Monday, April 6, 2009 – More hot fish

We didn’t do much today, but that was my own fault　（狗脾气发作）.  I regret this, because the weather was so beautiful.  What we lost in the daylight hours, we made up for in the evening.  We went to a photo lab to pick up copies of the pictures from Angela’s photo shoot.  I am immensely pleased with them.  We will give one set to Xiao Wei’s parents, and another set to my mother.  I’m sure they will enjoy them.  Angela is such a beautiful girl, and the photographer did a wonderful job of capturing this.

After we picked up the photos, we took a nice walk around the Hua Yuan area and then we went back to the hot fish restaurant ( FEI TENG YU XIANG) that we visited the other night.  This time, we got much hotter fish.  It was hot enough to numb the mouth, and eventually, make me feel like my entire head was on fire.  I love it.  I really think that somebody should open a hot fish restaurant in Dallas.  I think it would be very successful.  Good hot fish is an exciting dining experience.  I’ve read food critics in America write that certain restaurants had flavors “that seem to explode in your mouth.”  Oh yeah?  Well, this kind of hot fish will really feel like an explosion in the mouth.  First it’s hot and salty.  The tongue and lips feel the burning sensation.  Eventually, the tongue goes a bit numb, but the burning sensation is still there.  What a wonderful experience.  The service at this restaurant is very good.  I really appreciate good service, and I’ve found that most nice restaurants in China have wonderful service – the way it should be.  Too bad they don’t tip here, because this seems to be about the only place where wait staff really deserve tips!

We also got a friendly taxi driver, who spoke a few words of English.  He was an older man, and liked to banter with Angela.  As much as I dislike the taxi drivers in Beijing, I like the drivers in Tianjin.  They seem quite friendly, and are trustworthy.

Tomorrow’s the day – Sichuan food for lunch!  I can’t wait!

Sunday, April 05, 2009 – An absolutely pleasant day!

Today was an absolutely splendid day.  The weather was perfect.  This was the warmest day since we’ve been here, and there was a nice breeze.  We spent the day with Xiao Wei’s brother (and his family) and her sister (and her son).  Xiao Wei’s brother and sister are perfectly charming people, and I enjoyed spending the day with them.

First, we went to Xiao Wei’s brother’s home.  He and his wife offered us some wonderful green tea from Hongzhou, and some snacks.  His son played the piano (very well for a young child).  We then went to a dumpling restaurant nearby their home.  Oddly enough, I’ve been here for two weeks and these were the first dumplings I’ve had.  I love dumplings, particularly when there is a wide assortment at the table.  After lunch, we went home to rest for a little while, and then went to meet Xiao Wei’s sister and nephew.

We took a taxi to a big plaza ( yin he guang chang) , near the museum of history, and an amusement park.  It was quite crowded, but a wonderful sight!  There were hundreds of people there, many flying kites, and others roller blading or skating.  I’ve never seen so many kites in the sky at one time (literally dozens and dozens).  Colorful fish, birds, bats, squid and all kinds of other designs were everywhere.  I was immediately impressed by how so many people had kites up in the air without everyone getting their lines tangled up.  We almost immediately met Xiao Wei’s sister and nephew.  They had some kites with them, and we had an absolutely wonderful time flying kites.  This is something I haven’t done in about 35 years.  This was quite a nostalgic moment for me, and words can’t describe how much I enjoyed it.  We then strolled around the plaza and let Angela ride a groovy little rickshaw that was pulled by a robotic doll (that looked like a cartoon character).  That was one of the most ridiculous things I’ve seen in ages.  Everyone seemed to enjoy this.  I saw stranger after stranger taking Angela’s picture as she rode around in this little robot-pulled rickshaw.  It’s fun to see my daughter bringing smiles to so many faces.  I am so proud of her!  We than sat and enjoyed the sunshine for a while.  This was one of those afternoons that I wish could last forever.  Such pleasant weather, and such a fun, vibrant scene.  People everywhere, and they were all enjoying themselves in their own ways.  In the midst of all of this, one can’t help but feel happy.  Friends, families, lovers, tourists, seniors were all enjoying the perfect afternoon in their own little groups, but all together. What a wonderful sense of harmony!  At one end of the plaza, there was a karaoke machine set up, and some poor dude was “singing” in a key unknown to the human ear.  This poor guy seemed to think that if you can’t hit the high notes, just yell a little louder and you’ll reach them.  He must have had the vocal range of a whoopee cushion (and the pitch of one, too).  I thought it his singing was hilarious.

We left the plaza and went to a restaurant for dinner.  Xiao Wei’s sister chose a buffet, which was another first for me.  I’ve eaten at many Chinese buffets in America, but never one in China.  Turns out, it was a buffet, but wasn’t Chinese.  It was called “Mr. Beer” (what a great name!) and was barbeque.  The main foods were fire roasted on spits and sliced off at each table – much like Brazilian churrascaria (passadors and all).  It was very nice.  My only gripe is one that I have with many places back in America – and that is rare meat.  I don’t want my dinner heated, I want it cooked - through and through! 
All of the meats were roasted to perfection, except for the duck and sirloin.  Pity, because I love duck and sirloin!  Anyway, it was a very nice dinner, and it was nice to see Xiao Wei spending time with her sister.  Xiao Wei’s nephew is a very bright boy.  In fact, both of her nephews are bright little boys.  The eldest (with us at dinner tonight) speaks some English and I am able to understand him rather well.

