It takes alot of explaining

My friend, who is my former Chinese handler, is an English major.  He left work with my company to work at a translation company.  I have posted pictures of the austere communist era office park where he works in Hefei.

Since I arrived in China, he has often sent me text messages using the Chinese instant messenger program called QQ.  It is very similar to facebook's messenger system.

He often asks me to explain words that he cannot understand.  I find it very interesting how words and concepts that we are familiar with in America take a long to to explain to a Chinese person, even one who speaks very good english.

This evening, I had a ten minute IM chat with him about the word Chaperone.  The concept makes sense to me, but he thought it was some sort of teaching position.  I explained that Chaperones ensure that younger adults behave properly at places like high school dances.  Eventually he got it.

The Chinese language is in many respects much more complex than English.  The pronunciation of Mandarin is perhaps the most difficult part of learning the language.

In addition, there are many words that have exactly the same pronunciation but have different meaning depending upon the context in which the word is used.  For example, there are about 6 different words that are pronounced "Mei".  The meaning ranges from a negative participle to the word for "enzyme".

English is also a very complex and rich language.  However, the basic structure of the language is alot easier to learn than Chinese.

Today I got a message from my friend to explain the difference between a note, a letter and a memo.  The joy never ceases.

Belgian Bar and a Giant Pot Bellied Pig

Today I needed to go out and about.  It gets particularly tedious being around a school, in a shoddy little apartment.  So I picked a place and went out.

It is kind of draining to go anywhere that is beyond walking distance.  I have only been on a few bus rides, because I have no idea what the bus lines are.  I usually take taxis everywhere,  They cost around 1.oo USD for the first mile or so, and are pretty cheap.  I took a 45 minute ride for around 15.00 USD.

The taxis are cheap, but the cost of them adds up over time.  That 45 minute cab ride could also have been 30 bowls of noodles.

Wuhan really is a big city.  There are three main districts: Wuchan, Hankou, and Hanyang.  Hankou is the business center and is where I teach at the private school.  I live in Hanyang.

It takes quite a while to go from one side of Wuhan to the other.  There are multiple centers to the city, and it sprawls out in globs of high rises.

Today for my jaunt I chose to go to a Belgian Beer Garden.  Online, it's menu included Carbonnade, which is a delicious sort of flemish beer stew.  It is one of my favorite dishes.  The online menu also promised home brewed drafts.  How could I resist?

So I hopped in a taxi, and after a little explaining and use of my iPad's mapping features, I explained to the driver where I was going.

He dropped me off near the restaurant, which is on the shore of a small lake park.  Wuhan has alot of small lakes and ponds.  The Chinese call all of these lakes, but they are really large ponds, in my opinion.

While walking through the park, I came across a very well fed pot bellied pig.  His proud owner was deep in explaining the intricacies of his dear pet to passerby.  I asked him "Nide Jiu?" Which translates as "Is that your pig?" He nodded and said I was correct.

The Belgian restaurant was really more of a pub.  It had a great selection of beers, including Guinness on tap and several Belgian and French beers.  I was in heaven with a Red Chimay, followed by a Guinness.

Unfortunately, the menu did not include Carbonnade.  I talked to the owner, who is also the barkeep, about Carbonnade.  We compared recipes.  He, being belgian, was quite insistent that his way of making Carbonnade was better.  I explained that rather than leaving a piece of bread on the stew, it is better to brown some flour on the beef before you add stock and beer.  I suggested that my way was more conducive to making a  roux.

Alas, the restaurant only had some pizza, burgers and salads for food.  I had a pepperoni pizza, which was disappointing even by pub standards.  But the beer was very very good.

It was fun to watch some satellite TV from the UK.

Wuhan is a godo enough city.  I will probably be back there because I don't know where else to get draft guinness.

A hefty little pet pig.  The wierdest pet I have seen was a pet macaque in Shanghai.  Imagine a monkey on a leash walking through downtown, by a well dressed chinese man.

Wuhan has alot of ponds and alot of high rises.

A nice little park.

The Belgian Bar in Wuhan.

I am now at least XXXL Size!

