Monday, November 10, 2014

The Bitter, Sweet, and Aftertaste


In one of the letters I received from China the girl, Danlei, told me about the ancient city of Dali, located in northwestern Yunnan, where she grew up. She told me that if I were ever to visit that I needed to try the three courses of tea by the Bai nationality (Huang.)  I thought this was interesting, I’ve heard of multiple courses of meals, but never thought about having multiple course of a drink. She described each course and what really stood out to me is that one of the courses had cheese in it. I couldn’t imagine having a type of tea with cheese in it, so I had to look into these teas.

 
The Three Course Tea of Bai today is a kind of welcoming ceremony for treating guests and friends of the Bai people. It was originally a ceremony held by the senior members of the family to express good wishes for younger generations leaving home for school, work or when they are married. But now it has become one of the ways the Bai people show their value of friendship  (Three-course Tea Of Bai, Three-Course Tea of Bai Ethnic Minority.)


The courses are the "bitter, sweet and aftertaste". The first course is the Bitter Tea. This tea is made from baking a local green tea in a pottery jar till they have a “scorched” smell and they turn yellow, then the boiling water s added to make the tea. You get half a cup, it is described as bitter and strong, but still refreshing. The second, the Sweet Tea, is made by diluting the bitter tea with more boiling water, and adding brown sugar, cinnamon, and Ru Shan, which is the cheese like food. It is just a daily product made from goat cheese. This course is “chewed” and is sweet and nourishing. The last is the Aftertaste. Honey, ginger, Chinese pepper, and semen juglandis, which are type of walnut kernel, are added to this tea. Danlei described how in all three courses you taste the five flavors: sweet, sour, bitter, pungent, and salty. The Bai people think of it as your life- bitter, sweet and full of aftertaste (Three-course Tea Of Bai, Three-Course Tea of Bai Ethnic Minority.)
 
I think this is a very fascinating tradition. The Bai people found a way to get all of these different tastes just from only three teas. Danlei said it was an unforgettable taste for her, and I would love to try it one day if I get the opportunity, even though I am not a big fan of tea. I also think it is a good connection with life. The more I’ve thought about it life is exactly that: bitter, sweet, and full of aftertaste.

 
 
Secondary Sources
 

"Three-course Tea Of Bai." -Yunnan Tourism Website. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2014.


 

"Three-Course Tea of Bai Ethnic Minority,China Guide,Great Wall Travel." Three-Course Tea of Bai Ethnic Minority,China Guide,Great Wall Travel. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2014.



Primary Source
 
Huang, Daniela. "Good days in Dali." Letter to Mary Books. 21 Oct. 2014. MS. Qingdao, China.

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Reading Response #4

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

I started reading this series of books a few years ago, but like most things I just never finished them. So I decided to start over from the beginning. There are four books, and the first is Uglies. It is a book based in the future. This is clear due to the crazy technology and this society's totally new way of thinking about how our humankind looks. People that look like how normal people look today are considered “ugly”, and on everyone’s 16th birthday they get an operation to become “pretty”. Basically the operation makes everyone perfect, it takes away human flaw, and gives everyone the best life they could imagine. After getting the operation teenagers are moved to a new town to party and be pretty with other pretty people.

Tally, the main character has just lost her best friend, Peris, to New Pretty Town, because he is three months older than her and has been turned pretty. Tally, wants nothing more than to become pretty and be with Peris. She feels like a young gross child, still having all her impurities. Through the book Tally starts to realize there is more to life than just partying and being pretty, and she values her three months as an ugly more than she would have originally thought. There is a good deal of excitement in this book, as Tally and a new friend have a few adventures. The whole pot and idea of the book is quite interesting.

Right off the bat Westerfeld uses an odd style, and describes the surroundings in different way, “The early summer sky was the color of cat vomit.” This statement is off putting and kind of gross, but it paints a picture. It says something about both Westerfeld’s writing style but also ties into the character of Tally. At the beginning of the book Tally has very a negative outlook on being ugly, and really a negative outlook on her whole life. She thinks all her problems will be solved by this big operation.


The image shows how even though Tally thinks she is an "ugly", she is what we would think today is normal. Just an average girl, but because of the world she lives in she is thought to be ugly. I think it's interesting to think about what it would be like if we all looked perfect. Even our pretty people today would still be considered ugly until they got the operation.