"T" in Tennessee!

Beijing "Fog!" ha ha ha

Sometimes I get a little miffed at folks who down China for their polluted air.  Yes, the air in many Chinese cities can be very polluted, just as some American cities.  But Beijing has many, many beautiful blue sky days.  They also, however, have many, many "bad air" days. On these days you will find yourself coughing and wondering if you have a cold.  Nope....it's just the heavy pollution in the air.  On really bad days, the Chinese will say, "Yes, it's very foggy today!" ha  I ALWAYS say, "Hey, that is NOT fog.  It's SMOG!"  What can I say?  Chinese folks don't like to say bad things about their country.  It's kinda nice.  But smog is smog.....NOT fog!   So here's a pic I've taken from my apt on a blue sky day:

Beautiful, right?  And here's a photo I snapped this morning from basically the exact same position:

Huge difference. :)  As I write this....the air is blowing and there's thunder and distant lightening.  It won't surprise me at all if I soon hear big booms of "cloud seeding chemicals" being shot into the clouds to ensure a bit of rain to wash away the smog...uh, "fog!" 

Moving on.  A couple of nights ago I dropped by a shopping plaza fairly close to my apt. where I enjoy shopping at "Bon Jour," a French supermarket chain here.  Outside the plaza there are many, many street vendors with their wares laid out on the plaza. On this night, I noticed a man pushing his bicycle along with a big bunch of cricket cages! I snapped a couple of photos.  Folks love their fighting crickets here.

Each little bamboo cage holds one cricket!  There was also a guy selling rabbits ands hamsters and he even had a couple of young puppies in a box.  Rabbits are popular pets here in Beijing.  And the yellow hanging things to the left each hold one small goldfish.  Kinda sad as they certainly can't really swim around.

and one more photo of the cricket cage man:

A few nights ago all my colleagues went to our favorite eating/watering hole, La Bamba, to celebrate James' and William's birthdays (31 and 30, respectively).  It was a GREAT evening at La Bamba complete with half-priced drinks and delicious Mexican food.  Photos, you ask?  Of course.  But not tonight.  Another time.  It's now raining heavily.  Perhaps those chemicals weren't needed after all.  LL, T.

Another Amazing Dinner in Beijing!

Last Saturday, July 25, I was invited by my friend, Jeanette, to go to dinner with her, her husband, and her daughter, Nicole (my student and young friend).  They wanted to try out a new seafood restaurant near our apartments that has been open for about a year.  Off we went.  What a fancy place it was.  They requested a private room and what a room it was!  We were shown to a very large room as they said they had nothing smaller.  The table in this room was designed to seat 12 folks and there were 4 of us!  There was a big flat screen TV hanging near the dining table and the room was "beautifullly appointed."  The waitstaff seemed very excited to be serving us.  I later found out that they had told my friends that I was the first foreigner to eat at their restaurant.  Oh, the incredible service!  So perhaps I should explain a bit about Chinese restaurants.  Finer restaurants are always multi-storied.  The first floor is where most folks eat.  But if you desire, you can eat on an upper floor where it's a bit more expensive and then beyond that you can request a private room.  Whether on the first floor or upper, great service is always exhibited.  But just know that the service in a private room is very hands on and special.  I will certain miss Chinese dining experiences when I return to the States.

These girls were so excited to have me take their photo!  So cute.

Jeanette and her husband are engaged in the serious process of ordering the dishes.  This took no less than 20 minutes.  It's a very serious task. :)  Jeanette's husband looked through the large menu book (which always includes photos in a finer restaurant) with Jeanette advising him.  The waitstaff member recorded all the dishes on her little digital thingy (sorry, don't know what you call that).  Nicole and I sat comfortably and chatted during the ordering process.

Huge room!

Our incredible dining experience began with this dish!  The small brown squiggly things you see is jellyfish!  I've become accustomed to trying ANYTHING at least once here in China, but, in this case, it was truly only once. :)  Sorry, but I now know that I'm not a fan of cooked jellyfish.  However, the steamed broccoli was delicious and I ate lots of it.  Next (no photo) was a wonderful shrimp dish accompanied by cooked cucumber (I will miss cooked cucumber when I return and intend to make it a part of my diet in the States).  I should add, at this point, that my plate was removed and replaced by a fresh plate no less than 6 times.  And if my chopstick slipped and hit the table then I was quickly provided a fresh pair of chopsticks. I was also given (since I'm a fork-usin' foreigner) a fork and knife and those were also frequently replaced with fresh utensils.  And don't even ask about the wonderful hot rolled-up towels that were provided frequently on small plates next to our plates.  It reminded me of the days when I worked for American Airlines and for a brief time was able to experience flying first class where hot towels were provided. :)  So I had no idea what dishes we would be experiencing until they were presented.  Here's the next:

Care to guess what this is?  It's abalone!  Yep.  Sea snails!  Oh my!  You know...it's definitely a delicacy and if you do any research on it then you know that in the States...it's harvested by divers in California and they can only procure 3 abalone per day and only 24 per years.  Most of the worlds' abalone comes from Australia.  I followed the lead of my dining partners as to how to properly eat this delicacy (which, I should say, was very delicious).

Here, you can see that I've cut it up with my fork and knife.  What a delicious sauce it was encased in.  Then, bowls of steamed rice were provided.  Jeanette said I should dump the rice onto the plate to be sure and enjoy the wonderful sauce, along with the abalone.

So I did as I was told! :)  Here's more info on abalone, which is also commercially produced here in China: 

Abalone has long been a valuable food source for humans in every area of the world where a species is, or used to be, abundant. The various larger species of abalones have been exploited commercially for food to the extent that many populations are now severely threatened.

The meat of this mollusk is considered a delicacy in certain parts of Latin America (especially Chile), France, New Zealand, South East Asia, and East Asia (especially in China, Japan, and Korea). In Chinese speaking regions, abalone are commonly known as bao yu, and sometimes forms part of a Chinese banquet. Similar to shark fin soup or birds nest soup, it is considered a luxury item, and is traditionally reserved for special occasions such as weddings and other celebrations. However, the availability of commercially farmed abalone has allowed more common consumption of this once rare delicacy.

So you can imagine how delighted I was to be experiencing such a special dish.  But the dishes definitely did not end with jellyfish, shrimp and abalone.  We also had spicy duck (bone and all) and fish heads and an unusual "Chinese" beef steak (which was only ordered for me and Nicole).

The fish was delicious!  And when I had a little trouble obtaining the fish for transfer to my plate, a waitstaff magically appeared to do it for me. :)  They also provided a small plate to lay the fish bones on.  That's right.....no boneless fish here in China.  Fish are served whole here, bones and head and all.  I love Chinese-prepared fish!  You merely pulled the bones out of your mouth and lay them aside. 

This is the Chinese beef steak that was ordered just for me and Nicole.  Very good but certainly not like American steak.  If you see this pic posted twice then know that I had this entry all prepared to post last night but my internet suddenly cut off (when things like this happen we here in China just laugh and say,"Welcome to China") and I was powerless to do anything about it.  Luckily, typepad automatically saves entries that you have not yet saved.  So....continuing on....it was a GREAT evening with great food and we even had durian (the smelly fruit) prepared in such a way that it was a delicious dessert....which was folllowed by a delicious plate of fruit (which is very common as an ending meal dish here in China).  Durian is most definitely a smelly fruit.  When it's in season you can smell it all over the supermarket! ha  But it tastes FAR better than it smells! :)

When we left our private room, I was greeted by the chef who had prepared our food who merely stood straight and nodded his head at me.  I nodded back and smiled and said "thank you" in Chinese and then had Jeanette tell one of the managers who was escorting us downstairs and out of the restaurant that I had really enjoyed the meal and that the food was delicious.  She seemed very happy to hear this.  We were escorted to Jeanette's husband's car and they even protected my head as I entered the back seat of the car (which reminded me of cop shows and how they always put their hands on top of criminals' heads as they are shoved into the police car! ha).  Amusing.  I feel very fortunate to be friends with Jeanette, her daughter and family!  She has taken me to some fabulous restaurants here as you've seen on this blog.  Restaurants that I would never have known about otherwise.  I'm a lucky woman and I can now add jellyfish and abalone to my list of never-before eaten foods which include donkey and horse.  Yep....don't cringe....but I tried a bite of horse that a co-worker offered me (which I believe I blogged about many moons ago).  Still haven't eaten dog (at least not that I know of) but it is definitely eaten in China however mainly far more northern than Beijing and closer to Korea, where it's eaten even more commonly.  I could go into a little spill about eating dog and how it seems repulsive to Americans but how in other countries, it's a common animal to eat just as we eat cows and pigs....but hey, you probably don't want to read about that. :)  But consider India.  They do not eat cow and probably think we're crazy for eating such an animal.  Different strokes for different folks, people.  It's all about the world you live in and sometimes are own little worlds are very small.  We know what we know and we like what we like.  Branch out, however, and you will discover many amazing customs and practices.  Your "comfort zone" will be challenged....and for me, it's been a good thing; a VERY good thing! :)  LL in C, T.

Why?

