What's That? Wednesday: Dining in China

My observations for dining in China are primarily based on eating at non-Chinese food restaurants.  I’m sure that there is a whole other set of findings to be made when dining on Chinese cuisine.  Although our family enjoys Chinese food, minus the chicken feet (which I’ve had no desire to try), we spend a lot of time in the international restaurants. We enjoy eating Indian, Thai, German, Mexican and “American” food.

EBean eating at Heidi's on Singa Plaza
during the first week we moved to China.

Here are a few of the things I have learned along the way...

Once you are seated and the waiter/waitress hands you your menu, you are left alone until you call him or her back to your table.  Often times this involves yelling “waitress” across the restaurant and waving your arms.  This tends to bring most Americans (i.e. me) out of their comfort zones.  But other than that, I tend to like it because you don’t get a waiter that asks the inevitable “How is everything?” as you’ve just taken a big bite.  I also don’t feel like they are hovering and waiting for you to pay so they can boot you out of the restaurant.

LBean enjoying the foosball table at the
German restaurant across the street called "Big & Whistle".
Formerly known as Pig & Whistle....

Perhaps the servers don’t bother to “hover” because there is NO TIPPING in China  (unless you are in a big city at a really fancy Western-style restaurant or hotel). I think their philosophy is, stay as long as you’d like!

Appetizers don’t necessarily come first.  Some times appetizers become dessert…even if you specifically ask for them to be served first.  Makes me laugh! In fact, main courses usually aren’t served to all the diners at the same time either.  We have learned to eat when your food arrives and not wait, or someone’s food will be certainly cold.  

An appetizer that arrived on time, but without the
advertised sauce.  My friend decided that maybe the
sauce was "optional"!

You can tell how many expats (expatriates) a restaurant serves based on the question “Would you like ice?”  The Chinese tend to drink warm or hot drinks and avoid cold drinks.  It’s been explained to us that your body has to heat up (like a fever) to stabilize your body’s internal temperature after drinking something cold, so why would you want to cause a “fever” reaction in your body?  I am a risk-taker, so I don’t mind getting my body’s ying and yang off balance and enjoy ordering lots of ice!

EBean enjoying her "bing hong cha" (iced tea).

The bathroom situation varies.  Some restaurants, like ones in a shopping mall, don’t even have a restroom, and you are expected to use the mall’s bathrooms.  Odd? Yes. It tends to not be a problem unless you have small children who need to be accompanied.   It’s even harder when I have the girls by myself (no spouse to divide an conquer parenting duties).  I must encourage everyone to “eat fast.” And, if one insists, “But I have to go NOW!!”. We must abandon our food and make a hasty exit.    There are some establishments with their own restrooms, but the sinks are often outside the restroom.   I actually like this set-up, because it is easy to tell the kids to run and wash their hands before and after eating without having to go with them into the bathroom.

Napkins and tissue are like gold (I’ve got you wondering about this one, right?!).  For some reason in China, paper products are scarce and closely guarded.  There aren’t many napkin dispensers in restaurants. If you’re lucky, you might  get one or two with your order.  We often ask for more napkins.  Now, for the tissue.The lack of paper often extends into the bathroom...always carry tissue (just FYI)!

LBean has taken the award for the best chopstick skills,
but EBean gets the award for most adventuresome eater.
(LBean enjoying the beef on rocks at Yang Yang's in Old Town.)

Thanksgiving: Chinese Style

We were able to celebrate Thanksgiving in our own special "Chinese" way.  As you might guess, Thanksgiving is not a recognized Chinese holiday, so Jamie had to work and LBean had school.  But, in some ways that was okay with me.  It felt like a normal, routine day for our family and I wasn't so homesick for family (plus it helped knowing that we would be flying back to the US in 3 weeks).

LBean's school had a food drive, so we were able to make connections between what LBean was doing at school and the American Thanksgiving holiday.  Also as a family, we created a "thankful" tree that we hung on our wall and added new "leaves" after dinner for things that we were thankful for.  And thanks to some really thoughtful friends, we had plenty of Thanksgiving crafts to keep us busy during the weeks leading up to the holiday.

My girls LOVE to craft!

