'pure milk'

[Chips Downe]

Hi. I'm new here, but not new in China...anyway I used to think it was maybe that my student friends...i.e. the ones that offered to go shopping for me, or with me...
either came from the farm and were less familiar with downtown than me (yeah, in the end I'd be like "just follow me ok! I'll tell you when to translate!") or
came from the farm and were too poor to understand even the Chinese versions of Western food...

Is 'pure milk' what I think it is...i.e., what's known in Sydney as...'milk' ?

I'm also a yogurt eater in Sydney...and equally mystified by this "sour milk" crap. If I could buy 'sour' anything in China I'd be thrilled...and I speak as someone who endured a winter in Neimengu (-40...ice-creams on the footpath..and fish too come to think of it...)

Is 'sour milk' really supposed to be yogurt?

Is it like 'brother/sister' (friend) or 'friend' (someone who can be useful to you) ?

Where do they get these translations?

Can anyone advise - is it possible to buy, ahem, pure milk (as in, unsugared) or sour milk (as in yogurt, real, unsweetened yogurt that doesn't taste weird with cucumbers and mint)?

once again, a curmudgeonly, "hello"

(well, ok...yesterday I went to my first English corner' in years...it's in my contract, but, to be different and let's face it, to fool me, here they've decided to call it English Island...yeah, English English isn't good enough for them...but I bet I'm not the only one to have signed a contract written in Chinglish...as well as English Island, according to the contract, I have 'Focus Listening' (?)and 'Other Training Courses' every week...

well, I'm not a trouble-maker...tonight I requested and got, a DVD, after politely agreeing to take the extra classes since the new American teacher who was expected bailed out...but it's still 2 hours short of the contracted 16...I don't really see how I could have refuse anyway...)

Sorry...baijiu!

English corner, 2 uncomfortable hours of their bad English and inappropriate personal questions...7-9 pm. Some were enthusiastic so I mentioned that I hadn't eaten and couldn't read a menu...hell I hinted and in the end I invited...but no takers. (Yeah, the questions I'd talk about are probably inappropriate for China, but the questions they ask are inappropriate for a Westerner...yet they really want to learn 'Western Culture" (No, I won't be going home to spend Christmas with my family...they're mostly dead from cancer or suicide and I'm not a Christian anymore...haven't been since I was about 12 !) What can we do? (Any suggestions?)

Any other Sydneysiders out there? Now I say, listen, Sydney is modern, it's like, 2005, you can do what you want, that's Sydney culture...one in three Sydneysiders was born overseas so we don't all follow the same traditions, in fact f*ck tradition, that's why we're rich and successful!

But hey! I'm not Dashan, but after 2 hours of Chinglish and sweating, I go by myself to a new restaurant and spend 2 hours speaking Chinese (my Chinese is sh*t but I,,,,I,,,have taken the trouble to learn a little Chinese culture...). I end up sharing a meal, sharing dishes with Hui people (yeah, hats and all) and going home with three phone numbers of people who want to make friends with me...one has about as much English as my Chinese. That's apart from the manager and the waiters who were also lovely!

They even wrote down the name of a fabulous Chicken dish for me in Chinese...THEY UNDERTOOD MY CHINESE!!!

Is it because they were men?

Jeez, give me Chinese men any day!

This afternoon before going to a new shop for photocopies for my class tomorrow, I checked the page where my friendly student wrote in pinyin, and memorised it..

I went to the shop, flourished the original and when one of them finally got up from the TV and walked over, said "san shi fu yin" (maybe xie xie...)

Without a word or a smile, she turned on the machine and eventually thrust ONE copy at me. (As they always do...I'm a Western teacher...I always want photcopies, and I always get sh*t...same with photographers...are people in these shops trained to be especially unhelpful to foreigners?)

It's a separate thread, but, dui bu dui, Chinese women don't listen do they? They just like to talk...they want us to listen to them...that's why the want 'Oral English' classes...they don't want to learn, they just want someone to listen to them talking.

Ever try to get a discussion going in China by initiating a topic and not get contradicted? (I don't argue anymore...ok, there's no plural for the word 'wall'...ok, the Japanese never went to Nanjing...I used to go home and write them down...I have acollection somewhere...what's the point of arguing...logic escapes them, facts are irrelevant, and, in the end, I guess, they pay...)

Ever know a Chinese to give an opinion first?

Well, I'm drunk but I'm ok...I've trained a few...students from a school 2 years back for example, actually take a 2 hour bus ride to spend the weekend with me...and I also see students from last year and from my part-time jobs... I can and do make good friend here, just rarely in my (mainly female) classes.

[Raoul Duke]

chips said:

Ever know a Chinese to give an opinion first?

Oh, Jesus, yes. Never known them to NOT.

