Dining in Dalian (For My Sister, Shannon)

My sister has been asking me forever to post some pictures of what I'm eating in Dalian so this will be heavy on pictures and light on words.

These are donkey meat dumplings.  Before I came to Dalian I read that donkey was commonly eaten here so I really wanted to try it.  Since the meat was ground it tasted very similar to a pork dumpling which means it was tasty.  Still, I'd like to try a donkey steak or kebab at some point to really get an idea of its taste and texture .

This is called suan la tu dou si which translates to something like "sour spicy fried potatoes".  It also includes green and red peppers, leeks, and is served on rice.  It's a staple of my diet here (only 13RMB).

Christmas dinner was at Teppanyaki.  It was probably the most meat I've ever eaten at a meal.  The plate in front is salmon, tuna, and white tuna sashimi (the white tuna may have replaced salmon as my favourite raw fish).  The plate in the back contains thinly sliced, raw horse meat.  Yes, horse.  I ate it.  It was OK.  Don't hate.

Our cook/performer at Teppanyaki.

The two pictures above are from the same place.  I ordered the kimchi soup in the second picture (think sauerkraut soup, but with a kick!) and received all that other stuff as well (pickled carrots, pickled beets, watermelon, salad, and some sort of beef/rice/tofu roll).

You can also get really good foreign food here.  This is chicken pesto penne with feta and pine nuts.

Spicy Chinese French Fries

Calamari with a sweet and sour sauce

Yu Xiang Rou Si (It literally means "fish smelling pork", but tastes much better than it sounds.)

I always need to try the random special burgers that come out at McD's here.  My favourite was the mashed potato burger that I had in Wuhan.  This, however, is one of the most disgusting things I've ever had.  There were two mushy, fatty sausage patties, along with another patty of some mystery meat and a goopy, tasteless sauce.  I'd include a picture of what it looks like unwrapped, but it might make you sick.

This is pork and mushrooms in a sauce with a ton of chilies and Sichuan pepeprcorns (tongue numbers as I prefer to call them).

More fried potatoes with chilies and tongue numbers.

Gou bao rou (kind of like sweet and sour pork).  It's not normally this bland looking.  In fact, the gou bao rou at this place was fairly underwhelming.

You can also get Indian food here.  This is potato and eggplant green curry with a cheese naan.

Listening to: Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited

There and Back Again: A Foreigner's Tale

My two day whirlwind tour of Wuhan has come and gone and what an experience it was.  My flight left Dalian Saturday morning at 8 and I came back Sunday evening at 7.  Being back in Wuhan was a little strange, but seeing all of my old students and teachers with whom I used to work gave my spirits an incredible lift.

Upon landing I took the hour and a half shuttle bus ride to the area where my hostel was located.  The hostel is on the fifth floor of a shopping mall, but when I stepped off the elevator it was as though I had entered some Chinese version of an old world European village.  There were dogs, rabbits, and birds all over the place.  Everything was made of stone and kitschy, old world objects were strewn all over the place.  Here's a picture of one of the corridors:

The room was similarly decorated.  It was definitely one of the cooler places I've ever stayed in China.

After checking in I headed to Hu Bu Xiang which is a famous food street in Wuhan to get some of my old favourites including fried potatoes and an amazing slow cooked pork sandwich.  They slow cook the pork until it's falling apart and mince it with cucumber, green pepper, cilantro and leeks and then put it on a homemade Chinese style English muffin. I wish I had a picture so you could truly appreciate it, but I was too impatient to eat it and couldn't waste time with pictures.

I then headed over to my old neighbourhood to get a kumquat juice from Coco and some liang mian (cold noodles).  I walked past my old apartment and my old school even though the students had the day off.  It was a bit surreal talking a walk which I had taken almost every day for three years.  After my walk down memory lane I met my old co-teacher Judy to go to a wedding.  Erica, with whom I worked for three years, invited me to come to Wuhan for her wedding and I was more than happy to attend.  I could write a whole other post on Chinese weddings.  Some things would be familiar to you (father handing daughter over to groom, children throwing flowers, etc.), but they have their own bizarre traditions as well.  The whole ceremony is presided over by a game show host type gentleman who cracks jokes and gets the crowd hyped up.  You really need to be there to experience it.  After the wedding I walked across the number 1 bridge to the Irish pub where I played covers for two years to meet the owner for a cider or two.

