From Grits to Chopsticks

One of my former students invited me to attend his wedding in a nearby city:

I enjoyed going to their photo session where they danced down the sidewalk (click Dancing Daniel to watch):

They treated me very graciously (like one of the family), placing me between the father and grandfather at lunch:

Like most Chinese weddings, very few people paid attention to the formal ceremony (bowing to parents):

there was was a lot of toasting:

and a big feast of good food at each table:

In a different context, but still about food, we were amazed at the deep red color of this variety of dragon fruit:

and the clear labeling of our typical breakfast food (for my generation):Chinese breakfast is different than ours (a friend recently gave us this):

and KFC has a different headline menu item as well (rice rolls):

China just had their biggest on-line shopping day of the year: “singles day” (11/11).  Alibaba sold about 25 billion dollars worth of goods, most of them delivered to the sidewalks outside of apartment complexes:

Near the package delivery spot, I saw a “Land Wind” SUV parked at the curb (a clear copy-cat of the Land Rover, at one-third the price):

And speaking of transportation, I noticed this poster in our school’s Department of Economics:

I hope it’s not implying that if you get a degree here today you’ll be hitch-hiking in a hoodie tomorrow…

Even though we live in a very densely populated city, we can still find some wild things on the edges of town.  While climbing the mountain last week, we saw some beautiful butterflies, a praying mantis,water buffalo sharing the trail, a goat, donkey, and chickens in front of an old farmhouse, and some mythical wild things on this ancient roof:This week, we joined a large crowd of people on the lakefront:  who were viewing a huge flock of gulls that migrate to this area for the winter: With so many gulls, the occasional collision is inevitable:There are plenty of wild things to see if you keep your eyes open.  Unless, like so many people, your eyes are focused on a small screen:

(P.S. After seven years of blogs, similar pictures may have appeared before.  Sorry for any duplication!)

This semester, there is a very large English Corner at the school – over 100 students:

In past English Corners, we liked to sit in circles and give students the opportunity to practice their spoken English, but this can be difficult with 25 students in a single circle:

One way to get everyone involved is to teach the entire group a song (click: Lean On Me  to watch):

During the previous week, we taught them “My Favorite Things” from “The Sound of Music.”  But this is southwest China.  People here have a hard time connecting with strudels, schnitzel, and snowflakes on your nose and eyelashes.  So we asked the students about their favorite things. Here is the resultant version of “Our Favorite Chinese Things”:

Perhaps I’ll post a video someday!

During the Mid-Autumn festival, most of the local construction projects halted, delivering a wonderful improvement in air quality. Susan posed in front of the clear, moonlit sky with a mooncake:The zoom lens on our Canon point-and-shoot camera did a good job of capturing the harvest moon:
Some friends of ours in a town to the northwest didn’t get to see the moon due to overcast skies, but they did watch an amazing meteor light up the night sky (click to see Meteor):The story was reported here the next day.
Here are some other miscellaneous photos:  A friend of ours recently returned from India and gave me an unusual leather wallet.  Can you guess what it’s made of?(the answer is at the end of the blog).
Here is a picture of the rules for riding an elevator:Do not use professional doors, stop in the hallway, or slap your friend.
In case you want to ride the “straight and narrow,” here is the bicycle brand for you:
Even though I’ve been an economics teacher in China for seven years, I still don’t understand Chinese economics. Here is a recent cut/paste of two seemingly contradictory articles from my news feed:While waiting for the bus, we saw this amazingly overloaded tricycle:

Here is the answer to the wallet question:Yes, the leather is made from chicken feet. Unlike the Chinese people, Indians do not eat chicken feet, so they are an experimental leather source. Perhaps this would be a big seller for USC Gamecock fans…?

At the end of the national holiday, I joined with some friends to ride our bikes down to Dianchi Lake:The weather was clear, providing a good view of the western mountains behind the lake:Although I brought a typical American exercise snack (granola bar), we stopped to eat a traditional Chinese snack (noodles):On the way home, we stopped by a seafood market:Everything in this market is alive, including the king crabs:But at our seafood dinner that night, the specialty crab was much smaller: the Chinese “Mitten Crab” (named for their hairy claws):These particular crabs are very special and were ordered months in advance by our host and hostess above.  Our dinner had an amazing variety of seafood: This was the first time I’d eaten abalone (fresh from Africa):and yes, it tastes as good as it looks.  Cycling and seafood – a nice finish to the holiday week!

On Sunday afternoon, we joined the throngs of others at a local park as they celebrated China’s national day:This park is in the middle of a large city, but they have done a good job of providing a green environment: It can be a bit crowded, even for the wildlife:National day was a bit more festive than usual. There were cardboard cut-outs to pose behind,
some artificially tall guys to entertain guests,and stilt-walking bird people:They were also holding their 1st annual International Customs Festival, where we saw a brass band from Mexico (click Mexico in China to watch), an Irish band (click Irish Band to watch), and some Russian dancers:

This park overlooks a large lake, providing good waterfront views for casual and serious photographers: It also has some very strange sculptures, including this one entitled “Plastic Deformation of Steel”:In case you were wondering about the artist’s inspiration:There are some old and graceful things in this park:plus some new things since our last visit:Because this was our special Sunday afternoon “date,” you can guess where we ate dinner!

This time of year in China features quite a few special days.  September 5th was “Spirit Day,” a day when some people believe that ghosts of their relatives emerge from hell and visit the living.  People remember this holiday by burning paper items to send to their departed relatives:Most of the sidewalks are covered with ashes:People come with large bags of fake money to burn:

All ages are involved:On September 10th, we celebrated “Teacher’s Day,” a time when those of us in the teaching profession get some extra attention.  Our school had a number of games for teachers, including this one where a group of teachers reclined upon one another and tried to stay off the ground for 60 seconds: I opted for less painful games, like blindfold fishing for a water bottle:

I also had the easy job of being carried by a team of teachers to a balloon popping station (click Teacher Day for video):

Tickets given for successful completion of games can be exchanged for exciting prizes:On September 18th, the entire nation remembers the start of the Japanese invasion in 1931.  At 10:00AM, air raid sirens sound for several minutes (click Sirens to listen), prompting uninformed expats to wonder if something bad is about to happen.

The big holiday begins next week.  Because of this year’s lunar calendar cycle, Chinese National Day (October 1st) will merge with Mid-Autumn Festival (October 4th), proving a full “Golden Week” of holidays.  For us, the main feature of the holiday week is receiving a variety of moon cakes (large, medium, and small):If you visit us during MidAutumn Festival, we will be happy to share ours with you!

Our new apartment is on the 16th floor, giving us a high level view of local activities:

The front porch overlooks a peaceful courtyard:

but it is surrounded by hundreds of other apartments, making it less appealing as a place to sit outside and relax:

Our small back porch (a.k.a. “laundry room”) provides a good view of the city,

our school (look for the dome on the right),

massive construction projects,

and a partially complete tall building (currently idle):

Closer up, you can see kids walking to school on the railroad tracks,

men sorting Styrofoam at the nearby “recycling center,”

and people digging through the dumpster for anything of value:

We can also check to see if our favorite restaurant is busy,

and the hardware shop is open (it’s small, but they seem to have almost everything):

We can watch the kids play on the rooftop during recess at a nearby school,

and check the thoroughness of the dishwasher at another restaurant:

When you live in a city with millions of other people, there’s always something to see.

As freshmen begin their college career, all of the men and women are required to participate in two weeks of military training.  They dress in camo and spend many hours marching and shouting slogans.  At the end of their training, they parade in front of a reviewing stand: and demonstrate their fighting skills (click Takedown to view):It’s really impressive to see thousands of students training together.  Here are a few photos of our students in the national news: Xinhua.  Most freshmen study at our remote campus in Yanglin which will be their new “homie” for the next few years:Last Saturday evening, a huge welcoming ceremony was held with over 4000 freshmen attending:The program included a dazzling display of videos and performances: Earlier in the week, a camera crew stopped by my classroom for a spontaneous interview.  It was included on the big screen behind the stage:Along with another foreign teacher, I was invited to perform an English song for the crowd (click to watch:What a Wonderful World):It was a bit scary to play in front of such a huge crowd, but fortunately, most of them were wearing camo so they blended into their environment (haha):Interestingly, the whole event seemed like a flashback to the old days when Bob Hope would perform in front of the troops!

During the month of August, we had the opportunity to travel to America to take care of State-side needs, shop, have medical appointments, and visit family and friends.  We were especially thankful to have our entire family together for the first time in two years, enjoying a few days at Myrtle Beach, SC.  Here we are after a sweaty round of mini-golf:It was fun to watch the newest family members interact: They have grown up so much while we’ve been in China:We enjoyed exploring tidal pools and fishing: Also, the group surprised me with an early 60th birthday party:Our family is scattered across the country (and around the globe), so we are very thankful for this special opportunity to get together!