Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Hello Wuhan

May 30, 2007 Wednesday

After breakfast, Chuck and Xiaoyan wanted to work on her thesis defense. I said that I would walk with them to the office so that I’d know where it was. She said that there was a big store about 2 blocks from campus and I decided to go there. They were really worried and wanted to send a student with me. The student was going to be a guy. Both he and I were relieved when I finally settled on a map of the campus with the hotel, their building and the main gate marked.

The store was having some sort of event outside. It looked like girls were going to dance, but instead they just went up on the stage and filled out papers. All of the girls in gray are clerks at the store.


The music that was playing was American nursery school songs like “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.” A little boy was bouncy to the music and I said Nihao and bounced a little with him. His granny pulled up his shorts because they were sliding down a little – so then I was sure that it was a boy.

On the toy and children’s clothing floor, they had a play area:




There was a supermarket in the basement. The first thing that I saw was a display that included French’s mustard, both the jar and a squeeze bottle. Now! When I don’t need it.

On the way back, I stopped at a shoe store and bought 2 pairs of sandals for a total of 99¥.


This campus is very hilly, so they have trams (like the ones at Disneyland) to take people around. Xiaoyan had explained that there are 2 lines, so I’d have to show the driver the hotel card. She also said that I might have to wait awhile till one arrived at the gate. She neglected to mention that they cost 1¥. There were 2 waiting when I arrived, the 1st one was the correct one, and I had seen someone giving money as I walked up. Just happened to have the change from my shoes in my pocket, so I was all set.

I met Chuck and Xiaoyan and we walked to an on campus restaurant. (In my new blue sandals. I am happy to report that they are very comfortable.) This was the rose garden out side of the restaurant:



All of the campuses that we have seen have been really lovely. I think that because everyone lives on campus, including faculty, it is more like a little self-contained village. Went to the supermarket next door for water before going back to the hotel. Chuck had a small rest before going back to give his talk. (2 flights)

He likes to be early – so we started out with lots of time. Just as we hit the street, there was a rumble of thunder. “You go on,” I said. “I’ll go back and get the umbrellas.” By the time I got back outside, it was teaming. I saw Chuck taking shelter on the porch of the next building. He had been caught in it and was soaked. I sent him back to change and went on with the computer so that we could set up for his talk. This was upsetting for him, because he didn’t get back until the exact time that the talk was supposed to start.

I am really happy with the blue sandals – they got really wet and were still comfortable. I may go back and buy another pair.

I had to sit through this talk too. I think that this group understood better what he was talking about.

We had dinner in a room at the guest house. There were several visitors who are here for the thesis defenses. There are 4 of them in 2 days. Xiaoyan didn’t come – she was working on the suggestions that Chuck had given her.

Good Bye Hefei

May 29, 2007 Tuesday

While checking all of the drawers and closets, I found the source of the mosquitos. I hit the head of the bed and a whole bunch of them came out from behind the bed. I would have been out buying bug spray if we weren’t leaving.


Miss Hua, the cleaning lady came early to help carry the suitcases down. Chuck was told that he shouldn’t carry heavy things and our suitcases are definitely heavy. I think that we must be a source of gossip among the Chinese – we have SO MUCH STUFF.

I took one wheeled case down myself. Chuck took his briefcase and the computer case. Miss Hua and I took a none wheeled one. Then Xiaolian came, so she and Miss Hua took another none wheeled one and I took the last wheeled. So I had done 8 flights. Chuck went back for the water and a last check around.

The car came just before 8:00 and we loaded up and said our goodbyes. Hongfang got the keys and my Hefei calling card with the remaining minutes. Miss Hua got towels, table cloth, leftover food, sodas and beers.

It was a pretty uneventful trip. We left at 8 and arrived in Wuhan at 12:30. Along the way, we saw a truck backing up on the highway (I guess he had missed his exit). This could be what contributes to the rear end accidents. We are supposing that they have a lot of them, because there are a lot of signs warning about it. We also used the shoulder to pass two trucks that were occupying the 2 main lanes. I tried to sleep a little, but because the driver speeds up and then has to slow down for trucks passing, police warning zones, etc. it was a little hard. The driver had a GPS so we could see what to look for out the windows.

Xiaoyen met us at the Wuhan guest house. This one really looks like a hotel. It has 12 floors and several dining rooms. It still doesn’t provide bottles of water and still is very chintzy with the toilet paper. The air-conditioning is great though, which is agood thing. Wuhan is known as the furnace of China.

After lunch we went to the provincial museum. We drove around a lake to get to it. Wuhan’s traffic is hard, because they have a lot of water (lakes and rivers) in the city. We were really lucky. The bell concert was just about to start when we got there. It lasted about 15 minutes, which was just the right amount of time. Chuck really likes the Chinese bronzes. There were some really good ones here. (1 flight)

Getting a cab at 5:00 was difficult. This is the shift changing time in Wuhan. Got back to the hotel at 5:20 and took a quick shower before dinner. If it continues like this, I will be taking showers all the time.

The whole group went for dinner. (1 flight) We fell into bed at 9:00 unable to keep our eyes open another second.

10 total today

Last day in Hefei

May 28, 2007, Monday

This is our last day in Hefei. Tomorrow we are being driven to Wuhan. I hope to continue having internet access – but don’t know.

Spent the morning organizing all of our stuff and packing. Some stuff I am giving to the English teaching group. Some more books, lots of Dayquil and nightquil, food that the cleaning lady would not want, like peanut butter, etc.

After lunch delivered it to Sherri. Chatted for awhile. She showed me their library – I can see why they were sooooooo excited with my books. They don’t have much, but if I return here, I will have borrowing privileges. (4 flights to Sherri and 4 home.)

Chuck took the women’s presents to them today. We are all going out to dinner this evening. Someone is here for a thesis defense, and Fan Wang finally showed up.

I walked across campus to meet the group for dinner, along the way came across this hedge of gardenias. The smell was intense. Some little boys were using the blossoms as badminton birdies.


Another bride.




We had a room on the 5th floor of the restaurant, so didn’t have to walk up the stairs. After dinner we walked down. I realized that I have never included a picture of the food choosing room.
The center island had shrimp and meat dishes. Behind it on the left were the total vegetable dishes, in the middle were veggies mixed with meats and tofus, to the right (out of the picture were the cold dishes. Turning 180 degrees:

Here were the octopus, frogs’ legs, casseroles and on the right out of the picture were the fish tanks.

On the stair landing was a guy making a very thin bread. This one was going to have bananas in it. Some were savory and some were sweet. I think the choices were: banana, butter, peanut, spring onion, & tuna fish


(4 flights at home)

It is a good thing that we are leaving. We spent a horrible night being eaten alive. We never see bugs during the daytime, but tonight they all came out. Starting at the 1st joint of my little finger on my left hand, I have 15 bites in an almost straight line going to my upper arm, and that is just one arm!

Monday, May 28, 2007

Dinner with all of the students

May 27, 2007 Sunday

Chuck went to work and I checked my email. Suddenly an ENORMOUS BUG landed on my shirt pocket. I tried shaking the shirt – still there. I’m going “eh, eh, eh” in a panic. Walked to the living room, still eh, ehing, bug still there. Brushed it off with the fly swatter and smacked it good.



Learned later that the children like to play with these bugs and that they have hooks on their feet, so it was unable to get loose from my shirt. It was awhile before my heart started beating normally again.

Chuck and I went to Carrefour for lunch and some last minute shopping. The food court has an interesting system. There is a central cashier. You buy a smart card. This took awhile for us to understand. A young guy showed us his and took us to the place to get the card. One problem – we didn’t know how much our food was going to cost. We guessed, went back with our card and ordered some dumplings. Then we had 8¥ left. Chuck went and bought a large beer. We now have a card with 2¥. I will give it to the cleaning lady.

I had collected all the Carrefour slips I could find, so after buying, tried my luck with the game again. I won a face cloth! The young guys who hadn’t been able to get any baskets were quite surprised. (4 flights)

Picked up Chuck’s shirts and found some paper to wrap gifts. We are giving Jian, Hongfang and Xiaolian UCLA shirts. (4 flights)

We took the group out to the hot pot restaurant for a last good bye. I think that they are all getting A’s. They came to the lectures, did the problems and had dinner with us. Sounds fair to me.


These are the future physicists of China. Many of them will be coming to the US for grad school.

(4 flights) 12 flights.

3 bride night

May 26, 2007 Saturday

The fireworks started at 6:15 this morning. Some bride must be getting an early start.

I was invited to Sherri’s apartment for coffee. She is from Seattle – and knows strong coffee. It was delicious. Allison joined us. I took two bags of books. We had a lovely time sitting and chatting. They all live in what is called the old guest house. The rooms are much smaller than our place. Sherri has a living room, bedroom, bath, kitchen and dining room. She lives on the 4th floor also. Allison lives on the 5th. (4 flights there and 4 home)

When they heard that I hadn’t yet been to the Temple market, Sherri said that she was planning on going and why didn’t we make it that afternoon. I had heard about the City Gods’ Temple market, but Hongfang and her husband decided that I shouldn’t go there. (The Chinese are always worried that something might happen. China seems quite safe to me. I do realize that in crowded places, a purse might be stolen or a pocket picked, but that doesn’t seem to be a reason not to go.)

The temple market is a warren of shops. One reason not to go might be that you would get totally lost and not be able to find your way out to a street. Sherri wanted to buy some fabric to get some dresses and pants made. There is a 2 story fabric building with lots of different shop areas, very crowded. She found some fabric that she liked for a dress and some other fabric for pants. How much did she need? They called the tailor over from his booth for a consultation. She had dealt with him before, so was quite comfortable with the process. After much consultation, the fabric was cut. Oh, oh, the pants fabric was not big enough. (He was right there!) After somemore consultation, the tailor said that with another piece the same size, he could make 2 pairs of pants – one for me, too. Was I interested? OK. The deal was made. I paid my share for the fabric - 49¥

The tailor was busy with another customer (having a gorgeous brocade jacket made). We went off to look at other stuff. Found the little Chinese stuff area and made some purchases. Then made our way back. Much measuring and discussing style. Not tight fitting!! I told Sherri to tell him that my hips and thighs were as small as they would ever be. I gave Sherri money to pay him when she picks everything up in a week. She is going to mail them to me when she is home in Seattle in a month. The pants are costing 30¥. So for $10, I am having custom made pants. (2 flights)

The heat was getting to us, so bought a water and found a cab for home. (4 flights)

We wanted to go to Meng Cheng for our last dinner. This was our favorite place. BUT, it was a three bride night and they were totally full.






We walked over to the Holiday Inn. They have a Chinese buffet in a revolving restaurant on the 29th floor. Had a good dinner with a lot of tastes, so weren’t too disappointed.

Just as we were finishing, this little guy and his grandmother came by.


He is 8 months old. I got out my pictures of Branwen and Calder and suddenly we had a mob at our table. People were coming over from picking food and from other tables. I showed the picture that has their Chinese middle names on the back and there was much excitement. Grandma took some of the pictures back to her table to show more people. We could hear her saying the names. What fun.

Back home. (4 flights) 24 isn’t on on the weekends, so we went to bed a little earlier.

18 flights.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Lots of pictures

May 25, 2007 Friday

Leaving the campus is always an experience. This is what greeted me as I exited the East gate. I actually usually come out of the gate exactly where the truck is. The little castle roof in the background is the Kindergarten.

Since I have been going to Carrefour so regularly, I thought that you would like to see some of it. (They don’t really like you to take pictures – so I was holding off till near the end of the trip.

When you enter the store, there is always a long line of tables with the weekly sale items – known as PROMOTION or PROMO. These signs are always bright yellow with red writing. This week’s promo is fans. (It is getting beastly hot.)

There are always girls handing out tastes. Usually there is one with the tray and one with a microphone. This was for a Nestle’s coffee. They are always dressed in a company costume.


After buying and paying, there has been a game. Today since there was only one other person there, I decided to see what it is about. You give them your store receipt, and depending upon how much you have bought, you get tennis balls. I only got one. Then you try to make a basket. The different baskets are worth different points and get smaller as the points get higher. If you make a basket, you get a prize. It looked like 1 point was worth a washcloth and 5 a can of soda. I didn’t make a basket.

The guy behind me gave me 2 thumbs up because I was joining in the fun. (4 flights)

In the afternoon, I went to find an exhibit that I had been told was on the 5th floor of the Delicious plaza. When I exited the elevator there was a guide who pointed me in the direction of a – meeting. No, No, wrong place. But there was a lovely roof garden with paths, streams, gold fish, and places to sit.



The next floor had the exhibit. It was about the changes in things – farm equipment, planes, and record players (from cylinder to portable DVD player). Then there was a section about the research that USTC has done in Antarctica with pictures of everything.

Since Delicious Plaza also has a China Unicom booth, I decided to drop in and find out how much money was left on my sim card before I left Hefei. I know that the people at the place in Nanjing weren’t able to put more money on, but they were able to tell me how much I had on the card.

There were 2 young girls. They both insisted that they couldn’t help. I pointed & said Computer? No, no, their computer wouldn’t do it. The one on some other street could. I pantomimed using my phone to find out – I know that this must be possible. Oh, what a novel concept – yes that would work. I almost was ready to say, “What the &*%&%* good are you? Are you just here to sell phone chatchkes?” (However you spell that word – you know, the crap that you can buy for your phone to make it more special.)

On the way back to the apartment, I saw the garbage collection “truck”.



And the street sweeper:

(4 flights)

At dinner time, I walked across campus to meet Chuck in his office. We then could leave by the gate close by and walk to Mao Jia the Hunan restaurant. There was a stroke victim being helped to exercise by his wife. He had a cane in one hand and his wife’s hand in the other. She had a loop on a leash around his bad foot. When he lifted it a little, she gave a tug to bring it forward.

At Mao Jia we had the spicy octopus. I should say the incredibly spicy octopus!!! Some black fermented tofu squares, also spicy, the broccoli rabe that the dim sum restaurants serve and the crudités. You really need the crudités to ease the spiciness.



That’s the octopus on the right. Each and every red thing is a tiny chili pepper.

Home to 24 (4 flights)

12 flights

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Chuck has a haircut

May 24, 2007 Thursday

We had a really heavy rain last night, so it finally cooled off a little. Yesterday, the humidity was so high that the clothes never dried.

After my successful haircut, Chuck is very excited about getting his done and wants to go today. First we dropped off Chuck’s shirts. I had to explain that we are leaving on Tuesday and that the shirts had to be finished Monday. (Pointing to calendar saying “bye, bye Hefei.) Here is the lady:




She has been very sweet and helpful to us.

On to the haircuts. The people in the shop were a little amused to see me again so soon, but they readily understood that we wanted a dry wash for each of us and a cut for Chuck. It was even more blissful the second time, when I knew what to expect. My shirt got a little wet during the rinse. They were horrified and dried it and me with the hair dryer. Chuck’s hair looked good when they finished, we will see how it grows in. (4 flights)

The physics group had another dinner at a downtown restaurant as a goodbye for us. Hongfeng’s husband came. We were a very merry group. They had trouble getting taxis too. It turns out that 6:00 is the shift change, so a lot of cabs pass you by. We were happy to find out that it wasn’t just us.

The dinner was a little strange in that there were a lot things with a sweet taste and a lot of soups. A green one that looked like split pea, but was a sweet green bean. This one in the pumpkin bowl had gelatinous noodles and a quail egg:



Then there was a beige one with a mushroom and bird’s nest (cliff swallow) in a papaya. We also had a fish, some smoked meat and two mushroom dishes. This great presentation:



It was a carved melon. The little balls had shrimps in the middle. (One of the younger guys took home the melon – he said that his daughters would love to see it.

We had a dry sesame cake to finish and then of course the watermelon with pineapple.

They told a great story about someone stepping on a poisonous snake near the guest house. They said that he accidentally stepped on the head, and the snake then wrapped its tail around his leg. He called his wife on his cell phone and she came with something to kill the snake. I am going to have to revisit the snake story to make sure that I got all the details correct. It is hard to believe that someone could step accidentally on a snake’s head. (After that, the part about calling the wife is very easy for me to believe – after all, I am Chuck’s wife. I am safe – Chuck doesn’t have a cell phone – but I probably could hear him bellow all the way to the apartment!)

We shared a taxi with Xiaolian because she lives in an apartment near us. (4 flights)

When is 24 going to end? Now, they are going to blow a plane out of the sky with Jack on it.

8 flights - I hate stairs and always have, but I am beginning to look at this as a light day. By this time you would think that I could run up them, but no I still can't.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

I got a haircut

May 23, 2007 Wednesday

A really exciting morning. Another of the English teachers took me to get a haircut. She is the most experienced China hand here. She has lived in various parts of China for 12 years, and speaks well enough to chat with the cab driver.

We decided to get the full treatment. The first part is called a “dry wash”. You sit in a comfortable chair and they soap your hair and massage your head for about 20 minutes. Then they do a really thorough rinse. Everything is very gentle. I had my hair cut next while Sherri had more massage – head, arms, shoulders and back. Then we switched – she had the cut and I finished my massage. We each paid 30¥. That’s about $3.75. A truly delightful experience for someone who loves massages. I got their card and had them write down dry wash and cut, because I know that Chuck wants to get his hair cut also.

The haircut itself is a little strange. The back is great – a normal short cut. The front has the part in a different place and flops on my forehead. It may drive me crazy – but I have “product” here that I can control it with. When I look around, I can see that this is the normal hair style in China.

We went to buy some phone cards when we got back to campus. I now have one that is supposed to work all over China. (We will see. But for $3 I am not losing much.)

Met Chuck as he was walking home for lunch. (4 flights)

Back to Carrefour for more money. They have good French breads here too. And in the French tradition – they are stale after the 1st day so I am always buying more. (4 flights)

We went to Jinke for dinner. Had pork with whole peppers, beef with scallion tops, spinach and pickled cucumbers. (1 flight)

It has rained off and on all day, but has only gotten hotter and more humid. The clothes are not drying at all. The air conditioners are working well, but in the bedroom they blow too much cold air directly on us, so we have been turning them off when we go to bed. If it gets too much hotter, we are going to have to come up with another plan.

(4 flights) 13 total

Times Square Mall

May 22, 2007 Tuesday

My mornings are very much the same. Make breakfast, do the chores (dishes, laundry, etc.) make lunch. I am not used to having breakfast and lunch with Chuck. He really dithers around in the morning. By the time he leaves, there is not enough time for me to go out to do much exploring.

I have noticed that China is not as buggy as I expected it to be. The apartment was furnished with 2 fly swatters. Coming from New Jersey, where the state bird is the mosquito, I was expecting to be eaten alive. We do have some bug bites, but I don’t know what the bugs are. I do see some that look like mosquitoes, but have not had the dreaded whining dive bombers in the night. Some of our bites itch if disturbed. I did bring some benadryl cream that stops it right away. (Costco was having a sale just before we left.) I did kill a giant cockroach, but haven’t seen any others. Maybe they just drown in the humidity.

After lunch I went to a new mall called Times Square. This is one that I spotted from the Hilton’s rooftop. The Hilton card had a nice map which include the mall (in both Chinese and English.)

The first part was really low end and went into a supermarket. Realizing that I wasn’t seeing it all, I went outside to go around the building. (A big sacrifice – it is really hot and humid today!!) Finally found the right part. It was the normal mall department store – 1000 clerks, 2 customers. In all of my shopping, I’m not really seeing anything that says “Buy me, the folks at home would love this.” (4 flights)

For dinner, we went back to Mao Jia the Hunan restaurant. The strangest thing, the first cab wouldn’t take us. Do not know why. The second cab hemmed and hawed. I think that there must be more than one Mao Jia. I knew the way – so just waved him in the right direction.


At the restaurant next door, there were dueling brides again. One of them had a brass band.


They looked like they were already on the way to being drunk. They sounded like a Salvation Army group.

Happy bride with band:


Unhappy bride:


We choose some good things from the picture menu:



Crudities, Pork ribs, spicy shrimp on skewers, and greens.

Since it was cooler and we had a chance to see exactly where this place was, we walked home. We could take a better street (still under construction, but with less traffic) and get to the south gate and then walk across the campus.

(4 flights) 8 total.

