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.

Okay, what shall I write about now?  There is so much to see and record but then I always have second thoughts about posting my comments on the web.  Thoughts posted on the Internet never go away.  

The above was a plate of boiled dumplings that Nancy and I made a few weeks ago.  The fillings were eggs and chives, meat and Chinese cabbage.  We ate them with a sauce made up of vinegar, soya sauce and chillies.  You know me, I always add chillies to my food.  The wrappers were made with bread flour with yeast, and then waiting for it to rise a little before rolling and wrapping with the fillings.  The dumplings were then put in boiling water, cold water added again, waiting until the water boiled again.  This process was repeated three times.  Then they were ready to eat.   Yummy!  A couple of weeks later, I started dreaming about steamed buns.  Yes, I can buy them from a street vendor for one Yuan each.  However, I want to make some myself.

Mixing the filling for the steamed buns

Steaming the meat buns

So come another weekend, we made steamed buns.  The fillings were meat with Chinese cabbage, and vegetables with scrambled eggs.  The dough was made with ordinary flour and yeast was used to make the dough rise a little.  Because we did not cheesecloth, we used Chinese cabbage to line the steamer.  After the buns were cooked, we ate the cabbage as well!  Double yummy  here.

 

Here are more pictures of food.  The first was five green-bean ice lollipops.  They were one Yuan each, and so these five cost five Yuans (less than USD 1).  I do not have the picture of another one but one Yuan will also buy a green-bean and a red-bean lollipops, all in one wrapper.  I love to eat one of these bean lollipops when it is a hot and sunny day.

 Enough about food.  I am going to leave you with a link to a blog about going to the hospital in Changchun.  He wrote an interesting posting about his wife's visit to the hospital in Changchun.  Yes, medicine in China is a community business and the patients always need someone with them in the hospital, http://lifeinchangchun.blogspot.com/2012/03/dees-appendix-editorial.html#comment-form.  Enjoy.

July 4th, 2013 at 6:11 pm (Changchun Time)

There appears to be no fixed time for noise to stop at night or to start in the morning.  There is a building remodeling project going on night outside my bedroom window.   The man (I am assuming it is a man) is cutting metal until about 8:30 pm.  I had to close my bedroom window in order to shut him out a little. Luckily, by the time I get into bed, he has stopped—usually about 9:15 pm.  It is now about 5:31 am on July 4 (China Time) and he has not yet started his work.  I hear some other noises though—someone is spitting again, people talking, cars honking because they are being blocked by another car.

Spitting in China has been reduced since the authorities ban it.  The older people tend to spit more than the younger ones.  However, enough of it goes on that the foreigners complain about it all the time.  Okay, enough about foreigners’ complains (I am not sure why they are in China when they are not happy with what they are experiencing).

Here are a little more about my apartment.  I have a small radiant-heat stove, a microwave and a small refrigerator.  Last year I bought a small rice cooker and a crockpot from another foreign teacher who was returning to Canada.  This year I bought a toaster oven from Taobao, China’s equivalent to Amazon.com.  

My kitchenware

If you need something that you cannot find in the stores here, you go to Taobao.  Actually it is more convenient to buy things online because often there are no shipping charges.  You also do not have to get a taxi home with your purchases.  It is difficult this year to get taxis because of the road constructions.  Besides, you may have to struggle with the size of your packages.  When you order online, the packages come to campus in a van, and the driver calls you to collect your purchases.  You can also track your orders online and figure out when they would arrive.  Alibaba, the big internet company in China, has a vast logistics project that will deliver packages in rural China within 24 hours.  This logistics project is supposed to be completed in five years (?).  I will have to do more research on this for you.  My doctoral professor used to tell me not to be "preachy" and I am trying very hard to post rational, unbiased news about my stay.  However, it is very difficult when I have to listen to foreigners, who do not understand China, give their opinions.  However, sometimes the Chinese themselves do not understand what is happening to China right now.

Today is July 4th and Canada Day was July 1st.  Some of us ladies are hosting a combined celebration at 1:00 pm with a potluck.  Everyone has to bring their own plate, cup or glass and silverware.  That way we do not have to buy paper cups and plates, and, therefore, will not create any unnecessary trash.  At first, we wanted to do a BBQ but that was too much hassle.  We do not have a grill and we would have to buy charcoal, yah de yah dah....  I have a class at 8 am and so I have to go now.