The basic laws of the universe must have shifted, because I am now too big to fit into XXXL size blue jeans.  

I am not sure when this sea change occurred, but at some point in the recent days, I went from a svelte 36 waist to being too big to fit into XXXL.

Of course, this is because I am trying to fit into Chinese size XXXL blue jeans.  Haha! For a moment, my gentle reader, I am sure you must have thought that JMB had put on some pounds perhaps?

The other day, I decided I needed some more casual attire.  I have plenty of nice brooks brothers pants, with pleats and such.  These pants are fine for the work week.  However, I only have two pairs of pants that I can wear "out and about".

My two casual pants are a pair of army style BDU's (one from an army surplus and the other from EMS).  

Therefore, I wanted to get another pair of pants.  However, I am a giant among petite Chinese people.  My giant American frame does not fit into the confine of even a XXXL size jean!  The legs were skin tight on me.  

I bought the pants at Walmart.  In China, there are no changing rooms at the Walmat, therefore, I had to trek back to my apartment, only to find to my horror that my mass has expanded a great deal since last I paid attention to such things.

I promptly returned the pants to the Walmart.  I think they actually do alterations, because the woman at the customer service desk at first emerged with a tailors cloth ruler to measure me for alterations to the tiny XXXL blue jeans.  

I said "Maeyo! Ni Ge Qian!" shaking my head and pointing to my receipt.

You will be pleased to know that I was refunded the full amount of 129 RMB (about 20 USD) for the price of these rather flashy designer jeans.

Trying to angle a new gig

I had two phone interview over the past couple of days.  They were both for law type positions.  The prospect of leaving my teaching job to make big bucks in China as a lawyer were giving me sugar plum fairy dreams of money and excitement.

I have found that the best way to relieve anxiety that I am experiencing is to fantasize about large amounts of cash.  I have a persistent fantasy about 10 Million dollars in cash.  I mentally think about how I will deposit it, pay taxes on it, then commence to spending it.

I have decided that I want to raise Rhodesian Ridgebacks.  My expenditure of money is in many ways tangential to the raising of Rhodesian Ridgebacks.

For example, I would, by necessity, have to own alot of land for the Ridgebacks to romp around.  Therefore, I think about a big house on alot of land.

For me to take the Ridgebacks around town, I would need a large vehicle.  I think about buying a new Mercedes G-Wagon like the one I used to drive around.  It has ample headroom and a great feature in the horizontally mounted rear hatch.  Great for loading and unloading Ridgebacks.

I know it would be hard to take care of Ridgebacks, so I think about giving instructions to people to take care of them when I go jet setting with my 10 Million dollars.

Oddly, I have no names for these fantasy dogs.  I can see them, but they don't have names.

Unfortunately, my fantasy will not be obtained from either of the jobs I got calls about.

One of the positions is with a Chinese law firm near Shanghai.  The main problem is that pay for this job is only 7000 RMB a month.  That equals about 1,000 USD a month, which would be a pretty severe pay cut for me.  I presently earn more than that and don't have to pay for housing.  I also get alot of free meals from the school and from co-workers.  I told this firm that I would contact them when I get closer to the end of my contract.  It sounds like a great experience, but the financial issue is too great.

The other position ended up being a person who was really looking to hire a US lawyer to help him pursue a claim.  I won't go into details, but I am leery about leaving my job and moving so that I can work for an individual.  Any significant pay would be contingent upon recovery of a judgment.  My experience is that such matters often do not work out as hoped.  He is also nice, and I am hoping to leave things open with him.

So, I was pretty excited about jumping ship from my present gig.  I had my dreams of raising big africanized dogs and such.

I have another call today with a person who might help me get a better paying teaching job in Shanghai. He seems like kind of a dweeb.  I emailed the company, then got an automated response.  Several days later, he emailed me and said he had emailed me, but hadn't heard back from me.  I checked, and he never sent me an email.

I actually make more money that most of the Chinese I work with.  It is pretty weird. I make about 3 times more than my Chinese handler assistant.  She is alot younger, so I really don't feel too bad.  Younger people should earn less than older people.  Makes sense to me.

