From Grits to Chopsticks

When we moved into our current apartment 18 months ago, we had a clear view of a vacant lot across the railroad tracks:Spaces in our city don’t remain vacant for long, so they soon began digging and pouring footers: As the steel began rising, we wondered what type of building was under construction: Since we are kind of geeky, it was interesting to watch from our vantage point on the 16th floor:They attached metal plates to the girders and poured concrete decks during the cool of night: And then … construction halted and the half-finished building sat dormant:But recently, there was a flurry of activity to clean the yard, pour some more concrete, and put together metal roofing materials:And as usual, the business opened with a bang (well, over 90 seconds of bangs – click Firecrackers):The new business provided several days of high volume entertainment, including give-aways:traditional singing (click Chinese Duet if you dare):dancing (click Chinese Dancer):and a modern young singer (click Young Chinese Elvis):You might wonder what amazing business demanded all of this big buildup.  Well, for now, it’s just a fruit market: Nothing fancy, but it does improve the local competition.  I bought three fresh pineapples today, peeled and plucked for 85 cents:

It’s hard to believe that we are now beginning our tenth year working in China and teaching at this school:

So much has changed since we arrived in 2010!

We returned early to the States this winter to help our brother move into a new house:

In addition to selecting, buying, and moving into the new house, we have been very busy cleaning out his old house and getting it ready for sale.  During the process, our three children flew into town and surprised their mom for a “special” birthday:

In the midst of all the moving and house work, we squeezed in a little time to visit our grandchildren (and their parents).  We started in Arkansas:

went to Pennsylvania for Christmas:

and made it out to the snowy mountains of Utah in January:There, we visited our sixth grandchild and eagerly await her arrival later this year:

After an extended absence, we are heading back to China at the end of this week.  Things change rapidly there, and although we don’t know what the new year holds, we are thankful to know The One who does!

During the first week of October, China celebrates it’s National Day holiday.  For us, the week provided an opportunity to meet people each day for meals.  Also, one of our former students drove us around nearby Fuxian Lake:This beautiful lake is over 500 feet deep and has fairly clean water for fishing:During meals with other friends, we experienced a few unique dishes, like this bowl of spicy frog soup:and this soup of blood and guts (literally, cubes of blood and organ meat):And just when you thought it was safe to eat a Snickers Bar, watch out for the one with red peppers on the label:We met some more friends at a shopping mall which had the largest balloon animals we’ve ever seen, including this multi-story Pink Panther: Our city has a large park which showcases the special cultures of different minority groups in this province.  We have often thought that some of them remind us of Native Americans in their dress and dance (click Minority Dance):At the minority park, we didn’t just see displays of old traditional culture.  They also had a very modern bathroom monitoring system, complete with colored “in-use” indicators:Finally, we can honestly say that this has been one of the rainiest seasons during our eight years in “The Spring City.”  Here’s a picture of me walking to school in the heavy rain:But that afternoon, the sun finally came out and we enjoyed a bright, long-lasting rainbow from our apartment window:We are thankful for this beautiful display of grace!

As the Fall semester gets into full swing, we’ve been spending time eating lunch with my students:

One recent lunch gave us the opportunity to eat “fish noodles” for the first time:

Some other interesting foods given to us by students included a whole cooked chicken:

some hawthorn snacks in a patriotic Chinese package:

and a beautifully decorated cake:

But this week, the most common cake in China was the humble moon cake:

Like most people in China, I ate three of them.  My consumption was slightly above average, so I figure that at least 3 billion moon cakes were eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival!

At the beginning of each year, all new students are required to participate in several weeks of military training.  At the end of the training period, they demonstrate their skills in front of a reviewing stand of university staff members.  This year, I was asked to be a part of the review team.  About 4000 students marched by in groups of 100 (click here to watch: Marching Students).

Some groups of students showed their combat training:

while others did precision shapes:

After the military demonstrations, I joined the staff in presentation of awards to outstanding students:The student-soldiers then sat on stools and listened to a few speeches:

It was interesting to see how they had been trained to applaud.  Click here to see: Applause

I had the opportunity to speak after the president of our university.  Unfortunately, the press-release photo of my speech reminded me of another president:

Fortunately for the students (and me), my speech was only three minutes.  Now that’s something to really applaud!

In addition to my usual business classes at our main campus, I have the opportunity this semester to travel to our remote campus and teach new classes.  The 1+ hour trip starts by boarding this bus at 6:45AM:

One of the new classes is “Financial English” with this group of 62 students:

Since there is a very broad distribution of English abilities in this group, it will be interesting to keep them all focused for the entire semester.

My second new class was entitled “Love and Marriage” by the psychology department.  With a title like that, it isn’t surprising that 100 students signed up!

This will definitely be a challenge, as many of these students also have marginal English.

But I can’t complain.  I could be marching with the incoming freshmen students for most of the first month.  As my bus was departing at 5:30PM, they were finally returning from the athletic field and heading for the cafeteria:

China is constantly under construction, and sometimes, the projects are right outside your window. During the first half of this year, someone decided to dig up the street next to our apartment and build a sewer (what a fun blog!).  The noise level has been quite intense at times, especially when the train on the adjacent tracks blows his horn while crossing the nearby intersection.  So, for those who are interested, this is how to build a sewer:

Bring in a huge machine that picks up and long metal beams:vibrate them (and the adjacent buildings) while driving them deep into the ground (click Install Coffer to watch): After building two walls, excavate between them (often during the night):brace the walls to keep them sturdy and straight while workers build concrete forms:pour concrete into the forms and build the structure: pull out the metal beams, refill with dirt, and have construction workers (usually women) hand-mix concrete on the ground to build the sewer entrances:build curbs and spread gravel for the road surface: smooth and finish the asphalt surface:And that’s how you build a sewer!  Of course, it takes about six months (not the 60 seconds it took you to read this blog).

We have been blessed each summer to travel back to America and spend time with family members.  This year, we quickly drove to Arkansas to visit our new granddaughter and her big brother:Our youngest son and his wife fed us well: And we were able to spend a day relaxing at our daughter-in-law’s parents’ farm: Next, we traveled to Utah to spend time with our oldest son and his wife.  We enjoyed hiking with them and their new puppy: I went mountain biking for the first time in about 8 years (and survived): We also visited the Kimball Arts Festival in “downtown” Park City:Finally, we had the opportunity to spend time with our daughter’s family at the beach in SC:The weather was perfect and we enjoyed playing in the surf and tidal pools together: We look forward to seeing our friends in China, but we will certainly miss each of our children and grandchildren!

You might expect that life would slow down at the end of our semester, but things actually pick up quite a bit.  Former students return for visits, so we spend a lot of time at restaurants re-connecting:

Our Summer English Camp Teaching team has arrived, and due to some unexpected schedule changes, we added some last-minute activities, including a visit to the rope-jumping studio of a former Summer Camp student:

and spending time with residents of this nursing home:

This year, we have about 60 university students attending camp.  During the opening ceremony, they sang the school song to welcome us (click School Song to listen):

We also were invited to participate in the wedding ceremony of a former student:

As always, there was more food than we could ever eat:

Fortunately for us, Chinese food isn’t too fattening.  If it were, we’d definitely outgrow our clothing during this time of year…