From Grits to Chopsticks

Perhaps you have seen the children’s books in which a guy with a red-striped shirt hides in the crowd.  While we were heading to a meeting downtown last week, it seemed appropriate for us to stage our own where’s Susan photo (click to enlarge): While we walk around town, it seems that her height, eye […]

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Today, I had the opportunity to visit a large manufacturing plant just outside of the city with one of our students and his mother (who happens to be an industrial loan officer for a major bank).  The factory wants to borrow money for a capacity expansion, so it was interesting to be an informal part of the due […]

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As mentioned in our last post, the rainy season has finally arrived.  Among other things, this time of year reminds us of how much we appreciated our clothes dryer back in the States.  Even when the rain stopped over the weekend, it took two days to dry our sheets: Last year, the wet season came much earlier, and having […]

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On a Sunday afternoon two weeks ago while the weather was still sunny and warm, we enjoyed taking a walk through the park.  At first glance, the pine trees almost remind you of the forests back home in South Carolina: But then, it always helps to back up a step and take in the full view […]

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We often get a kick out of the English names posted in front of stores, usually because they lose something during the direct translation from Chinese.  A new city ordinance requiring English words on all business signs will undoubtedly add to the entertainment for westerners.  Sometimes the use of a surname can also result in an unintended double meaning: There […]

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Learning a foreign language can be difficult, especially when you’re old and the language is Chinese.  Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just go to sleep with a book under your pillow and absorb vocabulary?  Too bad that doesn’t work – maybe we just need a smaller brain.  Read on… This weekend, we went […]

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Fall colors are showing up in China.  While fall will eventually bring beautiful yellow, orange and brown hues, right now we are seeing mostly green on our college campuses.  That’s because fall is the time for school to resume operation, which means that it’s time again for freshman orientation, which means new university students put on their green camo uniforms and learn […]

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We just returned from a whirlwind visit to the States, working our way down the eastern seaboard from PA.  Laurie and Jeruid hosted us at their home during the first week while we adjusted to the new time zone.  Mark’s brother and sister (Jimmy and Barbara) brought their families together for some meals and fun: In true […]

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Our city is actually quite a beautiful place.  At 6300 ft above sea level with tall mountains to the west, it kind of reminded me of Denver on my first visit.  The south side of our town is bordered by the sixth largest freshwater lake in China (Dianchi Lake): On a recent trip to Haigeng park, […]

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Today was the first day of our school’s summer camp season.  There will be three English camps this year for different target groups, including college students, primary school students, and rural teachers.  I had the opportunity speak at today’s opening ceremony for college students:Some student volunteers helped me to illustrate the challenges of being too afraid […]

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