:: BACKBLOGGED ::
Sorry folks, I have come down with a serious case of backblog. Plus, I have been kept busy lately by the Zhejiang University English Festival. I wrote, designed and presented a couple of multi-media lectures on language learning (7 Tips to Improve Your Pronunciation and Chinglish 2 English: Upgrade your Chinglish to English 2.0 ), hosted a Movie Night (Shakespeare in Love) and put together a new web site for my Writing classes here at ZJU.
I want to welcome Tina and Jane, both of whom left comments here and both of whom have very cool blogs of their own. Actually, unbeknownst to Tina, I have been reading her blog for well over a year. That Grrrl can write. Someone please give her a job!
Links to their blogs along with a few others, are on my backblog list of things to do, but for now, check out Tina and Jane's blogs.
Actually, Tina was also the winner of that last contest "What's Up With This?". So she wins a free map of Hangzhou. What format do you want, Tina? (*nb: Delivery charges on the concrete format are the responsibilty of the winner.
I'll catch up on my backblogs this week. In the meantime, go check out my Writing Students' new web site. And leave them a message in the Guestbook there to let them know you visited. (P.S. The articles there are their first draft. This week's class is on proofreading and revision! So go easy on them.)
2002/11/25
2002/11/11
:: WHAT'S UP WITH THIS? ::
So why are all these people wandering around looking at their feet?
First person (*) to Comment correctly wins a free map of Hangzhou. Please specify whether you want the Chinese, English, or concrete version.
* Hangzhou and Zhejiang residents are not eligible *
So why are all these people wandering around looking at their feet?
First person (*) to Comment correctly wins a free map of Hangzhou. Please specify whether you want the Chinese, English, or concrete version.
* Hangzhou and Zhejiang residents are not eligible *
2002/11/10
:: SUNDAY IN THE PARK ::
Another fine weekend in Hangzhou. My folks called late in the week and asked if there were still leaves on the trees. Back in Cleveland, I guess, they've already turned from orange to brown and fallen down. Kind of like the football team there.
But it's still green and lush here in Hangzhou. I went around the the newly renovated south end of the lake today with Angela. You remember, a few blogs ago I asked your opinion about that picture?
Well, here's a picture of Angela today. Gotta love the pink sunglasses. She was stylin'. But, alas, she doesn't like this picture either.
Here's a picture from Yong Jin Park along the Lake. That's the Chinese Neptune, Zhang Shen I think his name is. He was one of the 108 bandits in the famous Chinese novel "The Water Margin". He drowned near this very spot according to the legend. Behind him, wading in the lagoon, is a giant golden ox - Yong Jin. There's some myth that this golden ox brought rains long ago when this area was going through a drought. Thus, they honor the the golden ox. China has a story for everything. Beyond the ox is a newly-built footbridge. I love the way the people in this picture show up in silhouette - outlined by the calm waters of West Lake and framed by the western hills beyond.
They really did a beautiful job in renovating and opening up the south end of the Lake which used to be three distinct parks separated by acres of areas off-limits to the public. Now, they have opened up everything and connected the parks and it's one very long stroll in which you can cover half the lake. Best of all, to the Chinese, it's actually FREE. That's right, FREE! Nothing in China is free except, now.....West Lake. Since October 1st, all scenic spots surrounding West Lake are now free by the benificence of the Hangzhou CIty government. This is the first progressive local government I have encountered in my years in China.
Here's another first: I saw my first public drinking water fountain in China. I have told my students how we have drinking water fountains everywhere in the States and they have always been impressed...and skeptical. No one in China drinks water from any tap. It's bottled water only here.
But the locals were all enamored with this fountain, today. Most stood around agape and agog (a common reaction in China when strange things like water fountains and/or foreigners suddenly appear on the streets). They watched timidly as others approached and a few daredevils took a few gulps. When they realized that it was truly drinkable water, they jostled to use it. Did they drink from it? Mostly not. Most of them pulled out their water bottles and filled them up. Afterall, the Chinese are the supreme "xiao qi gui" (cheapskates). Why settle for a few free gulps when you can fill your whole water bottle for free.
