Tangshan Living

Ahhh China… and Tanshan… when confused… accept it.

Shall we have a look around my apartment?

So the loo… the loo, well its Western so WINNER! As with most places in China one is not to flush used toilet paper down the toilet, apparently the pipes are too narrow and so cant deal with items that cannot be quickly diluted (for use of a better word), please see small ‘paper bin’ next to the loo. I have every intention of purchasing a bin with a lid in the hopes of… well, you can imagine what my hopes would be of hiding used toilet paper – no need to be crass!

Still on the loo, I am on the lowest level of the block of apartments which houses teachers and students alike. The piping… intriguingly, is an inside job… meaning, if you again refer to the picture, the pipe you see there is the exit for all showers and bodily functions from five flights up… Therefore, if we don’t keep the door to the bathroom closed we are welcomed after teaching to the delightful scent of human excrement. There has been an attempt made to reduce the smell by using electrical tape around and around and around the piping to ensure that no… ‘run-over’ enters our apartment.

My housemate and I are trying to convince the Principal to let us move into a near-by apartment to ensure that the next ‘Interns’ get the full Chinese Intern Experience...

Having already discussed my shower, and the fact that the rotting tiles resulted in my foot splashing into a putrid pool of potential dysentery… Shall we move on to the kitchen?

Its not so bad! There is a microwave, a strange oven type contraption that’s quite small but I’m proud to say I’ve been able to roast some vegetables in it! There is kind of a hot plate, it works some-how in a magnetic method… so, if your pot is made of tin it wont turn on, but if it’s a decent metal pot, it will. My housemate Robyn discovered that sometimes it will work with an aluminium pot… for a moment or two, and then will light on fire – so that was exciting!

What I’ve been able to make:

1.       Roast chicken

2.       Scrambled Eggs

3.       Fried Rice (Aussie style)

4.       Chicken Pot Pie

5.       Stir Fry with Egg Noodles

6.       Ham and Cheese Sanga

Having just returned from an excursion to the shops my house mate and I have purchased some buns, what looks like it could maybe possibly… in our dreams… be decent sausage and we’re hoping to put a delicious Sausage Sizzle together this weekend, complete with fried onions!

I’ve also found some beef mince and once I get my hands on parmesan cheese I’ll be feeding the troops spag bog… maybe some meatballs and potato… but we’re all strangely dreaming of beans on toast! Apparently it’s the simple things… I never even liked beans that much!

My bedroom… I have a wooden desk which I’ve already developed a relationship with! We get along rather well. When the chair fell apart under me one day my house mate assured me it was because the chair was rotten and not due to the weight it was trying to hold up! (I’ll believe her though it may not stand up with a jury!).

My bed is probably what we’d consider a queen size, imagine a hollow square rectangle, then a mattress and then a foam topper. For me, its ridiculously comfortable… for others, who don’t like a hard bed, might find it a bit uncomfortable. My house mates bed is probably the largest I’ve ever seen, you could cut up a chicken, pluck it, cook it, eat it and still have a clean area to sleep… that’s how massive it is!

I’m fortunate in that in the last couple of years I did spend eight months living in a converted shed that had no curtains, I got used to sleeping even when light was beaming through the windows. Here there are… well, thin sheets that shut out about as much light as when you hold your fingers up to the sun, maybe less! I am contemplating getting an eye mask to wear at night, but imagine it would only end up at the foot of the bed by the time I need it with the general tossing and turning.

A few nights in Tangshan the team took myself and Therese out to dinner… to a Korean Restaurant… basically you go off, grab a small plate and fill it with anything from the smorgasbord, could be fish or meat or vegies or… desert!

You can have desert whenever you like in China, beginning, middle or end… I am happy to retain my ‘desert at the end’ concept... my taste buds would not know what to do if I decided to have ice cream before my chicken!

So… you have your items, your meat, your vegies (me… I had me prawns!) and between four there is a steaming hot plate on which you pop the ingredients you’ve selected. My problem… I didn’t want to interrupt others, wasn’t sure if I was supposed to share my ingredients, is it ok for my ingredient to touch another ingredient? Can I have some of that persons meat? Can they have some of mine?

WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?!

Then there was the hot pot, which I disagree with at the very beginning… either you have your soup and then your food, or just your food… you DO NOT put your FOOD in your SOUP! These are different items and let us, please, keep them separate.

Me and hot pot… not friends! Not to mention the hot pot was placed directly infront of me so steam was continuously bellowing into my face while trying to retrieve my prawn from the hot pot with plastic chop sticks.

Lets just say I found the whole situation stressful until the hot pans had been taken away and I spent time with five different flavours of ice-cream.

BUT… BUT!!!

There may not be a lot to do in this city, but there are a few special bits and bobs that I’ve found…

1.       Inappropriate PJs

2.       Statues of MAO

3.       Kitten Nickers

4.       Shoe Tower

5.       Oopsies in the Street

6.       Fish Bowles

7.       Excellent hand puppets!

8.       Figurines!

What’s up in Tanghan?

1.       Try to ignore the hocking and spiting… which is so hard for me but its not rude or inappropriate here

2.       See the lillies and fish near the Tangshan Museum

3.       Wander down Walking Street and enjoy street food and market delights

4.       Hit PIZZA HUT and eat lasagne 

5.       Enjoy the city at night… China knows how to use LIGHT!

Best part of Tangshan? The students! The teacher’s! The people.

I went to purchase a couple of things from the shops the other day and I gave the operator the exact cash… she was elated, so excited and expressed much praise to me! So even when you’re buying milk and rice, you get a buzz out of just living!

Off to Wanda Plaza, what fun! I wanted to buy ALL of the puppets… a few of the other little bits and bobs, some things – like the dead looking rabbit – were a no-go! However, putting together Daphne in micro lego… well, that was just as MUST HAVE! I met a perfectly adorable hand puppet whom I’ve called Doa, he is a very sad little turtle who needs a hug. 

Sadly I left him there in the store, but it may be that my father wishes to adopt him soon!

So that's my apartment and town in a nutshell!

For now, bye from Mao, bye from me...

Next stop… Jinan!