Thursday, March 20, 2008
Lu you 旅游
Travel.
Tomorrow, Tim and I will continue our year of jetsetting - this time back to the US for Tim's conference. 2008 has already included a trip to Xiamen (right on the heels of my Christmas trip to Haerbin), US-Canada-US (for me), New Zealand, Moganshan... I know we are lucky to have such opportunities for luyou, but actually it is starting to wear on me.
I'll quit my sob story and say how excited I am to get to visit Washington D.C. this weekend. It's my first trip to the American capital and it will be even more special to visit Tim's grandma and family there, not to mention our good friends (and run home from the subway inspirations) Jay and Michelle. Then to Austin, where we will work. But, my high school friend Sarah will come to visit with her new puppy, and my sisters are there... Then my Chinese co-worker is coming to Austin for the first time so I get to show her all around the town I love. Should be a good trip.
Then, when we come back, its visitor season again. Katie is coming in April and Joe, Irene and Audrey will be here in May. It is always fun to have visitors and get to show them around Shanghai. It is a good reminder to appreciate all the culture here. You can actually get used to it!
And then there is the Olympics, and if we are lucky Tibet off in the distance... OK, now I am excited and not tired any more. Fun times ahead, and I love it!
Tomorrow, Tim and I will continue our year of jetsetting - this time back to the US for Tim's conference. 2008 has already included a trip to Xiamen (right on the heels of my Christmas trip to Haerbin), US-Canada-US (for me), New Zealand, Moganshan... I know we are lucky to have such opportunities for luyou, but actually it is starting to wear on me.
I'll quit my sob story and say how excited I am to get to visit Washington D.C. this weekend. It's my first trip to the American capital and it will be even more special to visit Tim's grandma and family there, not to mention our good friends (and run home from the subway inspirations) Jay and Michelle. Then to Austin, where we will work. But, my high school friend Sarah will come to visit with her new puppy, and my sisters are there... Then my Chinese co-worker is coming to Austin for the first time so I get to show her all around the town I love. Should be a good trip.
Then, when we come back, its visitor season again. Katie is coming in April and Joe, Irene and Audrey will be here in May. It is always fun to have visitors and get to show them around Shanghai. It is a good reminder to appreciate all the culture here. You can actually get used to it!
And then there is the Olympics, and if we are lucky Tibet off in the distance... OK, now I am excited and not tired any more. Fun times ahead, and I love it!
Friday, March 07, 2008
Huntun & Jiaozi 馄饨&饺子
Dumplings!
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Here is a picure from my team's recent dumpling party. We made 400 dumplings for 20 people.
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Dumplings are a part of life in all areas of China, the difference is in the wrappers and the fillers - southern dumplings are small and delicate, northern ones are big and meaty (these descriptions also match the people in those areas!) Even the way you wrap the skin makes a difference. As my team comes from all over China, we had a good mix of huntun (south)and jiaozi (north) and some special shapes from those less skilled :-)
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Moganshan 莫干山
Moganshan, a mountain in China.
Ah, the weekend excursions available from Shanghai. Last weekend we loaded a bus with 14 other cyclists, 16 mountain bikes and a little Shanghai dog to spend some time in Moganshan. Located in Western Zhejiang province, Moganshan is a highly touristed bamboo mountain that used to be the escape for 1930's foreign ambassadors to Shanghai. The top of the mountain (now all standard Chinese hotels) was once full of European houses and churches. I learned all this from a girl on the trip, but didn't really take the chance to look for remnants of that time when we finally made it to the top - it turned out to be a pretty steep climb!
Like I mentioned, we brought our bikes. This was kind of the kick-off training weekend for our planned bike trip in Tibet, and we needed some hills! We stayed at the base of the mountain, and pretty much rode up, down, up, down both days we were there. On the way there, Tim and I discussed our expectations: he dreamed of single track through the woods, I cynically predicted riding up on pavement and then a kamikaze-style descent down the steepest part. Tim will post the pictures soon on our Flickr site.
I also learned something about China that will help me to handle situations like the death descent better in the future. I am reading a book now called "how to stop worrying and start living" by Dale Carnegie. It is an old book, but with a lot of useful information, even for living in China. For example, steps to avoiding worry/frustration/anxiety:
1. Think of what is the worst thing that could possibly happen.
2. Accept the worst.
3. Now that you accepted the worst, think of ways to improve the situation. There's nowhere to go but up!
Now, these concepts applied to a real-life Chinese situation:
1. We could end up getting lost, riding 4 times as far as we planned and be out past dark, hungry and tired, even though we are setting out at noon.
2. Accepted (after all this is China)
3. Pack gloves, money, headlamp, extra Clif bars and cell phone.
At least we were warm on the way down the dark side of the mountain at 7pm :-)
We had beautiful weather, and after following steps 1-3 had a great weekend.
Ah, the weekend excursions available from Shanghai. Last weekend we loaded a bus with 14 other cyclists, 16 mountain bikes and a little Shanghai dog to spend some time in Moganshan. Located in Western Zhejiang province, Moganshan is a highly touristed bamboo mountain that used to be the escape for 1930's foreign ambassadors to Shanghai. The top of the mountain (now all standard Chinese hotels) was once full of European houses and churches. I learned all this from a girl on the trip, but didn't really take the chance to look for remnants of that time when we finally made it to the top - it turned out to be a pretty steep climb!
Like I mentioned, we brought our bikes. This was kind of the kick-off training weekend for our planned bike trip in Tibet, and we needed some hills! We stayed at the base of the mountain, and pretty much rode up, down, up, down both days we were there. On the way there, Tim and I discussed our expectations: he dreamed of single track through the woods, I cynically predicted riding up on pavement and then a kamikaze-style descent down the steepest part. Tim will post the pictures soon on our Flickr site.
I also learned something about China that will help me to handle situations like the death descent better in the future. I am reading a book now called "how to stop worrying and start living" by Dale Carnegie. It is an old book, but with a lot of useful information, even for living in China. For example, steps to avoiding worry/frustration/anxiety:
1. Think of what is the worst thing that could possibly happen.
2. Accept the worst.
3. Now that you accepted the worst, think of ways to improve the situation. There's nowhere to go but up!
Now, these concepts applied to a real-life Chinese situation:
1. We could end up getting lost, riding 4 times as far as we planned and be out past dark, hungry and tired, even though we are setting out at noon.
2. Accepted (after all this is China)
3. Pack gloves, money, headlamp, extra Clif bars and cell phone.
At least we were warm on the way down the dark side of the mountain at 7pm :-)
We had beautiful weather, and after following steps 1-3 had a great weekend.
Photos on Flickr
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