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October 03, 2005
time flies!
has it REALLY been over a week since our last post? it's certainly not due to lack of anything exciting to report! we've just been doing our thing, morphing into locals, exploring the town, teaching, learning, living...
This week is National Chinese holiday (sans mooncakes!) and the University is closed. It's been rather quiet since most of the students have gone home to their respective villages to feast and celebrate with their families. I took Mon-Wed off from work so Britt and I can take our much-awaited journey to Beijing. We'll be staying in the most adorable private room hostel in Tiananmen Square. While we're there, we're hoping to check out the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, and the Xiu Shui street market, plus whatever other hidden gems we may stumble upon. And if we don't have time to see it all, it's only an hour train ride from Tianjin so we can make a day trip out of it some other time. We'd also like to see the Great Wall, but we heard the spot in Beijing is majorly touristy, so we'd rather see it in Jixian, which is in our totally non-touristy region.
I'll spare you the details of how I've been rather ill the past week and skip right to the good part... I'm feeling better now! :) And in the process, one of the girls from the Foreign Language department came over with medicine and cooked a few traditional dishes for us: she went to the market and bought veggies, fish balls, peanuts, sesame oil and showed us how to put it all together! she made shaguo yuwan (fish ball soup with cabbage, anise, peppers) dou jiao (fried greenbeans with lots of garlic) huang gua shala (cucumbers with sesame oil, garlic & vinegar) and hua sheng (boiled peanuts with anise) It was fantastic! So fantastic actually (and easy) that Britt and I went to the market today and stocked up on what was needed to attempt making a few of the dishes.
Key to Happiness: eat more vegetables and less starch! 
Posted by daiseykat at October 3, 2005 02:15 AM
Comments
Finally...a post! I was beginning to worry that maybe the Communist Party had converted you guys, or something! :)
The food sounds incredible! I attempted to get a glimpse of your world last week and ordered from Quick Chinese on Old Baymeadows Road, but it just wasn't the same. The little pieces of pork in the fried rice nearly had "Sysco" printed on them. Bleccch!
Posted by: David K. at October 4, 2005 12:35 PM
I just found your website and I take it you are both teaching English. You got lucky. I spent 3 years in Tianjin and I think, once you get past the smog, it is one of the best cities on China. Absolutely the best food and the nicest people.
I do like the segment on the so called "washing machine" Unless you experience it... What else can you say. ;^)
For the Great Wall, I definitely recommend JiXian. It is a bit of a drive but it is cleaner and not near as crowded as Ba da ling. I am sure you know about Hong Qiao (Pearl Market) for shopping in Beijing. When negotiating, just take turns loudly wispering to each other "it is cheaper in Tianjin" and then walk away or ask for a better price.
Enjoy your time there.
Mike
Posted by: Mike at October 7, 2005 05:30 AM