The grass is greener on the other side

This is the canal that runs through the middle of my apartment complex. Both a pedestrian bridge and a vehicle bridge cross over the canal.

Here's the pedestrian bridge. It has steps leading up to it, so that keeps bikes and other vehicles off of it.  For some reason, Mimi thinks the most fun thing in the whole wide world is getting to cross that bridge and get to the other side of the apartment complex. In fact, we have plenty of space on our own side for her to get exercise and play around. But it's not enough for her. She pulls and tugs if she thinks she has a chance to get across the bridge. The holy grail of doggy-dom is on the other side of the bridge. And what dog doesn't like a challenge?!

Mimi and her bridge. If not for her I'd be a couch potato.

Neighborhood kids

Just some photos of kids and their caretakers as seen in my neighborhood. 

Heated blanket

I've been sick with a cold since Wednesday. I would say I've been "sick in bed" since Wednesday, but the sofa is much better than the bed and I can watch TV. So I've been "sick on sofa" since Wednesday. 

There I was, laptop on lap, feet on coffee table, striped pillow propping me up, coffee on my right hand, when Mimi realized something important was missing. 

Her. 

She jumped up and squeezed herself in between my left leg/computer and the pillow, and took a long nap. She kept me warm and feeling loved on a cold spring day. 

She is awesome.

Luella

When I first moved to Bamboo Forest, I went to the vet and asked him if he knew of someone who could dog sit when I was out of town. He said no, but if he thought of someone he would let me know. A few weeks later,  I got a call from Luella, and it was the start of a something good. She's more than just a dog sitter. She comes to my house once a week, and the first order of business upon arrival is for Mimi to receive a doggy massage. Mimi demands a extended one from her beloved substitute master.

Mimi lovingly looks into Luella's eyes during the massage. And, um, yes, I do realize that rawhide bone in Mimi's mouth was intended for a dog the size of a golden retriever. But it looks hilarious in Mimi's mouth, so it was worth whatever I paid for it just for that.

Luella, a recent widow, misses her husband terribly and is often on the verge of tears when we talk. She looks like she weighs 70 pounds. I think if she misses a meal she might not make it. Those of you who are pray-ers, please say a prayer for my friend Luella. I think she's scared to face her uncertain future.

Little things

Some friends of mine have an adorable 4-year-old daughter who speaks great English. When they were over at my place recently, she wanted to play hide-n-go seek. She's not very good at it, but I pretended that she was hard to find. I kind of feel sorry for kids in China. With the one-child policy, most of them don't have anyone to play with except adults. That means they are really pathetic at playing games.

 She fits into amazingly small spaces. She's tiny.

She displaced my water bottles that were previously residing in the box where she decided she was meant to reside.

 Some game was going on in her mind. Not sure what kind of game, but she was happy.

My house is not child-proof. I spent the whole time she was here picking up stuff and putting it out of her reach … things like Mimi's water bowl and Mimi's dry dog food (the little girl decided to mix them together).

Mimi did not find this 4-year-old intruder to be adorable at all. Oh contrare, Mimi thought the girl came to steal her food; she failed to hide her irate feelings over this. So Mimi had to go to jail while the girl was here, and by jail I mean inside the kitchen where she could see out the sliding glass doors. Poor Mimi. 

Welcome to spring!

Spring is here (yea!) and I caught a cold (drats!) -- I hadn't caught a cold in a really long time, so I didn't see it coming. I would spend my days resting in bed, but I can't breathe if I'm lying down. Plus there's no T.V. in my bedroom. So I'm spending my days lounging on the sofa, feet on the coffee table, drinking coffee all day, watching NCIS and Sell This House. Hopefully this won't last long so I can get out and enjoy the good weather.

I've been there, dude

The other day a Chinese college professor was talking to me in English. He's not a believer, but he said he attends church sometimes. He told me he's familiar with the "four gossips" -- Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

I kept a straight face. I'm pretty sure I've discussed the "four photocopies" before, and I trust they were polite enough to keep a straight face when I did so.

Weeping willows and tulip trees

I told you that the delicate leaves of the weeping willows were pushing their way onto the scene, so today I decided to take some photos of them for you.

I call these white tulip trees, although they certainly have a more official name. I grew up in a desert. We hardly had trees at all, much less any that had flowers on them. So really, how can you expect me to know the official names of these things?

 I took this picture inside my apartment complex today, while walking Mimi.

A few days ago, the white flowers really looked like tulips, although they have opened up now. And may I just point out the blue skies? This country gets a bad rap for pollution, so I just want you to know we have pretty blue skies here.

Here are a few tulip trees I saw in town earlier in the day. Spring. Bring it on!

Unnerving mystery

Last Saturday morning I was reading the news on my iPad when I first found out about the missing Malaysian jet. My heart sank. Then I braced myself as I let my eyes read on in the article to see the plane's destination -- Beijing. I recall letting out a groan. I hate it when tragedies strike the people of this nation, people that I live among and care about.

I often fly in and out of nearby Thailand, Malaysia's neighbor, and the flights I take travel a similar route to the path of the Malaysian jet.

Most of the flights out of Thailand that I am able to book are night flights like the Malaysian one. In the last year, the only daytime flights in and out of Thailand from China cost $1000 more than the night flights. So night flights it is.

I remember being in the Bangkok airport after midnight last November, and the airport had HUNDREDS of night flights to locations all over the world. The shops and restaurants at the airport were open 24-hours a day, and I think there were more people at that airport at night than I had ever seen during daylight hours. It was a madhouse. From this I ascertain that night flights from Southeast Asia to China are pretty normal and most travelers who value the health of their pocketbooks take them.

I can picture the well-dressed, well-mannered mid-to-upper class Chinese people boarding the flight in Malaysia last week, just like they do on the Thailand flights. They pushed their bags in the overhead bins and settled in for a 6-hour long nap, only to be interrupted by an occasional offer of drinks or snacks by the flight attendants, just like on my recent trip. Because I can picture this in my mind so vividly, the whole event has hit a little too close to home for me.

It seems so unfair that a crazy person or two have to take down so many innocents with them.

If anyone ever tells you that Chinese don't value human life like we do in America, trust me, that person has absolutely no idea what they are talking about.

My balcony

I've been wanting balcony furniture forever. I could have bought some, but it was seriously over-priced so I didn't. But when my American friends had to move back to America suddenly and started selling their stuff at garage-sale prices, I snatched up this little patio furniture set. It actually has three chairs. Today I had coffee out there, and I even took my computer out there to do a little work. I put a blanket in a chair so Mimi could join me without having a fear of falling out the sides. I think this outdoor setting will be even more fun when the temperatures climb out of the 50s. :-)

I have earplugs, but the traffic noise from downstairs was really not that bad. I have a good view of the elderly people who meet in the park downstairs. They meet daily to play poker. Some parks in town have highly-cultured elderly people that play flutes in gazebos or paint on canvas. My elderly people are not quite so high-class though. Today a middle-age man and an elderly man were trying to tear each other's heads off, and calmed down when two men jumped in to separate them. (Reminds me of my first year of teaching when I stopped a fight in the hallway at the junior high.)

The tiny delicate green leaves of the weeping willow have emerged, and the white tulip tree is in bloom. The next month should bring a lot of beauty to my corner of the world.

Mini tour of the 'hood

A stroll through my neighborhood on a cold March day (a few days ago).

Busy and cold

Update on my life: I have been really busy, thus my longer-than-usual blog absences. And my feet are really cold these days. They are cold right now. Cold feet.

I have an American friend leaving town somewhat unexpectedly, so I told her I would take on a group of four junior high kids whom she was helping learn English. I went to their meeting place yesterday. I wore three layers on my feet, four layers below the waist, four layers above the waist … and then on top of all of that, I put on my down coat, down gloves and scarf. I still felt like a popsicle during the 1-1/2 hour lesson. I had to take off my gloves to write on the whiteboard, but we all wore our winter coats throughout the entire lesson.

I asked the kids if they were cold and they said no. They go to unheated schools, so they think cold is normal.

I already kind of wish I hadn't promised to take on this class. The kids are lovely, of course, but I find the cold conditions rather horrifying. Chinese people often ask me "你怕冷吗?" ("Are you scared of the cold?") And I always answer "yes."

The dog child

Aw, look at my sweet little baby dog (she may be nine years old, but she'll always be my baby).

The living room seems to be designed for her comfort! She's got quite the life.

A few local hangouts

Here are a few places I frequent around town (usually via my motorbike, pictured above).

This is the Japanese grocery store I go to when I want to buy meat. They have really good meat. They also have good eggs, avocados and lettuce, all of which are hard to find in other parts of town. (As a reminder, I do not live in Japan. It is a store owned and operated by Japanese people though.) The store is not much bigger than a 7-11. By e-bike it takes me about 20-30 minutes to get there one way.

Not far from the Japanese grocery store is this large two-story Starbucks. I used to live on the same block as both the store and this S-bux.

This is a Tex-Mex restaurant that is serving a lunch buffet. This is on the far side of town from the Japanese store. Good food, good atmosphere.

Pappa John's pizza had this design on their restaurants during Christmas season. There are many Pappa John's where I live.

I'll post more hangouts at a later date.

Lunch view

January and February brought uncharacteristically fabulous weather. But now winter's rainy season is upon us and we have day after day of dreary wet cold weather. Today though, the sun came out, and so did I. I had lunch at a chic coffee shop built into an ancient structure along a famous canal. I took this photo from my spot at the table. I live in such a culturally rich city; I love it! 

Don't love the high price of coffee shops in this city though. You know it's bad when you go to Starbucks because they sell the cheap coffee. Yeah, really.

BTW, the color of the water in this canal? It looks somewhat more icky-colored in the photo than it does in real life. It's brown, but not caramel brown. It's kind of like the color of most rivers in Texas. I still wouldn't go swimming in it or anything, that's for sure. I give it points for being quaint and ancient, but it is not clean.