Well, dear readers, I'm going to try this blog first and see if I'll be able to access it enough to make it worth all of our while. . .
So, today we had two hours of Chinese classes. . .whoo boy, whoever said that Chinese is hard to learn was making a huge understatement. Between the different tones and letters that make different sounds than I'm used to, I'm doing good just to remember the numbers. I also think that the ever present danger of saying something I don't mean is going to make it hard to push myself to practice. But, I'm excited about the opportunity to learn it and I hope that I'll be able to find gracious native speakers to help me along the way.
The afternoon was filled with adventure. . it was the first time I wandered out without someone who knew Chinese. After Chinese class, we were on our own for lunch. Once we got back into the main part of town, we all decided to eat out. Stephanie, who has been here before, remembered a place to get really good dumplings and so we headed out to find it again. When we found it, we had to go down a flight of stairs and wind our way through these dark, mirror-lined hallways until we got to an open area with a picture menu on the wall. (For those who have been to York steakhouse, it was kind of like when you first walk in there.) Well, we didn't know what to do, so Stephanie just kept repeating the word Jiaoze (sp?) until they pointed us back to the main dining room. Once there, we practiced our new vocabulary in telling them how many people were in our party. There were nine of us, so we got to be in a back room away from the dining room, but with another Chinese family. As we sat down, the waitress kept motioning to a piece of paper and presumably asking where ours was. At this point, they called in an employee that spoke English and we figured out that we were supposed to order some dishes at the place with the pictures to go with our dumplings. So Stephanie went back and ordered some dishes for us and then we ordered our dumplings and some water and hoped some food would appear on our table. Now, at this point, we weren't exactly sure what we had ordered, so when the food came, we were all a little hesitant to be the first to eat something, especially because we had kids with us and we wanted them to be brave and try new things too. It all ended up being delicious and I found a new dish that I will definitely try again--eggplant stuffed with pork and served sizzling hot in a brown sauce with corn and onions. So Good! We also got this heaping bowl of an assortment of vegetables and other goodies which we couldn't identify. As I was eating this dish, I learned the power of my mind. I bravely put what I thought was a piece of mushroom in my mouth and discovered that I was able to eat it and didn't think it was half bad. Then, another member of our party saw the same thing and said that it was "hundred-year old egg." Apparently, these duck eggs are actually one hundred years old, but are allowed to "form" so to speak for several months. I tried to eat another piece after I learned what it actually was and had a very hard time "swallowing" that information. Which just goes to prove that my plan of trying anything without knowing what it is is generally the best way to go!
After lunch, we went exploring at one of the department stores and I was able to find a few things that I had either forgotten or planned to buy here. Hopefully another time, I'll give you a taste of shopping in a Chinese department store, it's a lot of fun. And then as we walked home, we walked around the perimeter of the Olympic Sailing center and the Olympic village. It amazes me what has been done to the city in preparation for the Olympics and the work that is still going on. It seems like every time we point out a pretty park or convenient pathway, we hear that it was done especially for the Olympics. Hopefully, I'll be able to get out and take some pictures of all the Olympic "decorations" that cover the city.
But for right now, I need to sign off and head to dinner. . .
Until next time, much China love!