Carrefour AGAIN

May 21, 2007 Monday

Today is cleaning lady day again. When we arrived, Hongfeng asked if we wanted her every day. Why would we need her everyday was our thought. Now we know. If we were here for longer we would be arranging to have her more days. Dusting is a full time job. Everything has a layer of grit by the next day.

My morning chores normally consist of emptying the water boiler, so I will have some cool boiled water for washing fruits and vegetables and starting another 5 liters to boil. We drink and brush our teeth with bottled water and use the boiled for washing dishes and food. This is still hard to get used to. Allison said that since she lives most of her life with dangerous tap water – she has a hard time when she is in Canada drinking water from the tap. She also wouldn’t swim in public pools – because you don’t know where the water came from. The hotel pools are considered safe.

The cleaning lady hasn’t asked me where the other pole went. She is the one who bought them, and I paid her for 2. (That was before I lost one.) My neighbor is still using it. Now, whenever I want to hang things on the pole, I have Chuck hold one end really firmly.

Back to Carrefour. I had noticed on my last trip that they have the correct kind of ATM, so I went to get some. We will need to reimburse people for various travel arrangements that they have made for us, so we need to stockpile some cash. (4 flights)

A lot of people take advantage of the mall’s air conditioning. I also notice moms with napping babies.

This mall has a familiar product:


They were also having new employee’s training:

Tonight is Chuck’s class, so we ate in. I made leftovers, by combining what we have in the fridge. Tonight it was frogs legs and then I mixed together the bok choy, snails & greens, and the shrimp with asparagus. Since I only have two burners and two pots, I am limited to what I can do. (Took out garbage – 4 flights.)

On his way home, Chuck tripped and fell. His pipe was in his mouth and it broke a tooth on the side. He was quite shaken up but not hurt. I said that this was a sign that he should stop smoking. Of course, if the pipe hadn’t broken the fall, he might have broken his nose.

We called the dentist in L. A. to ask what we should do. (Going to the dentist here isn’t an option. I saw it on one of my walks. It is a row of 5 chairs in a store front on a street that is under construction. The door was open so that all the dust and dirt could just come right in.) The dentist said that since it didn’t hurt, he should just be careful and keep it clean. He has an appointment for the afternoon that we get back.

I thought that 24 worked from midnight to midnight. I guess not, because tonight was 11 to 12 and it isn’t over. It has to be close – we know that the president is the bad guy.

Only 8 flights today.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Celebrities at the Science Museum

May 20, 2007 Sunday

Took Chuck’s shirts to the laundry and while there witnessed a “toilet training”. Mother squatting with small child between her knees (open bottom pants) and facing a wall. She said something and then smacked the bottom several times. Child screamed, but didn’t do anything. They waited and then she said something again, smacked again, screamed again and still no result. I was finished with my transaction, so walked a few shops away and then returned. There was a puddle and she was mopping the kid’s bottom. This was a pretty small child – I don’t think walking yet. (4 flights)

It is really hot today, so we decided to go to the Science museum for the air conditioning. Now I know what celebrities feel like. The museum was filled with teenage girls. Every girl had a camera cell phone, and it seemed like every girl wanted her picture taken with us.

This was one group. You can see others waiting in the background.

The museum was fun – lots of buttons to push and things to do. Nothing was in English, but it was stuff that we recognized. One of the things was like a fun house. You walked up some stairs and into a room that was tilted. It was a very strange feeling and very hard to move across the room. They had optical illusions and things to test your reflexes. Some girls were playing volleyball with a ball that you could see on a screen. Their pictures were on the screen too, so they were hitting at an air ball and trying to match it. Lots of giggles.

Then we went to Carrefour for the blueberry spin and a little shopping. They were having little kid bike races in front of the store, but took such a long time getting organized we didn’t take pictures, just zillions of tiny kids with tiny two-wheelers with training wheels. (4 flights)

Walked across campus to “the restaurant on the corner”. I now know that its name is Jiang-Nan-Chun. This is the one that the restaurant is on the 2nd floor and the food choice room is on the 3rd. (2 flights)

We had pickled cukes, shrimp with peppers, asparagus & onions, bok choy and a dish that we thought was dumplings (or some sort of meat balls) with meat. The round things turned out to be hard boiled eggs and the meat may have been ox tails. It was really tasty but strange. Meat is hard to identify because everything is chopped into little pieces. I think that they take a cow and go chop, chop, chop regardless of where the bones are.

While we were eating, we watched the construction project out of the window. At 7 pm on a Sunday night, they were still going strong. I do not know if they work shifts, but if they don’t, it looks like a 24/7 job.

It was cooling off, so a pleasant walk back to our apartment. (4 flights) I turned on the air conditioners in the living room and our bedroom to give it a shot of cool before bedtime. I haven’t been able to regulate it well enough that it is comfortable for sleeping with it on. I’ll just have to experiment some more.

14 flights

Breakfast with Allison

May 19, 2007 Saturday

There are a group of people here, who work for the English Language Institute. This is an organization that provides English teachers to universities all over China and Tibet. (perhaps more places, but that is what I know about.) Chuck and I met them in the supermarket across the street.

