From Grits to Chopsticks

We’ve reached the end  of our semester here in China and will soon be heading back to the States for the holidays.  With that in mind, here is part one of a blog with some random recent photos.  First, some food related pictures:

When I bought what I thought was a carton of orange juice boxes, I was surprised that it didn’t contain “100% orange juice”:When asked to discuss American culture with a group of students taking a school trip to the US, we were served a supposedly “Western Style” steak dinner (saucy beef, tomato, and banana):A new snack shop called “The Happy Sweet Potato” opened up across the street.  It’s no surprise what they serve:We’re also getting another new nearby restaurant: Grandma’s Kitchen.  A group of grandmas watched the staff get ready for the first day:New business openings are usually a blast.  Here is the debris from firecrackers that chased bad luck away from a new shopping mall in front of our school:This opening ceremony also had some dragon dancers:Speaking of new businesses, here is a shoe store that might look kind of familiar:Finally, the colder weather is bringing out more coats.  And since coats provide more room for slogans, we get to see more Chinglish, like this one with a random English phrase,”Returns will only be ACCEPTED if this tag remains ATTACHED”:and while it is true that no one is perfeot, I’m not sure if anyone is vmited:

In preparation for this year’s Thanksgiving English Corner,  Susan made three traditional pies in our “toaster oven”:

Pumpkin,apple,and pecan (with nuts brought from the States),

We also bought a turkey from our local “Western” restaurant.  Turkeys are not raised in China so they must be imported.  This year the cost was $4.68/lb:After discussing the meaning of Thanksgiving, we ate food together.  For most, this was the first time they had ever eaten turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, or pie: We are thankful for the opportunity to spend time together with our students,and we are giving extra thanks for our new grandson, “Scotty” who was born November 9!

We enjoy walking around our city and through the countryside.  By now, we’ve learned to watch our step (safety tape is very rare here):If we step into a hole and need medical help, it is easy to spot the traditional Chinese medical hospitals:While walking by a park yesterday, we noticed that the migrating seagulls have arrived for winter: 

Last week, we walked up the nearby mountain and found some huge water buffalo on the trail:But the most danger on this mountain comes from the trucks that run continuously from the quarry:

However, on this day, one truck had a broken wheel:

This provided us with the rare opportunity to walk on the construction road.  We didn’t go too far before reaching a foreboding sign:

so we followed the folks in front of us down a steep path to a village.  Along the way, we saw terraced gardens,

an interesting farm house built into the side of the mountain,

and the ubiquitous tombs:Since the path and road were above the houses, we could see corn and peppers drying on the rooftops:

We also saw people who have been walking a lot longer than we have (and carrying heavier loads):

If you haven’t heard about it, November 11th has been declared “Singles-Day” in China (the date is 11/11, like a group of single people).  It is celebrated with a single activity: on-line shopping.  The recent Singles-Day sales of $17.8 billion broke previous records by a huge margin.  Forbes magazine said it exceeded an entire year of e-commerce for the nation of Brazil.

If I order something on-line in the West, it is usually delivered to my doorstep by a big brown truck.  But package delivery is very different in China.  Instead of large trucks and warehouses, packages are carried all over town by thousands of scooters and three-wheelers.  They are then piled on the sidewalk at the gate behind our school:alongside the street:or sometimes, underneath a temporary canopy:Just in case you are wondering if such a large singles-day sales total is legitimate, here is picture that I took this afternoon of some deliveries in front of our apartment complex:
If every apartment complex in China has a pile like this, I may have to agree with the numbers!

While walking downtown last weekend, we saw a woman wearing an intriguing shirt:It’s an interesting and confusing combination of words.  But it applies very well to some daily encounters here.  Like this pile of large rocks we saw in a park last week:Around the corner, we saw that a tree had fallen across the rocks, revealing the truth underneath:A few of my students brought some copycat items to class last month.  A real and a fake Uno game:real and fake Oreos (can you identify the real ones?):and a copycat Spalding basketball from our nearby department store:Real fakes!  We have some authentic ones here…

One thing that we like about China is the abundance of unique foods available.  A “flower cake” bakery recently opened in our local shopping center.  Fresh rose petals are used as filling:they are baked into small snack cakes (these were a gift to us from some students last week):How do they taste?  Like rose petal pastry.

