Foodie Experience #1

Everyone warned me that I may starve when I come to China because the food is "terrible". Believe me, easily shedding a few pounds because of bad tasting food was something I was secretly looking forward to. Unfortunately, that has not been the case.

Urumqi, China has some of the best food in China, according not only to my taste buds, but many other people's opinions. The Xinjiang province is known for having the best fruits in all of China. Because of the cold weather now, the seasons for fruit has passed but there are still many options to choose from. The Chinese markets are filled with fresh and dried fruits and many locals pick these for their number one snack; I think this is why all of them are so skinny! The worst fruit they have, and many Chinese will agree, is called Durian. It is a spiky fruit on the outside and a white, almost peach-like texture, on the inside. You only eat the inside part of the fruit and when you bite it, it is actually very pasty. The worst part about the fruit is the smell, it is so foul. Many hotels and grocery stores won't sell the fruit because the smell is so overwhelming. I couldn't get myself to even take a bite since my sense of smell is so strong but Curtis took a nibble and said it was probably the most disgusting thing he has ever eaten.

Another local favorite is meat, specifically lamb. They cook it in multiple ways - skewers (kabobs), polo (fried rice with carrots), and soups (with many herbs and veggies). I think the soups or stew is my favorite. The meat just falls right off of the bone and the broth and herbs add amazing flavor! Once you are done ravaging the meat, you simply place the bones on the table. Table manners are pretty minimal, to our standards, in China. The louder you slurp your soup or noodle dish is how you inform the chef the food is very delicious. You place your bones on the table or in mini trash cans, if they have them available. It is also rare that you find napkins on your table, sometimes they charge you 5RMB for a pack of napkins. Elbows on the table are common and it is okay to eat off of others plates; obviously this is something I need to adjust to because my table manners are so exceptional!

One type of food that is famous in all of China is called "Hot Pot". You are given either a large pot, or your own individual pot, filled with the broth of your choice. You boil the broth and add meats, vegetables, tofu, seaweed, noodles, and anything else that may suit your pallet. The broth flavors your food while it cooks. You may make your own dipping sauce to dip before eating which adds even more flavor. So far, this is one of my favorite things to eat in China. It is also a great social dinner to have because it lasts for hours and you can drink while waiting for your food to cook. You will leave with very full and satisfied bellies! The weirdest thing I have eaten at a hot pot, or in general, was cow stomach. It was black and bumpy but the taste wasn't too bad.

Yesterday I went to a Pot Luck lunch with my school. Everyone brought their favorite food for everyone to try. I was limited to what I could bring but I found some Kraft macaroni and cheese so I made a large portion for everyone to taste. It was pretty funny seeing the table filled with authentic Chinese dishes and then a large dish of dry mac n' cheese. Ronald brought a fish, a LIVE fish, that he had to kill and cook. It was served with the head and all!! They had spicy chicken, cooked with red chilies - spicy and delicious! They had tofu rolls, black rice noodles, sweet sticky rice with raisins and walnuts, and of course fruit!

In China everything you drink is either room temperature or hot. You cannot drink the water in China so a lot of the water is boiled before serving so drinking hot water is very common. Because of all of the meats and carbs eaten in Xinjiang, they drink certain teas that will help regulate your digestive tract. The tea tastes great and definitely works. Beer is usually served room temperature, unless you ask them otherwise. Another famous alcoholic beverage is the rice wine, which I spoke about in my Gainbei post. I finally tried it and it will definitely put some hair on your chest! It is super strong and taste a lot like black licorice.

So far I have had very tasty food here in China. I hope to learn some of the recipes so I can cook for some of you when I get back. Until then you will have to live vicariously through my words and imagine the taste. Bon' Appetite!

Pictures shown above (top to bottom):

Hot Pot with spicy and mushroom broth.

Muslim New Year lunch with lamb soup at the bottom of the picture and lamb in the center with onions and yellow carrots.

Durian, the stinky fruit.

Fruit cart in the outside market.

Spa Experience #1

Two weeks after my arrival, the team traveled to another city so I decided to head to the spa to have some nice relaxing "me time". Relaxing would probably be the last word used to describe my first spa experience.

I headed to the Hot Springs Resort, which happens to be across the street from our house. It was very difficult communicating to the ladies what I wanted to have done at the spa. It took about 30 minutes just to have them figure out I wanted a massage: a simple, basic massage.

They led me into a large locker room; It had wooden lockers and seemed like a normal spa changing room. They hand-motioned for me to take off my clothes. Naturally, I stripped down to my undergarments; It became awkward when they didnt give me anything to wrap around myself. I realized that no one had anything wrapped around themselves, or kept on their garments!