At the other end of the spectrum, when Angela and I had finished our trek along the lake, we headed over to the new WESTLAKE TIMES shopping mall which just opened. It's another branch mall of this place but the WESTLAKE TIMES is even posher. The shops are tres upscale.
In China, you cannot get any more upscale than this: they had a GOLF SHOP!. I mean a REAL GOLF SHOP. With the likes of Ping and Golden Bear and MaxFli and all that. It's been quite a few years since I looked at clubs and the biggest thing that shocked me was how large the heads on the drivers are now. I mean, Big Bertha's were Big 6 or 7 years ago, but the driver heads I saw today on the Golden Bears were as large as the Yangcheng Lake Hairy Crabs.
Life in China, life in Hangzhou hurtles forward everyday in so many ways.
Another fine weekend in Hangzhou. My folks called late in the week and asked if there were still leaves on the trees. Back in Cleveland, I guess, they've already turned from orange to brown and fallen down. Kind of like the football team there.
But it's still green and lush here in Hangzhou. I went around the the newly renovated south end of the lake today with Angela. You remember, a few blogs ago I asked your opinion about that picture?
Well, here's a picture of Angela today. Gotta love the pink sunglasses. She was stylin'. But, alas, she doesn't like this picture either.
Here's a picture from Yong Jin Park along the Lake. That's the Chinese Neptune, Zhang Shen I think his name is. He was one of the 108 bandits in the famous Chinese novel "The Water Margin". He drowned near this very spot according to the legend. Behind him, wading in the lagoon, is a giant golden ox - Yong Jin. There's some myth that this golden ox brought rains long ago when this area was going through a drought. Thus, they honor the the golden ox. China has a story for everything. Beyond the ox is a newly-built footbridge. I love the way the people in this picture show up in silhouette - outlined by the calm waters of West Lake and framed by the western hills beyond.
They really did a beautiful job in renovating and opening up the south end of the Lake which used to be three distinct parks separated by acres of areas off-limits to the public. Now, they have opened up everything and connected the parks and it's one very long stroll in which you can cover half the lake. Best of all, to the Chinese, it's actually FREE. That's right, FREE! Nothing in China is free except, now.....West Lake. Since October 1st, all scenic spots surrounding West Lake are now free by the benificence of the Hangzhou CIty government. This is the first progressive local government I have encountered in my years in China.
Here's another first: I saw my first public drinking water fountain in China. I have told my students how we have drinking water fountains everywhere in the States and they have always been impressed...and skeptical. No one in China drinks water from any tap. It's bottled water only here.
But the locals were all enamored with this fountain, today. Most stood around agape and agog (a common reaction in China when strange things like water fountains and/or foreigners suddenly appear on the streets). They watched timidly as others approached and a few daredevils took a few gulps. When they realized that it was truly drinkable water, they jostled to use it. Did they drink from it? Mostly not. Most of them pulled out their water bottles and filled them up. Afterall, the Chinese are the supreme "xiao qi gui" (cheapskates). Why settle for a few free gulps when you can fill your whole water bottle for free.
At the other end of the spectrum, when Angela and I had finished our trek along the lake, we headed over to the new WESTLAKE TIMES shopping mall which just opened. It's another branch mall of this place but the WESTLAKE TIMES is even posher. The shops are tres upscale.
In China, you cannot get any more upscale than this: they had a GOLF SHOP!. I mean a REAL GOLF SHOP. With the likes of Ping and Golden Bear and MaxFli and all that. It's been quite a few years since I looked at clubs and the biggest thing that shocked me was how large the heads on the drivers are now. I mean, Big Bertha's were Big 6 or 7 years ago, but the driver heads I saw today on the Golden Bears were as large as the Yangcheng Lake Hairy Crabs.
Life in China, life in Hangzhou hurtles forward everyday in so many ways.
2002/11/09
:: TWO QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS ::
Here are two questions for any non-Chinese teachers out there who have taught in China. (Please leave your Comments below or, if you have more to say in the subject, send me an email.)
(1) How important do you think pronunciation is? I know Chinese students always worry about their damn pronunciation even though I can understand them just fine. In my opinion, they waste to much time and angst on improving their pronunciation. Do you agree or disagree?
(2) Despite #1, I nevertheless do spend time on pronunciation work with my students if only because they appreciate, nay, demand it. I have developed a set lecture I call vaguely, "7 Tips to Improving Your Pronunciation". In it, I focus on the following sounds: the short "i", "th", "v" vs. "w", "r" vs. "l" (a big problem in this province), and the "zh" sound ("usually", "pleasure").
I focus on these because they are the most difficult for my students from my experience. As I said in #1, I really think the students worry too much about it so I don't want to turn my conversation class into a phonetics class. However, there's a company in Hangzhou which has heard a few of my set lectures and they want to publish and distribute them in a set. That's fine with me if they want to do it (and pay me!), although I don't really believe it will work. I think the lectures work because of my style in delivering them and you can't capture style on paper (or the Internet as this Blog proves). But (as my students say), "I'll have a try". So I'm working up the various lectures (another of which is on eliminating stuff like the preceding phrase). 7 Tips works in the classroom because it's short and sweet. I think though, for the book, maybe I should expand it to include other common pronunciation problems students have. In your experience, what other problems have you encountered in addition to the 7 listed above. Leave your Comment below or e-mail me. Credit will be given in the book of course, though I can't promise you any royalties. (It's difficult to split zero kuai 3 ways.)
Here are two questions for any non-Chinese teachers out there who have taught in China. (Please leave your Comments below or, if you have more to say in the subject, send me an email.)
(1) How important do you think pronunciation is? I know Chinese students always worry about their damn pronunciation even though I can understand them just fine. In my opinion, they waste to much time and angst on improving their pronunciation. Do you agree or disagree?
(2) Despite #1, I nevertheless do spend time on pronunciation work with my students if only because they appreciate, nay, demand it. I have developed a set lecture I call vaguely, "7 Tips to Improving Your Pronunciation". In it, I focus on the following sounds: the short "i", "th", "v" vs. "w", "r" vs. "l" (a big problem in this province), and the "zh" sound ("usually", "pleasure").
I focus on these because they are the most difficult for my students from my experience. As I said in #1, I really think the students worry too much about it so I don't want to turn my conversation class into a phonetics class. However, there's a company in Hangzhou which has heard a few of my set lectures and they want to publish and distribute them in a set. That's fine with me if they want to do it (and pay me!), although I don't really believe it will work. I think the lectures work because of my style in delivering them and you can't capture style on paper (or the Internet as this Blog proves). But (as my students say), "I'll have a try". So I'm working up the various lectures (another of which is on eliminating stuff like the preceding phrase). 7 Tips works in the classroom because it's short and sweet. I think though, for the book, maybe I should expand it to include other common pronunciation problems students have. In your experience, what other problems have you encountered in addition to the 7 listed above. Leave your Comment below or e-mail me. Credit will be given in the book of course, though I can't promise you any royalties. (It's difficult to split zero kuai 3 ways.)
2002/11/08
:: WEST LAKE: A DREAM ::
There's an English news site for the Hangzhou area which I check everyday. It's usually filled with the kind of mundane stuff that passes for Chinese news.
Yesterday though, there was a very different style of article titled West Lake: A Dream.
The article wanders around a lot, but if you have live here or have been here, I think it's a fascinating melange of West Lake folklore and myth.
I've lived all around China and can tell you, truly, that every Chinese child grows up learning and hearing about West Lake and its myths and folklore. My Northeast China students semed to know every story about West Lake and prepared me well for when I moved here.
Poets and artists through the ages have depicted her. A trip to West Lake once in their life is the dream of most Chinese people. Whether the Lake matches their dream or not, is for them to say. I cannot read their dreams. But there is something magic about West Lake, especially if you know a little of it's history. The article gives a brief glimpse of that.
