Chinese medicine

Here are some pictures from a traditional Chinese pharmacy we visited in Yinchuan. It is not exactly like walking in to an average pharmacy back home. In the counter we found mostly dried animals, insects and plants. China is famous for it's medicine so putting out these shots feels natural. Being in here was a very interesting experience. In China it is believed that poison can be used to get poison out of the body, therefore they have some poisonous insects and animals that is used as medicine.

Celebration of the 50th anniversary of Ningxia University

It was a wonderful celebration with impressive performances. We congratulate Ningda (Ningxia University), and best wishes for the future. Here are pictures from the celebration

Traffic in Yinchuan

The traffic in Yinchuan is quite different from the one we are used to back home. Huge roads in the city, 4-8 lanes, lot’s of cars, tricycles, motorcycles, mopeds and bicycles. And because of that as a pedestrian we have to pay really close attention before and when crossing the road. There is also two lanes outside campus next to the road, for bicycles and the smaller vehicles mentioned above. The Norwegian way of looking left – right – left is not sufficient here. When crossing the road, we constantly have to look left and right, fast, use all our senses and stop several times on the way over the broad roads.

The roads here are well maintained, newly build, and has capacity for alot more cars. They are obviously built for the nextcoming years and generation(s). Owning a car in China is not something anyone can do. It is to expensive for the normal family here. If a family owns a car, it means that they have solid and above the normal level of income.

In general the drivers do not pay as close attention to the pedestrians as home, and as a pedestrian we enjoy less respect than at home. As a consequence of that we have to keep our senses sharpened when being out in the traffic.

The collective transport here in Yinchuan is busses, minibuses, taxi and tricycle (rickshaw).

Tricycle(rickshaw)

Am I healthy?

Some days ago I was struck with a troubled stomach. If it was mild food poisoning or just Traveller's Diarrhoea, I don't know. But at least the Oriental bacterias did their job and made one day out of hell for me.

I've also been a bit harassed by mosquitos. For some reason they really like me, and on one arm only I had about 17(!) mosquito bites. While Christian (that lucky bastard), got none. The rest of my body also got their share of bites, but 17 on one arm is a record for me.

But I don't mean to share all my hypochondriac worries here with you. The real reason why I'm writing this is because of the Chinese and their ways of handling such happenings. In this country it is common to offer advice whenever you think you have something to contribute, and most Chinese can contribute in most cases. And when it comes to a common disease like with your stomach, advices, tips and tricks rain over you. People from the office, who normally shows us around, even came to our apartments and started preparing food for me. Now that's what I call a caring employer.

The focus on health in this country is rather amazing. And it has probably been like that for centuries. Everyone knows a lot about what's healthy and not, and it may be the biggest issue of their lives, from cradle to grave. When we were at the airport we found a hand-out called "The 3 Fives". "Five keys to safer food. Five keys to a healthy diet. Five keys to appropriate physical activity." And in this country it seems like everyone follows these keys, as they are of such importance.

For starters, we had to take a full health check when we were in Norway to get a resident permit. The Doctor had to clarify whether we had Syphilis, STDs, back trouble or other scary illnesses. He even needed to give the form an official stamp. But when we came here, they weren't pleased with what the doctor had done in Norway. Because of other focuses, we had to take more blood tests and even an ultrasonic(!) test. This was a new experience for us two Norwegians, but we can assure everyone back home that none of us are pregnant.

In almost every block there are some red and yellow apparatus. These are for exercise, mostly used by elderly people. Just like an outdoors gym, where you can show off your muscles to anyone who's passing by. I think Christian and me will try them out soon, who knows, maybe we will fit in just perfectly.

But the old people also have other ways of staying fit. Every morning we can see people practicing their Tai Chi, which is a kind of Martial Arts dance performed slowly. It's graceful and impressive, at least when you see the synchronized movements between all the participants. Tai Chi is a dance/exercise which is a part of the legendary Martial Art of Kung Fu. Maybe I can write more about Kung Fu another time, but not in this article.

In his article about food, Christian mentioned something about healthy food. The Chinese think that everything they digest should be healthy. That's why even snacks are made out of dried fruits and vegetables, without adding sugar or anything artificial.

We have also noticed people with face masks, both here and in Beijing. Some of them say that they wear them to protect their skin, something which is quite understandable here in the dry and sandy desert landscape. But during football practice it started raining and everyone ran away to find shelter. We couldn't see why, because in Norway we are so used to the rain, but the reason was that they were afraid of the rain. It is actually dangerous to drink it. So another reason for the health focus and face masks might be the polluted air. Close to the University there is a big chimney that sends out tons of smog from a rubber factory. And it makes me think, maybe I should buy me one of those masks.

About the project - Sinonor

The Sinonor project is an exchange between China and Norway. Here they exchange experiences, ideas and, maybe most importantly, people. We are a part of the teacher exchange, where Ningxia University in Yinchuan gets English teachers from Norway, and the Red Cross Nordic United World College in Flekke gets Chinese teachers from NU. The exchange has existed for six years now, and it seems like we are in the final year. That's why we are just three participants this year, compared to around seven the other years (5 Norwegians and 2 Chinese). So we, Christian and Tom Christian, are the Norwegian participants. At the same time a really nice young lady called Li Dan stays at the RCNUWC.

