Happy Spring Allergies

Let me take a break from my China travel series and have a little heart-to-heart chat on my favorite topic, Immunology.

Yesterday was a marvelous day. I pulled a near-all-nighter Sunday studying for my Immunology midterm. I went in Monday morning sleep-deprived but relatively hyper. I wanted to blast through the mighty midterm and have a good day. I blasted through it and I really hope I ace it. I am expecting Honors this time around because Immunology was my specialty in undergraduate. I’d be ashamed to show my face in Smilow if I fail to ace this topic…

I wanted to enjoy the beautiful, sunny day. Except there’s one blockade: seasonal allergies. Yes, I am allergic to those pesky plant sperm spreading their DNA to female plant ovaries. How perfect that I am studying Immunology and suffering through allergies, or immediate hypersensitivity. The other Friday when I dragged myself to the morning lecture on Allergies and Immediate Hypersensitivity, I was the perfect clinical example. I was sneezing and playing musical rhonchi through my stuffy nose. What is biologically happening in my body is a slew of abnormal responses. I inhale plant pollen, which is non-pathogenic, but for people like me with intense allergies, the immune system is activated. Pollen in my mucous membranes activates IgE antibodies, which consequently bind to Fc-epsilon-receptors on mast cells and basophils. A bunch of intracellular events get switched on, ultimately leading to the release of granules (degranulation). This break-out of granules releases histamine, the primary chemical mediator in an allergic response. It results in smooth muscle contraction, vasodilation, elevated vascular permeability.  Symptoms manifest in the form of sneezing (pollen irritates the mucus membranes of the respiratory tract and bronchial/intestinal contraction) and stuffy and runny nose (increased vascular permeability). Other symptoms include itchy/watery eyes, itchy/sore throat, congestion, and difficulty breathing. Thank you mast cells for making every spring so eventful…

The last time I wanted to enjoy a super Spring day, it was back in freshman year at NYU. I survived Manhattan because it’s just buildings and cars and pollution. If I stayed away from anything bushy or green, I was fine. But that freshman year, I thought I was healthy and immune to allergies in the city. It was a wonderful afternoon at Washington Square Park, before it went under construction, and I sat at the water fountain studying for my French final in a few hours. I took in the breeze and smelled the fresh air. Oh, what a bad idea… I got my pay-back during my exam, when I started crying my eyes out, snot dripping uncontrollably from my nose and allergens tickling the inside of my nose. Despite the symphony of symptoms, I still survived (and aced) my exam.

Today, I was tempted for a breezy, relaxing walk to West Campus. I first had to play doctor after lunch, then I could take my walk to the Student Health Services for a quick PPD shot for school. I strolled down Circle Road for 15-20 minutes, a warm and wonderful walk indeed. By the time I got to the health center, I started feeling mild symptoms, in the form of a stuffy nose and sneezes. I ignored them and went on with the day.

I met up with a friend to eat at the Green Cactus. Last time I did not go with a few friends for Cinco de Mayo because I was being lazy, but today was a good day. I was done with exams and I needed a leisurely day to indulge in myself. And so we went to eat Mexican food. I ate this well-portioned Mexican sandwich called the Torta. Packed with grilled chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, mayo, and guacamole, the Torta was a sure-fire win. I slowly ate my mighty sandwich over a comfortably-paced conversation with my dear friend. I hit my food coma halfway through, but I pushed through another quarter before I gave up on the sandwich.

Torta: Chicken

Asian girls and frisbee

The day was still early, around 6pm. To digest, we went to toss a frisbee at the nearby Strathmore Park off Nichols Road. The day could not have been better set. The sun was going down, the grass was green, Little Leaguers were playing baseball, and I felt free. Throughout high school, I hated frisbee. I was the one no one threw the frisbee too because I sucked. Today was different. My friend taught me some tosses and I learned the moves quickly, with some slip-ups and deviations. I was even catching the flying disc. Or maybe he was just good at directing the frisbee towards me and it was not flying at me full throttle. Also, it was hard playing in a dress and flats; when I was running or spinning to catch the frisbee, I was careful not to pull a Marilyn Monroe moment. It’s happened to me in Manhattan over those subway vents and vacuums in the residence hall, and it’s not happening again.

I got home at 7pm, showered, and crashed. Three hours of sleep were finally hitting me hard. I fell asleep talking to my sister and I woke up congested and in pain. My allergies were acting up again, despite my anti-histamine pills. The battle has lost against my favor and now I will say goodbye to the taste and smell of Spring. I do not regret having a wonderful day yesterday, because it was truly fun and revitalizing. While I had friends roam to the beach and the parks and shopping, I had a fantastic spring day =)

Lasting Thoughts on Beijing

1) The city is not as industrialized and modern as I thought. I do not believe anything compares to Shanghai, because that is what I am doing in my head now. The air was dusty and foggy. The weather was uncomfortably hot. It definitely did not help with so many people squished into one city. On the streets, cars, bicycles, motorcycles, and pedestrians constantly collided. They were not real accidents, but near-accidents with how quickly cars flew down the roads and how close pedestrians and bicycles came to these aggressive drivers.

