After I came home from China the first time, I got a lot of questions from those curious about my Asia adventure about the strangest thing I’ve ever eaten. They cringed as I told them of eating chicken stomach and lamb heart, but I knew my culinary experiences was nothing compared to what I could have been faced with eating. And then I moved to Nanjing. In the past two months I’ve been here I’ve had an assortment of oddly prepared things like eel (different from the kind you get on sushi), duck (bone and all), pig cartilage, whole shrimps and octopus (no, not like calamari). But strange food has now been taken to a whole new level. I’ve eaten a stir-fried cicada.
In case you are unfamiliar with what a cicada is, google image it. Cicadas are basically like crickets on steroids that kind of resemble a cockroaches. It was on my adventure to Changzhou with my neighbors that this catastrophic event took place. My Chinese family had joked before about making me try one before, but now they were serious. That morning when I went over to Ellen’s I saw two bags of, yes, you are reading this right, stir-fried cicadas. I think Ellen saw my look of horror when I saw the bags they were packing up and asked if I wanted to try it now. I told her “I have a rule that I don’t eat bugs before noon.” I don’t think she got the joke. “But you must later,” she told me. Oh no.
On a side note, the longer I’m here, the more I wonder why Chinese people eat some of the stuff they do. I’ll preface this with saying that I think most Chinese food is really good. Your average restaurant has great dishes that make American food seem bland and processed. However, I don’t think Chinese people have grasped the concept of tasty snack food. Even just walking around the dinosaur amusement park looking at all the different snack stands I couldn’t help but turn up my nose at the meat sticks, stinky tofu and other “treats” Chinese people like to indulge in. Where was the cotton candy, the funnel cakes, the snow cones and the turkey legs? Octopus on a stick? No thank you. Although, I did eat the chicken meat stick Ellen’s dad bought me, even though I said I wasn’t hungry. And then there is the dried fruit with salt that my coworkers love to snack on. To me, it just tastes bad. What happened to peanut butter crackers, pretzels or just a regular piece of fruit? Chinese people just eat weird things sometimes. Like the cicada.
And back to my battle with the bug, Ellen finally caught me in a moment when I couldn’t refuse trying one. After all, it was well after noon. She doesn’t like them either, and I told her I’d only eat one if she did too. “You’re so bad,” she said. No, you are for making me eat this. So I watched she bit the back half of it, chewed and swallowed. I followed her lead. I closed my eyes as I bit the back half of this brown bug. It had a little crunch to it and taste was actually bearable, not good, but bearable. Half the battle was done. But now came time for the head and limbs. After about 30 seconds of evaluating how to get this down without visibly gagging and offending the family, I popped it in, chewed with a half grimace and then tried to swallow. No luck. A gag reflex I haven’t experienced since I was a child being forced to eat peas took over my entire body. I hadn’t even swallowed and my whole body was already rejecting this so-called food. I thought I was literally going to be sick. I took a cracker and thankfully that helped me swallow the rest of my buggy friend, but my stomach still turns every time I think about it. And I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone else.
So, not only did I spend my holiday paying homage to communism and indulging in my neighbors’ excitement to take me to an amusement park, but I also have filled my quota, I’m going to say for the year, of trying new things. Will I have another meat stick in my life? Probably. Will I eat the dried salty fruit my coworkers bring me? Yes but will try to hide the grimace. Will I eat another cicada? That’s a resounding no. And next time you bite into your wheat thins, crave a funnel cake or enjoy real dried fruit, think of instead being subjected to eat something far worse... Like a cicada.
Oct 10, 2009
Dinosaur Botanical Gardens
Back to work, back to work. My holiday is officially over. I realize that I just had the last eight days off, and that is no excuse for not posting more in the last few days. In my defense, I was fighting off a terrible cold the last half of the break. That’s enough of an excuse, right?
Well other than fighting off cold/flu symptoms, the holiday was really enjoyable. Not only did I do something “cultural” and see communist propaganda at its finest, but I also went on a little adventure with Ellen and her family to a city two hours from Nanjing called Changzhou. So I can say confidently that I left Nanjing during the holiday, even if it was only for a day. Don’t be jealous though, there’s not much in Changzhou. And in all honesty, I didn’t really want to go. My Chinese family had invited me to go a while back, but Ellen got sick and couldn’t go. When I tried to make up an excuse as to why I couldn’t go this time and I saw the look of disappointment on Ellen’s mom’s face, I knew it was too late to get out out of it.
Ellen had told me that her mom’s family lives in Changzhou, so I figured this was the “meet your new extended family” trip. And then Ellen told me we were going to some “dinosaur botanical garden”... that was the Chinese translation. What? Dinosaur botanical garden? Was I going to be looking at dinosaur fossils? Was this going to be a park of bushes cut in the shape of dinosaurs? What was I getting myself into? And then she told me we’d be leaving at 5 am for the two-hour car ride to Changzhou. A 5 am wake-up call on a holiday? Ok, now what had I agreed to?
Luckily the time changed to 6:30, slightly more reasonable, and Ellen and I passed out during the car ride to Changzhou. I was reassured when I realized we’d be taking the family car, because I didn’t think I could handle public transportation that early in the morning. With a pretty tame trip over to Changzhou, I finally realized our day at the dinosaur botanical gardens was actually an amusement park. When I saw Ellen’s face light up as we were approaching the park, I couldn’t help but feel somewhat excited too. Sure I may be 22 years old, but I’m not too old to get excited about an amusement park. Mostly I was excited to just see what a Chinese version of Six Flags would be like. I would definitely not equate this place to Disney World and even Six Flags is a stretch. Since we went on a holiday, the place was packed with visitors, much to Ellen’s disappointment. And while she was lamenting over the prospect of long lines for the rides, I was was lamenting over the thousands of stares I would be getting that day. Being blonde in China is tough duty.
The park was actually pretty nice. It was very clean and green, and if there wasn’t so many black heads everywhere, I would have thought I was at a park back home. The rides were pretty lame, except for the water ride where my jeans got soaked despite buying a “poncho” for the ride. Ellen’s energy level was high all day and she was antsy as we waited in the long lines for the rides. Luckily, I brought along my Chinese phrase book, so we quizzed each other on words and taught each other new phrases. I even learned that the word for dinosaur can also be used as a name for a rude girl. I’ve learned a new Chinese insult! During the day, I did have lots of stares and a few random people taking out their cameras and taking shots of me, the token foreigner. I probably should have charged them, but I was feeling generous.
Overall the park was fun, and it was a good time to practice my Chinese. I even got to meet some more of my Chinese family. They tried to set me up with Ellen’s 24-year-old cousin, but considering he speaks even less English than I speak Chinese, I don’t think that’ll happen. I just don’t think I will ever date a Chinese guy (reasons why will be a later post). And despite my previous feelings of not wanting to go to Changzhou, I was glad I got to experience an authentic Chinese activity with my Chinese family. I feel lucky to have people here who are looking out for me. I also feel lucky that there is Disney World.
Well other than fighting off cold/flu symptoms, the holiday was really enjoyable. Not only did I do something “cultural” and see communist propaganda at its finest, but I also went on a little adventure with Ellen and her family to a city two hours from Nanjing called Changzhou. So I can say confidently that I left Nanjing during the holiday, even if it was only for a day. Don’t be jealous though, there’s not much in Changzhou. And in all honesty, I didn’t really want to go. My Chinese family had invited me to go a while back, but Ellen got sick and couldn’t go. When I tried to make up an excuse as to why I couldn’t go this time and I saw the look of disappointment on Ellen’s mom’s face, I knew it was too late to get out out of it.
Ellen had told me that her mom’s family lives in Changzhou, so I figured this was the “meet your new extended family” trip. And then Ellen told me we were going to some “dinosaur botanical garden”... that was the Chinese translation. What? Dinosaur botanical garden? Was I going to be looking at dinosaur fossils? Was this going to be a park of bushes cut in the shape of dinosaurs? What was I getting myself into? And then she told me we’d be leaving at 5 am for the two-hour car ride to Changzhou. A 5 am wake-up call on a holiday? Ok, now what had I agreed to?