It is kind of scary that I make more than someone working at a law firm in China.  It goes to show how the legal field in this country is not like it's American counter part.

Next week I start to give my lectures about America again.  I am doing a lecture about American Indians, US Immigrants, and a variety of other topics geared towards dispelling the grave misapprehensions that Chinese have of the USA.

Best Eats in Town

I like Chinese food.  I also enjoy meat on a stick sold by muslim dudes.  However, the best meal I have had is at the golden arches.  By that, I mean Mac Donalds.  It is so tasty.  It is also cheaper than the USA.  I usually get two big macs, large fry and a large coke for around 6.50 USD or 39 RMB.

Mac Donalds in China has more chicken sandwichs, specifically a spicy chicken sandwich which is quite good.  Their main competition here is KFC, and therefore you can also get a big bucket of chicken parts deep fried.

Instead of the ubiquitous apple or cherry pie at an American Mac Donalds, here you get a tasty bean pie and another that is some kind of fruit.  I haven't tried either because I like to eat American classic cuisine when I eat my Mac Donalds.

You may say that I have no taste, but I disagree.  I get alot of protein and fat when I eat there.  I can eat as Mac Donalds as my main daily meal, and then eat some bread and noodles at other times.

They play some craptaculous music at Mac Donalds in China.  They are still playing Christmas songs.  It is almost March, and they played the Christmas song by that guy from Wham (George Michael or something).  I wonder if it is to make me go there less.   They are trying to conserve burgers by making me uncomfortable.

In keeping with the trend of things in China, there are bones in the food at Mac Donalds: In the fried chicken.  Chinese food really does have more bones.

Here are some pictures:

Hello Kitty toys.

I get the picture menu, because my Chinese language skills are lacking.

Note the predominance of chicken and the odd bean pie in the center.  Below is the mega chicken meal that gets you two cokes.

Delicious fried chicken at McDonalds.

This is my daily dose of deliciousness: two spicy chicken sanmmiches, large fry and a large coke.

Chinese Wedding

My second day down on the farm, I woke up to loud gongs, drums and a barrage of explosions.  I rolled over and hoped that it was a dream.

I was told to get up and come down for breakfast.

After I brushed my teeth, we went outside to sit at tables again.  This time there were maybe 50-60 people and we were under a tent.

I was poured a glass of Baijiu.  Normally, my consumption of Baijiu is exclusively something done in the evening time, but since this was a wedding and everyone was eagerly toasting, I succumbed to the charms of that wily seductress Baijiu.

It was like 8:00 AM.

My friend took my cup and poured half the glass into another guests cup.  My new Chinese friend (my teacher friends uncle) promptly laughed and proceeded to fill my cup back up.  He was not going to allow me to avoid drinking that sweet lady Baijiu.

We again had about 10 dishes.  These included some sweet potato dumplings and some friend sweet potato pancake like things that had lotus root and pork in them.  Very tasty.

My cup of Baijiu was soon empty.  I did not ask for another.

The bride and groom then appeared carrying a tray of tea cups.  This is part of a tradition where the new couple bring tea to the elder family members.  First though, they proceeded through the throng.  Many relatives jumped up to congratulate them and hand them wads of money.  I spied some hefty wads of cash being given to the groom.

All the while, there were short barrages of fireworks going off amid the incessant din of gongs and drums.

One of the gong beaters had on a green army coat with shiny gold buttons.  He looked quite spiffy.  The gong players and drummer kept a pretty remarkable rhythm, considering that that did it for about an hour.  One of the gong players somehow managed to have a cigarette in his mouth, despite never seeming to have stopped playing.

The newlyweds made there way into the grandparents house.  They stayed there for a bit.

My friend told me that the fireworks initially were to ward off evil ghosts, but now that the couple was meeting the elders, the fireworks were to remind them to get a move on.

The couple eventually left the grandparents house.  The bride had a red parasol.  I thought this was part of the ritual, but later I was told that it was because it was raining.

After the couple, various relatives followed them carrying a TV, pillows, floral arrangements, some furniture and various sundries.  They put these gifts on a big flat bed truck that had backed up to the gate of the driveway.