"Pure" milk is pretty easy. Look for a brand like Bright Dairy...you probably met their cows in Inner Mongolia.

Bright also makes a decent sweetened fruit cup-type yoghurt. However, plain unsweetened yoghurt for mixing with them cukes is virtually impossible. Try your luck in a Xinjiang restaurant (which may make their own) or come to Shanghai and go to City Supermarket.

Welcome at long last, Chips. You seem to be posting drunk, which is a sign of potential greatness here...

[George61]

Whew!! Welcome aboard, Chips. Boy, you Sydneysiders love to ramble. For a first post, that has got to take the cake, candles and all!
I don't know where to start replying! My reputation is shot to the poohouse now, that's for sure.
So, where are you??
And have a beer....Newbs is buying.

[Ruth]

I echo George's 'Whew'. That was a doozy of a first post.

Welcome to the Saloon, Chips Downe.

'Pure' milk, if that is how it is being translated, is probably what we call 'milk'. There are lots of flavored kinds out there. Once I found a brand I like, that's all I buy now. No English on the label. It comes in a white foil pouch with green and red writing. There is a mother cow in a green dress with white spots and a baby cow with a red vest. It's what I would call whole milk (as opposed to 2% or skim). Not sure how similar US and Oz terms for milk are. It's good in coffee and on cereal.

Is there another photocopy shop in your area? If so, try to find one with friendlier service. At the one across from my school, the girls who do the copying are very friendly. They practice their English and I practice my Chinese. They will leave other customers to serve me. (I don't like this BTW. I'm willing to wait my turn.)

[Mr Nobody]

The sour milk is just that - something like sweetened but soured buttermilk sortakinda.

Not like Yoghurt, although I guess for some things it might do the job. Probably do the job of buttermilk. I think it uses lactobacillus though.

I haven't experimented.

I have had trouble getting people's opinions without giving mine first, then they either contradict for no discernable reason or logic, or they agree when it is obvious they don't.

I have had trouble with multiples of things too.

You can get whole milk, low fat, skim, and other types (flavoured and sweetened etc.) You can get these as UHT as well, or it appears to be UHT.

You can also find them as powders but the bewildering varieties take some sorting out. I use skim milk powder for lots of cooking back home, since you can seriously reduce the butter, cheese or fat content of things and still keep the unctiousness (isnt that a nice word). Here, I am still working my way around it.

ANd if anyone anywhere ever finds a variety of baijiu that tastes like vodka and not baijiu, their fame and fortune are made.

[George61]

I'm not allowed to buy "Bright" dairy products. Babe read something somewhere that they had been found guilty of dubious practices in their yoghurt department. Forgot what.
"Meng Nui" is the current supplier of choice. Mongolian, originally, they also have a huge icecream and yoghurt factory in Tai'an. Werry delicious!

[Newbs]

And have a beer....Newbs is buying.

Correct, I'm not a tight a r s e like George.

Welcome Chips Downe. Wierd stuff is happening in the world's most liveable city. That's Melbourne by the way, cos I know you Sydneysiders are an ignorant mob who figure that Sydney is the centre of the universe. Just about everyone here is jumping on the Sydney bandwagon, including your humble correspondent. Several reasons for this. 1. Everyone hates West Coast. 2. Sydney were originally South Melbourne so there is still some support there, although it has increased in the past few months. 3. Sydney/South Melbourne last won in 1933 so there is the sympathy factor.

Sorry to hijack this thread to Australian Rules Football, it's the first time I've done that.
Go Sydney

And once again welcome. Raoul's comment about posting drunk has a lot of merit in it. Keep up the good work.

[Raoul Duke]

Meng Nui (Meng Niu?) is also the brand my ultra-fastidious wife recomends.

[George61]

Meng Nui (Meng Niu?)

NIU is right...it was an "oops slips".So, your wife IS a discerning young lady, after all!

[Raoul Duke]

Damn straight. Usually.

It must be said that I still like Bright cup yoghurt. It tastes just fine and often comes with a free spoon with a cow on it.

I can only live in China without becoming hopelessly neurotic by following two rules:
1) If it tastes good, shut up and eat it.
2) What does not kill you can only make you stronger.

[George61]

often comes with a free spoon with a cow on it.

Gotta love those free spoons!
I prefer the Meng niu, so it don't matter much to me. Carrefour doesn't stock the fruit yoghurt anymore....Haven't seen it anywhere for a long time. Pity!!

[Nate M]

My suggestions for getting "pure milk".

1. Visit your local city center.
2. Bring a bucket, a stool, 5 yuan, and some handwarmers.
3. Find a farmer who has tied his cow to a telephone pole.
4. Dispense of the 5 yuan.
5. Place stool near said cow, and place bucket below milk dispensers.
6. Have a seat and warm up your hands.
7. Extract milk.
8. Smile for the cameraphones.

