Article for Sierra Mountain Times

Hello- Sorry it's been awhile. Not too much excitement going on here these days. Although we did get our first snow! Below is an article that I wrote for a newspaper that my brother Thomas is the editor of. If you want to read the newest one you can go to www.sierramountaintimes.com and type in "From Foreign Lands" in the search bar. Some of the info is from my blog, but there is some new stuff as well. Enjoy!


From Foreign Lands by Daniel and Amanda Atkins
November 24th, 2008 · No Comments
Hello again folks, friends, and family
Well, we are still here and China continues to surprise us. Old Man Winter has been creeping up the last few weeks and temperatures have been hanging around the 30’s lately (F). So naturally our survival instincts kicked in and told us to do what any good American does when it gets too cold – TURN ON THE HEAT!! Unfortunately for us, and millions of others over here, things operate a little differently on the other side of the Pacific. Apparently the government over here has a lot of control over certain things (hmmm? Really!?) One of those being the HEAT. After realizing there was nowhere in our apartment to turn on the heaters that were in every room we inquired about it to some friends. They laughingly informed us that the heat would be on November 15th. Of course, November 15th!!! And why not, it was mid-October when we asked “how do we turn on the heat?”, and Nov. 15th was “only” a month away. So, as I sit here in my frigid apartment, on November 15th, which we have dubbed “National Heat Day”, the heat has NOT come on. Stay posted for more on this topic…if we survive.
Besides the heat issue, things are good. We’ve been enjoying the local cuisine, which ranges from amazingly cheap and delicious to unbelievably disgusting looking and expensive. Some interesting food items we have seen or read on the menu are chicken feet and hog nose (which can be found in the snack section near the potato chips – seriously), spicy octopus balls, squid on a stick (on every street corner), wriggling grubs, yummy squid salad and live toad. I consider myself somewhat adventurous in trying new foods, but it stops when things are still moving. As to whether or not Chinese-Chinese food is better than American-Chinese food the answer is a resounding YES! Sorry, Panda Express.
Part of the fun about being in another country is noticing the cultural differences here. An example of this would be the baby and toddler’s “special” pants. You can see pictures of these baby pants online by typing in China baby pants on Google images. Basically, the young children here wear pants with a slit down the back so they can pretty much take care of business at anytime in almost any place. Sometimes a parent will scoop their child up and run them to the nearest trashcan, but there isn’t always time for this. Sure the kids are cute. But this has to stop.
Cultural difference #2. Smoking…smoking…and more smoking. I know that we hail from California and there are few public places left where people can indulge in their lung cancerous behavior (which is great!), but in China this form of population control still runs rampant. Cigarettes are practically free here too, maybe 50 cents a pack U.S. dollars, so that isn’t helping. And they smoke everywhere, literally. Restaurants, schools, gyms, theme parks, taxis, zoos, pre-schools…..you can smoke them on a train, you can smoke them in the rain, you can smoke them in my face, you can smoke them ANYPLACE!!!! Hopefully they will figure it out soon, but I doubt it.
One of our best experiences over here so far happened by total chance. About a month ago we went for a walk along the coast of Dalian. We followed a road on a really nice boarded path that was 12km (still don’t really know the conversion). We enjoyed a wonderful view of the coastal part of the city, got some exercise, and had an amazing experience with a random group of people picnicking on the trail. As we were walking past a group of people lunching on the sidewalk we couldn’t help but notice their big spread of food. We were about ready to get lunch ourselves, when one of the guys offered me a breaded roll looking thing (turned out to be tofu) and gestured for me to sit down. So, I did, and soon we were sharing beers, soda, cucumbers, fish, and other unknown food items, with about 10 Chinese people who didn’t speak any English. Actually, they spoke about as much English as we speak Chinese, and their 10 and 12 year old kids were the best. Every time one of us would take a drink they would all drink and say “CHEERS!” The incredible hospitality from these total strangers was definitely a highlight and we plan on returning the favor someday to some random travelers when we are back home.
That’s all for now, thanks for reading.
Chinese Phrase of the Day- “Du_sh_o qíen?”- How much does this cost?

Crazy Food

It's been a little while, and I know many of you have been pacing back and forth for days, nervously awaiting our next blog. and I apologize for any grief it may have caused you. It's not that I we had forgotten about you, trust me. The real reason we have neglected to inform you on our latest crazy adventures(misadventures) was a virus struck, and struck hard. before you inquire about our health I assure you we are fine....our computer on the other hand barely survived it. Poor thing was a mess. Couldn't get a response from it for days and finally had to end its life, to save. thank goodness I had all of our music and pictures backed up. anyway, moral of the story, get a really good anti-virus program, and don't try to download THE OFFICE episodes while in China..

So, besides computer problems (which I am happy to say are fixed, for the moment), we have been doing as well as can be thousands of miles away from home. I thought I'd take the time during this blog to discuss some of the local cuisine that we have either seen or eaten. After watching some of the little "cultural outings" that reporters did during the Olympics I was half expecting to see squid and dog on every street corner in town. I was only half wrong. We haven't seen any dogs.....dogs for eating, yet.. But we have been to some Korean restaurants that apparently serve this "delicacy." We are unsure if we have actually consumed any dog ourselves, but are pretty confident we have not. I am curious about what kind of dogs are supposedly better though. Do bulldogs have a juicier, more tender taste, and great danes a tougher more salty side??? sorry all of you dog lovers. I am proud to say that my old dog Twinky would have fetched quite a price on any menu in town.... When I asked one of my students if she had ever had dog she looked at me with a puzzled expression, and then said "of course.. it's my favorite."
well, duh! idiot American makes another mistake. oh well. Moving on. So, I said earlier that I was only half wrong about the dogs and squids on every corner. that's because there are squids on sticks, literally, on every corner..It's crazy to be walking down the street and see little kids walk by munching on a squid stick. It's as normal as little fat American kids stuffing their faces with an ice cream cone. We have tried squid by the way, just not on a stick. Too rubbery.
Next on the list is chicken feet. These are quite popular as well, and can be found in the meat section of the market, or in the snack section (pre-cooked and in little plastic bags- next to the Lays potato chips). Next to these you can find the pre-cooked pig snout...I know what you're thinking, "why not the pig foot?") well, the pig feet are back in the meat section.

We've also seen live, uncooked frogs in the seafood section, next to the live sea turtles. spicy octopus balls. yummy squid salad. and numerous other items that we have no idea what they could be. and don't really care to know.

BUT! The amount of amazingly delicious and cheap food China has to offer far outshines all of its stranger choices, and so far we haven't had a bad meal yet. We've done Hot Pot several times, which involves boiling hot water in a pot in the center of your table. Half the pot is spicy the other mild, and you order whatever meats and veggies you want to cook yourself in the spicy water. It's AMAZING! Dumplings, meat rolls, noodles, fried rice, sweet and sour anything, amazing cooked vegetables, and a million other dishes. If you like Chinese food in the U.S., you will definately like CHINESE food.