Month: May 2017

Today we went to the Cloud 9 Mall: 9 stories with multiple branches. We ate at “Nice Meeting You” Hong Kong Dim Sum, then shopped at Toys R Us and Kidland to get Ben some real Legos so China stays fun.

We also got great shrimp and some noodles. Then bought some legos.

We took the train to Suzhou yesterday with Marsha and Frank, my American neighbors. Marsha said they were going and invited us along. Lots of people told us we should see the beautiful, peaceful, traditional town of Suzhou. So that sounded good. In fact, two of the gardens are UNESCO designated historical sites. We bought train tickets the day before (Marsha looked up all the details online so we did not need to use English at the ticket office.) We left at 7:30 am, took the subway to the train station, then boarded the 8:39 am train at 8:29. At 8:39 it pulls out from the station. It took 1/2 hour to get to Suzhou. We took a taxi to the first garden. Suzhou is a modern city, really. It’s only the gardens that are kept traditional. According to guide books “Suzhou is known for its handful of stunning classical Chinese gardens.”

First garden we saw:

The Garden of the Master of Nets – UNESCO

One of the four famous gardens in Suzhou, which has also won the titles of world cultural heritage site, a scenic spot of national 4A level and historical and cultural relics under state protection. The garden was built in Chunxi Year of Southern Song Dynasty (1174 A.D.) by Shi Zhengzhi after he retired from the Court. It was a private Garden with thousands of collected books, so it was also called the Hall of 10000 Volumes. The Garden of the Master of Nets standing out among the top 4 properties. It is regarded as an ideal example in all of China.

In fact, a lot of the gardens are rooms with large open-air windows where you can contemplate nature from a dry area and have tea or read or paint.

Second garden:

Lingering Garden – UNESCO

Originally it was a classic private garden and built in 1593 by XuTaishi, a bureaucrat of the Ming court, as his private residence. It is also one of the four most famous gardens in China. It is 23, 310 square meters.

Like other famous gardens in Suzhou, the Lingering Garden seeks to create stunning natural landscapes within limited space. In this garden, domiciles, ancestral temples and private gardens are included. Buildings, trees, and flowers blend harmoniously with their surroundings.

The garden can generally be divided into four parts: the central, eastern, western and northern parts according to the style of the buildings. These four parts are connected by a 700-meter (about 0.4 miles) long corridor on the wall of which calligraphy carved on the stone can be found.

This one was prettier to us, with more greenery and less rocks, but still very traditional Chinese so lots of cement and rocks and paved walks.

I took the metro to the Shanghai Library and turned RIGHT out of exit 2 this time. Last week I turned left and basically walked back home on accident. I found Wulumuqi Road easily, and all the cool stuff there! Lots of stuff for expats, including “avocado lady.” She is famous now, and even packages her own coffee called “avocado lady coffee.” She carries vegetables and imported products that look familiar to Americans, like Brussel sprouts, radishes, kale, and microwave popcorn, butter, and cereal like Fiber One, Kix, etc. It is a tiny open-front store that you can hardly walk in if someone else is there. Very popular!

And… I found a place to buy American movies for $1.80. Paul will love it!

Anyway, here are today’s translations.

I really think this one was trying to be funny. Gosh, I hope.

Sign: Don’t make grass cry and waste paper fly.

Sign: Together to Tide over Difficulties, Self-discipline, and Pursuit of Excellence

Lydia, who was teaching at Highline this Jan – April, took me to see Qibao old town. She used to live near here. It’s so much nicer than Yu Gardens area. Less crowded and insane — people are not trying to harass you to buy a watch!

Laura Manning told  me I really need to get my but to Xin Tian Din and enjoy myself. I took her advice and went to the big collection of remodeled old buildings that is now a swanky 2 blocks of foreign restaurants: Italian, Spanish, Wolfgang Puck, Haagen Das ice cream, etc.

In fact, the demolition of these old buildings had already been planned when an architect convinced them to remodel them instead. That was around the year 2000. It has been a huge success and expats and Chinese flock here. If you go to Wikipedia or a travel site and look up Xin Tina Din you can read more about this.

 

 

It was 70 degrees and slightly overcast. I sat outside at the Bottega Mozzarella Bar and had this. Totally off the healthy diet but very good!

I am checking the translations of another 2,300 words that Wenjie gave me yesterday. Here are two highlights:

Tuna Sandwich with Dried Meat Floss Charcoal roasted coffee

Some things are harder to decide, like should it be “changing room” or “locker room?” Or “Caution: step” or “Mind the gap?”  Mind the gap is already everywhere, so they might as well stick with it.