2) Because it was so hot and humid already, I had early onset-allergies. By the end of the first day, I started sneezing and spreading my germs. My nose began to stuff and my eyes itched, classic signs of immediate hypersensitivity! It also did not help that I went to Yi He Yuan, the Summer Gardens that first day, where I was besieged by trees and greenery. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the scenery and Beijing’s Best. Curse you pollen, I did not (and will) not let you ruin my wonderful spring cheers!

3) Never mind the spring, it was summer already. It was warm and green colored the city. And it was raining fluff everywhere, fluff from a type of willow tree there called 柳樹 Liu shu. It was almost mesmerizing, sometimes annoying, to see the raining cotton balls.

4) There were many old people, like OLD people. I saw many wise elders pondering and looking back on their long lives, sitting on street corners. They were also relatively fit people, driving carriages and riding bicycles and walking about. It’s stunning to compare old people in China and old people in America, mostly bumming on couches and getting fat.

5) And lastly, and honestly, I cannot stand the Northern accent. I cannot bear to listen to the rolling “R’s” mainly because I can’t fathom to understand it! It may be the accepted Mandarin, but personally, it’s ugly and vulgar. See, I am a Southerner at heart, with Mom from glorious Shanghai and Dad from Taiwan’s best, Taipei. Kelly and I are somewhere in the middle, mixed in with the American-born Chinese. We have clear accents, somewhere between Shanghainese and Taiwanese. In general, it’s a Southern accent where we do NOT roll our “R’s.” We piss off the Beijing headquarters and the Northern territory with our Mandarin, because to them, it’s not the real Mandarin. To me, it’s the Mandarin I understand and practice. When I watch Taiwanese television shows or the news, THAT’s the Mandarin I accept and love to hear. No big deal, just personal taste =)

Taiwan love~

A Night to Remember

Wednesday, April 20, 2011:  Beijing Nights

Wang Fu Jing 王府井, Beijing’s Nightmarket

How do you end a night in Beijing with a bang?! Roam around Beijing’s Nightmarket of course! The best Nightmarkets in Asia belong in Taiwan, but a Beijing Nightmarket experience is still worth a wander. Beijing’s well-known Nightmarket, or 夜市 Ye Shi, called 王府井 Wang Fu Jing is where we explored.  Located in 東城區 in the Eastern District, Wang Fu Jing is an avid, dynamic shopping area for nightlife, exotic snack foods, souvenirs, and merchandise.

Mr. Kang joined us for a last walk through Beijing’s city streets, mostly pushing Dad in his wheelchair. The first thing I had was this sweetened candied fruit on a stick called 冰糖葫蘆 Bing Tang Hu Lu. There was a small side stand with a handicapped gentleman selling these snacks. We all had soft hearts, so Mom ended up buying several sticks of candied snacks from him. Instead of paying him in Chinese dollars, the nice man was content with an American dollar with Washington, just for fun. He was obviously getting the better end of the deal, with an American dollar equivalent to about 6.5 Chinese renmingbi, much more than how much the cheap snack foods cost. So the nice vendor man was happy with his new Washington, and we thanked him for a delicious evening snack. ‘Bing Tang Hu Lu’ is a well-known, fun winter kebob snack in Northern China similar to the American version of candied and chocolate-covered apples commonly eaten at street fairs and outdoor venues.  It comprises of small Chinese hawthorne fruits, or 山楂 Shan Zha, that look like miniature Macintosh apples, coated in hardened sugar syrup. There are numerous seeds to spit out, but otherwise, the fruit is mushy and mildly sweet. The external layer of sugar adds an extra bite (and glucose overload) to the enjoyment. What an adorable snack to nibble on a pleasant evening.

We stopped by a local shop with plenty of small gifts and merchandise. Mom and Kelly went to look for gifts for teachers. I was gravitated toward cell-phone decorations. I LOVE cute cell phone key chains, but obviously I cannot buy every cute item and overload my poor smartphone. Nevertheless, I like browsing for cute Sanrio characters, jade decorations, smiling baby animals, and meaningful charms with Chinese characters, sings, and names. I did not find a charm I absolutely adored by the time we started walking again, except maybe for a little playful panda one.

Look! It's Barbie Hsu!!!

We hit one of the main streets of Wang Fu Jing, with the billboards, department stores, larger food shops, and crowds of Chinese people. And of course, we were gravitated toward another food shop with plenty of snacks and goodies. I was walking in a sugar wonderland, with so many stands of colorful mochi candies and biscuits! I usually do not get excited at American candy shops like the M&M’s store or It’s Sugar in Atlantic City, but it was different at a Chinese dessert shop! Chinese sweet treats are more what I enjoy, because they are not too sugary or overdecorated with food coloring. Instead, they tend to be natural, tonic, and plain exotic. Here was a sampling of what we loaded back to America.

