Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays

We started off 2008 like every year…Nathan’s birthday (Jan 10). Had a party in Lewiston and celebrated his 5th birthday with his cousins Ben and Emily.

Peter, Nathan, Emily and Ben

In January we took a trip to Disney World and Sea World. We spent 4 days exploring the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and Sea World. Peter reports that his favorite thing was the Dinosaur ride at the Animal Kingdom. It was a fast-paced and scary adventure that had us chased by a giant carnivorous dinosaur. Nathan liked swimming at the hotel.

Peter and Nathan at the Pirates of the Caribbean

Peter finished 2nd grade and began 3rd grade this year, and Nathan began Kindergarten. Both are enjoying school, and they are doing well. Peter and Nathan both like Math.

Deanna is busy taking care of the kids and still playing on her tennis team. This year her team qualified to play at the New England Districts. I am still working at the Department of Education for the State of Maine. I ended the year with a trip to Australia and China. You can read more about it on this blog

Cheers!

Tags: Happy Holidays

Leaving Beijing

I’m headed fir the airport now. It’s a shame. Today is the first day I can see the mountains from my father’s apartment. The sky is blue and clear. You wouldn’t know of the air quality issues that everyone complains about here.

Tags: Beijing, China

One more Mao and a last lunch

I stopped by one of the shops in the airport to spend some of my last Chinese yuan. The cashier’s family name was Mao. Her family is from Beijing. I’m sure I’ll never know if there is a relationship, but if legends are to be believed, we are somewhere in the past.

After my last meal here in China. Went to a Chinese fast food place, and had a bowl of rice, pork and water chestnuts. Not too bad for 30 yuan.

Well, no lucky upgrades to business class this time, but I managed economy plus and a front row seat so I have better leg room and no one will lean back into my lap.

I’m standing now leaning on the divider wall In front of my seat. At least the overhead is tapered so I can stand up straight here. I have feeling I may be taking advantge of this head room later.

See you on the other end.

Zaijian Beijing!

Tags: Beijing, China, food

Square bamboo

Its so good to have a tech savvy and educated audience Barbara Greenstone who works with me at MLTI sent me a link that classifies the square bamboo I saw at the Memorial Hall in Shan Cun village.

Square Bamboo

Tags: Bamboo, China

PingYao and lunch

Today I traveled with someone from my father’s company to an ancient walled city about an hour outside Taiyuan called PingYao (平邀).

It was interesting to see another very old city that still stands today and where people still live. The city is surrounded by a wall that is at least 30 feet tall and topped with battlements and guard towers. This city was ready for a siege. Inside it was a maze of roads lined with stone buildings. Some were residential and some were businesses–both regular stores needed to maintain local residents and others that cater to the tourist traffic.

Upon arrival to the city we got flagged down by a local tour guide with a little electric cart like a gold cart but more like a golf bus with about 5 rows of seats.

He drove us around to a few places including a temple that had a number of different “gods” with English and Chinese signs explaining who they were which was good since neither the local tour guide, my companion from the office, nor the temple guide spoke any English. We also made a stop at a spot that I believe had something to do with marriage based on what I could see, but there was no signage nor English speaking guides. Finally a stroll down a road lined with retail stores and a few restaurants. Most were selling the same stuff I’ve seen all over China. One store had stone carvings, although I’m not sure what kind of stone. It might be soap stone? Anyway it was run by a young man probably in his 20s or early 30s. He and I established that he hand-carved the carvings himself and showed me the tools. It could have been a setup but at least the work was something I hadn’t seen in every other town I’ve visited. I decided to pick up two small figures, a dragon and a horse for the kids’ birth years. Good thing I had cell signal because I didn’t really know Nathan’s Chinese Zodiac sign. If wikipedia can be trusted then he was born at the tail end of the year of the horse. In fact, I noticed that my wife’s sign is also the horse based on wikipedia. I’ve always had trouble keeping track of her sign and Nathan’s because their birthdays are near the end of the Chinese calendar year. Deanna’s birthday is only 3 days shy of the next zodiac sign in the year she was born. Most charts in restaurants, for example, will simply say 1970 is the Year of the Dog, but more accurately, on February 6 of that year the Year of the Dog began. Its never the same date from year to year, so it was good that wikipedia had exact dates so that I could narrow it down.

We haggled a bit over price, and I’m sure I might have gotten a better price but he did come down to my initial counter offer…which tells me I offered too much to start. Nonetheless, I was ok paying that much for the carvings so that means it was a good price.

Afterward we left the city and on the way out of town (the ancient city is surrounded by a modern one), we stopped for lunch.

I think it was probably good to have lunch with someone who spoke no English and could not ask me what I wanted, so I assume he ordered a pretty regular lunch.

We had a few things I’ve never seen before, and I bet I may never see again. We started with something cut into strips that was pure white in color and had a soft slightly chewy texture covered in a sauce made of red chilis and I believe chopped olives and oil. It wasn’t too spicy but it had a nice level of spice. The strips were all pretty much the same thickness, maybe 3/16th if an inch that tapered at both ends. It was hard to tell if it was something made from rice flour or another grain or something naturally grown. It didn’t have any crunch or fiberous feel to it like a mushroom, but it also didn’t seem like a noodle. I guess I may never know but I’d eat it again if shows up on the table.

We also had a regular round Chinese steamer filled with noodles shaped into small cylinders all lined up edges together to create sort of a honeycomb. It came with a dipping sauce that was mildly spicy. Another thing I’d never seen served before but it was good. We also had a few other dishes which were more regular but all with good flavor, especially an eggplant dish.

Overall one of the better meals I’ve had really since I arrived.

Note: I asked my father who confirmed the “honeycomb” dish is a local Shanxi dish, but was unable to identify the other based on my description.

Tags: China, food