Eating in China

Nothing terribly exciting has been happening for the past couple days (just attending a trade show and finishing up a visit with a factory). I thought I'd post tonight about eating in China.

They take their food very seriously here. Especially for guests. They want to serve you their very best which includes seafood and fish--not things I enjoy. They also use every part of the animal and I mean every part--duck heads, pig heads, duck and chicken feet, pig feet, cow lung, cow tongue, really anything and everything. It is the norm here to have fish served whole--yes, it's still looking at you. They pride themselves on having the freshest food. In fact, they want to show you how fresh it is and that's the reason for the "live" menu (things were really still alive when we walked through). I met one guy here who said he was once served a fish that was so "fresh" that every time he stuck his fork in it, the fish's mouth opened. Here is the best picture I could find online of a "live" menu:
This is fairly close to what I saw only the fish were still in tanks and buckets, still swimming around. Oh, and the food wasn't covered with plastic wrap.

Traditional service style here is called "round table." They take you into a room and everyone sits around a round table with a lazy susan in the center. They only bring out one or two dishes at a time and set it on the lazy susan. They turn the lazy susan and always offer it to you first since you are their guest of honor. You can understand why there would be a lot of pressure to eat everything you're offered regardless of whether or not you actually want it. For this reason, I have tried things that I never would have otherwise. They love to watch your reaction and get great pleasure out of your enjoyment (or lack thereof in my case). You only take a little (two or three bites worth) at a time and pass it on to the next person. New dishes are added one at a time and each one is always offered to the guest first. Since the table is always being turned, there is always food in front of you. Here is a picture I found online:
This shows two things that aren't typical--plain rice (I have to beg for it since it is considered common food) and it looks like they brought out all the food at once--but this will give you a pretty good idea of what its like.

Manners during eating are very different than in the states. They always bring out a hot towel to start with. You wipe your hands and face before you eat. They eat very quickly here and eat a lot at these dinners. Literally, it feels like a race to consume everything. Before you finish one thing, they're already offering something new. They also chew loudly and slurp a lot. This can really get on my nerves. Not a whole lot of talking goes on during the meal, but there's a lot of noise. At the end of the meal, they pull out the toothpicks and start picking their teeth. They also smoke when they're finished. They don't generally do this in front of me (they leave the room). I think it must be because I'm a woman because other people I work with say this isn't the case for them. Oh, and for dessert, they bring out a fruit of some kind. Normal desserts are fairly uncommon here.

I hope I don't sound too critical. Really, it is just a different culture and I'm merely pointing out the differences. They are a very kind people and want to give and show you their very best. Some things that I really enjoy while I'm here are their fruits and vegetables. They have some unique fruits that are very yummy. And it is customary to have fruit plate delivered to your room every night. I really enjoy the way they prepare their vegetables. They are very tasty. I may try to imitate some of it at home.

There you go. When you come to China, you'll know what to expect.

Funny Stuff In China

I'm pretty tired tonight so I'm going to keep this short and tell this story through pictures.

We got a little silly after working all day in a hot, humid environment. I took this picture to demonstrate the massive size of the box that the machine I'm working on will come in. (Thanks Owen for being kind enough to oblige). It's actually more suited for two small children, but a grown man, as you can see, also fits.
Here is picture of yet another round table dinner. Gee golly I love these! I ate way too much of food I don't really like (it's one of those social things here). Really though, this one was probably the best one I've been to. It much more casual and fun. Pictured are Jack, Denn, Ken (all from our China office), Me, Owen and Edward (both from ATL). One woman among men.

Here's a picture of the room I'm staying in tonight. As you can see, it's the ideal room for a peeping tom. Really, why would they do this...a window into the bathroom? I put the shade down in there immediately after taking this picture. It creeped me out way too much.

Pop-U-Lar

Yesterday, I went to the copy mall with Ken and his girlfriend. It was kind of fun at first. Everyone was so happy to see me. They all wanted me to see their stuff and of course buy it. I was very popular. After a while though, it got a little annoying with people grabbing me and wanting me to go into their store. I found a store that I felt good about and went in. I started looking at catalogs and pointed out some stuff I liked. They brought it from their "warehouse" and I picked out the ones I wanted. Then the bargaining started. Exhausting! I left with a few things, but I wasn't able to get everything I wanted. I was so tired of the whole process that I just decided to leave. I'm hoping I get another opportunity to shop while I'm here. We'll see.

Ok, here's a funny picture:

I guess it really is true. There really is a Walmart on every corner. There's also an underground Walmart just up the street from my hotel. Talk about world domination! (Ok, here's something funny. I saw this and told Ken I wanted to take a picture. He said we could do it after dinner. I thought we were going to walk up the street a bit. It wasn't far. But no, he insisted on driving and we got in horrible traffic. I'm sure he thought I was crazy for wanting to get a picture, but he was nice enough to oblige. Thanks Ken for going to all the trouble to satisfy some crazy American. :)

On Jet Lag, Smiles, and Proposals

I thought that I was doing fine until about 5:00 yesterday (Friday). We were riding in a car on the way back from visiting a factory. Suddenly it hit, jet lag. I kept dozing and then I kept wondering when we'd get back to the hotel. All I wanted was my bed. The car we were riding in had trouble so we had to pull over and catch a taxi. When I finally made it back to my room (about 6:30), I crashed. I woke up around 8:30 and got ready for bed. I didn't wake up again until 8:00 this morning. So much for my thoughts that I beat it. Oh well, I'm glad we finished early so I could go to bed early.