[con's fly is open]

Oh, I like this guy!

I have a great Saloon project scheme: hidden tape recorders for English corners- we publish a Weirdest Of.

Chips, you're from Sidney? Do you know Aaron? Tall, redhead? *
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*God, I kill me.

[George61]

Have you tried that method, Nate? Why the handwarmers?

[Mr Nobody]

And then don't drink it unless you are immune to all sorts of hideous diseases.

[Chips Downe]

Well, that was diverting - thanks all for your indulgence; sounds like you've had those moments too...

I appreciated the recommendations, (I guess I should keep trying until I find a brand I like, but milk/sour milk often has no English...ever tipped 'sour milk' into your coffee?) especially thanks Ruth for the fabulous description, it might be most fun passing it on to my shopping assistant today, oh! I've woken him up! (Think of Smithers, but young and Chinese and not gay, he's a treasure... We might go together and look for that mother cow in the green dress with white spots...)

Hey - my friend's family has a cow, I've used it! (Possibly for ploughing, if that's the spelling - and that was the occupation - yeah, I'm from downtown Sydney, where cows are about as common as kangaroos...anyway I had a go...). Favourite Chinese joke here: What do you say on the cow's birthday?

"Happy birthday to niu..." (sing it, it always cracks up half the class)

Or stick to the baijiu - hey, vodka's ok but I suggest you think of baijiu as teqila without the salt (mmmmm, salt!) or lemon (mmmmm, lemon!) ah, baijiu and baijimou, the two staples that keep me going...I once mixed baijiu and what passes for OJ and it worked...but frankly, I ahem, quite like baijiu...

... it was that or the mantou I ate...yeah, anyway it was a happy post! Hi all, don't know Aaron but recently met David and a group of his Chinese friends...what do you say when an Italian rushes up and asks you in front of his friends how many "bushes" you've had so far? Actually he was pretty cool, Hi David if you're reading...yii, Italians!)

Gan bei!

[Mr Nobody]

I know a red headed Aaron from sydney, but he isn't tall. I think you are making this up, Con.

[con's fly is open]

Yeah, Aaron said lousy things about you too, Nobby, but I stuck up for you.

A foreigner who likes baijiu?

[Chips Downe]

BAIJIU! the key to, and the consolation for, working in China...(but I'd be grateful for tips on cheap cooking wine...lemons are few and far between)

Not only do I play all the drinking games, I often win...jeez, I have non-English speaking friends who play them in English while I play in Chinese...that really helps even things up...and great face for all involved.

If you're not into it yet - (a) the first thing to check is the 'la' Ergoutou, though good, is definitely la...56% la in fact...Maotai and Wulianye must be similar or worse...but if you look around you can find acceptable and cheap firewater at 42-46%.

In my opinion Dongbei jiu is the best...but hey, when faced with Henan food I'll even drink warm beer...(not often, It's easy to go out and find a small shop selling baijiu...). My true answer to 'do you like Chinese food?' is, "depends on the baijiu"...

[Chips Downe]

Oh god...um, does this mean I've gone native? Nah...I'm just a pisshead. Almost always been the only foreigner at my school, which is fine too...drink baijiu, make Chinese friends...Whenever I go by myself to a restaurant I go home with (men's, admittedly) a pocketful of phone numbers (again I admit, people who can't speak English and who I generally never see again, as far as I know...). To be fair though, it has also helped me make good friends with many students' fathers. I've stayed for 3 days (students) to a month (friends) in at least 7 Chinese homes, and been put up in flash hotels nearby by at least 7 others...

Dongbei jiu was (b) incidentally...

[Raoul Duke]

Cheap cooking wine is easy to find...but may be a bear to describe without using Chinese. It's often sold in the Sauces and Spices sections of the stores rather than in the likker areas, if that helps. Brown bottle, red label bearing a little blue map of China. Very, very cheap but good for cooking.

If ya can't buy lemons...you're just in the wrong part of China.

[Nate M]

george61 said:

Have you tried that method, Nate?

I'm from Wisconsin. They teach us this stuff around the same time we learned to polka, and about a year before we were trained in the art of the hoedown.

Why the handwarmers?

Most girls don't like having icy cold hands fondle their breasts.

[George61]

Most girls don't like having icy cold hands fondle their breasts

Agreed. When I was growing up on the farm, we had to use warm water to wash their little titties. Fussy, eh!

[Newbs]

Most girls don't like having icy cold hands fondle their breasts.

But I thought breasts were hand warmers.

[Lotus Eater]

Doesn't the same principle apply to the male nether regions? Ice cold hands on those delicate little bits?