Recipe

Beijing Mashed Potato Pockets

Ingredients:

1 or 2 sweet potatoes

Instructions:

Purchase one or two baked sweet potatoes from a street side vendor selling them out of a trashcan oven.

Place the potato, or potatoes, in your pockets.

Board the Beijing subway.

Note: For lumpy mashed pocket potatoes, board at non-peak hours.

Exit a few stops later.

Viola! You have Beijing Mashed Potato Pockets!

Movies in China

Movies find you in China. You walk along the streets and DVD is whispered into your ear. You walk out of the grocery store, and they are waiting there at your feet. You get money from the ATM, and you glance over your shoulder to see them gathered together on some steps. As you approach the top of the footbridges over traffic, they are lying at the top of the steps, anticipating your arrival. They are even sold inside stores from time to time.

The movies you thought you would miss because you left the US are already prepared to be watched in your home. The movies that so long ago drifted into your consciousness and back out before you ever got to crack them open are simply splayed in front of your eyes. And, they all find you.

Of course, with all these film lying before you, you are left with too many options. You must distinguish which ones are actually waiting for you. Some are going to tear your heart out over the cost or horrendous dubbing. You must be picky, haggling, waiting, and searching covertly to avoid the wrath of pushy DVD pushers.

Recently, Death and the Maiden happened to run into me in a real estate agency. It was one of those movies that I had heard of when I was too young, and then saw as a pop culture reference in the past month. The title jumped at me, but I didn’t know why I wanted it. Anyway, after a short dance it came home with me, and I saw it. It was a riveting film. It was exactly the interest I had fostered in college: truth and reconciliation. It was honor and depravity, humiliation and pride, power and weakness all filed against each other and jammed into the viewer’s mind. The film was wrought with passion, and filled me with purpose.

And, this is what I wait for from films. The beauty of China is that you simply have to wait for such things. You cannot find the title online and seek it out at the stores or the Independent Film Channel. Only patience will be rewarded, that and some faith in spontaneity. Every film is a romance in China because you find yourself wooed by and wooing every film as you keep your heart open for something you might love.

Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions:

Question: Why are you in China?

Answer: I was seeking an intense, cross-cultural experience but was unsure of where and how to do so. Teaching English offers this. And, by teaching English in Beijing I was able to be near Christina during her studies here. Also, I lucked out because China is THE place to be a native speaker of English. Its emerging economy, and converging relationship with the United States, creates a ridiculously high demand for English lessons.

Questions: Do you speak Chinese?

Answer: On a good day, I can count to about 50 in Chinese. I can say, “Hello”, “see you later”, “I don’t know”, “I don’t understand”, and “how much does this cost?” I have also been taught many other phrases by my friends and coworkers, but I cannot retain any of them.

Question: Is it hard to find a job in China?

Answer: No, it’s ridiculously easy. Try these sites: www.eslcafe.com and www.thebeijinger.com.

Question: What’s the weirdest food in China?

Answer: Despite the fact that I have eaten donkey, pig’s stomach, every part of the duck, including the head, witnessed both scorpions and starfish glazed and placed on sticks, and had numerous discussions about the presence of dog on many menus, my answer is pizza. As far as I can tell, China discovered pizza via the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and thus put everything imaginable onto their pizzas. Having not been raised in a culture of cheese and pepperoni, the horizons of the pizzas in China extend further than previously believed possible. Shrimp, beans, corn, peas, escargot, and multitudes of other toppings grace the semi-cheesy surface of pizzas at even American-born pizza chains like, Pizza Hut.

Question: When are you coming home?

Answer: Shhhhh!!! That’s a secret!

Question: Wait, why are you in China, again?

Answer: I’M TEACHING ENGLISH! IT’S A CULTURAL EXPERIENCE! IT’S HARD BUT I LOVE THE CHALLENGE! I DON’T HAVE TO EXPLAIN MYSELF TO YOU…I simply choose to do so.

Question: Do you miss me?

Answer: Yes, I miss you. Come and visit me. We’ll have an awesome time.

Question: Where have you travelled so far?

