Yuyuan Garden

Sunday was Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu Festival), so some of the Shanghai volunteers took us out to Yuyuan Garden to see if they had any activities. Duanwu Festival is major holiday and the one with the longest history. The legend says the festival commemorates the death of poet Qu Yuan who committed suicide by drowning himself on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. The local people, who admired him, dropped sticky rice triangles wrapped in bamboo leaves into the river to feed the fish and prevent them from eating Qu Yuan’s body. This is one of the reasons it’s a tradition to eat zongzi on this holiday. It is also said the local people paddled out on boats to retrieve his body hence the origin of dragon boat racing. We didn’t see the dragon boat racing but we did get to eat some zongzi. It was very good but I miss my Popo’s (grandma’s) zongzi back in Panama.

This was a very interesting zigzag shaped bridge

I loved this wall, the dragon is so creative!

Group picture!

Yu Garden also known as the Garden of Happiness or Peace is about 2 hectares big. I really liked this garden, it’s probably one of the nicest I’ve visited so far. It was like a little maze with small houses, bridges, lakes and nature in between. Everything had so many unique details. Wouldn’t it be awesome to have a house there? It was so peaceful, it was like stepping into another world right in the middle of the Shanghai’s hectic streets.

green tea ice cream with basil seeds and vanilla, milk custard and almonds & mochi balls and peanuts

In the afternoon we went to Honeymoon, a Hong Kong desserts restaurant in Wu Jiang Lu. They had many odd things but they all looked really good!! What I like about Chinese desserts is that they’re not overly sweet. Honeymoon is definitely a place, we will be visiting again.

So far I’m loving Shanghai. It’s a very different life from Tianjin. Tianjin was a lot more quiet and slow while Shanghai is a lot more hectic. There’s people everywhere walking and so many things to do; it has a very New York feeling to it. What I’ll really be missing from Tianjin are the prices! I think in Shanghai everything’s about double the price since it’s a very touristic area. In Tianjin a meal could be just about 1 USD. I know 3-5 USD is still very cheap but when you see it in yuans it makes a difference seeing 12Y compared to 24Y and for 4.5 weeks we were spoiled with very veryy low prices.

Shanghai

China has the longest high speed rail network in the world. We took the high speed train to travel from Tianjin to Shanghai. The train went at an average speed of 210 km/h although it can reach a speed of up to 430 km/h. The journey took only 5 hours, had we taken a regular train it would have been over 16 hours of traveling!

Ajisen noodle salad

our classroom in Shanghai

we tried the famous Shanghai xiao long bao

The campus is right in the middle of a huge shopping area!!

went for haircuts today

We also walked around Yuyuan Market, a street with traditional old Shanghai buildings

and joined a flash mob

Alexander, me, Daniel and James

再見天津！

Some pictures from around Tianjin University campus and Tianjin city. You might wonder, as I did, why some of the buildings look like they belong more to Europe than Asia, the story behind it is kind of interesting. In the past many foreign countries had concessions in Tianjin among them Germany, USA, France, Belgium. Japan and Russia. Similar to Panama, Tianjin had a strategic geographical location at the intersection of the Grand Canal and the Peiho River that made it one of China’s premier ports. Hence, many of its buildings look foreign. However you might be surprised to hear that most of these buildings have been torn down and rebuilt. The government has been rebuilding European style buildings that seem to be “old” all along the Haihe river area to attract tourism and make Tianjin a more commercial area. So all the buildings you see along the river although they seem old, they may be less than two years old. What’s even more surprising is that they’re currently empty! Their specific use has not been determined apart from creating a pleasing atmosphere.

It is very common in Tianjin to see bikes everywhere. Ever since the first day I came I’ve wondered how two people ride in one bike, how stable is just sitting in the back, whether it requires much balance or if it’s even comfortable. The other day I had the ‘luck’ to try it out! When I went for dinner with some Tianjin friends they all had bikes but since I didn’t have one we were walking until they all agreed we would never get there and I should just ride with one of them. I’ve concluded that it’s not as carefree as it seems to be or at least I’m not used to it. It is especially not fun when crossing the street. Remember how I said traffic was crazy and crossing the street felt like a serious danger? Well it’s even scarier when you can only but trust the person controlling the bike! It also requires a lot of abs muscle power since you have to balance your weigh to not fall back and you only have a very small “seat” space.
Tomorrow we’re leaving to Shanghai! I really can’t wait to see the world’s largest city (population-wise)! Tianjin has been really nice, I especially liked the people. Everyone has been so welcoming and nice. 我會想我天津的朋友！:(

