Pic o' the Day #41

This is not too far from my home. It's in front of the Mianyang Museum. These planters are filled with potted plants. In a month, they'll be taken out and new ones put in. It's always so beautiful when the flowers are in bloom and so strange to see them ripped out when they start to fade a little.

By the way, the museum has some new exhibits and seems very interesting. I'll have to go and let you know. Check it out here.

Pic o' the Day #40b

See, the whole photo campaign is breaking down. I've missed two days out of the last five and now I seem to be posting five pictures on one day.

Brothers !

A rare sight here in China. Almost all of my students are only children (only childs?) Because of the population controls, twins are a rare delight here. Parents take care of kids and educate them. Then, the kids take care of their parents. Two boys gives you a real head start on your retirement.

When I told people in America that I was one of five boys, they almost always said, "Oh, your poor mother." Here, however, they get it right and say, "How fortunate for your mother." Right, mom?


Meet the 棉花糖王(mianhua tang Wang, the Cotton Candy King of Mianyang). This is in the main plaza downtown,　铁牛广场 (Tie Niu Guangchang, Iron Bull Square). On the weekends, this is the place to be for the 10 and under set. Roller skating and cotton candy, what a day.

Pic o' the Day #40

This is downtown Mianyang. The city is famous for being clean, which is a nice thing here in China. I really think that the city is more accurately described as being very livable. Chengdu, the nearby capital city of Sichuan Province, has more flash and style, but I would always prefer to live in Mianyang. The tree-lined streets, the three rivers, and the rolling hills remind me of my own hometown.

Notice the bike lane on the right. You'll find these throughout Mianyang and in most cities in China.

Also, the advertisement is for Sichuan's favorite beer, 雪花 (Xue hua, called Snow, but really translates as Snowflake).

It's all about the Benjamins. This is the money I had to fork over to get a ticket to Thailand and India. Well, not actually. This is the money I had to put down as a deposit for the tickets. I had to bring the rest of the ransom in a paper bag to the old abandoned water tower. They said I could just bring the rest to their office when the ticket arrived, but I felt like I needed more drama when I spent the most money I ever have in China. The tickets cost more than 4 months of Peace Corps salary, or what many of you make on a regular basis.

I read that they put Mao on the money to help reduce counterfeiting. Everyone knows what he looks like and you'd have to be a counterfeiter of low morals to cheat the Great Helmsman.

Pic o' the Day #39

The 39th pic is from the beginning of my 38th year. Some wonderful friends took me out for a terrific meal and lotsa drinks at the best restaurant in town, 老房子(Lao Fangzi, or The Old House). In two years, I'll be 40. In China, that is a year that is celebrated because at that age, you (supposedly) know what to do and how to live a peaceful life.

I guess I have a long way to go before 2009.

I hope your birthday is a happy one.

Pic o' the Day #38

This is a shot with our 太极拳 (taijiquan, or tai chi, if you like) instructor. She had been teaching four of us taiji once a week for a couple months. At the end of our class, we invited her out for lunch. Thoughtful Lisa picked up some flowers.

Our coach is a national taiji champion. She's a PE major at our school.

Most of the time, it was a delightful way to relax on Tuesday afternoons. It was less relaxing when students came for a new episode of Watch the 老外 (laowai = foreigner). All the colleges here are going through the first Chinese accreditation cycle. So, a week before the inspectors arrived, classes were canceled and students worked on cleaning up the campus. When they found nothing to do, a whole bunch would sit and watch us. Most of the time it didn't bother me too much, but when they were my students I usually asked them to find another place to take a break. It was just too distracting.

There is taiji and all kinds of good exercise all over the place here. This term, though, I've switched to ping pong. Does anyone have a table? I'd love to play sometime.


And another pic. Taking a good picture every day has not been easy. I'm starting to run out of juice at this point. There are a couple more from the month of photos series, but then other favorite pics will follow.

Pic o' the Day #37

This is in between the nicest department store in town, 百盛 (Bai Sheng), or Parkson's, if you read the English sign, and 人民公园 (renmin gongyuan), the People's Park.

This fellow is buying insoles for his shoes. You can almost always find ladies selling these in town. If they aren't busy selling them, they are busy sewing them.

I have been wearing the same shoes that I brought with me in the summer of 2004, so I don't know about the shoes here, but I've been told that the insoles are the way to go. I'm not sure what they go for, but I cannot imagine that they cost more than 50 cents. My guess is about a quarter.


Here's a map of my fair city. I live on the right side, just north of that big green area. That green area is 富乐山 (Fule Shan)--I'll show that to you later. The People's Park is that green trapezoid, dead center. It takes about an hour to walk to the park. The new campus is not even on the map. It's way left.

p.s. I missed a day. It was driving me a bit batty carrying the camera all the time, looking for a shot. There are a few more pictures from my month of framing and snapping. After that, I'll post some of the pictures from before this project and the new ones I've taken since.

Pic o' the Day #36

Today, I wandered into a workshop at the school given by a psychologist visiting from Estonia. I was hoping to meet the former Peace Corps Medical Officer at the event. She had invited him to China and brought him to our school. I just wanted to say hello and catch up a bit.

