Hi,
I had a nice trip. It was short but after Bahamas I was tired and not too anxious to go very far. My visit with lijun and her family was ok. I can only take her in small doses but it seems that every 6 weeks or so I want to see her. But each time I am disappointed in her. She is childish. She has dreams about her future but she mindlessly does what her parents say and won't say what she wants. She has no backbone. She talks about doing this or that but does nothing about it. Sometimes I feel like grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her but all I can do is sit and listen. My opinion doesn't count. Sometimes she asks me for advice and I tell her what I think but she won't do anything that I suggest so what is the use?
She wants to marry her boyfriend but then she will say in the next sentence that she can never marry her boyfriend because her parents don't approve of him. Then she will say that if he gets a better job and she also gets a job then she can marry him. It goes back and forth like that all of the time. I stop listening after awhile. She has met 3 guys who want her for a wife. One guy seemed quite nice. But he was an inch shorter than her so she said I can't marry him. He is too short. Where does love fit into this equation? So many rules. Rule number one: My future husband will own his own apartment (even if he has a mortgage). Rule number two: He will be older than me. Rule number three: He will have a car (although that is not as important as an apartment). Rule number four: He will be taller than me. Rule number five: He will make more money than me (that is not hard since she is not working!). Oh, Rule number one, before all of the rest: my parents will approve of him.
This is not love. This is convenience or accepting your position in life. It is more like a business negotiation. If your family has money, then you are freer to choose who you want. It will still require the family's approval but if you have money then it is not so important. Lijun's family is not rich but they are not poor by any means. Middle class or almost middle class; maybe a little poorer than the average office worker but they are far from destitute. Her father is a self-employed carpenter and does good work. He remodeled their apartment and he did a very good job. The finish work is excellent. He went to Indonesia on a contract for a month; his second trip there. Her parents are very plain people but very kind to me whenever I visit. I slept in Lijun's bed. Very hard. They sleep on boards. No such thing as a mattress. Just boards and a bamboo mat. Not very comfortable. But most Chinese and even Thai, Japanese sleep like that. Apparently they believe that it is good for your back. Maybe it is but it is not good for my knees and elbows! That is why, when I am in a train or bus station many people are sleeping on the floor. To them it is the same as their bed. They will spread out cardboard or newspapers and go to sleep. She slept on the floor in her parent's bedroom. She could have slept in her bed with me. It is king-sized and we would be totally clothed. I slept with all of my clothes because they had no heat. It was cold in their apartment. I told her that she could have slept in her bed and she said that it was a new experience for her to sleep on the floor but she was comfortable. I don't understand. I try very hard but I don't understand.THeir thinking is so much different than mine. She told me that it would not be proper for her to sleep in the same bed as me. She is so conservative in her thinking. I would not touch her. But it is ok for her to live with her boyfriiend and have baths with him. But not ok to wear short skirts or sleep with me without touching. Strange society.So she slept on the floor.
She has many men who want to marry her. I told her to be sure. Wait one year. I don't want to see her with a child while her husband goes out every night drinking with his buddies. That is common in China, Korea. The women accept that. I don't want to see her like that. i want her to be like my daughter Lindsay; strong, say what you want, stand up to the man. But too many Chinese women accept their position as a servant to their man. I want Lijun to be a strong girl but she isn't. I expect that that she will marry some guy she doesn't love. Maybe she will like him but it isn't love. It is frustrating but That is China.
Don
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Michelle
Hi,
After I visited with lijun, I went to Jingjiang to visit Michelle and her husband. THey are late 20's maybe 30. It is not easy to guess people's ages here. THey tend to look younger than they are. I met Michelle in SHanghai bus station when I waas coming home from Bahamas. She approached to see if I needed help. Very nice woman.
