Little Accident

I am surprised that we don’t see more accidents with the normal crazy driving – but I have to admit Chinese drivers are probably the best defensive drivers in the world because they EXPECT everyone else to be breaking the rules as they are. Also another reason is that you can ‘t drive very fast here because of all the traffic.Anyway… to the accident. We were on a bus going from the wedding to Cynthia’s home county. It was a fairly uncongested country road -2 lanes – paved with most of the cars, trucks and buses probably going about 60-80 km I would guess. The road had nicely paved shoulders but as normal there was this car that decided to stop in the middle of the road. This is a COMMON occurrence – they don’t pull over to the side – they don’t give any prior warning, they just stop. The bus couldn’t stop in time and clipped the back end of the car. No one was hurt but it was interesting how it was handled. The bus driver stayed cool. The other “stupid” driver was ranting and raving. Police were called. When the cop got there – he took pictures and then everyone left – which by then included lots of the local farmers and their kids that came to see what the excitement was about. 

Cynthia's Hometown

In the last 30 years, the standard of living has changed tremendously for Cynthia's family. (Along with the majority of people in China) Cynthia's father, who was part of the Red Army and not allowed to finish his schooling, did finally finish his schooling, went to college and is now the Dean of the English department at the local university. Before the family moved to Changsha, Cynthia, her parents and sister grew up in this small village about 3 hours away from Changsha. Her Aunt and Grandmother still live nearby with very few changes in their lifestyle. The photo below is of Cynthia with one of her 'Aunties' in their old village.

Below is a photo of Auntie's bed and bedding. 

Below are the photos of her working kitchen and dining room.

Chinese Wedding - Transportation

I was given the honor of sitting in the Bride's and Groom's car to and from the celebration. Generally after the celebration the Bride and Groom ride around the town with a car in front video taping them. Either this family or town did not have that tradition, but they did set off tons of fireworks when they arrived at the venue and afterwards.

Chinese Wedding Menu

Wedding Food

The restaurants charge by the table. On our table, set for 8, we could choose from all the foods you see on the ‘lazy susan’. And at each place setting there was a milk box, bottle of water, a box of small hard candies, and a paper cup. The paper cup was for toasting the bride and groom and each other with beer or their nasty clear alcohol.  No wedding cake and all the red dishes were very, very spicy.

Pictured below is Cynthia's dad and his brother (I think).

Chinese Wedding Attire

Photos
No problem with seeing the bridal gown before the wedding because all the photos are taken before. The bride and groom spend one or two weekends dressing up in many different outfits and going to various locations to take that perfect picture.  This photo was on display outside the hotel where the lunch was held.
 

Dressing For a Wedding
No shopping dilemmas for the MOB & MOG. Just wear whatever. Pictured are the parents of the bride and groom. At this wedding there were no bridesmaids and groomsmen – so no need to take the “Wedding Party” photos. The bride did change from her rented white dress to a traditional Chinese red dress for the toasting that the couple does at each table. 

Chinese Weddings

Understand that these vary as much as American weddings do, so this is just an example of one type of Chinese wedding from one part of the country. They have adopted some western traditions such as the white wedding dress and bouquets but have kept many Chinese customs such as the red dress, red envelopes and fireworks. Also this and the majority of all other Chinese weddings are really just a celebration because the couples have already signed the marriage papers at the local government office months prior. They usually save up money for the celebration part after they are legally married. 

Wedding Gifts

Easy for the gift giver – put money in the red envelope and give it to a trusted family member at the door. He records your name and the amount you gave. Sounds like his job is a lot more fun than getting stuck with doing the “guest book”.  The 'polite' amount should have a 6 or 8 in it (lucky numbers) 600 yuan or 800 yuan or 6000 yuan or 8000 yuan - you get the idea

Side Note – On the way to JangGangShan we saw a funeral – they were wearing white shirts over their clothes –and there were a bunch of bed comforters by the side of the road. Cynthia said that they give them to the family of the deceased. Funerals – so bedding gifts for funerals and money for weddings.

TIC

TIC (This Is China)- we say this a lot when things shock us - like cars driving on sidewalks - fireworks at 8 in the morning - etc...

This morning with NO prior warning from the office- I hear a noise in my kitchen - I go to investigate and ....surprise.....There is a guy hanging out my kitchen window scrapping something off the outside walls. Please remember I am 6 stories up and there are no locks on the windows. It is a good thing I haven’t taken my shower yet. I have a tendency to walk from the bathroom to the bedroom with very little on.

He is heading down so I warned Kate who is directly below me.  Julie, our local recluse and nudist on the 4^th floor, I didn't warn. (she gets real cranky when you wake her). Hopefully the scrapper won't have a big surprise when he gets there. There was another scrapper/patcher hanging by my bathroom window 3 hours later.  

