Iced Coffee #China style! Here in Henan, most restaurants don’t have ice. The Chinese don’t really like iced drinks – believing the cold unboiled water will make them sick and is a bad combination with your inside organs. (Probably true of the water here.)
But Ice Cream is a different story. Still bad for your health but not so likely to kill you. So if you Order iced coffee or an iced soda You’ll get Ice cream coffee or a ice cream float 😄
The #Chinese concept of #icecream and my idea of a delicious treat are not the same 😂 This was a Chinese popsicle my student likes – green tea with a red bean filling. Somehow not quite the same as good old fashioned Chocolate 😜
#greentea #RealChinese #Desert #foodie #Travel #lifeabroad #international #weirdfood
Delicious desserts at a small restaurant in Japan. It was actually attached to a little shop beside our home station; and we ran in for some lunch before a movie. The signs all pointed to it being a omelette shop (Japan has many restaurants that serve lunch and dinner omelette), and we thought it’d be another mom & pop place. Instead it was incredibly fancy and the dinner was arranged prettily and with elegance 🙂 Luxury in Excess!
Irish Parliament, nearly identical to US White House
When traveling, it feels kind of amazing when you stumble across a little bit of home clear across an ocean.
Maybe it’s a person. A Toronto native bumps into a San Franciscan in China, and suddenly they’re next door neighbors separated since birth. Immediately it’s all, “oh have you ever been to Chicago, why yes I went when I was 2–oh my gosh, I was there when I was five, how’d you like it?!?”
Familiar brands can also catch your eye, a McDonald’s, Marriott Hotel, or Motorola. Even when you never actually bought them back home, they seem a little comforting. Personally, I never buy from Cold Stone Creamery. My mother’s parents used to own an ice cream store, and we’ve all eaten our fill of the heavy cream desserts. Too much, and it gets a little sickening. So instead, whenever we eat Ice Cream we make our own. But I used to hang with a group of friend who liked to stop there. So on a hot day alone in Korea, Cold Stone Creamery seems awfully comforting. Purely because at that very moment, someone I know might be doing the same thing.
It’s the felling of connection that matters. Homesickness isn’t a craving for home, it’s a craving for the connectedness of home. Despite what many non-travelers think, we usually aren’t really wishing we were at home instead. We don’t want to abandon our trips abroad or regret taking off on an adventure. Really, it isn’t home we’re looking for at all, it’s just that sense that you are bonded to the world around you that gets lost sometimes. The feeling that you matter, that you are part of the events around you instead of just a stranger wandering through. That feeling that, if needed, home and friends are just around the corner. You don’t want to go back to home, it’s just that home needs to be brought to you. Usually, what we really need is a sign that home can still be found right were we are.
For me, this summer that connection was a little flyer I picked up in Japan. I’d been there nearly 3 weeks and I was starting to miss home and family a bit. On my way back from school, I ran across an ad for the theatrical version of Kuroshitsuji in a Gas Station.
You may not recognize the name, but Kuroshitsuji was an anime my best friends and I used to watch in college. Whenever college or finals or life got to be too much, the four of us would all get together and watch whatever episodes were out. If nothing new was up, we’d watch re-runs. It got us through deaths, failed classes, broken hearts, lost jobs, family fights, and 21-credit semesters. It’s actually a surprisingly angsty show, which allowed us to get all teary-eyed and dramatic without looking like idiots in real life. But it also had characters like the insane, safety-scissor waving, cross-dressing death god who we all adored. I actually watched a lot of anime in college, but I never met anyone in Japan who recognized my shows or saw anything talking about them. So to find this little ad for Kuroshitsuji meant a lot to me. Admittedly, it was Japanese in nature, but to me it connected Japan to home. I ran to the hotel and messaged my friends all about it, and for a little bit I got to squeal with them about something we all recognized. I felt reunited, just enough to remind me that home wasn’t really that far away. In fact, I could still find some parts of it as far away as I was.