Now there is a new project from RCNUWC called Sahanor. It will be the new focus for the next five years. It's an exchange project between RCNUWC and Polisario, who runs the West Saharawi refugee camps in Algeria. This year there will be six young norwegians who work for the refugee camps. You can read more about their lives in Algeria at http://sahanor.blogspot.com

If you have any questions about these projects, feel free to ask the writers in both blogs. We'll answer as soon as we can.

Chinese trucks

When we were in Flekke for our training we heard about some Chinese Dong Feng trucks being used in the civil war in Darfur. For those of you who don't know, Darfur is the western region of Sudan where several non-governmental military groups have been killing each other and civilians for quite a while. We heard about the trucks when we learnt about using sources critically, and we saw the news from both BBC and Chinese media.

That's why it was weird to suddenly see that the same kind of trucks were standing in line in front of the administration building. Even though it might look scary at first, the reason for it is quite harmless. These trucks are used by the military for the university's 50th anniversary, which is due on the 15th of September. Lots of students have been practicing different dances and shows, many of them in military costumes. At first it was weird to see girls in camouflage suits and pink caps. But when we heard that all students have to do military training during their bachelor's degree, and that camouflage clothes are big in the fashion industry, it doesn't seem that weird at all.

The Chinese surely knows how to celebrate. As most people know, they were the ones who invented the fireworks. So we are really

looking forward to the 50th anniversary celebration and will come back with lots of pictures from the 15th.

A country of thousand tastes

One of the first things that impressed us when coming to China in general, and Yinchuan in special, is the enormous varieties of tastes and flavours. This goes for both food and drinks. It didn't take us many days to understand that China is paradise to food lovers.



Woman eating at a marketpalce, using chopsticks (kuaizi).




When we eat here, we use the same cutlery as the local inhabitants. For those who don't know they use chopsticks, made of wood. We must admit that this is the first challenge we meet. The first times we ate with these, our fingers hurt, and we lost alot of food on the table and in our lap. The good thing though is that since we are foreigners it's not considered such a big of a deal. The way we use our chopsticks so far seems quite amusing to the locals. They look, laugh and smile, which we think is fun. They are very helpful when it comes to giving advice about how to use them. Luckily for us the Chinese people are very friendly and polite.


Unlike in the country we come from it is accepted to eat loudly and noisy in China. It seems that people enjoy the food alot and they can eat it the way they want to. To understand how important food and the meal is to the chinese we can just look at a common way of greeting: ni chi le ma (have you eaten)...

All the meals that are served are hot, even breakfast. It is considered to be better for the digestion than eating cold food. This does not mean that it is not possible to get cold dishes as well, like vegetables. But warm food is common to every meal.

When we are served soup in China, we are given a small porcelain spoon to use. Soup is also a very important dish, and very often served with all of the daily meal.

Rice is an essential part of a meal, as long as you don't eat dumplings. Those two dishes rarely come together in the same meal. Cooked is the most common way to both prepare and eat rice in China.

Dumpling come both cooked, steamed and fried. The number of fillings they have witness how much effort, pride and creativity they put into making food. Amazing mixtures between vegetables and meat and vegetarian dumplings. To mention a few, dumplings with lamb and carrot, beef and onion, mixed vegetables, seafood and vegetables.......(i'll stop there, because it makes my mouth drool)

Dumplings are rarely eaten alone, usually they are eaten together with fried, raw or cooked vegetables, and different spices and sauces. Usually people dip the dumplings in a spice mixture and add soy oil and vinegar to the spice. Really tasty...





This man is making noodles



In the North of China noodles is also very common for people to eat. The North is famous for it's spicy food, noodles and mutton (lamb meat).





This man is making hotpot





Huo Guo (Hotpot) or directly translated Firepot is a spicy meal made of mutton in iron pans over open fire. This is a dish for those with strong stomachs....

China also has an amazing variety of tea. The tea is usually with water or milk. In the Ningxia region you can get tea of all kinds.

Ningxia is famous for their wolfberries, which is thought to be very healthy, among other things for it's high level of antioxidants.

Two newly educated teachers on their way to China

Tom Christian (right) is a smiling and nice guy from Isfjorden in Romsdalen. He is 24 years old, interested in movies, reading and football. He is an educated teacher with English and Theatre as main subjects. His favourite teams are Fredrikstad FK and Liverpool FC, and he knows a lot about these teams. He is full of knowledge and loves to meet new people.

Christian (left) is a just as nice guy from the innermost part of Sognefjorden, Gaupne in Luster. He is just as old as the one mentioned above, and he loves to kayak and everything else that involves the nature. He has a bachelor's degree in Russian studies from the University of Tromsø, one year of Comparative Politics from the University of Bergen, and took Pedagogy last year at Sogn og Fjordane University College. He is hard working and loyal, and he misses his girlfriend a little bit as well.

This is our blog which we will use during our year in China. Due to a busy schedule during the introduction weeks the content of our blog will be quite limited. More will come eventually, and we hope you are patient and will visit our blog every now and then...

Best regards,
two good neighbours (in China)