Here's a bit from the article which really rings true:
I came to know West Lake first through a cheap folding fan one of my elders had brought into the village from a trip to Hangzhou. The fan had a tourist map of the lake on it. The title that ran across the top of the map read, "Paradise Under Heaven." Since country children at that time had little access to pictures, I studied it every day and finally I learned everything on it by heart. Later, when I grew up and visited the lake, I found myself in a place I already knew. Each step I took as if in a trite dreamland.
And another bit:
A Japanese envoy wrote a poem after his visit to the lake during the Ming Dynasty :
I saw the lake in painting years ago
And doubted that such a lake could exist.
Today on the lake itself I have come to know
In an artist's hand its charm is largely missed.
I feel very lucky to live in this place. While it has lived in the mind of many Chinese for years and down through the ages, I, a foreigner, can simply hop on my bike and be there in ten minutes...which I do a couple of times a week, at least.
And although it throbs with tourists on any given day, the beauty of the lake is just that...it is a lake. A placid, solitary lake ringed by small mountains on three sides. Sure the tourists pulse along the walkways strolling the lake. But if you stand at the water's edge, back to the throng, and just look across the water towards the western hills, it is a most peaceful sight.
When this "pearl" fell from the heavens (as Chinese folklore claims) it landed perfectly because, it seems that anytime I am there and from any part of the lake, the sun, literally, sparkles across the waters.
It is all that.
(N.B. If you read the whole article , the word "dike" used in the article is more properly translated as "causeway". The Su Dike and the Bai Dike prominently mentioned in the article are actually wide, verdant causeways lush with flowers, trees, and pavilions, connecting various parts of the lake. Substitute "causeway" for "dike" and you'll get a better idea.
There's an English news site for the Hangzhou area which I check everyday. It's usually filled with the kind of mundane stuff that passes for Chinese news.
Yesterday though, there was a very different style of article titled West Lake: A Dream.
The article wanders around a lot, but if you have live here or have been here, I think it's a fascinating melange of West Lake folklore and myth.
I've lived all around China and can tell you, truly, that every Chinese child grows up learning and hearing about West Lake and its myths and folklore. My Northeast China students semed to know every story about West Lake and prepared me well for when I moved here.
Poets and artists through the ages have depicted her. A trip to West Lake once in their life is the dream of most Chinese people. Whether the Lake matches their dream or not, is for them to say. I cannot read their dreams. But there is something magic about West Lake, especially if you know a little of it's history. The article gives a brief glimpse of that.
Here's a bit from the article which really rings true:
I came to know West Lake first through a cheap folding fan one of my elders had brought into the village from a trip to Hangzhou. The fan had a tourist map of the lake on it. The title that ran across the top of the map read, "Paradise Under Heaven." Since country children at that time had little access to pictures, I studied it every day and finally I learned everything on it by heart. Later, when I grew up and visited the lake, I found myself in a place I already knew. Each step I took as if in a trite dreamland.
And another bit:
A Japanese envoy wrote a poem after his visit to the lake during the Ming Dynasty :
I saw the lake in painting years ago
And doubted that such a lake could exist.
Today on the lake itself I have come to know
In an artist's hand its charm is largely missed.
I feel very lucky to live in this place. While it has lived in the mind of many Chinese for years and down through the ages, I, a foreigner, can simply hop on my bike and be there in ten minutes...which I do a couple of times a week, at least.
And although it throbs with tourists on any given day, the beauty of the lake is just that...it is a lake. A placid, solitary lake ringed by small mountains on three sides. Sure the tourists pulse along the walkways strolling the lake. But if you stand at the water's edge, back to the throng, and just look across the water towards the western hills, it is a most peaceful sight.
When this "pearl" fell from the heavens (as Chinese folklore claims) it landed perfectly because, it seems that anytime I am there and from any part of the lake, the sun, literally, sparkles across the waters.
It is all that.
(N.B. If you read the whole article , the word "dike" used in the article is more properly translated as "causeway". The Su Dike and the Bai Dike prominently mentioned in the article are actually wide, verdant causeways lush with flowers, trees, and pavilions, connecting various parts of the lake. Substitute "causeway" for "dike" and you'll get a better idea.
2002/11/05
:: CHINESE ENGLISH NAMES - PART II ::
Last week we talked about the English names that Chinese students choose here and I promised to get back to you on it.
For some reason, I am in a list-making mood tonight (read the following two posts) so here's a brief culling from my student database:
(Sorry about the CAPS, that's the formatting from my DB.)
Females:
ZERO
MUSIC
CARTOON
KOALA
EYRE (She liked Jane Eyre)
CARPENTER (She liked Karen Carpenter)
SWALLOW (It's a bird, I know, but I suggested she change her name)
FANNY (Ditto on suggesting she change her name)
CIPHER
PIKKI
CARROT
APPLE
ORANGE (These last two were classmates and seatmates. I called them the fruit cocktail.)
Males:
BERLIN
ZICO
GAUCHO
ADULT
LOOK
FLEX (He was into body-building)
HOLYFIELD (Named himself after the boxer. I never had a student named Tyson but most of my students liked that idiot.)
OWEN (Named himself after the soccer...oops, football player)
BECKHAM (Ditto)
JORDAN (#23)
JACKEL
CASH
BANANA
CAESAR
ABRAHAM LINCOLN (He admired the guy. I suggested he shorten it to Lincoln. I thought his meaning would be clearer than calling himself Abraham).
JEFFERSON (He admired Thomas Jefferson as do most students in China.)
And my all time favorite name..............
Yeah, he named himself after the cartoon character. I loved walking into class and calling role and shouting D U C K U L A!
BTW, Duckula is now an English teacher himself at my old school, Jinzhou Normal University. I wonder if he's changed his name (I doubt it) or if he tells his students now what his English name is (I doubt that, too).
Anyway, every foreign teacher in China has their own stories to tell about great English names their students have adopted. Feel free to add more through the Comments section below.
Last week we talked about the English names that Chinese students choose here and I promised to get back to you on it.
For some reason, I am in a list-making mood tonight (read the following two posts) so here's a brief culling from my student database:
(Sorry about the CAPS, that's the formatting from my DB.)
Females:
ZERO
MUSIC
CARTOON
KOALA
EYRE (She liked Jane Eyre)
CARPENTER (She liked Karen Carpenter)
SWALLOW (It's a bird, I know, but I suggested she change her name)
FANNY (Ditto on suggesting she change her name)
CIPHER
PIKKI
CARROT
APPLE
ORANGE (These last two were classmates and seatmates. I called them the fruit cocktail.)
Males:
BERLIN
ZICO
GAUCHO
ADULT
LOOK
FLEX (He was into body-building)
HOLYFIELD (Named himself after the boxer. I never had a student named Tyson but most of my students liked that idiot.)
OWEN (Named himself after the soccer...oops, football player)
BECKHAM (Ditto)
JORDAN (#23)
JACKEL
CASH
BANANA
CAESAR
ABRAHAM LINCOLN (He admired the guy. I suggested he shorten it to Lincoln. I thought his meaning would be clearer than calling himself Abraham).
JEFFERSON (He admired Thomas Jefferson as do most students in China.)
And my all time favorite name..............
Yeah, he named himself after the cartoon character. I loved walking into class and calling role and shouting D U C K U L A!
BTW, Duckula is now an English teacher himself at my old school, Jinzhou Normal University. I wonder if he's changed his name (I doubt it) or if he tells his students now what his English name is (I doubt that, too).
Anyway, every foreign teacher in China has their own stories to tell about great English names their students have adopted. Feel free to add more through the Comments section below.
:: SHOPPING LIST ::
In New York, there's Fifth Avenue; in L.A.- Rodeo Drive. In Chicago, there's Michigan Avenue's Magnificent Mile; in Cleveland, there's...well, never mind.
Here in China, the hoity toits shake it at Wangfujing in Beijing, Guan Qian Jie in Suzhou and Nanjing Lu in Shanghai.
And Hangzhou is no different. Here in Hangzhou, the upscale shopping area is Yan'nan Lu and it can compete with any of the above (save Cleveland, which it beats hands-down).