Today was one of those days that no packaged tour to China could ever give me.  There were no tourist traps of any kind, or tour guides telling me what I should enjoy.  Just a fun day visiting family and flying kites on a perfect, sunny day.  The atmosphere was perfect.  It all reminded me of how lucky I am.  I have married an absolutely beautiful and kind-hearted lady, and have the most wonderful daughter.  I also think the world of her family.  They are good people, and I enjoy every opportunity to share family time with them.

 We hopped a taxi and came back home.  I’m in the mood to watch one of my new Chinese DVDs now.  All in all, this was an absolutely sple

Saturday, April 4, 2009 – My love for Chinese film

The last couple of days, we’ve been getting up pretty late.  Part of me really likes this, because vacations are for relaxing.  Part of me doesn’t like it, because time in China should be spent making the most of each day.  I didn’t even leave the house until almost 5:00 pm.  Xiao Wei and her mother went to buy shoes (for Xiao Wei and Angela) this morning, and I stayed here and played with Angela.  My brother-in-law and his son came over and visited for a while, when Xiao Wei returned.  We then took what was supposed to be a 30 minute nap, that lasted over 4 hours.

We took a bus to the Exchange Mall, and bought some bak kwa.  I just can’t get enough of this!  We then rode the subway to a huge bookstore.  This was our first time on the Tianjin subway, and it is very nice.  I can’t wait until all of the lines are completed – especially the one that goes to Hua Yuan.  We bought about $40 worth of DVDs and CDs at the bookstore, which was a LOT of discs.  Angela got all kinds of educational videos and cartoons.  We even found a Little Einsteins DVD for a mere $4, which is about $11 less than we pay in America, AND this should have Chinese language!  I want Angela to continue to focus on Mandarin skills.  She has done very well on this trip, communicating almost entirely in Mandarin.  She communicates well with her grandparents, which pleases me to no end.  I got some old Chinese movies with English subtitles, and another copy of “The Road Home” – which may very well be my favorite film of all time.  This is a really beautiful love story that is so different than American love stories.  It is interesting that the two central figures in this film (the young country girl and the school teacher) are so deeply in love, but never actually touch each other.  This is a love story that is purely emotional, and not physical.  Although I’m not much of a fan of Zhang Zi Yi (except for her hilarious musical performance at the 2008 Chinese new year show), she really lights it up in this film.  I have a copy of this at home already, but I don’t know what I’ve done with it.  I would watch it tonight, but it’s too late.  We didn’t get home until almost 10:00 pm, and it’s almost midnight now.  Angela and I have been playing with stuffed toys for the last hour or so.

I really love Chinese film.  I am particularly fond of older films.  I think that they give a marvelous glimpse into the soul of this culture.  One of my favorite film-watching experiences was a few years ago (over here), when Xiao Wei and I watched an old film titled “Today Is My Day Off.”  Xiao Wei had to translate this for me, but it was a very simple film, with simple dialogue.  I loved the beautiful simplicity of this film.  No convoluted plot, or over-the-top violence.  Sure, it was primarily a propaganda film, but the storyline was a good one and the message a positive one.  My favorite propaganda film has be “The Red Detachment of Women.”  I saw a copy of this tonight, but already have it in my collection.  The scenes of women dancing with machine guns, singing about the growing hatred in their hearts… wow!  The dialog in this film is great… “You catch me five times, and I’ll escape six!”  I loved the fact that his message is delivered in such an “in your face!” fashion.

Hong Kong gets a lot of credit for its films, and a lot of them are pure crap.  Once in a while, a good one comes out, but most are simply efforts to over-publicize singers who are marginal actors (and actresses) at best.  This is the only reason the Twins girls ever get film roles.  It’s pretty obvious that neither one can act, but because they’re popular singers, they MUST appear on the big screen to rake in more money from their fans.  I think the idea is to capitalize on performers while they are hot.  A few singers actually make better actors (and actresses) than singers… like the late Leslie Cheung.  I think that Karen Mok is a better actress than singer.  Anyway, mainland Chinese film is better than most westerners realize.  Unfortunately, when you mention Chinese film to most Americans, they immediately think of bad gongfu films or Hong Kong gangster films.  Personally, I love the bad Shaw Brothers’ gongfu films (Shaolin Executioner, Fists of the White Lotus, etc) and I think that some of the gangster/cops and robbers films are pretty entertaining, but I think that mainland Chinese film deserves more serious attention than it gets.  I still think that Korea does the best comedies in Asia (e.g., My Sassy Girl, and My Wife is a Gangster), and Japan does the best psychological horrors in Asia (e.g., Ringu, and The Audition).  Still, some of the more powerful films about the ordinary human condition that I’ve seen in recent years (e.g., The Road Home, and Together) were Chinese film.

I can’t wait to watch my new DVDs!

We ended the evening out with a visit to UBC Coffee, for some tea and a few spicy dishes.  I love green tea, and enjoy nothing more than sitting around sipping away a couple of hours.  I really wish that we had good tea houses in Dallas.  Just one would be enough.

Friday, April 03, 2009  lazy day

We got up late today, and it was just a lazy day.  This is fine, because we’re on vacation, and every vacation should have its fare share of lazy days.  Today we went to E-Mart to pick up Angela’s pictures and photo albums from the studio.  I am impressed beyond words.  These people are really good (when they want to be).  Angela is so lovely in these pictures.  I am so very proud!  Later tonight, I’m going to e-mail some of my faves to family and friends back home. 

We didn’t do much today – apart from picking up pictures and letting Angela play at the E-Mart playground.  She had fun, so I had fun.  After we picked up the pictures and CD, we took the CD to a photography shop to have individual pictures developed.  This evening, we returned there to copy the pictures to my thumb-drive so I can e-mail them.

