Yanji(China) Saga

We went to the hotel and settled in before 5 of us (minus Kathy, Hyun, and Jasmine) went out for a bite to eat. The area surrounding the hotel, which was bustling when we arrived, was dead. There was one obvious exception to this. The hotel is located on one
corner of a square where there are a lot of outdoor vendors. There is a TV there where patrons can go and sing Karaoke and their voices are blasted over loud speakers to the extent that you can hear their gifts blocks away. We walked to find some food, past the new KFC that has everyone at YUST excited and found a Chinese Korean style place (as opposed to the Korean Chinese we had in Korea). Here, Euikyoo took up the ordering process as our resident food expert and he did not let us astray again.

This time, we had a similar tofu dish, 5 bowls of hot corn noodle soup, and two beers. I originally just wanted to have a slight snack, but after trying this soup, I came in second place in the food consumption Olympics. I have to find this soup in LA. You heard it from me, hot corn noodle soup. Our meal came to 58 Yuan. Yes, 7 dollars. Each bowl of soup was a dollar.

About 5 years ago, I went to Tokyo and then on this trip I have been to Seoul and I’m going to parts of China. When I tell people this, they share with me that the accommodations and the countries descend in quality but ascend in quality of food. Although I loved the food in Japan and Korea, the food in China has been outstanding.

Back at the hotel, the step one was a shower. The shower was a unique experience. This hotel is a 3 star hotel, and the rooms are far superior to say a Days Inn, but the shower is constructed in an odd way. The shower does not have a bath tub and has a drain hole in the corner. However, the floor in the bathroom is not slanted to facilitate the water going down the drain. In fact, it moves the water towards the middle of the bathroom under neither the sliding door which is in existence to keep water in. Good thing there is also a
second drain in the middle of the bathroom to take all the extra water that seeps through. How much water? A whole showers worth although I did note that the shower door does work as a good bubble filter.

We later asked Simon, architecture master that he is, about this, and he said that here in China, although they have blue prints and plans, most of the workers just work to finish the job independently and do not look at the plans. For this reason, many problems and
mistakes are created which could maybe be prevented if the position of general contractor or overseer existed. By the state of the showers in the hotel, it is clear that it does not.

The second odd thing about the shower was that there was a hand held small shower head and a huge rain simulating showerhead. After turning on the handheld, I pushed and pulled everything that remotely looked like a button to try to switch to the big rain
showerhead. My efforts were fruitless and I bathed with the handheld.

Lastly, the shower water temperature dial does not seem to make sense and I had to choose to take a freezing cold shower or a just a little too hot shower. I figured out that the best time to dunk myself under the water was as the temperature transitioned from one extreme to another and them step back and I adjusted the dial back. After tiring of
this, I ended up under the too hot water and as I turned off the shower, that dial continued to move, switching the water to the rain showerhead. I had figured it out, but the benefits of my discovery had to wait until the next morning.

Once the shower ended, I walked to my bed, tripping constantly over the wavy carpet. After sleeping on the couch for a week, I was looking forward to being spoiled by having my own large, fluffy, comfortable bed. However, the bed, though large was not what I
would dare call fluffy or comfortable. The beds in the hotel are the hardest beds I have ever seen. I’m talking a bed of pure bricks would be softer. The floor at the temple was softer. Also, my hotel room is on the side of the hotel that faces the square. This
means that I have the pleasure of being constantly serenaded by tone deaf Chinese Karaoke singers. Just when I though there was no end to the music and that they would never pull the plug on the crooning, the concert ended. I soon mastered the art of turning on and off the lights in the room (with switches on the night stand). In the end, after settling into bed after my hot corn noodle soup and too hot shower, I slept with my eye mask on, sans earplugs for the first time on the trip.The next day we were told that we were going to the Lone Pine where Koreans met during the Japanese resistance movement. There was one tree that was very significant. It was then cut down, but another one was later planted in its place. This site is very important in Korean history. However, we never got there. We drove and were told that we were driving through the place where they grow the most apple pears for China. Jamyung asked me what an apple pear was. After explaining their appearance and taste, I commented that we call them Asian pears in the US.

We were told by the driver that the annual profit of the farmers was about $250 and that a small house costs about $6000. Apartments cost more but I didn ask how much.

Our first stop was to a middle school. Outside the main building is a monument to a famous Korean poet, Yoon Dongju. A famous poem of his (or maybe part of it?) was carved on it and there was a miniature museum inside the building. We looked for a classroom to get a gist of what a classroom looks like and it seems there aren’t anymore in that building. We then drove to where he used to live where there was a church, which was now a museum, and another monument outside. There was also a stump that was preserved because many people were executed there.

