Archive for December, 2009

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International Food: Mochi ice cream

December 26th, 2009 by Johanna | 1 comment | Filed in China, Food

It was a Japan-filled day. I went to the Xidan Muji today to check out their housewares. It was a little pricey for things I wasn’t even looking for, but I thought I’d buy a notebook and fun pen. Still, it wasn’t a total loss of a day. Look what I found on the sixth floor of Joy City:

OMGyummy.

OMGyummy.

It’s mochi ice cream! I’m so happy they’ve hit China. It was pretty hard to find them back in the States. The little kiosk that was selling them was crowded with curious Chinese people inquiring about them. They were cheap, too! — 5 to 6 kuai each depending on the flavor. I got my favorites, green tea and red bean, and the box of six cost only 33 kuai. (As you can see, I already ate one.) Other flavors include chocolate, yogurt and blueberry cream.

I find it a little funny that Chinese people haven’t heard about these little balls of heaven. Japan isn’t that far off their coast, and it’s actually derived from a popular southern Chinese snack called muah chee (mochi is probably the Japanese bastardization of the Chinese name. Chinese mochi is pronounced like muah-jee.) Chinese mochi are balls of chewy glutinous rice flour coated in dried coconut shavings and filled with super finely chopped toasted sesame and sugar (or peanuts and sugar or red beans).

In other Joh’s-favorite-foreign-snacks news, Krispy Kreme has also hit China! But in Shanghai, though =(

Christmas traditions from around the world

December 26th, 2009 by Johanna | Leave comments | Filed in China

I read Gawker. It’s kind of my guilty pleasure. Today it reminded me of two Christmas phenomenons that are right up my alley:

There are still 11 hours of Christmas back home, so I’m still celebrating.

Pictures are worth a thousand words, but why stop there?

December 25th, 2009 by Johanna | Leave comments | Filed in China, Media, Reflections

Pictures are powerful. Besides having high artistic value, a good photo will say a lot about a particular event, time or place. In other words, it will tell a story.

But news photos are always accompanied by cutlines. Why? From the Poynter Institute:

Photos tend to communicate in an impressionistic way; they are rarely as precise or clear as verbal communication. They beg for confirmation in words.

The Chinese media are atrociously bad at delivering good cutlines. Admittedly, I’m super weak at writing heds and cutlines myself, but I don’t think China has understood there is an art behind them yet. Perhaps it can be attributed to the repression of knowledge by the Chinese government; the Chinese simply aren’t accustomed to get more information and more details, details, details. Whatever it is, it has produced a lot of redundant and un-newsworthy junk.

Here are some basic guidelines to good cutlines, and infractions by Chinese media.

  • Add value to the picture with specific information. Don’t simply describe the action in the photo, particularly if it is obvious.

An old man stands in his grocery store. (This is the original; my attempt to make it better isn’t really any better.)

Japan’s Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama touches his nose during a news conference in Tokyo December 24, 2009.

A couple dance at the party.

  • Avoid making judgments. “An unhappy citizen watches the protest…” Can you be sure that he is unhappy? Or is he hurting. Or just not photogenic. If you must be judgmental, be sure you seek the truth.

Tourists enjoy themselves on the 22nd Taiyangdao Island International Snow Sculpture Expo in Harbin, capital of northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, Dec. 24, 2009.

  • Don’t let cutlines recapitulate information in the head or deck or summary. By extension, they shouldn’t recapitulate information in another photo.

Workers water flowers hanging on street lamps near a church. [1] [2]

U.S. President Barack Obama, accompanied by First Lady Michelle Obama and First Daughters Malia and Sasha, walks towards Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington D.C. Dec. 24, 2009. [1] [2] [3]

It can also be argued that the real problem is alack of good photos. It is nearly impossible to write a good cutline for most of these examples.

Tips can be found here, here and here.

First foreign Christmas off to an un-Christmasy start

December 25th, 2009 by Johanna | Leave comments | Filed in China, Stories, Work

This year, I get to celebrate Christmas a whole 13 hours earlier! But all that excitement was negated by the perils of the Beijing work commute.

1) It’s 12 degrees outside, with a very brutal wind blowing, which makes it feel like -7 degrees.

2) I ended up having to wait in this -7-degree wind for 20 minutes for the bus.

3) For absolutely no reason other than the sheer inability of Beijing drivers to drive non-haphazardly and in way that would ensure a smoother flow of traffic, it took 45 minutes for the bus to go three stops down Xisanhuan Beilu, or about 3 kilometers.

As a result, I am frozen and 45 minutes late* for work. Still, it’s Christmas, and I’m determined to make merry. Turning on the Christmas music now and opening my lone present.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

(NB: Work starts at 8:30 a.m. I leave the apartment by 7:45, and the bus ride usually takes less than 20 minutes.)

