Eating Summer Memories

We have all sat outside and heard crickets chirping and the long whine of a cicada hidden somewhere in the trees. well last night i had a someone go into the tree and find one of these ugly buggers... so i could eat him..          

if you dont know what a cicada is, they are the guys that shed their skins on the side of trees that we all used to stick on  each others clothes scare our little brothers with, but we still ran away when a live one came flyin by... or at least i did.

my new room mate, david fung, and i went to a "chuan" place last night for dinner. chuan is basically anything you can imagine cooked on a stick. they had everything from chicken heart to silk worm, to bull penis. i went for the classic cicada. luckily david had his fancy iPhone 4 to document this occasion... enjoy ---->

quick side bar; i am in china, therefore the beer is legal.

the cicada was not what i would call delicious. but it wasn't all that bad. the worst part was just all the little pieces floating around. a but later that night i pulled either a leg or a pincer out of my teeth. the texture was a little weird. the crunch from the outside was accompanied by nice chewy inside that was very pleasing to the pallet.... not really. fortunately i didnt pull one apart to see what was on the inside until after i had eaten one. after seeing what they looked like on the inside i dunno if i could have stomached the bad boy.

one the funniest parts of the whole thing was how interested the locals found it that a white boy like me would eat something like this. one guy even felt that since i could eat one he would order one and give it a try as well. he stomached it better then i did, but he had to wash it down with a swig tsing tao just like i did. . . made me a feel better.

this all happened on a street called "Ghost Street" which is pretty intersting. i'll post about that later on.

American Migrant Worker in China?

So i already mentioned the time i spent working in the Latina as a bus boy, but it's such a unique experience almost no other foreigner has shared i though i would go a little deeper into it.

When most foreigners come to China they teach, or study, or work, or intern, or buy goods for imports. When i first arrived i had  the intention of teaching English, but since i arrived right after the school year started there was very little opportunity right away, especially since i dont have a college degree. So for the first few weeks i was here i just kinda sat around and didn't have much to do, and when homesickness started kickin my butt i had to start lookin for somethin to do.

In the first few days i was here a friend of the people who i was living with had mentioned he managed a western restaurant and would consider employing me if i was interested. So i asked Sisi (the mother of the family was living with) to contact this guy. He actually didn't have any work available for, but he referred me to the Latina.

Quick side bar; as i was looking into this work option i didn't really know what to expect, but i at least thought since it was western place where foreigners would be going i would at least be in a positions to use English. I dont know, maybe.... a greeter, or mingler... ya a mingler would have been sweet.

Anyways, i showed up to the interview between the lunch and dinner rushes. When i sat down one of the workers brought me a glass of water, and asked if i would like anything else, and the managers all came out and introduced themselves as best they could... it was nice, and i figured this would be a cake job, no problem at all... then interview started. when i say interview, i more mean the branch manager told me the hours and how much they would pay me. as he told me the details i could only think of one thing... "bummer". i was to clock in no later then 8:45am and clock out no earlier no earlier then 10pm. i would make 6 CNY an hour (about $.80) monday through friday. I would get from 2pm to 3:30pm as a daily break, they would also provide me TWO FREE MEALS A DAY!!! i'll get into that little golden nugget a bit later. The only special treatment i received as a foreigner was to have two days off a week rather then one.


So, what were my duties as the newest member of the Latina team?

It was originally intended i would be server. That meant taking drink orders, or things not on the buffet and putting them into the computer. I was also supposed to ring up the bill and bring it to the table and... pretty much a bunch of other stuff involving the computer. Problem was... the computer was in Chinese. And i wasnt just a few buttons to remember and it was all good. no, there were lists, and sub lists, and categories, and whole bunch of other stuff. they tried to help me out by giving the 14 page manual they gave all the other servers. Guess what... ya that was in Chinese to. I was in this position for about three long days of annoying the other workers getting them to help punch in just about.... everything.

Here is where i was appointed the glamorous job of bus boy. since it was painfully obvious the computer was not for me, they told me just clear dishes as people finished them and take food back and fourth from the buffet and kitchen. So i went from table to table to table asking people for their used dishes and what not.

Another side bar; be nice to your servers and bus people. i know now first hand how it is to people be just ridiculously rude and sometimes just plane mean to me because i am serving them. maybe it was because i was an western foreigner doing a chinese working class job or something but people, foreign or chinese, were a absolute nightmare most of the time. there were some people who decent enough, but the easy majority were not. (if would like examples just let me know.)

there were other responsibilities i had but im tired of typing and will post that later. i'll also talk about the meals, the workers dorms, the other employees and some other interesting stuff. should be up in a few days.

