Bad Translation?

Hopefully this was just a bad translation and not what they really think of Americans - “April Fools Day” – was translated into “American Ignorance Day” Cynthia spotted this one as we were walking in Changsha after we had gotten haircuts at her favorite place. My hair is now much shorter but it will be easy to take care of and it is cute – at least I think so. She asked our hairdresser why more men are hairdressers than women in China. He answered “because they can cut womens' hair so that it looks good to men”…. I thought that was sort of chauvinistic but whatever…. He WAS very good at cutting my hair and in about 4 more weeks we will see if they are as good at Coloring hair to hide my gray.

Sad Sight

Not a major depression -but definitely “down in the dumps” – my last two peppermint patties. I had taken a couple of Tupperwear tubs full of peppermint patties and limited myself to two a day – alas they are gone – I ate them after taking this picture. Martha, my sweet Mother-In-Law, sends me Twizzlers with the Star magazines but the Peppermint Patties won’t survive the trip in an envelope. So I am just going to have to “suck it up” at least until July. As one of my Chinese students wrote in a 2008 Thanksgiving “What Are You Thankful For?” assignment: “I am thankful for the hardships in my life because they make me strong and make me appreciate the things I have”.

I am fine and finally adjusting to NUDT - Half way thru the Web Page "deChinglishing" with the help of Cynthia - good news from home - Zac is pretty sure he will get to go to France in May to work on one of his old professors sculptures Herb Parker http://parkerh.people.cofc.edu/sculpture.html - exciting huh!! Congrats Zac

Hanging Garden and Hanging Gardener

Not Enough Room For A Garden?....

Betcha you will have to rethink that …… I took this picture from my 4^th floor balcony. That “ye² ye²” (grandfather in pinyin Chinese) is about 2 stories up on the wall around his home. He has built steps and a support for his little garden – They are so resourceful with what they have and don’t have.

Side note- I am called nǎinai 奶奶 here – it doesn’t matter that I am not really a grandma yet- my age makes me so…
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New Store

The noise still makes me jump up and look out the window. I am not sure how the students or “de-Chinglishers” like myself can maintain focus on their lessons or jobs. I know I don’t.

Today at 10:30am another new store opened up. I am not sure what the new store sells but I know that its opening was profitable – maybe not for itself but for the nearest flower shop and fireworks store. A store's Opening Day means they decorate their entrance with many flower structures and set off lots and lots of fireworks. I didn’t make it outside in time to take pictures of the opening but I got a couple of photos of the aftermath. That red stuff is NOT leaves – it is the leftovers of many firecrackers and fireworks.

Where Are The Kids

Chinese Tour Groups

Whenever we go to attractions in China you will see Chinese tour groups with the same color caps. The large majority of them will be male. Cynthia told me once that usually the men’s company that sponsors these trips. Yesterday, I was lucky enough to witness one of these tour groups of elderly men all riding the carousel at the same time, some of them with a death grip on the horses. I took a video - see if you can spot any kids?

It makes you realize that even though only around 30% of Americans have passports we still have a very “colorful and full” life (as my Chinese students say). Appreciate it and continue to expand your experiences.

Window Of the World - Amusement Park

One of my most favorite movies is “Overboard” with Goldie Hawn. In it- one of projects that her pseudo husband makes- is a putt-putt golf course with tacky copies of the 7 Wonders of the World to “teach the people of Elks Cove” about the wonders outside their area… Well this place was a lot like that. The Changsha park, "Window of The World", is filled with miniatures of famous places with scary rides thrown in for good measure.

You enter the park thru the LOUVER Glass Pyramid, you walk around a small lake to see the Statue of Liberty located in MAMHATTEN and the SIDNEY Opera House, London Bridge on semi-dry land (it was drizzling), around the Pyramids and Sphinx located in the lake, pass the “Hill of Presidents” (Mount Rushmore) which is located in South DAKOTO, by the heavily graffiti-ed Alamo, Cowboy Fast Food Shop, and the TOTERN (Totem Pole) PILLER. There were many more mistakes in translation but we got bored with looking for them.

It was sort of fun trying to figure out if I could remember where the replicas were from and it made me realize that there were still a lot of places I wanted to see in the world.

Re-Gifting

March 8th was “Women’s Day”and the students brought their female teachers flowers. Since I don’t have any students yet – Cynthia gave me (regifted) her spare bouquet and a really tacky glass vase that we snickered about. (Some Nerds at this school seem to lack good taste- It probably is a good thing that they wear uniforms and don’t have to pick out their own clothes)

Side Note – besides the Chinese inventing all sorts of great things – I am positive they also invented “ReGifting”. They are so skillful. I know why lots of their meats are dried and salted – so they can regift it over and over and it doesn’t go bad. Cynthia’s father is an adviser of many PhD students at his university. It is customary to give the adviser elaborate gifts – LARGE statues, artwork, rugs, silk flower arrangements, etc. Cynthia’s new apartment is furnished (regifted) by many of her dad’s presents, even I have been lucky enough to be regifted with some of his bounty – Tea and Fruit. Let’s regift more often……

Walk In the Park

Just a short walk from my noisy apartment is Martyr’s Park, which is a fairly large park and lake. I first ventured there a week ago on a white and cold day. Amazing, how it suddenly turns quiet when you get in the shelter of the trees …Quiet until you get to the lake area and they are blasting some Chinese music or Karaoke. I guess they don’t want you getting too comfortable with the very rare silence.

