I'm in Love!

4.13.2008

.... with my street.

If you want to eat on our street, you have many options. You can grab food from a street vendor who simply has a cart or sometimes just a blanket on the ground displaying their wares. Some vendors have a small space with just a window... you walk up to the window, hand them money, they hand you food and off you go. Others still have a small space for eating-- they may have a few tables and chairs inside and/or some out on the sidewalk and they cook the food on hot plates & make-shift stoves while you sit and wait. There are a few bigger "sit-down restaurants" as well-- there is one we frequent often & not having any idea of its name, we simply refer to it as "Our Restaurant."

So, we have our certain "go to" places (our pastry girl, our restaurant, our produce guy) but we have a long way to go before we've tried every little place on our street, something I definitely plan to do. With that goal in mind, today I decided to grab some lunch at a new shop. This shop fits into the "hole-in-the-wall-with-a-window" category. I walk up and poke my head into the window. I see a man working on a table covered in flour, making fresh dough. Another man is working with some meat and vegetables, and a women is manning 3 large metal bins near the window. All three look up at me, returning the same quizzical look I am sure I am giving them. I'm thinking, What in the world are they making? while they're thinking, What in the world is this white girl doing here?

I point at a metal bin, assuming there is food inside. "Duoshao?" (How much?)

The lady responds with a few words. I hear the word "chi" (seven), most likely because she is also making the Chinese hand signal for "chi/seven." [Side note: Chinese people have hand gestures for each number, 0-10. 1-5 is simply holding up each finger, as we do, but they only count with one hand, so 6-10 are not shown with both hands. 6 = thumb and pinky out; 7 = all five finger tips together; 8 = index finger and thumb out, similar to making a "gun signal" in America; 9 = hooking your index finger while making a fist with the other fingers; 10 = crossing your index and middle finger, like a "R" in ASL. You all just tried to do each of those while I described it, huh? I knew it.] Anyway, so she's making the hand sign for "chi" so I repeat, "Chi?" and she says "Dui" (Correct). Ok, I assume whatever deliciousness is in these tins is 7 kuai ($1). Sweet, I'll take two.

"Liangu" (Two of those).

The lady laughs at my Chinese, or Enlgese, I'm sure, and takes the lid off to reveal a bin full of steaming Chinese buns. Yum. I hand her a 10 and a 5.

"Bu, bu" (no, no) she says and waves her hand. She hands me back my 10 and takes my 5. I'm a bit puzzled because I could've sworn I heard "chi" and know she was doing the sign. Then she hands me back 3 kuai and 60 fen ["kuai" is their "dollar" and "fen" is their "cent"]. Ahhh, now I see. She was telling me each ball of freshly made heaven is 70 fen (10 cents).

I walk away with a small bag of awesome homemade treats to eat for lunch and a huge smile on my face. Not only did I just get lunch for 20 cents, but that lady was actually honest with the dumb white girl handing her way too much cash. She could have easily taken my money, but didn't. I love her. And her buns.

I turn the corner and wave to my true love. His name is JOE! The reason I write JOE! instead of Joe is because I don't know if JOE! is his English name or his Chinese name. All I know is that when I asked his name he said, "JOE!" I repeated, "Joe?" And he said, "JOE!" So maybe he likes to yell his English name, or maybe his Chinese name is "Zho." I'll never know. But it doesn't matter, because I do know this: I love him.

Leston, a fellow teacher, introduced us one day as we walked home together. He stopped us on the corner of my street and said, "Wait, I'm gonna grab dinner." I'd passed this "hole-in-the-wall-with-a-window" many times, but never stopped to check out the wares. Boy had I been missing out.

JOE! became very excited when he saw Leston. "Leston!" he yelled and held up one finger. Leston held up two fingers and Joe began working his magic. He stood directly in front of us, with only a tall, hot plate-looking thing between us. He poured a scoopful of batter on top of the hot plate. As it began to sizzle and bubble, he pulled out a small tool and artfully spread the batter in circles, making it about 10 inches in diameter. He then cracked a fresh egg and spread this on top of the batter circle, which was now turning into a crepe. Then JOE! threw a handful of cilantro and white onion on the egg layer. Next, he carefully & quickly flipped it over and pointed at three small bowls of sauces next to the hot plate and asked Leston something in Chinese. At Leston's confirmation, JOE! grabbed a small paintbrush tool and dipped it into the first bowl, spreading the sauce all over the freshly cooked side of the crepe. He repeated the process for bowl #2 and bowl #3. Then he grabbed something that looks like a thin rice cracker and placed it in the middle of the crepe. He folded it up, crunching the cracker into small pieces and threw the whle thing into a plastic bag. He handed it, steaming hot, to Leston. "Here you go," Leston handed it to me.

"How much?" I asked.

"Don't worry, I got it."

After JOE! made Leston's crepe he gave us our total: "Liu kuai" (six kuai; $0.90)

"It's only 3 kuai each?"

"Yup. Have some."

Oh... my... god... it was all I could do to keep from devouring the entire thing on the walk home-- I had to save some to share with Collin. Collin took one bite and said the same thing we say every time we eat in China: "Best thing ever." Agreed. Best thing ever.

Now I visit JOE! all the time. The magic he makes is perfect for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It's only 3 kuai. It's amazing. AND it's made by the most adorable person in Beijing. Every time I pass by, I always wave and shout, "Ni hao!" at JOE!. Everyone in the shop laughs. [Side note: It isn't customary for people to wave and say hello here-- you only say hi to people you know or when you want something. My students had to explain this to me when I told them we walk down our street saying, "Ni hao!" to strangers. They died laughing. They said everyone we say "ni hao" to must think we want something from them, and are probably very confused when we pass them by without another word.]

JOE! is coming back with me to America... he just doesn't know it yet. I'm going to kidnap him if I must and take him and his hot plate and batter and spice bowls and paintbrush home. We will get married. Every morning he will make me his delicious crepe. And we will live happily ever after.

I love my street.