A Break From History

Since arriving in Beijing i have been living with Shaun Bao, or under his apt. i mean. Shaun is the Chief director of the China Harmony and Unity center that Ian Vickers and Global Partners in Hope will open in the future.

I lived in a bedroom with a nice bed, a desk, and a closet. it doesnt sound like much, but compared to some of the places i have lived and stayed in here, it was great, plus it was free housing for two months, so i cant complain.

I have moved out of the one room apt. to a place a little more central and convenient, and age appropriate. i now live with three other American guys who are here doing various things. One of them is the head of the leadership committee i am on, so that pretty cool.

the best part is probably McDonalds thats a three three minutes walk away.

My first few months

I arrived in China in late Aug 2009. I stayed one night in Hong Kong before taking off Guangzhou.

The first 6 months i was there i stayed with a Chinese family in there 16th floor apartment. The Hu family had 2 kids, Peter and MeiMei.

MY DAYS AS AN INTERNATIONAL BUS BOY OF MYSTERY

My original intention was to support myself in China by teaching English. I am certified to teach English as a second language, but since i arrived just as the school year was beginning, i wasn't able to find any jobs right away. So i took a job as a bus boy at local buffet that served Brazilian food. I was an American working in a Brazilian restaurant in China. It was quite the combination. I worked 12 hours a day 6 days a week for just under 1 USD an hour.

The Latina, my employer.

I would never do this again if i could avoid it, but i am glad i did it then, i was able to see how the working class lives. the other employees all shared one apt with three rooms. each room had at least eight people in it. they shared a bathroom/ kitchen, and had very little personal possessions. usually just their work clothes and a few extra shirts and pants, but they always seemed so happy.

During the time i worked there, one of the waiters had a birthday. rather then everyone else taking him out buying him food and gifts he took us out. He made just a bit more then 100 USD a month and still look out about 20 of us. He bought us all food, drinks, and since most people in China smoke, about 30 packs. The entire party cost him about 2/3 of his months salary, but was more then happy to do it.

THE GOOD CANADIAN
About two months after starting at the restaurant i was walking from table to table saying "shǔ tiáo", which means french fries. I came to a table with three western guys sitting at and they me what in the world i was doing serving fries! i told them i couldn't find any teaching jobs, and a Canadian man named Wayne took pity on my plight :) he was a teacher in the city and took my cell number and said he would ask around for me.

Wayne the Canadian

About three days later i took an extended lunch break and hoped into a taxi to visit Randolph language center. Wayne had arranged an interview for and was sure i would get the job. and he was right! The following week i had left my job at the restaurant. The new job was teaching four and five year olds basic spoken English. I went from working 72 hours a week for 100 USD to three hours a week for the same amount.

 From that point on Wayne would give me jobs whenever he could, introduced me to people he thought could help me, and he          also         celebrated my birthday with me.

A BIRTHDAY IN CHINA

Fred The Swede. Also fresh out of

 HS.

I had been in China about 2 months when my birthday rolled around. I had made very few friends, and none were good enough for me to celebrate my birthday with. Wayne found it was my birthday and threw together a quick party. I knew a guy mt age from sweden named Fredrik(Fred), and brought him along. We ate Pizza Hut and just kinda hung out. It wasnt much, but it was better then sitting at home doin nothing right? After dinner Fred and i went and played pool. He was a decent and guy and in later posts and pics you'll see him and some of the other things we did togehter.

THE NEW MOON FESTIVAL
  October is the month the Chinese celebrate the moon festival. Its when all the moon cakes are served and people get time off of work and school, and its an interesting time. Moon cakes.... a cake fillied with anything from egg the green beans. if you ever get the chance to eat a green bean moon cake.... go ahead and pass:) since i had time off of work i got on the net and saw what there was to do. I found a group of three other young people in my city who planned on traveling to Yangshuo and Guilin. they are small touristy type towns for back packers and climbers. i had nothing else to do so i asked to join their party.

it was a seven hour bus ride that was hot, cramped and loud, but it was worth it. we were there for 9 days. in that time we back along the river and through the mountains (of thats the right word.they looked almost the cone heads. there are pics of them in the slide show.) kayaked down the snake river, went out each night, ate the local food, explored the many markets, and saw the different traditional celebrations for the festival. the coolest tradion was the lanterns.

Biking along the Snake River

im sure you have seen the lanterns with the small candles in them. well thats what these were, except they floated away. the last night of the festival hundreds and thousands it seemed were released and floated away. it was pretty impressive sight, unfortunately i have no pictures with any sort of decent quality.

This trip is among the best experiences i have had since being here and it all started with meeting people on the internet... scary i know:)