THey treateed me very well. We went to Pizza Hut for supper. I ordered a personal size pizza and a soup plus a beer. THey were ordering everything on the menu it seemed. 4 large pizza, a steak filet, many fruit drinks, mashed potatoes, escargot. I think the bill must have around 500rmb. Very expensive but they would let me pay even a part of it. I was in my room by 7:30. I was tired. The next morning we met at 8:00 and went for breakfast and had a local specialty. It is a crab soup inside a steamed bun. Very tasty. I had 4 and was quite full. I wanted to lpay for breakfast but I couldn't. THey bought me 4 bags of zhu rou fu which is dried pork jerky. I like it. I have eaten most of one bag so far. Then we went for a walk in park. Very pretty. THen it was time for me to go to the bus station. My bus was leaving at 10:00 to go to Nanjing and then home to Ma'anshan from there. She paid for my bus ticket! I couldn't pay for anything. I gave her a small hug when I was leaving and shook hands with her and her husband and his younger brother. THe hug may have been a mistake. Especially in front of her husband. I wasn't going to do that but I forgot at the last minute. Just nor,mal for me. I haven't heard from her since so many it was a faux pas.
I got home about 2:00 on Thursday. I had a nice bus ride. The woman I was sitting with spoke English so we had a nice chat all of the way.
Spring has arrived. It wiull reach 13C today. I love it!
Don
After I visited with lijun, I went to Jingjiang to visit Michelle and her husband. THey are late 20's maybe 30. It is not easy to guess people's ages here. THey tend to look younger than they are. I met Michelle in SHanghai bus station when I waas coming home from Bahamas. She approached to see if I needed help. Very nice woman.
THey treateed me very well. We went to Pizza Hut for supper. I ordered a personal size pizza and a soup plus a beer. THey were ordering everything on the menu it seemed. 4 large pizza, a steak filet, many fruit drinks, mashed potatoes, escargot. I think the bill must have around 500rmb. Very expensive but they would let me pay even a part of it. I was in my room by 7:30. I was tired. The next morning we met at 8:00 and went for breakfast and had a local specialty. It is a crab soup inside a steamed bun. Very tasty. I had 4 and was quite full. I wanted to lpay for breakfast but I couldn't. THey bought me 4 bags of zhu rou fu which is dried pork jerky. I like it. I have eaten most of one bag so far. Then we went for a walk in park. Very pretty. THen it was time for me to go to the bus station. My bus was leaving at 10:00 to go to Nanjing and then home to Ma'anshan from there. She paid for my bus ticket! I couldn't pay for anything. I gave her a small hug when I was leaving and shook hands with her and her husband and his younger brother. THe hug may have been a mistake. Especially in front of her husband. I wasn't going to do that but I forgot at the last minute. Just nor,mal for me. I haven't heard from her since so many it was a faux pas.
I got home about 2:00 on Thursday. I had a nice bus ride. The woman I was sitting with spoke English so we had a nice chat all of the way.
Spring has arrived. It wiull reach 13C today. I love it!
Don
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Back from my mini-trip
Hi,
It was a nice visit. I went to Liyang to vist lijun for two days. I think you all know that Lijun was a student of mine last year at JPU and graduated with her English major. I still can't understand why they are ok living without heat. I slept with all my clothes plus a sweater and two quilts. THey have an A/C but they don't turn it on. Too expensive. So they walk around all day with multiple layers of clothes and it is ok? No hot water. They get about 7 large thermoses of hot water a day. So each time someone leaves home they leave with a thermos or three and then they drop it off at the grandparents, because they sell hot water for 1.5 cents a thermos. So they go back and forth all day with thermoses so they can have hot water to wash in or for tea. They can also heat hot water on their stove in a kettle but they don't do that often because it uses gas. I was wearing my coat while watching TV. THey wear so many clothes. And they sleep with them on. THey will go days without changing clothes, well maybe underwear but I can't verify that. It is the closest to camping that I want to get. To me it would be like sleeping in a cabin without a fireplace and no hot water. After two days I was still cold and I was glad to leave. It is a different mindset. I guess it is what you are used to. It isn't that cold. Maybe a few degrees below zero. Obviously they couldn't do that at -20C but they are quite willing to do that; it is normal. Imagine being invited to dinner at someones home and you had to wear your coat and you could see your breath. But we have very cold winters and we need indoor heating. Here the winters are max about -8C but still no heat? I have heat. But I sure wouldn't want to stay at Lijun's any more than two nights. It is uncomfortable for me.
