Contrary to the title of the post, 过年好, Guo Nian Hao is a traditional Chinese greeting heard during this season meaning Happy New Year. Needless to say we've been hearing it regularly in Dalian this past week. We've also experienced a different type of greeting recently - the explosion. Apparently the Year of the Pig is so fortunate, everyone in Dalian has taken to setting off their fireworks at all hours of the day. Our second night back I was awakened at 4am by a cacophony of cannon shots. And I do mean cannon shots - I think they have a cannon on campus that can shoot blanks. In China, fireworks are more about sound than sight (but there's plenty of light as you'll see), thus the ongoing orchestra of black powder.
All of this is a tremendous contrast to places like New York or your favorite nanny State where giving your children a sparkler could get Social Services called and your kids in foster care. In China on the other hand, if you're not handing out bottle rockets by age 6, you are probably being delinquent in your parental duties.
Given all the fireworks, we decided that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Thus on Monday evening we decided to attend the Dalian City fireworks show at Xinghai Square. We took two brief videos with C's camera while there. The first is just a quick panorama of our spot at the Square. The second is the beginning of the fireworks show. Not being a fireworks aficionado I couldn't tell you if it was a good show or not. C wasn't that impressed, so I will defer to her experience.
Panorama:
Beginning of the show:
And if you're really interested in getting a good feel for the fireworks around the city, click here. This is a video made by another Dalian resident, as found on YouTube. Our video taking/editing skills are not up to this standard, so check it out as you'll see a lot more.
After the fireworks were over, we had to somehow get back to our apartment. We went with some of the other foreign teachers though who wanted to eat first. It turned out that it didn't really matter. The crowds were huge and we couldn't get across the street to the 202 tram line. So instead we walked a couple of kilometers down to Heishijiao where our local McDonald's is. Now Xinghai Square really isn't that far from our campus, but it seemed a lot longer when we were walking. Fortunately, it wasn't overly cold (high 30s). After a couple hamburgers we were able to catch the tram there, and get back to campus. I felt bad for the girls working at McDonald's because the place was mobbed and they seemed woefully unprepared for such a huge crowd. I doubt they've ever been that busy at 9:30pm because people here don't really like to eat late.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Monday, February 19, 2007
C - an unusual Chinese New Year celebration
Who would've guessed that a great Italian meal could be had in Dalian, even during the height of Chinese New Year? We've been eating pretty sparsely at home, with peanut butter, oatmeal, and yogurt being our staples, but last night had a feast at a restaurant called Olive Garden (not the Olive Garden, however.) I had discovered through Dalian XPat that this restaurant was open all week despite it being Chinese New Year, and talked D into going there over the Paulaner Brauhaus.
Our Danish friends were interested but the lady of the house was ill, so just one of them, our retired professor friend, came along. Nearly the first thing he said to us was "I'm so glad you came back!" (Apparently some of the other teachers have abandoned ship over the holidays). But the real bombshell came next -- he said "You've scored yourselves a free dinner!" and then explained "I found out an hour ago that I'm going to be a grandfather!" He was all smiles and had obviously been crying a few happy tears not long before. So we were of course elated for him, and enjoyed celebrating the great news with food and wine and the non-stop fireworks of Chinese New Year.
The food was good indeed -- our friend had an Australian steak that was done perfectly to his liking, D had a margherita pizza that smelled wonderful, and I had a salmon cream penne pasta dish that was so good that I had the leftovers for breakfast.
My movie binge has kicked off again. We bought five DVDs at the grocery store on Saturday: Casino Royale, Borat, Crank, Pan's Labyrinth, and The Last King of Scotland (all illegally copied, of course).
So our Chinese New Year has consisted of 1. lots of sleep, 2. lots of movies, and 3. Italian food. But hey, I'm trying:
"福" essentially means that we wish the best for all of you in the coming year. And we do!
Our Danish friends were interested but the lady of the house was ill, so just one of them, our retired professor friend, came along. Nearly the first thing he said to us was "I'm so glad you came back!" (Apparently some of the other teachers have abandoned ship over the holidays). But the real bombshell came next -- he said "You've scored yourselves a free dinner!" and then explained "I found out an hour ago that I'm going to be a grandfather!" He was all smiles and had obviously been crying a few happy tears not long before. So we were of course elated for him, and enjoyed celebrating the great news with food and wine and the non-stop fireworks of Chinese New Year.
