Saturday, September 12, 2009

To Grandmother's House We Go...

Today was big. I met Grandma.

One of the first things we were told when we signed up for a home-stay with a Chinese family was, "If the family offers to introduce you to Grandma, it doesn't matter what plans you have, you make time to see her." And how it pays off to meet Grandma.

We left at 9:00 am from our place in Haidian District, and drove about 30 minutes south to Fengtai, where Grandma, who I call 奶奶 (Nai Nai), lives. Her husband died some years ago, so she lives with Shushu's younger sister, who I call 姑姑 (Gu Gu). Nai Nai is adorable. She's an older woman (has to be at least 70), with the sweet-and-shrunken grandma look about her, but her health is fantastic. She climbs three flights of stairs to get to her apartment without stopping to take a breath.

And can she cook.

We had 肉饼 (rou bing), which are kind of like crepes, but stuffed thickly with salted pork, mushrooms, scallions, and unidentified herbs. After being wrapped up, it's fried in a wok, and served with a 糖醋 (sweet and sour) sauce that has a whole head of garlic floating on top. Later, they pulled the head of garlic out, peel it, and then you eat the cloves (which have been absorbing all that sweet sauce for an hour.

After we ate, I talked with Grandma about her flower box on the windowsill, since she seemed to take really good care of those petunias. She seemed pleased by me taking interest. One of the things about meeting Grandma is that you want to make a good impression; she is the matriarch of the family, after all.

Soon after, we piled into Shushu's car and drove to Ma Lian Dao, a street lined with tea stores. We walked about for a while, then went inside a four-story building jam-packed with 15ft by 15ft tea stalls. These are set up really well. You walk around the shop for a couple minutes, pointing out the types of tea you're interested in. For example, Shushu can't get enough Jasmine Tea. You then sit down at a nifty stone table that has a slight angle towards slots on the sides, where spilled tea flows out. Then they give you cups of tea. For free. It's a delicious kind of try-before-you-buy set-up. Shushu knows I'm not loaded, so he had us try the cheaper stuff, but it was fantastic! Better than most anything I've had in the States. I came away with a half-pound of Jasmine and a quarter-pound of Yunnan pu-erh, which is a delicious and slightly astringent red-colored tea from China's southern province of Yunnan.

All for $11.

I love this country.

On another note, here is my address for those who don't have Chinese characters installed on their computer. Just print this guy out, paste it on a letter, shell out 98 cents for postage, and send me a letter if the mood strikes you!

Wish you well! Off to make dinner with Shushu. It's 玉米粥 night!

6 comments:

  1. TEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  2. 听起来,奶奶像我的妈妈。你买的茶
    十一块,是人民币吧!

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  3. 不是。 十一美元。 差不多八十块人民币。可是美国的茶又贵,又没有中国的茶的质量好,因此我特别开心。:-)

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  4. Tea AND Grandma! Quite the day dear! I"m sure 奶奶 adored you. :) And I'm jealous of your tea drinking! I've always thought Chinese hot pot was waaaay better than fondue... guess the same is true with crepes? :P

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  5. Wow! What a day! How exciting! I'm so glad your host-grandmother likes you so much! :) I remember how much better my host grandparents made my trip! I'm jealous of all your experiences! It sounds like a blast!

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  6. Oh! I forgot to say! It's grandparents day, so what a perfect coincidence! Are you able to get onto Skype at all? I'd love to talk to you!

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