Happy July 4th celebration.

Oh, oh, I have not posted anything for about three weeks now.  Somehow I find that it is difficult to juggle too many tasks at the same time.  The Internet is only decently fast in the morning until about 8:30 am.  This means that I need to plan ahead to do all the things I want to get done in the early morning:
1.  Walking enough so that I get my daily exercising in
2.  Learning my Chinese with my Chinese teacher who is very dedicated to teaching me
3.  Watching my stocks before I get to class
4.  Figuring out how to explain concepts in more ways than one
5.  Trying to figure out how to get around the blocking of Google and its features--this one is really a pain since my blog is on www.blogger.com which is a Google site.

Life is, as you can tell, very complicated.  Here is a link to a YouTube video about shopping in Walmart, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0peYHRqWZDU.  It is much easier to show you something that someone else has already created than to create one myself.  I do shop a lot at Walmart but most of the time, I walk around the supercenter a lot, trying to read the Chinese characters!  I suppose this effort is good for my brain neurons!  If you are a foreigner in China, you will get good treatment.  I often get the comment, "Why can't you speak Chinese?  You look like a Chinese!"  I will have to figure out a way to post more often.

Sunday, June 9, 2013 at 7:43 pm (China time)

I am really tickled pink by the way I can save money through making a choice about the packaging of an item.  A bottle of soy sauce is about 6-8 RMB but in the future I can buy plastic bags of soy sauce and refill my soy sauce bottle.  These plastic bags of soy sauce cost only about 50% of the bottle of soy sauce.  You can buy vinegar and talcum powder the same way.  Do you remember that once upon a time, we would buy a ballpoint pen and then just buy the refills?  I had not done that in the U.S. for many years.  BIC pens are so cheap now.  Besides I can pick up a couple at conferences!  Here in China, I bought a red ballpoint pen, at 1 RMB, for grading papers and bought three refills for 2 RMB.

Every day I put my garbage, outside my apartment , in the hallway.  The cleaning lady would pick it up in the morning and she is also here on Sunday.  Here are pictures of the hallway.

You can see the two plastic bags of garbage I left in the hallway. I try not to leave them out in the afternoon--not because I cannot but just so that the hallway does not look tacky.  I tried to find out if the cleaning lady would like me to sort through my recyclables so that she would not have to go through my plastic bags.  No one understood me!  Perhaps my sorting would be viewed as trying to get her job away from her.  This perception is something I often run across in China.  At the fast food locations, no one buses their own trays in China.  There are cleaning staff who do this.  The only place I have seen customers busing their own trays is at Ikea, where a huge sign explains why it is necessary to clean up after yourself.  As my students tell me, it is the culture in China!

Last Saturday, Nancy and I went to the Railway Station market again.  Actually it is not one market but several buildings with small vendors selling all kinds of goods.  The first floor has purses, toys, stationery, jewellery and shoes.  The second floor has men's clothes, and the third and fourth floors are for women's clothing.  In the streets, you can find similar items but for only about 50% of the prices.  However, you cannot find everything on the street.  This time, the police were out, talking to the street vendors who had to stop selling their goods.  It was about two hours later before the vendors went back to their businesses.  The food court is in the basement of the buildings and can be very hot at lunch time.  So Nancy and I went for breakfast instead, and we had delicious dumplings.  We got 30% more dumplings than we did at the market near the Jilin campus.  The soya bean milk was 1.5 RMB but Nancy complained that we could have bought the same drink for 1 RMB on campus!  That would be about US 17 cents each.

I have been longing for steamed fish since I arrived in Changchun.  However, it is not easy to get steamed fish in the restaurants since it takes a little longer to cook.  Nancy did find a restaurant that decided that it was better to have a customer than to turn one away.  Of course, we were a little late for lunch, at 1 o'clock, and so the restaurant was not too crowded.  Below is the picture of the steamed fish and it did look absolutely delicious.  It was also a big fish for two Chinese ladies!  The seasonings were soya sauce and sesame oil with julienne ginger, chilli, and green onions.  You can steam fish this way in your microwave.