Well, after a banquet lunch, I found that we were on our way to 江油(Jiangyou) to visit the birthplace of China's favorite poet, 李白 (Li Bai). You might remember a picture from Jiangyou on December 8th.

We stopped to take a picture in front of the big tower, and a few other people visiting the park wanted to take pictures with us. That happens all the time here.


After the picture, these folks shared with us a song and dance from their culture. It was completely unexpected and quite interesting.

They were Qiang people, one of the 55 ethnic groups recognized in China. About 90% of the people are Han Chinese and they pretty much run things. China has endured so long, not because one group controls everything, but because whoever runs the place ultimately becomes Chinese.

I recently learned that the current government is only the second Han-led government in China's history. From 1279-1368 C.E. the Mongols ruled the Yuan Dynasty. Then the other Han-led government, the Ming Dynasty ran things from 1368 to 1644 C.E.. And if you remember Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, you saw the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 CE), run by the Manchus, people from northeastern China.


These are the parents of the workshop host. They are artists and spent the day with the art department working with the faculty and students. It turns out he had a show in Louisville several years ago.

See their work. He is a painter, she works in fabrics.

MNU Art Department Watercolors / Oils / Calligraphy

Pic 'o the Day #35

I was walking near the river and I came across a crowd of about 60 people. I didn't know exactly what was happening. It was after dark and most of the businesses in that area were closed. I heard the music and went in for a closer look.

A band had set up in front of an appliance store. About a dozen people were dancing, mostly older people. Dancing is quite popular here. At the big plaza downtown, you can regularly see 100 people ballroom dancing. Or you might see 15 women doing a kind of traditional Chinese line dance, with fans or even swords.

The public life here is very nice. Parks and streets are for people to enjoy.

I listened for a while, then went on my way.

Pic o' the Day #34

This is 墨家 (mo jia), the new campus at our school. I shouldn't really sat AT our school. It's completely on the other side of town.

When I have classes there, I get to enjoy a scenic tour of Mianyang as the bus picks up teachers throughout the city. It takes about 50 minutes to get there from the campus where I live.

It wasn't a big hit with the students when it opened, nor with some of the faculty. But it is the future of our school. And the orange building in the 3rd picture is finally open, yeah! So now the campus has a functioning dining hall for the 1500 students who live there.

As much as I wanted to grumble about the conditions, the students just wanted to move on. I really admire how resilient Chinese people can be. They must think I am a big baby.

Pic o' the Day #33

This is from a pile of bricks on the street outside the school. This will become some new shop. The most likely candidates are a 网吧 (wang ba) Internet cafe, 火锅店 (huoguo dian) hot pot restaurant, or clothing shop. It could possibly become a 话吧 (huaba) a place to make long distance calls or maybe a gift shop. Those are the most common businesses on that block.

Pic o' the Day #32

Another wedding!

This time in 三台(San Tai), the biggest town in China. City, town, and village are not just quaint ways to describe places here. Those names have a real meaning and can affect how the place develops. Cities, like 绵阳 (Mianyang, my home) include neighboring counties, towns, and villages. In total, Mianyang has 5 million people. But the main city has only around 500,000.

三台(San Tai) somehow missed being classified as a city and is now a town of 1,000,000 people. I've heard that while the population growth was controlled in other areas, in San Tai many people didn't follow the rules with the same enthusiasm.

I love Chinese weddings. Like America, they are filled with good food and drink, and everyone has a good time. But here, people usually don't go overboard on the wedding. The biggest priority is buying an apartment before the big day. On the wedding day, everyone is invited to the home after dinner. It's a lot of fun, but still a very practical affair. In this picture, the bride's dress is at the bridal shop to get her hair and makeup done and to put on the rented dress. Underneath...are blue jeans.


With the father of the bride.


With the bride and groom and a good friend from Mianyang.

Pic o' the Day #31

This is what I bought today. I realize there is a fair bit of crap in there, but hey, it was New Year's Day.

I shop for some of these things (oil, wine, diet Coke, meat) in the city at 好友多 (Hao You Duo) which basically translates as, "Good and Plenty". It gets really crowded on the weekends and I have learned never to shop there at those times. I went there two days before Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) and had to abandon my basket and just get out. It was insane.

Fruits and vegetables come from the market across the street from the school. The produce is always fresher and cheaper there. You can also bargain for even better prices. Sometimes I have the energy for this; Sometimes, I pay the extra 2 cents for a pound of pears. The current no-bargaining price is 1.6 RMB, or 19 cents, a pound.

Pic o' the Day #30

Was the whole year like this? Or just the last night?

Tonight we rang in the New Year!

While New Year's Day is a holiday here, it's not really a big deal. Classes are still in session; work still has to be done.

The New Year that everyone is really excited about is 春节 (Chun jie), China's Spring Festival. That's the time for going home to see your family, eating all kinds of good stuff, and setting off more fireworks than I have ever seen.

But a bunch of folks got together to raise a glass and even sing Auld Lang Syne.

If anyone knows what that song is supposed to mean, please let me know.

An excerpt:

We twa hae run about the braes,
And pou'd the gowans fine,
But we've wander'd monie a weary fit,
Sin auld lang syne.