Getting ready to leave Changchun, China

Today is Sunday, October 27, 2013.  I have been up since 5 am.  I have not exercised as regularly as I wanted but this can wait until I get back to the U.S.  A big decision in China is "should I shower before I go out or should I shower when I get back?"  If I did the second, then I will be clean as long as I am in the house.  China is really dusty!  She reminds me of the London's subways in the late 1970s.  The fruit season in Changchun is almost over.  Apples and persimmons are common now.

These little fruits are like little tomatoes with a papery skin around them.  They are absolutely delicious and I can eat one whole kilogram of them at one sitting!  They come out in late summer at around 50 cents for a pound and then gradually increase in price to $1 a pound.  I often enjoy the look on the face of foreigners when they try them for the first time!  Another thing I like to eat is corn crisps!  Okay, that is my own name for them.  I am not sure what the Chinese call them but I can buy them on a busy street.  The street vendor will be selling literally tons of them for about $30 for a plastic bag full.  

These are not very sweet but they are light and melt in your mouth.  They just continue to go into your mouth!

I love to buy vegetables from the street vendors.  I do not have to bargain and they are usually cheaper than in the market or grocery stores.  I found two street markets off Qianjin Street and I went there as long as the weather was warm enough.  These markets are busy and noisy.

As autumn rolls around and winter sets in, leeks and cabbages are set out to dry in the sun.  These are for consumption in the winter.  I only managed to get a picture of these leeks drying in the sun.  Most households with older parents will buy leeks, cabbages, cucumbers and other vegetables to dry for their consumption in winter.  The younger adults do not continue this practice.  I have decided that I will take my shower before going out today.  So bye for now.

It is amazing how many things made in China and sold in the U.S. are not available in Changchun.  Maybe I am not looking in the right places or maybe I am not willing to pay for the high prices for “western goods” versus those for the Chinese domestic market.  I went looking for safety pins recently and could not find them in the Walmart here nor in the little shops.  Finally a Chinese student took me to an electronic shop that sells electrical appliances as well as knickknacks.  Those safety pins were one Yuan for a set but the tips were blunt and some pins were rusty.

I also had difficulty finding the right sneakers for my walking.  Most of the shoes have no arch support.  Are all Chinese flat feet?  The Chinese do not understand why I want arch support.  There are millions of shoes in Changchun but unless I go to an upscale shoe store and pay through my nose, I cannot buy a pair of sneakers with arch support.  So I thought that I would buy those inserts that I buy in the Walmart in Mount Pleasant.  Those inserts were made in China and were around $6.00 a pair.  No, I could not find those inserts either.  There are plenty of other kinds of inserts—for warmth in winter and also to help with the heel.  However, there is no inserts for arch support!  I have just thrown away a pair of sneakers that served me well during my walks.  However, one shoe had a broken sole.  Imagine that!  I walked so much that the sole broke into two!  Heheheehe..

Now on to food again!  I love to eat ducks which are not so readily available in the U.S.  Yes, I can buy the frozen ducks.  However, ducks in the U.S. supermarkets are not the same as the ducks in Asia.  Heehhehehe….  A specialty in Asia is the roasted duck—it has been roasted in a rotisserie oven.  I had bought such roasted ducks for $16 U.S. in a Phoenix’s Chinese supermarket.  In Changchun, such a roast duck is only between 18-22 Yuans, depending on the size of the duck.  I was really proud of myself when I negotiated a small roast duck for 18 Yuans.  I had asked for a big one for 22 Yuans but when he brought one out for me, I told him “Bu, tai xiao!”  -- too small.  I wanted the price for a small one – 18 Yuans.  I think he was a little embarrassed about being caught in such a shady business deal.  This one roasted duck was especially delicious for this reason.  Here is a picture of the roasted duck.  Yes, the duck head is always

Roasted Duck

attached and I usually tell the seller to keep it.  I often wonder if the duck breast is actually there, and where have the wings and feets gone.  The U.S. has been accused of dumping chicken feet in China, http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2011-12-16/world/35287460_1_chicken-feet-poultry-industry-usa-poultry.  Being in Changchun, China, has given me the opportunity to study global trade movements.  How interesting!  Here is a link to a more recent post, http://practicalstockinvesting.com/2010/09/28/china-the-us-is-dumping-its-chicken-feet-in-our-market/.  Happy reading!!!