About 30 minutes later, the fish looked like this (see below)!  I even ate the head and the fish eyes!  With two bowls of rice and a vegetable dish, Nancy and I staggered home stuffed!  The fish was a little expensive--40 RMB.  The whole meal cost me 68 RMB (about $11 USD).  However, remember that I am trying to live like a regular Chinese, and not a U.S. visitor who thinks everything is cheap in China.

Well, it is time for me to walk to Walmart now to buy some essentials and to also check into my investment! Walmart here opens at 8 am and KFC is right there with them.  I have not yet been to a KFC to see what it is like.  See you soon.

Saturday, June 8, 2013 at  4:54 am (China Time)

I am trying to get a quick post in before my Chinese lesson and then a quick trip to the Railway station market.  This market is where the locals come and shop, even those who have stores elsewhere in the city.  They come and buy at wholesale price to sell at a margin elsewhere.  There is also a street market that is fun.  You can buy five pairs of summer socks for five RMB.  However, forget big sizes.  You do not find things big here--most are Chinese sizes.  You can even find bras on sale at the streets.  You just try for size on top of your clothes.  I was too chicken to take pictures.  I will try to take pictures this time.  The Chinese young adults are always taking pictures.

A sheet of tofu

The above is a picture of a sheet of tofu.  You buy it by the weight and julienne it.  Add cucumbers and carrots, sliced the same way.  Season with vinegar, sugar and salt with a little sesame oil and you have a delicious cold salad.  It keeps really well, too, in the refrigerator.

Here is a tube of soya bean milk, which I really love.  It only cost 1.5 Yuan and is unsweetened.  Yes, it is about three cups.  I have this milk for breakfast every time I go to the wet market and get it fresh.  On non-market days, it is instant Nestle coffee with milk for me.  I have to go now.

Monday, June 3, 2013 at 9:41 am (China time)

I am too busy.  I am trying to do too much—trying to lose another five pounds, learning Chinese, teaching an online class, teaching here in Changchun, trying to help my Chinese students succeed, and struggling with the language barrier on more than one level.  What does that tell you—that I am the same as another Chinese, trying to do too much?  Hehehehe….

There is a myth that Chinese food is slimming.  Check out the points on WeightWatchers.  Yikes!  You will eat up all your daily points in one meal.  Here in Changchun, if I eat out, the dishes will be greasy, salty and on occasions, sweet.  There will also be a lot of starch.  So I cook at home most days.  However, without proper kitchenware, it is almost like camping out!  There is a fresh vegetable and meat market about 10 minutes walk from my apartment.  I can buy fresh pork, frozen chicken, and plenty of vegetables as well as tofu.  The fish are really “fresh” because they would be swimming in tanks and you can pick them out.  You can also buy the frozen fish from Walmart and they are much cheaper.  Fresh is usually more expensive.  The Chinese do not eat as much beef as pork and beef can cost twice as much as pork.  Also, the cuts are different and the meat can be really tough.  You would have to stew the meat for a long time.  The Chinese also like to cook their meat in boiling water first, then throw out this water (they consider this water dirty), and then cook the meat with the other ingredients.  Of course, we cannot carry too much.  Whenever I buy a chicken, that is already about all I can carry.  Therefore, buying those heavy weight vegetables like potatoes or carrots can be a pain.  Therefore, shopping in Changchun requires some forecasting skills (like financial analysis) and then deciding how to divide up the load!  The wet market is a fascinating place and I want to eat everything.  I am afraid I embarrass my Chinese student who takes me there.  She has told me that I need to keep my mouth shut so that she can bargain.  She always asks, “tai gui le, pian yi dian!” or “this is too expensive, please give me a discount.”  Of course, I do not have the pinyin annotator on and so the accents are not there.

