From Grits to Chopsticks

Since our city is “semi-tropical,” we usually experience several consecutive months of rain each year.  This year has been particularly rainy, keeping things moist (inside and outside).  Almost every day, parents with umbrellas gather at the primary school across the street: The students run in front of cars, trucks, and scooters as they cross the street: During […]

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OK – I know that I’ve posted photos from the market before (2014, 2015), but it’s so “culturally rich” that I just feel a need to do it again.  Here are some of the things that we saw as we walked through the market on Thursday.  It’s Mid-Autumn Festival, so there were a lot of […]

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The day we returned to China, we paid our apartment rent for the new year:The next day, we attended the wedding of some special friends.  At times, it was hard to see the ceremony due to the many photographers: The new freshmen have arrived on campus.  One afternoon while making a quick visit to the school office, […]

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We were blessed to spend much of August in America with family and friends.  While there, we traveled to Park City, Utah to be with our oldest son and visited this place: No, it’s not a mountain lodge – it’s the Park City hospital.  Our son was getting outpatient knee surgery, and we were able to drive him […]

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Before returning to the States, we visited the workshop of “Hearts and Hands,” a business in our city that serves disabled people through training and employment.  They make some wonderful handicrafts, including Christmas items like these place mats and this beautiful tree skirt: 80% of the employees are hearing impaired.  It’s great to see them […]

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This week, a team of volunteers arrived from the States to lead our 9th annual English Summer Camp:During the opening ceremony, a friend helped me do a short skit to teach Language learning skills to the audience:Since He was pretending to be a Chinese college student, he spoke Chinese during most of the skit (click here to view a clip: […]

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We recently had the privilege of participating in the wedding of some dear friends.  They had a strong desire that their wedding (and marriage) would convey a special meaning, so they chose a hybrid of Chinese and Western traditions. I reviewed the service with my interpreter, the vocalist and accompanist prepared, the guests arrived on time (surprisingly), […]

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Once again, we bade farewell to many of our students at the graduation ceremony.  As usual, there were a lot of students decked out in caps and gowns on the plaza:While the portable stools provide an easy option for seating, they can also be moved into positions that make it hard to pay attention to the […]

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Last week, we spent an afternoon visiting the South Asia Trade Fair being held in our city:This huge event moved to a massive purpose-built exhibition hall last year: Numerous guard stations were staffed to ensure the safety of guests:It was entirely too big to visit in a single day (with 5,000+ vendors), but we did get to […]

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Although China is a very pragmatic society, decisions and activities are often bent toward good luck.  Because last weekend was “Dragon Boat Festival,” many people attached calamus and mugwort leaves alongside their doors to dispel evil and encourage health: While a western Wal-mart will set prices just below the next whole dollar, most of the prices in China end with […]

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