new year, new blog!

dear blog friends...

this is so embarassing...! almost 5 months later and i finally post again. a lot of it was due to no motivation, no time, exhaustion from studying, writer's block, and no time... :( well it's a new year, sorta (a little late sorry!) and i've decided to create a new blog and hopefully keep up with a bit more... i'm no longer just a jodi in china but now i have a hubby too! so here's to lifewiththetangs.blogspot.com... already got 2 blogs down so i think that's improvement already :) it's been a good 5 years having this one but it's time to move on. thanks for keeping up even though i really stink at blogging at times.

yours,
jodi

happy (belated) 64th birthday, China!

this is my 5th year in China celebrating their national holiday (almost like our 4th of July but no picnics or anything) and it's one of my favorite holidays because it's a week long and perhaps the only week long holiday we get here. it's generally a good time to rest, travel, hang out with friends, and shop... but so far i've only done the first. this holiday hasn't been so exciting because i got sick (again) 5 days ago and i'm still fighting fevers, chills, earaches, and the whole she bang. i guess the father had other plans for us this holiday other than going to Samson's old city, even if we don't know what it is! thoughts would be greatly appreciated!! :)

in a more historical and modern note, here's an excellent excerpt from someone who has a wealth of knowledge about China and Chinese culture since she's lived in and studied it over the past 20+ years!

China may be an ancient civilization, but today (October 1), it celebrated its 64th birthday. It was on this day in 1949 that Chairman Mao stood atop the Gate of Heavenly Peace (Tiananmen) and declared the founding of The People’s Republic of China.
 
The holiday is called National Day, and it marks the beginning of what has come to be  known as “Golden Week.” Basically, the entire nation has a 7 day holiday. The logic behind the holiday is not so everyone can spend a week basking in the glories of Communism, but so they can spend money.

LONG LIVE CHAIRMAN MAO; NOW GET OUT THERE AND SHOP!!
DOWN WITH CAPITALIST ROADERS….NO, WAIT…GET OUT THERE AND TRAVEL!!
SERVE THE PEOPLE WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND SOUL….WHICH REMINDS US…DON’T FORGET TO PACK OUT THE RESTAURANTS!!

At the end of the week, the government will announce how much money was pumped into the economy. No doubt it will be a glorious amount.

i love reading her blog and learning more about China, her stories, experiences, and knowledges :) check it out if you ever want a good China blog read: http://joannpittman.com

A recipe, sorta.

Chinese people don't really do recipes and i think that's a part of me that is very "Chinese". I never really liked recipes, following them, measuring stuff, etc... so I generally like cooking more than baking because you can experiment a little more with your ingredients and portions. The problem is when someone asks you to send them a recipe of how to make something that you don't have a "real recipe" for!

Here's a recent vague Chinese-ish recipe that I gave a new friend on how to make "Chicken alfredo/white cream sauce" (and feel free to use this recipe if you'd like ambiguity hehe)

ingredients:
for the base sauce you need
-butter (1/4 cup-ish,  depends on how much you want to make)
-milk (1 quart or so of a container thing of milk or a bunch of milk bags...)
-flour
(extra stuff to add to the sauce)
-chicken cut up and brined if possible and sauteed separately
-1 onion chopped and sauteed separately
-a big thing of spinach washed and chopped (it shrinks up a LOT)
-1-2 diced tomatoes (or whatever you like)
-parmesan cheese, american cheese, whatever cheese you like
-seasonings: salt, pepper, rosemary, oregano, italian.. whatever you like!

so this isnt a normal recipe (obviously!) because you have to make the sauce according to how it looks.. first you melt the butter in the pan then add the flour to it slowly and whisk it with a fork or something until it becomes like a play dough substance

then you add milk until it's the right consistency of a creamy sauce and bring it to a boil.. then let it simmer for a 5-10 minutes and you can add it whatever kind of cheese you have if you want that flavor and some seasoning too and then add all the other goodness to it depending on what you like! then you have your creamy alfredo chicken sauce! :D

Chinese "quotes"

Okay, so these aren't "real" Chinese quotes, they are more like things that we heard my tutor "YR" and her family (her mom, sister, cousin, and aunt) say over dinner at their house the other night that were pretty funny/interesting and had to be recorded. Hope you enjoy the random conversations we had (most of it was in Chinese and this is my attempt of translating it)! :)

The massive awesomely delicious meal they cooked for us and much of where good hearty hilarious conversation occured... we stuffed our faces because there was so much and it was so good!

A good group picture with my tutor's family... Props to my man for being the only guy there :) (from top left clockwise: YR's aunt, YR's cousin, YR, Samson, Me, YR's mom, and YR's twin)

"You have beautiful teeth!"-YR's mom... she said this about 3 times that night to me. haha

"My aunt told me if I want a boyfriend I need to put pictures of handsome boys in my room..." -YR in response to us commenting about her boy posters on her wall.

"When the other foreign teacher came over to our house, my cousin hid in the room the whole time.. it was her first time to have a foreigner in the house!" -YR

"They took all my teeth out..." -YR's twin sister explaining what happened during her oral surgery last year and proceeded to show us the gum scars in her mouth where they took out ALL her teeth, and then put it back in...!!

"They don't understand you, speak slowly" -Auntie said to YR's 10 yr. old bubbly cousin
YR's cousin said, "I am speaking slowly!"