Well....if the question is  "why do you like living in China so much?" then....let me try to tell you.  I believe it's because my life here, my job here, has meaning.  As a single parent, I have had far more "jobs" than I'd care to count.  But this job....teaching.....teaching English....for me personally...has brought meaning into my life...perhaps for the first time in my working career.  This statement in no way should reflect upon my life as a mother to my son, which, of course, has brought wonderful meaning to my life.  But right here and now, in Beijing....I am engaged in a job that brings me great joy!  What I do makes a difference in the lives of others.  Can you imagine how wonderful that feeling is?  I KNOW that the job I perform here in Beijing, teaching young Chinese students, has made a difference in their lives.  It's a good feeling.  It brings me joy and a feeling of accomplishment and contentment.  It's a very unique feeling for me because I've never felt this sense of accomplishment or worth in any previous "job."  And because I am not without intelligence (smile), I do realize that my satisfaction level with living in Beijing is based, in large part, upon the fact that I am, in fact, a foreigner living in China.  So yes, I do realize that a large portion of my complete satisfaction with my life here is because I am a foreigner.  Know, however, that I have wished many times that I had an Asian face so that I could truly blend in and live without the extra attention.  I can forever wonder what that might be like but will never know because, you know, I am not Asian and cannot change my face. 

Contemplating my approaching return to the land of western faces?  Yes.  I can only try to convey my feeings adequately.  You see....though I do love China, its people and culture, I also love the feeling of worth and meaning that my job here creates.  And that feeling goes beyond the fact that it's the country of China that I live and work in.  True job satisfaction is an incredible feeling that I now know I've never had in any previous position and, I might add, has nothing to do with money.  Who knew?  I want to do my best to have such job satisfaction, as I have here, when I return to my home country.  I don't expect it to be an easy task.  But you can be sure that I'll try.  LL, Teresa 

My name is Teresa and I make STARS!

Yes, that's right. I'm a star makin'aholic!  I desire no intervention and am proud of my new addiction. I make stars while watching mindless tv programs.  It's fun.  It's relaxing.  They're pretty and shiny and look great in a clear jar!  Making little puffy paper stars makes me happy. :)  I embrace happiness from wherever it comes.

So now you've seen the results of my new addiction! ha  My new concern is how to continue my addictive star-making behavior in the States.  I can buy the small strips of colorful paper for about 25 cents per 100 strips.  So you can be sure that I'll buy a healthy amount and stuff them into some of the boxes that I'll be shipping back to the States! :)  And I'm seriously thinking of leaving money with a friend to send me more strips when the need arises.  And if you're thinking, "Oh, Teresa, can you imagine what those cute little stars would look like all strung together on a string like popcorn for your future Christmas trees?"....then don't you worry!  I'm there!

Today, in my mid-afternoon class (1:00 to 3:20 pm), it was James' last class.  So I followed up with my declaration that we'd have a cool going away surprise for him!

That's James....with the pizza slice to his mouth!  He's been a great student and is wonderful  teenager!  I hope to continue communication with him by email.

The girl daintily holding her pizza slice is Teresa!  She is also leaving and may only have one more class....which, of course, might mean yet another pizza party (which the kids just adore).  I did make one mistake.  This class is my MORNING class (from 9:00 am until 12:00 noon) so we had the pizza extravaganza at 11:30.  Today, for the first time, I taught these students how to play Skip-Bo (thank you, Mom, for sending me the cards!).  They LOVED it.  It's much more challenging than Uno and I gave James the cards as a leaving gift which he was very proud of.  Now...they ALL want SkipBo cards! ha  As I've said, there's few things that cannot be bought in China....but Uno and SkipBo cards just can't be found here.  You can get Uno cards in Hong Kong but I doubt you can get SkipBo cards.  So my giving students Uno and SkipBo cards is a great gift for them and it's so great to see their delight at owning a pack of either of these card games.

Tonight, I had dinner with a new friend.  Yanbo is a pediatric heart specialist and she and her family (she has a nearly 4 year old daughter) live in my community.  We met because Yanbo came up to me very bravely and engaged me in a conversation in English. We had a wonderful dinner together tonight and had great conversation together.  We talked a lot about my love for living in China and also her desire to one day visit America.  We will be getting together as often as possible (considering her busy schedule as a doctor) before I leave.

Last night, I had yet another incredible dinner with Jeanette and her husband and her daughter, Nicole (my student).  I have many photos (mainly of the incredible food where I ate jellyfish and abalone for the first time in my life...the abalone was delicious!).  So stay tuned my blog buddies!  It was an interesting evening as the waitstaff informed us that I was the first foreigner to eat at their restaurant!  I truly felt like royalty as no less than four people waited on my every need before I ever knew what I needed!  How I love China and the incredible service that exists here (and not just for foreigners, should you wonder).  Stay cool, folks!  LL, T.

