up at eight today, hot shower and straight hair, bit of mapping and then i was off on my trusty secondhand bike that i bought for 70 yuan last week. he's a fair bit rusty around the edges and only goes one speed, but there's a nice little basket and the brakes work when i need them so i can't complain. i biked to my chinese lesson, arrived 20 minutes early so had some amazing xiao long bao for breakfast (a type of steamed dumpling stuffed with minced pork - perfect with vinegar and hot sauce). i met up with my teacher, chelsea, for the lesson at 10 at this big mcdonald's situated halfway between our homes (20 minutes by bike for me). it's always empty on weekday mornings, the coffees are 7 yuan, and we can work in relative privacy.
today's lesson was vocab for renting an apartment, but before we got into the book she had me just relay some stories from the last week to her in chinese, which was such awesome practice. it makes me realize how little i actually utilize the mandarin i know, beyond conversations with shopkeepers and taxi drivers. i seriously need to stop speaking to my chinese friends in english!
so here are the exciting updates in chinese (Now with twice the tones!):
1. last week i bought a secondhand bicycle. boo-yeah! = shang xing1qi1 wo3 mai3 jiu4 de zi4xing2che1. tai4 hao3 le!
2. on saturday night i lost my cellphone in a taxi because i was drunk and stupid. = xing1qi1liu wo3 diu1 wo3 de shouji yinwei wo3 hen3 zui4 he2 ben dan.
3. i feel like i'm too busy right now. = wo3 jue de wo3 tai4 mang2.
after my lesson i did some groceries with as much scrimping as possible then came home and made a weird, super easy pork and pumpkin curry that somehow turned out okay. i was inspired by the bf's amazing curry skillzZz and his awesome thai red curry last night. anyway, recipe is as follows:
- sliced lean pork
- 1 cup coconut juice
- 1 1/2 tbsp curry powder
- 1/2 an onion
- 2 cups sliced pumpkin
- sliced ginger to taste (i used about the size of a thumb)
- 1 sliced medium hot green chili pepper
- pinch of chili flakes
- 1/4 cup of water
- 1 tbsp oil
oil in the pan, get it hot, add the pork and curry powder. when pork is golden brown toss in all the remaining ingredients and let simmer until sauce has thickened slightly and pumpkin is soft and mushy. dump it all over rice and eat it while planning your wednesday english corner. hooray!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
note to self: stop blogging when blue.
99% of the time i am incredibly happy, buoyant, flail my arms a lot and talk about two octaves louder than necessary. but occasionally when i'm either alone for too long or get stressed out it takes about two seconds for me to sink into a depressed mood, skulking sullenly around my apartment and drowning my sorrows in a cup of tea and woe is me text messages. earlier i texted a chinese friend in terrible hanyu saying i was feeling gloomy, and his response was actually really cool and a bit of a lesson in chinese for me:
"你要开心我也开心"
i'm a little unclear as to exactly what he was saying but badly translated it means "you want(? or must, or need?) to feel happy, i too feel happy". i'm assuming this was very sweet but the coolest part is the 开心, which literally means 'open heart', the first character being kai1 [to open] and the second being xin1 [heart]. i had to look it up to find out what it means and kai xin is the verb 'to feel happy'! i just think it's ridiculously cute. open heart = feeling happy. how practical and poetic.
i did my first english corner at a big english training chain school here in hangzhou on wednesday. it was terrifying speaking to a room full of adults as they don't shriek or randomly start dancing, but nonetheless the class went really well. i did it on movies, talking about genres, and focusing mostly on the language associated with discussing components of movies. it went over pretty well, lots of good discussion and a few laughs too. example - i was talking about setting/background, asked them to pick a movie they'd seen, then directed the where/when question at them. one guy's movie was Lost in Beijing, an allegedly sexy movie about a foot massage girl in...Beijing.
me: where does the movie take place?
student: IN THE BED!
amazing. anyway, tomorrow i'm repeating the lesson at the second school that the training centre has in the city so we'll see if that one goes just as well or flops miserably. it's only twice a week, an hour each time, but the money i get from it is covering the cost of my private chinese lessons (also twice a week) so it's a pretty sweet dealio.
between mandarin lessons, the english corners, my regular teaching job, AND the occasional freelance design work - on top of the ol social life - i am feeling pretty busy but it's definitely good for me. significant steps have also been forcing myself to cook and trying to take buses instead of taxis. i'm also attempting to learn the names of my a hundred and something students and actually plan lessons so yeah, hectic, weird, but made of awesome.
am feeling about 50 times better right now as per usual by the end of my posts, this time no t.i. but the sounds of traffic, the constant ding of received texts about open hearts and dinner parties, and the therapy that only masala chai can bring are good enough for now. zaijian!