We went for hot pot, Lijun's favourite meal. We went with her younger cousin. I have no idea if they are related because aunt or uncle could be a friend of her parents; so a cousin could be one their children. Not cousin in our meaning. They have different meanings for aunt and uncle. They have many aunts and uncles who are not related to them. They are friends of the family. But when I question them they understand the difference in meaning. So then I find out if it is a relation or a friend. She was younger than Lijun and a little chubby. We also went with a guy who is trying to become Lijun's boyfriend (he sent her 11 roses because 11 is supposed to mean 'I will love you forever') so she wanted me to meet him. I thought he was a nice guy. He didn't speak much English so I couldn't talk to him but he seemed ok. He paid for dinner so I was ok with that! 216rmb for 4 of of us. I am not a big fan of hot pot. Mostly because everything tastes the same. You throw lettuce or squid or beef in the same pot and they all come out tasting the same. Lijun is not a small girl by Chinese standards; maybe 5'6" and 120lb but not big. The hot pot was a buffet so you could choose from 64 different dishes and eat as much as you wanted. THere was also fruit, desserts, soups. I was full and they ate for almost an hour after I was done. i couldn't believe how much they could stow away! The girls were eating everything! There were some things that I didn't want to know what they were but I tried some. No pig's brains this time but other stuff that looked weird. THen they got into ice cream, and then they were back into more hot pot foods. I thought they'd never be full! It is amazing how much they ate! I was quite full. THe beer was free. I had two. And I sat sipping away while they were getting more food. OK. Either thay don't eat like this all of the time or it is not fattening. I just sat and watched at the end. Lijun was finally full. Amazing. She couldn't eat like that every day or she would weigh 200 lbs! But every time that we have gone to eat she eats a lot. It doesn't matter as long as it Chinese food. So is there a secret to Chinese food?
After that we went to KTV (karoke). They sang for 3 hours. That was boring. I sang two English songs. They were only interested in the Chinese songs or Backstreet Boys.
Her parents treated me well. I always wake up early and her father got up and made breakfast for me. Cold meats, hot rice porridge, not very tasty. The cold meats are not to my liking but there was one dish that was good. It had boiled egg, pork meatballs and other parts of pork in it. I ate a lot of that. But the pig stomach. pig ears, I didn't like the texture. THe women slept in. Each morning Lijun didn't wake until 10:00. I was up 7:00.
It is strange life for me. I have visited the family 3 times and I still don't understand. Maybe 7 days in total. I accept but I don't understand. That is their life. They are not poor like we think as poor. They have money. I have no other families to compare it to so it is difficult. Are they super frugal or normal? She will never marry her boyfriend. She lived with him without their knowledge but now her boyfriend's family ( who are poor according to Lijun) realize that so they have forbidden him from having any contact with her. Such a strange society. Love doesn't matter. It is all about your future and all about the family. Happiness, love doesn't count. While I was there she found out that her boyfriend can't see her anymore. She knew that. Her parents won't allow it. But she still has that dream where he will get a good job and she will get a job and everything will work out. It won't. Meanwhile she will be introduced to marriageable guys. She doesn't have the strength to question any of this. It annoys me so much.
Mark (Xia) is her boyfriend. A little shorter than her and not terribly ambitious. If he wants her than he needs to work hard.She is worth it. and she loves him. But he will not have a chance unless he gets a better job. her dream is that Mark will get a government job and that she will also get a good job and then they will live happily-ever-after. It won't happen.
Talk to you later.
