Water Town

My roommate woke me up this morning and said she was off to visit a little village place, did I want to come with and etc. and so I have more pictures for you. I hope you enjoy them.

This first batch comes from the water town village. There were a bunch of little shops and a bunch of homes tucked away behind them or on the second floor of some of these places.

Don't know what the deal is here, exactly. If the birds were tethered to their perches, or if they were trained, or if they just like getting rides like this.

Got turned around in the water town and ended up in what looks to be a shared backyard.

Here's some pictures of what were advertised as "yachts" Though not yachts, they are still really cool. One had yellow mop buckets in it, and the guy captaining it was wearing a neon yellow vest. So they have a special boat just for keeping the water clean of litter and etc.

Not really so important. But my roommate and I had a giggle. She suggested "Mannequin Massacre" as a band name. I would suspect it's an 8/10 band name, but I'll have to check it against the MFBNS (Matt Foudray Band Name Scale, obviously)

What follows are pictures of fireworks shot off outside of my apartment. The bits of colored fire were actually hitting against people's windows. Pics taken at about 11 PM China time (it's all one single time zone, by the way)

And here's the cover of a notebook I bought today. I really like it.

Assorted pictures.

These first two are from when I got lost in Shanghai. I actually walked past my destination a couple of times.. I'd already seen three Motel 168s in China, and all the others had English letters and Arabic numbers on them. But I got to see this cool graffiti and walk down this sinister looking alleyway. 

These two are from near my work in Suzhou. No idea what the store sells or why they chose these decorations.

These pics are all from in/around the Suzhou Central Train Station. 

About five minutes walk from the train station you might run into a bridge like this. 

Look on the other side of the bridge and you may see these boats 'parked'

 Was trying to find something fun to eat, got lost again... But I saw this tower and had to check it out. Maybe it was the time of day, but this is about the closest I could get. If I ever see it in the daytime I'll investigate further.

This is a bus stop. It's beautiful.

 The view of a little park and shopping center combo from across the canal.

 This is right in the middle of what I suspect was not intended to become a parking lot. Couldn't figure out what it all meant.

 This is connected to my building. I have no idea what it is.

 Suzhou is famous in China for it's canals and gardens. There's a ton of them. I took some pictures that are less than flattering, but I think say a lot about China.

Teaching

I haven't been saying much about teaching, so I suppose I'll touch on that a bit.

Today I took a solid punch to that sensitive in-between-the-legs area. Kid had a running start, then jumped in what may have been a lunge or a pounce or even just an attempt to give me a hug. Not really sure. Kid's name is Tony and Tony sure has an arm on him.

I immediately dropped the little tray of supplies I had- flashcards, scissors, and glue- and grabbed his arm. I think his guardian type figure must have seen because she rushed in at about that time, and I was later told that this woman was angry I'd grabbed her son's arm like that. I then proceeded to fall and make a sound that was probably just kind of like "euuuuugngngngnhhhhhhuueueueu"
and the Teacher's Assistant (who actually knows Chinese) explained what had just happened to the parent. Complete reversal!

The parent's English was very limited, but she did know "sorry" and she said it about twenty times. I waved it off and got myself a glass of water. Class started five minutes late.

More on this another time.

Teaching, cooking, etc

Tonight I made jambalaya from scratch. Like a boss. My roommate ate it and she liked it, too.

She's Australian and pretty chill. A bit older than me, and with more teaching experience, too. She's been in China for I think two years already, and spent at least one year in Russia. She made me Russian pancakes one morning (which are like pancakes in America but less fluffy and you use condensed milk instead of syrup and butter) and I've been trying to figure out what I could cook for her in return ever since. But now that I have a little thing of cajun spice I can actually make stuff.

She liked the jambalaya, but wouldn't take a peanut butter sandwich with it, and was terribly confused when I suggested it. She's never had a peanut butter sandwich with soup or chili or anything like that. Nor has she ever had a PB+J sandwich. But I've never had Vegemite, so I guess we're all even.

Today I had to hop over to the SIP (Singaporean Industrial Park) district of Suzhou. Conveniently for me the San Xiang Square metro entrance is right near my apartment. San Xiang is on the North/South metro line, but is only one stop from the East/West line. I picked up some sausage and some spaghetti sauce and even found pumpkin pie filling at the Euromart (a store specializing in imported goods- mostly English, but there's also some Japanese, Indian, etc), so I might try to make pumpkin pie here soon.

As soon as I came up out of the subway I saw a guy on a little ebike moving water jugs like what you'd put on a water cooler. These water jugs are a booming business because the water in China is, well, it's not fit to drink. He had two of these giant plastic bottles between his legs, four or five on a string that ran from handle to handle, and then some kinda weird backpack rig that he'd attached at least twenty more water jugs to. And he was just passing people and swerving in and out of traffic.

I got to ride an ebike myself, and drive one, too, the other day, with my friend from Canada. I can see how they would be a lot of fun in warmer weather. Perhaps I'll invest in one.

But for now I am stuffed on jambalaya. I'm gonna call it a night.

Rugby

Last night I sat down with a Canadian and an Irishwoman and a guy from New Jersey and we drank Dutch beer at a Cuban restaurant. We watched a rugby game between South Africa and New Zealand. On Japanese Street, in Suzhou, China.

Rugby. What a sport. Only the lady from Ireland had any clue what was going on in the rugby game, but she wasn't entirely sure on the rules. I'd recommend everybody go watch a rugby match. Similar to American football, but much rougher. And with a serious cut down on stuff like time-outs, commercial breaks, and padding.

I have no idea what the rules are. But I think American football could stand to take a page or two out of rugby's rulebook. The scrums are really something to see. Even on TV. Go find a rugby video or two on youtube and be glad you did.

Chinese New Year Party

I was told to bring my ukulele. I was not told why.


Sat down and met some people who work for the company that up to this were strangers. But they didn't speak much English, so it was kinda difficult to get to know them. Everyone had red wine, and there was toast after toast. Not from wine glasses, but from these little vials. Wine is something I'd like to enjoy, but just can't get into. Sorry, wine drinkers, wine makers.

But even before the wine came out, a number of plates were already arranged in the middle of the table. There's a big glass spinning thing, you get to spin it around to get the various plates and bowls to you. That's pretty common. On the table was some kinda fried-then-baked fish that still had a lot of bones in it. And duck. I had duck for the first time. Ducks are oily creatures. Even their tongues.

Pictured: duck tongue


Then moved on and had some kinda radish and cucumber dish. Glass noodles, so named because you can see right through them. After they are cooked they take on a slight coloration based on what spices you cook them with, but uncooked it seriously looks like strands of glass. In the States we have cabbage and black-eyed peas around New Year's. The idea being, I think, that you'll have financial success in the coming year.

In a way it's easier to see how eating pig ears would make you listen to your parents if you are very young, or help you keep your hearing if you are very old.


After eating and etc we played a few games. I lost at a hot potato type game and had to either drink or perform. So I played about half of 'The Science of Selling Yourself Short' by Less Than Jake on my ukulele. It went well; when I looked up from my ukulele there was a room full of people recording me on their phones.

And I won the door prize and I got some fancy headphones. Another example of me being entirely too lucky. Headphones were going to be my first purchase after a paycheck, too. I don't know what to do with myself.