From Grits to Chopsticks

Immediately after our recent return to China, we traveled north to visit some friends in Sichuan province.  While there, we spent an afternoon visiting the old city of DuJiangYan: The tourism bureau was kind enough to post some guidelines in Chinese and English to help us behave in a civilized manner:This city is famous for a 2200 […]

[Read more →]

We just completed a whirlwind trip to the States.  It was especially great to spend time with our kids and grandsons at Myrtle Beach: While in SC, we enjoyed eating some foods that we don’t usually get in China: It was such a privilege to spend time with our gang, but our brief visit left us feeling kind of […]

[Read more →]

Last week, a team of university students and teachers from America arrived on our campus to lead three English Summer Camps: one for college students, one for children, and one for English teachers from rural schools.  We had a huge group of children this year:During the opening ceremony, I used a juggling illustration to show how […]

[Read more →]

A few weeks ago, we stumbled onto a street full of mountain bike shops, suggesting that some trails might be nearby.  We recently climbed the mountain to check it out – here is the track of our hike: We’ve entered a season of rainy weather, so much of our hike was with an umbrella.  We […]

[Read more →]

After a string of rainy days, we were thankful that the weather was dry for this year’s graduation ceremony: There were more parents in attendance at this year’s graduation.  Unlike the more formal events in the west, seats are not provide for the parents or faculty:… unless you arrive early enough to sit on the […]

[Read more →]

Last week, some of our students amazed us by preparing a full-scale Chinese and Thai dinner.  It’s incredible how much work goes into such a project, including washing the vegetables: Cleaning the fish:  Chopping the duck: Chopping veggies: Peeling fruit: Chopping fresh spices: Chopping roots: Chopping thumbnails (only if you’re a foreign chopper!): Frying: Souping: Scooping: And finally, […]

[Read more →]

  Here are a few recent random photos to give you some insight into our “random” realm.  We enjoy trying to figure out the English translations on public signs.  This one can be found on a number of the billboards at bus stops: This advertisement was posted near our elevator for a couple of months.  […]

[Read more →]

On most Sunday afternoons, we try to spend a few hours alone together walking and talking.  Along the way, we usually see some interesting things (at least to us).  Here are a few of the things that we saw yesterday. We began by taking pictures of some friendly twins outside of our apartment:The road exiting our neighborhood still hasn’t […]

[Read more →]

The past week has included two noteworthy events: Dragon Boat Festival on June 2nd and The Southeast China Trade Expo which opened on June 6th.  Even though we’ve written about these subjects in the past, it seems worth repeating a little. As with almost every Chinese festival, a special food is the main attraction during Dragon Boat Festival: “zongzi” – sticky rice wrapped […]

[Read more →]

Last week, during our Sunday afternoon outing, we experienced a few “firsts” here in Kunming, starting with our first attempt to ride the new subway.  I stepped up to the terminal to buy a ticket, but was instantly confused:Fortunately, there was a button for English instructions, which yielded this:Hmmm… well, we eventually bought tickets and boarded the northbound train, […]

[Read more →]