Don
It was a nice visit. I went to Liyang to vist lijun for two days. I think you all know that Lijun was a student of mine last year at JPU and graduated with her English major. I still can't understand why they are ok living without heat. I slept with all my clothes plus a sweater and two quilts. THey have an A/C but they don't turn it on. Too expensive. So they walk around all day with multiple layers of clothes and it is ok? No hot water. They get about 7 large thermoses of hot water a day. So each time someone leaves home they leave with a thermos or three and then they drop it off at the grandparents, because they sell hot water for 1.5 cents a thermos. So they go back and forth all day with thermoses so they can have hot water to wash in or for tea. They can also heat hot water on their stove in a kettle but they don't do that often because it uses gas. I was wearing my coat while watching TV. THey wear so many clothes. And they sleep with them on. THey will go days without changing clothes, well maybe underwear but I can't verify that. It is the closest to camping that I want to get. To me it would be like sleeping in a cabin without a fireplace and no hot water. After two days I was still cold and I was glad to leave. It is a different mindset. I guess it is what you are used to. It isn't that cold. Maybe a few degrees below zero. Obviously they couldn't do that at -20C but they are quite willing to do that; it is normal. Imagine being invited to dinner at someones home and you had to wear your coat and you could see your breath. But we have very cold winters and we need indoor heating. Here the winters are max about -8C but still no heat? I have heat. But I sure wouldn't want to stay at Lijun's any more than two nights. It is uncomfortable for me.
We went for hot pot, Lijun's favourite meal. We went with her younger cousin. I have no idea if they are related because aunt or uncle could be a friend of her parents; so a cousin could be one their children. Not cousin in our meaning. They have different meanings for aunt and uncle. They have many aunts and uncles who are not related to them. They are friends of the family. But when I question them they understand the difference in meaning. So then I find out if it is a relation or a friend. She was younger than Lijun and a little chubby. We also went with a guy who is trying to become Lijun's boyfriend (he sent her 11 roses because 11 is supposed to mean 'I will love you forever') so she wanted me to meet him. I thought he was a nice guy. He didn't speak much English so I couldn't talk to him but he seemed ok. He paid for dinner so I was ok with that! 216rmb for 4 of of us. I am not a big fan of hot pot. Mostly because everything tastes the same. You throw lettuce or squid or beef in the same pot and they all come out tasting the same. Lijun is not a small girl by Chinese standards; maybe 5'6" and 120lb but not big. The hot pot was a buffet so you could choose from 64 different dishes and eat as much as you wanted. THere was also fruit, desserts, soups. I was full and they ate for almost an hour after I was done. i couldn't believe how much they could stow away! The girls were eating everything! There were some things that I didn't want to know what they were but I tried some. No pig's brains this time but other stuff that looked weird. THen they got into ice cream, and then they were back into more hot pot foods. I thought they'd never be full! It is amazing how much they ate! I was quite full. THe beer was free. I had two. And I sat sipping away while they were getting more food. OK. Either thay don't eat like this all of the time or it is not fattening. I just sat and watched at the end. Lijun was finally full. Amazing. She couldn't eat like that every day or she would weigh 200 lbs! But every time that we have gone to eat she eats a lot. It doesn't matter as long as it Chinese food. So is there a secret to Chinese food?
After that we went to KTV (karoke). They sang for 3 hours. That was boring. I sang two English songs. They were only interested in the Chinese songs or Backstreet Boys.
Her parents treated me well. I always wake up early and her father got up and made breakfast for me. Cold meats, hot rice porridge, not very tasty. The cold meats are not to my liking but there was one dish that was good. It had boiled egg, pork meatballs and other parts of pork in it. I ate a lot of that. But the pig stomach. pig ears, I didn't like the texture. THe women slept in. Each morning Lijun didn't wake until 10:00. I was up 7:00.
