OLD TOWN EVENING

Music night in the old town.

CHRISTMAS IN CHINA

Christmas is becoming more popular in China, and there is a feeling the Chinese feel they have been missing out on something, as one thing they love is a good party! Duck Banquet on Christmas Day.

Sometimes I am overwhelmed by the generosity of the Chinese: here are some of my Christmas gifts:

Here are some of my students at work and my demo drawing: they are actually improving quite a lot!

When I go out this is how I look, owing to the bitter cold and polluted air!

This is one of the local rice wines, it can be served warm like sake.

MEETING PEOPLE

I have a few meals out with friends and colleagues, as Christmas approaches.

FOOD UPDATE

As I get more confident with my cooking I make more European food like seafood paella, soup and spaghetti bolognaise.

This lady on a street stall sells a local delicacy: donkey burger!

MORE HOME COOKING

A couple more homemade dishes, vegetable curry and squid rings with fried vegetables and pickles!

HOME COOKING

I find myself becoming a bit of a pancake nut: I often make pancakes and strawberries, and seafood crepes: I do miss being able to make dishes like moules mariniere, but am looking forward to making stew and curry. Despite having my non-stick pan to which things invariably stick. At least I can make chip butties, salad and egg mayonnaise as well!

FOOD

You get very generous portions: here are a few things I've had: stew and vegetables, seafood and hotpot!

EATING

Feeding myself in China can be something of a frustrating experience: you wouldn't think it would you in such a land with so rich a variety of natural resources? I do eat out a bit but since falling ill I trust my own cooking a bit more: even the locals are not altogether convinced about some of the restaurant food!  This weekend I stay in a small hotel in the city centre to sample a bit of night life: a few beers and pizza with friends. I also find a charming place to eat in the old quarter  so invite a few friends out: we'll see what it's like!

SHOPPING

Going out and buying food in China is something of a challenge like everything else. Even in the best supermarkets you don't have much choice except to wander around endlessly looking for things, if you can't speak the language. I look carefully at packages and scan for signs of what I'm looking for. Buying meat is OK, when I wanted beef recently I stuck my fingers out on top of my head and mooed, the lady pointed me in the right direction, and fish you can just point at.
Near where I work buying vegetables is less easy than you might think, there is a food market nearby, you'd think buying veggies is easy wouldn't you? Wrong. There are dozens of stalls and all they sell is fruit. Honest!  Row on row of fruit: not a veggie in sight! Does anyone eat that much of the stuff? There are even shops selling nothing but apples and bananas! And there are big supermarkets with entire sections selling nothing but yoghurt: skiploads, truckloads of the stuff. (Personally I have never seen the point of yoghurt: or why if you walk into a big supermarket about a quarter of the floor space is taken up with yoghurt. Ok I'm exaggerating a bit but I'm sure you know what I mean.)  So if you can live on fruit and yoghurt, you're sorted! But for a balanced diet you do have to shop around a bit.

HEBEI

These stunning photos of Hebei Province, China were taken by my good friend Alison, a talented photographer: reproduced by permission: enjoy!

HEALTH

After my dinner with my neighbours I get stomach cramps in the night, which wake me up. I put this down to indigestion but it persists the next day. I go through the day thinking about constipation, and mild food poisoning, but surely not from vegetables and tea? After the third day I begin to get worried and talk to colleagues at work, but carry on as normal. Some of the cramps get quite painful. I start looking online and come up with things like Crohn's, colitis and other unpleasant bowel disorders. Finally on the fourth day when it settles in my lower right side and begins to look like appendicitis, I arrange a visit to a local clinic, but keep kidding myself and taking laxatives etc. At last on the 5th day I arrange to go to a hospital for diagnosis: a full medical reveals chronic appendicitis.The good news is I don't need surgery. But I do need intravenous antibiotics and this means 2 visits day to the city hospital for three hours in the morning and an hour at night.