It's like window shopping for cavities!

1)   Chinese pastries, and cookies!!! Uber tasty goodies!  One of my favorites is 老婆餅 Lao Po Bing, or Wife Biscuits. Curious name indeed! It is soft and flaky on the outside, filled with sticky and chewy pineapple paste on the inside, or 鳳梨. I love these treats so much because they taste just like my favorite Taiwanese pineapple tarts called 鳳梨酥 feng li su. The magical explosion of sweetness from the pineapple is atomic. The other second-best pastries include red bean and green bean cakes. Similar to the Wife Biscuits, these cakes are filled with mildly sweet bean paste on the inside, buttery and flaky on the outside. They are small portions, but beware of grabbing one too many biscuits and taking whirlwind rides down the alimentary canal. I usually limit myself to two biscuits and I am pleasantly satisfied =)

2)   茯苓夾餅 Fu Ling Jia Bing – This traditional Beijing snack is styled like a mini-pancake, round like the full moon.  It is made with flour, honey, sugar, and fuling, a type of herbal fungus from the Perenniporia genus. It appears as a sandwich, with a gelatinous sweet filling and taste of fuling stacked between the white, paper-thin flour sheets.  It also comes in different flavors and decorations, including sesame crusts.  Well-known for its taste and nutrients, Fu Ling Jia Bing contains proteins and vitamins that help nourish the liver and kidney, lubricate the intestinal tract, restore vitality, improve complexion, and protect the delicate skin. Once again, this special snack used to be reserved for the imperial family or government officials, but has since become a snack for everyone to enjoy.  Here’s an interesting tidbit. During the Qing dynasty, Empress Dowager Cixi fell ill. Imperial chefs utilized the Tuckahoe herb derived from the Perenniporia fungus and grown in Yunnan and Guizhou to create tonic effects for the sick Empress. Medical effects included stimulating the spleen, calming the nerves, and improving fluid circulation. Nowadays, Fu Ling Jia Bing has become more than just a specialty, well-crafted snack; it has become a symbol of Beijing’s best treats.

3)   驢打滾 Lu Da Gun – Another delicious Beijing specialty snack is Rolling Donkey. It is a type cake made of rice flour and red bean paste. To achieve a yellow tint on the outside, soybean flour is added as well. The filling is diversely delightful:  鳳梨味 (pineapple, needless to say it’s my favorite), 花生 (peanut), 豆沙 (red bean), and 山楂 (hawthorne). They are akin to little mochi balls, very glutinous and chewy. With these delectable treats, I did not find chewing to be such a nuisance, like I usually do with meats and Laffy Taffy. Battling through the glutinous balls of goodness never felt so rewarding and pleasurable. When I arrived at the heart of the filling, a supernova exploded in my mouth and a burst of stars flashed before my eyes. These miniature sweet rice dumplings did wonders to my taste buds, perhaps yours too!

We wandered the small streets next. There, we really had to watch our bags. In general, China is infamous for creative criminal ways of pick-pocketing netizens and tourists. Especially in the small streets when you are enjoying the street food or the environment, you are prone to prowlers. So walking down the small streets, I was clutching my purse like a baseball bat. Aside from looking out for pick-pocketers, I was finally enjoying the famous Nightmarkets of China! It was very dynamic, noisy, and classically oriental. Down one of the side streets was an opera performance on the balcony. The streets were lighted with traditional red lanterns and golden decorations. The aroma of street foods, or 小吃 Xiao Chi, stimulated my olfactory cells. I absorbed the wonderful smell of roasted meats on skewers, called 串兒 Chuanr. Lamb, chicken, pork, beef, and other animals probably were marinated in various spices. There were also fried insects and exotic bugs on skewers, still wiggling their helpless legs in agony or even excitement. We passed more souvenir shops and finally made it back out.

It was a pleasant stroll through the night, but all good things must come to an end. It was time to move on to the next series of good things, in awesome Shanghai again. We returned to Beijing’s South Train Station to catch the Dongche. Mr. Kang was incredibly helpful throughout the trip. He parked his car outside, and came with us into the train station, helping us with a crippled Dad and getting us to the right station. He even took us to the train and into the cabins. He has practically been adopted into our family during our stay in Beijing! We were very fortunate to have met him that first day in Beijing. Without him, we would have been lost souls wandering the streets and catching random taxis. We probably would have spent more money getting around the region. We would not have met such a good friend either! And with him, we had a memorable, fulfilling trip in Beijing, since he took us to all the best places Beijing has to offer. He went out of his way for us, whether it was waiting in the car outside Yi He Yuan, buying vegetables and water for us, or carrying Dad up and down staircases. Let’s say, in the end, we tipped him a great deal for his company and incredible service and we will forever remember this amazing young man. Good-hearted people do exist in this world after all! We promised to come back and see Mr. Kang again next time we visit Beijing. Until next time Beijing!!!