Mashed Potato Tacos

A week isn't too late to talk about Thanksgiving is it? Well, even so, I say it's still okay to discuss the fabulous party we threw for our Chinese friends (and one Filipino) to give them a taste of American food.

I was feeling really homesick and was hoping this party would help me feel better. When you can't be home what could be better than being surrounded by friends, eating good food, laughing, and having a great time. We invited about 12 people for dinner and surprisingly almost everyone came. My Thanksgiving dinner was a memorable first one in China. 

It's possible that some of our Chinese friends were not anxious to eat an entire smorgasborg of foreign cuisine because they came stocked with food from the market and headed to the kitchen to whip up a couple familiar dishes. Little did they know that after cooking for 3 hours we had prepared some of the most delicious food they would ever eat. At least that's how I feel about all the American food we made. I guess all of the food wasn't exactly "American" per se but they were foods commonly found there. The only traditional Thanksgiving food we consumed were the homemade mashed potatoes made by Wayne. They were creamy, buttery goodness and unlike anything you can find in China. They were a huge hit. They couldn't stop talking about how good they were. I had to agree. Wayne did a great job and it made me feel a little closer to home during the holiday.

No, we didn't have a turkey or a ham and probably nothing too similar to what you had on your dinner table that evening. But we did have tacos with homemade tortillas and salsa with chips. Andrew made a perfect bowl of my favorite food: spaghetti. We had fresh watermelon and pineapple. It really doesn't get much better than that. Oh and we have the random stir-fried vegetables and a fried egg and tomato dish.

It can be embarrassing going out to dinner with our Chinese friends because they have to teach us how to eat certain foods, tell us what things are, and there are occasional snickers coming from across the table when we mistakenly dip something in the wrong sauce. I always thought it was strange that they didn't realize that eating Chinese food just doesn't come natural to us foreigners and some things need to be explained. That was until Thanksgiving. Have you ever had to explain what a taco was or how to eat one? or that the chips are supposed to be dipped into the salsa? You would think it's obvious and that everyone knows how to layer toppings on a taco. Wrong. We all had to learn that at some point and for these folks it happened in their mid-twenties. After explaining that the meat was beef and the orange stuff was cheese we showed them a tutorial on how to layer everything on a tortilla and then wrap it up.
I think we may have placed the mashed potatoes too close to the taco toppings because poor Ella didn't know that obviously they don't belong on a taco. She didn't think anything of it and just ate it right up. It was probably delicious!

I am happy to report that there were more Chinese leftovers than American. We may be onto something with the whole tacos in China thing. I think I was too busy socializing to get overly stuffed like I usually do on Thanksgiving but that's never a bad thing. It was so comforting though to eat such familiar food. Mmmmm. You don't know what's good until you don't have it. Cliche but true.

After eating we played a couple rounds of charades and Mafia, which some of them were familiar with so it wasn't too hard to explain. Laughter ensued and we all had a blast.

We hear it every year: Thanksgiving isn't all about the food it's about giving thanks. I've spent the better portion of this post talking about food (which is something in and of itself to be thankful for in a foreign country) but there are many things I've come to be thankful for living in another country.

I am of course thankful for mine and Andrew's family. They are all so supportive of us and we are lucky to have such great people in our lives. You are all important to us. Even if we don't talk to you regularly you have each impacted our lives positively. Thank you. We miss you all. I am grateful for God and my faith and that although I am currently living in a communist country I have the privilege of believing what I want and attending church regularly. My time in China has given me the opportunity to rely more on God and for that I am grateful.

To prevent this from being an overly sappy post I will just say that everything I'm grateful for stems from my family and my faith and leave it at that. That is except for the fact that I'm grateful the local happy fruit guy got a shipment of strawberries. They are the first I've seen in the entire country. Expensive but worth it ($2 USD for seven strawberries)!

Why was your Thanksgiving especially memorable?

I can't help but think that next year when I'm in America surrounded by family chowing down on turkey and sweet potatoes that I'll look back on this party and be grateful for the time I had in China. Happy Thanksgiving!

Love Locks and Hot Springs

You know those majestic mountains found in the world famous movie “Avatar” with the narrow peaks? They say mountains like those found in Huangshan, China are what inspired James Cameron. I didn’t care for the movie too much but I am a nature girl through and through and love to be outdoors. When I found out that Huangshan was only a few hours away by train then it was a no brainer, we had to go!

We were hoping to go before it got too cold but that didn’t happen.

We were hoping we wouldn’t get rained out but that didn’t happen.

We were hoping we would be able to see those majestic mountains as we hiked the tall peeks but that didn’t happen.

When we got to Huangshan Saturday morning (after taking the sleeper train) we found our way to the mountain by taking the required two buses to get there through the cold, foggy, rainy weather. I was eager to hike up the mountain but once I lost feeling in my finger tips and had a permanent red nose we all agreed that it would be best to just take the ten minute lift up the mountain. Yes, ten minutes! We were so high and after such a long lift ride I thought we would be brought directly to the top and be able to see the wonderful views but that just wasn't the case with all the fog. On the way up this is what it looked like and then I realized I wouldn’t be seeing too much.