Basically, same, same, same! :)

I have learned many, many lessons from living in China over the past two years.  One of the greatest lessons is realizing how very alike we are as world citizens.  Basically, we all want the same things.  We want to succeed in life, we want to be happy, we want to have good shelter, enough to eat, good clothing; we want the best for our children and give them the best opportunities, we want to have good friends and family who care about us, etc.  I could go on but I think you probably get the idea.  When I first came here to live in Beijing (having only visited once), I really didn't know what to expect about what I could find to make my life comfortable and what might be difficult.  I can tell you solidly that living in Beijing is not unlike living in any big city in America.  And sometimes....I wish that I had chosen a more rural area in which to teach.  I envisioned more of a challenge for my life here...not to say that there haven't been challenges, but the challenges I have encountered seem mediocre in relation to the challenges I would most likely have experienced by living away from a big city in a rural area.  Having visited some rural areas, the challenges would have been far more....well, challenging.  I know it sounds strange....but I would have enjoyed those challenges.  Anyway....my life in Beijing has been very comfortable over the past two years.  In fact, far more comfortable than the last 2 years might have been in the States.  I have a job that I LOVE, students that I adore, work with folks at EF that I enjoy and respect, have a comfortable apartment, have a wonderful array of very diverse friends, etc.  I can honestly say that in many ways I've never been happier.  Sure...I miss my family, my son, my friends....but technology being what it is these days, I stay in good contact (and in some cases, even better contact).  Do I miss the "comforts of living in America?"  What's to miss?  This is my point.

So...without sounding too weird (ha), I just want to say that the basic necessities of life are desired by everyone across our planet.  Basically, we all desire the same things.  We may look different, have different ideas of what a "good" home is, we may eat different foods, have different work ethics (and might I just add that the Chinese work ethic is very strong and loyal), etc.,......but in the end, it seems to me that we desire the same things in life.  In my opinion, this makes us far more alike than different.  I love experiencing differences and enjoy celebrating differences.  If we all had the same face, the same hair, the same houses to live in.....what a very boring planet we would live on.  Agree?

So here's just a few photos I shot at the mall near my workplace where I stopped to do a bit of shopping this evening:

See the girl in the yellow shorts, on the escalator to the left?  She had just been SKATEBOARDING in the mall! ha  Now THIS, folks, is a DIFFERENCE between Chinese and American cultures.  Teens would never be allowed to skateboard or rollerblade in malls.  But it seems to be an accepted practice here.  The first time I encountered a young child skateboarding in the mall, I literally ran over to him and said, "No! This is dangerous!" ha  But it's okay here.  Parents don't mind, and mall guards don't seem to bat an eye.  You can see the "rock-climbing wall" in the photo.  The young boy on the wall had many well-wishers watching him and they would clap as he progressed upwards.  And yes, I've seen children riding their bicycles inside malls! ha  As a 20 year veteran of the legal world, all I can think of is the liability! ha  And most all these kids are wearing no protective gear whatsoever.  Which brings me to another observation:  in the nearly two years I've lived here I RARELY see an ambulance blaring down the street or a fire engine, etc.  Despite the craziness of drivers here (where you merely pull out in traffic and it's accepted that everyone else will just make room for you), I have seen very few wrecks and even those have been minor.  I have seen fire engines careening down the street only twice.  Strange to me.

So now I'm inside the Lotus Center (in the basement level of this huge shopping mall) to acquire a few food items. I took a few quick photos to show you how very similar department stores here in Beijing are to American department stores.

Yep, it's true.  Chinese folks deal with dandruff just like Americans! :)

I've said that you can find ANYTHING in Beijing....however, there are a few things you can't find.  An American football is one.  When I went to Hong Kong, Kang and I searched high and low for an American football so we could show our students.  No luck.  All we found was a "Harley" nerf football to bring back! ha  Football in China, as in many countries, means soccer.  To distinguish we must say, "American" football.  So if anyone would like to rise to the challenge, feel free to send me an American football so we can keep it at my Center and show the kids.  I have visited the U.S. once since moving here, in November of '08, and totally forgot to buy an American football.

So I leave you with this story:  walking along in the department store this evening I passed by a married couple.  I may not speak fluent Chinese but there are times when I instinctively know what is being said. I'm a big, tall foreigner.  So I walked past this couple and I just KNEW what the husband was saying, as his wife had not noticed me.  He was saying, "Oh my gosh, turn around and look at the big, tall foreigner!" ha  So I stopped in my tracks and turned around, just waiting.  And sure enough, the woman stopped and turned around to stare at me, meeting my stare right back at her (albeit with a smile on my face.)  She very quickly turned back around and said something to her husband which I would like to think was, "Oh my gosh, she totally understood what you just said!" ha ha  LL, T.

Life Remains Great in Beijing!

Last week, my students helped me try to learn to write my Chinese name.  My Chinese name is Tang Jia Mei.  "Tang" would be my family name.  I want to be able to write my Chinese name before I leave.  So some of my students wrote my name on the board and then I numbered which strokes come first (it's important, when you are writing Chinese characters, to get the order correct because it makes writing the character flow smoothly).  I then attempted to write my name myself.  I did okay, but it's very big.  It will be a long time before I can perfect writing it in regular small characters!

