Life as a Vegetarian Ain't so Tough

            Before relocating to China, I looked forward to being hungry. I thought my vegetarian diet would restrict my calorie consumption and imagined how my family and friends would insist on taking me to all my favorite restaurants when I visit San Diego. The food nightmares I had cherished in the months leading to the move were dashed at the first meal. Most Chinese food is vegetarian! And oily! And delicious! To make matters worse, Tiger is a phenomenal cook. He transforms a bag of familiar vegetables into a savory feast in under 30 minutes. He’ll make a dish of eggplant and bell peppers with a dark sauce (I now know the sauce is simply oil, salt, vegetable bullion, soy sauce, starch, and vinegar), a dish of tomatoes and eggs (sounded gross to me too, but it’s delicious!), a dish of celery and onions, and and and you get the idea. The point is that there are multiple veggie dishes on the table every night, and they all taste different.

Before we had a real table, we sat on pillows at the coffee table =)

We have a "real table" these days =)

This is breakfast! We visited Tiger's parents in the
seaside city of Dalian, where fresh seafood is a large part of every meal.
There was plenty of veggie food too!

            To make my foody matters worse, restaurants in Beijing are wicked cheap. Even the “expensive” ones are deliciously reasonable when I convert the prices into dollars (which I no longer do because my salary is not in dollars). But when I did translate Chinese Yuan into American dollars, my fancy plate of aubergine toast at a fancy French restaurant only cost $15. And dinner at a Chinese dumpling restaurant for five well-fed people only came to $30 (all together). Talk about spoiling my sad, skinny fantasy!

not so expensive French restaurant: Cote ala Poste

Typical dumpling table for five (the steam baskets come and go several times)

Restaurant in Dalian: the "seafood" at the beginning is assumed
(but there was plenty for me to chow on)

            So all you vegetarians out there who fear you won’t find anything to eat in China, get your booties over here. You might want to invest in a scale right away. I’m glad I did. Every few weeks, I starve myself for a few days so I don’t blow up.

            

Is He Stupid?

#1: My friend Rebecca was coming over while Tiger and I would still be out, so we were figuring out how to get her keys without leaving the door unlocked. We came up with the idea to leave our mailbox key under our doormat and our door keys locked up in the mailbox. Then Rebecca would only have to worry about getting into the building (you need a security card). But we figured she could follow someone in with minimal wait time. Problems solved.

            Then Tiger asked me, “Should I leave the keys under this mat (points outside front door) or this one (inside the door)?”

            I wanted to scream, “Are you stupid?” but I didn’t. I said, in all seriousness, “The outside one, Tiger.”

            He laughed, “Oh, my Shawna has no sense of humor.”

#2: Tiger walked in the front door all sweaty from the gym and said, “I forgot shampoo. Can you hand it to me?”

            I said, in all seriousness, “What are you going to do with it?”

            “I’m going back to the gym to shower.”

            Granted the gym is about a two-minute walk from our building, I still thought, “Are you stupid?” but I didn’t say it. Instead, I said, “Just take a shower here.”

            Tiger laughed and said, “My Shawna has no sense of humor.” And added, “You should write a blog about this.”

Glee

There's a guy who sells DVDs at the subway station about a minute walk from my apartment for 10 元 (less than $2), so I picked up the first season of Glee. I had never watched the show, but I wanted something in English for those times when I just want to veg out. And Chinese TV suuuuucks. All the shows are set in ancient China, or they're full of anti-Japanese propaganda (CCTV, the station that seems to run on all 60 channels, is state owned).

Anyway, I've watched about five episodes of Glee and am happily impressed. Does anyone out there watch the show? I want someone to gush over Puck with me. He's the hot rebel and soooooo sexy (bottom right corner). He plays a high school student, but he was born in 1982, so it's totally legal to find him hot =)

Tiger and I also bought and watched the new Karate Kid and Salt. KK is just ok; Salt is awesome. 

Let me know if you want me to pick up any movies for you. I'll be in the states in February for a few weeks.

Behind the Great Firewall of China

Several people have messaged me to ask why I haven't posted anything since my arrival in China two weeks ago. Aside: thank you for your interest =) Despite China's dive into capitalism ("socialism with Chinese characteristics"), she is still very much a communist country with her eyes all up in everyone's business. China does not want her citizens accessing networking sites that promote the sharing of ideas and, goddess forbid, tools that enable large groups of people to organize themselves into a unit of like-mindeds. Facebook and Blogspot are blocked. There are many more blocked sites, but those are the ones that have impacted my ability to reach out to yous.