One other interesting thing is that the Chinese like to have a “cover” over their furniture or pillow cases.  Instead of directly sleeping on the pillow covers, you sleep on the cover (see my picture below).  The “foreign teachers” think that these covers are towels for other uses!  Heheehehee.  I have such a cover on my sofa so that I can wash the cover and the sofa stays clean.  I will have a picture the next time.  In Walmart, I can buy such covers for my chairs, my sofa, my easy chair, my pillows and even for the armrest so that I can sleep on my sofa during my afternoon nap!  When we go outside and want to rest during our walks, usually we find a piece of paper or cardboard on which to sit.  I think I must carry one of these chair covers with me so that I can have a pretty one to sit on.  The Chinese will not put their bags on the ground because the latter is dirty.  The girls will carry umbrellas for the rain as well as for the sun.  The umbrellas for the sun have reflector coating on them so that they are supposed to reflect the sunlight!  I am not supposed to use such umbrellas for rainy days because the reflector coating may wash off!  I am constantly being told off for not using my sun umbrella in the sun because my skin will turn dark!  My problem is that I did not want to have another 1.5 lbs of weight to carry with my shopping.  Tomorrow, the electricity and water will be turned off.  So I have to go now and get ready for my classes tomorrow.  I am wondering how I can control 131 students without my Powerpoint slides and without a microphone. 

Saturday, May 25, 2013 at 3:21 pm (China Time) or 3:21 am (EST)

Today is Saturday, May 25 although I can get confused because my laptop is on New York time!  As usual, I woke up early at 4 am, walked from 4:30 am to 5:25 am.  That was enough to give me 8 activity points.  Yah!  Then my Chinese teacher came at 5:30 am and we had Chinese lessons until 6:30 am with occasional discussions of schools, what Chinese people do and what westerners do.  Then off to the 'wet market" we went to buy ground pork, vegetables, ground beef for a friend, and soya bean milk for breakfast.  The sun was up and bright by the time we walked home.  My Chinese teacher told me to keep quiet whenever she asked about the prices of any meat or vegetable because the Chinese figure out I am a foreigner once I open my mouth!  Today I am hosting a dumpling dinner for a Canadian couple who live on the fourth floor.  I live on the second floor.  There is no elevator in a building that has only six floors!  The gym is on the sixth floor, and sometimes I do use the treadmill there when it is raining outside.

Here is a link to Changchun, China, the city where I live,   http://2007.changchun.gov.cn/yingwenban/yingwen_index.jsp?ID=120000000000000000.  It is an industrial city with about 7 million people, and is considered a Tier II city.  Beijing, Shanghai and Guangchou are Tier I cities.  The Chinese really like ranking things and places.  Changchun apparently is a sister city of Flint, Michigan but I have not seen or heard of anything going on between the two recently.  Changchun is famous for its automotive and rail industries.  The rail industry is really famous for providing railcars to subways in cities around the world.  Johnson Controls also has a joint venture here with FAW, the biggest automotive Chinese company.

Well, it is close to 4 pm and I need to go out and walk again.  See you later.  BTW, you can subscribe to this blog so that you will receive an email whenever I post something.

Finally catching up with my work and settling in

It is Thursday, May 23, 2013 at 9:15 pm (China time).  China only has one time zone inspite of being such a big country.  If one lives in the western side of the country, the sun rises much later and sets accordingly.  I understand that people start work two hours later than those of us here in Changchun.  The high temperature today reached 81 degrees but there was a nice breeze blowing.  My teaching assistant has been buying plastic containers for me.  She is hosting a garage sale.  Garage sales are not common in China.  I am getting too sleepy now.  I will have to wait until Sunday to update this blog.  :(

Today is Thursday, May 16, 2013 in Changchun, China.  The weather promises to be mild, with temperatures up to 77 degrees F, and no rain.  It has been rather dusty in Changchun because of the highway constructions around the city.  The local authorities started flyover constructions last June to relieve the traffic jams in the city, thereby allow traffic to bypass the city instead of driving through it.  Of course, this means that the traffic diversions are worse, and walking is the best mode of transportation.  I hate to use a bicycle here since I am not sure that I would know how to navigate the roads yet.  I am getting over my jet lag.  It has been more than 10 days and I should be getting over it.  Gr.r.r.r.r.

New blog about my travels in China and Malaysia

This blog is about my travels in China and Malaysia in 2013.  I had to start a new one.