One of my colleagues, Wendy, took in a stray pregnant cat a couple of weeks ago.  She now has 5 little kittens (about 10 days old) meandering around underneath her bed!  So you know I had to go to her apartment and take a look.  ha  So cute.  I was holding a white one and Mama didn't like that at all.  She told me very sternly, "Put my baby down!"  I did and she promptly carried him off to her little hiding place.  Here's one of the tabbies.  So, so cute, these little ones.  Makes me miss my long-time feline companion, Max. 

Today was my one day off.  I was pretty tired and enjoyed a relaxing day at home.  This evening, however, I was invited to have dinner with one of my former students and her parents at their home.  Lynn is leaving in 3 weeks to fly to Florida and go to high school (11th grade) as an exchange student.  She is so very excited.  I've been to Lynn's home before so I know the way and can give directions in Chinese quite easily.  What I couldn't do was tell the taxi driver the exact address.  So when I got in the taxi, the taxi driver said, "Where are you going?"  I said, in Chinese, "I don't know."  A funny stare ensued from the taxi driver.  Then I said, again in Chinese, "But I can show you the way and the streets."  So I began telling him which turns to make to get me to my destination.   I'm getting better and better at what I term "Survival Mandarin!" ha  I recently learned how to say, "Is everybody happy?" in Chinese and as I like to say new things I learn a lot.....my poor co-workers now hear me say "Is everybody happy?" every time I enter our workplace! ha

At Lynn's house we had a wonderful dinner of ju roe jiao zi (pork dumplings).  Then Lynn and her mother, Jane, showed me many things that Lynn has prepared to take with her to the States.  I was amazed to learn of some of the prices because I have purchased many of the same things as gifts for folks and always pay a HIGHER price (thanks to my western face), even though I do try my best to drive a hard bargain in Chinese.  Jane has agreed to take me shopping before I leave Beijing so I can purchase some things at the "regular" price! ha  Here's our great dumpling dinner:

Lynn's mother bought her two beautiful traditional Chinese dresses to take with her to the States (she'll be a big hit at a school dance in one of these).  She modeled one of them for me.

Beautiful, right?  No matter how much weight I could ever hope to lose.....I could never wear one of these dresses! ha  I'm okay with that. Tonight, Lynn taught me the words to a traditional Chinese song that I hope to learn to sing before I leave.  To date, I can only sing "Are you sleeping, Brother John" in Chinese! ha

Time is winding down for me.  The weeks seem to be flying by.  I look forward to the month+ I will spend in Beijing after ending my teaching job.  More and more, I think about flying to Xi'an and then taking the train to Lhasa.  I have to consider this trip very carefully as the altitude of Lhasa is very high and many folks get very sick from altitude sickness.  But it's a once in a lifetime opportunity and it's high on my list. :)  Going to Urumqi and Kashgar might have to be canceled because of the recent troubles there (which is a big reason why so many websites are now blocked, as I've said before).

Summer in Beijing is sweltering HOT!  Tonight was extremely warm and humid and when I left my apt. to visit my friends, I left the air conditioner in the living room ON (something I rarely do and only when I'll be returning in a couple of hours).  I will have a lot to adjust to when I return to the States.  Electricity bills being a big one!  I sleep with the air conditioner in my bedroom on all night!  It's a practice that Chinese do not engage in.  They open windows and are accustomed to the warm night air.  Still....I spend only about $45 a month in the summer for electricity (in the winter it's truly negligible as I pay only about $15 a month for electricity).  Gone are the days when I was paying close to $400 a month for electricity in that big old house on Clinch Avenue in Knoxville, TN.  So returning to live in the States will certainly come with adjustments after living here for a bit over two years.  All experiences in life change us....and this one has brought about many changes in my life.  All good, I might add.

I hope to begin posting more blog entries soon!  I received two very sweet emails today that inspired me to try to post more during the next 4 weeks until my 6-days-a-week work weeks end.  So thanks, R and J!  Your emails were very special to me and I thank you for taking the time to email me about how much you've enjoyed the blog. :)  LL in C, T.

Typepad BLOCKED!

So the "blockage problem" continues.  Now....my blog is blocked here in China.  Oh, I can still post (as I'm doing now) but none of my friends and colleagues here can actually see my posts (unless they access my blog through a proxy, which is actually quite easy to do). Still....it's a pain!!

I've recently run through the last 4 seasons of Survivor:  China, Micronesia, Gabon, and Tocantins.  Now, I'm just waiting for Survivor Samoa episodes to get up and running! ha  I love youku.com! ha  To continue satisfying my need to watch "good" TV (ha) I'm currently watching Big Brother Season 10!  I also recently watched "Memory Keeper's Daughter" via youku.com and it was great. If you're a reader, read the book first, then go to www.youku.com and watch the movie during all that boring downtime at work! ha  Still LL in C, despite certain URL's being blocked, T.