Mahua & Gou Bu Li Bao

Today I tried two of Tianjin's famous local snacks: mahua (麻花) and gou bu li bao zi (狗不理包子). Mahua is a dough twist blended with a variety of spices including osmanthus, ginger and walnuts. There's an interesting story behind my mahua experience. It turns out that I've been eating mahua my whole life! My Tianjin friend wanted to take us to the original first mahua store to try authentic mahua. When I saw the mahua, I kept thinking it looked very familiar. Then I tried it and I thought, "wow this tastes and looks a little bit like mafa!" In Panama, we call mafa to a twisted fried dough snack. They sell it almost everywhere and I always thought it was a typical Panamanian snack. Then my friend started telling me how in northern China they can't pronounce the h, instead they replace it with an f. At the same time I was reading the mahua package and saw that the hua of mahua is the character for flower. In Panama most of the Chinese community (including my family) speak Cantonese. From my very limited Cantonese knowledge, I know the Cantonese pronunciation for flower is fa. Suddenly all pieces to the puzzle started falling into place. Mafa is mahua! I would have never thought mafa, a popular Panamanian snack, was of Chinese origin! Of course, it's not exactly the same but you can easily see the resemblance. This Tianjin mahua has more flavor thanks to the spices. They have even created other flavors such as hawthorn, mixed nuts, yellow bean, black sesame, among others. In Panama, I think they do not add any spices or flavors. Also, the Tianjin mahua is a more complex twist. They have from very small (size of a pen) to huge size mahuas (as long as a carry-on bag). 

the original flavor Mahua. It’s wasn’t the most delicious snack but it’s worth trying, makes a good companion to a cup warm tea.

The mafa I grew up eating in Panama! You can see it’s just a simple twist. They also only come in one size.

assorted mahua flavors

The mafa I know is probably more like these xiao (small) mahua

After indulging in Mahua, our friend took us to the original Gou Bu Li Bao Dian. Gou Bu Li Bao Zi is a typical Tianjin steamed bun. The bun is really thin, they come with various filling from meat to veggies and are about 2.5 inches wide. The literal translation of Gou Bu Li is "dogs ignore”. You should not be intimidated by the name because these little buns are delicious! As the legend says, the odd name comes from its founder childhood nickname. My Tianjin friend said when you’re given an ugly name, it’s supposed to protect you from bad luck. Already famous among the locals, the buns became even more famous when the Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing Dynasty tried them and proclaimed them delicious. 

delicious spinach salad

pork and vegetables gou bu li bao

these baozi were filled with soup! To make them, they first have to make the soup and freeze it into molds like ice cubes. Then before steaming the bun they take the frozen soup and put the wrapping. 

This weekend I’m planning to visit Beijing one last time. I can’t believe how fast time is passing! We’re almost halfway through the semester. Next week, on Wednesday, we are already moving to Shanghai!! Over the past few weeks I’ve heard so many good things about Shanghai that my expectations are really high. Although I’m very excited that I will finally visit Shanghai, I’ll be sad to say goodbye to all the good friends I’ve made in Tianjin.

here and there

A friend from Tianjin invited me this weekend to a rock concert on campus held for the recent graduates. It was quite funny because she called it, rock music play. I had never heard rock in Chinese, I guess it sounds the same as in any other language but it’s still amusing. It’s odd in the beginning but then you get used to it; like hearing a Chinese version of Harry Potter. From hanging out with some native Chinese students I’ve been able to learn a bit on how they live. Things are so different in almost every aspect from school, to food, to family values. For example, the on-campus dorms: from what they told me there is no air conditioner and electricity is cut down at 11 pm every night so you are forced to sleep early; compare to GT where we even have buildings open 24/7 for studying. Undergraduate dorms are shared among 6 people, graduate dorms hold 4 and PHD ones hold 2. Community bathroom really are bathrooms for the whole community. There are only two bathrooms on campus and sometimes one of them closes from time to time, so everyone shares one big bathroom and when you take a shower you have to pay for the water you’re going to use. Hearing all this makes my complaints from this past year living in GT' dorms, seem completely inane.

One of my friends was also telling me about the admission exam for universities and it makes the SAT sound like a joke. For most universities in China, high school students have to take an exam called the gaokao.  When applying for admission, the score you get on the exam is the one and only factor considered nothing else comes into play. Everyone is under huge pressure, students, parents and teachers. I read that on examination days streets are closed, trains, constructions suspended all to avoid noise near testing centers. I even read there was one place where frogs were poisoned so their croaking wouldn’t interrupt students. My friend told me they were forced to study at least 12 hours each day, classes go from 6 to 10. Throughout all of their senior year and even years before that, everything is about preparing for the gaokao. The exam is administered only once a year and if you fail to get the score you need, you have to repeat your senior year. Furthermore, before the exam you have to list your top three university choices, each university has a certain score threshold and if you don’t meet the required score for your number 1 choice then you are considered for your second choice but your score is deducted a number of points. The gaokao this year, was this past week and I read an article in the news that schools administer amino acids through IV so students have more energy for studying! The immense pressure of the gaokao is the reason behind so many Chinese students going abroad to study. I cannot imagine how intense the competition must be. It really makes the SAT look like a stroll in the park. Here’s an article I read recently about it.

