu was a GIANT RED BOOK, lol. I should have snapped a picture but forgot to. There was a picture on the cover of Mao and some of his relatives and in particular the woman that owns the restaurant; I’m supposed to get an email soon with a link to the picture as it’s ‘famous in China’ so I’ll add that to this post.
Getting a taxi back to the apartment was a bit of a task with Saturday night traffic, and then, of course, we rear-ended another taxi . . . luckily it was just a tiny bump.
The driver got out of his car and looked like he was going to try and throw a fit to get some cash but I gave him my best teacher-look-of-don’t-you-dare-do-that and he hesitated, and I kept staring him down as the driver of our taxi got out to talk to him . . . and luckily the other driver decided he didn’t want to throw a temper tantrum, and gather a crowd of people around to hold a ‘street court judgement session’ which seems to happen in China with these kinds of situations. Before the other driver gave up, though, an old guy on a scooter stopped when we first bumped the taxi and said a comment, and two other guys then wandered over from the sidewalk. . . but luckily for Julianne and I the other driver gave up and drove off.
I guess the last thing to say about my birthday is that the Chinese weather gods must have decided to send me a gift today because the heat and humidity were pretty much absent when I headed out tonight for dinner. There was a blue sky, some nice sunlight, a good breeze, low humidity and the heat of summer was absent–nice!
J
Posted in Chinese Food, Chinese Restaurants, Daily Pictures of Life in China, tagged Changsha, China, Chinese food, expat life in Changsha, expat life in China, iTouch pictures in China, native English speaker and noodles difficult/problems chopsticks on June 24, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Some people can use chopsticks and others hold two sticks in their hand like they’re paralyzed from the wrist down, lol.
After learning how to use Korean metal chopsticks to pick up small nuts, anything food that is wet or slimy, and NOODLES which are the ultimate metal chopstick test in my mind I’ve gotten quite good with them.
Tonight, however, I was reminded how some people can be ‘chopstick-challenged’ as I watched a friend trying to get noodles into her bowl . . . sorry “A,” it looked funny to me, lol.
The best part about all of this is “A” speaks Chinese fluently (she’d deny that, but she is really good) . . . but “A + chopsticks + noodles” = potential for disaster.
Anyways, dinner was GOOD tonight!
J
NOTE: To all people living in Asia (especially Korea) please don’t read this post as validating the MYTH/FALSE BELIEF that many people have about westerners/native English speakers being incapable of using chopsticks–some of us can use them very well, some moderately well, and some are hopelessly unable to use them. Using chopsticks is NOT like brain surgery–as one Korean surgeon told a news reporter in a story I read (RIDICULOUS!)–and it’s more a matter of familiarity and practice than any kind of innate RACIAL ability!
Posted in Chinese Food, Chinese Restaurants, Daily Pictures of Life in China, tagged Changsha, China, Chinese food, Chinese Restaurant - The Ubiquitous Toilet Paper Roll, expat life in Changsha, expat life in China, iTouch pictures in China on June 24, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Went out tonight for Chinese food with friends and left my camera and lenses inside the air conditioning to get a break from the heat and humidity.
While we all were getting settled at the table I snapped this picture with my iTouch camera.
The ubiquitous roll of toilet paper (used as napkins in Asia) sat front and center.
In the background, someone’s ‘sticker feng shui‘ had been shotgunned all over the wall, lol.
The best part of dinner was when I shot some pics of the dishes as they arrived and the hostess and server were ooing and ahhhing over them, lol. I thought of my Canon DSLR and Canon ES-71II 50mm lens aka my ‘food lens’ and the contrast in quality of picture . . . I think if I showed them shots I’ve taken of their food in the past from my GOOD camera their heads might explode . . .lol.
Dinner was YUMMY! However, at one point we were all glued to the TV as flooding video was shown from Beijing–nutbar!
As I write this I’m still feeling full from the good food which I will definitely miss once I’m back in Canada.
J
Posted in Daily Pictures of Life in China, tagged Canon 400 D (aka Rebel Xti or Digital Kiss X), Changsha, China, expat life in Changsha, expat life in China, lotus blossoms in China, Lotus Blossoms in Martyr's Park, Martyr's Park in Changsha, Sigma 120-400mm telephoto lens picture on June 23, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Lotus Blossoms in Martyr’s Park 081, originally uploaded by Serenity in China.
During my early morning walk around a park in China I returned to the lotus blossom ‘garden’ sitting at the end of one of the lakes in Martyr’s Park.
This time I came with my Sigma 120-400mm telephoto lens and tripod and was able to shoot blossoms that sit much further out than my Canon 100mm macro could reach . . .
This picture is one of my favorites from this morning’s shoot.
J
Posted in Daily Pictures of Life in China, tagged Canon 400 D (aka Rebel Xti or Digital Kiss X), Changsha, China, Chinese woman fan dancing in park, early morning China park, early morning China park activity, expat life in Changsha, expat life in China, Martyr's Park in Changsha, Sigma 120-400mm telephoto lens picture on June 23, 2011| Leave a Comment »
China Park Scene – Women Fan Dancing, originally uploaded by Serenity in China.
This morning I did something for the first time in China: I got up quite early and went for a walk with my camera in Martyr’s Park.
This is something I really should have done a long time ago! Let me explain.
The early morning culture of parks in China is something I’ve read about on other blogs and websites. I knew about how there are people doing Tai-chi, dancing, and several other activities usually in groups.
What I didn’t realize was how many Chinese people go to the park early in the morning–although I should say that it seemed to be mostly elderly people over 50.
I saw groups of people learning dance routines to English pop songs (Lady Gaga has a huge following in China which is an UNDERSTATEMENT to say the least).
I saw groups of women learning how to belly dance . . . and one sub-group doing some kind of squatting position-movement practice to music that was just a little too . . . ‘erotic,’ lol. Maybe Patrick Swayze has an underground following here . . . hehehe.
I saw a group of elderly men and women doing what I think is Tai-chi with swords . . . and tried to imagine older Canadians I know doing the same thing and struggled because seniors in Canada that I know don’t do much that I would consider physically demanding. Some of the positions and movements the Chinese elderly were doing with their swords in the early morning heat and humidity would likely be beyond the elderly I know.
I saw ballroom dancing groups in several locations too . . . and the list goes on.
At the end of my walk around the park I came across a group of women doing what I’m going to call ‘fan dancing.’ One of the woman in particular was very graceful and elegant–and the picture in this post of of her dancing.
Julianne and I will definitely be heading out to the park at least a couple more times early in the morning before we leave China–and if you visit China I definitely recommend it as one of the most enjoyable (and free!) cultural experiences you can have here.
J
Serenity in China 