"How many kinds of people are their in the world?" -YR's cousin in response to a discussion about the diversity of America. "Well there's white people, black people, red people, yellow people..." said the Aunt and sister. "Oh, and don't forget about the green and blue people!" shouted YR's cousin, which she later claimed her textbook talked about... I'm not sure what kind of textbook that is!!

Words don't do justice to actually being there that night. They are one of the sweetest, most hospitable, warm, and fun Chinese families to be around... and it's not everyday you meet a young Chinese friend who you click so well with and reminds you of yourself 7 years ago :) Please remember us as we hope to continue the relationship with YR and her family even after this month of tutoring together (we switch tutors every month) and share true joy and purpose with them!

characteristics of our chinese home...

you might have seen a picture or video of what our "apartment" looks like with it's new homey touches...

it looks pretty nice, comfortable, and "American" from what you see... and don't get me wrong, it IS very nice and we are so blessed. however, you might not see or notice the Chinese aspects of our apartment that make it quite different from an American one. it's what most Chinese apartments that I've been to or lived in have in common- characteristics that make it uniquely Chinese (and interesting) :)

this is our "tiny" washing machine (compared to American ones, and there's no drying machine) and plays jingle bells tunes when it's done... my friend Ruthy has the same one at her apartment too!

this is our front door keyhole... it's confusing and has no handle. you have to put your interesting looking key in it and push it in and then the door opens, in case you wanted to know.

this is the BIGGEST toaster oven i've ever had in China! thanks to a dear friend who gave us her extra one :) since we have no ovens here, we make everything in a toaster oven- toast, cookies, meatloaf, casseroles, veggies, and more!

this is our "tiny" fridge (according to American standards), but we are thankful- it holds just what we need for the week and a little extra in the freezer!

this is our drying machine, i mean, rack. :) it dries just the amount the machine can hold- which means we do laundry often here, about every other day (boys wear a lot of clothes!)

this is our bathroom sink.. it is quite stinky sometimes because the plumbing is not up to par here.. so we tend to keep the drain closed when we don't use it.

this is our guestroom and bedroom light... kinda ghetto but it does the job. it has more of a garage lighting feel to it so that's why we want to get more standing lamps with natural lighting.

this is tissue AND napkins for the table. napkins are hard to find and expensive, so most Chinese people use tissues for napkins at the table- it's resourceful!

when we run low on our 5 gallon water dispensing machine.. this hot water boiler comes in very handy! we boil water then put it in the fridge so we have cold, clean boiled water to drink! :)

"tuo xie" means house slippers- a necessity for every Chinese household. you don't want to bring your normal shoes into the house and get it all dirty but then you don't want to walk barefoot because it's always dusty anyways.. so we and guests wear house slippers :)

this is special. most Chinese apartments have "shoilets" (showers and toilets in the same room with nothing dividing) but we are blessed and fortunate to have a shower!! it's definitely meant for Chinese people like us because we fit perfectly.. but if you're taller than 6 foot- there's no way you would fit. When I stand in it, my head is pass the top shelf.

this light switch is not for the bedroom, livingroom, or hall... but it's the bathroom light switch! i'm not sure why, but most Chinese apartments have the bathroom light switch outside the bathroom... it's always weird when you find one IN the bathroom.

last but not least, HOOKS! what's a Chinese apartment without a plethora of hooks to hang everything and anything... i love hooks and find them quite convenient and useful... and they are cheap here!

hope you enjoyed a more intimate, detailed, and random view of our apartment and what makes it Chinese. we love it here, despite the smells, dust, and 6 flights of stairs. it's a place we can call "home" for now and open it up to our friends and community here.. come and visit!!

thinking the best...

thinking the best of others is unnatural for me.. i tend to be a realist, pessimist, and think the worst of situations. this morning at 6:23am, samson and i woke up to the sound of "pound pound pound!" it was a consistent, loud, and obnoxious pound that sounded like it was coming from upstairs.

the first thing that came to mind was... "are these people nuts!?" it's our last weekday to "sleep in" a little before we start at 8am tomorrow and forevermore.. is another hour of sleep too much to ask for? i was about to go upstairs and say in my broken chinese, "what are you doing? do you know it's 6:23am??"

samson, who also wasn't feeling well, also started to get irritated and frustrated by the sound.. then the spirit inside me gently reminded me- it'll be okay and they probably have no control over the situation. surely enough, the noise was coming from somewhere else that echoed from above. we're still not sure what was going on or why at 6:23am it occurred but some things are out of our control and comfort BUT we need to be patient, gracious, loving, and think the best or else it will eat up our joy and cause us to be bitter the rest of the day!

on the positive side, we got up earlier, i made dumplings, had a quiet time, worked on a newsletter, and wrote a blog! :) now off to class we go...

i don't get out much.

last week we hosted a good friend from "the great country of Texas" and got to hang out with a Chinese friend too! it's amazing how you can grow up and live in a place your whole life but never go to the top tourist locations. haha i call it being lazy, cheap, and a typical homebody.. that's me when it comes to living in LA! haha we took a 1 day trip to the Getty museum and what i couldn't believe was the FREE admission (everything is always better when it's free hehe except the $15 parking fee.. but at least we split it!), gorgeous day/scenery/architecture, cool/real/authentic paintings scupltures, and fun company too! :) there's nothing quite like feeling like a tourist in your own hometown! here's some of my favorite pics from the day...

one thing of the many random things that i realized from this trip was that i am out of shape...!! living in America this past year made me spoiled with elevators and cars... the walking and stairs were quite a challenge and that is nothing compared to what we'll be doing in just a matter of weeks when we return to China! yikes!!