So another week passed by – and quite the sight this was! When you imagine China, there are couple of things you might think off straight away - some of them being: food, the Great Wall, the exports, but most important of them all are the pandas!
This week, I had the chance to visit the Panda Base with one of my fellow interns Darja – quite satisfying day, even a bit tiresome, but awesome, nonetheless. So in my future plans I have discovered that I might go to Ya’an, Yibin and Qingcheng Mountain, and if I am also lucky – to Emei Mountains with my colleagues, as they have offered to show me around. So this week it is mostly panda pictures (with some extra pictures) – they are lazy bears, all I can say. Sleeping and eating, and occasionally playing with each other are the things you can mostly see in their daily curriculum, sometimes butt scratching is included. Across the park, you could have even see peacocks’ walking around with their chicks, without being disturbed by humans – everyone is respecting them. The park is quite huge, took us about 2 hours to walk through it all. So the first month of my internship is coming to an end – the initial hype and anxiety, being in completely different continent, slowly died down. While, of course, everything still related to Chinese culture was awe-inspiring, I got more comfortable in such daunting situations, which, in turn, would also play a larger role in the time to come (future travel wise).
The work environment is just amazing! This sense of an extended family - my Chinese colleagues assign a very vital role on building such a relationship. Either going with my colleagues to the basement canteen to partake in traditional lunch break, cleaning the restaurant hall after dinner service or just having a hot pot with all the food & beverage department employees after the week is over. I remember the time, when I first came to my workplace. First day in and I was invited to join the others at the canteen. I didn't have a second doubt about it: "When in Rome, do as the Romans" - when I went it, the rest of the employees were surprised to see me here (considering that interns could eat at the buffet upstairs). I went to pick up the plate from neatly stacked tray pile and jump right into the unknown. I didn't have the time to dwell so much on the food options, as I wasn't so familiar with the Sichuanese cuisine and also the queue behind me. Noticing my baffled look on the food choices, another employee, an energetic elderly lady jumped up from her seat and rushed to my aid with a smile on her face! She took my tray, and while chatting up with the lunch-ladies, pointed out the things for them to put in my tray! It was definitely a unique and a heart-warming experience. And this experience wasn't only limited to the elderly lady, but many others of my colleagues. Every time I came around and would head to the free seats, everyone would start raising their hands and signaling me (very energetically) to come over. While the language barrier was rather apparent, the use of sign language, translators, pictures, and occasional dictionary check, proved to be useful! So in turns, we tried to teach other the languages we knew! Remember how I previously mentioned the map? A tangible guide (preferably translated in the local tongue) is definitely a big plus when you are lost in the Chengdu suburbs. The narrow streets, while wider than Maeklong Railway market in Thailand, has an alluring quirk - with different items on display, pleasant smells, which penetrates your nostrils, you can just get lost in all this "five sense maze", even when the building you are searching for, happens to be right around the corner. While sometimes confusing, the streets offer the person new cuisines he/she can indulge themselves into and explore. This is something I have missed while living in Europe. In my country, even though it is slowly developing, there never were many places one could go to try international meals (especially places offering food from Asia, besides sushi). In Europe, you go out with friends, each order separate dishes (while you do share with them), while in Asia, the concept of gathering together and having ONE meal together is already well embedded idea. You can see such concepts, for example, but not limited to, in Chinese hot-pots, Korean BBQ (which is a great thing to try, especially in the winter time) or Japanese okonomiyaki (savoury pancake with tonnes of ingredients). It allows one to be creative, and even if one has zero experience in cooking, the most enjoyable process is making them with your friends/colleagues, as how you approach the situation depends on different circumstances, but provides you time to chat and enjoy each others company more (while you have to be careful not to burn anything...) So here I am again, another weekend is coming to a conclusion. And while the downpour prompted me to stay longer in the warm confines we call "blanket", I still needed to see what the area around me - Pixian - had to offer. While having 3 consecutive evening shifts, I was surprised, as any would be in this situation, when the locals asked if they can take a picture with me. Seems like they didn't get to see foreigners so often around this industrial area.
I went to the People's Park in downtown - as I had my Chinese courses there - tried out teahouses - first time experiencing drinking buckwheat tea (quite unusual, considering that buckwheat in Eastern Europe can be used as an alternative to rice). Hot pots, alleys, ancient legends and a person wielding a sword almost the size of himself. Sounds like a start to a national epic story! However, this is daily life in China! I will tell more about some of the pictures too and thanks to my historian Xiangyu, who told me about most of the things I will tell also here.
I finally got to experience one of my biggest wishes (food related) - trying out a hot pot! Which was amazing - for those who have never tried it, basically, it is soup based dish, where, very often, there are two different broths - one is spicy and the other one is a mild one (a bit saltier). The objective of this colossal pot? To dump all the ingredients in there and boil them - rather straightforward. The main deal-breaker here, though, is the combination of sauces you make for the ingredients to be dipped into, when they are done boiling. But, of course, sorry Chai, the cow stomachs still did not look appealing, but the throat skin was quite chewy and was edible. Went through Wide and Narrow Alley, which was quite crowded, but the smell there was amazing - especially the smell of the sweets. And it also was raining, so did not had a very big possibility to check out everything - but later on, another teahouse followed where I tried a flower tea and we were given peaches (gosh, the fruits are so juicy here, I can't stop eating them) - we went to a Taoist temple, which had very much halls and different Immortals in them, but now I had the chance also to appreciate the Chinese architecture. well, the Dragon was believed to have 9 sons, and each one of them had also a different shape - so this one looked like a tortoise (+dragon). we had a chance to see (perhaps one of taoist monks, not sure) wielding this huge sword, which, as told by my trustworthy person, was designed to counterattack the Japanese pirates (who could have had katanas back then, so that is why, the shape, not the size, does resemble it) - and of course In & Jan, and also elements around it, which is believed to be found by "Chinese Adam & Eve, forgot the names, sorry" on a back of a turtle who just passed the river. Nihao! So this could be the time when the day has hit it's peak for you guys, while for me it will soon be over and I will be going to sleep. It has been some time before I wrote something (meaning, I also acquired internet). Now I can roam free and tell my tales (but not all, so I would have something to talk about with a good glass of baijiu after my return).
I already explained all the details of the first day - only thing I can mention are cicadas - bugs that buzz so loud, it would seem there are chainsaws up the tree. The next day the real fun commenced, and I had to do some actual work - phew, talking with customers in Chinese sure was something, but at least they understood what I meant, so it all ended well, but our motto is "we value you like family" and that is sure right - I have never felt so welcomed. Smile is a universal language - and as long as you show it , they will be happy to help out - just like when I went to the staff canteen and did not know where everything was - so one elderly lady just jumped out from her seat with a smile and rushed to me to take the plate from my hands and fill it up with all sort of different things I couldn't really finish even in breakfast. When you open up to them and be open-minded, you will start to see experience much nicer interactions - just like passing by an elderly man, who always greet me with such a surprised smile (and emphasizing on the pronunciation for me to always learn a new word or two), when it is so hot, that front office colleagues, without a word go into a nearby storage room to take a water bottle for me (+32, humid air and me in a black suit), or even when you go to the canteen they all just start waving (7 people at once) to come and join with them - even though not always we might have a long conversation, but still couple of sentences and picture showing explains everything. Oh, and Chengdu needs to be experienced during the night - it is so peaceful - people are dancing on the streets, eating at the restaurants located on the middle of the street , also different colours being showcased, but do watch out from traffic - that is one crazy thing here , even for a pedestrian walking over a green light... So now I will be going to sleep soon and tomorrow I have my Chinese courses in People's Park - there are so many dancing, singing people + so many teahouses. |
AuthorOn a self-discovery in a country down under-ish! New Zealand! Archives
May 2020
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