We had dinner with some of Xiao Wei’s friends, and they took us to a really good hot fish restaurant.  I must say, this is the best restaurant I’ve been to in all of Tianjin (since my favorite seafood restaurant closed).  The dishes are so hot and spicy – it’s an exciting dining experience.  After a few minutes, my lips and tongue quit burning and started to go numb.  Not just any kind of food can do this in a good way.  The food was quite spicy, but not painful (like some Sichuan huo guo I had a few years ago).  We are definitely returning to this restaurant before we leave.

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Thursday, April 02, 2009 – I almost heart Beijing

Yesterday was pretty uneventful.  We went to visit a couple of people who have been really good to Xiao Wei in dealing with CGFNS.  One of them was not in her office, but had an emergency meeting, so we’ll try again some other day.  I appreciate what these ladies have done for Xiao Wei.  We stopped at a bakery and had a wonderful pastry called “sweetheart cake” or “wife cake.”  It is a pastry filled with a mixture of almond paste and winter melon.  It is absolutely wonderful!  Angela and I ate 5 small ones.  I have to get some more.  We also went by Xiao Wei’s old neighborhood, where she grew up until the Tangshan earthquake.  It seemed quite a nostalgic trip for her, and I enjoyed hearing about the neighborhood she grew up in. She said that it has changed a lot.  In the evening, Xiao Wei met some friends of hers for huo guo and tea, so I stayed home with Angela and we played.  I like for Xiao Wei to have time to laugh and talk about old times with friends.  My brother-in-law and his son came over to visit, and brought some watermelon.  Nice!

Today we left early for Beijing.  We took a high speed train (about 200 miles per hour).  It got us from Tianjin to Beijing in just about 30 minutes.  It was wonderful!  Best of all, they gave away free bottles of Tibet spring water!  Hey, since they were giving them away, and most people weren’t bothering to take them, we decided that they shouldn’t go to waste.  I also don’t want the Tibetans thinking that we don’t appreciate their water… or the train people thinking that we don’t appreciate their generosity.  We appreciate it all very much.  We took 6 bottles.

Beijing was fun.  We strolled along Wangfujing, and took a tram ride around the neighborhood.  We then stopped for lunch, and then did some window shopping.  We decided to stick around for the night and go to the Great Wall on Friday, but the girls at the Nanjing Great Hotel (where we stayed twice before) refused to give us a room without proper ID.  We forgot our passports, and they didn’t care about Angela’s birth certificate (which Xiao Wei happened to have with her) or my Texas driver’s license.  This kind of ticked me off.  Why do they need my passport to rent me a room?  So they copy the passport number down.  Big deal.  What are they going to do with it?  Are they going to check it against the U.S. State Department databases?  I seriously doubt they have access.  So what if they would have given us a room and made up a number.  Who’s going to check it?  The hotel check-in police (with a directly line to the U.S. Passport Office in Houston)?  To make it all worse, they pulled up record of my previous two stays, which included my passport number!  This kind of “can’t do” attitude really ticks me off.  Yeah, I’m sure they are just following rules given them by their superiors, but this can become downright absurd.  It’s like trying to order a Big Mac at McDonalds in Singapore, but without special sauce.  “Can’t do that, lah.  It has to have sauce.  All Big Mac have sauce…” the ah beng (or ah lian) tells me.  “Sure you can.  Just make it like you normally do, but leave the sauce off.  Nobody will get hurt.”  “It comes with the sauce.  I have to put the sauce on.”  “Really?  What do you think will happen to you if you don’t?”  “I don’t know.  It comes with sauce, lah.  I have to put the sauce on.”  I’ve met this same attitude in America, too – which is why I’m still boycotting the Camelrock Casino in Tesuque, New Mexico.  When I was in the gallery business, I really went out of my way for collectors (and still do with the website). I want people to have what they really want, and I’ll do what I can to help them.  If they put their trust in me to do business, then I owe it to them.

We were going to just spend the night at the home of Xiao Wei’s uncle, but the taxi drivers in Beijing made me so angry that I insisted that we go home, and not spend any more of our money in Beijing.  Last year, we couldn’t get a taxi driver to give us a ride.  One finally picked us up and told us why we can’t get rides.  He said that the problem was a stroller.  It means that we had a small child and probably wanted to just go back to a nearby hotel, instead of the airport.  The taxi drivers in Beijing only want to do long trips that score bigger fares.  He wasn’t kidding.  We got brushed off by one taxi driver after another.  We saw three lanes of taxis lined up outside of the Forbidden City that day, and none of them would give us the time of day.  It’s as if they lived in the imperial palace.  At what point were Beijing taxi drivers elevated to the status of emperor?  That day, we walked back down Wangfujing Street towards Chang An Road, and saw taxi drivers waive off prospective customers near the Beijing Hotel, but when someone with a suitcase walked by, they nearly wet their pants trying to get out of their cars and get the person’s attention.  In fact, on that day, we saw two foreign ladies get into a taxi parked in a line near the Beijing Hotel and the driver chased them out of his taxi.  I hope this fool sat alone in his taxi all day and got ZERO passengers to the airport!  These Beijing taxi drivers are obsessed with trips to the airport – to the extent that it really costs them.  Once, we had a little punk taxi driver who picked us up at the Song He Hotel (near Wangfujing) and when Xiao Wei told him that we wanted to go to bus station with buses that go to the airport, this punk slipped off the deep end.  He whined about being cheated, and when we got to the bus station, the threw our change up in the air, smarted off and drove away in a huff.  Fortunately, I got his license number down and Xiao Wei called to complain a few days later.  A couple of weeks later, she received an apologetic call from the transportation authority in Beijing and was told that this punk was being forced to go through training again for two weeks at his own expense.  Good!  Someone needs to slap this bad attitude out of these idiots.  Anyway, we were waiting outside of a big mall on Chang An Road (and Wangfujing) and some idiot in the taxi lane gets a look at us (stroller and all) and speeds off.  Idiot!  When we finally get someone, he drives us on a wild goose chase, ignoring the fact that we know how to get to Xiao Wei’s uncle’s home from where he picked us up, and it doesn’t require driving in circles.  For the most part, I love Beijing and its people.  It’s normally a great city, with remarkable character.  But it has a bunch of prima donna taxi drivers who need a serious attitude adjustment.  It’s getting worse with each trip.  What most of these fools don’t know is that we’re pretty good to the taxi drivers, and often give them tips for good attitudes (pretty BIG tips in some instances).  I know that this can be a thankless job, but I want good people to know how much I appreciate them.  Oh well…

