Tianjin Pizza

The IECS Tianjin and Langfang Teams

This past weekend the team and I decided we would take our first venture out of the small city of Langfang and we would make our way to the big of city of Tianjin.  Tianjin has the population of New York City squeezed into an area that’s half the size.  So it’s a “big” city!  It’s also a very modern city.  The streets and buildings all have been modernized and the number of accessible trees and parks give the city a rather hospitable look.  It’s a rather pleasant place to visit.  But we were not traveling to Tianjin just to go site seeing.  Rather, we were traveling there to celebrate the birthday of one of the four IECS teachers stationed at the Tianjin Vocational School.  So the Langfang team hopped on a train to meet the Tianjin team so that we could all celebrate Sarah’s birthday together.

The journey started with a 45 minute train ride.  We had the option of either spending two hours on the train to go to North Tianjin or to spend 45 minutes on the train to South Tianjin and then taking a bus through the city.  We choose to go to the south station and then take the bus north; however, it still ended up being about 2 hours of travel time regardless.  The best (or worst) part of the trip was riding in the cramped three wheeled scooter-taxi-thing known an “auto rickshaw.”  There are very few non-motorized rickshaws in China but there are hundreds of modernized ones zooming around the streets.  It's a little awkward having five people ride in a three wheeled car that's smaller than a Volkswagen Bug.  But finally we arrived safely at the Tianjin Vocational School and the celebration began.

It was late when we arrived so after the initial meeting we quickly headed to bed.  The Tianjin team had their accommodations inside the school’s “hospitality learning center.”  It’s a mock hotel where students learn proper hotel management.  The school actually uses the facility as a hotel where the students get to take care of any and all guests of the school.  I think the biggest surprise of staying at the hospitality learning center was that they had soft beds!  I didn’t know soft beds existed in China!

The next day we headed back into the city with the Tianjin team towards the city’s famous Italian District.  This area of the city was quite a sight.  All of the architecture is done up in an Italian style and the area is full of Italian restaurants.  We were treating Sarah to an authentic pizza experience and we went to a little eatery called Pizza Bianca.  I could hardly believe my taste buds when I realized I was eating true New York style pizza in the middle of China.  I’m also quite glad that it was okay to use our hands and we did not have to eat the pizza with chopsticks!

Our adventure to Tianjin was quite the experience.  It was good to spend time with the other team and to meet their students.  We’ve invited the Tianjin team to come spend a weekend with us in Langfang; however, I don’t think we have any pizza to offer… unless you count Pizza Hut!  

 "That's a spicy meatball!"