The following day was definitely the highlight.  Even though it was Sunday the students had to go to school for a sports day.  I was sitting in the office talking to the Chinese teachers when two of my students walked in and were absolutely stunned to see me.  They ran out of the office to go tell their friends and I met a bunch of them in the hallway.  I followed them up to their classroom to say hi to all 40 of them in each of the 5 classes I taught.  The reactions ranged from cheering to absolute stunned silence.  It was fun to surprise them.  I spent the morning talking to them and taking pictures.  Even thinking about it now puts a huge smile on my face.  Many of them asked if I was coming back to be their teacher and it was hard to tell them I was only there to visit.  I'll end this overly long post with some pictures.  Many more were taken and I'll get some of Erica's wedding pictures in the future as well.  Enjoy!

Listening to: Dustin Kensrue "The Water and the Blood"

Letter from a Concerned Student

By far the hardest part of leaving Wuhan was saying "zai jian" (good-bye) to my students.  I taught three of the classes there from grade 1 to grade 3.  Seeing them grow during those three years was quite the experience.  I look forward to the time when I can go back to visit and see them all.  In the meantime I have to make do with the sporadic message and letters I receive.  Here's an e-mail that popped up in my inbox this week:

"Hi,Shane!I am 5E _____(3E _____ 2 years ago). Do you remember me?I can't forget you forever.
If you can come back,I'll be very very very happy! 5E students are very very miss you,they said 'My favorite teacher is Shane!''Will he come back?''If he can came back even a minute!'
Are you ok now? where  have you been?And what are you doing now?

 I love you very much.Really!Really.......

Yours
                    ______"

I promptly replied and can't wait to hear back from her.  I'm sure I'll grow just as attached to my new group of students, but those little Wuhaners were my first ever class and will always hold a special place in my heart.

Currently listening to: Daft Punk - "Give Life Back to Music"

Chapter Books and Chicken Heads

Well, I'm back in China and it doesn't really feel like I ever left.  Is that how can you tell whether something feels like home?  The big difference is that I've said goodbye to the dirty, spit-soaked streets and hazy skies of Wuhan and hello to the relatively cleaner streets and blue skies of Dalian.  Dalian is located on a peninsula in north-eastern China right next to the Korean peninsula.  This city has an entirely different feel than Wuhan.  I don't notice as many people staring at me for one.  If you know me at all you know that I'm not one to crave or thrive off attention.  In this respect, Dalian is a welcome change.  Being pointed at or having my picture taken (willingly or not) was practically a daily occurrence back in the 'Han.  It's only happened here once so far and it was by a kid whose mom asked to have his picture taken with me.  I don't mind taking pictures with people as long as they do me the favour of asking first.  I know it made that kid and his mom pretty happy and he probably told all his friends the next day that he met a foreigner and got a picture.

I started work at the Dalian Maple Leaf Foreign Nationals School today.  I'll be teaching an ELL (English Language Learner) class to students from grades 4-9.  What's the difference between ESL and ELL you ask?  The term ESL assumes that these students come to school only knowing one language and that English will be their second.  However, for many of them it's simply not the case and English will be their third, fourth, or perhaps fifth language.  Their language levels are still being assessed so I don't know exactly how many I'll have, but I should find out tomorrow.  I believe I'll be teaching lower level kids which can mean everything from a basic grasp of English to knowing nothing at all.  I must admit I'm quite nervous as this is my first real teaching job, but I have confidence in my abilities.  I know that at this moment I'm in the right place and am doing what I should be.  It's a two year contract and I'm excited to see what God has in store for me over that time.

This is already getting long for an introductory post so I'll just leave you with some pictures for now (sorry about the poor quality).  Feel free to leave a comment.  If you prefer to mail me using pen and paper instead of electronically here's where I can be reached:

Shane Krahn

c/o Dalian Maple Leaf Foreign Nationals School

104 Shengli Road, Xigang District

Dalian, China

116021

Listening to: Sigur Ros - Kveikur

View from the bus stop next to my building.

Sometimes when you mean to order chicken wings you get a head instead :)

Bowling?!?!  In China!?!?

Probably my best score ever.  You'll notice that my scores drop significantly after the 7th frame.  This is because I slipped on my first throw of the 8th and severely pulled my hamstring.  All good now though.  I had a shot at 200.  Shame.

Apparently this makes me a professional now.

The fridge in my apartment.

Olympic Square

Amazing spicy, fried noodles with clams.

My building.  I'm on the 8th floor.

The front door and plaque of the school where I work.