p.s 一般我们都会多付车费，从北京饭店转到松鹤饭店，5分钟的车程，司机很无奈说不挣钱，宝爸就给了100块车费.........尤其短途，如果司机态度好，至少多付一倍的车费......... 司机态度极度恶略的时候才会去投诉

We took the high speed train back to Tianjin, and picked up another six bottles of Tibet glacier water - yes!  I was so glad to get back to Tianjin.  This place is really starting to feel like home.  On the way out of the train station, some chick deliberately cut off Xiao Wei at the turnstile (in a rather rude fashion), and it really annoyed Xiao Wei.  I think that in the past, she didn’t get annoyed by stuff like this the way I do.  Now that she’s lived in America for a while, she sees why I always get annoyed by people who don’t know how to wait their turn in line.  Anyway, we got a taxi driver here with a great attitude, and he seemed happy to take us where we asked to go.  No whining.  No driving us in circles to jack up the fare.  Good guy!

All in all, we had a really fun day (apart from the Beijing taxi drivers).  Beijing is a fascinating city full of history and culture (tradition and pop culture).  The shopping is great, and the locals seem to really enjoy life.  We watched as a bunch of restaurant employees were gathered behind a building jumping a rope.  Two of them swung the rope and the others got in line and ran through it and jumped as quickly as they could.  I thought that this was wonderful!  I wish my office would get out in the middle of the afternoon and do the same thing – just to lighten things up.  As long as we traveled by bus, subway and tram, it was all peachy. 

Tuesday, March 31, 2009 – You can never go home…

Today, Xiao Wei was going to visit some friends in the medical business who have helped her with the CGNFS process.  Unfortunately, both had meetings scheduled today, and asked that she visit tomorrow.  This freed us up to do some aimless running around today.

We got off to a late start.  I was in the mood for something familiar, so we decided to have lunch at TGI Friday’s.  The one here in Tianjin is a lot like the ones back home.  It is located directly across the street from Nankai University, so there is usually a good contingent of foreigners there – except for today.  The food was fine, but a bit pricey.  The quesadillas were okay, but not as good as back home – and the guacamole was off.  It had too much lime, which made it a bit sour.  I’m not sure, but I think you can be jailed for doing that to guacamole in Texas.  I felt like going back to the kitchen and teaching them how to make righteous guacamole.

At least this was better than our last visit to Friday’s.  A few months before Angela was born, I flew to Shanghai to meet Xiao Wei.  And we rented a little apartment in the Xu Jia Hui neighborhood.  She was nauseated for the entire pregnancy, and had a hard time keeping food down.  When we went to Friday’s in Shanghai, the waitress came to our table to take our order.  Xiao Wei told the girl what we wanted and asked for a bag in case she had to vomit.  Ugh!  That couldn’t possibly inspire confidence in this employee.  They probably don’t hear this much… “I’ll have a half rack of ribs, a barbeque beef sandwich, and a vomit bag.”  The poor girl was probably thinking “… our food’s not that bad!”  No barf bag today!

You know, that was a really strange trip.  I bought a large, ugly red bag for my clothes, thinking that it would be easy to see on the luggage carousel, because nobody else would possibly have one like it.  Sure enough, some Brit had the exact same bag and ended up taking mine from the Pudong Airport.  I was furious!  We got to our apartment, and it was blazing hot in Shanghai.  I didn’t have any changes of clothes – just the clothes that I wore on the long flight over.  We went to a supermarket and they had “disposable underwear.”  I got the largest size they had and tried them on once we got to the apartment.  Holy cow!  They were so tight that they cut off the blood circulation in my legs.  Trying to get them off, I lost feeling in my legs (which I’m sure started to turn blue by then).  They were like gauze netting.  The harder you pulled, the smaller they tightened into.  Try to pull the suckers off, and they shrink into a death grip.  The pain!  Word to the wise who are living large and find themselves having to buy disposable underclothes in Shanghai… “Size XXXL” in China actually fits a GI Joe doll (or similar action figure) in America.  I also discovered that you can’t buy deodorant in Shanghai.  Not good.  A couple of days later, the Brit guy got in touch with us.  How?  By simply looking at the name tag on the luggage that he carried off!  He called the number in America, and was able to get in touch with my mother, who got in touch with me.  Anyway, we had a great time in Shanghai, but two things stand out from that trip:  ordering a barf bag with our lunch at Friday’s, and the tourniquet underpants. 

