Because I Have Yet to Do a Proper Food Post

Friends, if you know me (or even if you don't, really), you'll know that I like to eat. A lot. So, since I've got nothing super exciting to report on the academic front (we are currently learning about Starbucks' invasion of China in Business Chinese for Success and the Chinese blog frenzy in Talk of the Times!), now's a great time to introduce one of my favorite things about China. 

In China, there are tea places pretty much everywhere. One that is particularly popular is called "It's Time To". 

Time to what? Don't ask me!

Offering a modern twist on the traditional Chinese tea, It's Time To serves lots of delicious cold beverages, usually of the fruity/tea-y variety. At the bottom of the drink are usually tapioca balls or chunks of aloe. At 12 kuai per drink (give or take a few kuai), it's by far the most enjoyable refreshment to beat the Beijing summer heat. 

YES I WANT

What is that strange bowl of food above, you ask? That, my friend, is mala, which translates into numb and spicy. AND BOY IS IT NUMBING AND SPICY! There's a great place in the Ucenter at Wudakou (right next to my apartment) that my roommates and I frequent. You get to choose what you want to eat and the level of spiciness, and in about 20 minutes, you are presented with a huge bowl of spicy, numbing whatever-you-ordered. Delicious.

Along the same lines is xiangguo, which is also spicy and slightly numbing. This can be described as a combination of mala and hot pot. It's also available at the Tsinghua dining halls, which means I've been eating it for lunch for the past month. 

I LOVE YOU XIANGGUO DON'T EVER LEAVE ME

And, of course, no dining experience anywhere is complete without some Italian food. 

Lamb chops! Such a delicious way to have lamb, second only to skewers! 

Unfortunately, I often forget to document the awesome foods I encounter, so this post has to end here, but hopefully, I will get more chances to post some food pictures in the future!

'Some wine before you go?'

Midterm exams are tomorrow! Boy time sure flies when you're having fun...

Recap of the Week

You know what they say, no news is good news! 

In line with that, it has been a pretty good week. I'm getting more and more used to the schedule we have at IUP, and with that comes a healthy dose of work. On Mondays and Wednesdays, I have class starting at 8:00, but for the rest of the week, I don't have class until 10:00. For most people, this would mean that they get to sleep in an extra hour or two, but for me, it means that I can procrastinate an extra hour or two the night before and get up early to finish my academic duties. Perhaps not the best method of learning, but it definitely works for me!

Earlier this week, my Chinese class from Yale (well, those of us in Beijing anyway) met up for dinner! It was nice reuniting as a Chinese class again, especially when it's over food. 

What a delicious looking table

On Friday night, I got to experience KTV for the first time. Many classics, both Chinese and foreign, were belted out as we struggled with lyrics, both Chinese and foreign. This (below) has become my new favorite song. 

We also went out for dinner with a bunch of friends in Sanlitun, and this time, I remembered to take pictures before I inhaled my food! Success!

Olive spread and ox bone marrow paired with some nice South African wines. Feels like that expat life. 

I also made friends with a monkey while in Sanlitun. His name is Baobao. He does flips on command and likes to eat fruit.

Just your average pet, nothing to see here folks. 

And, of course, no week is complete without a visit to my favorite fruit stand, located not-so-conveniently two blocks away from my apartment (hey, it seems like an unreasonable complaint now, but walk two blocks in my shoes while carrying a watermelon and then we'll talk). 

My fruit guy rocks.

And now, to prepare for the week ahead! 

Hong Luo Si

This weekend, we took an IUP field trip to Hong Luo Si, or Red Snail Temple. The temple was a 2.5 hour bus ride from Tsinghua, and we got there just in time for lunch (mmm lunch). After eating, we were allowed to explore all that the park (I'm going to call it a park because that's the best comparison I can make) had to offer. 

Some pre-temple adventure happiness

One of the first things we visited was the garden of zodiac statues. Throughout the park, there were many different carvings of zodiac animals, and everyone was very keen on finding the ones that represented his or her own birth year.

Unfortunately, none of us were born in the year of the horse. Which is why we all decided to get into this photo. 

Aside from cool animal carvings, there were also cool human carvings! Hong Luo Si is home to the "Forest of 500 Monks", which is a vast hillside covered with you guessed it! 500 monk statues. I didn't quite have the time to go around and verify, but from what we discerned, each statue was unique and had its own personality. 

Such as this sassy angry guy. 

After making friends with the monk statues, we took the Alpine Coaster up the mountain and climbed what seemed to be a gazillion stairs to get to the GATE OF HEAVEN. 

Look at these excited fresh faces! 

We walked around for a bit, taking in the awesomeness of being surrounded by green (green!). Then, it was time to Alpine Coaster down the mountain.

WAHOO!

Shortly afterwards, it was time to meet up with everyone at the entrance of the temple, but before we left, we spotted a fruit market nearby and bought some snacks.

Photo courtesy of an IUP friend

Aaaand shortly after, it was time to get back on our air-conditioned bus and head back home, where the tired out little IUP students went to bed, dreaming of sugarplums and monk statues. 

What a great looking bunch of friends! 

Aobo Rides a Bike

Despite having had a bike in Beijing since May 2013 (I bought one via email from a previous IUP student who left in May), it has taken me until today to ride it. Reasons are as follows:

Reasons why Aobo has not yet ridden a bike in Beijing:

1. I have a hard enough time trying to navigate through the Beijing traffic without giving up control of my motor abilities.
2. My bike has had a flat tire and a much-too-high-for-my-small-body seat until today. 
3. I quite enjoy the 30-minute walk from my apartment to our building, thank you very much. 
4. I have not ridden a bike since middle school.

After enduring many rounds of ridicule from my roommates, I finally bought myself a bike lock, got some air pumped into my tires, and said my prayers, and I biked to school. 

Whoowhee! was that an experience. I managed to almost crash into not 1, not 2, but 6 pedestrians! Whoever said 'you never forget how to ride a bike' wasn't lying, but should add 'but it'll feel as if you have if you haven't been on one in more than 4 years'. I am, however, pleased to say that it took me less than 15 minutes to get to class, which is enough reason for me to continue this reckless, hazardous activity. Oh, the things crazy things I do for knowledge...

Trip to Tianjin

This past weekend was so much fun! I went to Tianjin to visit family, and I actually ended up bringing one of my friends (another student in the program) on the trip because he had never been before. We were only there for a day, so we didn't get to do too much, but it was still nice to get out of Beijing and explore a different city. 

We first went to a rather large mall to grab some coffee. We also took a picture with a giant plush pig.

Eggplant! (What Chinese people say instead of "cheese")

The second place we visited was...

...and I forget the name.

It was an area with lots of historic-looking buildings; I think my aunt mentioned something about it being a cultural site, and it has some kind of larger significance than just a bunch of cool looking old Chinese buildings. The streets there are filled with vendors selling hats, candied fruits, strange soups, and (of course) pictures of Mao. Very cool area! 

Because every historic area in China has a dragon.

After walking around, we got hotpot for dinner! In case I didn't make it clear enough, food in China is awesome, and hotpot is probably one of the best examples of awesome Chinese food. You have a giant pot of boiling water (with or without spices, depending on how adventurous your tastebuds are feeling). You add vegetables, rice noodles, various thin slices of meat, tofu, shrimp, everything except for the kitchen sink. You wait a few minutes. You fish out the edibles and dump it into a bowl of sesame sauce (flavored with or without spices, again depending on your preferences). You enjoy. Simple. 

Overall, a successful and fun trip. I'm planning on visiting during other weekends and getting to experience other aspects of the city. Until next time, Tianjin! 

The First Week of Classes

I'm happy to report that, as of today, I officially know 200+ more characters than I did a week ago! Success, you taste so sweet. My core class,  聚焦当代 (Talk of the Times), meets twice a day - one is a one-on-one lesson in which we focus primarily on the new vocabulary and the other is a three-on-one lesson in which we practice the new grammatical structures. I skimmed through the table of contents, and the topics all seem very interest and relevant especially to China's current situation. The chapters range from foreign immigration to sexual education to reconstructing historic areas of Beijing. My other individual class, the one geared towards helping me improve my reading and writing abilities, consists of me reading elementary school textbooks (in Chinese, of course) and practicing the characters that I'm not familiar with. Today, we read a very insightful story about a little rabbit running home to his mom to tell her that it is going to rain. This texts that I read are adorable (and slightly humiliating). My last class is Business Chinese for Success, which is a two-on-one class. This class dissects real cases of international businesses investing in China (and vice versa), which I find to be really interesting to read. So far, I'm very happy with all of my classes! 

As summer students at Tsinghua, we don't get student IDs, which means we don't have access to the libraries on campus. So what about homework?! Where can it get done?! you ask? 

Because a lifesize wooden giraffe is a much more interesting picture than one of my coffee and pens

Behold. The wonder that is Zoo Coffee, a zoo-themed cafe located conveniently down the street from my apartment. My classmates and I have had a great time cafe-hopping in the name of education. Aside from your usual cafes, there are various other hangouts that seamlessly transition from daytime study to nighttime bar. One such place is Windows, located even more conveniently down the stairs and to the right of my apartment. Probably the best place to go after class and do some homework while munching on a burger. 

And admire some Maoist artwork, of course.

This weekend, I will be going off to Tianjin to visit family. It will be really nice to see everyone again! 

BEIJING HAS MOUNTAINS?!?

Today was the first clear-by-American-standards day we've had so far. It was incredible! I could see blue! I could see clouds! I couldn't see the air, which, in China, is really saying something!

Behold! Blue skies! 

Since getting to Beijing, I've gotten into the habit of checking the AQI (the air quality index) every morning before I leave for class. Often, you can get a pretty good idea of what it's going to be just by looking out the window, but it's nice to be able to put some numbers in your head and also to have a way to help you distinguish between smog-fog and fog-fog. 

Today, during one of my 10-minute between-class breaks, I walked outside onto the sixth floor patio and looked around me. Are those... mountains?!

Behold! Mountains! In Beijing! 

Yes, those are mountains, and no, I don't know how to use photoshop. 

Let's hope we get plenty of these low-pollution days, because it would be really cool to make some other similar discoveries!