Hot Pot and First day of Class

Hot Pot and First Day of Classes

February 7^th, 2012

Today I had the first day of Mandarin Class. I am the only one in my section, which is Intermediate Chinese! All of my classmates are beginners so we aren’t in the same class. I basically have my own tutor because it is just one teacher and I. This will help me learn Chinese so much better because I will be required to learn the material thoroughly. Also, It is guaranteed that I will be called on in class.

Today was not a very eventful day because we had class for two hours in the morning and that’s it. Most of us were feeling pretty lazy as well. The highlight of the day however was definitely dinner. I wonder if anyone in America has ever heard of Hot Pot? I surely have not heard of it. So let me explain:

Hot pot is very common in China, especially during the winter because it is warm. Basically at a hot pot restaurant everyone has their own personal bowl and flame in front of them. In that bowl are lots of delicious spices. The food that you order is raw because it is cooked in the bowl in front of you. We ordered raw meets, tofu, and vegetables. Once the water in your hot pot starts boiling, you put the raw food in and take it out once it is cooked. It only takes about a minute or two to cook things! We had lamb, beef, yams, potatoes, sweet potatoes, vegetables, chicken feet, and dumplings. I did not try the Chicken feet…that will have to wait until later. The hot pot meal was delicious and made me feel warm inside. It has been really cold in Beijing because of the wind chill. Today it was supposed to be 25 degrees but it felt like 16 degrees because of the wind.

If you can find a hot pot place in America, I suggest you find one and eat at it. It is a lot of fun and very tasty. Another note, it isn’t soup, so you don’t drink the water that you cook the food in afterwards or during. All of us thought that you were supposed to drink it, so we asked our roommates, “Why didn’t they give us spoons to drink the soup with”, and they told us that you don’t drink the water.

Tomorrow we have Mandarin class and our Traditional Chinese Medicine course. In this course we get to be in the field. We get to assist people with acupuncture and other traditional Chinese medicine procedures. It is going to be very exciting!

In China I have not been using a cell phone at all. I don’t text or call anyone throughout the day or night. This has been really freeing for me. You should definitely try it out sometime. I have gotten work done a lot faster and been able to concentrate so much easier. I want to only use my phone to make plans to meet up with people, which means that I want to stop having texting conversations. Texting can be so distracting. I probably get a text every five minutes throughout the day in America.

This weekend I am going to try to organize a trip to a fairly local hot springs. The reason I say fairly local is because I heard that the hot springs are not close by. But I think it sounds ideal because it is so cold outside. I wonder if hot springs are only open when it is warm outside? I guess I will find out.