CHINA LIFE

Tofu, Cabbage soup and Tomato and egg.

Dad did the cooking, it was excellent!

This is on of the many many Hot pot restaurants in Wanzhou. There is a big bowl of boiling water with oil and spices in the middle of the table on a gas burner. You go and pick the skewers of meat or veggies that what you want out of the refrigerator section. You put the skewers in the boiling water and cook it.  This one had a section just for me, the vegetarian.  They count the skewers at the end to determine the price. It was really a lot more difficult than I thought to eat here. I figured China would have rice and vegetables but someone said they eat anything that moves.

The shoeshine lady outside of CJ's apartment.

 All along the streets you will see vendors outside cooking all sorts of things.

 A lot of the corners are filled like this.

This man was making candy out of caramelized sugar. You can see he made a dragon and a dragonfly on a stick.

This large rock is in the middle of the road on the way to CJ's new apartment.  I guess it was easier to build a road around it than to move it.

TEACHING ENGLISH

 I went to school today.  CJ's classes are all very interesting. I walked into his 1st class and said "Hello",  the students looked at me and their mouths dropped open and they just looked at each other. I said "Good morning, How are you?" They didn't know what to think.  CJ walked into the classroom and I sat down and later he asked me to introduce myself.  He told them I was his mother and they again looked at me in shock.

 I did the same thing at his 2nd class which was a more advanced English class.  I received a little bit of a different response.  They all said good morning and I asked them if they like leaning English, they said yes they did. I asked where their teacher was and they pointed to the door where CJ was walking in.  He told them I was his mother and they all smiled and said "Hello" and waved at me.

This is Emma. She is the star student of the school and really likes to talk.  She speaks English very well and I loved talking to her.  She wanted to know why Charles skin was lighter than mine and why I had blue eyes and he didn't.  She told me she thought he was a witch because his nose was long. She was very amusing.

She just loves Charles.  She even gave him a piece of candy.

 This was his class at the Elementary School.  They also didn't know what to think. A few of them tried to hide under their chairs.

 These children were in another class and even younger.  They all love their picture taken.

Emma wanted a picture of us together.  We  made plans for her to take me somewhere beautiful next time I visit China.

ABOUT WANZHOU

Wanzhou sits between the Taibai Mountains and the Yangtze River. There are a lot of hills and winding roads much like Pittsburgh. Shops line every street and on top of the shops are usually apartments. The modes of transportation are buses and taxis as many people do not own cars.







Another thing like Pittsburgh, a chair sitting at the curb to save a parking space for someone who does own a car.

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There are very many old buildings here.  They all seem to have balconies or at least bars around the windows. Most hang their clothes out to dry or store things here. So many have some type of plant or tree growing  also.  The people who have an apartment on the top floor get the roof too. They will have trees and plants there and also use that as a place to hang their clothes.  The pictures with the bars are taken looking out of the windows in CJ's apartment.

 

Tucked in between some of the buildings are more and  more steps that take you from one street to the other. These are also filled with shops on each side.

The Yangtze River at night and the one in the day time is looking out the window at CJ's new apartment.