Hello, My Name is Shoulder
The many nuts and bolts to drinking tea the right way.
During our afternoon class today, we worked on writing thank you letters for our host families. There are so many things I want to thank them for. They’ve listened to me and taken my likes and dislikes into consideration and bought me practically everything I could have ever wished for. I don’t think thank you will ever be enough to express my full and genuine gratitude. I think I’ll make them origami hearts or cranes as another little memento.
After our afternoon class, we learned about the Chinese art of tea. A short, skinny yet masculine man explained the different aspects of tea and some important notes on etiquette. Here are a few interesting notes. If you are at a tea house alone and leave the table, you should put your fan or other personal item on the tea cup to indicate you’re still drinking. In ancient times, if you need help, you can tip the tea top on the side of the tea plate. When someone comes to help, put the lid back on top to accept their help. If you’re with a large group of people and need more tea, you can put the tea top next to your tea cup. Also, don’t fill the cup full of tea. It’s apparently disrespectful to fill the cup full. I honestly would like a full cup because that means more tea.
In the evening, after another delicious meal with a little bit of spice, my host mom, 吴璨, and I together headed to the grocery store. On the way, I told my host mom that my English name is Shoulder. I didn't come up with this name on my own. Nurie's host sister thought my English name is pronounced "Shoulder." I'm not positive how she got from Halden to Shoulder, but hey, I have a new nickname. After buying a few secret items, in checking out, I had my wallet out and was ready to pay, but my host mom beat me to it. My host family won't let me buy anything with my own money! I really am trying.
When we made it back to the little apartment community, we went to the little restaurant where 吴璨 and I had had breakfast last week for some bing fen. Bing fen is a Sichuan specialty. Its like clear jello in brown sugar syrup with varied toppings. Considering it's my last week, I decided to try this odd dessert, and I must say it tasted about as weird as it sounds. The texture is smooth yet solid, and it tastes a little sweet. I don't hate it, but I don't really love it either. While we were chowing down on this interesting dish, I asked my host mom if she had any recipes I could bring back to America. However, she told me that she doesn't cook very often, and she thinks her cooking is bad. In all honesty, I prefer her food over the food served at lunch and at quite a few restaurants we've been to. In my opinion, I think she cooks pretty well. Her dishes typically aren't too oily and are fairly simple with a little spice.
When I told my host family that I think Chinese babies are cute, they told me that they thought foreign babies are cute because babies that aren't Asian generally have bigger eyes. I never really thought that having big eyes is a big deal, but here in China, having big eyes and a double eyelid is seen as more appealing. As with body shapes and sizes, I feel that all eye shapes have their place too.