Poetry

I'm studying up on poetry for my upcoming Reading and Writing class. Shel Silverstein was brilliant. I love this one:

Ations - by Shel Silverstein
If we meet and I say, "Hi,"
That's a salutation.
If you ask me how I feel,
That's consideration
If we stop and talk a while,
That's a conversation.
If we understand each other,
That's communication.
If we argue, scream and fight,
That's an altercation.
If we later apologize,
That's reconciliation.
If we help each other home,
That's cooperation.
And all these ations added up
Make civilization.


Theres countless more. My favorite poem as of late though is Tyger, by WIlliam Blake.

The Tyger

by William Blake

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies

Burnt the fire of thine eyes?

On what wings dare he aspire?

What the hand, dare sieze the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,

Could twist the sinews of thy heart?

And when thy heart began to beat,

What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?

In what furnace was thy brain?

What the anvil? what dread grasp

Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,

And water'd heaven with their tears,

Did he smile his work to see?

Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Happy Day! It's packing day!

I'm starting to clean up the hotel I've been staying in for 27 days (minus the 6 in Tianjin), and packing up my things. The worker said the old place will be done tomorrow (I'm really hoping!). I checked yesterday and they'd worked on the electricity, so my living room light works, and the hall light is sort of working. My living room outlet and the refrigerator outlet still aren't working (Kitchen one went out AFTER I moved out....hope they get it fixed today. May be cause they turned off the circuit its on to repair the exposed wiring in the living room and they're on the same one.)
So besides that, the only other MUST fix is my door lock. Not sure why thats the last thing they're fixing but as long as they get it done it's no problem. I've been checking up on the place and my stuff and not noticed anything missing.
So I'll move back in tomorrow afternoon or evening. I'm not staying at this hotel longer than I have to. It's nice but it's a hassle and it's not home. And it's not got Mahu.

I go visit him every day and take him on walks. Every day, street dogs and owned dogs approach Mahu and follow him around. They play, or try to haha, but Mahu ultimately ends up ignoring them. But he does notice when they leave cause he gets a spring back in his step!

I have pictures of one of the dogs that likes to play with him but can't access them at the moment because my phone is being stupid. But as soon as I can get the pictures off my phone--they'll be here.
I need to go eat--maybe Cheerios. If my milk is cold. I have it sitting in my window. Hopefully it's gotten cold enough and not too much sun.

Everyone needs a little Latin Lovin'!

Judy and I finally got to try out the Spanish food Restaurant, Aulare! It was amazing.
 It's in a shopping area, so it's a fun area to walk around and soak up a little sun. Then up the stairs and we were welcomed by danceable Latin music.

That open door is to the Kitchen.

We were greeted and immediately seated by a friendly English speaking staff.

The environment was upbeat, classy, with a dash of fun in the air. It also smelled nice and clean.

Restful colors. But still fun!

We opened the menus and were surprised how affordable everything was.

They had a good selection of tapas. While we decided what we wanted, they brought a complimentary plate of fresh sliced, cold, crisp carrots and cucumbers with Thousand Island.

We decided on Meat Carrot, and Potato Empanadas.

At first glance, I was wondering why there was no sauce to dip them in. 

Upon first taste, I knew no sauce would benefit them. They were delicious and juicy on their own, needing no extras.

They were fried to perfection, the crust not too thick. The saucey meat inside made me think of a kind of Spanish meat sauce that would be good on noodles--a little like a spiced up marinara sauce maybe? But it was delicious. (20-25RMB)

We also chose Nachos Aulare. (25?Rmb)

 The chips, I'm pretty sure, were homemade. These were covered in cheese, jalapenos, olives, bell pepper, and I think a little onion. They were baked, and a few chips got a little done while melting the cheese, but they still tasted good! Judy loved the jalepenos and kept searching for more hidden under the cheese. She also said she thought they were a little dry and needed some kind of sauce -- she'd love Mexican nachos with sour cream, guacamole, and finished off with salsa. 

She also reallllly wanted soup. They had 4 to chose from. She got the 3 mushroom soup. I tasted it and it was really good. Full of flavor, a touch of cheese. Nice, filling bowl of YUM. (20RMB)

I got Chipichipi soup--tomato based with clams....like...8 clams floating beautifully in thick flavorful tomato broth with red and green bells. (25rmb) It was served with 2 slices of bread. With all the other food we got, I didn't eat but half of a piece.

I could go back for a bowl of this for dinner. If I was at all hungry!

For the main course, I'd read online about how great their Paella was. 