"你要开心我也开心"
i'm a little unclear as to exactly what he was saying but badly translated it means "you want(? or must, or need?) to feel happy, i too feel happy". i'm assuming this was very sweet but the coolest part is the 开心, which literally means 'open heart', the first character being kai1 [to open] and the second being xin1 [heart]. i had to look it up to find out what it means and kai xin is the verb 'to feel happy'! i just think it's ridiculously cute. open heart = feeling happy. how practical and poetic.
i did my first english corner at a big english training chain school here in hangzhou on wednesday. it was terrifying speaking to a room full of adults as they don't shriek or randomly start dancing, but nonetheless the class went really well. i did it on movies, talking about genres, and focusing mostly on the language associated with discussing components of movies. it went over pretty well, lots of good discussion and a few laughs too. example - i was talking about setting/background, asked them to pick a movie they'd seen, then directed the where/when question at them. one guy's movie was Lost in Beijing, an allegedly sexy movie about a foot massage girl in...Beijing.
me: where does the movie take place?
student: IN THE BED!
amazing. anyway, tomorrow i'm repeating the lesson at the second school that the training centre has in the city so we'll see if that one goes just as well or flops miserably. it's only twice a week, an hour each time, but the money i get from it is covering the cost of my private chinese lessons (also twice a week) so it's a pretty sweet dealio.
between mandarin lessons, the english corners, my regular teaching job, AND the occasional freelance design work - on top of the ol social life - i am feeling pretty busy but it's definitely good for me. significant steps have also been forcing myself to cook and trying to take buses instead of taxis. i'm also attempting to learn the names of my a hundred and something students and actually plan lessons so yeah, hectic, weird, but made of awesome.
am feeling about 50 times better right now as per usual by the end of my posts, this time no t.i. but the sounds of traffic, the constant ding of received texts about open hearts and dinner parties, and the therapy that only masala chai can bring are good enough for now. zaijian!
Monday, February 23, 2009
in which danielle is too old not to get excited about rain and roads, egyptian ruins, our first kiss.
i woke up this morning with this horrible feeling of melancholy, just a hard knot in my chest that i've been trying to unravel all day without luck. it's been raining hard the past few days along with this bone-deep chill that seems to only be cured by a pair of warm arms. even so i kind of want to be alone right now and just wallow in my apartment. i've felt this before so i know the best thing to do is to go out and be productive, which i did - latte at starbucks then some groceries at centurymart. also took half an hour to study chinese and text some friends. i'm dragging my sorry corpse out tonight for work at 6:30, followed by supper and foot massage with a buddy of mine, so hopefully that helps a little.
i wish:
i was braver
i was stronger
i was a better person
i deserved anyone in my life
---
edit: so i guess all it took to feel better was listening to t.i. and painting my toenails pink. who would have guessed!!
i wish:
i was braver
i was stronger
i was a better person
i deserved anyone in my life
---
edit: so i guess all it took to feel better was listening to t.i. and painting my toenails pink. who would have guessed!!
Thursday, February 19, 2009
still loving the juno soundtrack. also, good friends.
i have not felt this vulnerable in a long time. i don't know what's wrong with me.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
in which danielle makes chinese soup.
my first week back in hangzhou, three chinese buddies came over and showed me how to make soup with a whole chicken, veggies, noodles, and stock. it was totally awesome and so as it has been really rainy and cold the past couple of days, i was inspired to create my own pseudo-sino soup. chinese soups are great because they're never too heavy or rich, they're just packed with vegetables and fresh ingredients with really natural, simple flavours. i went to the grocery store this morning, picked up a bunch of nice veggies and some egg dumplings and then got to work.
i used:
- spinach
- 1 package of egg dumplings stuffed with pork
- thin, handmade noodles (gift from a friend - fresh from her nearby hometown!!)
