Neighborhood outing

My goal is to get out of the house once every day, besides walking my dog, whether I need to or not. I usually go out on my e-bike and roam around, run a few errands, or buy groceries. Last week I took a turn down an alleyway I'd never explored before, and I saw these pretty rusted metal doors, with faded Chinese poem banners, smothered in bright green ivy. I love it.

While I was taking pictures, a girl came up to me and asked, in English, if she could help me. I don't know if Chinese really have an intention to "help" foreigners when they ask this question, but it is a nice way to break the ice, let the foreigner know they speak English, and start a conversation. I found out this "girl," who looks about 18 at most, is 32 years old and has a husband and 8-month old child. They all live with her in-laws. We had a nice conversation and I made a new friend.

The small street market

As I mentioned in the previous post, I had to locate a new veggie market when my old alley market closed down. Sometimes, I really don't want to go to all the trouble to go into the big market that I showed you yesterday. I just want to hop off my e-bike and buy some veggies fast. I found a nice street market to go to, but it is further away than the big market. It's veggies are actually better though, and they even sell fresh asparagus! It's in a run down neighborhood, but I like the feeling in those neighborhoods, so I don't mind.

It's just a small little nook of a market.

See that asparagus in the middle of the photo?

The view right next to the street market. 

The big market in my neighborhood

After eight years of going to the same little family-owned veggie stall in my alleyway, one day it closed down. I was shocked! How could the family just disappear without saying goodbye? I couldn't believe it. I had to go in search of a new market. The other markets are further away, so it is not very convenient to get there. Instead of taking five or six steps from my e-bike to the veggies, I have to park, lock my bike, walk into a building, and make a real effort. But I found a really nice, pretty woman who always smiles at me and welcomes me, so I go to her section to buy veggies. That's her pictured above. 

There are many vendors in the building selling veggies, fruit, and meat.

I'm not much of a fruit eater, but the fruit looks nice.

Here is the entrance to the market building. The floor is often wet and muddy inside.

The market building is near a main road. I park my e-bike on the sidewalk like everyone else.

Another view of the market building.

Subway people today

Young woman checks her cell phone on her long subway trip.

At first I thought they were ballerinas. But then I realized they just want to look precious.

Self-portrait. That's me in the reflection of her sunglasses.

On the streets

You may have heard that the air quality in China has been very poor this year, more so than usual. When I lived in Bedrock, it was extremely bad all the time, but since I've been in Bamboo Forest, I've found it much more bearable. But when fog rolls in and stays for weeks, it traps the pollution and creates smog; most of China got hit hard this year. After all these years, I just last week got an indoor air purifier. In less than a week, the filter, which should last four months, is already black. It is an uphill battle to try to stay healthy and breathe clean air.

I like all the sidewalk shops in the city. This one sells dolls. As you can see, backpacks are very popular and practical for city living.        

On a cold rainy day, there aren't many customers, but the owners stand guard out front anyway, full of hope! 

In my neighborhood

You don't see this kind of thing in Texas.

The first day of 2017

I took Mimi on a walk through the neighborhood today. I captured the blue sky with wispy clouds visible behind the stark bare branches of a winter tree.

I used to have a young American friend, Katherine P, who lived in one of those twin towers just outside my apartment complex. She's been gone for 7.5 years, but every time I go on a walk, I see her towers and think of her. 

Mimi was walking on the boardwalk when I started taking photos. She turned her back to me so her face wouldn't be in the photo. I whistled shrilly to try to get her to turn her head, but she knows that trick too. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and did a fast two-step u-turn to put an end to the nonsense. I caught her in motion. She looks a little uncomfortable, but she's just twisting her body and getting ready to run.

A canal runs through the middle of my very large apartment complex. There are two bridges over it, a walking bridge and a drive-over bridge. Mimi's goal in life is to cross to the other side of the walking bridge as often as humanly (caninely) possible. She enjoys the smells on that side, and she gets more exercise. No one else knows this little secret, but as far as we're concerned, the name of the bridge is "The Mimi Bridge." Shocker, huh?

That's the first day of 2017 here in Bamboo Forest. Have a year full of God's blessings!

On a cool June day

Significant

He practically snarled at me when I got off the bus in his part of town. Not the dog, but the man. What was I, a foreign woman, doing in his part of town? I did not "belong" in his village area on the outskirts of the city. 

I had arrived there early (or, rather, those I was to meet arrived quite late). I stood around awkwardly in the hot sun with nothing to do while waiting for my friends to arrive, drawing unwanted attention. I finally found a seat inside a pharmacy and waited there for half an hour. In exchange for the seat I bought some aspirin … for the headache that had come upon me. My friends finally arrived; together we left the bus stop area and went elsewhere.

The following day I returned. I stepped off the bus and there, once again, was the man and his dog. I had a surprised look on my face, to see them again two days in a row like that. When the man realized that the foreign woman actually RECOGNIZED him from the day before, he couldn't contain the smile on his face or the enthusiasm in his demeanor. We were suddenly like best friends, and he wanted me to take photos of him and his dog together. (I'm not sure if he thinks I am going to return with a photo to give him or if he just wanted to create a lasting token of his presence on this earth for me to enjoy. I get this "take my picture" request from strangers all the time.)

I can't help but think that people just want to be regarded as significant, in any small way as they can achieve it. They want to be memorable, to have an impact in the hearts and minds of others. 

And now that these two are on my blog, I suppose I will, indeed, remember them forever.

(So glad I don't have to pay for whatever feeds that monster dog, aren't you?! My little Mimi costs an arm and a leg to feed, and this one is WAY bigger.)