We got the Seafood Paella for 2. (128 rmb)

It came out steaming and ah...the saffron wafted through the air and made it's way to our nostrils as our eyes beheld the beautiful still-sizzling rice...it was like art. It had 4 mussels, a load of clams, and about 10 whole shrimp. They served it with some lemon wedges to spritz the seafood if you so desired.

Confession:  This is the first paella I've ever tried.

Another confession: I'd eat it again any time.

Total cost: 223 RMB

Grade Overall: A

Environment: A

Cleanliness: A 

(The bathroom was sparkling!)

Service: A

Judy was like, wow, the manager is making sure everyone is satisfied and that we never run out of water. Shes making sure everything is kept clean! This is the way a restaurant should be handled. Our food came out quickly and hot, and in good order.

Food quality: A

The ONLY complaint is that the shrimp was whole...head and skin and all. Peeling it was a bit of a pain and turned my fingers yellow from the saffron. They're still yellow 3 hand-washings and 4 1/2 hrs later.:) But it was really clean looking and tasting shrimp. It all tasted great. We will definitely come back next time we travel to Tianjin. And I want to take my Tianjin local friends there too!

We left full and happy.

If you're ever in Beijing, hop on a bullet to Tianjin and check this place out. 

They are open Monday-Sunday, 11-9.

Aulare - Urban Latin Restaurant
Binshui Xi Dao, Magnetic Plaza, A4, Floor 2. Nankai District, 

Tianjin 300381, China
中国 天津市 南开区宾水西道 时代奥城广场 A4座 2 层

Just print this out and keep it with you. The taxi driver will need the Chinese.

I forgot I had a blog!

I've never been a good blogger. I like doing my monthly newsletters, but blogs seem a little more like a chore to me. Strange since I love writing. Strange since I'm living overseas and experience "exciting and new adventures" almost daily. But once you've lived overseas for over 2 years, every day really isn't so much of an adventure. It's just life. You get used to the stares, the uniquely accented "普通话"/Mandarin, you become "just another person" at the places you frequent (which I'm PERFECTLY ok with, I've never liked the overt attention some people lavish on foreigners on first meetings.), and life and it's little quirks here in China become like life's little quirks in any country.
All that said--traveling with a Chinese friend for the first time over October holiday HAS been an interesting new adventure.
She has classes all day--except for the 3 hours she has for meals and the 5 hours she has for sleep.
 Her parents told her to take break from the strain of classes and go have some fun at least 1 afternoon. Today we went for Italian food at a Venezia Italian Restaurant in Tianjin, in the Italian Concession Section of the city. This street really felt like a walk through Rome rather than through Northern China.

 Judy loved the architecture. She said it all was so pretty and old!

We split a Vegetable pasta dish. It was well seasoned and really enjoyable. About 56RMB a plate.

We also shared a Pepperoni and mushroom Pizza. Really not as good as we expected...lacked seasoning and flavor. But the crust was nice and crisp, not too thick like is common in Chinese pizza places. Service was a lot faster than we expected too, especially since it still qualifies as "holiday". I think this was between 50-60RMB, for a 9in. pizza. Pretty good price for pizza in China.

Total Cost: about 160 RMB

Environment: A

Judy loved the feel--was like being in a classy old home.

Cleanliness: A

Service: B

We had to call the waitress standing right next to us about 5 times to get the bill. She was watching TV. Everything else was fine.

Quality: B

The pizza crust and the cheese were good, the pasta was good, but the pizza lacked much actual flavor.

Overall: B+

Judy thought it was a little expensive for what we got. I agree, especially since I could make everything we had for at least half the price we paid.

Then we went to NanshiJie--Food street. We got a few snacks and explored all the different kinds of Tianjin snacks that she'd never seen before. She loves food, especially snacks, so she really enjoyed exploring here.
We also went to the NanjingLu Carrefour, a big foreign supermarket that was actually a pretty big disappointment. The ones I've visited before had a huge selection of foreign things, and a great selection and affordable prices on other things. This one was dinky and small. Oh well, win some lose some.
It was right across from Subway, which Judy also loves. So, we got another Subway sandwich to take back to the hotel with us for when we were hungry again.
We got back to the hotel and spent 2 or 3 hours chatting and laughing and snacking. She does have class till 12am, so she headed out and back for class a little after 7.

Judy is one of my best friends.
She wants to travel together every year, just NOT over October holiday when EVERYONE is traveling. haha!


If you want a decent meal and a nice environment, you should try this place out.

Venezia Italian威尼斯酒吧
天津河北区意大利风情街自由道48号 
It's near the Marco Polo Fountain in the Italian District, across from the Beer Restaurant. :)


So, I guess this will conclude my first post. It only took 2 years! :)