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Published: December 1st 2013
Fall Colors
This is on our campus.Hello again! Sorry we get behind. First nothing is really going on, so we don't write, then too much is going on, so we don't write, then... we're really behind. Now though, we have loads of great things to talk about!
Life here is better than ever. We're working hard to build and maintain friendships with Chinese students and it's a lot of fun. A few weeks ago, some friends invited us out to eat at a hotpot place because Kaylee tells everyone that it's her favorite. Now, remember, I'm not so keen on it- I like eating it for sure, it just tends to be spicy and do terrible things to my body. This time, however, they took us to a Beijing style hotpot place, i.e.
not spicy. The really spicy stuff is all from Sichuan, which is where Kaylee lived last time. Anyways, it was terrific! All the fun of hotpot without any of the regret. It was a really traditional little place- the hotpot was heated by coals instead of being electric. It was great Chinese practice and lots of fun; experiences like that are my favorite thing about living abroad. A few days later they took
Beijing Style Hot Pot
Check out the cool menu on a fan!
us out to go shopping in the hopes of finding a suitable coat for Kaylee. It's getting quite cold and she had practically nothing. We looked in lots of little shops and even went to a mall, but Chinese style... not really Kaylee's thing. We had a great time and laughed a lot though. It's an interesting contrast with our friends- at first they were taking the whole thing so seriously, whereas we were just out for fun. We joked and teased about the different clothes, which was absolutely foreign to them, I think. One, they don't think the clothes look weird, and two, their humor doesn't seem to encompass laughing at bad fashion or just being silly. At one point I was teasing Kaylee about buying a coat with cat or bear ears on the hood and our Chinese friend said, in astonishment, "She doesn't like ears?" We explained kindly that in America, it's not exactly a trendy thing to have. Though we returned home empty handed, we were happy. It was fun to hang out with another couple (they're planning on getting married after they graduate this year).
A few days later, some people in the Branch
Chinese Style
If it doesn't have ears, it's not in. invited us out to eat for Kaylee's birthday. We gratefully accepted and so returned with a group of branch members to the Western Tang Dynasty Mall. We've been there a couple of times before because it's close to us, but the place is so huge there's plenty of new stuff to see. For example, that evening the Wilsons took us all underground to a huge market selling jade and other stone carvings and bracelets, and loads of antiques and art. We had no idea it was there but it's sweet. A lot of cool stuff... the difficulty is determining a good price. Because haggling is so widespread in China, it's quite hard to know what to pay, especially since loads of people sell fake things, especially being a foreigner. For example, I have no idea how much a good jade bracelet should cost and I have no idea how to recognize if it's good or bad. In talking with the members we basically agreed that you just have to decide yourself how much you want to pay, then find something you like to fit that price range. Easier said than done! Every time I show a Chinese person something I
Umbrella Decorations
They might not stop you from getting wet, but they are cute! bought, then tell them how much I paid, they always say, "Wow, they fooled you! You should never pay that much." Haha, oh well. I always think it's cheap so I don't care. And in the end, I feel like a lot of these people need that little difference more than we do.
But back to the mall- the mall is built on the spot where they say the silk road officially started, so it has a lot of cool themes in both architecture and stores. We browsed absolutely beautiful art in an Iranian store (Persian carpets, intricate metalwork, etc.), ate dinner at a Thai restaurant, and had dessert from an Indian vendor. The best way I can describe it is an Indian crepe; the guy took dough, rolled it out, tossed it in the air to get it super thin, added sliced bananas or mango or whatever you wanted, folded it in, cooked it on a skillet, cut it up and gave it to you hot and delicious. They were so good! Of course, a crowd of foreigners watching him brought him huge business- every Chinese person who passed stopped to take pictures and order one too, haha.
Surprise! We went to India...