- dried mushrooms
- garlic
- ginger
- pepper
- chicken stock
- water
i made the base with just water, stock, some black pepper, diced garlic, and big chunks of the ginger. when it was getting hot i threw the remaining ingredients in - after it had boiled for a minute, i let the concoction simmer for a few more and then it was ready. all told, took about 20 minutes from start to finish and the result was hot and delicious, absolutely perfect for today. next time i would add shallots, cilantro and maybe some more veggies - also overcooked the dumplings a bit but otherwise, reaaally good.
i had to go to hong kong for three days in order to get my work visa. it was a fantastic trip - i jammed so much sightseeing in, but my favourite thing was ultimately just walking around and watching the daily activities of the city. it's a great place - good vibe, vibrant, huge mish mesh of cultures and walks of life. i stayed in a little hostel in tsim sha tsui on kowloon, it was a bit of a rough neighbourhood but there was definitely lots to see and do within the surrounding area. would go back to hk in a heartbeat.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
in which danielle gets a health exam.
at 9:30 on the dot this morning, i was picked up by my lovely lao ban, auntie lin, and we proceeded off to the Zhejiang Travel Healthcare Centre for my "healthy test". after forking over about 80 bucks and filling out some forms i was all set to dive headfirst into a myriad of tests. blood was first, went smoothly, and then i hit my first roadblock - the dreaded urine sample.
they handed me the little plastic cup, i went to the bathroom, mei you xiaobian. no pee. wait, okay, a little bit. i went back out and showed them. not enough, stupid waiguo ren, throw it out and try again! it was hard enough forcing it the first time but bravely i threw out my first cup and got a second one. naturally this somehow fell out of my hand and into the toilet. i came out, explained with halting chinese and mime as to what had happened. the staff were not impressed. out came the third cup. back to the bathroom i went, praying that somehow i would magically need to pee. as was expected nothing happened. auntie lin was getting a bit impatient by this time and decided to force 4 cups of water into me before lugging me off to the next tests, which would give me ample time to want to empty my bladder.
the next test was a weight, height, and eye exam. the good news is i apparently lost 5 lbs since i came to china despite copious amounts of booze and subway; i am now at roughly 145 lbs!!! incredible!!!!! thank you china (although i have a feeling this has something to do with my bout of food poisoning this past weekend)!!!!!! eyes weren't too hot even though i was wearing contacts but mei wenti. test 3 was an ultrasound. the woman grunted at me, pointed to a bed, i complied and lay down. she rucked my shirt up and unceremoniously dumped really cold liquid on my stomach then schlepped the device down. roughly five seconds later she threw a kleenex on my tummy and grunted again. i took this as a positive sign, cleaned up and went on my merry way to blood pressure lady.
blood pressure lady had no patience for my lack of chinese and got really angry when i had no idea what her purpose was or what i was supposed to do. i got yelled at in putonghua for a good minute until auntie lin gently gestured to the blood pressure machine (i'd had no idea that was the test i was getting) and all was suddenly well. blood pressure seemed good, now off to a heart test. once again my clothes were shoved up and weird liquid was dumped on me along with clampy things placed at various spots on my chest, stomach, and ANKLE. the concensus??? i drink too much alcohol so my heart is too fast! i'm sure that has nothing to do with being SCARED and FREEZING as i was half naked in a hospital WITHOUT HEAT and sporting OPEN WINDOWS. on a rainy +11 day. come on. auntie lin admonished me against the dangers of pi jiu as we proceeded to the x-ray. this was the most normal test of all of them and therefore not worthy of a paragraph.
at last it was time to return to the urine test, so i retrieved cup #4 and marched off to my stall. even after four cups of water, pressure to perform had somehow paralyzed me and i could only produce meager amounts of urine. it was just barely enough to satisfy the surly urine nurses but they stamped the forms and finally, finally, i was allowed to leave health check hell.
two hours later i'm now cold and starving but boy do i ever have to pee!!!
they handed me the little plastic cup, i went to the bathroom, mei you xiaobian. no pee. wait, okay, a little bit. i went back out and showed them. not enough, stupid waiguo ren, throw it out and try again! it was hard enough forcing it the first time but bravely i threw out my first cup and got a second one. naturally this somehow fell out of my hand and into the toilet. i came out, explained with halting chinese and mime as to what had happened. the staff were not impressed. out came the third cup. back to the bathroom i went, praying that somehow i would magically need to pee. as was expected nothing happened. auntie lin was getting a bit impatient by this time and decided to force 4 cups of water into me before lugging me off to the next tests, which would give me ample time to want to empty my bladder.