It is strange life for me. I have visited the family 3 times and I still don't understand. Maybe 7 days in total. I accept but I don't understand. That is their life. They are not poor like we think as poor. They have money. I have no other families to compare it to so it is difficult. Are they super frugal or normal? She will never marry her boyfriend. She lived with him without their knowledge but now her boyfriend's family ( who are poor according to Lijun) realize that so they have forbidden him from having any contact with her. Such a strange society. Love doesn't matter. It is all about your future and all about the family. Happiness, love doesn't count. While I was there she found out that her boyfriend can't see her anymore. She knew that. Her parents won't allow it. But she still has that dream where he will get a good job and she will get a job and everything will work out. It won't. Meanwhile she will be introduced to marriageable guys. She doesn't have the strength to question any of this. It annoys me so much.
Mark (Xia) is her boyfriend. A little shorter than her and not terribly ambitious. If he wants her than he needs to work hard.She is worth it. and she loves him. But he will not have a chance unless he gets a better job. her dream is that Mark will get a government job and that she will also get a good job and then they will live happily-ever-after. It won't happen.
Talk to you later.
Don
Saturday, February 13, 2010
let it snow.
Yeah it's snowing. There has been snow on the ground for three days. Today's snowfall was like a perfect Christmas Eve snow. No wind. Maybe -1 or -2C. I made a small snowman! But there is no wind. So it is very pleasant to walk around. I was surprised to see that the school had shoveled out our walkway. It wasn't necessary. The snow is only a few centimeters at the most. But it looks so pretty. It is nice to see the snow. I don't like to see a lot of snow at -20C but a little snow feels good. It covers up the dirt! I expect it will be gone by the time I get back from my mini-trip. I should be back by Friday. Liyang and then Jingjiang.
Enjoy yourself. I will. Love to live and live to love!
Don
Enjoy yourself. I will. Love to live and live to love!
Don
Happy for different reasons
Hi,
Today is the Chinese New Year. I have hung some posters on my doorway. They are supposed to bring me good fortune and good health for the year of the tiger! We will see if they work. haha. Hopefully I have not hung them upside down or backwards. They are all Chinese characters so I can't be sure. If i put them up wrong will I have bad fortune?
Disney is making money. They are selling stuffed Tiggers and Tigger pillows, etc. Tigger is the tiger from Winnie the Pooh stories. Maybe they are knockoffs and Disney may not be getting the royalties but someone is making money.
It is also my 2nd anniversary. Two years ago this day was when I left home to go to China. So much has happened since then. My life has been completely changed for the better. I was in a rut. Now I feel like anything may happen. I don't know where my life's path will lead me and I like that feeling. It is a feeling of freedom. I can choose to do whatever I want and I only have to answer to myself. Life is short and getting shorter each day. I need to experience so many things yet. I was talking to my friend in Thailand. She thinks I should go there to teach. I am very tempted. I love Thailand. It has to be the nicest place that I have ever visited. Bahamas was also nice but I can't live my life on a resort. Well, it would be close to a resort if I were working in Thailand. Good food, nice people, beaches, not much more expensive than China. The language is equally as difficult as Chinese with tones. Maybe I will consider it.
It is also Hailey's 2nd birthday. She is my niece's daughter. Happy Birthday Hailey. I have only seen her once. I was home for her first birthday. She was born while I was on a plane to China. I am sure that she is sweet.
So it's Happy Birthday, Happy Valentine's Day, Happy New Year and Happy Anniversary for me, all on the same day.
Tomorrow I go to liyang (a city that is part of Changzhou) to visit lijun and her family and then on the 17th I will go to jingjiang (a part of Taizhou) across the river from Changzhou, to visit a new friend and her husband. Jingjiang is a little bigger than Ma'anshan. I met her in Shanghai bus station on my way back from Bahamas. She helped me make sure that I was at the right gate and then waited with me to be sure that I got on the right bus. The bus tickets have no English on them so sometimes I get confused. Then I will come back to ma'anshan to stay. That is assuming that I can get bus tickets. Soooo many people traveling. It is not easy for me to get around China when it is not busy. But now it is very difficult. The lineups for tickets are so long and then I find that there are no tickets. I had to pay much more money to get home from Shanghai than I should have but I wanted to get home. That's the way it goes when traveling during Spring Festival. I have never been in China during this time. The first year I arrived at the end. Last year I went home before it started. So this is my first experience with it. Awesome. The firecrackers started at 6am. I expect that there will be many more today.