Ok, so maybe not, but this mall is "silk road" themed so it has a lot of cool designs from other cultures. That was the Saturday before Kaylee's birthday. The week of we made preparations, then Friday night went out to an Italian restaurant we'd heard about through the grapevine. Online it's rated as the 2nd best restaurant in Xi'an (by foreigners, I'm sure) and I can't say I disagree. The food was excellent, as was the service. It was so surreal- the decorations and everything were just like in an Italian restaurant back home, so we felt miles away from the bustling Chinese street where we'd been only ten minutes before. We had food that not only lacked anything mysterious or questionable but also was full of long-lost friends like cream, tomato sauce, and cheese. It was excellent and dessert was divine. After dinner we continued our search for a coat for Kaylee. At long last we found one in a pretty classy mall. The saleswoman was nice (if a little pushy) and the coat was clearly of high quality (a primary shopping concern in China), and was really on sale- 70% off. It was still a good bit more than we'd been planning on paying but after looking around we decided it was the best deal we could find
It's a pizza! It's a crepe! No, it's... something Indian.
Whatever these are called, they were fun to watch and delicious to eat. and sealed the deal. When we went back to the store the mall was actually closing so the girl was running around trying to get us somewhere where we could pay with a foreign card... I thought it was humorous. Now Kaylee is warm and looking better than ever wherever we go!
Now that we didn't have to worry about her freezing to death outside, we took advantage of being in the city center to explore a bit. There's lot of beautiful buildings and lights and we took a stroll down a street in the Muslim quarter of the city. Kaylee was very popular and lots of people took pictures. One old guy called us over and asked for a picture. We said sure and he said I had a pretty girlfriend. I clarified that she's my wife, but apparently he didn't hear me. See, a few minutes later he tried to push me out of the picture and said, "Just me and your girlfriend!" I said, "She's not my girlfriend, she's my wife! Back off!" then smiled for the picture, haha. It was quite funny, especially since, of course, a crowd of Chinese people appeared out of no
Real Food!
So. Amazingly. Good. where to all take pictures of us. It was a great evening!
The next day was November 16th, Kaylee's 21st birthday. Our Chinese friend Sherry helped us rent a room at a karaoke place and we invited a lot of people. Talk about an international crowd! Chinese, Filipino, American, Belgian... some only spoke English, some only spoke Chinese, but most of us spoke both. I don't think Chinese karaoke is something I can accurately convey via any language I know- it must be experienced to be truly understood. Nonetheless, as most of you will either never have such an opportunity or perhaps would prefer to decline it if it did come your way, I shall try my best. Imagine the 4th floor of a building, very clean and nice, with many Chinese people bowing and offering to assist you. This is good, because the floor layout is like a maze. To complicate/glamorize matters, the walls are covered with mirrors and lights. At the end of a long, winding hallway is a soundproof door. You enter. Something akin to a disco ball is scattering colored lights everywhere. Mirrors adorn every wall. One side of the room has a long, low
Drum Tower
All beautiful in her nice China-red coat! couch with small tables topped with supplies for drinking games. The other wall has a big tv screen playing a music video. In some cases, it is the original music video, in others, the Chinese have made one up to go with it (For example, "Breakaway" by Kelly Clarkson just had the camera streaming over naked figures in renaissance art... we were laughing to hard to finish that song). In any case, the subtitles occasionally have errors and are often not highlighted in correct rhythm. Is the image coming clear?
Haha, all together, it was a blast. I'll admit, I went in expecting to laugh but not necessarily have fun, but it was great. Karaoke seems to be one of the few arenas where the Chinese are overly concerned with saving face, so they just sing their little hearts out, no matter how it sounds. It was a lot of fun because then we stopped caring about how we sounded and just had fun with it. Really a good time. Kaylee and I sang a lot of songs together and made fun of them- take that Miley Cyrus. It was great and so incredibly cheap- approximately $10 to rent
Karaoke
This is the place. a room for 6 hours. We ended up leaving early but our Chinese friends stayed, haha. We took the long pilgrimage to the western goods store to look for cake mix, though the best we could find was brownie mix. I for one had no regrets...
All in all, Kaylee's birthday was quite the excuse to have a lot of fun! She definitely deserves it. That'll be all for now; thanks for reading and tune in next time for Thanksgiving, the speech competition, and much, much more!
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