Although Thanksgiving is not a Chinese holiday, the local restaurants and hotels know who their target audience is and there were many options for Thanksgiving dinner.  Thanksgiving night we got together with several expat families from Jamie's company at a local German restaurant for a traditional meal of turkey, cranberry salad (mmm, I had seconds) and even green bean casserole (although it was obvious that the green beans were fresh and not from a can, which meant a slightly different texture).  I have to say that it was the first time we've ever been within walking distance of where our Thanksgiving meal was going to be.  One of the wives brought Jumer's rolls and I brought our family's traditional sugar cookies...in the shape of turkeys of course.  Before we moved, I purchased a Tupperware container for all our cutters just like my Aunt Dorothy's (our family's official sugar cookie baker) because I knew it was my responsibility to bring the tradition to China.

Mark had the official duty of carving the turkey, which was so good!

EBean with Cathy, whom I affectionately call "China Grandma".
Cathy really isn't old enough to be a grandma, but in the summer when I
was telling the girls about how they were going to like Cathy and she was
going "love on them",  LBean said "like a grandma?"  LBean got it right,
Cathy loves on them like a grandma and has mothered me a
when I needed it!

Those bright orange turkey sugar cookies!

We ended the night lighting a few Chinese lanterns, watching some fireworks and enjoying the laser-light show at RainboWalk.  It was a nice evening and it was really fun to get together with other company families.  Although the employees see each other at work, the spouses run errands together, and the kids go to the same schools, it's rare to have an opportunity for whole families to get together.

Lighting the lantern

...and up it goes.  There's actually a bit of a trick to it.
You have to hold it just long enough to allow a sufficient
amount of warm air to build up and carry the lantern away.

EBean and I were in for a treat on Friday morning.  We were able to Skype with Jamie's family who were all together at Jamie's sister's house ending their Thanksgiving dinner (it was Thursday evening there).  We literally could have made a Skype commercial...it was so cute.  The computer got passed around Jamie's family (who were all sitting around the kitchen table) and EBean and I were able to spend close to an hour talking to everyone.

Our family has so many things to be thankful for and our time in China is one of them.

The first 168 hours

Our first week in China has already come and gone.  We packed a lot into seven days!  Although we flew out on Sunday morning, we arrived on Monday afternoon.  The 13 hour flight and 13 hour time change caused us to loose a half a day, a whole lot of sleep.

For the first two mornings our task was to visit various furniture stores to choose new things for our apartment.  We are bringing some of our own furniture (our beds, china hutch, couches), but other furniture will be purchased by the landlord and then remain in the apartment after we move out.  Furniture shopping with two young kids isn't any fun anyway, but throw in a lot of jet lag and you have a potential disaster.  We tried to make the most of it and was fun to see hear the girls' opinions on things.  LBean was really into the "princess furniture" which was the over-the-top Louis the 14th frilly and sparkly furniture.

I wish I could explain the size of of the furniture buildings that we went walked through.  Just to give you an idea, maybe the size of the Galleria in St. Louis and filled with only furniture stores.  And then, next to it another building the same size with more furniture.  Then repeat that on the other side of the street.  It's appropriately known as Furniture Row.

 




We had the excuse of nap time to go back to the hotel and rest in the heat of the afternoon.  Illinois and China have had about the same amount of heat and humidity this past week.  Then, we'd wake up around 6 p.m. and try to drag ourselves to dinner.

On Thursday morning we drove out to Dulwich College where LBean will be going to kindergarten.  We turned in our application and got to walk through a bit of the lower level of the DUCKS (DUlwich College Kindergarten School) building.  Then back to Furniture Row to finish picking out furniture.

Friday morning was our "health exam".  The government requires that adults applying for a residency visa participate in a health exam.  Our realtor, who should really be called a relocation specialist because of all the work she does (helps us fill out paperwork, find a driver, order furniture, visit the school, etc.) went with us.  It was an interesting experience in part because I didn't know what was involved in the exam...or how complete would it be?!

We moved from room to room visiting each testing station.  We completed a vision, hearing, dental screenings, blood-work, an x-ray, EKG and renal sonogram.  HIPPA laws aren't in affect here so I was present when Jamie had his renal sonogram and the technician complimented him on his lovely kidneys.  I hopped up on the table fully expecting the same result.  Hah!   The technician started calling out "kid-di-ney" like she was looking for a lost pet.  Uh-oh.  Then she called over another technician and they both stared at the screen, hemming and hawing in Chinese.  I have no idea what the problem was, Jamie thinks maybe they were concerned about kidney stones, and after they asked me if I had ever had my kidneys looked at (I had and they were fine), I was allowed to get up from the table.  During another one of the tests the technician told me to relax and I couldn't help it, I laughed out loud.  I wanted to say politely, "listen here lady, there is nothing relaxing about this process".  But, it's done and we were happy to move on with our day.

A fun part of the week has been exploring different shopping areas of the city.   We tried to learn where I will be shopping and what stores I'll need to go to for clothing, household items, and food.  We visited the Korean market near our apartment complex, the Incity mall (with Wal-Mart), Auchan (pronounced O-shawn), which is the Chinese version of Wal-Mart, and Times Square (an indoor/outdoor mall area with a Toys 'r Us).

During our shopping we have been very aware of the fascination with our girls.  As you can imagine, blond hair, light eyes and pale skin is very unusual here (and some consider it lucky).  Our girls, especially EBean literally draws a crowd.  Old men will stop walking to stare at them (it's not rude to stare in Chinese culture), people will take pictures (sometimes they try to be sneaky), and I've seen women double-back just to walk by a second time to see our girls.  I'm sure this will get very old during the next few years, but for now it's nice hearing "piao liang" (pretty) and "mei li" (beautiful).  Some Asian women try to lighten their skin to show that they are wealthy enough to not have to labor outside in the sun and American women try tan to show they have the time to sit in the sun and not work.  You can't win!

At JDL, a furniture store in Times Square.

At the carpet store in Furniture Row.

Friday night we walked to a near-by German restaurant at RainboWalk for dinner.  Sometimes its best to ease into a culture slowly right?! The restaurant is called Big & Whistle (not sure why), but I had heard that was originally called Pig & Whistle.  I have no idea what brought on the name change!  There is a good size German ex-pat community here and I must say we benefited from this.  Big & Whistle was fantastic!  Fresh, homemade pretzel rolls, mashed potatoes, peas & carrots and for me Sheppard's pie.  Yummy!  We have avoided any fruits or veggies that have been washed in local water, which has limited the variety in our meals.  It was great to see the girls chowing down on good 'ole peas & carrots.

People starting to gather by the lake for the 8 p.m. laser light show.

The Rainbo Walk building.  Great Mexican & German
restaurants and Cold Stone Creamery.

We walked back to the hotel along the lake where the laser light show is performed every Friday and Saturday night.  It was a bit loud for LBean, but in the future she'll be able to see it from her bedroom in the apartment.  It was impressive and we watched the finale from our hotel room.

The laser light show set to music and a little bit of fire thrown in too.

The view from our hotel room.

Saturday morning we had our driver take us to Times Square, an area across the lake with shopping (both indoor and outdoor), food and entertainment.  The top floor was almost like a children's museum and it will be a nice place to visit when it's raining.  We found the Toys 'r Us and then crossed a walkway and discovered another toy store.

Jamie got a new Lego set at the second toy store....one that can no longer be found in the States.  So everyone came away happy!

For lunch we were very daring and had...Burger King.  (Remember what I said about easing into the culture slowly?) 

LBean asked for this picture.

Our week ended with a bang, literally.  We successfully made it to Fellowship by catching a bus provided by the Fellowship near our new apartment.  Because of the time we had to get onto the bus, we were not only on time for fellowship, but early.  Shocking, I know! (Stop laughing all you WCC folks.) LBean decided that she would like to go to her class and Ebean sat with us.  Things were a bit different this week because the pastor was back in the States.  So, by the time the service was done, we collected LBean and walked to the bus stop, the buses had left and it had begun pouring.

As we left Fellowship I'm pretty sure that I was chided by a Chinese grandma.  She was upset that I had borrowed EBean's miniature umbrella (who was protected in her stroller) to cover my head.  Sometimes you don't have to speak the language to understand the intent.  Oh well, you can't please everyone!

We huddled in a public restroom with all of the Chinese workers that had come in from working in the park and LBean's Sunday school teacher and his family.  They had also missed the bus and were waiting out the storm too.  Between our ability to call the hotel for assistance and LBean's Sunday School teacher's amazing Chinese speaking skills, we agreed to pay the hotel to send their bus to pick us up.  Most of the city was using all of the available taxis and the other option was to walk the four miles back.  In the mean time, EBean slept through most of it and LBean ran around with her three new friends, the Sunday School teacher's children.  They enjoyed squealing every time it thundered or lightening over our head and peeked at the Chinese bride that was getting ready for her wedding pictures.  I got to talk with LBean's friends parents and make a new friend too.

Finally the bus arrived and the girls insisted on sitting together.  They were soaked, but very happy (which made me happy too).  The warm baths and room service we had at the hotel made up for the unpleasant part of the afternoon.  Plus, we made plans to eat lunch with our new friends next Sunday, hopefully under dryer circumstances!