After another long cannonade of pyrotechnics, the couple departed in a procession of alternating white and black cars.  Each had a pink ribbon over its chase.  All were the same make and model.

I am not sure, but I assume that what I witnessed was only a part of the whole marriage process.  I am told there are various other rituals and ceremonial stuff that goes on.

I did not take any pictures, because I didn't want to make anyone skittish.  It was an interesting experience, in some ways more preferable to the longer western weddings. Anyway, it was neat to see.

Farm Living in Hubei (Pt. 2)

So after my Baijiu induced nap, my friend, her husband, and another teacher who was visiting relatives nearby went to an underground fall out shelter nearby.

Rural China is very different than similar areas in the USA.  The area I drove through had a very different feel than driving through farm land in the USA.

We passed through some small ville's.  It seems like towns are different outside of bigger settlements.

After a short drive, we came to what is either a provincial or national historic park.  It had big brown and white signs, like those used in the USA to designate a national or state park.

Pulling up to the parking area, I spied a guard post and what I perceived to be a machine gun toting guard.  For a second I was a little worried.

The guard was actually made of some kind of plaster.  Pictures are below.

I suppose the park designers wanted to impress upon visitors that this area was, in fact, a top secret compound back during the time when it was in regular use.

We bought tickets and proceeded into the 131 Engineering Corp. underground fallout shelter complex.

Entering, you first walk into a round chamber with a huge metal wheel on the floor.  The wheel is there so entering trucks can easily be turned around so they wont have to use reverse.

The tunnel went several hundred yards into the rocky hillside.  It was lit with light sconces that were somewhat art deco in appearance.

There were several passages that branched off, which were not lit at all.  I used the flashlight on my blackberry to illuminate the side chambers.  There were huge foot think cast iron doors and various choke points where defenders could make a stand.

Down a couple passages, we started to come upon what appeared to be offices.  Some had marble floors.  There were larger ones that had wooden floors and spacious bathrooms

There were adjoining offices for Mr. and Mrs. Mao.  Mrs. Mao's office batroom was complete with a bidet.  Both bathrooms had a full bathtub.  In Mrs. Mao's office was a huge picture of her with Richard Nixon.

I wandered off into several side passages and found rather extensive generation and ventilation systems.  After a while, the passage stopped being lit and it appeared like the tunnel was not being preserved.  At that point we turned around and headed back to the surface.

We went back to my friends house and had dinner.  Dinner was also eaten on tables outside.  It was kind of cold.  For dinner there were only about 15-20 people.  There were alot of people coming and going to say hi and eat a plate of food.  Alot of grandchildren and nephews showed up and wandered around.

Shortly thereafter, we went to a nearby hot spring.  First I bought a new bathing suit for about 2 dollars.  One of the teachers I was with also bought a bathing suit.

The hot springs were built on a pretty large scale.  We entered a giant building, then changed in the locker room.  After a shower, me and my friends brother dashed out to the nearest warm pool.

The others joined us, and we walked around a sort of circuit of different temperature pools.  Each pool purported to have different essential oils in it, but I could detect no difference between pools except that some were warmer than others.  We were there for an hour or so.  It was very relaxing.  After we had our fill of soaking, I took a short steam bath which was great.

Then we went back to the house where I pretty quickly fell asleep.

Below are some pictures of the underground bunker.

Engineering Corp. 131 Underground Bunker Complex.

Comrade, I am concerned you have strayed from the path of Lenin!

Great fixtures....

Mrs. Mao's bidet.  How French!

Mao's bathtube.

In Mao's underground office.

Secret attack plans they left up on a wall... not!

Mrs. Mao sitting with tricky Dick Nixon.

Mao's portrait above all of his generals.

Long passages into solid rock.

Hehehe!

Thank you Comrade!

Farm Living in Hubei

After I got back to Wuhan from Shanghai, I really just wanted to sleep and take a rest (in China, when I have time off, I am told "Jonathan, now you take a rest.")