After lunch, we decided to go to Isetan and do some window shopping.  I love Isetan.  There is one in Singapore, also.  It’s a Japanese department store.  I wish they would open one in America.  Anyway, we stopped by the Exchange Mall, and found another bak kwa store in the basement.  I had to buy some.  Like I’ve said a million times before, this stuff is too good to be true.  In fact, we found two more bak kwa stores in Tianjin today.  Compared to Singaporean bak kwa, American jerky is like road kill that’s baked in the Texas sun for three weeks.  I used to love beef jerky, but I wouldn’t touch the stuff after I fell in love with bak kwa.  Now if I had a bottle of 100 Plus (a grapefruit soda that they sell in Singapore and Malaysia), I’d be in heaven!

We took a stroll down Bin Jiang Road and Golden Street, and enjoyed listening to people carry on about how beautiful Angela is.  I can’t get enough of this.  Bin Jiang Road is one of my favorite places in the whole world.  It’s not as busy as Wangfujing Road in Beijing, or Nanjing Lu in Shanghai, but is a much better place for people-watching.  The groovy kids come out in their strangest fashions, and it’s such fun.  Chinese guys with orange afros, and girls with goth make-up.  I love it!  I’d love to see some of these kids on Halloween.  We saw mondo strango girl again, and this time asked if she would pose for a picture with Angela and I – and she gladly obliged.  She hasn’t cut her hair in a while, so the five o’clock shadow on her head is now more like a noon shadow.  She’s too cool for school, with her tattoos and all.  At the intersection of Bin Jiang Road and Golden Street is a huge Chinese coin.  People walk on it for good luck (and the expectation of more money in the future).  We walked all over it.  I hope it works this time, because it’s failed me on my previous 15 trips to Tianjin!

We walked back up Golden Street and Bin Jiang Road again, and decided to have dinner at the Exchange.  Xiao Wei wanted huo guo (chaffy dish), because she was in the mood for lamb.  Angela and I went to Pappa John’s Pizza – just to give it a try.  I must admit, Pappa John’s is pretty darned good here in China.  Like Pizza Hut, it’s about 1,000 times better here than at home.  Angela was a real live wire this evening.  She and I played with a new toy of hers, had pizza and laughed like a couple of 3-year olds with a serious case of the giggles.  All in all, I enjoyed Fridays and Pappa John’s, but I’m really sick of American food now.  I want something Chinese – like squirrel fish!

On the way out, we saw a restaurant called “Real Gongfu” – with a picture of Bruce Lee on the sign.  In English, it simply says “Kungfu.”  I have to try this place.  How far do they take this schtick?  Do the waiters look like Bai Mei, from those old Shaw Brothers’ gongfu films?  What happens if I tell the waiter “wo de gongfu bi ni hao!”   Do they laugh it off, or have I challenged them to a battle royale?  This reminds me of the Beverly Hillbillies episode, where Jed and Jethro hire a bunch of geishas, and a Japanese chef.  Jethro asks for a karate chop for breakfast.  The geisha tells him not to ask for this, but he insists – so she throttled him.  Later, he asked the chef for “one of them judo rolls” for lunch.  The chef refuses, but Jethro insists.  The old man gives Jethro a judo toss, right out of the kitchen.  Jethro then tells Jed “Uncle Jed, these Japanese are nice people, but when you to go asking them for some of their fancy Japenese vittles, they turn downright nasty on you!”  I reckon I won’t be asking for karate chops or judo rolls at “Real Gongfu Restaurant.”

On the taxi ride back home, Xiao Wei again noted how different the city felt.  It didn’t feel like home, anymore.  The old saying is true – “you can never go home again.”  Places change, but more than that, people change.  Home is where the heart is, and I think that her heart now lives in Texas with her own family.  I really want Tianjin to feel more like home to her, though – because it’s an important part of the past.  Maybe part of her feels this way, because she returns here as a visitor in her parents’ home.  If we had our own apartment here (with our own furniture and possessions), I’m sure she would feel more at home.  Last night, we were looking at her old photo album and she said “it’s all in the past, and the past is gone.”  I tried to assure her that the past is very much alive inside of her.  Our past is what has helped shape us into the people we are today.  Life experiences don’t just vanish – they crystallize into experiential wisdom.  This wisdom is more than a decision-making tool, it is a part of self identity.  This is why I want Angela’s childhood filled with memorable times in China.  This will give her a clearer sense of cultural identity, from which she will ultimate draw a sense of self identity.  Yep, times are a changin’ – but our past is not gone, by any stretch of the imagination.  It’s alive and well deep down in our own psyche.

Monday, March 30, 2009 – Hunan RAWKS!

I’m finally starting to tire of the oil items for breakfast.  This is too bad, because I really loved those things.  Too much of any good thing will burn a person out.  I remember when Angela was born.  I was here for a month, and every morning, I looked forward to breakfast on the street.  I always visited the same street hawkers for a traditional Tianjin breakfast.  It’s a thin crepe-like pancake with an egg spread over it.  It is then folded up and topped off with a couple of sauces.  I typically get it without the sauces.  It was really sad to feel myself burning out on these.  Now I can only have one on each visit to Tianjin.  Anymore is too much.  Now I’ll have to find something else to burn myself out on.

We started our day off by taking Angela back to the indoor playground outside of E-Mart.  She really had a great time.  While she played, I went to the store and cleaned them out of the small bottles of Tibetan glacial water.