Tonight I was there trying out a recent addition to the Pizza scene in Hangzhou - La Pizzarie in the Everbright Bank Building. I'll review it another time but it's easily the best Italian food I have had in 4.5 years in China. Afterwards, I decided to stock up my dwindling western food supply at home, so I headed over to the best-stocked grocery store in Hangzhou if you are looking for real foreign food - the grocery store in the basement of the Hangzhou Da Sha (Hangzhou Mansion). It isn't all that great a selection, but it has the only constant supply of real block cheese (as opposed to processed slices). That's my main criteria in judging western food stores in China and, believe me, very few outside of Beijing, Suzhou and Hangzhou meet that litmus test.
So, my pockets bulging with cash (today was payday and I hadn't had time to hit the bank before they closed), I wandered the aisles and filled a small hand basket with western delicacies (or at least, they are delicasies in China). I decided to make a list for the Blog as I unpacked the bags when I got home. If you are reading this from the comfort of your western home, you can just yawn and move on to the next item. If you are a foreigner stranded in most cities in China and have been here for at least the one month it takes before you start jonesing for some western stuff, this list should make your mouth water, if not your wallet cry. So here it is, my shopping list from tonight's short trek to the Hangzhou Da Sha:
Gouda Cheese (from New Zealand)
Edam Cheese (from New Zealand)
Raguletto Tomato and Romano Cheese Pasta Sauce (great for making French Bread Pizzas with the above)
Kewpie Meat Suace (a Japanese canned tomato sauce with ground beef - heat it up and pour it over noodles and it tastes just like Cincinatti 3 way chili)
Chargrilled Vegetable Relish (from Australia-good on sandwiches)
Chicken of the Sea (not just your standard tuna, these are small cans of tuna pre-mixed Paad Thai style - spicy and great for making quick tuna sandwiches)-4 cans
Uncle Toby's Choco-Chip Meusili Bars (from Australia)
Hellema Country Mocca Chocolate Cookies (from Holland - the tastiest store-bought cookies I have ever had...anywhere....anytime)
Apple & Yogurt Curry Sauce w/ beef (from Japan-this stuff is great heated in the microwave and dumped over a bowl of rice)
Cadbury Black Forest Chocolate bars - the best candy bars found in China. 2 bars
Biftek-Teller - (a German product-a small beefsteak with onions, carrots and gravy in an aluminum container. just take it out, zap it in the microwave and you have a German TV dinner)
Whole Peppercorns WITH a disposable grinder
Yunfeng Baijiu (Chinese firewater - bought as a gift for some north China freinds who love the stuff. I chose this brand because the only English on the box said "Tipsy Spirit". I'm sure my north Chinese friends will agree)
Jack Daniels & Coke - (premixed in a 340 ml bottle. This one was for me)
Bacardi and Coke - (premixed - this is for my second round while the Chinese guys are still working on the Baijiu)
Pretz - (other than the baijiu, the only other Chinese product I bought. These are great little snacks-pretzel sticks but with various flavors. I prefer the Pizza flavor in the sky-blue box. Actually, this style of pretzel stick is big in Japan and the Chinese have simply copied it - and sell it at half the price. surprise, surprise).
The total bill for these western "luxury items" came to about 340 RMB - expensive by any standard but especially so in China. In fact I had five people standing around me at the checkout counter as the woman rang me up, checking to see what all this strange stuff was and then choking when they saw the total. But you know, sometimes you get a craving for western stuff here and when you see it, you just go crazy. In my own defense, I bypassed the huge dispaly of western breakfast cereals (about 15 different kinds including Post Toasties and Kellog's Corn Flakes) as well as the 10 different kinds of Whole-bean coffee. I mean, I didn't want to be conspicuous, you know?
In New York, there's Fifth Avenue; in L.A.- Rodeo Drive. In Chicago, there's Michigan Avenue's Magnificent Mile; in Cleveland, there's...well, never mind.
Here in China, the hoity toits shake it at Wangfujing in Beijing, Guan Qian Jie in Suzhou and Nanjing Lu in Shanghai.
