From Grits to Chopsticks

You know that you’re back in China when you go for a walk and the dust clouds make it hard to see underneath the bridge,and there are dogs barking at you from the roof,and large statues loom above the rooftops:You know that you’re back in China when you cross a sketchy bridge over a ravine to enter a beautiful park,and see people “camping” for the afternoon:and you’re not sure if the kids are trying to catch pets or lunch in the pond,and they’ve created an automatic barbeque (“shaokao”) cooker to handle the huge demand:and people stare when you stop to pose with a familiar figure:You know you’re in China when you go to dinner with friends and he goes into the kitchen to choose the live chicken for dinner:and when you get excited at the prospect of a new WalMart across the street, but it’s a WanMart instead:And of course, you really know that you’re back in China when you choose to walk in the street because the sidewalk is too crowded!

Our Chinese city recently experienced its coldest winter in 30 years, continuing a 10 year cooling trend.  The colder weather is especially hard on residents here due to the lack of indoor heating:We’re finally getting to the point where the outside temperature is warming up enough to open the windows and let the heat come inside (something we never experienced in the West):The harsh weather was especially hard on the trees and shrubs.  The workers diligently covered them up at the beginning of winter, but it wasn’t enough to prevent severe damage.  Here is a typical before and after scene in our apartment complex: Covering up the street-side shrubs didn’t help much either:
Most of the dead stuff has already been chopped off of the trees:Speaking of harsh weather, our home state of SC experienced terrible flooding last fall.  Last summer, we visited Gibson Pond Park in Lexington.  Here we are near the dam before the flooding event:During our recent visit, we took this photo of the same pond and dam after the flood:Fortunately, the cold in China is now subsiding, allowing us to shed the long underwear and push up our sleeves:
Hurray for Spring!

Even though we live abroad most of the year, this year gave us the special treat of celebrating both of our grandsons’ birthdays in the States!  Since the youngest, Sam, has a fascination with construction vehicles…… our daughter made him a construction vehicle cake (also, notice the pajamas):Elijah enjoys watching Super Mario, so he chose this theme for his birthday:We’re now back in China, but before we returned, we were able to pose for this Chinese New Year pic (in case you don’t know, it’s the “year of the monkey”)We’ll miss family, but we’re very thankful for the time we had together!

After celebrating a late Christmas with kids and grandkids in Utah, we began our journey back east.  Southeastern Utah has some spectacular scenery, especially near Moab:We took this opportunity to drive around Arches National Park during the off-season: We continued to head south, crossing through the snowy corner of Colorado: and into New Mexico: Much of northern New Mexico belongs to various Indian tribes, evident by the numerous casinos along the roadside:New Mexico has some wide open spaces, reminding us about the huge volume of cargo that still crosses the country by railroad:You can tell that you’re entering Texas by the classic names of western towns:Of course, Texas is covered with ranches and farms:

But they’re not just raising cattle and farming cotton – they are also harvesting the wind (and oil, of course):We had to stop for some Texas BBQ:We enjoyed visits with friends in Dallas and southeast Texas, and continued east through many acres of rice fields (our friends in China are surprised to hear that Americans actually grow rice):In Louisiana, we drove across the Atchafalaya swamp: and crossed the Mississippi:The journey was a long one – the trip odometer clicked over to 6,000 miles as we entered Atlanta.  We were thankful for many things along the way, including this:…the cheapest gas in decades!

Shortly after spending Christmas with Susan’s brother in South Carolina, we drove to Utah where our oldest son recently moved.  The long trip took us through some states for the very first time.  Being the cheapskates that we are, we ate many sandwiches along the way.  The weather was warm enough to eat outdoors at the rest area in Chattanooga,but usually the cold forced us to stay in the car:We always enjoy the beauty of the mountains in Tennessee, especially the waterfalls that pour out of the rocks alongside the highway:We spent our first night in Metropolis, IL.  It’s a small town with a Superman museum (which was closed during our visit):As we drove through Missouri, we stopped at the Winston Churchill Museum in Fulton.  Saint Mary’s Church (above the museum) was relocated from Aldermanbury, UK in 1992.  It was in this church on September 29, 1653, that my ancestors Allen Robinette and Margaret Symm were married:After staying overnight in Lincoln, we drove across the southern half of Nebraska.  This is what we saw: Straight roads and hundreds of miles of farmland, as far as the eye can see.  After crossing the border into Wyoming, we stayed overnight in Laramie:Farther into Wyoming, the speed limit increases and the terrain gets a bit more interesting: This is the first state we’ve visited with a warning about rattlesnakes in the rest areas:It also got colder, and we were thankful that the weather stayed clear and I-80 stayed open:We finally reached Utah, with its mountains, ranches, snow,and family!