After playing, Angela decided to run next door to the photography studio and have her pictures taken again.  We actually thought it would be a good idea, since we didn’t get her picture in the most beautiful traditional costume, nor did we get her picture taken playing the gu zheng.  The girl who usually meets and greets visitors gave us a good price on the extra photo shoots, plus a small photo album (which would make a nice gift for Xiao Wei’s parents).  Unfortunately, this place didn’t have it together today.  The photographer was out to lunch, and this guy takes longer lunches than I did when I worked for the DCCCD (usually 2 hours).  When this guy finally showed up, his assistants started to prepare Angela for the photo shoot.  Unfortunately, these weren’t the same two girls that were there the other day.  Those girls (the other day) were great.  They were able to fix Angela’s hair and costumes with amazing efficiency, and had such a great rapport with Angela.  Too bad the “B” team was there today.  It took this girl forever to fix Angela’s hair, and by the time she did, the photographer disappeared again.  He handed the camera over to some unknown quantity who stood there, looking like a deer caught in the headlights.  Xiao Wei became furious and read those chicks like the Sunday paper!  I was so proud of her!  Tell ‘em what’s what!

We stormed out of the photography studio and consoled ourselves with a really good lunch at a Hunan restaurant.  I love spicy Hunan food.  It is deliciously spicy, but not Sichuan spicy.  Sichuan spicy isn’t just spicy… it’s downright painful.  I like hot, but am not crazy about HAWT!  Anyway, we had tang ou (or candied lotus root), pork in five spice and chiles, string beans in garlic and chiles, skewered shrimp in chiles, and some fried pumpkin things.  As far as dining is concerned, this has been an up-and-down trip.  Some of the food has been magnificent, but some has been pretty bad.  This was magnificent.  Truly magnificent!  Maybe tomorrow I’ll step up the heat a notch (or two… or more) and try some serious Sichuan dishes.

After lunch, we decided to go bowling.  We stopped and had a look at another bowling alley the other day.  It looked like it had newer balls and shoes.  Unfortunately, we discovered today that it has uneven lanes.  The only way to hit the pins was to throw the ball down the lane with incredible force.  Xiao Wei bowls with good touch on the ball – but most of her balls went right down the middle and then veered off at the last ¼ of the lane.  This was the most ridiculous bowling lane I’ve ever seen!  After one game, we asked for another lane but the kid working there said that they were all about the same.  They really should close this place up.  It reminds me of playing miniature golf – where you have to putt through a windmill and along a warped green.  Oh yeah, on the way to the bowling alley, we saw some drunken clown do a number on his motor-scooter.  Nobody else was involved.  He just hit the curb and bit the concrete.  Drunk at 2:00 in the afternoon?  Wow!  This booze-hound must really have some issues!  I sure hope he made it home alright – but I have the feeling he was in for more bumps and bruises.

We then took Angela to McDonalds for some chicken nuggets (since she slept all the way through Hunan lunch), and I had a little taro pie.  What is taro, anyway – and why don’t we have it in America.  I really dig this stuff!  We spend $10 per half gallon of taro ice cream at the Chinese supermarket in Dallas, and it’s really worth it.  Too bad it’s so expensive.  I should take our land in New Mexico and start growing taro on it.

After McDonalds, we walked a couple of blocks to Old Culture Street and bought some peasant paintings.  I really love those paintings.  They show the simplistic elegance of rural Chinese life.  The artistic style is very neat, clean and simple.  The subject matter is equally neat, clean and simple.  The style and subject matter parallel each other beautifully in their simplicity.  After some bargaining, Xiao Wei got a good price on four of them.  Most of Old Culture Street was closing up as we were passing through.  One place with a stunning little stone sculpture of Guanyin was still open.  Two days ago, their price was 1,300 yuan.  Today it was 1,500 yuan.  The difference?  Xiao Wei asked them the other day, and I asked them today.  I really want it, but that kid working there today was a little punk.  We didn’t even try to bargain with him, because he didn’t deserve to make the sale.  I’ll get this sculpture before I leave, but I’ll get it on my own terms.  We also looked at these beautiful Mongolian violins.  They have a horse’s head carved on the end.  I saw these in the film “The Story of the Weeping Camel” which was a truly magnificent film.  I’ve always wanted one.  We found one place that had one for 450 yuan, but they didn’t have a case for it.  I won’t get one without a hard case, because I’m afraid the same gorillas who tore the handle off of my suitcase at the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport will rip the horse’s head right off of this stunning violin.  I still remember the bad idea of buying a gu zheng and then not being able to get it from Beijing to Dallas.  Poor Xiao Wei ended up getting it from Beijing to Tianjin, where it sat in a closet for 3 years, until I finally got a hard case for it and transported it home.  That sucker cost me $135 in over-size fees on United Airlines!  No way I’m buying another musical instrument unless I can get a good, hard case to check at the airport!

On the way home, Xiao Wei noted how much the city has changed and how crowded it is.  She said that she wasn’t exactly sure where we were at one point.  Too many cars on the road, and half the people have no clue how to drive.  One young hammer-head almost plowed right into our taxi.  His little stunt drew the ire of our old taxi driver.  In America, a stunt like this would have drew gunfire.  The driving here is beyond weird.  In the old days (in America) a red light meant “stop.”  Now it means, only the next 3 drivers can go through (unless there is a red-light camera, in which case it means “you just bought yourself a $75 fine, sucka!”).  Here in China, it means “Just keep going.  They’ll get out of your way.”  One thing I’ve noticed is that in America, there are brake shops everywhere.  Meineke does brakes.  Just Brakes does brakes.  Here, I haven’t seen a break shop yet.  It seems the attitude is “who needs brakes when you have a perfectly good horn?”  No joke – I really don’t know how most of these people got a driver’s license to begin with. 

