Xi’an Vignettes (11/26)

Since I didn’t have to go training today, I thought I would post up a few pictures from the past few days of non-wushu-related life in Xi’an.

Making Noodles (10/25)

First though, I realized that I forgot to post up a bit of footage and photos from waaaay back on the 25th of October after Ruhi and I had visited Garnett and Umesh at the Xi’an Translation University (西安翻译大学). When we got back home we dropped by the local market village and got some noodles at one of our favorite little restaurants. This time around, since I had my video and still camera I thought I would capture some of the magic.

We ordered mian piao, a noodle dish made with flat noodles. Here you can see some photos of them being made and put in to the cooking water.

Gas Stove (10/25)

Cheap Prices! (10/25)

Rolling out the mian piao noodles (10/25)

Making Mian Piao Noodles (10/25)

Fresh dough (10/25)

Noodles Cooking (10/25)

And here is a video of our noodle dish being made.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV4hWLrgrj8

Are you hungry yet?

Winter Smog (11/24)

Anyway, moving back to the present, one thing that Xi’an has which is unique from the other cities I’ve lived in around China, is the winter pollution. It is a combination of the high number of coal being burned in the winter for heat, as well as the fact that we are in a valley surrounded by mountains. As a result there are some days when the winds are blowing the wrong way and you can barely see a block away from you, sometimes even less. Here are some photos I took the other day in front of our apartment complex.

It wouldn’t be so bad, but you can really smell a sooty flavor in the air and it makes me feel like eating BBQ all the time. It also makes running around the track at the Sports Center quite interesting. But I suppose it is one of the reasons that Xi’an is a good place to visit in the spring, summer and fall.

Although, one nice thing about Xi’an in the winter is that it doesn’t get super cold. Well, at least it hasn’t this year. Unlike Beijing that is under a carpet of snow, or Shanghai with its super frigid winds right off the ocean, Xi’an is a bit farther inland so we don’t get super freezing. (Crossing my fingers)

Restaurant Eating (11/25)

On Wednesday night we got a little hungry so we went to one of the other restaurants in the outdoor market next to our building. This one has yang ro chua’r, which is the main reason we go there. We originally wanted to go to another restaurant but they were closed so we ate at this one. Here are a couple pictures. I would have taken some of the food, but it was gone before you knew it!

Wang Lao Ji (11/25)

Contemplating the taste (11/25)

Meeting James at the Village (11/26)

And tonight we went over to Shi Da Lu’s Village Cafe to do a little work, get something to eat and meet up with James, a Friend of Ruhi’s who lives in Xi’an. Actually he will be moving close to our home in another week or two so we will practically be neighbors! Here are a few photos of us hanging out at the cafe.

James and Ruhi (11/26)

James (11/26)

James and Ruhi (11/26)

Me, my bad hair day and James (11/26)

And thats about it for this time around. Tomorrow it is back to the wushu guan and some more training. Its been great having a day to heal up and I hope my body took good advantage of it.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you in the U.S. and Happy Day of the Covenant for those who know what that is.

Site Updates (11/26)

By the way, I changed out the header of my website (and the website looks pretty different these days if you haven’t visited it in a while), wushuzilla.com. There is a pretty good chance that, if you are reading this, you may not have visited in a while. I actually have my blog replicating to 4 different websites, so you may not even know I have the site at all.

I also have a few ideas for the site that I will try to implement in the semi-near future. But we’ll see what happens.

If you have any thoughts or suggestions, please feel free to use my new contact form on my website too. I’m happy to hear whatever you might have to say.