It will soon be time to start preparing for the new term which starts about March 1. I will finish about mid-June. After that? Who knows? Ain't life grand!
Don
Today is the Chinese New Year. I have hung some posters on my doorway. They are supposed to bring me good fortune and good health for the year of the tiger! We will see if they work. haha. Hopefully I have not hung them upside down or backwards. They are all Chinese characters so I can't be sure. If i put them up wrong will I have bad fortune?
Disney is making money. They are selling stuffed Tiggers and Tigger pillows, etc. Tigger is the tiger from Winnie the Pooh stories. Maybe they are knockoffs and Disney may not be getting the royalties but someone is making money.
It is also my 2nd anniversary. Two years ago this day was when I left home to go to China. So much has happened since then. My life has been completely changed for the better. I was in a rut. Now I feel like anything may happen. I don't know where my life's path will lead me and I like that feeling. It is a feeling of freedom. I can choose to do whatever I want and I only have to answer to myself. Life is short and getting shorter each day. I need to experience so many things yet. I was talking to my friend in Thailand. She thinks I should go there to teach. I am very tempted. I love Thailand. It has to be the nicest place that I have ever visited. Bahamas was also nice but I can't live my life on a resort. Well, it would be close to a resort if I were working in Thailand. Good food, nice people, beaches, not much more expensive than China. The language is equally as difficult as Chinese with tones. Maybe I will consider it.
It is also Hailey's 2nd birthday. She is my niece's daughter. Happy Birthday Hailey. I have only seen her once. I was home for her first birthday. She was born while I was on a plane to China. I am sure that she is sweet.
So it's Happy Birthday, Happy Valentine's Day, Happy New Year and Happy Anniversary for me, all on the same day.
Tomorrow I go to liyang (a city that is part of Changzhou) to visit lijun and her family and then on the 17th I will go to jingjiang (a part of Taizhou) across the river from Changzhou, to visit a new friend and her husband. Jingjiang is a little bigger than Ma'anshan. I met her in Shanghai bus station on my way back from Bahamas. She helped me make sure that I was at the right gate and then waited with me to be sure that I got on the right bus. The bus tickets have no English on them so sometimes I get confused. Then I will come back to ma'anshan to stay. That is assuming that I can get bus tickets. Soooo many people traveling. It is not easy for me to get around China when it is not busy. But now it is very difficult. The lineups for tickets are so long and then I find that there are no tickets. I had to pay much more money to get home from Shanghai than I should have but I wanted to get home. That's the way it goes when traveling during Spring Festival. I have never been in China during this time. The first year I arrived at the end. Last year I went home before it started. So this is my first experience with it. Awesome. The firecrackers started at 6am. I expect that there will be many more today.
It will soon be time to start preparing for the new term which starts about March 1. I will finish about mid-June. After that? Who knows? Ain't life grand!
Don
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Happy New Year
I went to The Bahamas last week for a vacation with my family. Me, my brother, three sisters and my mother. It was a beautiful place. So relaxing. It took me a long time to get home. From Shanghai to Ma'anshan was 9 hours. So many people are traveling. But I made it. I will only go to Liyang for the rest of Spring Vacation. It is too difficult to get anywhere. I have tried to buy tickets for other places but there are no tickets.