It’s about time to plan our little “vacation.”  I’m guessing we’ll go to Beijing for a couple of days.  We’ve already ruled out just about every other place.  Personally, I’m holding out a glimmer of hope that some travel agency will start dumping tickets to Singapore.  In the likely event that this doesn’t happen, I’m guessing we’ll just go to Beijing.  It will be nice to let Angela see the Great Wall. I was looking at the weather forecasts for the coming week around China and it seems that a few places have some really lovely weather in store.  Maybe Xiamen?  Maybe Guangzhou?  Maybe Chengdu?  We’ll see…

Sunday, March 29, 2009 – A day of family and friends for Xiao Wei

Today was a day of family and friends for Xiao Wei.  I really enjoyed dinner with the family.  Everyone was there, and everyone seemed to have a great time.  I didn’t understand what they were talking about, but it didn’t matter.  This was their time together.  I expect it was particularly nice for the parents – to have all three of their kids together, as well as all three of their grandkids.  I’m sure one day I will fully appreciate the way they must feel at times like this.  I can sense how her parents treasure this time.  On the way to lunch, Xiao Wei told me how her mother hopes that we can soon buy a home in Tianjin.  I really am looking forward to this.  I want Angela to have a life here and in America.  To me, China still feels something like a vacation destination, but I want it to feel like home to Angela.  I have to admit, China has felt different to me since the time I spent a month here for Angela’s birth.   Being here for the birth of my daughter really changed this place to me.  In a way, it feels as if a part of me has roots here.  I want Angela to feel this way, only in a much stronger sense.  She truly does have roots here.  She has history and heritage here.

The lunch was quite nice itself.  We went to one of my favorite roast duck restaurants.  We had roast duck, my favorite hot fish, corn with pine nuts, lamb in five spice, and a variety of other dishes.  I ate too much.

My youngest nephew had a piano recital this afternoon, but I was just to sleepy to go.  Part of this was the fact that I took an afternoon nap, and part of it was the fact that I ate too much at lunch.  Xiao Wei and her mother went, while Angela and I continued our naps.  Upon returning from the recital, Xiao Wei told me that it was time to go to dinner with her friends.  I like this couple.  We usually go out to dinner with them when we come to Tianjin.  We’ve also gone out bowling with them in the past.  They are really good people.  Both are doctors and have visited America before.  They have a lovely daughter who is really likes Angela.  Angela can tell when people like her, and it makes her that much more comfortable in their presence.  I wish I could have gone to dinner, but was just too tired.  I continued my nap, while Xiao Wei and Angela spent time with friends.

This is what this trip is really about.  It’s not about me shopping or sightseeing.  It’s about Xiao Wei (and Angela) spending time with their family and friends.  This is important to me.  Although Xiao Wei has grown quite accustomed to life in America, I want her to continue to have a life here in China.  I want her to have all the time with family and friends that she wants.  Time to laugh and tell stories with family and friends is truly valuable time.  I want her to be able fit as much of this into our trip as possible.  As long as this is the case, I will have had a great trip.

This morning, Angela opened up a cabinet beneath a bookcase and found some old photo albums.  I’ve seen the albums a couple of years ago, and forgot about them.  While Xiao Wei and Angela were out to dinner with friends, I looked through these books.  One of the books has all pictures of Xiao Wei in her younger years.  I am guessing the earliest of the pictures was 1989.  It amazes me how incredibly young she looks.  When my mother first came to Tianjin to visit (in 2004) she told me that my new wife looked like a young teenager.  She still looks much younger than her age, even after years of marriage to a guy like me.  The pictures of her in her early twenties are downright adorable.  How lucky I am to have found such a beautiful lady.  How life has changed for her.  I see this 19-20 year old Chinese girl in group pictures, and wonder if she ever could have imagined that her life would take her to America.  Just going through the photo albums and looking at Xiao Wei’s life was quite a vacation for me!

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Curious thing today.  We went to Drum Tower Street, which has a wonderful collection of antique stores.  Chairman Mao is everywhere in these stores – on posters, on platters, in paintings, and all over various ephemera.  One of the more interesting items I saw today was an original poster from the 1960s that showed various people who had been declared enemies of the state – a top scientists, a former military general, the former mayor of Beijing and his wife, and several others.  The poster had small pictures of each, with a large signs hanging around their necks (obviously with messages of disgrace).  This was all part of the cultural revolution, which was a massive social engineering project.  This really intrigues me.  Mao and his comrades spent decades engineering the future of Chinese, but his vision of the future and the vision of today’s young Chinese are so radically different.  I can’t help but love the creativity of today’s young Chinese (the twentysomethings).  These are young people with a vision that far exceeds that of previous generations.  These are people who will have to solve problems that don’t even exist yet.  The challenges they will help the world overcome will be far more complex than those we face today – but I have all the confidence in the world in these young people.  Nobody is going to engineer their future for them… that’s their job.  Beyond the twenty-somethings, there are some remarkable kids who will one day have their chance.  Every once in a while, I think about my sister-in-law’s son, who is still in elementary school, but spends his weekends fixing people’s computers.  Or my wife’s cousin, who is a small genius.  There’s no telling what these kids (and others like them) are going to accomplish.  Then of course, there’s Angela.