Walking Dangerously in Changchun, China

Walking in Changchun can be very interesting!  The sidewalks act as parking spaces for cars, especially at night.  Only where the sidewalks are too high for the cars to go up are these sidewalks safe for the pedestrians to use.  If a car is being blocked from leaving its parking space, the driver will honk until he can drive off!  The Chinese seem to take all these noises into stride.

Right now, the whole of Changchun city is undergoing construction as flyovers and two subway lines are being built. The construction started about 1.5 years ago but I have been told that it is being speeded up.   The winter takes its toll on the equipment and metal scaffolding left out in the open.  Apparently one lorry driver did not see the ditch in the ground.  I saw this on my way to the wet market last Saturday.

I did not wait to see how the lorry would be hauled out of its hole.  You can see the sidewalk on the right-hand corner of the picture.  Often there may be only a mud path for you to walk past the heavy equipment.  The paths could be the trails left by the tracks of the heavy equipment.

The young man seen walking almost next to the yellow digger was not a construction worker but a pedestrian.  The construction workers appeared to find it normal to have people walking among their work sites.  I guess the attitude is that people need to get to their destinations which may have been blocked by the construction work.  Once I saw some people waiting for the digger to allow them to pass it.  One young girl was impatient and she stooped down and walked under the digger!  She was more brave than I was.

That heavy equipment was coming towards me as I walked towards the opening where I could cross the road.  I must be getting used to the way people walk in China.  I know that when I am back in the U.S., I cannot be so aggressive in my walking.  After all, there is no need to do that in the U.S.

All the road construction in Changchun, China are projected to be completed within three years.  This goal includes two subway lines.  It appears that perhaps Changchun decided that since these construction will cause inconvenience, it is best to do it all at the same time.  The weather has started to cool and the fall is here.  My next posting will be about all the fruits and vegetables available now.

Okay, I guess it is time to publish a new page about my stay in Changchun.  It is more than a month since my last posting.  Here is a picture of the track where I walk every morning and evening.  Yes, it is boring but I can always run back to the apartment if necessary.

The running track at JLC, in front of the Student Dining Hall

Often I will have older adults walking with me and only a few students.  This appears to be the same on the main Jilin University's campus.  The older people are the ones exercising while most of the younger ones are sleeping in.

A friend took me to a downtown market to look for a mint or rosemary plant.  We did not find it but instead we found birds and cactus for sale.  No, they were not being sold by the same vendors.

Here are the birds.  I was hesitant about taking a picture with the birds but my friend said "go ahead."

Older Chinese men love their birds.  They take the birds out for walks in the morning and also in the evening.  These men and their birds will congregate in a shady spot, hang the bird cages in the trees, and have a chat and smoke with their friends.  I saw them in the past year but not this year.  This year I stayed mainly on campus because of the massive road construction in Changchun.  I really mean "massive."  The whole city is under construction!  I cannot imagine this happening in the U.S.

Cute signs and toilets in Malaysia

I am now in Kuala Lumpur visiting the home of two of my former students.  Their mother lives with them, and it is a wonderful experience for me, staying with Muslims.  Again, it has been a wonderful day of eating Hari Raya cookies--something I have not tasted for many years.  However, much of these experiences will be posted within a few days.  Instead, I want to talk about cute signs, toilets and bathrooms in Malaysia.  There is nothing better than using icons to indicate what you should be doing.  After all, at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), people of so many nationalities pass through every day.  It would be difficult to ensure that all the different languages were inscribed on the signs.  Instead, the sign in a lady's toilet stall has all the necessary icons.