A Delightful Day Off!

Yesterday was my one day off this week.  I wanted to make good use of it (translation: sleep a lot) yet still get some things done.  I slept in until 10:00 am (Yeah!) and then my good friend, Seven, came over at 11:00 because I had arranged for the recycle lady to come to my apartment at 11:00 to retrieve all my plastic and I wanted to have a conversation with her.

The recycling lady and her husband (both in their upper 30's with a 17 year old son) make their living by collecting plastic, cardboard, glass and getting money for it at the recycling place, wherever that is.  They have a bicycle that pulls a small flatbed cart and sometimes it's loaded to the gills!  I've been giving her all my plastic bottles (soda bottles mostly) and cardboard and such for almost 2 years.  She always offers to pay me but I always refuse and am just happy for her to come and retrieve it all and recycle it.  You see, they give you money for it, which is about half of what they can get for it at the recycling place.  The recycling lady and her husband and I exchange pleasantries quite often but I never really get to talk with her; have a conversation with her due to my inabilities with Mandarin.  Yesterday, she came to my apt. about 15 minutes before Seven arrived.  We loaded up 2 HUGE burlap sacks she brought with her (about 2 months accumulation of plastic...for me, diet coke loving fan that I am.....it was a LOT of plastic).  She loaded it all into the sacks and Seven still wasn't here.  I knew I couldn't tell her I was waiting for Seven so I could talk to her so I began showing her photos I had from back home.  As she was still looking at them, Seven showed up!  I found out that she and her husband are from Henan Province and when their crops started going downhill they made the decision to move to Beijing for a better life, leaving their son behind with grandparents (as they would have to pay for him to go to school here since he wasn't born in Beijing).  She said her husband has diabetes and he's able to get better medical care here.  They travel home as often as they can afford.  Seven told me they actually make a better living here selling recyclables than in their hometown and they are able to send money home for the care of their son and other family members.  Still, her story amazed me.  If I had taken the money for the 2 huge bags of plastic, it would only have been 8 RMB ($1.20) so maybe she gained twice that for my plastic and such.  She always thanks me profusely for my giving her the plastic and not taking the money yet for me I would feel so ridiculous, as a foreigner who makes a good living here, taking any money from her.

After the recycling lady left, Seven took my bicycle downstairs and put air in my tires on a nearby corner where a bicycle man sets up shop every day.  It cost nothing as she pumped the air herself.  Then we went downstairs and to the little shop outside my apt. building so I could talk with the lady who owns the shop.  She's 46 but looks so young that I thought her 22 year old son who works with her was her son! ha  I told her to please not tell him I thought he was her husband. She is also a transplanted Beijinger from Henan Province.  I was very grateful to Seven for taking time on her own off day to help me have some conversations with folks so I treated her to a great lunch.  Off we went by taxi to Wan Da Plaza where we would eat at Babela's Kitchen!  Yum!

I ordered LOTS of things for us! 

In the background you can see Seven's green tea milkshake (she said it was DELICIOUS) and garlic bread and then a "meat platter."  You can really see but there was fried squid (I gratefully let Seven eat all the squid! ha), delicious sausages and some ham on a stick as well as onion rings and chips.  The other two dishes were Italian risotto and cheese-covered mashed potatoes.  What you can't see is the half pineapple which had been scooped out and filled with fragrant yellow rice with shrimps and covered in cheese (oh my gosh!) and we also had 2 bowls of soup, me Minestrone and Seven Mushroom!  We almost finished off every bite, leaving a little bread and some of the rice and then had some great conversation together.  As we were talking, a young girl who worked at the restaurant was so curious to hear us speaking such rapid English together that she swept the area around our table for 30 minutes! ha  Seriously.  I thought it was pretty cute and made sure to tell her Zai jian when we left.

I arrived back at home by 3:00 and immediately got to working on the second part of my off day, which consisted of putting in a DVD and then falling asleep on the couch and the air con blew it's wonderful cold air in my face. :)  Later, I made my own fried chicken and enjoyed it with my last packet of Ranch dressing (thank you, MJ!).  A good day off, folks!  Oops!  I forgot to say that as we left the shopping center, I dragged Seven into the arcade (which also has a skating rink and a huge area of pool tables) and bought 30 RMB ($4.50) worth of coins to play games.  We weren't very successful but we did manage to accumulate about 175 tickets to exchange for a cool prize! ha  I let Seven choose the prize.

I warned Seven that all those ticket would probably only allow us to buy something like a pen or pencil! ha  I was pretty much on the mark!

Seven chose a cute little giraffe keychain that was probably worth 2 RMB (25 cents)! ha  No matter.  We had fun playing the games together and that was certainly worth $4.50. :)  And I was able to snap yet another photo of Seven's cute dimples.  LL, T.

The Great Firewall of China!