Our last stop was a pagoda on a big hill that gave us a great view of a river. The interesting thing about the river, was one side of the river was China and North Korea was on the other side. We could see a train, farms, very large mountains, and a little city. We were high up, but pretty darn close. We are going to go to the actual boarder later this week.

At 6 we had dinner plans with the Vice President of YUST. At dinner, there were the 8 of us: the VP, Norma(chair of the YUST English department), Simon, and another professor in the architecture. We were vanned to a hotel that dad and YK had been to before and
brought up to a private room and a table for 10. After a lot of rearranging, we managed to fit two more place settings at the table. Then the menu came. Well, it didn’t just come, it was wheeled in. It was basicallyon a pedestal and had pages two time your computer
screen with huge pictures of the dishes they offered. The menu was huge and thick.

At first they told me to order and I closed my eyes and moved my finger around
one of the pages which got a laugh, but then the new architecture guy took over the ordering. Jamyung and Euikyoo suggested we have alcohol so a strong Chinese
Whiskey was served in very little cups. The custom, after the cheers, is to tap your glass twice on the table and then down it. Later on you can sip. In the meantime, the waitress was going around and unfolding the uniquely folded napkins and tucking a corner
underneath each plate.

A few minutes after ordering, the food began to come. I asked the architect how many dishes he had ordered and he said one per person. This was going to be a feast. Each dish came in one at a time and was placed on the lazy Susan. The dish was announced and turned to be presented to our host, the VP. Soon the lazy Susan was full of food. There were actually 10 dishes: Sweet and sour pork (a woman’s dish because it is sweet and women love sweets, I was told), crunchy rice with seafood, corn, orange Chinese
cabbage salad, shrimp with beets and peppers, pork with peppers, fried duck spring rolls, an egg and corn dish, squid with cucumbers, and for dessert, fried egg white with red bean paste center. I ate like a queen.

Jasmine and Norma had Sprites and the architect guy, tired of the whiskey, made a drink that was half Sprite and half Coke. Here, there is a drink call Cider, which is just like a Sprite or a 7-Up. For this reason, he called his half and half concoction a Psycho(Ci-Co).

Eventually, there was not enough room on the lazy Susan, so the waitress brought smaller plates for the dishes that were dwindling.  Then our plates were taken away and replaced. Huh? I was told, at this point, that those dishes were just the appetizers. WHAT??? Yes, exactly. No one had told me that wasn’t all the food we were having and I kept eating and eating that and now more food was coming?

Round two consisted of kimchee, meat dumplings, veggie and egg dumplings, rice, melon, sesame and red bean bread, and 2 bowls of the hot corn noodle soup. Turns
out that the hotel was just across the street from the soup place we dined at the night before, so they might have sent out for that dish. I was planning on just sampling the new food, but when they put the soup that I loved so much the night before in front of me, I had to have some. Unfortunately, my attempt to pull some of the 86875 foot long noodles from the bowl onto my plate was quite a debacle. The entire table witness it
and laughed at my feeble attempt as the noodles cascaded from the bowl to my plate and then onto the table. Soon, the waitress came back with scissors and made little bowls of the soup for people. Had I waited, I would not have been made a fool of by some noodles. Oh well.

We went back to the hotel and I was stuffed. Having eaten so much, I was looking forward to getting into bed and reading my book. Soon, when I settled into by brick bed, I couldn’t sleep. The terrible Chinese Karaoke was back. I was hoping it was only a Saturday night thing. But, alas, it continued until 12:30 AM. Also, it seemed that
between the hours of 10 PM and 12:20 AM people come to the square down below to break pottery. I don’t know if that’s really what happened but that’s what it sounded like. The crashing and banging was almost endless. I can’t believe there is anything left in
China after the amount of things that were broken yesterday. And did I mention, that of the 4 rooms that the 8 of us have, Jasmine and I were the lucky ones to get the only room
facing the square?

Sleep came, and with that, morning came, and I was awoken and went down to the complementary breakfast before heading to YUST to begin the conference. The
conference room was open and packed well before the conference was to begin. My teaching parts aren’t until tomorrow (Tuesday) so, after we were introduced, Jasmine and I were permitted to stay in the English department computer lab where I have been writing this email for hours.

We broke for lunch at the cafe that was going to close, but Simon asked them to stay open for this week for us alone. Fortunately, there were students in there as well, so it wasn’t all just forus. Lunch choice: sandwich, om (short for omelet?) rice, or spicy cold noodles. I chose the middle dish which was fried rice with potato medley covered in a
thinly cooked egg so it looks like an egg ball. The food was all served with forks. The only time I have used forks on this trip has been on the three plane trips.

The second half of the conference today had to take place in a different room because a calligraphy workshop was organized. Dad just came and told us that there are kids all over the opening lobby writing calligraphy on large pieces of paper and the smell of
ink is rampant. Definitely photo op.