the next test was a weight, height, and eye exam. the good news is i apparently lost 5 lbs since i came to china despite copious amounts of booze and subway; i am now at roughly 145 lbs!!! incredible!!!!! thank you china (although i have a feeling this has something to do with my bout of food poisoning this past weekend)!!!!!! eyes weren't too hot even though i was wearing contacts but mei wenti. test 3 was an ultrasound. the woman grunted at me, pointed to a bed, i complied and lay down. she rucked my shirt up and unceremoniously dumped really cold liquid on my stomach then schlepped the device down. roughly five seconds later she threw a kleenex on my tummy and grunted again. i took this as a positive sign, cleaned up and went on my merry way to blood pressure lady.
blood pressure lady had no patience for my lack of chinese and got really angry when i had no idea what her purpose was or what i was supposed to do. i got yelled at in putonghua for a good minute until auntie lin gently gestured to the blood pressure machine (i'd had no idea that was the test i was getting) and all was suddenly well. blood pressure seemed good, now off to a heart test. once again my clothes were shoved up and weird liquid was dumped on me along with clampy things placed at various spots on my chest, stomach, and ANKLE. the concensus??? i drink too much alcohol so my heart is too fast! i'm sure that has nothing to do with being SCARED and FREEZING as i was half naked in a hospital WITHOUT HEAT and sporting OPEN WINDOWS. on a rainy +11 day. come on. auntie lin admonished me against the dangers of pi jiu as we proceeded to the x-ray. this was the most normal test of all of them and therefore not worthy of a paragraph.
at last it was time to return to the urine test, so i retrieved cup #4 and marched off to my stall. even after four cups of water, pressure to perform had somehow paralyzed me and i could only produce meager amounts of urine. it was just barely enough to satisfy the surly urine nurses but they stamped the forms and finally, finally, i was allowed to leave health check hell.
two hours later i'm now cold and starving but boy do i ever have to pee!!!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
got holes in my new jeans for you
back in hangzhou with a new studio apartment downtown, amazing location and even better view. this week has raced by in a blur of beer and RMB, people popping in and out of my life, things to buy and feelings to consider. i need to have more discretion and consider situations more carefully. i also reeeeally need to lay off the booze for a few weeks.
i like my co-workers. i'm so lucky to have good people around me.
i like my co-workers. i'm so lucky to have good people around me.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
from an airport on a cold day
first day of the new year, waiting to board. i feel like i'm running on momentum, like i couldn't stop if i wanted to - somehow i've learned how to stop fighting things and just let myself be carried by the tide, by the way things are going, without allowing myself to actually feel it at any point. just in case it's too painful.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
i need a haircut so bad
snowman impersonations in the pm.
i think there's a newish supernatural on tonight that i didn't see in october, so i'm pretty excited about that. i just need something to fill that 8-9 void!
it's freaking me out how much my diet has slowed down in the past month. i guess the less you weigh the harder it is to take off the remaining pounds. i'm skirting 150 right now, and ideally i'd like to be in the 140's (i'll take 149, why not) by the time we leave for the cruise next friday. psychologically to be in the 140's will merit a BIG WIN. if i can get 145 by the time i leave for china in january then that's that, i'll be absolutely thrilled with myself and try to stay somewhere between 140 - 145. i'm coming to terms with the fact that i am unfortunately sort of pear shaped and if i have curvy thighs my whole life i can live with it. the point is my body fat percentage is okay, i'm right smack dab in the middle of a healthy Body Mass Index, and my waist and hip measurements are also healthy. i cannot even remember the last time that i was anywhere near this, so that's a good feeling. (also i had chocolate mousse tonight and am trying to make myself feel better.)
only 5 more days of work to go! this weekend is like a christmas bonanza, tomorrow night my mom and i are seeing 'a celtic christmas' concert put on by the barra macneils, then saturday is old-fashioned christmas downtown thornbury followed by big family dinner at an inn near there. sunday we're seeing handel's messiah and having a little xmas dinner with my brother and my sister-in-law. i thought christmas without my dad would be a lot harder and a lot weirder, and maybe it is but i just haven't let myself grasp that yet? i'm not sure, but it's okay, i'm enjoying the season, the cheesy movies, the bing crosby cds, etc. we'll see.
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