Even though our city is officially know as “The Spring City,” wintertime does eventually come.  Recently, the landscaping crews prepared for winter by covering bushes and trees: Although the outside temperature rarely drops below the freezing point, the inside temperature can get quite cold (note that the date is incorrect):Our electric space heaters provide a tiny bubble of relief, but you will often see Susan bundled up when sitting at the computer:Some people prepare for winter by getting some cozy pajamas, like these “Paul Frank” copycats:When it gets cold, people sometimes build a campfire directly on the sidewalk to keep warm:With Christmas approaching, Susan recently made some traditional sugar cookies for our students: We also sang Christmas songs at our English Corner and shared the candy cane story: And then, much to our surprise, last week snow began to fall in our semi-tropical city! As the indoor temperature continues to drop, we thought of another way to prepare for winter…

For Susan’s birthday, we traveled to the far corner of town and visited the Wild Animal Park.  We watched an Angry Bird show (the trainers were angry at the stubborn birds):and camels:

China is famous for Pandas, but the Kunming panda was replaced by a few ostriches:The main activity at this park is feeding the animals.  Here are some children feeding carp:and raccoons: and peacocks:

Susan got up close to the peacocks too (click here: Peacock Feeding)

The best part of this park is the tiger exhibit, allowing visitors to get very close to these hungry beasts:

Of course, you can feed them too (click here: Tiger Feeding).  Since it was the eve of the Carolina-Clemson game, I toyed with the idea of spending more and feeding a live chicken to the tigers:It was a nice day to spend together with the birthday girl!

This year, we held a Thanksgiving English Corner at our school.  The students must’ve heard that we would be serving food, leading to a record attendance of 43 students:Susan taught the story about the first American Thanksgiving:While she was talking about the helpful Indians (Squanto and Samoset), our token Indian entered the room (when you’re in China, you have to do the best you can – he is from Calcutta):We divided the class into four small groups and had them practice their English by describing things for which they were thankful.  We then set up a food serving line with our fellow foreign teachers:Most of the students here have never tasted turkey, cranberry sauce, pecan and pumpkin pies. We didn’t know how many students to expect, so it seemed providential when the last student through the line took the final plastic fork: We also had the opportunity to celebrate Thanksgiving day with a group of foreign friends.  For this meal we ordered a second turkey from our local foreign restaurant:Turkeys are very rare in China, only available in advance by special order.  Most local foods in China are cheaper than in the States, but imported foods can be very expensive.  These turkeys were $4.75 per pound!  With that in mind, one of our friends also made this fruit salad that looks like a turkey:

We had a huge spread of fun food, including most of the traditional items and desserts: And yes, for those readers who love math, that is a Pumpkin Pi.

The weather was beautiful on Saturday, so we took a stroll through Green Lake Park.  We were joined by a few other people:Centuries ago, this park was actually a bay on the north end of Dianchi Lake:But now, it is in the middle of a busy city.The park is always full of dancers:

The colors and melodies of the minority groups are always entertaining.  For a short video, click Dancing at Park

There are also musicians, some with a big audience and some just jamming for fun: Click here for a sample of their sound: Park Musicians

There’s always something unusual to see.  People here tend to dress up their dogs when they take them for a walk, but this is the first time that I’ve ever seen a front dog-carrier:It is interesting to see such a wide variety of people at the park: And while we take a lot of pictures of other people, you can bet that there are plenty of local photographers who took pictures of the strange-looking foreigners…

Our local air quality typically goes through a day/night cycle.  The pollution rises to unhealthy levels at night as thousands of construction trucks enter the city, then strong breezes blow most of the dirty air away in the afternoon. Here’s a typical morning scene from our apartment window:and here’s the afternoon view (on an exceptionally good day):We can look out the window and estimate the current particulate count, or we can just check the computer screen:Many local residents have been struggling with allergy symptoms (including us), so we decided to do something about it.  After reading some great reviews, we ordered a new air cleaner from Xiaomi ($150 USD) and it arrived today:It fits nicely into the corner of our bedroom:This is our first “smart” appliance.  By scanning the code on the top of the unit, downloading the APP and connecting it to our home WIFI, I can control it with my smartphone:Not only does it adjust the fan speed based on real-time measurement of the current indoor air quality, it also connects to the internet to check the outdoor air quality.  If you’d like, it will order a new filter cartridge when needed and have it delivered to your front door.  And if the air quality happens to be really good outside, it will automatically shut down and tell you to open your window.

But I don’t expect that it will ever wake me up at night to make such a recommendation…