We plan on going back in the spring some time to hopefully avoid all the fog and cold, wet weather. I still really enjoyed hiking around the mountain even though the conditions were less than enjoyable. I thought the eerie fog in all the trees actually looked really beautiful.

It turns out we actually hiked around the top of the mountain for about four and a half hours in search of a hotel that we didn’t even stay at because they were all overpriced. I was grateful that I wasn’t scaling the side of a rocky mountain and someone was kind enough to construct stairs all over this massive mountain but it was incredibly tiring and our legs and butts were on fire. Whenever I thought about complaining I was reminded by all of the strong Chinese men climbing up the entire side of the mountain while caring goods on their shoulders for shops and hotels. All of their calf muscles were massive! It takes a typical hiker two and a half hours to go up but with these guys carrying a heavy load there’s no telling how long it takes them. I just hope they only have to do it once a day!

After walking around a while we found some ropes and chains with locks attached to them. I call these “love locks” because two people in love attach their lock somewhere on a chain or rope and then they each throw a key over the side of the mountain symbolizing that their love will never end. I’m into gushy stuff like that and it was on my list of things to do while in China ever since Andrew told me about it 3 years ago from the last time he was in China.

We forgot to buy locks beforehand so when we found a stand where there was someone selling them we bought one for 15 RMB ($2.50). I was ecstatic. He even carved our names in it for us! It was a memorable experience and who knows maybe we’ll go back with our kids someday to show them our “love lock”

 

Our locks are just to the right of that pole on the top rope.

By this point on our adventure we were all wet popsicles and decided to make our way down…once again on the lift. I don’t know how all those people climbed up and down the mountain in such bad weather. The Chinese are strong people. The entire way down it seemed like we were in a cloud because we could see only white outside of the windows.

Unfortunately, the entire day was filled with remarks like, “I bet this is really beautiful on a sunny day” or “Oh! I think I can see part of a mountain!” Despite the conditions it was a great day filled with memorable experiences.

 

After such a cold, wet Saturday we decided it would be best to enjoy a relaxing Sunday at the Huangshan Hot Springs. Prior to this day riding the bikes around the Xi’an city wall was my absolute favorite thing but I don’t think anything can compare with the beautiful scenery and relaxing hot pools that we enjoyed.

Once again being the nature girl that I am I could not get enough of the colorful trees and the backdrop of the mountains. Look at that view!

All of the hot pools had different themes and being that it is located in China they have little details for each one on what it does to heal different parts of your body. I found them to be a little amusing. I don’t know if it was all truth but I do know that I was enjoying complete bliss. My favorite pool was by far the Jasmine themed one because the aroma was so strong and completely put me at peace. You can’t beat the fact that it purges “body fire” too! Any guesses on what that might be?

 

Here are a few of the other calming pools and some of the funny signs:

Bamboo

Rose Petal

Green Tea

Anti-aging Lipid Lowering!

Heated bead bath

It seemed like the natural thing to bury Andrew

Strengthens the cardiovascular fexibility

Wine..it just smelled like grapes

Skin Whitening! Hello Michael Jackson!

Coconut Milk

Stimulates the appetite! It works. 

Coffee

Andrew found the most memorable pool and the one that allowed me to check off  the second item this weekend on my “To Do in China” list. It would be the fish feeding pool. There were hundreds of fish in the pool ready to get a nibble on your feet! It was a big surprise at first and took a lot of time to get used to because it tickled SO much. But once you focused and really tried to relax and enjoy it then it started to feel like a hundred little pricks and pinches. I wanted so badly to enjoy it but it was hard to get part the strange feeling. If you weren’t looking at your feet it was even creepier but it wasn’t that bad. I really want one for my house because it did wonders for our skin. It was so smooth afterwards. Andrew really enjoyed it and even layed his entire body in the pool. I’m going to call him out and he may not like it but his feet were the driest and most crackly I’ve ever seen. But later that night we both realized that the fish ate all of his dead dry skin off and left him with beautifully smooth skin. It was a skin care miracle! I highly recommend letting fish nibble on your skin for a little bit. It really works!

Andrew and I covered in fish.

One of the little babies. Their bites weren't bad it was the 3 inch fat ones that felt really strange.

All of the people at the springs were really nice and hospitable. They offered us free water and snacks like watermelon and cookies. We really didn’t want to leave more or less return to work the next day. A weekend is just not long enough. But alas we had to get back on the train and return to Zhangjiagang to teach. In fact, we barely made it back! We rushed from the train station in Wuxi Monday morning to catch a bus to Zhangjigang and then take a taxi to our school. It dropped us off a mere 15 minutes before our lessons were to begin. It was a close call but it was definitely a worthwhile weekend with two items checked off my list. I love China and I’m thoroughly enjoying all of our adventures.

I still plan on posting about the food we regularly eat but I’m just working on gathering all the pictures when we are out. We don’t always have a camera on us especially because mine broke but the post is coming!

Are you thinking about Thanksgiving plans yet? Because I’ve been thinking about Thanksgiving and I’m thoroughly jealous of all the gluttonous food you will be gorging on in a couple weeks!