Beijing Diary(5) by Chrissy

August 2009

Saturday basically started with lunch. Hyun, YK, and I went to No. 9 Café and had beef noodles while Dad stayed home and had a PB&J. We were instructed the night before to not even eat lunch because we were going to a buffet with over 400 items.

Xuesong picked us up and dropped us off at Jingshan Park, which is a giant park north of the Forbidden City. It is also where the last emperor hung himself. We climbed to the top where there were a little temple and an excellent view of the Forbidden Palace and the city. Unfortunately, the day was so grey that we couldn’t see much. Also, the place was packed with Chinese tourists, so the dancers and other performers that usually hang out at the park weren’t there.

Afterward, we hopped on a bus and went to Wangfujing, a major shopping area, which I had been to before. I went into the bookstore and bought Xuesong and Aihua each a Sudoku book to foster their new love of the logic puzzle. Also, we were happy to see that the food area was still there where countless vendors sold food on sticks. Last time I took a picture similar to this one:

Yes, those are dried seahorses on sticks accompanied by live scorpions on sticks. I had imagined coming across this vendor again and having to eat at least one of these “delicacies”, but we were walking around to work up an appetite for the buffet.

Near the food area are a large number of vendors that are more than persistent. Not only do they call you over and ask you to look at their wares, but they will grab you by the arm and pull you to their stall. I noticed all over a small copper statue of four faces of Buddha that I had looked at in Korea. At $40, it was more than I wanted to spend, so I was wondering how much it was here in China. Also, you have to haggle with them about the price. The guidebook says and my experience is that they inflate the price to at least 3 times what they want for it. My statue started at 400 Yuan and I bought it for 100 Yuan, or about $15. This was a lot cheaper than Korea.

We then spent some time in a large arcade and watched a guy set a new high score on a basketball shooting machine. We walked around to kill time and work up an appetite before we met up with Aihua and Xuesong and their two daughters, ages 3 and 5 at the buffet place. In Korea, the girls would be 4 and 6 because they start at 1 on the day they are born. I unfortunately never learned their names. We met up with them right in time because it started to pour, and during dinner, we were treated to a lightning storm.

This place put Vegas to shame. When we were told it had at least 400 items, it was not an exaggeration. We wandered up and down the rows of food that were from different nations. Everything was labeled in English, but many of the things were too odd for me to even attempt like cut up pig ear, lots of innards, and three different types of chicken feet.

One cool feature was that each table was given little metal clips, similar to binder clips that had the table number on it. Many of the dishes were made to order, and to order any of these dishes, one dropped a clip into the box in front of the food description or clipped it onto a board that had a list. One could get many different types of soup, pasta, rice, seafood or fish this way. The fish and seafood were presented whole on ice just in case you didn’t recognize it by name. The fish was so fresh that one of them was still grasping for air. Dad ordered udon noodles and a scallop and noodle dish (that took 40 minutes to get to the table) and I, eager to test out this ordering method, got soup similar to the lunch soup.

Drinks were also all you could drink, but the alcohol content was so low, that it wasn’t really worth it. The dessert spread was impressive, including a chocolate fountain and ice cream. Also, you could get tea based on your astrological sign. I was happy to see that the Gemini tea had chamomile in it, and it tasted great.

The two girls, who were dressed identically in blue dresses, were slow to warm up, but the older one has been using the website, so her parents were eager to show us the English she has learned. She did a great job with Hyun’s TPR, so it was clear she has a great understanding of the material that she has covered so far.

Eventually, the girls warmed up and were adorable. Regardless of the language barrier, play is universal. I started wiggling my eyebrows, which got smiles, and then we started playing with the food clips. As we were doing so, the older daughter lifted up the dress of the younger one and then pulled down her panties so her butt was exposed in the restaurant. I thought tears were going to be shed, but instead, both girls laughed hysterically, as did we all. The pantsing game went on for a little bit before the gag got tired. Later, when we were hiding the food clips and playing “pick the hand the food clip is in” the younger one put a bunch of them in her underwear, which again incited laughter.

Our buffet entertainment was a group of five dressed in country/western apparel complete with fringed leather. Oddly enough, they played contemporary easy listening songs. Our table was located in such a way that we could not see the band, so there was a TV posted near the table which broadcasted the band so we could watch them. The girls loved the band and spent a lot of time dance with them before they figured out the TV connection. Once they did, they took turns being on “TV”, or basically climbing on stage with the band and waving at each other while the other one watched the TV. The band had no idea. It was adorable.

Another thing worth noting was towards the end of the meal, the girls asked for some beer. Aihua gave the older one a sip, which led to a bitter beer face. Then the younger one took a sip. Not only did she not dislike the taste, she asked for more. She kept reaching for the glass a couple more times. “She really likes beer,” Aihua said, “and she’s been drunk before”.

Dinner concluded and I thought I heard one of the girls say in English “pee pee”, so I was shocked to see that I was the only one headed towards the bathroom. I used the bathroom and caught up with the rest of the people waiting outside for Xuesong, who had gone off with the girls to get the car. Right when they pulled off, Xuesong jumped out of the car as did his youngest daughter, and he pulled down her underwear and lifted her off the ground so her back was parallel to the street, and she peed right in the gutter outside of the restaurant. In the meantime, the other daughter hopped out of the car, squatted, and then peed right along with her sister. When you gotta go, you gotta go.

The eight of us got in the car and headed back to the hotel. The majority of the trip was filled with singing songs, mostly in English. Old McDonald and Twinkle Twinkle, were among them. Another song was in Chinese and as the older daughter started with “Tong fon da doo”; Hyun mimicked her verse for verse in his best falsetto and continued to do so for a very long time.

The leftover whiskey was brought out back at the hotel, while I quickly covered my portion of the teacher lecture to Aihua. I talked about classroom management and taught her the games as well. She was a quick study and seemed excited to implement them into the Campwww material.

We soon joined the boozers and talked for a bit while primarily Dad and I continued to play with the girls. We also learned that both Xuesong and Hyun had taken home some of the metal clips in their pockets. As they were leaving, Aihua laughed at something the older daughter said: “Foreigners are funny!”

Beijing Diaries(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)