In the Market

We buy nonperishables in the supermarket which is a busride downtown, but most of our shopping is done in local markets. 

The vegies are grown locally and women seem to be the main sellers.

Since we're on the coast the fish is always fresh and you can even buy it live, as you can with chickens. Our fish lady does the basic cleaning and then Daniel takes over.

Buying chain for a new clothesline was more than we could manage ourselves, so our foreign affairs officer, Serena, did the translating.

Some food items, like pigeons and cats, we can do without.

And one of the highlights is always a visit with Mei, an English major who now has her own flower shop.

Teaching

We've had a busy week observing teaching in high schools around the city, as part of the education students' practicum.

Of course this week was International Women's Day, and here it's preceded by Girls' Day. Female teachers had a half day off, but Daniel continued to teach.

Daniel takes center stage with colleagues and students.

After several days we felt just like these students.

Westerners are a rarity in these rural areas, so there was lots of picture taking.

Maps here split the Atlantic Ocean, so China really is the Middle Kingdom. It gives a whole different perspective on the world.

Trip to the Capital

We recently went to the big city. Nanning, the provincial capital, is an hour and a half bus ride from our place.

Across from the capital building is a large electronic billboard with changing pictures of China's four chairmen: (L to R) Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zeman, and Hu Jintao. The Party is getting ready to appoint a new leader.

A visit to the Guangxi Provincial Museum included this building in the shape of a traditional bronze drum.

This pottery urn from 220 BC is decorated with hundreds of the Chinese character 米 (mi, meaning rice).

We were treated as special visitors by a group of children making paper cutouts, which they gave us as gifts.

We returned with our wallets empty and bags full of imported food. Ah, good stuff.

Country Walk

Qinzhou University is on the edge of the city so we recently took a walk around the surrounding fields and villages.

Construction, like elsewhere in China, is always present, but the gardens are thriving as well.

Playing in the front yard, he looks a bit skeptical of these foreigners.

We saw our first water buffalo close up, a beast of burden around here.

Farmer watering his garden.

We weren't the only ones taking a stroll.

And even traffic jams; bikes with the sidecarts are common here and haul everything from sugar cane to eggs.

Winter in the Tropics

Before classes started we took a trip to Kunming, Yunnan, which lived up to its reputation as China's "eternal spring city."Surrounded on three sides by mountain ranges, Kunming has embraced the spirit of modernization and is beginning to look like many of China's other mega cities.

One remaining gem is Yuantong Si, a large Buddhist complex from the Qing dynasty. The dragon sculptures are a gift from the king of Thailand ...

and are a big attraction for pilgrims.

A group of women from one of the minority groups; their dress is less colorful since they're married.



The premier natural wonder is Shilin, the Stone Forest, an exposed bed of limestone spires.

We, like these girls, wonder what the future holds for China.

A change in the weather caused us to shorten our holiday. But it all worked out in the end.

Back in China

Well, we're back in China. While we're in the tropical south, the winter is cool and damp although with no central heat it feels more like cold and wet. 

 We live on campus, and we're in the top right apartment.

 We arrived during the Chinese New Year, so our apartment door is colorfully decorated for this year of the dragon.

 We wake up to the sound of roosters. Chickens are everywhere, from this one in the courtyard to the ones who live on our roof.

Food vendors are busy outside the campus gate but always have time to visit with an old friend. 

 And we're back in the classroom. 

Time Flies

We leave for China tomorrow, following a semester at home. It doesn't seem like we've been back in Houston for five months, but then as our five year pictures remind us, it doesn't seem like we've been married for 35 years either. 

We started our family photo tradition in 1981 when Nils was 5 and Britta was 3.  

 And we've expanded from 4 to 10.

These figurines our Chinese students gave us are a reminder it's time to get up and move on.

January Road Trip

The blogger has resumed after a semester break, hitting the road to Arkansas and North Carolina.

Bentonville, AR, corporate headquarters of Walmart.

And the newly opened Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art http://crystalbridges.org/. This tree sculpture is the entry to the museum.

The architecture is worth the visit; this is the "11" cafeteria as it opened 11/11/11.

And we were on the first guided tour of the museum ... 

where the collection ranges from Colonial to Contemporary.

We stayed until dark in America's newest art museum.

And then to Fayetteville, NC to visit our Chinese students who are now studying in the US. We return to China in a couple of weeks for another year of teaching.

China Farewell

Our 7 week summer vacation is drawing to an end, as is our year of living in China. And we bloggers will be taking a rest.

Shanghai was a great epilogue to our China experience. As this city model indicates, it's a unique combination of river (the Huangpu), gleaming skyscrapers, and the grand buildings along the Bund.On one side of the river is the modern China ...

...

... and on the other side is the Bund, representing old Shanghai and its development by the British, French, and other foreign Concessions. Our teaching colleague, Alison, found the site where her grandmother was born in 1904. 

We experienced Shanghai's nightlife with a view from the world's highest lounge, in keeping with China's fondness of being the biggest, fastest, and highest.

But somehow this picture best symbolizes the paradoxical China we've come to know over the past year.