Answer: I have been to Shanghai, Tianjing, Taiyuan, the Yungang Grottoes, and Pingyao. I went to some other places too, but they were not that exciting.

Question: Who asked these questions?

Answer: Well, a lot of people have asked things like this. These questions have come up in conversation frequently. I would assume that you were wondering them, too.

…Okay, so I don’t remember who asked the questions. In fact, no one even asked this question. I made it up. It’s a question I always wondered when reading FAQ’s, but I never asked it. I always assumed it would be overly deconstructive to follow such a line of reasoning, but now, in the process of building my own site, it seems like a valid thought. …Don’t question my question.

Question: What are the best celebrity impressions you have seen since coming to China?

Answers: My old roommate, Grace, impeccably mimics the gait of Charlie Chaplin. My other old roommate, Rama, slips into an impressive Bill Cosby voice around meal times for unknown reasons. And, Chinese people tell me that I resemble a Canadian, named Dashan, who has gained celebrity in China as a television host teaching Chinese to Westerners. He is a skinny, pale man with dirty blonde hair that is combed into a delicate coif over his forehead. I am simply a white man, thus we are identical twins.

About Sven Romberg

I am a 23 year old American who has been living in Beijing since late July 2007. I was originally attracted to the idea of teaching English abroad by the many success stories I heard from my friends and professors. I chose to teach English specifically in China because my girlfriend, Christina, was set to study abroad at Peking University during the Fall of 2007.

I originally intended to learn Chinese during my time and China, and in keeping with that goal, I still tell people that I intend to learn Chinese. I have yet to find any formal Chinese classes, and this has proved to be a decent excuse for learning nothing. Presently, I get by through a very simply system of pointing and over-usage of the three affirmative words I know in Chinese.

Most recently, I moved from a fairly hip part of town, called Wudaokou, to a part of town that is so unhip, that no one can even tell me the name for it. I live in a three bedroom apartment with an estimated four to seven Chinese roommates, of which, only one speaks English. They have shown only a passing interest in me, for the most part.

I work at a private boarding school teaching English. I have taught five different courses here, so far: Summer English Training (Spoken English), US Systems Lecture Series, Cultural Communications, US Systems Lecture Series and Cultural Communications as a single course, a catch-all course simply called English, and presently an English composition course. My boss pays very close attention to the whims of the students, and enthusiastically reorganizes the whole program every one the three months as a demonstration of his good faith to their parents. I put up with this because I am young, foolish, and arguing with my boss can only be done in a marathon format (minus the elation one feels at completing a marathon).

The things that keep me going in China are an unbridled use of sarcasm (although my coworkers are starting to catch on), daily calls from Christina urging me to come home to the US, and the keen joy I find in doing something that so frequently feels impossible.

I decided to start this website at the urging of a few trustworthy friends. They had been receiving my sardonic emails, and decided that it was time I seek a wider audience. I must extend my loving thanks to these wonderful people:

Steve Van Leeuwen

Christina Gonsalves

My parents, Thea and Doug Romberg

I want to extend my sincere thanks to these okay people:

Benjamin Rollin

Alexander Rony

Seve Romberg

Stian Romberg

Stefan Romberg

I also want to extend my thanks to these awesome people:

Brian Mclane

Genny Ramos

Bob Bailey

Jenna Briggs

Marissa Newhall

The Duncan Family

Cindy Wang

Grace Cui

Chris Busch

Rama and Joy Joy

Annie ‘Ivory Tower’ Gardner

Sean Crowe

Megan ‘Jailhouse’ Helton

Max Kopper

Grace Liang

and Carol Qi

These people do not get my thanks:

Whoever has been vomiting on the sidewalk near my apartment

The guys that spit when they see me

Dave Stone, who possibly owes me some money, unless he paid me back, and I just forgot

The makers of Christina’s Chinese bicycle

All of the students and teachers that have been spreading rumors that Carol and I are dating

Introduction to An American in China

The information in this website is to be taken at face value. Interpretation could result in readers of the website giving a deep and full understanding of English as a Second Language teaching in China.