Dinner For Three...

After a dissappointing visit to the Natural History Museum (except for the dinosaurs, hard to believe at 30 years old I am still as amazed with them as I was when I was 3 and first saw the dinosaur Reading Rainbow episode), I was able to meet up with Clifton and Rozanne Cornelius, Corinth natives who are in China for 2 weeks to adopt a baby girl. See my link I posted earlier to their blog to read about their trip.

We decided to go to the Quan Ju De Beijing Roast Duck Restaurant, one of the most famous Beijing duck restaurants in the city. After ordering the roast duck dinner for three we spent some time getting caught up on what was going on in each other's lives and then the food started to arrive. I had no idea we ordered this much food. The meal started with a couple of cold appetitizers followed by a bowl of soup made with mushrooms and bamboo shoots. Shortly after that the duck arrived followed by beef and peppers and a dish of mushrooms and asparagus. Just when we thought we were through, a plate of shrimp showed up at the table followed by duck soup (after they carve your duck, the carcass is taken back to the kitchen and boiled, the result is a broth similar to chicken broth) and finally a light dessert plate and fruit platter. At the very end of the meal we were presented with a certificate telling us what number our duck was based on the number of ducks they have served since opening. (It was well over 800,000, have you ever seen 800,000 ducks?)

We left stuffed and glad to have been able to spend some time together.

Dinner Together

It's Smiling At Me!

A World Without Rock, Is A World I Don't Want To Live In...

Disappointment, Let Down, Whatever you call it, the recent cancellation of the Oasis concert in Beijing left me a little bummed out. I took a cab over to the Worker's Stadium today to get a refund on my 400 yuan ticket which made things a little better. Oh where oh where can I go to get my rock fix? How about that temple of rock, commercialism, and mediocre food?

THE HARD ROCK CAFE

Ozzy Osbourne's Guitar- Friday night, always a good time for some Sabbath!

Darius Rucker's Guitar (Hootie and the Blowfish)

I can't play the guitar but I can eat hot fudge brownie ice cream sundaes!

After checking out the memorabilia on the walls, I ordered dinner. I opted for the pork bbq with no slaw. The young waitress assured me this would be no problem, guess what, it was! Back to the kitchen the plate goes! I paid the 36 yuan upgrade for onion rings from fries, big mistake. There were 4 very small Sonic style onion rings. I love Sonic onion rings, but these were cold! The bbq was pretty good, just a step above high school cafeteria bbq. However, no one goes to Hard Rock for the food, Hard Rock is about the atmosphere. The Bejing location is a huge cavernous restaurant that is home to some cool guitars and outfits and has an excellent sound system playing rock hits from all the decades. A decent live cover band took to the stage later in the meal as well. I rounded out the meal with the above pictured dessert and it didn't dissappoint!

On the way out I picked up the obligatory Hard Rock tshirt as well as a great bargain. They were having a clearance on Hard Rock Shanghai merchandise and I picked up a gray polo shirt with Hard Rock Shanghai logo for just 30 Yuan (less than 5 bucks!)

I didn't realize how convenient the Hard Rock was, a 20 minute subway ride and short walk got me there (during which I was propositioned by 2 Chinese women offering massages: Sir, massage, Sir, massage from pretty lady and I'm like Do you have any snapple? Because I think they should also sell snapple, because that way they hook you in with the snapple and then they'd be like you know what would go great with that snapple- a massage. They'd be like amazon.com, If you enjoy snapple, you might also enjoy....) They had to have been legit as prostitution doesn't exist here. (Although I was surprised to hear one say in Sanlitun the other evening: Hello sir, sex lady! You learn after awhile to just ignore them and keep walking, kind of like timeshare hawkers in Las Vegas. Although I don't know of any timeshare sales presentations that offer...nevermind. At least neither of the ones I have been to did, and they wonder why I don't buy their timeshare!

The End Is Near...

Wow, is a year really almost over? Just a few minutes ago I paid my final rent payment (rent is paid on a three month at a time cycle here) and gave my official notice that I would not be renewing my apartment lease. It is a little sad to think that in three months time I will be leaving Zhong Guo. Nine months ago coming here felt so strange and foreign, now it feels just as much like home as anywhere else does.

Before that three months is up, I still have a lot to see and do. I haven't been on any of Beijing's roller coasters yet or in any of the museums. I still need to see the Chaoyang acrobatic show and make another trip or two to Yashow to load up on pirated clothing. Mutianyu Great Wall with its cable car to the top is a must. I also promised everyone back home I would do an in depth blog article about the Wal Mart here. April 20th I am headed for a two day trip to Xian to see the Terra Cotta Warriors.