They suggest it may be a combination of a radical alteration in diet and the bitter cold in China during winter. I  am warned off street food and too many spices.

This whole experience is a challenge, however generally speaking the staff are very efficient. I do become exasperated from time to time as they tell me one thing on a particular day and a different thing another day. And send you to another department only to have that department send you back to the last one! The university sends a colleague with me to act as interpreter, so I wander around with this little Chinese lady trotting around after me and beaming with happiness all morning long, and she can't do enough for me! I feel well looked after but also very alone and a little scared at the prospect of having an operation in a strange land, where the thought of infection fills me with visions of septicaemia.

After the 5th day of treatment the symptoms seem largely to have subsided but they also seem to come and go, depending on what I eat. I decide to try fruit and water for a few days, so have to forgo pizza, beer and quiz night with the team.

CHINGLISH

A couple of bits of Chinglish on the university campus:

EXHIBITION II

This one really amazes me: however much it looks like a sculpture this effect is achieved with mere brush and paint!

EXHIBITION

I visited a graduation show at the art college on the campus: mental note to go again when there are more people about,:

DOWNTOWN

I found this charming bar in the centre of town: sadly at the time I was the only customer! For the time being as I can't travel due to teaching I'm confined to the local area! Hope to see more of China in the new year: the friendliness and generosity of the Chinese never ceases to amaze me though!

UPDATE

Since contracting chronic appendicitis I realise I've neglected this blog, Time for a few updates. My lovely neighbours invited me for dinner and I tried loads of tea in a simple ritual often performed in China:

THE APPROACH OF WINTER

It's getting much colder now, at times bitter and I need to get an extra coat: otherwise it's going to be hard to manage in this weather.I find a dead dog in the street that had been run over, heartrending sight. I deplore seeing animals like this. I start cooking for myself and it's a welcome relief from street food! Curry, pancakes, salad and seafood!
The cheesiness of local entertainment is something I can't stop being aware of: pastimes include line dancing outdoors to cheesy music and watching gaudy pop videos. Karaoke competitions are a vast industry in China filling huge auditoria. Waiting to be able to travel around a little more. Some local people get round in little electric taxis like these.

EXPLORING

I explore the area a little more and find the old quarter of Baoding after meeting my students: they're all very enthusiastic and bright, but on  many occasions self conscious as I suppose may young people are. In this part of China many people get around on little electric scooters, which is one way in which the Chinese embrace green culture. There are also little red taxis built on a motorcycle chassis, they emit almost no sound so I surmise they may be electric. Some local people have little trucks also built around the same principle complete with a Chinese voice that emits a message whenever they reverse, I imagine something like THIS VEHICLE IS REVERSING! although not very loud. I've sickened of eating out all the time and long to be able to cook so have bought a wok ( the Chinese just call it a pan.) Would you believe the traditional Chinese wok is virtually unobtainable here ? They've all embraced the non-stick, flat-bottomed version you tend to buy in Wilkos or ASDA in the UK. In despair I buy a cast-iron one at Walmart which I think is the best I can get. After centuries of design why fix something that ain't broke?
If the good news is that buses in China are punctual, regular,clean, cheap, fast and reliable the bad news is they are hopelessly overcrowded. Then again China is known for its population. I tend to stand near the exit doors if I can as they are separate from the entrance. I find myself gently edging towards the exit by making my body as fluid as possible and sidling through the other passengers:  (Its standing room only quite often,) Many road users on scooters tend to wear a kind of blanket that covers them at the front with built in gloves like oven gloves presumably to keep out the cold. In the UK they would just get some motorcycle clothes I guess.  Few wear helmets. The old quarter has an old world charm that makes me think that to have an old quarter, a city has to undergo burgeoning redevelopment., meaning that at some time in the past, the old quarter was surrounded by fields. The old quarter is full of art materials shops which encourages me to think I may be able to enthuse my students and get some stuff to make art myself!