Today I went out for breakfast with Allison. She is Canadian and she and her husband have been in China and Tibet from the early 90’s. They have an adopted Chinese daughter, Emily who is 11. Allison suggested that we go to the newly opened Hilton hotel, because she had never been there to eat. The first plan was to take the bus, which I was quite excited about, but she rethought it. It would take too long to get there by bus because it is on the other side of Hefei. We taxied instead. We had the continental breakfast with LATTES.

We had a fine time. It was great to talk fast English with another woman. For her, it was probably fun to talk to someone different. She home schools her daughter with another woman who also has an adopted Chinese daughter the same age. This makes it good for all. The two women can share the responsibilities and the girls have a both a schoolmate and a playmate.

Allison had been in Hefei when Emily was small. Emily had gone to the Kindergarten school that I visited. Then they went away (back to Canada and to Tibet for 2 years). Emily lost her Chinese so could not return to the schools here. Allison said that the changes in Hefei have been remarkable. She remembers when the first MacDonald’s came, and when Carrefour got here. Now, they are looking forward to Wal-Mart. It is being built right across the street from the Hilton. This seems a little strange – because the Hilton is a 5 star hotel (really really posh). But she said that the area had been really crummy, because it is close to the train and bus stations. Now it is being gentrified.

(1 flight to the second floor to the Ladies’ room – very lovely and marble!)

We took the elevator to the 26th floor to the terrace. They have an inside pool. We were not able to find out how much it would cost to swim. It is free for guests, but the attendant didn’t understand that we are outsiders.

Chuck had to make his own lunch – a very difficult task for him. Getting premade tuna fish out of the fridge and putting it on bread are difficult tasks. He was so tired after teaching and making lunch that he napped all afternoon. (4 flights)

Marie called from Paris. She is very busy with her life there and planning a trip to the south of France to visit with her husband’s sister.

We went to Meng Cheng for dinner. We haven’t been there since Mother’s day so didn’t figure that it would be too embarrassing. We were still greeted very warmly

Just one bride in the lobby, but the wedding took up the whole 1st floor, so we were seated on the 2nd. (1 flight) then we had to go back downstairs to the food room to order. (1 flight)

For cold dishes we had the radish tower and something in aspic. Then we had 5 spices beef with onions, frogs legs, stuffed peppers and dumplings.

Home again. (4 flights) Chuck is watching a Chinese serial that is on every night. It looks like Shanghai maybe during WW II. He is very interested in it, but can’t tell which are the good guys and which are the bad. It is very confusing.

11 flights

Friday, May 18, 2007

Brazilian Barbecue

May 18, 2007 Friday

Another quiet day in Hefei. Went to Carrefore (4 flights) in the morning, made lunch for “Chunk”, took a nap in the afternoon. Speaking of chunk – I think that the many flights that we climb every day is allowing us to maintain our weight, even though we eat lots. I know that my hips and thighs are thinner, but my tummy is the same. I should do as many crunches as steps – but I don’t.

Chuck burned a hole in his pocket the other day, so I took the pants to the Laundry lady to have them fixed. (4 flights) I will miss her – she sews up shirts, sews buttons back on and now, sews up the pocket.

The people here have pets. Several people walk their dogs and there are quite a few cats. One neighbor’s cat had kittens. Everyone stops to check on them as they go by. Right now they are at the cute stage where they are pouncing on imaginary things. Here they are nursing.



Every time we do a long sojourn away from home, there is something that I want to kiss when I get home - the thing that I have missed the most while living in a strange environment. The first time in France, it was a tie between a real shower and my appliances. In Japan, it was enough electricity that I could turn on all of the heaters and a light and not blow a fuse. Do you want to guess what it will be on this trip? I’ll let you know at the end.

Now, that we have been in China a month, we decided to go to the Sofitel hotel to their Brazilian Barbecue restaurant. That’s right – Brazilian Barbecue at a French hotel in China. It should be interesting.

Every restaurant in China has at least one greeter at the door. (Meng Cheng had 5 on Mother’s Day.) Sofitel had 3 at the hotel door and another phalanx in the back of the lobby at the restaurant that was set up for a banquet. Oh, oh, perhaps we won’t be able to eat here. A nice man in a suit (not one of the greeters – they are all lovely young women) came up and asked if he could help us. We asked about the BB restaurant and he escorted us down the hall to the correct place.

BB in China consists of all of the grilled meats on skewers brought to your table by a server and then sliced onto your plate. You have small tongs to grasp the slice, so it doesn’t just plop onto your plate and splash. They had duck, ox tongue, beef, pineapple, several kinds of sausages, chicken, pork, bacon, and skirt steak.



To go with all of this meat was a Chinese buffet - lots and lots of vegetable dishes, onion and vegetable soups, dumplings, salad greens, pasta salad, and to top it off a dessert buffet. The desserts looked and tasted like the UCLA dessert buffet - not wonderful, but very pretty.

There was one non-Chinese guy in a gaucho costume, but he spent most of his time behind the counter in the food prep area. The regular servers were in just regular pants and shirts with aprons.

We ate with knives, forks and spoons for the first time since we have been here! Everyone complements us on our chopstick dexterity, but trust me, we are much better with forks and knives.

