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 year old irrigation/river diversion project, an amazing feat of engineering that has kept the city of Chengdu flood-free ever since.  It took eight years for workers to manually open the channel to the left of the temple:The flow rate of this river is huge (see video here: DuJiangYan) There are 3D images throughout the town to describe the construction process, with some more lifelike than others:Speaking of flooding, heavy rainfall in our city recently illustrates the challenges of drainage management.  On the street behind our school, water flows up from the “sanitary sewer” and down into the storm sewer:On that same theme, I recently completed re-grouting the tile in our guest bathroom.  A year ago when we moved in, it was already stained and crumbling:It now looks and feels much better:To close this “wet” blog, here’s a photo of an advertisement in the airport for a new, exclusive neighborhood.  I wonder if there might be a better word to convey the image of gentle waves rolling ashore at your bay-front home…

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 sad when we flew back to the other side of the world.

One thing, however, made this trip unique: when we crossed the International Date Line, our 35th anniversary had already begun:This was the first anniversary that we spent flying over the Arctic Ocean:The “restaurant” was a bit crowded, but at least we were able to be together to share a special dinner on this special day!

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 mistakes are an important part of learning a new skill.  I then encouraged them not to be afraid to make mistakes while learning English:I had to be a bit more professional during the opening ceremony for our 140 rural teachers and talked about the physical components of language learning (like practicing a sport instead of just reading about it):The rural teachers were getting physical this morning in class, learning how to use active singing in teaching English pronunciation:Some of the college students were also getting physical on the basketball court:The children were having fun, too, as their teachers had them doing the hokey pokey:In another class, the students were learning words about Christmas while playing a matching game:We are very thankful for a wonderful, committed group of teachers from America.  They are truly a blessing to our school and our province!

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 went along the road for a while, then climbed past some tombs and up a section of steep (and slippery) single track:

The trails at the top of the mountain look like a lot of fun (of course, I’m a former mountain biker):

The area provides nice views of the city and the nearby cliffs at Western Hills:Along with native eucalyptus trees, there were raspberry blossoms and pitcher plants: As we crossed a road, there was a convenient spring to re-fill your water bottle (if you trust it!):We opted to return via steep stairs that disappeared into the valley: Like most Chinese parks, this area is adjacent to a large temple complex (BaoZhu): The small road from the temple descends into an old village, overshadowed by new construction of the encroaching city:We hope to return here again, an unusually peaceful place within a stone’s throw of a city of 8 million people.

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 edge of a planter:Due to recent terrorist concerns, there was also a significantly larger police presence:Graduation always comes with mixed emotions as most of our students move back to their hometowns or to a new city for employment:The job market in China continues to be tough.  These two students are among those fortunate to have a solid plan; one works with a financial services company and the other is heading to graduate school:This is one of my better students, but he’s heading back to his hometown without a job:The student on the right is currently working for a local company that exports flowers, while the other will be returning home to work with mobile phones:We will also miss this fellow teacher – he has been a great encouragement to us and his students:He also taught me the subtle art of “photobombing”: jumping into a picture at the precise moment – a crazy way to end a more serious blog:

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, presenting some of the finished product:
And then, dealing with the aftermath!Good friends, good food, good times!

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.  We’re still not sure what constitutes an “anti-festival”:We constantly see reversed images, especially on the decals used for automobile decorations:On the subject of transportation, the sidewalk can sometimes get pretty crowded with big scooters:I’ve often wondered how people know when they reach the load limit on their big trikes.  Here’s how:

In the category of “old meets new” transportation, here is a traditional water carrier competing for highway space with a new Wal-Mart bus:I stood at the entrance to our apartment a few weeks ago and watched the restaurant staff butcher a side of beef on a dining table out front.  It is then hung on a rack to attract flies (and customers):Much of our time is spent eating with students.  I’m still not sure how to eat this part of a chicken:In the category of familiar food, Susan baked a pineapple upside-down cake for English corner last week:We are thankful for the modern conveniences in our kitchen.  We have a nice toaster that begins to push the limits of doneness when set to “2”, so we wondered what would happen if you cranked it all the way up to “7”:Well, I chickened out and decided to call off the experiment seconds before flames erupted:Based on news reports, we understand that World Cup is underway in Brazil.  Although we haven’t watched any of it, we did get to watch a very important soccer match on Saturday night.  While our 3-year old grandson was running up and down the field in Pennsylvania, we were able to watch live via Skype over an iPhone.  And amazingly, the quality was good.  Like a proper grandfather, I’ll end by re-posting our daughter’s photos of the future World Cup champ:

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 been paved (maybe next year):Work seems to have halted on the apartment complex next to ours:Later, our walk took us by eucalyptus trees which smell nice in the warm summer breeze:On the edge of town, there are some places that haven’t changed too much.  This one still has its old entry gate:Chinese people are industrious, planting gardens on every unclaimed piece of dirt.  Here is a mini-cornfield between the sewer ditch and a factory wall:Many of the wall advertisements use pictures of foreigners.  Even Elvis is alive in old China, advertising something that I couldn’t figure out:Of course, there was a restaurant sign welcoming you to come in and try their duck tongues and heads:Some day, we’d like to climb up behind the houses and explore this trail:Of course, there were the usual small stray dogs and domestic chickens: At the exit of the village, you can really feel the strong contrast between the old and new apartments:After turning and walking down the main thoroughfare, we noticed some mountain bikes riding out of a side street.  As a former mountain biker, I had to take a look and was surprised to see a Giant bike shop:Then a Trek shop.  There weren’t Trek bikes out front, but at least there was a Trek sign:and a Cannondale shop (it was closed):a genuine Specialized shop:and a local brand (SPX) with some interesting pictures posted outside:

We even saw some serious downhill bikes in the back of a truck:As we kept walking, the road began its ascent up the side of a mountain.  We had already walked five miles, so we decided not to climb all the way to the top this time. But we did sit at a sharp curve and watch a few riders going up and coming down:

Now I know where I want to go for our walk next Sunday!

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 in bamboo leaves.  A friend gave us a gift pack of zongzi for the holiday:

Inside were some salted duck eggs and four sleeves of different flavored zongzi (note the different colored strings), which we steamed and unwrapped: While our uneducated palettes were mostly fond of the plain zongzi, the different tastes are certainly worth trying.  One thing that we didn’t do, however, was the tradition of selecting water weeds to place over doors to fend off evil spirits:

This past weekend gave us an opportunity to attend the annual Southeast China Trade Expo:Security forces were highly visible to assure the safety of attendees:This trade exhibition continues to grow every year.  If you like to get lost in the crowd, this is the place for you:Most of the exhibitors and sales people are from southeast Asian countries.  Here is Susan getting into position to look at some wood products from Laos:

There are people demonstrating their innovative cookware:There are commercial exhibitors (awake and asleep) selling carving and packaging machines: This is the first year that some American products and brand names were on display: Many countries are trying to court Asian tourists.  This is probably the closest that Susan will ever get to feeding the pigeons in Cambodia:Educational institutions are also present, including my parent college:And yes, we did buy something – a $24 helicopter to include in my students’ “small money” auction at the end of this semester:

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, which was very nice and seemed to operate smoothly:We arrived at the northern station, which is still under construction – a problem if you wanted to ride the escalator to the entry level:Fortunately, if you needed it, there was already a functioning “Toflet”:When we arrived at our destination park, we noticed another first.  Recently, a decision was made to issue guns to officers due to the increased risk of terrorism.  In an apparent show of force, this guard had his “gun” on the table in front of him. Unfortunately for him, it was only a glue gun:The park we visited has an old bell tower on top of a mountain:The bell tower is surrounded by three tiers of stone walls, and the bottom wall happens to have a large crack:Carefully hidden inside of this crack, we found another “first” – our first geocache in China:This park also has some beautiful gardens and ponds:And a little bit of Chinese graffiti:We made our first visit to the “gtlnh ouse” of cactus and succulents:It contains a very nice display of desert plants and was unusually uncrowded:One more first to end this blog:  We took some students for their first meal of western food last night.  One of the students decided to order the “Chicken Fingers,” but changed his mind when we told him that they weren’t the same as chicken feet.