From Grits to Chopsticks

Forty years ago, Susan and I had our first trip together (with Susan’s parents) to Myrtle Beach, SC.  We were still quite young then (notice the hair, braces, old cars, and shorts): Things have changed a little since then:But we still love to spend time here with family: and as we celebrate our 36th wedding anniversary on […]

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The Annual English Summer Camps have begun at our school.  As usual, there are three camps – a camp for children: and a camp for college students and a camp for teachers from countryside schools:We are thankful for the wonderful teachers and college students who come from America to lead these camps and build relationships: I usually give a […]

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We often see interesting things here (at least, they seem interesting to us).  Here are a few shopping photos – 4″ tire snow bikes at Wal-mart (it almost never snows here):a really great deal if you need toothpaste and a new bowl:and a bad brand name for paper cups if you leave them on your wooden furniture:It’s […]

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Living in China presents us with the opportunity to eat some unique foods — things that we never ate in the West.  Some of the meat items aren’t too strange, like pigs feet and potatoes,black chicken,and a wide variety of barbeque choices:But when you depart from meat dishes, things start to get interesting.  Recently, one of our students gave […]

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Although many of our blogs deal with a variety of China-life topics, the majority of our time is actually spent with students.  Here is a photo of this semester’s international trade class:Some of the activities this year included negotiating business deals,trading floor experiments,accessing my website to complete group activities,the traditional year-end auction,and final exams:It was also good to eat […]

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We just returned from a quick trip to Thailand for a visit to the Bumrungrad Hospital, following up on Susan’s cough and shortness of breath (good news: no serious long-term problems were diagnosed!). Since we flew on Air Asia (the discount airline), we arrived in the old Don Mueang airport: We stayed at the Best Western […]

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Our university just graduated 4600 seniors:This year, they sat on a sea of blue plastic stools:Not surprisingly, many students were more interested in selfies and mobile phones than in listening to the program:As usual, the seating for family members was limited:And because of the large graduating class, individual department leaders simultaneously presented “diplomas” to students at their seats:Immediately […]

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Recently, Susan has been suffering from a severe cough and associated chest pain.  Our neighbor quickly diagnosed the problem as “gānké” (dry cough) and suggested that Susan should take the common Chinese remedy.  He started by peeling and dicing pears:according to Chinese traditional medicine, pears add moisture to your lungs:He then measured some rock sugar, […]

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The Mingtong River flows from the north to the south end of our city, traveling about 20 miles from the Songhuaba Reservoir and ending at Dianchi Lake.  Over the past month, we took our Sunday afternoon walks along the river:We actually started in mid-town and headed north.  The city has done a good job of creating a series of […]

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Just about every city in China has an “old town” with ancient buildings and historical artifacts.  While a few of the old things may be genuine, many are actually “new/old” — new things built to look old.  Our city has the “Guandu Old Town”:One of the old things in Guandu is this stupa, originally built 50 years before Columbus discovered America: There are multiple […]

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