Hello all!
I stopped blogging in October because I got too busy with my teaching/research/sightseeing and running. It took several hours to post just one post, mainly because I like to include pictures with my post and the internet was extremely slow for loading pictures.
So…thank you for reading.
Here are some highlights that I can’t resist reporting:
#1 Favorite Conversation in Chinese, with a Cabdriver:
Cabdriver & I chatted easily about kids, work, how long have you been in China, oh, your Chinese is pretty good, etc. etc….in other words, the easy stuff that I could actually follow and provide answers that made sense. He asked “So how old are you…50?”
“No,” I said, “I’m 47.”
Cabdriver: “hmmm” (he’s embarrassed — overestimating a woman’s age is a faux pas in any country!) Long pause. Then… “You’re too thin! Too thin!” (I hesitated, but finally understood the word “shou” to mean “thin.”
I protested “Well, I run a lot…”
Cabdriver continues…”You need to eat more!” “What’s the matter? Don’t you like Chinese food?”
This just cracked me up. I was fairly slender at that point, and steadily put on a few more lbs as the weeks went on and I discovered more amazingly delicious and fattening food.
#1 favorite food in China:
Dumplings (jiaozi) at Professor Kong’s house. Nothing better. I ate so much it was painful!
#2 favorite food in China:
Fried flatbread (probably a Western China treat), with a delicate onion/salt flavor. Really good.
#1 Stupid Foreigner Mistake
I bought a small packet of salt (didn’t need much, as I was there for only 5 months) from the store. Started feeling sick (woozy, with a sore throat that came & went intermittently) in October. So I ate more soups and oatmeal…felt worse. Finally, after trying to pin down the source of the wooziness and sore throats, I got out my Chinese dictionary and looked up the characters on the salt package. “Double Strength Flavor Enhancer,” it said. That’s MSG! I was adding MSG to everything — water to boil noodles, soups, and my morning oatmeal.
After tossing the MSG in the garbage, I immediately felt better and the sore throats disappeared. (rolleyes)
#1 Favorite Activity in Guangzhou: Finding new “districts.” Different areas of the city specialize in very specific retail niches, like the LED display district, the trophy and laminated sign district, the bridal gown district, and so forth. I found this fascinating! So many little shops all devoted to the same thing…it’s a hoot for shoppers.
#1 Favorite “Holiday” — hands down, this has to be November 11th…Lonely Boys day. Well, this also could apply to women, and we could call it Lonely Hearts day. Why is it Lonely Boys day, I asked my students? They said “because of all the ones in the date, and one is a lonely number.”
When I mentioned this online in a primarily US-based forum, a friend commented, “Ya gotta love a superpower with a Lonely Boys day.” Isn’t that what international exchange is all about? Exposing the human side of countries…showing the sincere and lovely little details of a culture to someone from another country.
#1 Coldest Month in Guangzhou: November, followed closely by December and January.
How cold was it? Down to about 45 degrees F, which is unusual for GZ in November, but not unusual for Dec and Jan. Meh, no big deal, you might think…but there is no central heat in GZ (just as there is very little air conditioning in Oregon!). We just bundled up. Until I got my gutless space heater and awesome electric water bottle-thing, I was really, really cold for days on end until the weather temporarily warmed up. People drank hot drinks at the office to keep warm.
#1 Nicest Students
My students, pictured here on the day they turned in their final exams:
