Xi'an Q&A

We decided to form a simple Q&A about China, more specifically geared towards the city of Xi’an, for our family. Here’s what we think.

China Q&A:

Name/age (optional)?

Rick

Cheryl, old enough to have 5 kiddos-ages 2-25

I’m Abby, a thirteen-year-old girl.

Jenna Elizabeth, 22 1/2

Emma G. Lindner, 13

Maffew, 2

Describe China in 3 words…

R:  Beautiful, Big, Amazing.

C:  Interesting, Historic, Modern

A:  In one sentence: A foreign home.In three adjectives: …I can’t think of anything. Sorry. Maybe old and different, but that’s no fun.

J:  Many faceted nation.

E:  Nice, Ancient, Modern

M:  1, China, subway

Favorite means of transportation?

R:  Bike.

C:  Bicycle, although cars/buses/taxis come so close I’m usually “white-knuckling” the handlebars.

  A:  I prefer walking above all. Taxis make me sick. Subways are too noisy. Buses get too crowded.

J:  I like braving the bike.

E:  Taxi

M:  Subway!!!

Favorite take-out food?

R:  Sweet and Sour Chicken, and Kung Pao Chicken.

C:  Hot Noodles, provided to go in a plastic bag. 

A:  My favorite take-out is kung pao chicken, as long as it’s not squishy. I’m picky about textures.

J:  In the summer, dumplings; winter, a dish called SaoZi noodles (noodles in a spicy broth)

E:  Indian food, the restaurant has a name, I can’t remember it, it starts with a K I think.

M:  A yoodles (translated – noodles)

What will you miss most upon departure?

R:  Everything.

Mom with her noodles

C:  The Chinese people. The people I’ve met, interacted with, and the people that I have become friends with.  And also the noodles – so delicious and only cost $1.

A:  I’ll probably miss the convenience of everything the most – the convenience of transportation, shopping, et cetera.

J:  The people. I have met such delightful people here. The smiles. For example, I was on a bike ride the other day with my dad and we were downtown crossing a huge round a bout and there was a woman crossing guard/officer who gave us the largest most genuine smile as we rode. Unforgettable. Oh and the prices are something worth pining over as well.

E:  Real Chinese food.

Least favorite thing about living in China?

R:  Least favorite, I guess the amount of smoking everywhere.

C:  Smoking, spitting, and riding an overcrowded bus (overcrowded meaning about 50 over maximum capacity).  The bus is only full when the door won’t close, seriously?!

A:  My least favorite attribute of China has to be the pollution. And “pollution” isn’t just reserved to the air, but the streets and such too. Which is fun. :\ I hate not being able to see the buildings farther than our complex. It seems like a bubble. And the complex isn’t all that fun to look at from a sixteen-floor height. But, hey, this is the city. It could be worse, right? I’m not complaining… that much…

J:  The amount of times I have had the stomach flu creep up on me. Granted, I probably brought half of the occurrences on by my own gamy eating habits, but still, no one should have to experience the mess that this ‘China flu’ entails.

E:  Let me see, seeing spit on the ground everywhere I go. That’s disturbing.

Favorite place to visit in Xi’an on your free time/ favorite place in China?

R:  In Xi’an, QuJiang district and exploring the city villages. In China, my favorite place has been Shanghai.

Shanghai

C:  Walking around QuJiang, a neighboring district home to a beautiful lake, clean streets, and a quiet atmosphere. If it’s a nice sunny day, I enjoy going up on the city wall and riding a bike. In all of China, I’ve liked all of the places I’ve been for different reasons. The Summer Palace in Beijing was really nice. In Shanghai, the architecture, in Chengdu I loved the Pandas and the food.  Meixian, although a very small town, was fun because we stayed with the family of our friend Lili.  We visited beautiful TaiBai Mountain while we were there.

Our apartment complex

A: I don’t go out much, so during free time I don’t usually go outside. However, when I do, I stay within the apartment complex neighborhood, which is kind of lame. Not that the complex itself is lame… Okay, it might be a little plain, but it’s not lame.

Now, China… I’m not sure. I stink at making decisions, and everyone can justify that fact.

Jen's "fairly desolate location"

J:  In Xi’an I have two favorites, one being this Chinese gazebo thing surrounded by water, it is beautiful and there is never anybody there when I go. Another place my friend and I discovered this past summer, also a fairly desolate location filled with beauty and silence. It’s my first time living in a city, so I tend to like places where I can escape to silence. And I have loved every other place that I’ve visited in China; AnKang, BaoJi, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guangzhou…

E:  I enjoy walking around my neighborhood.

Weirdest Most unusual sighting?

R:  Wow, there are lots of those.  In the middle of downtown there was a man in a pajama outfit, slippers included, selling puppies.

C:  The Chinese version of Elvis I saw on the bus one day. I knew it was impolite to stare, but it was impossible not to.

A:  On the same day/week that we arrived, we went to an outdoor market (that is now gone). Here, I got my first sense of what Xi’an was like – I saw a mother with her son leaning over a newspaper. Fill in the rest yourself. It’s awkward to write it out in words.

J:  Hard to pin down just one. I think that things I once thought out of the ordinary have now become scenes of normalcy. There are still some sights that reduce me to out loud laughter and usually followed by me saying, “Only in China…”

E:  Candied tomatoes.

Favorite Chinese phrase to use?

R:  A yaa – Oh man; shoot; dang.

C:  Aaa, shi zhe yang – Oh, I see, which is better than staring blankly when I don’t have a clue what someone just said to me.ß

A:  Ni hao. – Hello. Hi. [That’s about as lame as me staying inside the complex.]

J：百里挑一 bai li tiao yi  - One in a hundred (when I first learned this idiom I thought it was like the ‘one in a million’ quote from Dumb & Dumber meaning no chance; I now know that it means out of a hundred you are the chosen one. It is used as a compliment to tell someone they are outstanding, glad I got that sorted out)

E:  Ni you mei you…? - Do you have…?

M:  Yi, er, san, si, wu, liu, qi, ba, jiu, shi, and “jia you”. – 1 to 10… add oil (Go! Cheer on!)