Traditional Chinese Comb Gift, Neat Thermos

I didn't know before I lived in China that wooden combs are a traditional gift to give to girls/women, especially as a goodbye gift.

At the tourist neighborhood of CiQiKou in my city, there were shops selling decorative wooden combs and hairpins, but I didn't think much of them, I thought it was just a tourist trap item. But in the days before I left Chongqing, I received several nice wooden combs as a going away gift.



They’re made of wood and painted with enamel. All the combs I received came in these nice boxes and were made by the same company; I’m not sure if this company is well-known for combs, or if they are the ones who sell in my area of China. One student wrote cute little messages for me all over on the box itself:



The combs are often stylized, such as this yellow comb I use on a daily basis and is carved to look like a fish:



All of the female volunteers I know were given combs as gifts, so I think it’s a pretty common practice, but one I’d never heard of. I asked someone why a comb was a traditional gift and she said, “Because it’s useful and beautiful.” Yes, they are both of these things! I find the wood makes my hair look more smooth than using a plastic comb, too.

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My Chinese friend Cassie gave me this neat little pale pink/gray thermos as a going away gift; she knows I took a liking to the Chinese custom of drinking hot water and tea, so this was a really thoughtful gift. It’s extremely lightweight, well-sized for your hand and the thermos lid has this neat screw-off compartment for holding dry tea, instant coffee or any kind of mixer. Ingenious! It’s made by Tayohya, but I couldn’t find any stores selling these in the U.S. online. Maybe in Chinatown I’ll come across one. I use it constantly, it’s very well-suited to being carried around.

My Buddhist Scroll and Other Weekend Pics

In the past I've only purchased souvenirs for friends and family, so this weekend I splurged a bit and bought something for myself. I need something to remember China by, right? I found this beautiful Buddhist icon fabric wall scroll, and I couldn't resist. I'm so happy to have this to bring home with me. It's just perfect for me.

Just for comparison's sake, this scroll cost the equivalent of $40 USD. I have no idea what something like this would cost in America, but I am guessing more than $40. This scroll and really good oolong tea will be my two splurges to bring back with me to America.

J. came down for the weekend, so we had a little get together last night with friends. Bugles on the fingertips never stops being funny, right? (My hand-- I'm silly, I know.)

And here is what we had for lunch yesterday, a Uyghur dish called Chao Mian Pian 炒面片. It's a tomato based spicy sauce, with freshly made noodles, tomato, green pepper, onion, cabbage and beef chunks. Soooo delicious. (It doesn't taste like Italian food at all, the spices are different.) I had no idea Uyghur food existed before I came to China, but it is now some of my favorite Chinese food. I gotta find a Uyghur restaurant in America, I can't go a lifetime without it! (Uyghurs are a Turk ethnic group in China, and many are from XinJiang province in Northwestern China. The Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon desert scenes were filmed in XinJiang. It's beautiful up there.)

Tongue Saver Idea

This morning while teaching a class I took that first swig of my oolong tea and OH SWEET DRAGONS, THE PAIN, my tongue is still scorched from the scalding hot water. And the thing is, I guess I am not very smart, this happens to me all the time. (Boiling hot water for tea is provided for us at school all day long.) I'm evidently terrible at calculating heat loss divided by time lapse. Or time lapse divided by heat loss. Whatever.

So then I had the best idea ever: why not make tea/coffee travel tumblers out of that plastic-y material they make mood rings out of? You could easily see when your coffee or tea moves from boiling-hot to drinkable hot-hot, and determine your favorite color of hot. No more scorched tongues! Has anyone invented this yet? (I ask because I had the idea to put television shows for sale on the internet about three years before iTunes came out, and hello! I don't want that to happen again.) If not, I'm inventing it now. I want one!

Related: have you ever had a great invention idea you found out was already invented?

A Few Local Products I Love

So, the toe thongs reminded me of other new-to-me products I have used here and really liked. (And I forgot to explain something about the toe thongs: people here rarely go sockless, so the toe thongs are a way to wear socks even if you are wearing slingbacks/pumps, etc. I get comments from my Chinese tutor all the time about my habit of not wearing socks, she thinks it isn't healthy.)

Sweetened condensed milk in a tube, not a can. It's so convenient! Made by Nestle, and comes in flavors like strawberry and chocolate. The regular flavor is really good in hot drinks. A little goes a long way.

Plug-in insect repellent. It's made by Raid. It's like a Glade Plug-In, but instead of fragrance it releases unscented mosquito repellent. Most windows here don't seal shut, so mosquitoes get in quite easily. The little jar of liquid is replaceable; they cost about $1.00 and last about a month. If the voltage weren't wrong, I'd bring a supply back to the U.S. You can also buy repellent coils that burn like incense, but I don't like those as much because they have a strong smell. But the coils are used under tables at outdoor bars and patios to keep bugs away, and I really appreciate them there!

Dry, loose tea. The tea here is excellent. I drink mostly Jasmine and Oolong, and they taste so much better than the bagged tea I used to drink in the States. I will have to look for Chinese tea when I return. (And I'm sure I will experience sticker shock!)

My 1-minute electric tea kettle. I'm definitely buying one of these when I get back to the U.S. (That other machine is a water distiller. The Peace Corps provides them for drinking/cooking water. You can buy bottled water here that is germ free, but the metals aren't necessarily removed. The metals content in the water here is higher than what the PC considers to be safe, so they give us these distillers. I distill about 2 gallons of water a day. It takes about 4 hours for each gallon. Basically I am running a distillery in my house, but for water!)

Good Things

Remember Martha Stewart Living? She always had a section called "Good Things." So as part of my effort to enjoy the present, here are some "Good Things":

1. Technology! I can keep in touch with friends and family. I don't have 24/7 internet access, but when I get on and see emails and updates, nothing makes me happier.

2. Really cheap cell phone service. My cell phone costs me about $3.00 a month to use. Eat that, Verizon! And no contracts.

3. Delicious bottled tea. Jasmine tea is very popular here as a cold drink, and you can buy it bottled just about everywhere. Light and refreshing and just slightly sweet, it's my favorite tea drink.

4. Dim Sum on the street. There are street vendors selling dim sum and Chinese BBQ all over the place. (Pics soon!) It isn't cheap or healthy, but it is plentiful and readily available, if you want it. And it makes your walk anywhere quite an adventure, all the smells and smoke. Occasionally I do treat myself to veggie potstickers on the way home. A lady sells them right outside my gate.

5. Little Chinese kids. They are just the cutest things ever. Today I was behind a little 1 1/2 year old or so girl with her mom on the escalator. She had on a little red traditional Chinese coat, and little red shoes. She kept sticking one leg waaay out in the air, preparing to step off. I could hear her mom keep telling her "Not yet." Finally she got to the bottom and got her leg all ready to step off and leapt off the escalator. She was just so cute. It made me smile.