The Pamir Bar and Grill

I click on a web page. I figure I have a good hour or two to kill before it actually opens (slow Internet these days), so why not go out? I run errands around my neighborhood and before you know it, dinner time comes around before. I'm by myself and I'm in a hurry. So I go to the Pamir Bar and Grill.

Okay, that's not really the name. It's owned by Xinjiang Uyghurs, who are Muslims, and like me, they don't drink. So nix the "bar" part of the name. But they do grill lamb (the main meat of China, pork, is a big no-no at Muslim restaurants). So I ordered some lamb kebabs "to go." The Muslim barbecue gal with the headscarf is hiding; she didn't want to be in the photo. Today is the first time I've ever seen a woman grilling meat. It's usually a Muslim man.

You can go inside to sit at a table and order a variety of dishes, or you can just order kebabs-to-go outside. Today, I get six kebabs for five bucks. The price of kebabs has really gone up … almost doubled recently. I place my order from my e-bike. It's about the closest thing we have to a drive-up window here. (There is one novelty KFC in town with a drive up. I drove through it on my e-bike once, but didn't order anything, I just did it so I could say I'd been at a drive-up window in China. Foreigners who live here do weird things like that. It's a free form of entertainment.)

This is a fun place to live. I love the Pamir and all the other interesting stuff here.

Photography day

If I didn't go outside until all my work was done, I'd never see the light of day…I'd never see the moon either, come to think of it. So today I decided the work could wait. I needed an outing. So I took my camera (which is technically part of my work) and headed out.

 Here is part of the city skyline; the photo was taken from atop the old city wall.

 Canals run through the city.

 Skyscrapers, rivers, and many, many bridges

A lonely little tea shop atop the city wall had no customers, just two pet birds sitting out in the shade and breeze.

 Thank you God for making so many flowers pink! I truly love them.

Water, rocks, trees, flowers, humongous goldfish, pagodas, tea houses -- a little slice of Chinese paradise.

 Pagoda -- I can see this from the balcony at my apartment.

 Rooftops

A steaming cup of green tea to quench my thirst at an outdoor tea shop ends my outing in the best, most relaxing possible way. Thermoses like the ugly blue one pictured are the world's most superb thermoses. Ask anyone who has been to China and they'll confirm. Anyway, the tea shop gave me a cup with green tea leaves and a thermos. If I wanted, I could sit there all day and refill my cup with the thermos's steaming hot water.

I really must find a way to do this more often. 

Count your blessings

Blessed is the man who owns a car with a trunk, for he shall be spared such indignities.

My week in review

 This old rusted pay phone on a university campus isn't getting much use in the age of the cell phone. I saw this when I was invited to a university campus earlier in the week. 

 I went out after dark one evening and saw the beautiful night lights. How I wished I'd had my good camera with me! I got home and discovered my good camera really was with me the whole time. Duh! Too bad I didn't know it at the time. I used my cell phone for these three pics. My phone camera is really only good on close-up shots.

I met up with some young people for coffee one evening. It's close to my place so I go there by e-bike when we meet every week (we used to meet on weekends but now we meet on a weeknight). It's my favorite coffee shop in the whole wide world because of the awesome decor and ambience. And, believe it or not, the pepto-bismol pink e-bike is not mine, the white one is!

Brace yourself. This post is full of random information. It's all over the place, just like my life as of late.

My life is extremely busy these days. I have, uh, let me count ... 7 extracurricular work-related activities during the week. That's nothing if you have a car, but I travel by foot, e-bike, subway, taxi and bus. And I, like the U.S. postal service, travel in rain, sleet, or snow. (I surpass them, really, because I work on weekends too). It is not so easy. 

And of course I have my "desk job" to accomplish too. I just finished a major work project -- a website! -- that has consumed most waking hours that I wasn't at a meeting in the past two months. Yeah, I was working on the work website, so I didn't have much time to work on this one. I tell ya, that thing was a nightmare. The enemy was working overtime. It's over now though, so I hope to resume normal postings on my blog now.

Since I finished the above mentioned work website, I have had abnormal waves of sleepiness every day. And by waves, I really mean I am sleepy all day long. Am I just worn out from overwork? Is there something in the air? Am I anemic? Is it the weather? I have no idea. I remember being sleepy in the spring before, but this year it is ridiculous. I can down two pots of tar-like coffee and still fall asleep.

Friday night, an American friend who lives across town had chest pains, and I was awoken from a deep sleep in the middle of the night by his wife to go translate for them at the Chinese hospital's emergency room. Of course I was glad to help despite the unfortunate timing; no one seems to have chest pain at lunch time. The hospital is half an hour away by taxi. It's not a place you'd want to go when you are having any kind of sickness, but it's the best we have in the middle of the night (we have better options by day). Tests indicated no heart attack, so we all went home. I was gone over two hours. When I got home, we had torrential rain and thunder, which means Mimi kept me up the rest of the night. A gal suffering from extreme sleepiness got a sleepless night. Not a good thing!

The spring flowers and greenery are just gorgeous right now, but I have had two weeks of sneezing fits and watery eyes from allergies. It's hard to see how pretty everything is when your eyes are watering (and you're about to fall over from lack of sleep). Is this the price you pay to live where it's pretty?

The weather is still kind of cold and damp here. I stopped wearing long johns this morning. Unfortunately, that lasted only until lunch time. I either had to put on long johns or re-start the heater. Long johns are cheaper to operate than the heater (electricity is expensive in these parts). So layers it is!

Mimi got a bath earlier today. She loves the whole spa treatment of a shampoo and blow dry. She LOVES it. Especially the blow dry part.

Hope this finds you all well. Enjoy your Palm Sunday and the remembrance of holy week.

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.