Each group had a small paper cow with a green side and a red side. When you didn’t want any more meat, you turned the red side up. We didn’t feel the need to stuff ourselves to get our money’s worth, because we knew that it would still be cheap by our standards. It turned out that it was about the same cost as the night before with 5 people. So about 2 1/2 times a Chinese meal.

Big hotels are great – you just walk out the front door and they call the next cab in line to come and get you. I am good at flagging taxis though. Visiting New York was good training. (4 flights)

24 was on the episode of 10pm to 11pm. The season is coming to a close. We will miss it.

12 flights today

Still finding new things to see

May 17, 2007 Thursday

Internet still not connected.

Went to a new department store today. When I got into the taxi, there was much talking and no moving. Finally, the driver got across the point that he was not in the waiting taxi line and I had to go to that line. I think that he was motioning that he would lose his license if he passenger nabbed. I moved to the first taxi in the line and then everyone seemed to be happy.

Shang-Chi-Du is a pretty high end store. I looked at a pair of sandals and they were more than 1000¥. That is really expensive for China. Walked around the neighborhood and then taxied home for lunch. (4 flights)

Went to the office to check email and then took the long way home. They have opened the road on the south side of the campus, so I walked along it and then up to the east gate. Such adventures. (4 flights)

We took my student translators and another graduate student out for dinner. (Well – we pay, they take us.) They chose a new place, Mao Jin. It has Hunan food, so was quite hot.

We had a kelp soup, spicy tofu, even spicier chicken stirfry, and duck’s feet (never something that I would choose, but I am able to eat them. Chuck ate quite a few.) Wenhan had a lot of questions. Since he will be in the States next year, there was a lot that he has wondered about. What are bagels? Do we really eat beef bloody? Princeton is only 1 hour from New York? (His girlfriend will be at NYU!) He has been downloading and watching American TV shows. With the number that he knew about and asked me if I watched, I am surprised that he has had time to do his school work. He says that it helps his English – a likely story. He really does speak and understand English well.

Taxi back and home to watch 24. I have also found a news show in English at 11:46 am. (4 flights.)

12 flights total

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

No internet - agony

May 16, 2007 Wednesday

My internet connection is not on today, so went to the office with Chuck to check the email. Updating my blog is quite something, because the blog page is all in Chinese. I am trying to remember what each box does. While I was in the office Feng called, so we worked on finalizing the trip to Wuhan and the 3 Gorges boat trip. (Those of you who know my feelings about cruises will be surprised to hear that we are going on a boat trip that includes 2 nights.) We have been exchanging emails about this. Feng types Chuck’s name as Chunk. I said that it was apropos.

After a quick stop at the apartment (4 flights) went to Carrefour. Treated myself to a latte at the rbt teashop. They had given us 3 coupons for future visits when we were there for lunch, so my latte was 10¥ cheaper. (They are big on coupons here. They have a scratcher at the bottom of the bill. If you win, you get something off your current bill. Meng Cheng and Meng Du give you a slip of yellow paper that you present at a desk on the way out, sometimes they give you some coupons in return. Since we can’t read them, we have no idea what they say, but they seem to save money.) (4 flights)

In the afternoon there was a TV show about a yarn factory. I called the American woman who had given me her card. She was in the group that we met in the supermarket. They teach English at the university. She was away, but gave me the number of one of the other women. We made a date for Saturday morning. We are taking the bus to the new Hilton hotel to the coffee shop.

Dinner at Jinke. (1 flight) Finally I found someone who liked the International Translator. Our order taker was trying to tell me what the meat was in a dish. I pulled it out and she pointed to the cow. She then called her co-workers over and showed it to them. Every dish we looked at, she wanted to identify on the card. We had pork and melon soup, spicy beef with noodles and bean sprouts, greens with tiny snails and pickled cucumbers.

Walked home by way of the laundry lady. Chuck’s 4 shirts were ready. (4 flights)

13 flights.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Visit to the Kindergarten school

May 15, 2007 Tuesday

Hongfang and Xiaolian arranged a visit to the campus Kindergarten for me. Xiaolian’s grandchild goes to this school. (In her office she has the “art work” displayed on the cabinet.) They sent two students to be my guides and interpreters. Wenhan Zhu is a young man who will be going to graduate school at Princeton, and Yan’e Zhao, a young woman whom I had also met before

They picked me up at my building and escorted me over to the school. I can actually sometimes see the children playing on the yard from my cooking room window. I can always hear them when they are playing outside.

This is a very large school where the ages range from 2 ½ to 7. So it is really more like a combination Nursery school, Kindergarten, day care. They go to school from 9 am to 5 pm and eat 4 meals there, breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner. There was a menu posted near the gate. The mornings are more the academic subjects, lunch is at 11:00 and then they have nap time. After nap is a free choice and outside playtime. The campus children are given priority and it costs 1,200¥ per semester. (Outside children are 1,000¥ more.) The Montessori section is higher – the teacher must have a special certificate and it is considered better, so they pay 2,200¥ per semester. (plus 1,000 if you are an outsider.) About half of the students come from the campus.

There was this 4 story building and then 3 other smaller buildings.