New Favorite Street Snack

Think – Pita bread – but a little thinner. She rolls out the dough with some sugar in it then slaps it inside this big pot/oven. When it comes out it is a warm, crispy, and slightly sweet treat for 1 yuan (6.4 cents). Not as good as Dunker Donuts but still yummy.

Fireworks and Other Explosions

Kate and I went to see the fireworks last Saturday night. I found out that different fireworks companies take turns at running the show. You can even go onto a web site and vote for your display. This Saturday was a really good show – I would vote for this company…. if I could just read the web site.

As we left we ran into two unique Chinese peddlers: A cotton candy maker that runs off of bike power and a popcorn maker.  Kate got some cotton candy and it tasted normal- except no pretty colors. The popcorn maker is totally different from what you would expect. The guy spins this metal cylinder over a fire. When he removes it - he hits some lever and it explodes into a bag. Hot popcorn - no butter. Luckily last semester when Jason was here, he took photos of the popcorn maker so click on the link. The pictures are definitely way better than the 1000 words it would take for me to explain it correctly.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28398373@N07/sets/72157625497877237/

Rooftop Party

Last Friday night Meagan organized a NUDT foreign teacher party on our 18^th floor rooftop. In the picture you see most of our teachers – from left to right –Steve USA & Ling his girlfriend –Ranald UK - Meagan USA- Vincent USA- Amanda & Seth USA- Me – Tommy UK – Marian Australian – Andrew her husband took the picture.  It was hard getting a good fire going in the cheap grills but we ended up bringing up a George Foreman Grill to finish off the hamburgers. We all had a good time and got to know one another a little better. 

Notice the blue bag above Vincent’s head – we put it on one of the many, many cameras they have watching us. About 10 minutes after we put it up – the guards came up to “check up” on us – but they didn’t make us take it down. The 30 minutes later the big FAO boss (Mr. Li Gen) with a party of about 8 came up to “look around the new foreign teachers’ apartments” (yeah right – at 6:30 on a Friday night??). We offered him and the others some tequila jello shots. He had one but the rest of them refused. And yes, I was standing there cooking the chicken with the bottle of beer in my hands when they came up. 

More on Tibet

A lot of people have asked for more information about Tibet so here are some of my impressions that have stayed with me 

Tibet -A Riot of Color

Flags, carved and brightly painted doorways and eves, wallpaper, cloth – nothing matched but it all went together with the beautiful blue skies and clear air. Besides the visual impact the devotion of the Tibetans was the next thing that made an impression on me.  Carrying prayer wheels, the kowtow, ritual walks, prayer beads, prayer flags, spinning the large prayer wheels – so much of their day seemed to be spent in devotional activities. Lastly the amount of “armed soldiers” present at the corners of most of the streets, on rooftops, and marching in small groups around the streets gave such a contrasting and jarring impression when compared to the Tibetans and scenery- It left me with an unsettled feeling.

Due to our ignorance when making our travel plans we were only allowed to stay in Lhasa – (you need to state all the places you will go which are then placed on the visa). No matter - it was still a great trip. We had 4 relaxing days in Lhasa with plenty of time to walk around, explore, eat and shop as well as visit most of the important sites.  We stayed in an Indian owned hotel. The rooms were small but functional, they had a pretty good breakfast and the Internet worked well. There were lots of foreigners but Americans seemed to be in the minority.

The food was really good. We ate yak a couple of times (which is delicious)– we tried the lamb but it was so tough we couldn’t get it off the bone. Yak tea is horrid -sort of a combination of melted butter with milk in it. Some of the restaurants allowed the beggars to come in and put their hands out for money or their bowls out for food. There were monks at the table next to us and they had a little pile of jao (less than a penny) that they would take from for each beggar. I gave my share too – only thing that confused me was when they asked for food- I wasn’t sure what to do until I saw the other tables just putting pieces of food into their bags or bowls.  They could have had ALL our Yak Tea if we had know what to do ..... The mothers with babies and children were the most aggressive but the rest were very humble and tolerable. We figured they were “harvesting" from the tourists” in preparation for the long winter.

This blog I found when I was making sure I had the correct spelling for the praying stuff – it has some great pictures and a much better description of their devotional rituals.

http://blog.absolutechinatours.com/index.php/2010-11-17/ritual-walks-and-kowtow-around-jokhang-temple/ 

Finally Teaching

I finally got to teach at NUDT! - It was my first (and only) class It has 30 students - all sophomores - and from different Colleges. Supposedly being assigned to this class is an honor - but I would have been more honored if I had a full load and not just one class. Yes - I am a full time teacher and I have ONE 2 hour class a week. The rest of the time I am 'preparing for the next class'. This class has been hand picked - it has the top 3-5 students from 7 colleges. These kids get special treatment and classes due to the fact that they will probably be pretty high up in the government in the future. I can see why - they were great today. I got the majority of the students to talk a little - which I feel is an accomplishment due to the fact that it is the first day and they aren't used to hearing me speak - I am still a little fast.