Other choices are hard, too. Like where they have “lift” and “trolley” should we really change it all to “elevator” and “cart?” Tough call. And should the centres become centers?  Should the “toilets” become “restrooms” or the Canadian “washrooms?”  It’s too much power to put in my hands! Well, they are getting American from me, except for Mind the Gap, which I see everywhere, and am keeping.

Oh — this one, too:

Sign: school for pregnant women

Student’s corrected translation: pregnancy school

Wow! School for how to get pregnant?

Si Chien (Bye Bye)

Here is the sculpture at my campus, Xuhui, commemorating the 100 year anniversary of Jiao Tong University. (2017 is it’s 121st year)

The pillar stands for 1 and the two rings around it each represent zeros, so 100.

The other day I took the subway to the Foreign Languages Book Store. I was proud of myself for navigating this.  On the way home I cornered some Americans on the subway to get them to talk to me (Westerners do not greet you on the street here). He said “The subway really is very easy to use,” and his wife agreed. I do not agree. I mean, after 3 weeks I feel fairly confident, but it’s not just the subway. It’s taking the correct exit and turning the correct way once you leave the exit.  They have been here 5 years. She said after the first year it’s easy and they really like it here. I get that. After the first year.

On my three block walk to the bookstore I think I passed 5 coffee shops. So here are the photos of each one. Amazing they all stay in business.

  The bookstore was lovely. English books on the first floor and kids and young adult books on the 4th floor.

 

Sarte’s vacation

So you enjoy your “me” time and have an independent streak? I have just the vacation for you! Hehehe.  A month in China with days in a row to yourself. In fact, you’ll be surrounded by people who don’t speak English.  Enjoy!

I really do love my alone time, and I enjoy puttering around the house, reading, etc. But this much me time is making me thankful for all that I have in my life, and for my boys who arrive in 7 days.

And today was kind of a social day, for a few hours.

On Tuesdays I get up at 6:30 and leave at 7:20 to catch the bus to Minhang campus.  It takes about an hour to get there.  Then I have time to go to the library, make copies, chat with whomever shows up, and check out books. I also go to the faculty lounge before class.

At the faculty lounge, one woman seems to be in charge of the coffee machine. She usually offers me coffee and makes it before I can say no. It’s like quadruple espresso.  Today she felt brave enough to talk to me in English.  Her husband lived one year in Ohio while getting his PhD, and she has been to America 4 times with him, to various places. She took her 5 year old daughter to Disneyland in U.S. I told her I will take my 10 year old to Disney land in Shanghai.

I went to teach class.  There were about 18 students there today.  After class I asked if I should change my teaching (so more students would come), but they said they really like it. I asked why more students were not there. They said they don’t know but probably they are having exams now and are too tired or busy.

Last class they said they want to know more about American politics, etc. and TV stuff, so I sent them a YouTube of SNL where Alec Baldwin is making fun of Trump.  Next week we can talk about the references.

Today for class I asked students to write a juicy, detailed introduction showing the problem of either food waste or bicycle hazards.  They could use what they have seen or look stuff up on the their phones.  Then they had to state the problem and a “think outside the box” solution we could try.

We had seen two sample introductions and thesis statements before, but still, what they can produce in 15 minutes is amazing! Thoughtful and beautifully articulate. These are graduate students in English at one of the top universities in China.

Then I made them give a 1-2 minute “Ted Talk” with no notes, just passion, based on what they just wrote.  Again, they were amazing!  They may have lacked a bit of passion as we would know it, but they were clear and their examples, facts, and solutions were persuasive.

Afterwards, I went to lunch with Adele and Grace at Canteen #2 on campus.

They were super nice and walked me to the bus stop afterwards. I always take the 2:10 bus home (which leaves at 1:50).  So from 3-10 pm I am on my own.

I find it’s hard to make myself leave the apartment, but once I do I usually have a very nice time. But today I was SOOO tired. I went and got an expensive coffee (24 yuan) and hung out for a bit.  I asked for cream — nope, they don’t have it. I can have a bit of steamed milk. I asked for more milk. Nope, they don’t understand. Okaayy….whatever. Chinese do not get the concept of cream for coffee. Not at Starbucks or this fancy coffee store.

Then I walked a different way from the 5 malls intersection and found another really cool street. Sadly, I found an awesome bakery and got some French bread, panino dolce, and cheese bread.  I did pass two McDonalds without succumbing. I passed lots of small shops along this fun street, then went home.  By 6:15 pm, it’s dusk outside.