Don
Don
Thursday, February 4, 2010
(No Subject)
Hi,
My trip home from Bahamas was fine as far as my ticket to Shanghai went. The airline staff were great. I had seconds every meal and the drinks were free. I slept a lot. After that it was a nightmare. I arrived in Shanghai about 3pm on Wednesday as scheduled. After that it was improvising all of the way. The high speed Maglev was out of service. Great! So how do I get to Shanghai? After searching for an hour I found a bus that would get me to the train staion. The Maglev takes 6 minutes. So, right away, I knew it was going to be a tough journey. 'A hard days night' as the Beatles would say. So I am already 2 hours behind schedule. When I get to the train station every ticket is sold out. This is Chinese New Year! 10,000's of people are around. I buy a bus ticket from a scalper for almost three times the price so I can get to Nanjing. He wanted 5X but I got him down some. The bus left at 6:30pm. I get to Nanjing about 10pm and there is no way to get out of there to go Ma'anshan. The lineups are so long that it would take me more than an hour to get to the wicket and then I would expect that there are no train tickets to Ma'anshan. So what do I do? Sleep on the floor again? No. I don't want to do that. I have cash. A guy offered to take me there for 300rmb. The normal fee is 20rmb per person with 3 people. Supply and demand. I paid him 150. I didn't want to spend another night sleeping on the floor of Nanjing train station. It was comical. You need to laugh in these situations. When he approached me first it was 300; we argued in our limited Chinese and English. I would have slept on the floor for 300. So 150 is not so bad. But he wasn't even a legal taxi. Anyway we worked out a deal where he would get 50 and the real taxi got 100. And this guy was driving a BMW! He drove me for about 15 minutes to meet the Ma'anshan taxi at Zhonghuamen bus station and then he would go back to the train station to pick up another desperate traveler. Opporunity knocks and you cash in. It was comical at one point because his wife was with him and she made sure that he got a good deal. She did most of the haggling with the real taxi. I didn't care, I just wanted to get home.
My phone didn't work when I arrived in China. I couldn't call Lydia. Oh no. How am I going to find her and get my key? I found a public phone in Shanghai bus station. There are phone booths here but you need a phone car or credit card to use them. Other places have public phones that you can use and you pay after the call. I called Lydia to tell her that I was coming but I didn't know if I would make it home that night or the next morning. I wanted to be sure that we could hook up somehow. I needed to get my key or I would be sleeping outside my door.
After much scrambling I got home at midnight. What a nice welcome home! She had 5 dishes cooked for me but they were all cold obviously. I said that first I need a shower and then I will eat. She heated the food while I was showering. Great shower! She had the place spotless and had even washed the few dirty clothes that I had left behind. And I had so much food placed in front of me that I could only eat a little. Enough for 4 people! I had told her one time that I have cooked for her often and I would like her to cook sometime. So she did. She thought that I didn't like her cooking but it was very good. I told her when I left to water my plants and to eat the food in the fridge because it would go bad. She soaked my plants! And she filled my fridge with food. Maybe it got lost in the translation! haha I tease her all of the time. She is that kind of girl that you just want to tease. Naive, eager, pleasant, fun. Her English is excellent. She has good vocabulary; but she uses big words in the wrong context sometimes (isn't that spoonerism? anyway Victor Borge used to do that and it was so funny!)or she mispronouces words so that I am confused. Repeat that, please. Oh you mean this! Like she said that I am confidential. Confidential? Well, maybe. Then I figured out that she meant confident. Most English students use a smaller vocabulary so that even if they misprounce something I understand what they are saying.
She left about 1am. I was awake until about 4am. It will take me a few days to readjust. The trip from Shanghai to here was not pleasant. When you have 5 or 6 guys/girls all talking around you and you are trying to negotiate the best deal AND you are tired it is not a good feeling. But it is a good feeling to walk in the door and see dinner on the table. She is a good kid.
I don't know what she wants. But I hope she gets it.
I will send pics home soon. That was the longest that I have ever spent in going from point A to point B. I woke up at 8am EST (9pm in China) in Bahamas on Monday and I arrived home at midnight Wed China time. 51 hours later. But I thoroughly enjoyed my visit. It was so nice to see all of my family without spouses or children. And I would do it again but give me a month to recover!
