Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
(I've been having trouble with blogspot and for the life of me, I can't figure out what's wrong! Every time I post photos, they come up as java script! I'm now trying Explorer instead of Firefox. Nope, that didn't work either. Perhaps only two photos instead of four! I give up. Use your imagination for now until I get the photo bugs worked out!)
Each morning, I typically take a two mile power walk around the track on campus. I don't stop to "smell the roses" as the purpose behind the walk is to burn some calories.
However, I allow myself to sleep in a bit on Saturdays and try to get my walk in elsewhere during the day. This past weekend, I had to go pick up my new glasses (Yes! I can see clearly now!) so I walked the mile down to the store. I then walked another mile to the open market and noticed that street decorations were going up for National Day.
The pictures show workers preparing flags to be mounted on street lamp poles. What's interesting is that at one point, they are trying to keep the flags from being on the ground, but apparently, they didn't have enough plastic to protect all the flags. Therefore, some of them are on the ground anyway. I think passers-by were mildly horrified, but at the same time, understanding of the limitations the workers were under.
The entire street is now lined with flags . . . it's quite amazing to see!
Each morning, I typically take a two mile power walk around the track on campus. I don't stop to "smell the roses" as the purpose behind the walk is to burn some calories.
However, I allow myself to sleep in a bit on Saturdays and try to get my walk in elsewhere during the day. This past weekend, I had to go pick up my new glasses (Yes! I can see clearly now!) so I walked the mile down to the store. I then walked another mile to the open market and noticed that street decorations were going up for National Day.
The pictures show workers preparing flags to be mounted on street lamp poles. What's interesting is that at one point, they are trying to keep the flags from being on the ground, but apparently, they didn't have enough plastic to protect all the flags. Therefore, some of them are on the ground anyway. I think passers-by were mildly horrified, but at the same time, understanding of the limitations the workers were under.
The entire street is now lined with flags . . . it's quite amazing to see!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Preparing for a major birthday . . .
This week will see China's 60th birthday. Now, 60 is an auspicious number in China for a variety of reasons and great celebrations are held on 60th birthdays.
National Day is no exception. One thing I've noticed about the Chinese, though, is that they don't put up major decorations too long before an event . . . the event is more of a day and not a season. (Comparison note is that in the US, Halloween decorations were up in August . . . National Day decorations didn't start going up in my city until this weekend.)
The above photo was sent by a friend. It's not common and I doubt I'll see a haircut such as this in real life. However, I thought it was great! Please note the tiny portrait of Chairman Mao that has been taped/glued onto the Forbidden City! This portrait is a national icon and the haircut would not be complete without it.
I'll be posting photos all week long of preparations for this great day for China!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Roast duck anyone?
China is famous for its roast duck. Most people don't have the space or equipment to prepare a roast duck so they buy it at the market. Sometimes, they buy it at an open air market. In fact, quite often, they buy it in an open air market!
This photo shows ducks lined up in a row. Right behind the ducks, you can see three large vats. These vats are filled with boiling oil. When you choose your duck (they all look the same to me!), the seller will then place it in the oil and cook it. Yup, that's right! Roast duck is actually FRIED duck! The skin gets very crispy and the meat remains quite tender. (I believe the word "roast" is used more for western preferences as the Chinese word for the dish is "fried" duck!)
Roast duck is served with a plum sauce, with slivers of onion and wrapped in a very thin tortilla type bread. 好吃吗？ Does that sound good to you? Absolutely!
What do I enjoy that others might enjoy?
I asked some friends today about what they enjoyed about reading blogs. Like me, they follow a couple of blogs. Their immediate answer was "PICTURES!" They always tell me how much they enjoy my pictures and they think that if I posted a picture a day, that not only would I enjoy describing the photo, but others would enjoy seeing them. So that being said . . . I'm going to do just that!
A picture a day.
Something short, that won't take a lot of time on my part or on anyone else's part.
I'll start with a short goal . . . a picture a day for the next thirty days and see how it goes from there!
Let the "clicking" begin!
A picture a day.
Something short, that won't take a lot of time on my part or on anyone else's part.
I'll start with a short goal . . . a picture a day for the next thirty days and see how it goes from there!
Let the "clicking" begin!
Facebook's impact on blogs!
Wow, has it been forever since I've posted in my short-lived blog? I think I discovered Facebook around the time of my last post so that explains not using a blog. However, I'm going to try to get back into it. Thanks for reading!
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