Next they took me into another large room with either open showers or individual showers (with no shower curtain) and motioned for me to shower.... I tried to tell them no thank you, I am nice and clean already but they weren't havin' it! I quickly got over being completely nude in front of a large room full of woman. Please keep in mind, I am not Chinese and there are not a lot of Westerners in Urumqi so I am already a spectacle to see - imagine what they thought when they were able to see a NAKED Westerner.

They gave me a short-sleeved shirt with matching shorts, the waist line made for a Chinese woman - meaning a size 0!! They lef me into a room with about 50 Laz-E-boy type chairs and asked me sit down. My masseuse came over with a small bucket of hot water, asking me to put my feet into it. It was SO hot! I tried to keep my feet at the top to slowly ease myself into the water but she grabbed my hands and pulled me into a standing position, dunking my feet into the scolding hot bucket of water!

So the massage begins... She makes me sit in an upright position on the ottoman of the chair. She starts rubbing my upper back and shoulders. This little 105lb girl puts her entire body weight into my back. I assumed this was a deep-tissue massage, it was SO painful! She puts her fingers in between each rib, ow!!

Then I sit down in the lazy boy Chair and she starts rubbing my feet and lower legs, this was the best part of the massage. She cracked each toe and really rubbed every inch of my feet. All of a sudden she busts our these glass bulb-like things and a small flaming torch. She puts the fire in the glass bulbs and suctions them to my feet, popping them off quickly. After a few popping-of-the-bulb procedure, she puts the flame in the bulb for about 10 seconds and sticks the bulbs onto my feet and leaves them there. It was the oddest thing I have ever seen. Apparently it is suppose to suction the toxins out of your body.....

After the bulbs lost suction and fall off of my feet, she has me turn over on my stomach. She climbs on top of me and sits on my butt! She is grinding her fingers into my back, continuing the deep-tissue massage (ow!) She starts to move South on my body. Next thing I know, she is massaging my@$$! She begins smacking it, squeezing it, and jiggling it!! I was so embarrassed; this is in a room full of people!

All of a sudden she is finished. She says "okay, bye!" and leaves me there to wonder back to the naked locker room feeling bruised, beaten, and violated. So much for a relaxing day at the spa!!

Thankfully I have found another spa, without the torture!

Baby Bums

Before we left for China, Curtis warned me about the babies and their bathroom habits; A warning did not prepare me to actually seeing it with my own eyes!

My school had a marketing event at the local mall in the children's department. Halfway through the event I saw a little girl sitting in a shopping cart when I realized, she had a huge slit in the crotch-region of her pants!!! There was this little girls va-j-j hanging out like it was nothin'! I was shocked. I then realized almost every child that was squatting or sitting had a slit in their pants which would open up and expose their private areas. I had no idea why they wore these pants until I saw a man holding his daughter over a trash can; He opened her pants and she started peeing!

I asked my head teacher why they do that?! She said, "I don't know why because I think its unsanitary but a lot of children raised by their grandparents, or if their parents are more old school, they let their children pee/poop this way. It is a way of saving money on diapers and teaches the child to squat properly, like a potty training technique". Not only does the concept of peeing/pooping everywhere boggle my mind, but it seems very unsanitary to me, not only for the baby, but the environment and others. I think about all of the dirt/germs on surfaces of seats, shopping carts, and the street. When the child sits or squats their genitals are exposed, cant this cause an infection or something?? Not only does it seem dirty, their bums are probably SO COLD! It is only the beginning of winter here and everyone is already bundling up, what about those babies bums?!

I do respect cultural differences and understand that they have been doing it for years with no problem. This is a huge cultural difference that I have witnessed so far. I have had the experience of seeing many children poop/pee on the streets of China, but I still cannot get used to it. Because I will not take a picture of this experience for your viewing pleasure, I have provided a link that has a picture as well as their explanation of the crotch-less pants for children. Enjoy the link posted below!

If you ever travel to China and decide to go shopping at the market, think twice before putting your food items in the front of the cart, you may get an unwanted addition to your purchase!

http://www.travelbugjuice.com/06/world-travel/baby-butts-chinese-split-pants-phenomenon/

Ganbei

The first week I was here we were invited to a dinner with the coaching staff, GM and President of the Tigers team. They took us to this beautiful country club nearby. The neighborhood reminded me of a wealthy Californian neighborhood with massive homes on rolling hills. I almost felt back home, almost...

We are seated at a traditional Chinese table; It is a massive round table with a large lazy susan in the middle. These types of tables are very common in China. Unlike America, the Chinese order a number of dishes and everyone at the table will share each dish. You turn the lazy susan clockwise and grab the food that you want and add it to your plate. It is very impolite to turn the lay susan counter-clockwise to grab food that has already passed you; you must wait until it comes back around. I have never seen more food in my life! We had a feast!! We had everything ranging from jellyfish to wonderful meats. It was absolutely delicious!