Yesterday I learned how to make it through with a smile. My driver came to pick me up at my hotel in HK and he didn't speak any English. So we drove in silence. We went through customs (odd experience, very surreal, like a scene from a movie). Anyway, we made it to my hotel where I met up with Ken from our China office here. It was great to hear him speak English.

We went to the first factory. No one spoke English so I had to rely completely on Ken for translation. The whole time I was touring the factory, there was some girl taking pictures of us. Then the owner insisted on getting his picture taken with me (smile). He took us to some restaurant where we walked through what can best be described as a live menu and picked out what we wanted to eat (or rather they picked it out and I pointed out some things I could tolerate). Then we went to a "round table" room to wait to be served. (I should've recognized this as a "round table" dinner.) Anyway, I ate some pretty odd stuff, but I made it through with a smile. When the owner found out I was single and that I owned a house, he proposed. Lucky me. (nervous "help me" smile)

We went to the second factory. This time both people we met with spoke a fair amount of English. Several times I didn't understand their English so I simply nodded and smiled. I toured their factory and learned more about mold making and injection molding. Very interesting! Oh and as we were leaving their factory, I spotted a large rat (cringe) scurrying through the trash. Luckily I was in the car so I felt a little safer. If not, I might have screamed. Oh and I experienced true grid lock. We literally moved only a few inches per minute until we reached a main highway. Super fun!

I don't have any great pictures to share other than these two of my room and the view out my window. (I really wanted to get one of the "live menu," but I didn't want to seem weird.)

Trip to China

I made it to China! I've essentially been traveling for a full day. I woke up at 4:45am and drove to airport to make my 8:30 flight to San Francisco. I had a four hour layover before I boarded my flight for Hong Kong. I snapped this picture of my plane.


As you can see, it is quite a large plane. This is like one of those planes you see on the movies with an upper floor (I think first class) and really nice business class seats (with oodles of room and fully reclining seats). I, of course, passed by those seats (I haven't made enough trips to China to earn business class yet, thank goodness). But, I didn't have to go all the way to the back. The company was nice enough to book me an aisle seat in Economy Plus. Now you might not think that three inches is much extra room, but on a long international flight, it makes a huge difference. So...I'm very grateful for three extra inches (oh, and the aisle seat was nice too).

Once I got on the plane, I quickly put on my neck pillow, face mask, and ear plugs and covered myself with a blanket. I was out so fast (I only got an hour of sleep the night before) that I don't even remember take off. I slept about 5 hours (gotta love face masks and ear plugs to block out the world) and woke up only because my seat mate needed to get up (she had to really poke me). I read, watched movies and napped until I arrived here in HK. Once I got off the plane, I quickly felt like cattle--following the crowd to board the train, being herded through immigration, and then herded onto the hotel shuttle (moooo!!). Two things that assaulted me as I left the plane--oppressive hot humidity and the smell of BO. The smell is nauseating. Its one of things you have to deal with while you're over here.

Anyway, I made it to my hotel and now I'm ready for bed. Good thing I only got an hour of sleep before I left. I'm already on their schedule. So while you are waking up, I'm going to sleep (its almost 10:00pm as I write this). Gotta love the 14 hour time difference. I have to wake up early to meet my driver so that I can go to mainland China tomorrow. So good night for me and good morning for you.

Leaf Peeking

During the 2 hour break between the Saturday sessions of conference, Mom and I went leaf peeking. We drove through American Fork canyon and up around the Alpine Loop. The colors were spectacular. We didn't get out of the car since it was raining, but the view was still fabulous. The yellow of the aspens was almost flouresent. I loved the contrast of the light green, yellow, orange, and red against the deep green of the evergreens. I understand that the leafs are at their peak right now so we caught it just right. (So take the opportunity for a drive before its gone.) Here are some pictures from our trip:

Alpine Loop

Upper Falls--Provo Canyon

I just wanted to make sure I got to enjoy this before I traipse off to China. I have a feeling that when I come back all of this will be gone and the winter winds will be blowing. I love the fall--cooler air, fall colors, pumpkins, more restful pace, and warmer clothes. I pulled out my sweaters and jackets. They looked so good to me. I remember looking at them in the spring and not wanting to ever see them again. Now, I can appreciate their softness and warmth. I guess I just really appreciate the change of seasons.

Doin' the can can

Ok, so the title of this post is a little deceiving. As much as I love to dance, I can't say I know how to do the can can. But, I do know how to can. I love canning. I look forward to this season every year. Its my fall hobby. I know it doesn't always make a ton of financial sense, but since I enjoy it and since what I make tastes so good its worth it. I love the homemade salsa, spaghetti sauce, apricot butter, apricot leather, plum/apple leather, peaches, and plum jam. I'm so spoiled that I can't imagine buying these things at the store since they just wouldn't taste as good. I also love seeing all that I've made sitting on my shelves. I get sense of personal satisfaction every time I see all the bottles lined up.

Last Wednesday and Friday, I went to Mom's house and canned peaches. Julie and Kaisa joined us on Friday. It was a lot of fun to spend the time together and with our combined efforts we were able to do more in less time. Also, Jeanette and Michelle benefited from our labors since they weren't able to come. Kaisa really enjoyed being there and helping. I'm so happy that she is learning this valuable skill. Kaisa, Julie and I did the peeling and mom did the other stuff. I think mom had the hard job. Anyway, we all had a lot of fun and now have a lot of yummy canned peaches. Here are some pictures from our evening: