Cheeseburgers and Karaoke

This past Friday I had my first experience with Chinese karaoke, or KTV as they call it here. Many young Chinese people absolutely LOVE karaoke. I went with Alex, one of our fellow teachers from Australia, some Chinese and international students, and Heather, a Canadian girl who teaches English to children at a convent in Shaoguan City. (Yes, there is a Catholic convent here!) She just arrived in Shaoguan recently, and wanted to meet some fellow Westerners, so we've become fast friends. It's really nice to have another Western girl around, since I was the only one in the area for quite awhile! Anyway, we went to this place to sing karaoke, and man did we rock it! They actually had some English songs, so we sang some Lady Gaga, Billy Idol, the Beatles, and I did a special duet with a random Chinese dude to the song "Black or White" by Michael Jackson! It was awesome! The difference between the Chinese songs and Western songs was night and day, however. Most of the Chinese songs were really sad and slow love songs, and our choices were usually a lot more upbeat. Interesting contrast, to say the least. But we had a really good time.

A little tired of Chinese food, Collin and I decided to make cheeseburgers the other night. They turned out pretty good, but making cheeseburgers in China is a little more difficult than one might think. First, ground beef isn't too common, and it's much more expensive than other types of meat like pork. So we had to have the butchers in the grocery store grind up some meat for us special order. Then, cheese is hard to come by, but they do have the wrapped processed singles in the store, which aren't too bad. Plus, for some reason, most of the bread here, including buns, is very sweet, so it's not the best for sandwiches or hamburgers. And finally, ketchup and mustard is really difficult to find. However, to our surprise and relief, we actually found real Heinz ketchup! We were actually prepared to make our own before we found it, and thankfully we didn't have to! The burgers were pretty good, but the beef was too lean to make a nice juicy burger, so they were a bit like "hockey pucks", as Collin described them. We also tried to make french fries, but they turned out a bit soggy, so next time we'll try a different technique. It's amazing how challenging cooking can be here, when you have one small hotplate to cook on and limited selection of Western groceries. But, we're making it work. Trial and error, trial and error...

The other day, I was sitting in our office on the computer when I heard some commotion outside the window. I looked out, and to my horror, a bunch of guys were using the biggest stepladder I've ever seen to climb up into the trees and cut down some of the branches. Now, it might not sound that bad, but the trees around the apartment aren't exactly the most sturdy things in the world, and these guys were basically hanging up there with nothing between them and the ground 35 feet below! Imagine looking out your window on the fourth floor and seeing a dude sitting up in a tree staring back at you! I was sure someone was going to die when one of the branches snapped off and fell on the ladder causing it to sway and bend! But, the guy held on for dear life and luckily everyone was ok. And of course, I had to snap a few pictures...

And finally, our friends Steven and Haiyan welcomed a new baby boy last week. They named him Jimi, after Jimi Hendricks. He had to stay in the hospital for about a week after he was born due to pneumonia, but he's ok now. Collin and I went and visited the other night, and little Jimi is just the cutest little thing! We're really happy for Steven and Haiyan, but now they really have their hands full with two little kids. Thankfully, they have a housekeeper who can help them out.