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.

Dinner for 20.5

Above is the photo of this years Annual Marigold Ct. Christmas Dinner. It is my way of paying back all my neighbors for all the leftovers, meals and parties I have benefited from during the year. We ended up with 20 grown up people and one tiny Sophia (our newest addition to the "hood").
All the cooking wasn't all that hard - I just spread out the casserole preparations over the month. The only tricky part is finding enough ice boxes to store the dishes in and ovens to cook them on Christmas. I am so lucky to live in such a great neighborhood.

Pre-Christmas Kayak Trip

Zac, Sarah and I were lucky enough to have a beautiful day - mid 60's and a little windy, but the current was with us so it was an easy paddle from Postell Creek around East Beach to the ocean. Only negative was the 4 layers of clothes did nothing for my figure.