So....Facebook is now blocked in all of China!  This is frustrating for me because I have really been enjoying talking with friends on Facebook.  I can access Facebook through a proxy so I can see anything you post....but I can't respond to it.  And the emails I get are in the way of "notifications" and they don't reveal Facebook email addresses so if you would like to converse with me then you need to email me at tbragg85@aol.com.  The blocking of FB is probably due to the tragic situation in Urumqi of late where over 150 folks died and over 900 were injured.  The Chinese government doesn't take kindly to folks who post pics or videos of such situations in China.  I can't blame them for this because many times what is posted is not a true representation of what really happened.....which is, of course, the case with pretty much all media.  Hopefully, things will calm soon and China will unblock Facebook.  Until then, please let me hear the love from you guys by emailing me. :)

I haven't posted pics in a while.  Where I work....we hold a six week summer camp every summer.  During this time we work 6 days a week for 6 weeks.  It's not easy but it's not so bad either. :)  I will be posting blogs as much as possible but with working a lot....there's not much else going on.

Funny thing....one of my Chinese colleagues just noticed today that she couldn't access her FB account.  When I explained everything to her, she said, "Oh, is it this way in America?"  I said, "No, in America it's the land of the free and we are free to say or post whatever we want.  My government would never block a website across the entire nation."  Oh.....I hope I spoke words that will be forever true. :)

I'm doing well in Beijing and look forward to posting some interesting entries soon!  I recently met an interesting woman at the little store next to my apt. building. She was very brave as she approached me and spoke in English.  She said I was the first foreigner she'd ever spoken to yet her English was VERY good.  Turns out she is a pediatric heart specialist at a very prominent hospital here in Beijing.  Kudos to Yanbo because I would never have known her if she hadn't been brave enough to risk her English with me.  Now....we have plans to get together and I'll get to meet her 4 year old daughter!

Life remains full of wonderful surprises in Beijing!  LL, T.

No A/C on a hot Beijing night? Unacceptable!

I arrived home at 9:00 pm from work tonight.  First things first...turn on both A/C's full blast.  Then I took a shower and sat down at the computer.  Huh?  The A/C had quit working!  Checked the one in the bedroom.  Also stopped working!  What?  I went out into the hallway to the little "electricity meter room" and searched for the button where you can reset.  Flipped the switch.  No change.  Knocked on a neighbor's door.  She was very nice and I convinced her "come with me, come with me" to come into my apartment and showed her that both my A/C's had mysteriously quit working at the same time.  Obviously a fuse problem.  She indicated that I should go with her downstairs and with the help of my dictionary she showed me the chinese word for "electrician."  Cool!  She was going to help me find an electrician.  We went two buildings over and she banged on his door.  Not home.  But walking back she spotted him in the courtyard with lots of other folks enjoying their nightly socializing.

She explained my problem and he returned to his apartment to get some tools and a flashlight.  He then followed us back to my building and up to the 24th floor, along with his cute dog, Lulu! ha  On the way up to my floor, Lulu would get out of the elevator every time the door opened and he'd have to call her back in. He checked everything out, first making sure that my plugs were okay.  I explained (this time by calling my colleague, William, to help translate) that both A/C's had quit working at the same time.  He showed me where the fuse switches were in the electricity meter room and eventually got both A/C's back on! :)  I whooped with joy and so did Lulu because she was completely terrified of me and wouldn't let me pet her. ha  Lulu was glad to get out of the strange American's apartment.

Electrician Man refused to take any money so I offered him a big cold beer (I have 3 big bottles in my fridge that remain left over from my Christmas Party. ha).  He also refused.  I put one in a bag and kept telling, "Please take it, please take it."  Let's just say I could tell he was a drinking man.  He finally took it and thanked me as I thanked him over and over before he got on the elevator.  My neighbor lady also stayed with me the whole time.  What wonderful folks and neighbors in my complex!  I'm so fortunate and now I know where Electrician Man lives in case I have any other problems.  It would have been an absolutely unbearable night if I had not had air tonight. 

My trip to Korea is now off for this Sunday.  The folks I would have been traveling with had to cancel so I'm putting off Seoul until September.  Unfortunately, my Korean friend and ex-student, Song, will be back in Knoxville at that time but he's promised to try and find a friend of his to show me around in September.

Tomorrow is the 4th of July....National Day in the U.S.!  If all goes well, I'll be heading to Nashville after work to celebrate!  It's on Lucky Street. :)  "Nashville" is a nightspot here and although they play very little "country" music it still promises to be an interesting evening.  I plan to wear my red, white & blue bobbing stars headband!

Loving Life in China and the Electrician Man, T.

Amazing Concert.....Fake and Real Tickets!

