I’ve met people from all over here, and it’s funny how things pan out. First impressions can be wholly unreliable, but for each disappointment in finding out someone isn’t as nice as you think, thankfully there has been the joy in discovering a connection with the least likely people.
Instead of bitching about my grievances (haha), I’m thankful for the people that God has brought my way…
It’s been 2 months in Wuhan!!
Well, really there hasn’t been much up this week, besides a thwarted spontaneous Hong Kong trip and book shopping, but I did decide to go out clubbing with some friends last night. It was pretty good and I think that it was one of the more fun clubbing trips that I’ve ever had. I really appreciate that while my friends would jio me to go out, they don’t push me to drink.
Wuhan clubs mostly have a mix of English R&B songs, Chinese songs and live music song to a dance track. Most people open a bottle (SGD80 for a bottle of whisky), mix it with red tea and drink shots. The taste is pretty ok and drinking in shots helps you to know and regulate how much you want to drink. The evening ended in shao kao and crabs at a street food place somewhere near to school.
I observed how my white friends will get approached by other people in the club, but not my Asian friends. And it’s not even always getting "picked up" but Chinese guys approaching my white guy friends to befriend them. I wonder why. Is it just wanting exposure to something that is different and that other people can’t readily lay claim to? Novelty? Improving English?
Going to Huang Shan next weekend with a growing number of people; it’s gonna be cold!
Haha it’s been an expensive week for me.. My Viet roommate has a tiny little fridge that is meant for just one person so my other roommates and I are sharing a bigger fridge (with a freezer compartment! meat!) which cost RMB280 (=SGD56). So all was well and good until we went to Metro, the biggest, baddest, best supermarket in all of Wuhan. Forget Carrefour, forget Walmart, Metro is the place to be. Floor to ceiling displays of imported food, more Western cheeses than even Cold Storage and cheap, cheap liquor! Looking at the variety on display, I mourned the time and money wasted at other inferior supermarkets when I could have been cavorting in Metro. We went a bit nuts and spent a grand total of RMB640 (=SGD128) at Metro, inclusive of a RMB120 (=SGD24) bottle of Bailey’s. Only in China does the food cost more than the fridge.
While we have been enjoying great fall weather, daily ranges between 17-27 degrees Celsius, the weather is going to take a turn for the colder pretty soon and I wanted to be prepared. I went shopping in the area near school and bought 2 sweaters, thermal underwear and a black wool short trenchcoat all for the paltry sum of RMB1000 (=SGD200). Haha, ok so it’s not paltry but I think it’s pretty good buys and I’m happy with the price I paid.
Here’s to more rescue operations for the Wuhan economy!
It isn’t in my best interests to exaggerate my cooking abilities - I don’t want to come back, cook and disappoint people, though I’ve already been booked for Mushroom Rice (hi Esther!). So with the intention of painting a fair and objective picture of where my culinary skills stand, I present (cue grand entrance) … Corn and Pineapple Hot Dog Porridge (Unpleasant) Surprise.
It all started when I burned the porridge. Seriously, how does one burn rice when there’s tons of water and there was the requisite swirl of the pot? Don’t ask me; ask those chao da grains lying in the bin.
Sometimes, it just doesn’t pay to be adventurous. I bought a pineapple hot dog today from the university provision shop, diced it into little cubes and dumped it into the pot, along with some corn kernels. When the porridge was done-ish, I took a taste and urgh! There was this artificial pineapple flavour with each bite of the hot dog cubes and because I was so industrious and cut the dog into so many pieces, the flavour permeated throughout the porridge.
Thankfully, there was the saving grace of the sweet corn kernels which added some nice bite and crunch to the mix. The tag team trio of sesame oil, soya sauce and Japanese rice seasoning valiantly tried to mask the pineapple taste but despite their best efforts, I had to fish the diced dog pieces out. I ate the rest of the porridge quite happily though. What can I say, I’m (rather) easy to please.
Tea is cheap and everywhere in China, so I couldn’t resist buying this waterbottle…
It has two screw-top openings - one big one to fill water and the other to drink from. In between these two openings is a wire mesh that allows you to put tea leaves into the bottle, but keeps them out of the way when you’re taking a big swig. This, my friends, is ingenious design, available for the princely sum of SG$2! China living at its finest.
I haven’t been updating cos I went along with my church friend on her trip back home. She lives in a town called Huang Shi, or Yellow Stone, about 2 hours away from Wuhan. It was a good trip, because it gave me the chance to see how people live. Yeah, there are a few inconveniences like no water after 7pm and no street lights, but really it was comfortable and the warm hospitality certainly smoothed over any bumps.
We visited the town’s lake, the highlight of which was finding this stall where you get into a plastic bubble, they blow it up and you can walk on the water (technically)! Haha, technically because it only took a few steps before we lost balance and collapsed in fits of laughter.
I got to meet most of her family members and they were all very nice and welcoming. Her grand-dad cooked up a feast and watching them tuck in and joke with each other made me miss home, family and weekend dinners together. I took a family portrait for them and another one with just the adult ladies cos three of them look so uncannily alike!
We also took a hike and climbed up what seemed to be 60 degree steep hills to get to this cave with stalactite formations. The colourful lighting made it a little weird and creepy - I didn’t want to think about what would happen if I got lost! My favourite hands down was the formation that you could hit musical notes on!
I think in all, the trip reminded me of something that I had been thinking about, that God has been speaking to me about. How much money you have really isn’t the most important thing; so many other things that we regard as important are really not that important after all. It’s so easy to get caught up with this world and what everyone tells you you should want and chase after, that I’m thankful for these timely reminders from God and just pray that I will be able to live accordingly.
"What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?" Matthew 16:26
I spent the most of yesterday’s Money & Banking class daydreaming about all the foods that I miss and trying to devise ways to make them myself. The first of these lucky foods to grace my stomach was French Toast! I made a batch for all my roommates and they all liked it!
People who eat with me will know that I love - no, adore! mushrooms and so I couldn’t resist when I saw some crab and straw mushrooms in the supermarket yesterday. I thought I’d cook it up into a simple mushroom fried rice.
The mushrooms were happily stir-frying in their juices, with the crab mushrooms giving off an aroma that befits its name. I added some oyster sauce and sugar, followed by the already cooked rice… topped it off with some of the japanese seasoning that Wen gave me and tucked in.
!!! It was good! It was like a drier Asian mushroom risotto. Tasty, hearty and with a nice crunch from the seasoning. I loved the way the stringy straw mushrooms mixed with the rice; it was almost like eating noodles and rice at the same time. I’m happy (and my stomach is too!)
Haha, it’s turning out that one good thing about this exchange is that I’m learning to cook - and practising too!
I was walking to the supermarket to get some stuff today and on the way there saw this guy, around my age, writing on the ground with chalk: Pleading urgently for 10RMB to eat food and take a bus to XYZ. And I thought to myself, how genuine is his plea when he came prepared with a piece of chalk?? Who goes around with a piece of chalk in their bag?
So anyway, went on, did my grocery shopping. And on the walk back along that same street, I was thinking to myself, Oh how I miss the nice food in Singapore. Next time when I have a job, I will set aside some money every month and try nice new eating places… all the while feeling very happy with myself. Then, I heard God say, "What’s important?" That thought just popped into mind and I was chewing on that when I saw the guy again, almost 2 hours later, still sitting at that same spot very forlornly.
I walked on for 20m, all the while wrestling with thoughts about whether to give him the money. 10RMB isn’t a lot, but what if he’s a cheat? He seemed all prepared right? But then I remembered what Pastor Eugene said once, that he’d rather run the risk of getting cheated and appear a fool, than to let his heart grow cold and hardened when God prompts him. And so, I turned back and walked to where he sat.
I gave him the 10RMB and he just continued sitting there. So I asked, why aren’t you going, now that you have the money? He said that the money is only enough for food, not for the bus ride. So I replied, then it’s not very accurate for you to write 10RMB when you actually need more… How many people have given you 10RMB already? He said none. And in true Chinese fashion, a bunch of people had stopped to look at me and him having this conversation. One passerby doubted that he was from XYZ… I just walked away as he continued sitting there, as the crowd thinned.
I don’t know whether he was a fake or genuinely needed the money. But well, it was an opportunity to show somebody some kindness, in a country where kindness is hard to find. And when I thought about the incident, God reminded me that what’s important is that I listened and obeyed… not because I am naturally good and kind and compassionate, but because He enabled me to be.
Wuhan people don’t have the habit of saying thank you or sorry… and it kinda grates on you when you’ve grown up in a place where it’s sort of expected. I said xie xie to the school auntie when she came to open the doors and turn on the lights and she looked at me with a shocked expression. Haha. Or the girl who stepped on my naked toes two times in a row and didn’t apologise until I made the tsk sound. Heh.
But beyond just manners, another Singaporean here was relating how her friend reacted when he received bad service… He was so angry that he shouted at the manager that there’s no point retaining the staff, she should "go back to her village and grow vegetables." That is plain rudeness!
It’s a running joke that you shouldn’t stay in China too long, if not you’ll pick up all their bad habits… and well, I can officially report that some of the European international students pee against public walls, litter, spit everywhere… I’m trying to refrain!