You are shown how to sit on the toilet and not to squat on it.  Many Asian toilets are the squatting ones and often people do squat on the sitting toilet because they do not want to sit on a toilet that had been used by others.  The top middle icon shows you where the flush button is located and not to use your foot to press the flush button!  Trash should be thrown in the wastebasket and you are not allowed to smoke in the bathroom in KLIA.

In India and Malaysia, and I am sure in many Muslim countries, there is a faucet to wash one's bottom after relieving oneself.  Below is a picture of a toilet in Malaysia.  Such a toilet is common in big airports and three-five star hotels in Asia.  This toilet is common in Asia and the Middle East.  Sometimes toilet paper is provided but usually not in public toilets.  In China, you are also not supposed to throw toilet paper in the toilets.

The more basic Asian toilet is the squatting toilet or otherwise called the "two-stepper" toilet in India and the Middle East,  http://americanbedu.com/2011/01/14/saudi-arabia-how-to-use-an-eastern-style-toilet/.  It is amazing what you can find on the Internet these days.

Although showers and bathtubs are common in Malaysia, a tub or a Chinese egg jar, http://gotheborg.com/qa/bigjar.shtml, may be used to store the water for bathing and washing clothes.  Here is a picture of the plastic tub in my mother's bathroom.  Every time one of us has a bath, we need to make sure that enough water is kept for the next person.

Below is a plastic blue water scoop that is used to throw water over one's body.  Mother has a pink one above.

Below is a "warm notice" in the ladies' toilet at Beijing International airport.  I have no idea why this is a warm notice.

Therefore, my friends, that is all for today.  I am hot but stuffed full of Hari Raya cookies.  :)

Picking a mango in Mother's garden

The days have been hot and humid in Kuching, Sarawak since I arrived.  If we are lucky, there will be a strong but brief shower in the afternoon, and the day cools off for a little.  The evening tends to be more pleasant.  Mother has a mango tree in her front yard, and some of the fruits are ripening quickly.  A few even had worms eating them.  Here are a couple of pictures of us picking our mangos.  There is nothing ladylike about our actions!

Mother getting ready with her picking bag

The mango fruits were too high for us to pick without a little stool and mother's picking bag.  Actually, this "picking bag" is my brother's fishing net, which he uses to scoop up his fish when he wants to clean their tank!  In my mother's house, a gadget can have many uses.  Here is another picture of my mother in action!

I can tell you that it takes skills to keep that sarong from slipping from your body, and she did not have a belt.  Here is one of me and I found it too hot to wear a blouse.  A bra is definitely out of the question!

The following pictures are much older than the ones above but you may find them interesting.  If you are bored, please surf to another blog.  Here is one of Rowena and her grandmother.

Rowena is in Lubbock, Texas for work but she will be visiting Jasmine in Arlington soon.  I will not be seeing her again before I leave for China  :(  I think this is enough for now.

2013 Changchun Auto Show

I have been in Kuching, Malaysia for about a week now but I want to post a note about the 2013 Changchun Auto Show before posting anything about Malaysia.  I keep forgetting to save my posting as I write and then losing my work ...grrr..rrr..  On Saturday, July 13, Pam, Nancy and I went by the light rail to the auto show.  The light rail was crowded but Pam and I got seats because of our gray hair--an advantage to enjoy because of our age!  It is not often that aging brings any advantage!

 This is me in a CMU t-shirt and a Chinese truck.  I was hoping that I would see someone who would recognize the CMU t-shirt.  We three collected several shopping bags although there were many bags we did not get.  Below is the Buick which is a very popular car in China.  

An ordinary black car

A Chinese character and me with my CMU-student signatures

You can see the bags that I was collecting.  These bags will come in useful when I go grocery shopping!  One thing I did notice at the auto show is that individuals were encouraged to buy the cars they like.  There were car salespersons around who would take your orders.  I never saw that at the Detroit auto show.  Anyway it was a fun outing and something different to do at Changchun.  I understand that in late August there will be an agricultural exhibition and show.  I am looking forward to seeing that.  In the meantime, here is a picture of the lilies at Jilin University.