The room was sooooo hot -4th floor (no elevator) and as typical no AC, but at least I could move around - the students sit on these horribly uncomfortable little square stools for 2 hours -  I was sopping wet by the end of the two hours but I was happy. The student monitor carried my backpack the 4 blocks to the faculty bus for me. During class the student monitor will get you tea or hot water whenever you want.  I just now need them to bring and wave big fans to cool me off. The room is a computer lab (with no internet) with video language lessons from the 60's (I had a hard time watching them without laughing).

The syllabus they have for the class is so packed with requirements that it is really hard for the me to get any good conversations started. I feel off the cuff conversations and arguments are more important than the dumb videos that they make the kids watch.

Back in Changsha - Aug 2011

Ok - I am finally in my NEW apartment - no major glitches in the apartment - but TONS of frustrations in the computer/network/internet area

1 - They have a nice - brand new - windows desktop computer - but it is in Chinese - so any question they ask me - which is very often - I can not answer because I can't read - so I take a guess and click on one of the pretty buttons -- I now have lots of flashing ads from some guy named Tommy ...

2. The have Office on the computer but they forgot to authorized the copy (probably illegal anyway) so I can't use it

3. My boss keeps sending me .doc files to open but I can't because the Office copy is not authorized and no--- I can not get onto the Google doc page to open them there ...because google docs is blocked (alone with facebook, blogger, etc etc)

4. They can not hook up my Mac computer to the network - none of the passwords etc will work

5. the windows computer doesn't have speakers - so - either I stay attached to the headset/computer they gave me or I miss any skype calls - no camera either

6. NO WIRELESS as they promised - so once again I am tethered to a desk and a really uncomfortable chair

Only other major complaint is that they only gave me one class to teach -( I start on this coming Tuesday )- and I still have to work on the web page (YUCK) - they promised me I could teach this semester.....so much for promises...

Hailar

Hailar is in Inner Mongolia -(pronounced Hi-Lar) we are going on a tour today to the grasslands and then to border of Russia and China "Manchurian" (Manzhouli).  Inner Mongolia was filled with lots of cattle, horses, sheep, goats and not many people. Lots of stories and statues of Genghis Khen. Food was ok just not as spicy as to what Changsha (and Cynthia) has gotten me used to. When we got to Manzhouli (Manchuria) which is on the border of Russia and China - all the sales people talked to me in Russian.  I guess all "us white people" look the same. Sort of strange because I hope I don't  look like any of the Russians that I saw - most of them were dressed rather inappropriately for their age. (I am trying not to use the word "sluttly").  A lot of Russians come over the border to shop in ManZhouLi for shoes, clothes and household products. All the shop signs were in Russian or Chinese and Russian.

At the Russian/China border they had a park FULL of giant Russian Stacking Dolls including NBA stars and presidents. 

 Cynthia had to take the picture of the border below - I wasn't allowed to go that close with an American Passport - wonder if it was a Chinese rule or a Russian rule?

Dunhuang - Crescent Moon Lake and the Mogao Caves

One part of our trip went to far western China - a town called Dunhuang. The 'famous' Crescent Moon Lake is located.  It started losing water in the '90s so the country in an effort to keep the tourists started adding water to the lake.

The Mogao Caves were next - overwhelming numbers of caves and spectacular wall art.

West End of the Great Wall, Jiayuguan

There isn't just ONE Great Wall Of China - there are many. Jiayuguan is the western end part of one of the important sections. Nice fort here and a popular tourist attraction with a 4 star toilet (a rarity in this area of China)

XiNing & LanZhou

Sorry Georgia - Lanzhou had the best peaches I have ever tasted. We only bought 2 - wish it had been more.

The boat ride on the Yellow River was made from blown-up pig skin. We passed on this adventure.

Overnight Train

This was my first time on an overnight train. We upgraded and got a "soft bed" which really means that 4 people are in the cabin- not 6 as in a "hard bed".  But as you can see from the picture many more people were in the cabin most of the time. Also they don't count children under 12 as a body so 2 people may be sleeping in one bed. This leg of our trip was 23 hours.  It was not too bad - we were in a car with a grandma and grandpa of a big family, also on the train, so she ended up taking care of us as well as her family - I was stuffed with all her food and snacks she brought by the time we left. No one snored too loud. Bathrooms were sort of gross but still useable. I got the bottom bunk which was pretty comfortable except that it was the community sofa during the day. I tried but I could NOT get up on the top bunk - you have to really really stretch those legs and have strong arms. I gotta work out more!