So for those of you who are travelling abroad, and are reaching that point where you just need a home-sized hug, look around you. Maybe you aren’t looking for something in the U.S. (or whatever nation you’re from); maybe you just need to find something familiar. Think back to what made you fall in love with the idea of visiting this country? Don’t focus on what you don’t have. Focus on the one think in your life that lives in both locations. You will always be able to find something that looks at you and screams: “You Know Me!” It’s the familiarity that matters.
Follow-up to my recent post “Five Foods for the Common Cold.” This is a list of five drinks that can help when you’re sick, via healing or soothing properties. This mostly comes from years of studying and working with ill family and friends (as well as myself). Much of it was passed down to me by my mother and grandmother.
1. Tea with Honey
You can try this with any kind of tea, include good old original Lipton, but something herbal might be better. Some good teas to consider might be a soothing mint or ginger based tea, or perhaps an echinacea or dandelion tea for their healing element. Thus the tea itself is calms the throat and stomach without the nasty taste of some vitamins or medicine. In regards to the honey, natural honey is the best, and it offers sugar to maintain blood sugar levels when you aren’t eating much as well as a number of other natural healing properties. The recipe itself isn’t difficult: 1 mug of water, 1 tea bag, and 1-2 TBSP of Honey.
2. Cloves and Ginger Tea
My mother happily swears by this tea, thanks to its healing and numbing abilities. Cloves is a natural numbing agent, easing pain in sore throats, bad teeth, and aching ears. Whenever I had an ear infection, we’d pack it with cloves and olive oil until it healed; and added to water, it will numb a sore throat and nauseous stomach for a while. Ginger is known for its ability to help the intestinal track function properly, to fight viruses and bacteria, and to serve as a fairly effective natural healer. It works for many ills, and is frequently administered to those with sick stomachs. The recipe usually goes, a mug of water with at least half a teaspoon each of cloves and ginger thrown in. Heat to a boil and drink.
3. Orange Juice Slushy
When I was a kid, this was my all time favorite recipe and really the only way my mom got me to drink fruit juices for ages. I’ve never been a big fruit juice person, but I love this drink, especially when I don’t feel well. You’ll need a blender, 1 can of frozen Orange Juice, 1 Cup of Milk, and 1 tray of ice (about 12-14 large cubes). Throw in the ice, add the orange juice, and pour in 1 cup of Milk. Blend together until it’s in slushy form. This drink is good in all ways. It has a lot of ice which helps with liquidating the sick person. The milk has some protein. And the Orange Juice has all those lovely healing properties of Oranges (not least of which is Vitamin C). All around great drink for the sick.
4. Apple Vinegar Water
I must admit that this is probably my least favorite of these drinks–in fact I find it hard to drink at all. However, many members of my family drink the mixture regularly and greatly preach about how much it helps. And, when I can gag it down, I have to agree–this works. Grab a bottle of water and some Apple Cider Vinegar (white vinegar will not work). Mix 1-2 TBSP of Vinegar into the water and slug it down. Nasty, huh? Well, lucky you, this drink is one of my best recommendations for a sick stomach. It has a lot of anti-bacterial nutrients and soothes cramping or upset stomachs.
5. White Soda and Orange Sherbet
I drink way too much soda on average (I don’t drink coffee and only tea on rare occasions), so I’m always happy when I actually have a good reason to down the drink. However, this only really works with the “white” or “clear” sodas–Sprite, Sierra Mist, Ginger Ale, and 7-Up. They may not have a lot of healthy nutrients, but sometimes the bubbly stuff can really help a sore throat and sick stomach. I generally like to drink the soda, but it’s even more beneficial when you add in orange sherbet. The sherbet has a water base that helps with liquidation, as well as Vitamin C, and the refreshing nature. I find that I’m better able to keep this down when well and truly sick.
Please Note: I Am NOT A Doctor!! If you are ill, it is HIGHLY recommended that you talk with your doctor right away.
“She was free in her wildness. She was a wanderess, a drop of free water. She belonged to no man and to no city” ~ Roman Payne
Language Translation
Deceptively Blonde 