In Ningbo.
Cooking it was a challenge. The bowl I had to cook it in was wider and not as deep as I would have liked, but in the end I did it in a wok. (Funny the Chinese students do not know what a 'wok' is!) But there it boiled on the stove for several hours until I wanted to go to bed.
This morning I peeked at it - it looks OK. Haven't tried the taste test, but will just have to wait until December 25th I think. And I found some custard powder!
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas!
One thing that I have been searching for is Chinese Culture - performance. We managed to get to the Opera one night, but it was hard going. And people who saw us there, and those who know we went were quite curious. Why would we want to see this?
I recall at the Dragon Boat Festival - where there is a public holiday - there was not a sign of any Dragon Boat despite all the water (lakes, rivers, canals) around here. Not a teensy bit of Chinese culture - at least nothing I could find!
At student events there is little - until last night that is. I was not officially invited until very late, and by then I had found out one of my students was singing and had announced I would like to go.
It was billed as "Chinese Ancient Custom Festival." I think I was the only foreign teacher there.
It started with the Lion Dance - two very clever young men in the Lion's costume performing some great acrobatics and great gestures of the Lion.
That was followed by an array of performances - Chinese traditional music with the musicians in costume and not the usual jeans and sweater! Traditional Chinese stories performed in exquisite costume. I chatted to the man beside me (a Chinese PE teacher) and told him that this is what I had wanted to see - real Chinese cultural performance.
I had another commitment at 8 pm so left before the event has completed ,but in time to see my student sing a traditional Chinese song!
A great night, and I am so glad that I was able to see it. Why don't they invite the foreign teachers? Mainly as they do not understand that despite the language difficulty we can appreciate the colour, the music, the spectacle of Chinese culture.
I hope I can get to see more of it!!!!
I do not know if this is done in Europe or other cold climates, but I have never seen it before. The lower half of the trunks of trees in and around Ningbo are painted white. Soon some of the trees will be wrapped in rope - spiralling around the trunks of the trees to keep them warm in winter.
The white paint at the moment helps to keep them warm - as the heat from the sun is "held" in the white paint.
It certainly "paints a pretty picture."
Greetings. I know I have a few regular readers of my blog about my adventures in China. Did you know that you can add a comment? Ask a question? Give me feedback? Encouragement? Greetings? Also to the right of this post is a box asking for you to vote. Can you do that for me?
In Tianyi Square in Ningbo there was a person in costume doing some promotion for a telco I think, and I decided to have a photo taken with it. Much to everyone's amusement I might add!
We were well "rugged up" as you can see as the temperature was nearly zero, and I am sure the girl in the costume was kept warm by the thickness of the outfit! What was funny is that she lifted her dog head to talk with me - in perfect English!!!!
A few people gathered - as they usually do - when foreigners do something that they would not do!!
The student and his aunt had arranged for us to have lunch at a hotel that is famous for it's buffet lunch. the Howard Johnson chain is popular in China - rather upmarket of course, and quite fabulous.
The hotel foyer had wonderful Christmas decorations, and we waited for a short while, while Aunt organised some discounts.
It was a huge banquet hall, with food right along one side and into the next room. Everything you could imagine! Of course a lot of fabulous Chinese food, and many foods that were more familiar to us. We had little squares of a fabulous pizza, wonderful bread rolls and New Zealand butter (bread in China is NOT to our liking - but this was great!), calimari, prawns, baked rabbit, vegetables, and stunning desserts. For two hours we "pigged out" all the while drinking a fabulous sweet tea - which the waitress called black tea.
Many of the staff here spoke English, and they were keen to speak with us - though their work prevented them from saying very much. They happily greeted us, but politely did not make much conversation with us. Which was good for us - good eating time would have been wasted!!!
Oh, how excited we were!! Shame we couldn't get a doggy bag!!!
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Our hotel package included breakfast - and our visit to the restaurant the night before did nothing to inspire confidence in our breakfast plans. How right we were. There was nothing exciting on the menu - it was a buffet, with the usual traditional Chinese foods, but old and worn looking in their bowls. We had some juice, and picked at a few things. The dumplings were awful, and to top it off there was some issue with the tea and coffee. Their lack of English didn't help so we left hoping to find something later.
Our plan was to check out, and meet a student and his aunt at Tianyi Square - a huge shopping place in the centre of the city. We could catch a taxi, as it was so far away and I had my big backpack to lug. It didn't have much in it - but still awkward and anyway we didn't know EXACTLY where to go.
When we checked out I asked them to write "Tianyi Square" in Chinese on some paper. They were concerned about us going there. Tried to talk us out of it - with lots of waving and "Mai o" (No!), and it turns out that they were concerned that we would have nothing to do as the shops did not open until 10 am!!!
Eventually we got our precious Chinese characters on paper, and the concierge, a lovely senior gent got a taxi for us. So off we went!
We arrived at the square in front one of the Pizza Huts, and sent a text messge to the student who soon arrived with his aunt. She has lived in New Zealand for the last 11 years, with her husband and two children and was in China to visit family - leaving her NZ family back there. She was a delight and both of them spoke almost perfect English.
Our first stop was Starbucks - so we had a good cup of coffee and something to eat. I had a brilliant cranberry scone!
Afterwards we wandered around the square as the shops were still not open. In any case I was not planning any shopping. We walked aroundthe square for a while. To one side of the square was a cathedral - and the student told me it was a church. I smiled and said, "I know." He looked at me surprised! How did I know?
I told him that the "clue" was the cross on the top of the spire. He was most impressed!!
We walked through a small market and I found some beautiful Chinese dolls at a very good price, which I will send back to Australia for two older grandchildren. We had quite a time in the shop. the man was a history major and very interesting, even though he spoke no English.
Afterwards we went to a CD shop - and I found a CD that I had been hunting for. Christmas Carols sung in Chinese. I had heard familiar tunes in Carrefours but the students kept telling me that Chinese people do not sing Christmas carols and thought I had lost the plot a little. I can't wait to place the CD - which actually is a pack of 3 CD's - two in Chinese and one in English!
I also bought a couple of DVD's - on Chinese history, nature and a couple of films.
By now it was lunch time, and we were about to experience the best meal we have had in China!
In Ningbo.