However, I was invited to go to the village of one of my fellow educators.  So, the day after I got back from Shanghai, I rolled out of bed, showered, and donned my traveling garb to head to a small village about 80 km from Wuhan.  I slept almost the entire two hour drive there.

Upon arrival, I got to meet my friends family.  Her parents live in half of a side-by-side house with her uncle and his family.  The interior was very nice, covered in white marble tile.  They had a huge TV, nice western beds, and nice furniture.  

Right next door, connected by a gate in a wall, was the house of her grand parents, who are very aged. They have a giant, shared kitchen that comprised several rooms in a seperate building.  Each house has their own kitchen, but there is a giant seperate kitchen house.

After making the rounds, about 20-30 of her relatives who were wandering around visiting with each other (and playing mah jong) got together and had lunch outside on tables.  

I was offered a decent sized glass of Baijiu.  Baijiu is the same liquor that I got extremely intoxicated with while in Hefei.  I had learned that Baijiu is indeed a harsh mistress, and vowed not to get too sauced.

Baijiu is maybe 40-50 proof alcohol.  I am told it is made with rice, or corn.  I believe it is made of something else, because it is pretty potent.  Someone said it is made with Sorghum.  Some varients of it have a taste not unlike sambuca, but without the anise flavor.

Anyway, we had about 10 dishes of different things.  Some are unique to Hubei.  Specifically, a vegetable kind of like asparagus, which was boiled.  There were pork ribs, another pork dish, some tripe in a peppery presentation, bamboo shoots, some beef with carrots, a whole cooked river fish, and pork meatballs in sticky rice.  It was quite delicious.  My favorite was the tripe because it had no bones.

The folks had some chickens walking around, and I spied a live fish swimming in a big plastic bowl.

The family also had a cute little pekinese type dog who was friendly, but got kind of nippy with me.  I came to learn that she had a litter of puppies in a nearby dog house.  I am sure she wasn't a biter, but she did want me to know not to mess around with her puppies.

After lunch, I talked to folks, and was shown my bedroom.  I ended up taking a snooze in a chair.  The Baijiu had inflicted her toll on me.

When I dozed it was early.  Hours later, I wandered into the Mah Jong room to see the same guys still playing.  They are all relatives, but only play for money.  They really get into it, and I heard them yelling at each other in a friendly way throughout my time there.  I have some pictures below.

Later that afternoon I went to Mao's underground fallout shelter, then had dinner, then went to a hot spring.  The next day I went to a Chinese wedding.  All of that will have to wait for another post.

These guys are die hard gamers!

Later that same day....

Some views of the Bund

Shanghai is a lovely city.  I regret that I didn't do much of anything while I was there.  I pretty much just took some walks and ate out a lot.  I also undertook my favorite activity, which is sleeping and listening to AM radio from the USA.

The architecture in the city is very interesting  The pictures I will post don't really do it justice, because it is an enormous city.

The Bund is downtown Shanghai and is comprised of lots of very beautiful, old european style buildings.  It was the former heart of the international section of the city.  It faces the Huanguo river and the Pudong section of the city.  My pictures show the view across the Huanguo river towards Pudong, with some exceptions.

I had a chance to walk around the downtown, which was pretty much deserted during the Chinese New Year.

I found a Kazhakistani bakery where I bought hot bread.  It was still warm and I watched the baker fling the loaves to a woman who caught them and stacked them on a table on the street.  It was very delicious bread, and one of the best eats I have had in China.  Seriously.  Bread is such a basic thing, and simple things can be the best.

I also walked around the French Concession, which has very orderly streets and great french style architecture.  It is reminiscent of Paris in alot of ways.  The main street I walked down had every western branded shop you could imagine.

Peoples park is lovely as well.  I visited a very upscale shopping mall across from Peoples square that is named after one of the famous founding fathers of Singapore in Malaysia.  It even had a Kiehls shop.

I went to what for all intents and purposes was a prefabricated tourist destination.  It was a pedestrian street that was lined with exclusively international restaurants.  I was rather bad, and first ate at a German restaurant (Nuremberg Sausages and Mashed Potatoes with a liter stein of Paulener Beer) then had some food at an Indian Restaurant.  In between I had a latte at a cafe.  It was very tasty, and my gross overeating was not punished by any gastric distress.  While having my coffee I saw dozens of peoples walking their dogs, which made me happy, because dogs make people happy.