Luckily the time changed to 6:30, slightly more reasonable, and Ellen and I passed out during the car ride to Changzhou. I was reassured when I realized we’d be taking the family car, because I didn’t think I could handle public transportation that early in the morning. With a pretty tame trip over to Changzhou, I finally realized our day at the dinosaur botanical gardens was actually an amusement park. When I saw Ellen’s face light up as we were approaching the park, I couldn’t help but feel somewhat excited too. Sure I may be 22 years old, but I’m not too old to get excited about an amusement park. Mostly I was excited to just see what a Chinese version of Six Flags would be like. I would definitely not equate this place to Disney World and even Six Flags is a stretch. Since we went on a holiday, the place was packed with visitors, much to Ellen’s disappointment. And while she was lamenting over the prospect of long lines for the rides, I was was lamenting over the thousands of stares I would be getting that day. Being blonde in China is tough duty.
The park was actually pretty nice. It was very clean and green, and if there wasn’t so many black heads everywhere, I would have thought I was at a park back home. The rides were pretty lame, except for the water ride where my jeans got soaked despite buying a “poncho” for the ride. Ellen’s energy level was high all day and she was antsy as we waited in the long lines for the rides. Luckily, I brought along my Chinese phrase book, so we quizzed each other on words and taught each other new phrases. I even learned that the word for dinosaur can also be used as a name for a rude girl. I’ve learned a new Chinese insult! During the day, I did have lots of stares and a few random people taking out their cameras and taking shots of me, the token foreigner. I probably should have charged them, but I was feeling generous.
Overall the park was fun, and it was a good time to practice my Chinese. I even got to meet some more of my Chinese family. They tried to set me up with Ellen’s 24-year-old cousin, but considering he speaks even less English than I speak Chinese, I don’t think that’ll happen. I just don’t think I will ever date a Chinese guy (reasons why will be a later post). And despite my previous feelings of not wanting to go to Changzhou, I was glad I got to experience an authentic Chinese activity with my Chinese family. I feel lucky to have people here who are looking out for me. I also feel lucky that there is Disney World.
Oct 7, 2009
My Homage to Communist China
I can sufficiently say that I’ve done my part to honor Chinese National Day. To show my support (I’m using that word tentatively) I saw the film of 2009 here in China. A friend had free tickets to check out China’s pride and joy for the 60th anniversary, The Founding of a Republic. The movie is about the foundation of the communist party in China and is more of an ode to Mao than any else.
I mean it is pure propaganda and there were a few times when we, the only two foreigners in the theater, looked at each other with slightly confused faces. We decided before hand that outbursts of “wrong” or the like wouldn’t be appreciated, so we kept relatively quiet. For a movie that the government spent good money to make, it sure could have been a lot more exciting. In a nut shell, the movie is just groups of old Chinese men talking and montages of Mao. But the movie boasts that there are all these famous Chinese actors and actresses. Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Zhang Ziyi, all make their appearances but knew better than to commit to anything more than a five minute appearance. I wish I knew to only stay for five minutes.
Honestly, it was a painful two and half hours and there were points when I almost feel asleep, something I can say that I’ve never done. Now I know why the tickets were free. I’m familiar with Chinese history and I’d bet that I know more than the average American, but I was still hoping to be informed and learn something new from the film (for those of you who don’t know Chinese history, you can get the run-down on Wikipedia). Instead, I left a bit annoyed, I’d dare to say mad. It wasn’t the use of “democracy” by Mao (which I find highly suspect), the terrible direction of the film or even the cliche montages (some that involved close-ups of a single tear running down Mao’s face or him playing in a field of flowers with his daughter and niece). No, I was annoyed because they got America all wrong.
There are a few foreigners in the film, which was kind of a shock to me that these people actually agreed to be in the movie. One is the US ambassador, who happens to speak with a British accent. I’m sorry, I didn’t realize we had Brits serving as ambassadors. The icing on the cake was a scene where the then-presidents’ (Chinese president) wife goes to the USA to try to get the US’s involvement in the civil war. She’s walking through the White House where there’s these US Marines standing on guard. There’s one black and one white marine and the black one proceeds to blatantly check her out. After the white one gets his attention, the checker-outer goes “Damn. He’s really hot.” Oh really? In the 1940’s people spoke like that? I don’t think so. It did get some good laughs from the Chinese audience, but us Americans just bristled.