My colleague, Wendy Qiao, and I have been talking about going to an incredible concert in Beijing at the Bird's Nest for many weeks.  When the cheaper tickets quickly sold out we decided to take our chances (we've done this before with great success) and buy tickets from scalpers at the stadium.  So we met up on the subway and proceeded to walk to the Bird's Nest.  What a wonderful windy (translation: NOT unbearably hot) evening it was!  I was treating Wendy so I her the money and then she walked away to work her magic.  I can't be with her when she's negotiating or my foreign face will cause the price to go up tremendously!  Just as the concert was starting Wendy scored 2 very cheap tickets and off we sailed through the first gate.  When we got right up to the Bird's Nest (the big 2008 Olympic Stadium) we had to go through the final gate where they scan your ticket and then you go through metal detectors and have your bags checked, etc.  We were so excited, Wendy much more so than me as she LOVES Song Zuying (who was one of the performers).  We went to different turnstills and.....OOPS.....seems our tickets were FAKES! ha  This is not uncommon here in China and it's almost impossible to tell the difference between fake and real.  The folks showed the ticket to me and how to recognize a fake (still looked real to me) and I just laughed and backed away from the turnstill. Poor Wendy was DEVASTATED and put up a good and loud argument but of course, there was no way they were going to let her through.  She was nearly in tears when I told her, "It's okay, it's okay.  It's just money (thank you, Dad).  Let's try again!"  She still had half of the money I gave her so we tried again and we eventually bought 2 legit tickets.  This time I took one ticket and went through before Wendy was willing to give the guy the money! ha  When the ticket scanned and I saw the green light (literally) I gave the workers a double thumbs up and they all started laughing and told me, "Go, go, hurry!'  (You see, the concert had been going for 30 minutes by this time).  They waved me through the metal detector while laughing so I hurried through and waited for Wendy.  She was all smiles as she sailed through behind me and we didn't even bother finding our proper seats. We totally scammed great seats closer than where we should have been sitting! :)  And I still had money left over from what I originally gave Wendy so I figure I still came out okay!  A good lesson, though. :)

The big tower just outside the Bird's Nest and Water Cube (Olympic swimming events venue).

I love this building.  It's the big office building that housed all the Olympic offices and has a huge "TV" screen on the side of the building.  It's, as you can see, in the shape of a torch!  So cool as are most big office building in Beijing.  They all have such unique style.

The tower lights up when it starts to get dark with lots of colored light.  I captured the pink ones!

As it gets dark and the stadium is all lit up....it's time for us to get through the first gate with our first tickets, the fake ones! ha  (they merely show that you have a ticket to get through the first gates).

I should add at this point that this was an awesome concert.  It featured four greats:  Lang Lang (amazing Chinese pianist....which Wendy and I have seen in concert before), Song Zuying (Chinese soprano totally loved by Chinese folks...amazing voice), Placido Domingo (Spanish tenor also loved by Chinese and who can sing in Chinese to wild whoops from the audience), and Jay Chou (extremely popular pop singer from Taiwan who I really like and have one of his CD's that I bought when I visited Beijing in 2005).  There were many thousands of folks inside the stadium.  Touring the Bird's Nest (National Olympic Stadium) was on my list but now that I've attended a concert in said stadium....it's off my list. :)  I've never ever seen such an incredible stage built for a concert.  They had a full orchestra and chorus with beautiful staircases and hanging chandeliers and also some "magic" (such as some human flying birds let down from the top of the stadium at one point and also snow falling at another time) that reminded me of the Opening Ceremonies for the 2008 Olympics.

Amazing!  Song Zuying is currently singing on stage.

This is a close-up of Song Zuying on one of the two HUGE screens on each side of the stage.  She changed costumes several times and they were all amazing, including hundreds of incredible Chinese dancers accompanying her.

Lang Lang!  He's an incredible piano player..his fingers move like lightening over the keys!  As I mentioned before on my blog when Wendy and I went to see him in concert...his father moved with him to Beijing to continue his piano studies where he studied quite diligently.  He went on to move to America to continue his music studies.  He now resides in America, is only in his mid-20's and returns often to his beloved home country.  Folks in China just love him and his piano abilities are amazing!

 Spanish tenor, Placido Domingo!  What an amazing voice he has!  I was extremely impressed and he also sang in English and as there are emcees that handle concerts....he spoke to them in English so it was great to hear him tell how he was glad to be back in China to perform with Song Zuying and how he loved China.  It was the only part of the concert that was in English! ha

 Placido, Song and Jay....all singing together with LangLang playing the piano!

Concert over...lights are up.  I have some great videos which I hope to post soon (youtube, please be unblocked in China soon).

My concert partner, Wendy!

View of the Bird's Nest as we were leaving.

Thousands of folks leaving the stadium.  Wendy and I separated...she taking the subway and me taking a taxi as I just couldn't handle the thoughts of shuffled through the subway station and onto the train packed like sardines!  What a great evening!  Thank you, Wendy, for sharing this great experience with me!  LL in C, T.