A friend I work with (Rebecca from Colorado), turned me on to WiTopia, where I purchased a VPN (I have no clue what the acronym stands for). Now, to access the blocked sites, I simply click on the tunnel icon the VPN software installed on my desktop and scroll down to Hong Kong... I am now free as a bird to fly all over the internet. Yay!

Garlic Breath

So, I was studying Chinese in the living room while Tiger was cleaning up the dinner dishes when I commented that “My breath stinks.”

Tiger laughed and asked, “Really? Is that normal?”

I was only half focused on the conversation because I was concentrating on tone marks, so I didn’t pick up how shocked he was at my comment. I replied simply, “Yeah, it’s normal. There was a lot of raw garlic in the 'Little Green Dragon Died in Pieces.'” (diced cucumber salad).

“Huh, mine doesn’t stink.”

That got my attention because I was spewing garlic gas with each breath. I looked over at Tiger to see him fanning his chest, cupping the air up to his nose. “Maybe only women’s breasts stink from eating garlic.” 

I Wanna Flyyy Awayyy Yeaaah Yeaaah Yeaaah

Remember that song? A few stanzas to jog your memory:

I wish that I could fly
Into the sky
So very high
Just like a dragonfly

I'd fly above the trees
Over the seas in all degrees
To anywhere I please

Oh I want to get away
I wanna fly away
Yeah yeah yeah

Lenny Kravitz's "I Wanna Fly" was a hit here in the states in '98, but it was still hot in Swiss dance clubs when I lived there a few years later. Everyone in the club stretched out their arms and swiveled their bodies to the chorus. I wish I could remember the name of the club in  Disentis. But I digress. "I Wanna Fly" has been in my head for a few weeks as I twiddle my thumbs waiting for all my visa paperwork to get stamped by the right people in the right places. And the day is looming. I got the green light yesterday to book a flight for Saturday, August 14th.

I fly in 9 days!

The Upside to Waiting

More cuddle time with Grant the Manimal

Joint B-day Party for Christian (12) and Isabella (9)
August 1, 2010

The Digs

The apartment is on the 22nd floor of a skyscraper in a sea of skyscrapers. Look out the window! It's on the east side of Beijing in the Chaoyang District. Tiger picked this one because it's a few minutes walk to the subway, and the bathroom is relatively large. I won't get to see it in person for another week and a half, but I'm sharing my first photo glimpses, courtesy of Tiger =) It's a furnished apartment, so I'm not sure how much of the decor is Tiger's doing. Can you tell I'm referring to the Hello Kitty pillow? I haven't had the guts to ask what that's about. Haha!

Waiting on my Visa...

I'm a little frustrated with how long it is taking for me to receive my visa, but I am spending my time wisely. I have enjoyed many "last hurrahs," most of them with Mea =) Yesterday, Mea and I went to Colette's house to watch New Moon, and today, the three of us caught Eclipse at the theater. And to think I thought I'd have to play smart when I went to grad school. That's right, all three of us are MA students, and at least two of us are Twilight Saga crazy. Team Jake!!!

The Silver Plume is Sold!

The Silver Plume 2005-

I bid farewell to the Silver Plume today. And I learned that I should not give names to objects. And I deposited a nice wad of cash into my bank account. I now have the power to buy myself that one-way ticket! My visa could arrive any day. FIngers crossed faaaace!

I Got a Roof Over My Head

Tiger is all moved in to our new apartment! I haven't seen pictures yet because "the sky is gray, and it needs sunshine," but I know where it is. It's a few minutes walk from the line 1 subway; the stop is called Sihui. It's two stops east of a restaurant my aunt Margi and I ate at twice when we were in Beijing in January. We were craving western food and  Grandma's Kitchen didn't disappoint: cheese fries, salads with Ranch dressing... Now that I've taken my vegetarianism to the next step (I'm a vegan now), I'm not sure what Grandma's Kitchen has to offer, but it's comforting to know it's there =)

My stop is one station west of where the red line meets the gray line.

I Got a Couple Jobby-jobs Lined Up!

Job #1: Teacher
As planned, I will be teaching English. The school is called the Beijing International Studies University. My department is call the Beijing Hospitality Institute (BHI), and it's about an hour commute from my apartment in the city. I haven't seen it yet, but Tiger checked it out and says it's legit. Here are a few pics I swiped from their website: BHI

I hope to find a reason to be in the Wine-tasting room =)

Job #2: Professional Marketing Copy Writer
A friend of Tiger's asked him if he knew any native English speakers who would be interested in writing copy for his firm Beyondsoft Group. I just got off the phone with my future supervisor, Leon, and I'm excited. The firm does something technical, like computer software outsourcing or something. Ha! Maybe I should bone up on technical stuff. Naaaah, I wouldn't know where to begin. Here's a link to the company's website: Beyondsoft Group