Don
My trip home from Bahamas was fine as far as my ticket to Shanghai went. The airline staff were great. I had seconds every meal and the drinks were free. I slept a lot. After that it was a nightmare. I arrived in Shanghai about 3pm on Wednesday as scheduled. After that it was improvising all of the way. The high speed Maglev was out of service. Great! So how do I get to Shanghai? After searching for an hour I found a bus that would get me to the train staion. The Maglev takes 6 minutes. So, right away, I knew it was going to be a tough journey. 'A hard days night' as the Beatles would say. So I am already 2 hours behind schedule. When I get to the train station every ticket is sold out. This is Chinese New Year! 10,000's of people are around. I buy a bus ticket from a scalper for almost three times the price so I can get to Nanjing. He wanted 5X but I got him down some. The bus left at 6:30pm. I get to Nanjing about 10pm and there is no way to get out of there to go Ma'anshan. The lineups are so long that it would take me more than an hour to get to the wicket and then I would expect that there are no train tickets to Ma'anshan. So what do I do? Sleep on the floor again? No. I don't want to do that. I have cash. A guy offered to take me there for 300rmb. The normal fee is 20rmb per person with 3 people. Supply and demand. I paid him 150. I didn't want to spend another night sleeping on the floor of Nanjing train station. It was comical. You need to laugh in these situations. When he approached me first it was 300; we argued in our limited Chinese and English. I would have slept on the floor for 300. So 150 is not so bad. But he wasn't even a legal taxi. Anyway we worked out a deal where he would get 50 and the real taxi got 100. And this guy was driving a BMW! He drove me for about 15 minutes to meet the Ma'anshan taxi at Zhonghuamen bus station and then he would go back to the train station to pick up another desperate traveler. Opporunity knocks and you cash in. It was comical at one point because his wife was with him and she made sure that he got a good deal. She did most of the haggling with the real taxi. I didn't care, I just wanted to get home.
My phone didn't work when I arrived in China. I couldn't call Lydia. Oh no. How am I going to find her and get my key? I found a public phone in Shanghai bus station. There are phone booths here but you need a phone car or credit card to use them. Other places have public phones that you can use and you pay after the call. I called Lydia to tell her that I was coming but I didn't know if I would make it home that night or the next morning. I wanted to be sure that we could hook up somehow. I needed to get my key or I would be sleeping outside my door.
After much scrambling I got home at midnight. What a nice welcome home! She had 5 dishes cooked for me but they were all cold obviously. I said that first I need a shower and then I will eat. She heated the food while I was showering. Great shower! She had the place spotless and had even washed the few dirty clothes that I had left behind. And I had so much food placed in front of me that I could only eat a little. Enough for 4 people! I had told her one time that I have cooked for her often and I would like her to cook sometime. So she did. She thought that I didn't like her cooking but it was very good. I told her when I left to water my plants and to eat the food in the fridge because it would go bad. She soaked my plants! And she filled my fridge with food. Maybe it got lost in the translation! haha I tease her all of the time. She is that kind of girl that you just want to tease. Naive, eager, pleasant, fun. Her English is excellent. She has good vocabulary; but she uses big words in the wrong context sometimes (isn't that spoonerism? anyway Victor Borge used to do that and it was so funny!)or she mispronouces words so that I am confused. Repeat that, please. Oh you mean this! Like she said that I am confidential. Confidential? Well, maybe. Then I figured out that she meant confident. Most English students use a smaller vocabulary so that even if they misprounce something I understand what they are saying.
She left about 1am. I was awake until about 4am. It will take me a few days to readjust. The trip from Shanghai to here was not pleasant. When you have 5 or 6 guys/girls all talking around you and you are trying to negotiate the best deal AND you are tired it is not a good feeling. But it is a good feeling to walk in the door and see dinner on the table. She is a good kid.
I don't know what she wants. But I hope she gets it.
I will send pics home soon. That was the longest that I have ever spent in going from point A to point B. I woke up at 8am EST (9pm in China) in Bahamas on Monday and I arrived home at midnight Wed China time. 51 hours later. But I thoroughly enjoyed my visit. It was so nice to see all of my family without spouses or children. And I would do it again but give me a month to recover!
Don
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