During a phone conversation with Ellen one Thursday morning, a friend from GBC recently asked what one eats for breakfast
in Beijing, so I thought I would share random bits of our life in Beijing. They
are in no particular order or importance. Just random bits of life.
Apparently Beijingers eat oatmeal for breakfast. The store shelves contain bags and bags of
various kinds of oatmeal - any flavor, any cooking method. I found a few
medium-size boxes of what looks like Multi-Grain Cheerios. I found a few bags
of Muesli-type cereal. I am looking for some variety after several weeks of
eating Muesli with yogurt and orange juice for breakfast.
Beijingers also grab breakfast on the run. Every subway
station has some number of street vendors that sell breakfast food to
passersby. In fact, Mark & I noticed a new vendor the other day on our way
to school. Some of these vendors keep their ‘pods’ in their location
permanently. They just close them and lock them up until the next morning. Some of the ‘pods’ are just big enough for a
couple to stand in and cook over their griddle. Many vendors seem to be
husband-wife teams who cook together. The place where we exit the subway on the way
to school, we count at least four vendors, then more as we walk down the street
and turn the corner. We posted some of
them on the blog named “Our Route to School.” The friend we go with often grabs
his breakfast at specific vendors. It
was really neat to see the husband-wife team that seemed to know our friend and
the cheerfulness they exchanged.
Speaking of food, I have observed that few items come in big
sizes. Sam’s Club doesn’t exist here. I
guess since most people carry their groceries home, they can’t have large
quantities. The items that do come in large sizes are cooking oil (I’ve never
seen such large bottles of oil), rice, and flour (for noodles & dumplings).
After making several trips to the grocery stores and
carrying my chemistry books in a backpack, I finally bought a shopping cart
today. I didn’t care how much it cost; I was tired of carrying everything.
As for laundry, I can get about 10 items in the
front-loading washer. I have to remember to open the window and stick the
venting pipe near the window to exhaust the heat. Sometimes I forget to close
the window. No danger of break-ins on the 33rd floor. J
Apartments are definitely made for shorter people. The
washer & dryer are both front loading and the doors are about a foot off
the ground. The top of the kitchen counters are 79cm from the floor, enough
where even I lean over some. But the
cabinets, on the other hand, are so high I can only reach the bottom
shelf. Go figure.
Other things seem more efficient. The piping for the bathroom sinks is corrugated
plastic pipe (like a bendable straw). That makes it easy to pipe the sink – no
elbow, p-traps, or clogs. What I didn’t realize until Mark mentioned it is that
the p-trap also traps objectionable gases. Oh well, we can’t have everything.
Also, the piping goes directly into a hole in the floor under the raised cabinet.
Imagine my surprise when I was cleaning one day and discovered water on the
floor. I had dislodged the pipe from the sink. No problem, just stick it back
in the hole and squeegee the water into the floor drain.
Showers are efficient too. A 1” threshold sections off the
shower from the rest of the bathroom (with a shower curtain). A floor drain in
each shower area drains away water. Oh, but remember to take the drain out when
showering. The drain blocks odors when it is in place but it also blocks water.
So we have to remember to take the drain out or the shower overflows the
threshold. It wouldn’t be a problem in the hall bath that has 2 drains. We
could just squeegee the floor, but our master bath only has one drain.
Toilet tissue is efficient too. The first package we bought
had very sturdy cardboard tubes. In fact, Mark took 3 of them and taped them
together to make a pencil holder. The next package had no tubes; when we
finished the roll, we had nothing to throw away. Very green.
What about utilities? We prepay all utilities. We checked them
all when we first arrived. Everything seemed fine. Then last weekend Mark
decided to check the electric account. Friends recommended not letting it get
below 100 quai (yuan). By Friday night it was at 96. So first thing Saturday
Mark went to the post office to put more on the account. We didn’t want to run out of electricity. Unlike
many people, we do run our a/c which takes a lot of electricity.
The air conditioning here runs by condensation. So we
constantly have the sound of water running overhead. In fact in the laundry
area, I think it drips some. Or does it only drip when I am in there doing
laundry?
Some time ago Pastor Selph encouraged people who want to
serve overseas to do two things first: 1) learn another language, 2) go
camping. I often think of these things
as I cook. I have two gas burners in the kitchen and a 9x13 toaster oven. The only time I have cooked on gas burners
was when we went camping. (We also cooked over a fire, but thankfully I don’t
have to do that here.) It has been a bit of a challenge to learn how to start
the burners for one thing. Both Mark
& I could not get them to stay lit for the first several days. I think now
we have the rhythm. Also learning how much heat to use. Oh, and how to cook
with only two burners. So we cook in stages. Rice on one. Vegetables in the wok
on the other. Finish the vegetables. Set them aside. Use the wok for the meat.
And hope nothing gets cold in the meantime.
We are still learning the sequence and how to work together with less
than 1.5 meters of usable counter space. I am very thankful for our kitchen. It
is very generous compared to many that we know. Some of our friends have to
prep at the kitchen table then bring it into the kitchen to cook it.
We are getting used to taking off our shoes immediately when
we walk in the door. My best purchase for this year was my new Dearfoam
slippers (besides the shopping cart). The best ever! My white sneakers need a good wash. After observing
Chinese culture on the streets, I am thankful we take off our shoes.
I am sure I have omitted some bits of our life, but it’s
time to study.
Enjoy life ~ Cheryl