They have 28 classes of about 30 children each. They also have special art rooms and science rooms. This is the largest Kindergarten school in Anhui province. From what I saw, it was pretty evenly divided between girls and boys.

The first room that I went into was an art class for 6 year olds. There were several people sitting on the sides observing. These people were doing a study. The teacher was showing how to make a sandal. She asked some questions, kids raised their hands and the one chosen stood to answer. After the demo, the kids all took their chairs to tables to work. There were a lot of choices of materials. They traced their shoe and then cut it out and then were going to put on the strap. This was half the class. The other half was off doing something else.

I recognized the Montessori manipulatives in this classroom. Alec had gone to a Montessori nursery school. The teacher had modified some of the things to go with the Chinese culture.

They use the same crocodile method to move little kid classes from one place to another:

Every classroom had a wall of beds:

They open out like bleachers:

They have English instruction 2 times a week. A native English speaker comes to visit. They also use Disney cartoons to learn English. There are work books that go with them. I said that Disney cartoons have a problem because the parent always dies. The director said that they just used sections of them.

They do a lot of science. The 3 year olds were learning about eggs. Where they come from (both birds and reptiles), and what they are used for. So there were many pictures of food that had eggs in them. One little boy had done a photo report. It showed him cooking and then eating an egg at home. Each child had drawn a face on a egg and then taken it home and brought it back to school. Only 1 egg successfully made the trip. (There was a photo journal of this as a bulletin board in the hall.)

There was a pen with animals that the children feed. Some geese, pigeons, rabbits and rats. The rabbits and pigeons were descendants of the original ones. The rats were interlopers and were just there for the abundance of food. They had also had 4 sheep, an original one and 3 babies. They had been returned to the farm – there wasn’t enough grass and space for the sheep.

The Montessori art room was really nice.

They also had a special clay room, where every class could come:

Basically, any child in America could be dropped into this school and feel quite at home. They were doing the same kinds of things, had the same kind of atmosphere and seemed to be at the same levels in what they were doing. (The oldest ones would know the number facts to 20, how many characters they could read depended more on how much it was stressed at home.) They were even taking photos for the “graduation” booklet for the ones who were going on to the primary school next year. They had nice sized classrooms and several outdoor areas.

The 2 ½ year olds had a house keeping play area

And were just getting ready for lunch. They seemed really tired.



The principal did say that because every child in the school was an only child, with 2 parents and 4 grandparents, the most important thing that they taught was how to get along with other children and how to play with other children. They don’t have computers because that is something that they can do at home with the parents.

After looking at the classes, we went back to the office to sit and chat. I asked more questions, and the principal asked me questions. (All of this is what I understood was said – but the caveat being that it was being translated by a student so may have been misunderstood both ways.) China seems to have a system much like ours. Things are determined on a state rather than a national level. They teach to the individual child as opposed to everyone learning the same thing on the same day system that France has. She said that the parent’s attitude was very important and that a big problem was that every parent wanted his child to be best. I laughed and said that it was the same the world over.

Wenhan said that in his school, it was more that the teacher taught to the middle and that often, he already knew the material and was bored. He was quite jealous of this school and would like to have gone to it.

I am not sure if I will be able to visit the primary school that is on the campus. It would be interesting to see if they have the same atmosphere as the kindergarten.

I had a good time and said several times what a lovely school this was. I said that I had learned a lot. The principal said that she had too. Wenhan said that he had learned a lot also.

Thanked the students for their help. I think that Chuck and I will invite them for dinner as a special thank you.

Came home to make lunch for Chuck. (1 flight) He is staying at home today nursing a cold.

For dinner we went to a new restaurant, Meng Du. It is part of a group that includes our favorite Meng Cheng. Meng Du is within walking distance of the campus. (It is through the construction zone, but there are well worn pathways now, not much car traffic and lots of people walking. (1 flight)

We had hoped that this place would have the display of food like the other – no such luck. They did have one page of pictures – perhaps the Spring Specialties. They have obviously dealt with foreigners before. With no English on their side and no Chinese on ours, they helped us order. First, the waitress pointed to two pictures and I nodded yes. I pointed to one – they didn’t have it. I pointed to another and she waved me off, turned to a page of writing and pointed to something else. I tried to point to my picture again and she signaled that we had ordered enough. Added the beers by getting up and pointing to them in the refrigerator. Now just to hope for the best.

First was a warm fruit soup. Then a little plate of munchies – water chestnuts and cooked peas in the pods. Chicken bone soup, ham with pineapple & lettuce & a dipping sauce, little crab/crayfish things and beef swirled artistically with mayonnaise. To eat the little crabs, we were given plastic gloves like the ones that food handlers use. It was a lovely dinner.

Walked home (4 flights) and then on TV we watched the Chinese version of the Oscars. I do not believe that Chuck actually put on this program and then watched it. He always makes a big to-do about the Oscars when I watch them at home.

Three major differences – 1) no acceptance speeches, 2) no chatting between the presenters and extra talking by the hostess, 3) not very dressy. (The Chinese don’t dress up for things. At weddings the bride, groom, and attendants are in the rented finery, but the guests are in jeans and tee shirts.) They do have the entertainment interludes. There was an acrobat who pretended to be a doll, a Chinese opera singer, and a pianist.

9 flights