Chinese foods, translation business and website

Well, things have settled down for me in the past couple of weeks since getting the apartment. I have explored the area a bit and figured out what buses to take to get to work etc. I have really enjoyed eating at the local outdoor vendors who sell non-local foods, such as Xinjiang spicy lamb meat, or Sichuan style boiled spicy fish and noodle snacks called Malatan. They are just really delicious. I have stopped at these places every night to grab a few snacks on my way back from work. One stick is only half a yuan, or US $0.06 cents, so cheap.

I came to the realization this week that I have not eaten cereal with milk for over one whole year. This is a shock, especially because cereal was a staple of my diet back in the states.
I have started my own business. My plan is to do Translation Outsourcing. Based on the cost discrepancy of US domestic translators and Chinese domestic translation cost, there is good money to be made if I can get some US clients and provide them translation services by outsourcing the work to Chinese translation companies. So in effect, I would act as a kind of middleman. My new website is: http://powerstranslation.ourprofile.biz/ It is still under construction though!

Building this website has taken most of my free time over the past week. I hope to finish it over the weekend and get started marketing this service from next week.

Off and On Spring

Just when you think Spring is here, it starts to snow again. It can be a shock to be under the impression warm sunny days are ahead and open the curtain to see a blizzard of white. Oh well, such is life.

I have always liked Chinese food. I am not sure if this pertains, but I learned something from my Economics class regarding the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility

“The law of diminishing marginal utility is based on the idea that at a given point in time an individual's want for a good can be satisfied. The extra satisfaction that an individual derives from consuming successive units of a good tends to increase but later at a declining rate so that an individual would be willing to buy more of a good only if its price will decrease.”

I think this means I get less and less satisfaction from successively eating Chinese food. Matter of fact, I would really like to eat some homemade tacos, Hawaiian style pizza, and some Lasagna. Maybe some biscuits and mashed potatoes too. I hear other students in my classes, who are all from other countries like me say similar things. The Austrian girl misses her chocolates and pastries, the Korean kids miss their authentic Korean dishes etc. My roommate Bengt misses Pann-biff, a big fat Swedish Meatball, served with potatoes and sauce. That sounds great to me too! He also misses his girlfriend’s Smorgish-Tarte, some kind of cake with tuna. I may have to pass on that.

Anyway, Thursday night I had an oily Kongpao Jiding (Spicy chicken with onions and peanuts), followed by Tofu with a lot of soy sauce and onions, followed by tomato and egg soup, and finally some rice cakes. I am not sure what it was, but Friday morning my stomach hurt. After several early morning trips to the bathroom, which can disturb my roommate's sleep, I finally threw up into the sink about 10 minutes before class started! I was relieved temporarily and went to class. But upon the start of the second class, I felt really sick again and went back to my room. That was the first time I have had to miss class since I have been at Renmin University. I wanted to gut it out, but I had no concentration and I did not want to cause a disturbance in class.

Finally, I felt better later after drinking some warm water and some friends giving me stomach medicine. Later, I finally became hungry again and was able to get some bananas and pears. I remember Mom always telling me bananas were good for digestion and they did seem to help. I was able to go to work last night and this morning I felt rejuvenated. However, I am still loathe to eating oily spicy food for a while. I will stick to a diet of soup, noodles, breads, fruits and lightly cooked vegetables for the present.

Ditan Temple Fair

I went to Ditan (Temple of the Earth) Park in the north part of the city. By the way, Beijing has a long history. Used during the last three dynasties, the Emperor's palace, also known as the Forbidden City, is in the center of the city. The entrance to the Forbidden City is the one that is particularly recognizable, because it now has a big framed picture of Mao Ze Dong on the front. There is something very conspicuous about this placement to me. As if they replaced the emperor with Mao Ze Dong. There is something fitting in that, replacing one dictator for eh-hem.

Anyway, Ditan, the Temple of the Earth is to the north of the Palace, Temple of Heaven is to the south, Temple of the Sun and Moon to the East and West. I understand one of the Emperor's big jobs was to go to these temples, offer prayers and sacrifice.

My visit to Ditan was not to make any sacrifices or offer prayers, rather to see the festival being held there. The Temples have all become public parks now, open to the people. The parks are used to hold public fairs and festivals. Inside Ditan, there were many shops selling all kinds of special New Years gifts, toys, games, arts and crafts, and food. There were areas that had games for people to play and win prizes like a state fair. I tried a few including throwing Chinese coins through a big wooden board in order to hit a bronze gong and trying to break light bulbs over a metal bowl. I don't know what the trick is, but I threw those light bulbs hard and still couldn't break a single one.

The crowd was big. The mass of people moved through the many different twists and turns of the paths. The shops outnumbered the entertainment and arts and crafts, but it was still interesting.

I saw food there I will never forget. Rather, they were unforgettable because they were disgusting. Something that one might see on Fear Factor! Bugs and scorpions, little chickens on a stick. I am not sure if the scorpions were some kind of gimmick food, but I did see people buy and eat them. Though I don't think that is normal Chinese cuisine, I have heard that in China anything that moves can be on the dinner table.