Last Saturday morning it was warm, sunny (and white) and filled with lots of families. Not as quiet but definitely more interesting. There were so many young children – it didn’t appear that China is actually following the 1 child policy.

Barry’s Beach Service – Chinese Style

Hey Barry – these guys, when they rent out the umbrellas and chairs they give you free tea….. least you could do is pass out free sunscreen…..

PS almost got hit by a cement truck trying to cross the street when leaving the riverside park. It is definitely survival of the fittest, and quickest – and yes Paula we were crossing at a crosswalk……

Fireworks – Chinese Style

Hunan Province has one of the largest firework factories in China and they seem to enjoy demonstrating that fact FREQUENTLY and not just during the night. When they open a new store, a baby is born, a floor is finished on a new building, a birthday or just because, they will set off huge rolls or boxes of firecrackers. With all the building that is going on in China – you generally can hear them hourly.

There is an island and river dividing the city of Changsha. Every Saturday night, if it is not raining, they have fireworks. The college students on the other side of the river (and where Cynthia parents live) line the riverbanks to watch. After an afternoon of shopping and eating in town we joined them for the 8 o’clock show. It puts our 4^th of July SSI fireworks to shame. They had 5 stations set up along about ¼ mile stretch of the island. I just kept clicking away on my camera figuring the law of averages would work for me. I just love digital cameras.

Side Note – on the long narrow island is a park and a HUGE sculpture of Mao’s head – it sort of looks like the sphinx from far away. Taking and posting a picture of that is one of my goals.

East Gate Street Picnic

There are lots of restaurants outside the east gate of the university. One of them is the round table pictured. Unlike most established eating establishments this one is on the sidewalk. Stools and a boiling pot of soup in the middle with lots of sticks poking out of it. You pick the sticks you want to eat and when done - the owner counts how many sticks you have for the cost. It was 11 yuan ($1.60) for BOTH our dinners. And Cynthia and I had lots of sticks…… rice noodles, beef meat balls, mushroom/pork meatballs, mushrooms, tofu, green lettucey things, lotus root, bamboo shoots, and a couple more that I can’t even describe. It was spicy and good and cheap and surprisingly filling.

Laundry Day

This is my laundry hanging in my second bedroom – no dryer. You generally see the laundry hanging outside on balconies, windows, trees or laid on top of bushes but since I have an empty bedroom I decided to rig up a clothesline inside. It takes a little longer (3 days for jeans) but the air is a little cleaner. The tiny clothes washer is situated inside the small bathroom. You scoot the machine into the middle of the bathroom so that the plug will stretch to the outlet on the other side.

Cynthia and I met in town Saturday afternoon for a pseudo American day - we ate a snack at a German bakery, shopped at Walmart, watched an American movie "I Am 4" and ate dinner at Subway - I was able to ride the bus to and from (Cynthia was with her folks on the other side of the bridge) my apartment all by myself and not get lost - about 20-30 minute ride - I am still not sure I can navigate the construction and crowds to get from the bus stop to Walmart by myself but at least I can get into town.

WalMart In China

A week ago someone emailed me a few pictures of what WalMart in China is like. Except for a couple that were "Photoshop”ped (the frog in the pickle jar) it is all TRUE such as the live fish, frogs, turtles, eels, etc.

Yesterday I took these while shopping at WalMart. First picture is a gutted unwrapped baby pig. That hand in the photo had just put it down after looking at it. Second picture shows just PART of the dried and smoked meats section. It is mainly fish, smoked pork, sausages and dried duck, chicken etc. No alligators on ice but there was fresh seaweed on ice.

No salad bar – BUT they have a noodle bar…..

"Sparked Quite a Stir"

Sparked quite a Stir

I have been editing the web page material for NUDT and generally it is very boring reading -with really nerdy stuff – so much that I am sure I have scratched several gouges into my head – trying to figure it out. I don’t get to chuckle often – but this one sentence finally got me laughing hysterically – sarcastically of course…

At the end of one of the paragraphs this was written … "The faculty has published 86 papers including 12 SCI and EI-indexed ones, and six textbooks and monographs, among which Network Algorithm and Complexity Theory, Non-linear Optimization, Combinational Graph Theory and On Counter-Measures have sparked quite a stir in China.”

Well are you ready to go out and buy a copy? Should we recommend it for our next book club? I wonder if they have it an audio version of it? Maybe a movie or a TV series……. I swear this is exactly how they wrote it – This whole place is filled with REAL “Big Bang Theory” people. They may throw me out of here when they discover Martha sends me envelopes filled with “Star” magazines.

Picking Up Your Kid - Chinese Style

Confusion and Noise Rules! Across the street is a large middle school (what we call high school). The students are the ones wearing the navy and white athletic outfits. They have odd hours –sometimes start at 7 and sometimes start at 8, but out for lunch at exactly 12 back to school at 1:30. Dismissal is out by 3 or some days 4 then some days back by 6 then out by 9 or not back at all. Even though I haven’t figured out their convoluted schedule I definitely know the minute the kids are dismissed cause there is an enormous amount of honking by buses, trucks, taxis and parents when they are picking up their kids on this narrow old street. I have a great video with lots of noises, honking etc but can’t get to YouTube to upload it. Take my word for it – It is LOUD. Attached is a picture of what it looks like from my 4th story balcony - but the noise doesn’t show. After seeing this – Frederica Academy’s pick-up line is elegant and oh so civilized.