I love my dad

December 24th, 2009 by Johanna | Leave comments | Filed in Stories

A Christmas Eve conversation over instant messaging:

Daddy (9:44:51 PM) god idea
Daddy (9:44:56 PM) good
Daddy (9:45:24 PM) god is good also
Me  (9:45:38 PM) it’s his son’s birthday tomorrow
Daddy (9:45:38 PM) either one good
Daddy (9:45:55 PM no
Daddy (9:46:52 PM) I don’t know when, but sure not is tomorrow
Daddy (9:47:06 PM) 12-25 is man made
Daddy (9:48:08 PM) Jew even say Jesus not born yet
Me (9:50:05 PM) haha
Me (9:50:11 PM) i heard his real birthday is in march
Daddy (9:50:37 PM) something like that

Oh, the air outside is frightful

December 23rd, 2009 by Johanna | Leave comments | Filed in China

Forget white Christmas! The Beijing smog is back after a week and half of clear blue sunny skies. (It may have been longer, but I wouldn’t know because I wasn’t here.)

Looks like I’m in for a dirty grey Christmas instead. Cheery!

That darn ambiguous humane quality

December 22nd, 2009 by Johanna | Leave comments | Filed in China, Media, Work

Edited this graf today:

Salmon’s cultural awareness and passion make poignant contrast to the indifference of Hainan residents. To protect local culture in Hainan requires enhancing local people’s recognition of the importance of culture and raising their humane quality. Then the international traveling island of Hainan can be founded successfully.

Besides sounding editorial, there was that gem of a sentence in the middle. Perhaps the awkward translation from Chinese to English has something to do with its uncomfortable political incorrectness, but my interpretation of the sentence is that Hainan residents have insufficient levels of “humane quality.” Is that supposed to be humanity? Is the reporter insinuating that Hainan residents are inhumane? Uncivilized barbarians?

Here’s the context: The government is spending lots of money to develop the island province of Hainan, China’s version of Hawaii. (It is not a “traveling island.”) As such, there are all these committees and organizations researching how best to proceed and subsequently reporting their findings. In the process, the often-touchy and easily offended Chinese government, notorious for its banning of any bad reports about it and its actions, has allowed this unflattering detail about its people in the media.

So, important distinction to be made here: Ripping on the government—wrong. Ripping on the people—totally OK.

Saving money and living better?

December 21st, 2009 by Johanna | Leave comments | Filed in China, Reflections, USA! USA!

Finally found a decent apartment for a decent price with decent roommates in a decent location. My bedroom is pretty small, my mattress a bit firm (but not plywood), and my window nook/balcony nonexistent, but I am satisfied. And moved in! It feels good to be organized again and not living out of three suitcases.

My apartment, besides being in a rather upscale complex, complete with a courtyard garden, is also right down the street from a Walmart, where I immediately went to pick up some food and personal necessities. It got me thinking: Because China is usually backwards, is Walmart still evil as it is in the States? I don’t know what the impact Beijing Walmarts have had on the local stores; my feeling is that it hasn’t been very big. Prices are already low, and I can’t imagine Walmart prices being significantly lower that people would brave Beijing’s inconvenient transportation system just to save a few yuan, especially when Wu-Marts, Chaoshifas and Carrefours are themselves everywhere. Besides, with everything Walmart sells made in China, it’s not like shopping there is bad for the economy.

I got myself a down pillow for 79kuai at Walmart. Score!

Let it snow!

December 19th, 2009 by Johanna | Leave comments | Filed in USA! USA!

…back home.

Here’s some evidence that God hates me: It snowed in North Carolina today, a week after I left. According to my father, they got seven inches, which is more than anything we got in the past few years. I swear, this is a sign that I made the wrong decision.

Signs of Christmas

December 18th, 2009 by Johanna | Leave comments | Filed in China

Baby, it’s cold outside. I’m parading around Beijing in negative temperatures. It hasn’t been above freezing (or anywhere near) in days. The lakes and canals are all frozen. Although, weather.com says it will be getting a little warmer over the next week.

Signs of Christmas are scattered throughout the city. I’ve seen stickers on random store windows and LED lights wrapped around bare trees. In the lobby of my office building, there are fake Christmas trees (they’re even decorated!) and Santa Claus heads hanging from the ceiling.

But perhaps the most festive Christmas display I’ve seen to date is hanging in Xizhimen on the side of a building. “High Christmas,” it shouts out in swirly letters to drivers-by, accompanied by what I am assuming are a band of blitzed-out-of-their-minds dolphins in sunglasses and coats rocking out.

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