After a few nods to sleep, I survived this lame movie. It had the potential to be really good, and Chinese history is actually pretty interesting. But the director decided to stay away from any scene that could show true hardship the Chinese faced during this time of civil war and turned it into garbage. And thankfully, it’s not just the Americans who couldn’t stand the movie. I told Ellen I had gone to see it and she looked at me with a little bit of shock and asked if I liked it. I told her it was OK, and she kind of smiled like “I know you’re lying.” She told me she didn’t really like it and that her mom actually fell asleep (her mom and I have a lot in common it seems). She did add that it was a movie every Chinese would probably see, but she didn’t say enjoy.
So I feel that I can say with some confidence that I have done my part to be “patriotic” toward the Chinese this holiday. While I’m still here suffering without Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc., I’ve been a good “lao wai” and done something “Chinese.” I can talk about it with my Chinese friends and impress them with my openness to Chinese film and “pop culture.” But for now, I’m just going to go to McDonalds and think of home over a double cheeseburger and french fries.
I mean it is pure propaganda and there were a few times when we, the only two foreigners in the theater, looked at each other with slightly confused faces. We decided before hand that outbursts of “wrong” or the like wouldn’t be appreciated, so we kept relatively quiet. For a movie that the government spent good money to make, it sure could have been a lot more exciting. In a nut shell, the movie is just groups of old Chinese men talking and montages of Mao. But the movie boasts that there are all these famous Chinese actors and actresses. Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Zhang Ziyi, all make their appearances but knew better than to commit to anything more than a five minute appearance. I wish I knew to only stay for five minutes.
Honestly, it was a painful two and half hours and there were points when I almost feel asleep, something I can say that I’ve never done. Now I know why the tickets were free. I’m familiar with Chinese history and I’d bet that I know more than the average American, but I was still hoping to be informed and learn something new from the film (for those of you who don’t know Chinese history, you can get the run-down on Wikipedia). Instead, I left a bit annoyed, I’d dare to say mad. It wasn’t the use of “democracy” by Mao (which I find highly suspect), the terrible direction of the film or even the cliche montages (some that involved close-ups of a single tear running down Mao’s face or him playing in a field of flowers with his daughter and niece). No, I was annoyed because they got America all wrong.
There are a few foreigners in the film, which was kind of a shock to me that these people actually agreed to be in the movie. One is the US ambassador, who happens to speak with a British accent. I’m sorry, I didn’t realize we had Brits serving as ambassadors. The icing on the cake was a scene where the then-presidents’ (Chinese president) wife goes to the USA to try to get the US’s involvement in the civil war. She’s walking through the White House where there’s these US Marines standing on guard. There’s one black and one white marine and the black one proceeds to blatantly check her out. After the white one gets his attention, the checker-outer goes “Damn. He’s really hot.” Oh really? In the 1940’s people spoke like that? I don’t think so. It did get some good laughs from the Chinese audience, but us Americans just bristled.
After a few nods to sleep, I survived this lame movie. It had the potential to be really good, and Chinese history is actually pretty interesting. But the director decided to stay away from any scene that could show true hardship the Chinese faced during this time of civil war and turned it into garbage. And thankfully, it’s not just the Americans who couldn’t stand the movie. I told Ellen I had gone to see it and she looked at me with a little bit of shock and asked if I liked it. I told her it was OK, and she kind of smiled like “I know you’re lying.” She told me she didn’t really like it and that her mom actually fell asleep (her mom and I have a lot in common it seems). She did add that it was a movie every Chinese would probably see, but she didn’t say enjoy.
So I feel that I can say with some confidence that I have done my part to be “patriotic” toward the Chinese this holiday. While I’m still here suffering without Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc., I’ve been a good “lao wai” and done something “Chinese.” I can talk about it with my Chinese friends and impress them with my openness to Chinese film and “pop culture.” But for now, I’m just going to go to McDonalds and think of home over a double cheeseburger and french fries.
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