Posted in Culture, Food, Health and Fitness, Home Life, Music&Movies on Jun 21st, 2009
I love Sundays. Especially after a long week. One day out of the week where I don’t have to think about studying Chinese character flashcards, or rush off to an appointment. Just me and Jay and the whole day. I think there may be a game of Scrabble in the future for today…
It’s warming up [...]
Posted in Culture, Food, Home Life, Music&Movies on Jun 13th, 2009
For our first couple of years here, the only type of bread you could find in the grocery stores and bakeries (Chinese-style bakeries) was white, enriched flour bread. We were whole grain-ers in the states and we really missed the taste and all the health benefits that came with it. I asked a few friends [...]
Mmmm…almost every city we’ve visited in China has their own special version of food on a stick. In Beijing it was silk worms, centipedes and scorpions…on a stick. In Xian it was deep fried bean pastes and mashed up vegetables…on a stick. Here in our hometown the specialty is lamb…on a stick. Kabobs to be [...]
Posted in Culture on May 1st, 2009
When we first got here, I was often taken aback and sometimes really hurt by comments made toward me about my appearance. But, eventually I learned that commenting on someone’s appearance is just one way the Chinese show they care. I was walking out in our courtyard yesterday and ran into Mrs. Zhao, an elderly [...]
I met a new friend the other day and one of the first questions she asked me was if I had ever seen the TV show, Friends. For someone to know about Friends is very, very odd here in China. It might be on 5 times a day on TBS in the states, but hardly [...]
Posted in Culture on Apr 7th, 2009
At some point after living in China for a while, you resign yourself to the fact that there are some things you will just never understand about life here. There is a lot that can be accomplished towards bridging the gulf between cultures by studing language and having local friends, and immersing yourself as much [...]
We spent Valentine’s Day soaking in a lot of sun and, literally, stopping to smell the roses…or, rather, tropical flowers. We got up and had a fabulous French breakfast at the MeiMei Cafe and then made our way over to the city’s tropical flower park. We spent the entire day there, complete with a picnic [...]
Posted in Culture, Holidays, Photos, Shopping, Travel on Feb 13th, 2009
One huge difference about Yunnan than any other part of China we’ve visited is how devoted to Buddhism many of the people are. We got to visit a Buddhist temple in the city and we also got to venture out into a nearby town, their morning market and local temple. There are so [...]
We spent a few days in a port city in Yunnan Province called Jinghong. It is a beautiful city that reminded us of northern Thailand in the weather, food and style of architecture…but it was China, which we love. I am going to describe Jinghong in a way that you will probably never [...]
Instead of flying back home to China we took a boat up the Mekong River, passing by Laos and Myanmar…actually getting to stop in Myanmar to collect some rocks. Apparently they’re very valuable and sell for a good price in China. It was a beautiful boat ride, about 12 hours long and then [...]