While walking today, we passed a large street food market:There was a guy pounding a big lump of white goo,blackened tofu,banana cakes,dinosaur bone soup (maybe),and some cowboys selling antelope shaokao (maybe):

Some of the more interesting things had multiple legs: Those were some very large centipedes: I’ve always heard that the small scorpions have the strongest poison, but assume it is negated by frying in recycled grease: How do they taste?  You’ll have to come and visit us in order to find out!

We don’t have an iPhone, but when we recently bought a new toilet seat to replace our old, cracked one, we got the next best thing.  The copy-cat brand name reminded me of the days when we had “flip phones”:While walking, Susan took this picture of a “food pagoda,” a localized version of the old food pyramid:The writing on this airsick bag struck me as funny, particularly given the name of the airline:

The replacement bumper on this Hyundai leaves doubts about the quality of the supplier:One of the things that we really enjoy is the overwhelming, amazing, tremendous use of superlatives in advertisements:

Even global brands seem to exaggerate a bit.  We wonder if this toothpaste can strengthen our enamel enough so that we can crack lobster claws with our teeth:

There is also the risk of misused contractions …

So, to maintain consistency with that final banner, please don’t comment on this post!

Asian people have an amazing ability to squat flat-footed.  This is very convenient, especially since it is often hard to find a clean place to sit.  They start very early:
They squat when they fish,while reading their phone on a post near the highway,
on a post near the river,or on the elevator.They squat when they’re just looking,when they’re smoking,
or when they’re shopping.I’m still working on my flat-footed, Asian-squat form:
It will probably be a long time before the Achilles tendons stretch enough to actually be comfortable this way!

China is an “eating culture,” so we spend a lot of time enjoying local food with our friends.  Sometimes, the food is somewhat tame – veggies, spicy meat, and rice:But then, there are other times.  Recently while I was out with a friend, we stopped to have some pigs feet and pig brains: Since this didn’t fill us up, we went down the road for some sausage.  Most of it looked okay to me:But when I asked my friend to pick his favorite, he chose the black cuttlefish ones for us:Later in the week, I was eating noodles with a couple of other friends: They also got an additional plate of meat to share:Although they said that it was chicken hearts, the first bite tasted like liver (it turns out that there were hearts and livers).  They then gave me something else to try:It was a stomach, nicely cross-sectioned to reveal all of the internal structures.  Yum!!!

A student recently returned from his hometown and called to let me know that he brought back a local specialty.  We recognized the apples, but not the things that were wrapped in leaves.  He told us to steam them for 10 minutes and enjoy:

They are called “maiba,” and are basically a wheat cake cooked inside of a sycamore leaf (baking is different when you live in a land without ovens).

Another student traveled south to help his family on their farm during the October holiday.  While working, he encountered this snake: His family farm is in a tropical area, and yes, they have cobras.  He killed it and happily announced that they would feast on “dragon soup” that night:Fortunately, we stayed in our city during the holiday!

And just in case you were wondering – yes, we do bow our heads and pray before every meal…

(Our camera was stolen last week, so I’m posting a blog I had written and saved from earlier this summer).

During one of weekly afternoon breaks, we walked around “Lotus Pund Park”:The Chinese people are amazingly skilled at placing a peaceful, small park in the middle of a city:The park is named after the Lotus flower pagoda in the middle of the pond:

People fish in the pond, even on a sunny afternoon:Perhaps they’ll catch the “dragon necked turtle” (at least, that’s what we thought he looked like):For those who wanted to stay out of the bright sunlight, they could also go “goldfishing” in the shade:Of course, there is plenty of shade for card players,and the ubiquitous park musicians:

Click here for a sample of their music: Park Music

While walking though the park, we found this unusual sculpture – it’s the first time I’ve seen a statue of a dead guy:

The park actually had decent public restrooms, unless you are “deformed” and can’t move the bench stored in front of the special stall:In a city of 7 million people, we are thankful for places to escape the hustle and bustle: