Week 18: R

r u kidding me? We're up to R already?

ROCKS: Love the rocks on the "beach." (By the way, we've been trying to teach some Chinese people how to appropriately use air quotes, and the results have been hilarious. I think it might be one of those things that doesn't translate well.) My rock collection grows bigger every week. I hope that the people who have the apartment after us appreciate it.

ROOSTER: (No, not a picture of the dead rooster on the sidewalk.) I'm the year of the rooster, which means I like attention (which could explain why I have a blog??).  After Spring Festival (Chinese New Year -- February 14 this year) it will be the year of the Tiger.

RED LANTERNS: These giant red lanterns were in RENMIN Square (People's Square). They tell me that in the summer here in Dalian people put candles in red lanterns and float them out to sea. It must be a beautiful sight.

Merry Christmas!

The Christmas decorations are a little lacking in atheist China, but I thought that this mother and child would do the trick. Best wishes for a joyous holiday and a wonderful new year!

The other day we were talking about the movie The Scent of a Woman. Has anyone seen it? Jerry was sure that Al Pacino danced the foxtrot in that movie. (He won the Oscar for it, didn’t he?) My friend, Sierra, on the other hand, was sure that it was the tango. I don’t know. Can any of you echo Jerry on this one? All I could remember from the film was Chris O’Donnell. I wanted him to be my own Romeo.

I’ve been reliving some of my Christmas memories lately. A vivid memory was driving to the downtown airport and meeting Mema and Pappy as they got off 4232 Charlie. Of course, when I was little, I couldn’t understand who this Charlie guy was. Then, someone explained to me that in the NATO phonetic alphabet "Charlie" actually stood for the letter "C." You can find all of the words in the phonetic alphabet here, if you are interested in it.

Over the last few years our family has enjoyed a tradition of partaking in a scavenger hunt/road race throughout the city. This year, the men in the family are going to head out to explore the spirit of giving. I guess they’ll need to know the name of the street they are heading to first, huh? I wonder if their aunt would embed a clue in her blog for them?? I know my Uncle Ed would get it, and I'm positive my Uncle Tom would get it. Happy racing, guys. I'll miss all the fun this year!

Happy Peace Night!

Happy Peace Night! I was asking what all the apples and pears wrapped in cellophane were for that I had been seeing in the streets, and the Chinese Teacher looked at me funny. "They are to celebrate your Peace Night." "What?" "Your Peace Night, on the night before Christmas some people give pears and apples to their friends." So, they've appropriated Christmas as a fun (cool, because it is Western) holiday and made it their own. I like the name, though. I hope it is a happy Peace Night for everyone.

Here is what our boss gave us for Peace Night. So lovely, and so easy to pack! If it is the thought that counts, you kind of have to wonder what the thought was!

Week 17: Q

Ha, ha! You thought Q would defeat me, but you forgot that I live in the land of QUAIL eggs. It's not a great picture, but I had my camera out one fall day to take pictures of the lovely street I take on my way to school and came across this selection of eggs.

QUEEN of the castle.

Before arriving in Dalian, I had seen pictures of this castle, and I was sure that Dalian would be full of historic, old buildings. Wrong! Not only is this a new reproduction castle, but here are its neighbors. New and modern. That is the mantra for Dalian.

Week 16: P

PAVILLIONS: Can't get enough of the pavillions in the PARKS.

PANDA, Red: We did see a giant panda on our trip to the zoo, but it was a bit of a disappointment. It was just a big lump, sleeping in the corner of the cage, behind dirty glass. These guys, on the other hand, were thoroughly enjoying the fall weather.

PINYIN: For the people who were asking me how the Chinese use keyboards or send text messages, the answer is pinyin. Pinyin is a system used to write out Chinese in Romanized letters. They type in the word in Pinyin, and the computer gives them the option of several different characters. (Due to the tones and other factors, ni, for example, can be about 8 different characters.) I read somewhere that by using this system the fastest typist can only type about 30 wpm. Unfortunately, Pinyin was developed by two Russians transcribing in Cyrillic, so it just adds an extra layer of confusion for English speakers. Pinyin is the reason why the Zhu Zhuo hamsters that are all the rage this Christmas should be pronounced Jew-Jow.

PEDESTRIAN: As far as I can tell, pedestrians have no rights in China. I will try to cross the street in a pedestrian zone, with the little green man walking, and cars and busses still try to run me over. I used to try to cross with old people, thinking that they respect the elderly in China, but I was soon disabused of that notion. My new strategy is children. Cars actually slow down when a baby or child is trying to cross the street.

PEKING OPERA: Here is one of the performers preparing for the night's show. I enjoyed the costumes, and the acting, and the dancing of the Peking opera, but--Wow!--the singing style made my ears bleed. Made me race home and listen to some Verdi.

Parks

In PREPARATION for P week, here is my tribute to Chinese PARKS. I love, love, love the parks in China. On the one hand, they feature tranquil, beautiful settings, and on the other hand, they are great social gathering spots.

A view from above. All around town you can find large groups of people gathering around a card table (sometimes the card table is just a newspaper thrown on the ground). This game is like hearts on steroids. You play it with three decks of cards. We were told to never, ever, ever try to play this with the park players because they would eat us alive. Serious stuff.

I don't know if this is a game or an artistic activity, but they are writing Chinese characters with charcoal dust. In the Summer Palace in Beijing, they had attached a water bottle to a hollow pole. After they created the characters with the water, the characters transformed into small, slightly raised ice forms. I'm sure a post-modern scholar would have an interesting comment about the ontology of the written language, but I was more concerned about the characters tripping me up and making me look ridiculous (oh, kind of like what they've been doing for the last three months!).

An impromptu musical gathering. This instrument is called the erhu, or the Chinese violin. As these men were playing, others just casually walked up and started playing, too. Then, when they finished their "set," everyone just naturally dispersed. The man in the blue jacket, with his fingers entwined, was the singer.

How happy does this picture make me? (Answer: very!)

Just one more picture. I can't choose between the pictures I have of senior citizens playing hackey-sack, badminton, croquet, tai-chi, ballroom dancing, disco dancing, fan dancing, sword fighting, doing military exercises or, here, I'm not sure what this is called, but it seemed to form its own sort of dance.



See you at the park!

Week 15: O

OLYMPIC City: No picture of the Birdsnest, I'm afraid, as the bus just zipped by on the way to the Great Wall, but I do have some other pics from Beijing.

I thought Beijing was a wonderful capital city. Yes, it's huge and, yes, the traffic was terrible, but the subway was easy to navigate and the sidewalks are wide and (relatively) spit-free. You'll note from my pictures that the first week of December is a great time to visit. There were no lines and very small crowds. Most of the entrance fees were cheaper, too.

The Forbidden City. Unlike in other places where the signs were in Chenglish ("This stele is erection from 1644") there was no Chenglish here. All the graphics in English said "Made possible by American Express." If that isn't weird enough, there is a huge KFC across from Tiananmen Square and a Subway sandwich place at the base of the Great Wall.

Tiananmen was just a big, ugly square. I waited for this cyclist to go by to make this picture of the Great Hall of the People more interesting. There are so many cyclists in Beijing that, in addition to little green and red men for walking, the street lights also have green and red lights for bicycles.

The Great Wall! Everyone advised me to go to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall because it was more remote, more beautiful and less commercial (although, I can only imagine what Badaling is like!!). And they were right! On this blustery December day I only came across four other people on my walk up the mountain. You know when you arrive at the Leaning Tower of Pisa and it is a little disappointing? It's not as big as you had imagined? Or it doesn't lean as much as you thought it would? Well, the Great Wall doesn't disappoint at all. It is even steeper than I thought it would be (there is a part which is basically like climbing a ladder), scarier (no sue-happy handrails installed here) and magnificent. These pictures don't do it justice.

The Summer Palace. Another big, gorgeous park. I can only imagine what it is like in the summer when there isn't ice on the lake and all the boats are out. With an entire garden planted with peonies, it must be sublime in the late spring.

This is the famous marble boat that the Empress Cixi commissioned instead of using the funds for the Imperial Navy (which led to the eventual collapse of the empire). Amazing how travel shows you that almost every society has featured the rich and powerful spending lavishly to the detriment to the peasants/citizens of Main Street (as they like to call us on CNBC). On the other hand, their extravagance creates really cool tourist spots years later.

Thanks, especially, to Hongsheng, Xiaoming and family who took me out for regional (Northwest) food on Thursday night, and then to the Temple of Heaven and the Pearl Market on Saturday. Thanks, too, for trying to teach me how to make dumplings, even though I utterly failed at it. A city is always better when seen through locals' eyes. It just reminds me that if I meet someone from a foreign land, that I should open up my home to them and give them a glimpse of the America that most tourists don't see. Xiexie!

Week 14: N

NOODLES: Ok, I was expecting the rice, but for some reason all the noodles surprised me. Not only are there wonderful noodle shops around, but also many of the students tell me that it is their favorite food. (By the way, never--not once--has a student told me that his or her favorite food is a dessert item. Some of the answers I get are meat, chicken, apples, etc.What are the chances that that would happen in the US?) The grocery store has a whole aisle dedicated to different noodle mixes. So, here I am, half-way around the world, and I'm eating Ramen noodles all the time. Feels like I'm back in grad school.

NESCAFE: Rumors that there was no coffee to be had in China were a little overblown. Granted, it is not a coffee-drinking society (yet--just imagine what will happen with this nation when they discover what a good cup of joe does for you in the morning), but you can find packets of Nescafe around. Every time I pour this magic mixture into my hot water, I think of my grandfather drinking his packets of Sanka.  As for brewed coffee, for a hefty price you can find it at a few Starbucks around town, Amici caffe and, of course, at McDonalds.

NOT a good walk home. This week marks the midway point of my stay in China,* and I thought I was acclimating pretty well here. However, on my walk home I came within about an inch of stepping on a giant dead rooster on the sidewalk (my roommate came across it a little before I did and said that its legs were still twitching). I only stopped because the pool of blood caught my eye. Why was I carefully watching the sidewalk for liquids? Well, on an earlier part of my walk I saw several people spitting (of course) and two men and a young boy peeing. Yep, don't think I will ever get used to that.

*I'm writing this before I leave for Beijing and am experimenting with scheduling the post for later.

Week 13: M

MARINA: A beautiful marina on the Yellow Sea. This marina is near Xinghai Square, a few blocks of land which, I've been told, is one of the most prestigious addresses in all of China.

MOONCAKES: Mooncakes are the traditional sweet of the Mid-Autumn festival (October 3). The stuffing can either be sweet or savory. A bit like our fruitcake -- everyone buys them and some are more elaborate and expensive than others--but not many people seem to like them. In the grocery stores beautiful women dressed up in long, red dresses and stood next to displays to sell them. I thought they were okay, a little dry, but okay (the mooncakes, not the women). Better than panettone.

MANDARIN oranges: I was amazed that Mandarin oranges were so plentiful and cheap until finally one day it hit me...duh...Mandarin oranges in Mandarin China. No wonder they are so cheap and plentiful.

MARKETS: There are open markets throughout the city. This one is about two minutes away from my house. If you look closely at the table in the middle part of the picture, you'll see a MAHJONGG board. I was so pleased the first time I saw a group of seniors playing mah jongg outside my apartment.

MAO! Mao is on all of the bills in China. The largest bill is 100 RMB (about $14). Since they pay us in cash, you can imagine the bulging envelopes that we get every month. It makes us feel ridiculously wealthy. I'm off to see the real Mao tomorrow as I head off for 5 days in Beijing. Bon voyage to me!