For the Love of the Grill

Nanning and its City Parks

I will never forget the first meal I ate in China. The plane landed at 11:30pm and a group of Chinese teaching assistants picked me up from the airport. The next morning, they took me out for breakfast. I was starving and looked forward to some nourishment. After taking a seat in the school cafeteria, a tray arrived of 'breakfast items', which included spicy rice noodles and sweetened, steamed bread. Images of bacon, pancakes, french toast, even some cold cereal or oatmeal, flooded the mind as I begrudgingly dug into the food with a smile on my face (for the assistants). I tried my best to grab the slippery noodles, since the chopstick skills were on par with a three year old. I prayed that the cuisine in China would improve, even if strips of hog and dairy product were unavailable. 

Little did I know that the rightful king of cuisine, barbeque, was alive and well in China. Instead of assuming the form of a propane or gas burner, it was now charcoal fed and delivered an even more remarkable taste. The Chinese know how to barbeque and they do it well. All vendors and restaurants have a signature grilling sauce, which can turn eggplant, stalks of grassy livestock feed and even tofu, into sizzling masterpieces. Meat is always served on a stick and chicken feet are not as bad as you would think (you just need to have some patience when maneuvering around the bones!).

The graduate student who is teaching me Chinese, invited me out to a class party of barbeque in the park. After barbequing straight from 10-5pm, I will never think of the term the same again. Some observations from the day of grilling:

- Public parks are a fairly recent phenomenon in parts of China. In Nanning you can only find them around the periphery of the city. They are very popular, perhaps due to the fact that the City of Nanning eliminated entrance fees in 2008.

- We went to 'Shimen Forest Park' and it was flooded with over a thousand locals. It came equipped with amusement rides, a lake, a highly developed trail system and a series of outdoor swimming pools. If you are looking for peace and quite, or to immerse yourself in nature, it would be wise to look elsewhere.

- Cooking and eating are very important aspects of Chinese culture. It is customary to prepare more food and drink then is necessary when cooking for guests, in order to show ones prosperity. Of all the supplies that the class brought, we only devoured half of it.

- Barbeque pits are concentrated at the top of one of the scenic hills of the park and are rented out. They book up quickly and are always packed. Charcoal and kindling are distributed to each of the sites.

- Smoke fills the air like a scene from Apocalypse Now, due to the amount of charcoal being burnt. As a foreigner you should not wander too far into the crowds and smoke, since you will quickly be classified as MIA. Groups of locals will call you over to their pits, offering you beers, baijiu (rice liquor) and cigarettes. Once a drink is poured 'Gan bei' (dry cup) is called and it must be chugged back. Whether the liquid is beer, hard liquor or wine, is irrelevant. Once you finish your drink, your cup will be refilled and another 'Gan bei' called. Repeat once more and you finish after the third. The Chinese love the meanings behind their numbers and three is a lucky one!

- Just like at a restaurant, all the food is shared and the cooking responsibilities fall upon the whole group. If you are worried about the groups communal food being manhandled by chopsticks and reaching hands cascading across the table, you will need to cast your western table manners aside.

It is easy to see why cooking outside at a barbeque pit, is so popular amongst locals. It is an excellent opportunity to socialize with others and surround yourself with good food and drink. I hope to visit more city parks in the future and integrate more with the local population. As nice as it is living on campus, in a complex of foreign teachers, it is important to escape the 'bubble' as much as possible and dive into the bee hive of millions.
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Learning Mandarin

'The Arduous Path Towards Mandarin Proficiency'

More than two months have passed since my arrival and I feel like I have only scratched the surface, in regards to learning about Chinese culture. Four important developments have taken shape in the past week:

1) I have started taking private Mandarin lessons, on a weekly basis.

2) After testing out several gym facilities, one has been found which is basically deserted and has dumbbells which weigh more than 25lbs!

3) After some arguments about the level of difficulty and usefulness of learning a Chinese Martial Art, one of my co-workers finally convinced me to take a Sambo class with him. We go for an hour and a half lesson, five times a week. I will do a proper update on Martial Arts in China later on. All I can say is that I could barely walk up the stairs or hold a pen after the first few lessons. There’s something to be said about being punched and roundhouse kicked into shape!

4) My siestas now take place on the balcony, thanks to the Vietnamese hammock and continued +30degree weather.

Mandarin is much harder to learn then I anticipated. The tones, varying dialects, speed and plethora of characters, are some major hurdles to overcome. From my observations the majority of foreigners who come to China to work, do not invest the time or energy in learning the local language. You would be surprised how easy it becomes to use body language and "jigga, jigga's" (that, that), in order to go about your daily business. At the bare minimum I want to learn enough 'survival' Mandarin in order to travel, haggle and order food (without playing the point and guess menu game). Hopefully when the Spring break arrives in January (four week holiday), I will know enough Mandarin to feel comfortable traveling North, via rail, to Beijing.