Week 10: Pig Brains and a Magic Garden
This week I finally tried hot pot! Anna took April, Emily, and me to a modern hot pot restaurant near work (they had a robot picking up dishes!). Eating hot pot is a process. You get a wet towel for your hands, a Ziploc bag to put your phone in, a hair tie to pull your hair back, and, of course, an apron. At this restaurant, we got three different kinds of soup bases in which to cook our various meats and vegetables: spicy Sichuan pepper, hearty tomato, and mushroom soup. They had a tablet for each table where you could order your meats and veggies, and we tried many dishes! I liked the thinly sliced beef and the lotus root, but we also had spam (which is surprisingly popular here); 血豆腐 (xuě dòufǔ), “blood tofu,” which is congealed (usually duck or pig) animal blood; and even pig brains! I didn’t love the texture of the brains themselves, but there was a spicy seasoning with sesame seeds in it that you were supposed to dip the brains in, and it was much better eaten that way. Hot pot is such a fun way to eat food, and I wish we had more places like it in the States. Before we left, the waiters at the restaurant sent us each home with a little kit to make a soup called 银耳红枣汤 (yín’ěr hóngzǎo tang), which is a sweet soup made with tremella (a kind of fungus), red dates, sugar, and sometimes pears. It’s served cold and is supposed to be good for your lungs. I’m excited to try it!
At Zhicheng this week, Emily and I worked on our article for next week’s Friday Focus, and I’ve been learning a lot about the rape laws in other countries. In Indonesia, for example, their Penal Code does not allow for the concept that men can be raped. India’s definition of rape also only considers male perpetrators and female victims, even with a push in recent years to make the laws more gender neutral. In China, male rape is now considered a crime, but it is separate from the nation’s general rape laws, which again only account for male perpetrators and female victims, and has different sentencing guidelines. On Thursday morning, Delia and I met with Jing Jing, who is the head of Zhicheng’s research department and just recently returned to the office. She asked us to do some research on child pornography laws in the United States and around the world, so I spent the remainder of the week researching this topic.
On Friday, we said goodbye to the CUPL students, and that was very sad. I’ve grown really attached to those kids, and this final week at work is going to be much lonelier without them! There were four students that I became especially close to, and we are planning to keep in touch! One of them, Christine, is from Chengdu in Sichuan province where I will be traveling for a few days before I had back to the U.S., so she may be meeting me down there!
Friday was also my birthday, and Anna let me leave the office early to go visit the Botanical Gardens in northwest Beijing. It was a wonderful birthday present as I think it’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. I included a bunch of pictures below, but they barely begin to capture what an amazing experience it was. The sun was out, and it was hot, but dry; there were thousands of insects chirping and birds singing; it smelled like flowers and greenness; and perhaps best of all, it wasn’t crowded! Basically, it was a perfect summer day in a perfect summer setting. When I get back from Sichuan province, I’ll have one more full day before my flight back home, and I think I may just spend it at the Botanical Gardens. They had a tropical greenhouse that I was not able to visit on Friday, and I’d like to see it before I leave!
Just a warning: there is a picture of pig brains at the bottom of this post. If you’re squeamish, don’t look!