I was only in Shanghai for four days (three days, four nights).  There is alot to do there, but I preffered sleeping in my shoebox hotel room.  I hope to go back there at some point and look around some more.  It can be daunting to do tourist type stuff when you are solo, in a foreign land.

Pudong with the People's Heroes Memorial in the left foreground.

From the Bund, across to Pudong.

South, showing the Shanghai Skyline.

Across to Pudong.

Along the Bund, facing north.

Some of the great old buildings that show the architecture of the international section of the city.

Chinese People are nuts

Since pretty early this evening there has been a pretty constant barrage of rockets, exploding things, and  lots of fireworks.  I mean, alot of fireworks.  For now they have abated around the window of my hotel, but they were detonating right overhead.

I saw a 3 minute barrage that went up about 10 feet from a building and sprayed the windows with shiny glowing embers.

There was a crescendo of about a half hour when explosions were constant.  No is every couple seconds.

People kind of go nuts with these fireworks.  I think, at heart, chinese men are all big kids who like blowing things up.

The hungry ghosts must have departed this terrestrial plain by now.  Its been several hours, and no end to the popping in sight.

Snow in Hefei and Shanghai

Yesterday it snowed in Hefei.  Alas, I didn't really do very much in the manner of tourist activities.  I pretty much slept all day, which also has its charms.

Today, I took the train to Shanghai.

My first impression of the city is that it reminds me of Chicago, more so than New York.  New York has it's own very unique vibe, which is like no where else.

Shanghai is pretty impressive.  I am trying to compare it to Tokyo, but it is not really like Tokyo.

It also is not like Hong Kong.  Aside from being alot colder, the feel is different.

I found a hotel that costs about 20.00 USD a night.  It has in room wifi, a clean bed, and heat.  Around the corner I had some meat on a stick from the local Uighur mongol skewer guy.  I also had some tasty dumplings.

Tomorrow, I really need to do some sight seeing.  

Marketplace in Hefei

I am the first foreigner to stay at the hotel where I am staying.  I found that out yesterday when I checked in.

I slept very late today.  After dinner, I fell asleep very quickly after coming back to my room.  I fell asleep listening to coast to coast AM radio.

I then woke up again around 2 AM, and had trouble falling asleep until about 4:30.  Consequently, I was kind of sleepy and ended up sleeping until around 1:00 PM.

My Chinese handler called me a couple of times, because he was going to guide me to some scenic spots.  I ended up just sleeping.  We are going to go see some sights tomorrow.

I very much like my bed here.  It is alot better than the bed at my accommodations in Wuhan.

Because of all the sleep, I feel quite dandy.

This afternoon, I ventured forth to hit up an ATM.  I then wandered around a little bit.  I am in a sort of suburb of Hefei. The roads are wide and there is alot less traffic than in Wuhan.  The air is also alot clearer.

While walking, I stumbled upon an old style farmers market.  There were individuals selling all kinds of vegetables, spices, meats, tofu, New Years supplies, iPhone covers, pictures, belts, and various other items.  I have posted some pictures below.

I stopped and had some noodles at a small tent next to the market.  It was different from ra-ga-mian (the hot and dry noodles in Wuhan of which I write copiously).

The noodles I got had bean sprouts, some seaweed, some noodles, and different spices.  It was quite tasty and only 3 rmb.  Pictures below.

.
Very tasty!

A baby snake for the new year of the snake.

All kinds of fresh vegetables.

Better than alot of supermarkets.

Some wierd looking tofu.

This is not your mothers walmart.

Alot of ancient slogans for keeping up appearances during New Years.

It is hard to catch a taxi in the rain

I had a lousy morning which ended up being a good evening.

Today, was to be my big trip to Hefei in Anhui province.  I bought my ticket last week, and packed a small bag last night.

I woke up before my alarm this morning, and thought that 1 hour and 45 minutes would suffice to get me from my apartment to the train station in plenty of time.