What will I miss about China? Do you have a few hours? First and foremost, my coworkers and students, they have truly made the experience memorable. Occasionally as I am in the classroom, the gravity of what I am doing hits me and I realize how truly lucky I am to be here. I will miss my wonderful apartment that gave me a taste of what its like to be wealthy. Ayi Ling and her weekly cleaning and laundry visits will be missed, she is sort of a Chinese Ms. Garrett. The church family at Congregation of the Good Shepherd will be missed; I am proud to have called COGS my spiritual home for the past year and am glad to call Dan Sandifer-Stech and his family friends. Eating at Chef Paul's Steak and Eggs and seeing Paul's antics has truly been an experience; I will never eat steak and eggs again without laughing about Paul trying to chase fighting cats out of his restaurant ceiling. Walking down Sanlitun, late night pizzas in Wudaokou, and Beijing Duck will really be missed! I could go on for hours but I will stop there.

I am excited about what lies ahead and know that I will never forget what I have experienced this year. For those of you that don't know, this fall I will be teaching high school English at the Desoto School, a small private school in the Arkansas Delta. I don't feel like my career in China is over, just on hold for awhile. I will get my application on file with an international school placement agency and see what happens there and I also have plans to be back to China short term as early as next summer (more on that later). Keep watching this blog as there is much more for you to read about as my adventure in the Middle Kingdom winds down.
Paying My Rent To Jason Jiang, My Real Estate Agent. Since the 100 yuan note is the largest bill in the economy here and paying rent requires 12000 yuan every 3 months, you have to carry around a small suitcase of money.

Journey to An Zhen....

If you get a chance, check out the blog of my friends Clifton and Rozanne Cornelius. I attended church with them at Crosswind in Corinth. They are preparing to come to Beijing to adopt a little girl named An Zhen.

http://cliftoncornelius.blogspot.com/

Snow In the City...

A surprise snow hit Beijing this week:

View From My Office Window


A Teahouse Near My Work


Parking Lot Next Door To My Apartment Building

A Trip To Mississippi (Without Leaving Beijing)...

At the advice of a coworker, I took the subway over to the Jianguomen embassy area to try out the Mississippi Steakhouse. According to a post I read on The Beijinger website, this restaurant is owned by a man who went to Mississippi as a child and loved it. What follows is a review of the experience:

The restaurant- Mississippi Steakhouse

Ambience- You really do feel like you are in a steak house you might go into in Mississippi. Wood floors give it a homey feel. There is an oval shaped bar in the middle of the restaurant. It would be nice if there was a Mississippi theme to it, for example it would be nice to hear blues playing over the speakers rather than pop music. They do try to theme it somewhat with the cocktails: blue hawaii becomes blue mississippi and sex on the beach becomes deep sea sex. Some catfish and turnip greens on the menu would have been a nice touch but alas this was missing.

Service- Service was attentive. There weren't many customers save for the bar area, so I had a personal fuwuyan. It was proper Western style service. He took my drink order, brought the drink, and took the food order and then checked on me once. He didn't hover but made sure I knew he was there if needed.

Food- I ordered the New Zealand ribeye; this came with a bowl of the soup of the day (What's the soup du jour? It's the soup of the day. Yummy! I'll have that.) and two sides. The soup was pumpkin, a real Chinese soup. The soup was the consistency of cream of mushroom. It was good, sweet and hot. It tasted kind of like Thanksgiving. That's really only how I know to describe it. The steak was kind of thin and a bit overcooked but seasoned to perfection and still tender. The french fries on the side were crinkle cut: a first for me in Beijing and the steamed veggies actually seemed fresh. It was a mix of broccoli, carrots, and zucchini. I had a similar mix at an American style diner restaurant awhile back and they had obviously been microwaved from frozen, these were much better. The steak also came with your choice of sauce (more like gravy) I chose the mushroom and couldn't decide which was better: the steak with the sauce or without the sauce. All in all, this meal pleased this Mississippi boy.

The Price- My total bill came out to 124 yuan- about 18.00 USD. Where else can you get a decent steak for that price? Certainly at none of the Western chains in town like Tgi Fridays or Outback and not even at any of the American owned diner restaurants.

Total Sweet Potatos- 4/5 While the food was good, the lack of true Mississippi flavor detracts somewhat from a restaurant named after the Magnolia State.

I'm OK...

For those of you back in the states watching on the news the huge hotel fire in Beijing right now, I am okay. The fire is occurring on the east side of town and I live on the west side. Early reports state that no one was in the building; it was a hotel that had not opened yet. Thank God for that, but keep people living in the area in your prayers as the fire is being fought.