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 5^th 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

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.

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 1^st 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.

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 2^nd floor and the food choice room is on the 3^rd. (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 26^th 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 1^st floor, so we were seated on the 2^nd. (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

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

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.

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

Monday chores

May 14, 2007 Monday

Today is cleaning lady day. I said that I didn’t know what she does for 3 hours – now I do. She dusts and washes every surface in the whole place. Because of all of the construction, we live in a dust bowl. After being away for 4 days, with only the porch windows open, there was a layer of grit and dust on everything. You can see the paths we take on the floors. I am going to have to buy a can of air to clean my computer and camera when I get home.

Speaking of home – We only have 2 more weeks here in Hefei. Then we go to Wuhan for a week. We are now making arrangements for a trip to the 3 Gorges while we are there. Then a day or so in Shanghai and home.

Took Chuck’s shirts to the laundry and was supposed to pick up 4. They weren’t ready – I wonder what happened. Since I’ll never know, I just hope that they haven’t been lost. (4 flights)

Lunch and then computer stuff again. I’m getting everything settled for Prague and Slovakia. (Can you believe it? We will be home two weeks and then off again!)

Ate dinner at home. Chuck picked up goodies for dessert at the bakery on his way home. I heated leftovers. Beef with mushrooms, and then mixed together 2 beef dishes and a greens. Since I only have 2 burners and 2 pots, I consolidate a lot.

Chuck went to teach his class and I went to the bakery outside of the wall to get something for breakfast. (4 flights)

I called my friend Brandi. It was 5:30 her time. She is about the only person I know, that is always going to be awake at that time. It was good to hear the news of all of the knitters.

It is still delightful weather here. The apartment gets a good cross breeze so we have not needed the air conditioner, which I now know how to work.

More of Lord Bao's park

May 13, Sunday

Chuck worked on the computer and I read and watched TV. I have determined that there are 2 contributors to my backaches here. The brown leather chairs hit my back at exactly the wrong spot. Even with a pillow, I have to place myself carefully. The other thing is that the sink is too low. This is an amazing thing, being a short person, I don’t believe I have ever found anything too low before. I now have my washbasin on the drainer, which helps a lot.

On TV this morning (30 channels)

0 – Man on the street interviews, 1 no signal, 2 Costume drama, 3 Makeup infomercial, 4 news, 5 Costume drama – comedy, 6 Cartoon, 7 infomercial for a slimming undergarment (the girls demonstrating are stick thin – of course they look slim. You never see the faces of the flabby ones.) 8 Costume drama – I think comedy, but all of a sudden there will be torture, 9 sitcom, 10 Costume drama, 11 – soap opera, 12 old people’s lives, 13 talk show, 14 worker’s life, 15 diet commercial, 16 no signal, 17 soap with young people, 18 cell phone commercial, 19 war film against the Japanese, 20 news, 21 costume drama, 22 French film with Gerard Dupardieu (dubbed in Chinese Louis XIV costumes, 23 sports channel NBA Phx vs SA, 24 nothing, 25 Modern drama, 26 mod drama, 27 documentary – war time, 28 Mod drama, 29 English Cost. Drama. In chinese

If I was better at the eras in Chinese history, I could probably differentiate all the costume dramas, as it is lots of them have lots of the leaping spinning fighting. Some look like the maids in the Mikado. Who knows? Channel 8 has some English language shows and some shows that have English subtitles. Channel 23 is all sports all the time – some very obscure sports like snooker. We became quite expert at the rules after watching the World Snooker Tournament for 2 weeks.

Other shows that I have seen are cooking with guest chefs, game shows and one that shows people with very mundane jobs that are incredibly talented in that job. (A bank clerk that can count packs of money very fast while blindfolded; a drill machine operator who drills through paper on a balloon, he finishes with a hole in the paper and the balloon intact; a shoe salesman who does intricate lacings; a crane operator who can move an egg and put it down on top of a pipe)

After lunch we went to Lord Bao’s park and walked in the opposite direction to explore more of it.

Fishing on the banks of the small lake was a popular exercise. Young couples hugging was another. There is a band of green parks around the city center all with lakes. We walked from one to another. One had a small fair area. This little boy was the only child there.


We kept walking. Chuck started to get worried that we were lost and was trying to match the street signs with the map (both in Chinese.) I looked at the bus numbers and tried to find the streets that had those numbers. This really isn’t a huge problem in China. If we are really lost, we just flag down a taxi and show them the paper with our address. I finally decided where we were and said if we followed this street we would end up at our favorite Carrefour. I was right, but unfortunately, there was a major construction project in our way.

We ended up taking tiny paths past people’s doors and climbing over things and around stuff, but we got there. After our 2 ½ hour walk, we needed a drink, so went back to the tea place. We both had blueberry spins. This time they came with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprig of parsley.

Since we were at Carrefour, we did a little shopping and then taxied home. (4 flights)

A short rest and then it was time to leave for dinner. The Chinese eat early. By 6:30 restaurants are full. The people at Meng Cheng greeted us like old friends we have been there so often. Order takers waved hello when they saw me. It was a little embarrassing. When we sat down at our table after ordering, the waitress brought me a special drink. It was a “Mother’s Day Present” of watermelon juice. Chuck ordered a beer.