And Hangzhou is no different. Here in Hangzhou, the upscale shopping area is Yan'nan Lu and it can compete with any of the above (save Cleveland, which it beats hands-down).
Tonight I was there trying out a recent addition to the Pizza scene in Hangzhou - La Pizzarie in the Everbright Bank Building. I'll review it another time but it's easily the best Italian food I have had in 4.5 years in China. Afterwards, I decided to stock up my dwindling western food supply at home, so I headed over to the best-stocked grocery store in Hangzhou if you are looking for real foreign food - the grocery store in the basement of the Hangzhou Da Sha (Hangzhou Mansion). It isn't all that great a selection, but it has the only constant supply of real block cheese (as opposed to processed slices). That's my main criteria in judging western food stores in China and, believe me, very few outside of Beijing, Suzhou and Hangzhou meet that litmus test.
So, my pockets bulging with cash (today was payday and I hadn't had time to hit the bank before they closed), I wandered the aisles and filled a small hand basket with western delicacies (or at least, they are delicasies in China). I decided to make a list for the Blog as I unpacked the bags when I got home. If you are reading this from the comfort of your western home, you can just yawn and move on to the next item. If you are a foreigner stranded in most cities in China and have been here for at least the one month it takes before you start jonesing for some western stuff, this list should make your mouth water, if not your wallet cry. So here it is, my shopping list from tonight's short trek to the Hangzhou Da Sha:
Gouda Cheese (from New Zealand)
Edam Cheese (from New Zealand)
Raguletto Tomato and Romano Cheese Pasta Sauce (great for making French Bread Pizzas with the above)
Kewpie Meat Suace (a Japanese canned tomato sauce with ground beef - heat it up and pour it over noodles and it tastes just like Cincinatti 3 way chili)
Chargrilled Vegetable Relish (from Australia-good on sandwiches)
Chicken of the Sea (not just your standard tuna, these are small cans of tuna pre-mixed Paad Thai style - spicy and great for making quick tuna sandwiches)-4 cans
Uncle Toby's Choco-Chip Meusili Bars (from Australia)
Hellema Country Mocca Chocolate Cookies (from Holland - the tastiest store-bought cookies I have ever had...anywhere....anytime)
Apple & Yogurt Curry Sauce w/ beef (from Japan-this stuff is great heated in the microwave and dumped over a bowl of rice)
Cadbury Black Forest Chocolate bars - the best candy bars found in China. 2 bars
Biftek-Teller - (a German product-a small beefsteak with onions, carrots and gravy in an aluminum container. just take it out, zap it in the microwave and you have a German TV dinner)
Whole Peppercorns WITH a disposable grinder
Yunfeng Baijiu (Chinese firewater - bought as a gift for some north China freinds who love the stuff. I chose this brand because the only English on the box said "Tipsy Spirit". I'm sure my north Chinese friends will agree)
Jack Daniels & Coke - (premixed in a 340 ml bottle. This one was for me)
Bacardi and Coke - (premixed - this is for my second round while the Chinese guys are still working on the Baijiu)
Pretz - (other than the baijiu, the only other Chinese product I bought. These are great little snacks-pretzel sticks but with various flavors. I prefer the Pizza flavor in the sky-blue box. Actually, this style of pretzel stick is big in Japan and the Chinese have simply copied it - and sell it at half the price. surprise, surprise).
The total bill for these western "luxury items" came to about 340 RMB - expensive by any standard but especially so in China. In fact I had five people standing around me at the checkout counter as the woman rang me up, checking to see what all this strange stuff was and then choking when they saw the total. But you know, sometimes you get a craving for western stuff here and when you see it, you just go crazy. In my own defense, I bypassed the huge dispaly of western breakfast cereals (about 15 different kinds including Post Toasties and Kellog's Corn Flakes) as well as the 10 different kinds of Whole-bean coffee. I mean, I didn't want to be conspicuous, you know?