After the train we were taken to a hotel - it was HORRIBLE. I went downstairs to get a hairdryer and the receptionist was putting on her makeup and refused to turn around to help me. No hot water until they turned it on at a specific time. The rooms were occupied with lots of men playing Mahjong (they gamble on the game).  

The next morning we hopped in a car and did a tour of this area - temples, lakes, and the Yellow River. Then another 12 hour overnight train. It was drizzling a little and I fell on my BUTT on a slippery sidewalk outside of the temple, butt no permanent damage just sore and purple in some unmentionable places.

More Shopping in Tibet

OK down to the important stuff - what did I buy?  I bought a couple of cheap scarves, three Thankas (sp?), which is sort of a religious painting/shape,  that are very colorful and very detailed. I also bought some key/phone dangly things, another tea container with a picture of the Potala Palace in it, some dried yak for the train trip, and a cheap sandlewood bracelet.   I bought Zac a Tibetan style door for his NY house. The cloth door were being made by handicapped people. 

Last night we took a taxi to the park across the street from the Palace to take some pre dusk and post dusk pictures -- it was sort of drizzling so wasn't the greatest night sky but it was impressive. 

Shopping and Praying

Yesterday we had the whole day off so we wandered around and shopped and took more pictures. This is probably the most religious place I have ever visited. The people are truly devoted to their beliefs. One of the things the religious people do in the morning is walk clockwise in a large circle around this temple and couple of blocks -(maybe a quarter mile in distance)  hard to explain unless you see this mass parade. A very few devote people do it by sort of "inch worming" along and standing up in between. There are lots of cops and armed soldiers that monitor this behavior. In front of the temple is a short wall by the edge of the large cemented square.  Cynthia was still in the picture taking mode (she has a new camera)  so I sat down (remember altitude problems) ... No more than 2 minutes later a cop comes up and tells me "do not sit" even though there are many people sitting on the wall on the other side of the square --- guess I looked dangerous with my purse and camera. A little more paranoia setting in.

Blind Massage

Good Blind massage in the early evening and Dicos (Chinese version of KFC) for dinner - we were home before 9 before a big thunderstorm hit)

Side Note - The Dicos was across the street from the Blind Massage place - They had soldiers posted on the roof - with cameras and telescopes. They had a direct view into the massage place. The soldiers came over after we were done to check on our activities. They asked questions of the massage people. Paranoia was starting to set in.....

Yak not Yuck

Lunch was on our own we had Yak meat which is great, yak tea which HORRIBLE is like drinking butter with milk in it and lots of beggars that walked thru the restaurant (i always have my right pocket full of small bills for them ) some even asked for food - sad - we figured they were foraging for the winter cause in a couple of months there wont be any tourists to harvest from.

Potala Palace

 All of my Tibet posts were removed from my blog sometime in 2013 - but I was lucky enough to have found my drafts in my old files. I will probably edit them a little differently - but at least they will be in my blog 

 Potala Palace - that climb was way more challenging than the lighthouse. I had started taking my altitude pills a couple of days before but it was really, really hard - But I MADE it. Beautiful and worth it.  Never knew that besides all the monks that live there there are lots of monks buried there - the tombs are unbelievable - the 5th thru the 13th head guys are entombed with lots of jewels and gold decorating their tombs.

Tibet & Military Presence

Arriving in the city center the first thing I noticed was the heavy military present. Soldiers were stationed on top of the buildings with cameras and telescopes. There was a soldier stationed at the corner of our hotel's street and we saw many more during our 4 days. It is rare to see a gun in China. Even at NUDT there were few guns visible. China always made me feel a little paranoid but this cranked up my paranoia a couple of notches. American Tourists were scarce- mostly European or Asian.

Our Lhasa Arrival

After my visa had been carefully checked at least 7 times we finally arrived at the Tibetan airport and could not find our guide. We waited about 30 minutes and finally figured out that quides are not allowed to come into the building. They are required to stay across the street (which the view of them was blocked by the city buses) during one of our trips outside to take pictures of the beautiful blue sky, mountain and clouds, I spotted lots of people across the street with Chinese signs. Cynthia went across the street to read them and found our guide and driver. The guide gave us both silk scarfs as a welcoming gift. It was a 40 minute ride into Lhasa and the scenery looked a lot like New Mexico - outcrop rocks and dry. The barley fields and blue blue sky were picture worthy.