This Sunday we went to dinner with Hans and Mary one of our neighbors and a visiting former student of theirs. They are Canadian from the Mississauga area (a suburb of Toronto). I used to go to Mississauga every month when I worked for Halo Lighting. Mary's father was a German speaking tobacco farmer. Hans met her when he migrated from Germany and was hired on as a cheap non-resident laborer. He literally stole the farmer's daughter. They are around 10 years older than us and have worked at GDUT for seven months a year for the last five years. We had dinner at a "hot pot" restaurant. Their former student, the only one who knows Chinese, did the ordering, based on our requests.
A 'hot pot' restaurant has a recessed wok in the center of the table. They start off by heating the meat stock and bones. As an appetizer you drink some of the soup and suck on the meat bones. Plastic gloves are supplied for your hands and straws are supplied to drink the marrow out of the bones. For dinner we had thin slices of beef, lamb, potatoes, mushrooms, greens and corn. Each item is brought to the table raw. You put in the longer cooking items: potatoes, corn and greens first. You only put a little bit of the meat in at a time, as it cooks very quickly. Dinner is catch as catch can. You put your chopsticks into the mix and grab out what you can. Both the food and the company were good. [The corn is on the cob, but cut into 1 inch pieces. You eat it with your chopsticks.]
After dinner we got answers to several points that have been confusing us. It was good to learn from their experience.
Yesterday, Wednesday, we research the Guangzhou East Train Depot. We are going to Hong Kong this weekend and wanted to know where we have to go before we have to rush for a train. Our research was successful. Outside the depot is a modern park, complete with gardens, walks and water features. Unfortunately the water features were being maintained.
In the park we were accosted by a very persistent beggar. When smiles, saying 'no' in Chinese did not work and he kept invading our personal space, I had to resort to intimidation, I got up, looked angry and pointed him to leave. After several words, which we were probably better not knowing, he took the hint. The number of beggars has been low for a downtown area, but they appear less regulated than in Chicago.
Finally on this adventure, we found an Ikea store. We got some softer cushions for our wood couch and a couple of canvas chairs for our dinner table. The stools were getting too hard for my soft butt. To get the best price, we had to join the Ikea Family club. The school will be receiving mail from Ikea for years. {The application is all in Chinese. A kind clerk helped us.}
[Photos.]
A 'hot pot' restaurant has a recessed wok in the center of the table. They start off by heating the meat stock and bones. As an appetizer you drink some of the soup and suck on the meat bones. Plastic gloves are supplied for your hands and straws are supplied to drink the marrow out of the bones. For dinner we had thin slices of beef, lamb, potatoes, mushrooms, greens and corn. Each item is brought to the table raw. You put in the longer cooking items: potatoes, corn and greens first. You only put a little bit of the meat in at a time, as it cooks very quickly. Dinner is catch as catch can. You put your chopsticks into the mix and grab out what you can. Both the food and the company were good. [The corn is on the cob, but cut into 1 inch pieces. You eat it with your chopsticks.]
After dinner we got answers to several points that have been confusing us. It was good to learn from their experience.
Yesterday, Wednesday, we research the Guangzhou East Train Depot. We are going to Hong Kong this weekend and wanted to know where we have to go before we have to rush for a train. Our research was successful. Outside the depot is a modern park, complete with gardens, walks and water features. Unfortunately the water features were being maintained.
In the park we were accosted by a very persistent beggar. When smiles, saying 'no' in Chinese did not work and he kept invading our personal space, I had to resort to intimidation, I got up, looked angry and pointed him to leave. After several words, which we were probably better not knowing, he took the hint. The number of beggars has been low for a downtown area, but they appear less regulated than in Chicago.
Finally on this adventure, we found an Ikea store. We got some softer cushions for our wood couch and a couple of canvas chairs for our dinner table. The stools were getting too hard for my soft butt. To get the best price, we had to join the Ikea Family club. The school will be receiving mail from Ikea for years. {The application is all in Chinese. A kind clerk helped us.}
[Photos.]
Crystal Falls
1 comment:
Now you will have to go to Ikea in Schaumburg just to use your Ikea Card that is in Chinese...
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