We had eel and bitter melon for cold dishes, and fish, grilled pork and tofu with bok choy for hots. Watermelon for dessert.

Home again to sit with our feet up. (4 flights)

Only 8 flights – but a very long walk.

Downtown Hefei

May 12, 2007 Saturday

Chuck taught his class in the morning. I went to Carrefour and did the other chores. (4 flights) They are often having events in the front of the building. Today, was new car day.

After lunch we went to the center of Hefei and walked along the pedestrian mall. I am still looking for a dumpling steamer and we need to find an ATM with international symbols. The machine (without symbols) at the university wouldn’t give me any money because I was out of the area. We also both remembered the horrifying story of the machine that ate the physicist’s card the last time we were in Hefei.

Wandered along some of the other streets, too. One of them was dedicated to wedding photo shops. Big ones and little ones, very elaborate and very cheap. There were at least 8 of them on one street. It looked like some of them were one stop shops with displays of wine and souvenirs and all of the dresses that were for rent. (3 flights)

Finally found an ATM and have more money. Chuck said can you find it again? Not really, but there was another one near the big department store that was the right kind too. That one I can find again. Just before we went home, I found the dumpling steamer shop. Actually 3 shops – must be the restaurant supply area.

Bought 2 steamers and a lid for 15¥ I probably should have bargained, but things are so cheap, I always forget. (4 flights)

We went to the restaurant on the corner for dinner. They were having a wedding. When the bride and groom entered the room, they set off fireworks outside. It was deafening – and we weren’t close to them.

We had pickled cukes, shrimp with asparagus (really this time), beef in a basket, tofu with beans, steamed greens & watermelon. (2 flights – 1 to the restaurant and 1 to choose the food)

As we reached the street, they set off another barrage of fireworks. Now, we were not only deafened but also choked by the smoke. Walking home across the quiet campus is really a pleasure. (4 flights)

17 total

Recuperating

May 11, 2007 Friday

A very quiet day. Chuck went to the office. I talked to everyone, did chores (took shirts to laundry (4 flights) and in the afternoon, read, knitted and watched Ice Skating on TV. Can it get any better?

We went back to the Hot Pot restaurant. They still give us bibs and put the food in the pots for us, but now we know how to order, so we aren’t such a problem for them. We chose beef, cilantro beef balls, kelp and romaine lettuce to cook.

By the time that we were leaving there was a light rain. We had been prepared and had taken our new umbrellas.

4 flights 8 total

Bus to Hefei

May 10, 2007 Thursday

Today is the big adventure. We are taking the bus to Hefei. Ping came to say goodbye. Ms Huang came because she was going to take us to the bus station. The adventure started when the cab dropped us on the access road of a highway. We then had to cross that road and another road before reaching the building. If we had been alone, we would never have made it. We were not the only ones being dropped in this incredibly dangerous spot. There was a whole gang of people dragging their belongings behind them dodging cars, busses and trucks.

Inside the building she escorted us through the scanning area and took us to the correct gate. She then explained to the keeper of the gate, that we were poor helpless souls, who would need help getting on the bus to Hefei. None of the signs had any English, and they didn’t put up any electronic notice. The keeper just screamed something and then people lined up.

Needless to say, we were there in lots of time. We waved goodbye and sat to wait. I carefully had not consumed any liquids before this trip. Who knew when I would see a bathroom again.

About 20 minutes before the bus was supposed to depart, Chuck started to agitate. He kept hearing someone say Hefei. (Now, it was the person at the next gate, and he didn’t know that was what they were saying, but he was getting worried.) Busses don’t load this early, just relax. At 10 minutes before, he wanted me to get up and ask. He would guard the suitcases. (Big whoop!) Finally, to shut him up, I went to the gate with our tickets. She shook her head, no.

With about 1 minute to go, she waved to us, and took us across a parking lot filled with busses to the correct one. I had Hefei written down in Chinese, so showed it to the driver, just to make sure. (I really always crosscheck when other people are in charge of our lives.) We stowed our luggage in the compartment under the bus. Chuck insisted on keeping his briefcase which he put on the floor in front of his feet. (Even though there was a small overhead storage area also.) The seats were very comfortable and there was a lovely amount of leg room if you weren’t Chuck.

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. We passed an accident, which didn’t halt traffic, but the car’s passenger side had run into the back of a truck. The trip took about 2 ½ hours. Hefei’s bus terminal was another parking lot filled with busses. We grabbed a taxi and were soon home. (4 + 3 I had to help Chuck with the suitcase up the stairs.)

Needed stuff from Carrefour, so went there for lunch. Chose the rbt which is a sort of tea room. The picture of the sandwiches looked like a club sandwich. It may have been tofu & something. Quite unidentifiable, but tasty. Chuck had cold jasmine tea and I had cold blueberry tea. The sandwiches came with frites. Did our shopping and taxied home. On the way home, Hongfang called. She had been worried and was relieved to hear that we were back safely in Hefei. (4 flights.)

Chuck worked on the Computer and I did laundry and other chores in the afternoon.

For dinner we went to Meng Cheng. We had greens and pickled cukes for cold dishes, and octopus, beef, soup and asparagus (but it turned out to be bamboo shoots.)

(4 flights) 15 flights