I forgot it takes about 10 minutes to walk across the gigantic campus to the main road. I also didm't think about how long it takes to hail a taxi on the street when it is raining.

I ended up hiring a van from in front of a nearby hotel.  I spent like a half an hour waving frantically at passing taxis.

It is my luck that I got a driver who was taking a leisurely attitude towards her job.  She is likely a lovely human being, but was not quite up to speed in getting me from Langyang Dadao to the Hankou train station.

I arrived at the train station 15 minutes before the train was to depart.  I ended up getting my ticket with 5 minutes to get to the train gate.  Enough time you might say.  Indeed, I was eager to board my train, as perhaps you might expect.  I pretty much ran pell mell through the station.

When I got to my gate, the ticket man waved me away.  I appealed to a uniformed train official (they wear rather officious looking jackets with epaulets).  He did have the social graces to use the honorific form Nin when he told me to basically go screw.

Sadly, I watched the train depart.  Alas, they close the gate about 5 minutes before a train leaves.

I called my chinese handler in Hefei, who calmly said to go and exchange the ticket.  I was somewhat peeved at this point, although I restrained my ire and did not entertain the throngs of holiday travelers who took keen interest in my plight.  I kind of felt like I was a person of interest to a couple hundred entertainment starved chinese folk.

I went back to the ticket window, where, after only about a half an hour wait,  I was booked through on a new train.

So I waited about 4 hours in the train station and neighboring McDonalds.  I had a chinese couple try ernestly to hold a conversation with me, despite the fact that neither of us could understand pretty much anything the other was saying.

An odd little thing I noticed was what looked like a stray Chihuahua wandering underneath the seats in the station.  It was definitely, on its own, and looked scared.  It made me very sad to see it.  I mentally planned out how I would catch the dog, bring it home, bathe it, and raise it as my own.

The train ride was uneventful.  The ticket lady was gracious enough to book me in a hard sleeper, which allowed me to sprawl out on a padded bunk where I dozed much of the way to Hefei.

In Hefei, I was encountered a cleaner, and somewhat less frenetic Wuhan.  The air seems cleaner, and the roads are not as choked with cars.

I tried to get a ride in a three wheeled rickshaw thing, but the driver said I had to far to travel to meet my friend.

My Chinese handler and I met at his new job, which is in a somewhat dreary communist era office complex.  It kind of reminded me of something from the cold war.  I have pictures below.

I had a delightful meal with his older sister, her husband and their very very cute 6 year old daughter. Some pictures below.

It was really good to see my friend and to share a meal with some very nice people.  So my trip to Hefei, so far, is a success.

An austere communist era office park.

Another view of the gate of an austere communist era office park.

My Chinese handler and his niece, who sings and dances quite well!

His sister, her husband and their very cute daughter.

New Fanguan for Lunch

I went to lunch with the physics teacher at my school.  On my way, we passed what I thought was a church.  We walked inside to find that it had been converted to a hospital at some point.

While walking I asked him about different Chinese words for hotel and restaurant.  He explained that different words describe different levels of service for hotels.

I casually said "so is that a fanguan too".  He calmly said, "no that is where you go to have a sex with the woman."  

I was kind of shocked, because prostitution is illegal in China.  He explained that the shop is a massage parlor.  Customers can go in, and seek extra services.  They then go to a separate room.  He said that someone waits at the massage parlor in case the police come, and call the masseuse and her client so they can sneak out the back.

This is some highly illegal activity.  I wonder if it operates like that Zumba fitness brothel I heard about not long ago. I continue to be amazed about this socialist workers paradise.

At the restaurant we went to, we ordered some very tasty beef with peppers and lotus root as well as some pig stomachs with onions and spices.  All of this served with alot of white rice.  It was very tasty.

While waiting for our food, a random old woman walked by my table.  She and I made eye contact, so she came over and gave me a handful of the sunflower seeds she was eating, along with a toothy grin. It seems I truly am the ambassador of mankind.