Something else I noticed that is really different from US values is how highly they regard family. Usually when I ask what they plan to do after graduation, their response is always centered around their parents. What I mean is that, whatever they do, they will do it with their parents in mind. For example, one of my friends told me she wants to be a teacher at a university. I asked her if she was planning to stay in Tianjin and she said she was even though she didn’t like it at all. I wondered why she would stay if she hated it so much, so I asked her. She looked at me as if it were obvious, "because I have to take care of my parents and Tianjin is the closest to my hometown.” All these little or huge differences make you look reflect on your own way of life..

On a completely different note….

rock salt cheese green tea, milk tea with red beans and mango, jasmine biscuit and a delicious bread I could not understand its description and roasted chestnuts

I tried two different green tea and red bean drinks. The first one on the left is from Happy Lemon. They had a large selection of drinks that it took forever to decide what I wanted to try. However, odd as it may sound, the word cheese drew my attention to this particular drink called Rock Salt Cheese Green Tea (岩盐芝士绿茶). It was an odd combination but after a few sips you start to love it. I have no idea what kind of cheese it had a creamy texture with a tiny hint of salt that made a good contrast with the more bitter tea. The other drink on the right is a regular 奶茶 (milk tea) with red beans and mango (I know, another weird combination but you can probably tell I like to try odd things, not as exotic as scorpions, but reasonably odd things are okay).

I also found a very nice cathedral not too far from campus. It’s called Xikai Cathedral (西开教堂) ^^

karaoke

A couple of weeks back some friends from TJU invited us to karaoke. To be honest, I wasn’t completely thrilled to go but I’m very glad I did. I was completely surprised by it. The idea I had in mind of karaoke was one of those karaoke microphones you just plug in a TV to sing. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The place they took us to was really nice. They had lots of rooms most of which seemed to be full since Karaoke seems to be very popular among Chinese. The rooms had great audio and thankfully there was a good amount of songs in English. For some reason, anyone who sings using the mics in the room seems to have a really good voice; at least that’s the impression me and some of my friends got or maybe we just think we are worse singers than what we really are :D. We all had a great time singing both Chinese and English songs. Karaoke is definitely something you should try when in China!

One of the TJU students who went with us is one of the top karaoke singers in TJU. He sang one of the weirdest songs I’ve ever heard. It’s called 忐忑 which translates to mentally disturbed. The song is extremely hard to sing since it’s filled with so many musical twists and turns and there are no lyrics, just repeating sounds. What I found when searching for the lyrics was, #[a---o, a---o e, a se di, a se do, a se da ge di ge do, a se di, a se da ge do, ] x2 a----------- [a yi ya yi yo,] x2 a se di ge [dai, da ge dai, da ge dai, da ge da ge di ge dai, da ge dai, da ge do,] x2 # a yi ya yi yo---, Repeat # a yi ya yi yo--- [o- yi- yo- yi-] x2 a- yi- ya- yi- a- yi- ya- da ge [dai, da ge dai, da ge dai, da ge da ge di ge dai, da ge dai, da ge do,] x2 a yi ya yi yo---, [da yi yo yi da yi do yi] x2 a- er- yi- er- yo-, [da yi yo yi da yi do yi] x2 dai- dai- dai- dai do-, [dai dai dai dai] x6 dai dai do---, a--- a- e---, a yi ya yi yo---, a--- a--- a- yo---, a- a--------, a yi ya yi yo---, hei- yo-------, Repeat # a yi ya yi [dai, di ge dai, di ge dai, di ge di ge dai, dai, di ge dai, di ge do,] x8 dai, di ge dai, di ge dai, di ge di ge dai, dai, di ge dai, di ge dai, dig ge dai, dig ge dai, di ge di ge dai, dai, di ge dai, di ge dai, di ge do-, [a yi yo yi] x4 ha---, hai yo------, dai, di ge dai, di ge dai, di ge di ge dai, dai, di ge dai, di ge dai, di ge di ge di ge do---

so you can imagine how odd it is. Here’s a link to a video of the song:

忐忑