We spent a lot of time out shopping today, and it was fun.  As optimistic as I am for China’s future, I really hope that pop culture doesn’t diminish the importance of traditional culture in the coming decades.  Today?  No.  Tomorrow?  No.  But twenty years from now?  I sure hope not.  I hope that when these twentysomethings are on the cutting edge of technology, medicine, education and so many areas, they still appreciate things like Chinese opera.  I hope they all still enjoy the magical prose of “Journey to the West” like their parents and grandparents.  I think that China’s greatest gift to its young people is its traditional culture.  Years ago, I was riding in a taxi in Singapore when the taxi driver asked me why I kept coming back to Singapore.  I told him that I loved Singapore, and still had a lot to see and do there.  He told me that he just got back from China, and that I should go to China.  He said “China has five thousand years of culture, but Singapore only dates back to 1965.”  He assured me “You will see things in China that you can’t find anywhere else.  Beijing is the only city in the world with the Forbidden City in the heart of the city, and something as splendid as the Temple of Heaven in the south of the city.  Just a short drive from Beijing is the Summer Palace and the Great Wall.  You won’t find anything like these places anywhere else.”  True enough, but these are monuments.  It’s an appreciation for traditional culture (the visual, literary, musical and culinary arts) that breathes life into this place.  This is one of the greatest things about China, and I really hope that the young people continue to treasure it the way their parents and grandparents have.  Times change.  People change.  Watching these changes is exciting – but watching that which survives change is truly elegant, because it defines a timeless character of the people.  This is traditional culture, and is one of China’s greatest gifts to the world.

We stopped back by the photography studio to review Angela’s pictures today.  I was so proud!  My daughter is beautiful beyond words.  She was particularly adorable in the traditional Chinese costumes.  She seemed to enjoy seeing the pictures as well.  I can’t wait to get the two photo albums.  Yeah, they were $200, but they’re worth it.  I couldn’t believe how busy that little studio was today.  Those people must be making some serious money!  I hope everyone there today is as excited with their children’s pictures as I am with mine.

After that, we went to a supermarket and I found some of the Tibetan glacial water in small bottles.  It’s about 2 yuan per bottle cheaper than I paid last time.  I love this stuff.  It makes the BEST gift for people back home.  I’m not sure why, but everyone at home has this strange fascination with Tibet, and treats this water almost with a ridiculous respect.  To many back at home, Tibet’s an uber-spiritual place, and this is uber-spiritual water.  It’s as if drinking a bottle of this will make you a more spiritually enlightened person.  Okay…  In reality, Xuan Zang, Sun Wu Kang, Zhu Ba Jie and Sha Wu Jing didn’t need to make that 16 year journey to the west – they could have just downed a few bottles of Tibetan glacial water and achieved meaningful enlightenment.  Anyway…at less than 6 yuan per bottle, it’s an uber-cheap gift.  I bought a couple of bigger bottles for myself.  It really is good water – right up there with Evian.

The other highlight of the day for me was taking Angela to Carrefour.  Before we went into Carrefour, we stopped at a playground and I took her in to play on the slide, in the bounce house, and in the enclosure full of colorful balls.  She had a great time.  While she was playing, two little girls (probably about 4-5 years old) followed me around.  They gave me that traditional Chinese children’s salute (hand over the head) and shouted “hello, grandpa!”  Grandpa?  They knew a little English, but mostly rattled at me in Chinese.  I tried to explain a few things to them – “wo de zhong wen bu hao” and “wo jiao He Bao Ma.”  One of them told me “My name is Mary” in very good English.  The other continued to rattle at me in Mandarin, in spite of the fact that I didn’t understand any of it.  They followed me all over the play area, no doubt hoping that I would mysteriously start to understand everything they were saying.  Eventually, I told them “wo shi mei guo ren.”  They staggered around in circles and wailed “AHHH!!!!  Mei guo ren!  Mei guo ren!”  I’m not sure if that was a sign of respect or disgust.  If they were disgusted, it wasn’t too bad, because they wouldn’t leave me alone.  Cute little girls, but I was so relieved to escape.

Wandering around Carrefour with Angela was particularly fun.  I love the expression on people’s faces when they see her.  I guess mixed-blood children are truly rare here.  She draws the most wonderful smiles from complete strangers.  With each one, I’m thinking “That’s right, she’s MY daughter!”  I’m going to have to go back to Carrefour more often.

Today’s shopping haul was pretty good.  Angela got some small gifts, and I got a pair of nunchakus.  I used to be really good with those things, way back in the day.  I saw some stunning jade and stone carvings, but they were a bit pricey.  I saw a stunning sculpture of Guanyin that I really liked, until I noticed that she had the feet of Andre the Giant.  Guanyin should look elegant through and through – and shouldn’t have feet bigger than Yao Ming’s. Oh well… at least the owner of that sculpture doesn’t have to worry about it tipping over.

Tonight’s dinner was quite nice.  Xiao Wei’s mother prepared fried bao zi.  Angela really loved them.  We ate while Xiao Wei dashed down a nearby bakery to buy some cakes. While we were eating, Angela held up a bao zi and told me “This is China.”  I told her “Yes, baby.  This is as Chinese as China gets.  This is perfectly China.”

Tomorrow, Xiao Wei’s brother and sister are coming over for lunch.  This will be nice.  This is such a happy family, and I can tell that they are truly thrilled to have their daughter/sister back in the midst.  As much as I hate the long flights, it all feels well worth it to see the family enjoying their time back together.  I’ve told Xiao Wei before that we are doing these trips first and foremost for her parents.  The reality is, these trips are for her entire family (herself included).  These trips are up and down events for me.  Some things on every trip absolutely delight me, and other things really annoy me.  But watching her whole family enjoy time together is a pure joy.  They are good people, and good people deserve to be happy.