The one thing that threw me off were the number of glasses in front of me. I had a drinking glass, a wine glass, a shot glass, and a small pouring glass. I was already intimidated by the company who invited me so I was doing everything possible not to mess up. Adrian, a Chinese translator, was seated to my right; he told me to just pay attention to everyone and to always cheers down. Down?!? We always raise our glass and say "Cheers!". In China it is important that you always cheers below the person that has invited you to dinner. It is a sign of disrespect to cheers above them; they are more important that you! I have provided a list of Chinese "rules" to Gainbei-ing, or Cheer-sing, properly:

Drinking in China – Some Rules for Ganbei-ing.

1. Rule number one has to be – don’t be tricked into drinking more than you feel comfortable with. A Chinese friend may try to drink a lot more than he is able to consume so as not to lose face in front of you. Usually (and I put emphasis on this word) they will watch you closely to begin with to determine the pace you want to set.

2. There are two main types of alcohol consumed at meals in China – Baijiu 白酒 (strong spirits often made from rice) and Pijiu 啤酒 (beer). Baijiu can be anything from 38% to 60%+ proof so it is advisable to stick to beer unless you are a strong drinker. If someone toasts you with baijiu it is very impolite for you to then drink with beer, likewise it would be strange for you to drink baijiu if someone toasts you with beer.

3. If your drinking partner who moves to clink glasses with you is superior to you in some way (be it age or position in a company etc.), it is deemed polite for you to clink his/her glass with the rim of yours below theirs.

4. Another important though often overlooked form of drinking etiquette is for you to maintain eye contact with the person you are toasting while you are drinking – though this can be slightly awkward at times.

5. After a glass has been drained Chinese people will often extend the empty glass to you so that you can see that they have in fact finished their drink.

6. Beware of people toasting you with tea and expecting you to drink alcohol – despite what many Chinese who try to convince you otherwise might say, there is no rule saying that you have to toast with anything other than what your “opponent” is drinking – except if they are very old (65+)

7. Chinese Huaquan (划拳) is a rather complicate drinking game – try to find a patient Chinese friend to take you through the rules. The term however is now used as a sort of umbrella word for all drinking games.

8. If you are seated around a large table with a Lazy Susan in the middle, it is common for you to simply tap the edge of the Lazy Susan with the bottom of your glass when toasted to avoid the difficulty of having to stretch across a wide table to clink glasses.

9. It is essential during a meal that you personally toast the person who is paying and sputter out a few words of appreciation. People will be offended if you don’t do this. The person who is paying will usually be the person who invited you out. However if in doubt, watch closely and wait until the bill is paid, it is quite acceptable for you to then toast that person.

10. If there are old people dining with you, be sure to also toast them each at least once.

Needless to say, the end of the dinner was quite a sight. Everyone had glass-after-glass of wine. I learned the hard way to only fill a sip of my glass, rather than an entire glass of wine when Ganbei-ing with the Chinese. When I return I will be sure to share this experience with you, get ready!

(Rules provided by http://www.beijingmadeeasy.com/beijing-society/chinese-drinking-rules).

A Whole New World

Ni Hao Everyone! I apologize it took me so long to get this blog started. I am new at this whole "blogging" thing so be patient with me. I have so many stories to tell and I have only been here for two weeks! I will do my best to keep you up-to-date and interested in our adventures here in Asia over the next year.

After three different plane rides and 26 hours later, I arrived in Urumqi, China on October 17th. Curtis is the new Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Xinjiang Tigers located in the Xinjiang province of China. They are one of the top teams in the CBA so we are crossing our fingers for a championship win this season! We are staying in the guest house of the owner of the Xinjiang Tigers team with many other Western players and coaches. The accommodations are amazing! We have a wonderful staff who cook, clean, and occasionally drives us around. They are all so nice and welcoming. After my first day traveling to the city I realized how fortunate we really are here in China. I think if we were to live on our own it would make things much more difficult.

I think the hardest thing I have come to face is the language barrier. No one here speaks English; occasionally I will find someone who knows basic words but overall its a challenge to communicate. I try to use hand gestures but it is still hard for them to understand. It is like I am playing a constant game of charades and failing miserably. Many items in the market aren't written in English so just shopping for household items is incredible hard. I am working on learning as much Chinese as I can but it is a very difficult language. When speaking Chinese you use your tongue and shape of your mouth to produce tones, or words, unlike English.

As the year goes by I will post interesting stories of my adventures, culture-shocks, and everyday challenges while staying in China. We plan to travel to other countries across Asia and other cities in China so I will be posting pictures of the amazing sites as well. I hope you enjoy my blog and if you have any questions or suggestions please do not hesitate to write me. This opportunity is a once in a lifetime and I am excited to share it with you!!

where we are living for the next year!
absolutely gorgeous

we have vineyards!

grapes