While eating, the grandmother of the shop literally dragged her 6-7 year old granddaughter over to our table so the grand daughter could practice some english.  Needless to say, within 30 seconds of yanking and cajoling, the young tyke was wailing and crying.  A chuckling grandmother carried her outside the restaurant.  It was pretty humorous.  I suppose grandmothers also torture their grandchildren with epic feats of embarrassment here in China too.

I have tried a delicious new treat

Crab flavored dried beans with spices. It tastes like fried clams.  You may not believe this, but it does!

Jews in China

I was reading online about the town of Kaifeng, because it has a temple to the Lord Bao.  Lord Bao is a  historical judge who has been imbued by the culture with miraculous powers as the best jurist and judge in the history of China.

Anyway, I came across some information about there being a group of Jews who have lived in Kaifeng since around 960 AD.

This is the kind of thing that really interests me.  Pockets of ancient immigrants in this giant chaotic country.

I am going to do a little more research.  Based on photographs, they are not european or semitic looking people.

I also recall stories of how, it is believed, Roman legionnaires settled in China during antiquity.  I believe it has even been established as fact that there are some Han with facial features and physiology that is different than your typical Han Chinese.

It is wierd the things you do to stay connected

It is kind of tiring to be here in China.  Even though I have again started to practice my Chinese language skills in ernest, it is difficult to communicate with people.  Even Chinese who speak english make an effort to do so.  It is a strain.  The people are genuinely nice and friendly, but as a foreignor you start to crave english spoken by other english speakers.

I do not talk to the other english teachers at my school.  They are about 15-20 years younger than me.  Of the four american english teachers, only one seems genuinely nice.  Another is a philosophy major who is a born again christian.  I tried to be friendly to him and suggest I take him out for dinner, etc., but after he made some probes about my religion, and I said I was Catholic, he seems to have gone back to the bible thumpers.

Another teacher invited me to a weekly "non-denominational" church service.  It was nice to see some westerners, but the guy who gave the sermon was a real wacko.  Of course, he had to be on the bus on the drive back to the school, and of course the other devotees were smitten with his half cocked rant.

I found him to be a ridiculous idiot.  Needless to say I did not return to the "non-denominational" coven.

I have found, in my life, that any christian service that claims to be non-denominational is usually the haven for some seriously evangelical folks.  Not my type.

So, I have found myself listening to AM radio recordings on youtube.  In the US, I do listen to AM radio, but only with my mom, when she is driving around.  I don't dial into talk radio unless I am really bored.

I have started to enjoy the guilty pleasure of coast to coast AM and the Alex Jones Show.  Both of which are kind of loopy.

I also eat at McDonalds a lot.

Chinese Food has alot of Bones

One odd thing about this Chinese cuisine is that there are alot of bones.  It seems like everytime I spy a tasty piece of something, when I bite it, my mouth is full of bones.  The Chinese seem to be used to this, and will calmly chew their food while picking the bones out of their mouth and putting them in a pile on the table, next to their plate.

I can understand that freshwater fish have alot more bones.  That is one reason why I prefer saltwater fish.  But there seem to be more bones in meat here.

Today I had some "roast beef".  When someone said, "here try some roast beef" I got excited.  My ears perked up.  I started to envision some delicious slab of glistening roast beef.  Instead, I was presented with a somewhat dried up chunk.  Of course, the cook had done there best to obscure the fact that there were bones in the meat.

I am not sure what part of the animal I was eating, but there were some sort of bones in there that I am unfamiliar with in the west.

Eating freshwater fish is another challenge, because there are lots of sharp spikey things in there.  You have to be pretty careful to pick them out or they get caught in your throat.

As I have posted about previously, I also have a knack for pulling out heads of animals from delicious hot pots of spicey duck and chicken.

Once, I figured out that I had taken a piece of duck head when it was in my mouth and seemed to taste pretty weird.  When I popped it out, I realized that gooey thing I had bit into was the eye of a duck.  The beak had broken, s I didn't immediately recognize it.

While eating a hot pot of chicken, I had the fortune to find two chicken heads.  I am not sure if this is a sign of good fortune in asian countries, but it ought to be.

So you American Chinese food afficianados clearly don't know what you are missing.