:: SEARCH TERMS ::
As you know, I have a main website which I have been maintaining since 1998: Chuck@China
It gots hundreds of hits a day these days -- but many of them come just from people surfing the WWW. My hit counter records where everyone comes from and how they got there. Many are driven to my pages by Google and other search engines. Here's a sampling of some of the stranger search requests from the past week. I'm sure they didn't find what they were looking for at my website, but you can try it yourself. Type these words into Google and see if you don't find yourself at one of the hundreds of pages at Chuck@China:
naked golfers
female mud wrestling
kenny rogers roasters china
moustache > china
pictures christmas elves
english toastees
pictures of french's mustard
english school spanking thumbs
dynasty mud wrestling
images:shit
Indoor Skeet Shooting
"halloween 2001" "good witch"
cheap+regulation+size+basketballs
china weird photo
"taxi driver" +middle+finger
Re: that last one, by strange coincidence, I actually did that today -- to a taxi driver when he almost hit me as he was hanging a u-turn right into the path of my bike. Of course, he and his passengers were clueless. The only thing they use their middle finger for here is picking their nose. (N.B. That's no joke, either! read comment #11 here at the Lonely Planet Thorntree.)
As you know, I have a main website which I have been maintaining since 1998: Chuck@China
It gots hundreds of hits a day these days -- but many of them come just from people surfing the WWW. My hit counter records where everyone comes from and how they got there. Many are driven to my pages by Google and other search engines. Here's a sampling of some of the stranger search requests from the past week. I'm sure they didn't find what they were looking for at my website, but you can try it yourself. Type these words into Google and see if you don't find yourself at one of the hundreds of pages at Chuck@China:
naked golfers
female mud wrestling
kenny rogers roasters china
moustache > china
pictures christmas elves
english toastees
pictures of french's mustard
english school spanking thumbs
dynasty mud wrestling
images:shit
Indoor Skeet Shooting
"halloween 2001" "good witch"
cheap+regulation+size+basketballs
china weird photo
"taxi driver" +middle+finger
Re: that last one, by strange coincidence, I actually did that today -- to a taxi driver when he almost hit me as he was hanging a u-turn right into the path of my bike. Of course, he and his passengers were clueless. The only thing they use their middle finger for here is picking their nose. (N.B. That's no joke, either! read comment #11 here at the Lonely Planet Thorntree.)
:: WEST LAKE WEEKEND ::
The weather here in Hangzhou went from crap (4 days of wall-to-wall rain) to magnificent (sunny and crisp) over the weekend. So I spent Saturday AND Sunday down at the lake...thus, no blogs.
Most of the time was spent on the new "South Line" of the lake. The city spent all summer rebuilding Nan Shan (South Mountain) Road and connecting up all the parks on that end of the lake and, I have to tell you, they did a great job. It's a whole new area now and a great walk.
Other foreigners were out and about, too and although I didn't run into these guys, here's a link to Wilson Tai's website with his pictures from last weekend at Westlake. (N.B. If you're in China, that link won't work.)
Also, Nan Shan Road looks really spiff. They retained some of the grand old houses that used to be hidden behind walls. They are now opened up and have been taken over by art galleries, coffee houses, etc. Their are a dozen new coffee houses, at least (and not a Starbuck's among them...yet) and most have front patios. Very European feeling.
I'll catch up on my Blogging tomorrow.
The weather here in Hangzhou went from crap (4 days of wall-to-wall rain) to magnificent (sunny and crisp) over the weekend. So I spent Saturday AND Sunday down at the lake...thus, no blogs.
Most of the time was spent on the new "South Line" of the lake. The city spent all summer rebuilding Nan Shan (South Mountain) Road and connecting up all the parks on that end of the lake and, I have to tell you, they did a great job. It's a whole new area now and a great walk.
Other foreigners were out and about, too and although I didn't run into these guys, here's a link to Wilson Tai's website with his pictures from last weekend at Westlake. (N.B. If you're in China, that link won't work.)
Also, Nan Shan Road looks really spiff. They retained some of the grand old houses that used to be hidden behind walls. They are now opened up and have been taken over by art galleries, coffee houses, etc. Their are a dozen new coffee houses, at least (and not a Starbuck's among them...yet) and most have front patios. Very European feeling.
I'll catch up on my Blogging tomorrow.
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