The food was good indeed -- our friend had an Australian steak that was done perfectly to his liking, D had a margherita pizza that smelled wonderful, and I had a salmon cream penne pasta dish that was so good that I had the leftovers for breakfast.
My movie binge has kicked off again. We bought five DVDs at the grocery store on Saturday: Casino Royale, Borat, Crank, Pan's Labyrinth, and The Last King of Scotland (all illegally copied, of course).
So our Chinese New Year has consisted of 1. lots of sleep, 2. lots of movies, and 3. Italian food. But hey, I'm trying:
"福" essentially means that we wish the best for all of you in the coming year. And we do!
Saturday, February 17, 2007
D - Eating our way to China
Home sweet home! Well, sort of. We are back in Dalian China after an epic 29 hour journey. After many days of uncertainty when we would return, we finally picked February 15 as our departure date. To make the trip to China a little more pleasant, I decided to utilize some of our Continental miles to upgrade from Economy to their BusinessFirst class. They had previously denied the use of the miles for reserving a one way flight, so I was amazed when they said we could actually do it.
Despite having never experienced Business or First class on my previous 4 international flights, I was pretty sure what to expect. We'd get big cushy seats that almost lie flat, lots of free drinks, and a half decent meal. The seat is worth its weight in gold. You can adjust almost every aspect from an extendable footrest to lumbar support. If you're like me though, you can't sleep unless you're totally flat. So "lie-flat" (which is really at an angle and not entirely flat) is not flat enough for me. The most interesting thing though was the huge amount of food we got.
Some examples of the food:
Appetizer of pork and lobster
Mesclun Salad
Champagne with lunch
Steak as the main course
Port wine and chocolate for dessert
Second meal of chicken noodle soup (more like chicken noodle stirfry actually)
Third meal of fresh fruit, omelette
Interestingly, I found the food passed the time more than movies or my futile efforts to sleep. The first 6 hours breezed by thanks to the initial meal service. The flight attendants were a little nicer in BusinessFirst but I still wasn't overwhelmed by the service. I guess it's hard for anyone to sound pleasant repeatedly asking "Coffee, Tea, something to drink?" 500 times a flight. Oh and I don't recommend the Oscar nominated film "Babel". I'm a sucker for artsy make-you-think kind of movies but I just didn't get it. It's also over the top depressing, which probably isn't the best choice for people who are trapped inside a small cylindrical shell for 13 hours.
After our cushy 13 hour flight to Beijing, the less pleasant part of the journey began. Primarily it consisted of waiting in lines for everything. It took forever to get through the customs line. We had to wait 5 hours for our connecting flight to Dalian. The plane was packed. Getting out of the baggage claim in Dalian was an exercise in human osmosis. The taxistand was a mad house. But finally we made it back to Dalian Maritime University. Note to self - try not to travel on the verge of Chinese New Year again.
Upon waking up the next morning, we decided to go looking for groceries. Normally we get basic things like water, coke, oatmeal, and snacks at a variety of "little stores" on campus. Being Chinese New Year however, this place is a ghost town. Around every corner I keep expecting to see a creaking saloon fluttering in the breeze and a cow skull half buried in the sand. Fortunately international capitalism came to the rescue in the form of Trustmart (a large Chinese grocery chain, now owned by Walmart). It's not in reasonable walking distance but it's not far on the bus so we were able to get our groceries there.
After a taxi back to the apartment and carrying a couple gallons of water up 5 flights of stairs, we had a lunch of peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Then we promptly took a nap, which lasted from 3PM Saturday to 4AM Sunday morning. And that's why I'm writing this blog entry at 6AM our time. Needless to say we caught up on our sleep, but I am not sure we're adjusted to the time zone just yet. My next mission is to avoid going to bed at 6PM!
Despite having never experienced Business or First class on my previous 4 international flights, I was pretty sure what to expect. We'd get big cushy seats that almost lie flat, lots of free drinks, and a half decent meal. The seat is worth its weight in gold. You can adjust almost every aspect from an extendable footrest to lumbar support. If you're like me though, you can't sleep unless you're totally flat. So "lie-flat" (which is really at an angle and not entirely flat) is not flat enough for me. The most interesting thing though was the huge amount of food we got.
Some examples of the food:
Appetizer of pork and lobster
Mesclun Salad
Champagne with lunch
Steak as the main course
Port wine and chocolate for dessert
Second meal of chicken noodle soup (more like chicken noodle stirfry actually)
Third meal of fresh fruit, omelette
Interestingly, I found the food passed the time more than movies or my futile efforts to sleep. The first 6 hours breezed by thanks to the initial meal service. The flight attendants were a little nicer in BusinessFirst but I still wasn't overwhelmed by the service. I guess it's hard for anyone to sound pleasant repeatedly asking "Coffee, Tea, something to drink?" 500 times a flight. Oh and I don't recommend the Oscar nominated film "Babel". I'm a sucker for artsy make-you-think kind of movies but I just didn't get it. It's also over the top depressing, which probably isn't the best choice for people who are trapped inside a small cylindrical shell for 13 hours.
After our cushy 13 hour flight to Beijing, the less pleasant part of the journey began. Primarily it consisted of waiting in lines for everything. It took forever to get through the customs line. We had to wait 5 hours for our connecting flight to Dalian. The plane was packed. Getting out of the baggage claim in Dalian was an exercise in human osmosis. The taxistand was a mad house. But finally we made it back to Dalian Maritime University. Note to self - try not to travel on the verge of Chinese New Year again.
Upon waking up the next morning, we decided to go looking for groceries. Normally we get basic things like water, coke, oatmeal, and snacks at a variety of "little stores" on campus. Being Chinese New Year however, this place is a ghost town. Around every corner I keep expecting to see a creaking saloon fluttering in the breeze and a cow skull half buried in the sand. Fortunately international capitalism came to the rescue in the form of Trustmart (a large Chinese grocery chain, now owned by Walmart). It's not in reasonable walking distance but it's not far on the bus so we were able to get our groceries there.
After a taxi back to the apartment and carrying a couple gallons of water up 5 flights of stairs, we had a lunch of peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Then we promptly took a nap, which lasted from 3PM Saturday to 4AM Sunday morning. And that's why I'm writing this blog entry at 6AM our time. Needless to say we caught up on our sleep, but I am not sure we're adjusted to the time zone just yet. My next mission is to avoid going to bed at 6PM!
Thursday, February 15, 2007
D - One more time
Our vacation in the US is over. A major benefit of teaching english in China, at least in our university is the ridiculous amount of vacation we get. We left China after finishing semester 1 on December 16. We're flying back tomorrow (February 15) but we don't actually start the new semester until March 5!
We had a lovely time in our homeland, traipsing from Doylestown to Buffalo and back. We've spent a wonderful amount of time with our families, but we are definitely ready to have our own place again. The absence of family is really what makes you appreciate it the most. In July, when we return, we will be overjoyed to come back. But after a great visit, it's time to begin the adventure again. A few weeks ago I was inclined to stay in the USA. A part of me thought about breaking our contract (or buying it out) but in recent time I've experienced a renewed sense that there is more for us in China. We have more to see and more to learn. And so we begin our trip tomorrow morning on an icy, cold day in Pennsylvania, and will finally end it in Dalian, China about 29 hours later.
See y'all on the other side
We had a lovely time in our homeland, traipsing from Doylestown to Buffalo and back. We've spent a wonderful amount of time with our families, but we are definitely ready to have our own place again. The absence of family is really what makes you appreciate it the most. In July, when we return, we will be overjoyed to come back. But after a great visit, it's time to begin the adventure again. A few weeks ago I was inclined to stay in the USA. A part of me thought about breaking our contract (or buying it out) but in recent time I've experienced a renewed sense that there is more for us in China. We have more to see and more to learn. And so we begin our trip tomorrow morning on an icy, cold day in Pennsylvania, and will finally end it in Dalian, China about 29 hours later.
See y'all on the other side
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