The grapevine is a wonderful if not inconvenient thing at times! It is probably best that we discovered this little treasure trove so late as I would have gone broke making purchases and then had no way to get them all home.

Katie had been told by Kelly who had been taken by Charlotte who had been taken by Daria who had been brought by someone to this little painting school downtown.  They produced originals as well as reproductions of contemporary as well as traditional works of art. It sounded too good to pass up so we got verbal directions to a side street without any specific address.

Can I just say if you ever have to find a little place with no address,  only verbal instructions to go by, in a foreign country in which you really don’t speak the language, Katie and Thomas are the two to go with. They can find anything. We hopped on the bus, Thomas found the stop and we began looking in window fronts for what we wanted. We soon found a small school but when we walked in a children’s calligraphy class was in session. The teacher soon directed us further down the street. He didn’t speak English but between the three of us we are getting quite good at charades. We discovered this was an annex of the school but we were looking for the main building.

Just a sampling of what we browsed through

We soon found the main part and headed in. Again as it was Saturday classes were in full swing. Drawing classes downstairs, with still life, and calligraphy classes upstairs. We met the director who turned out to be the contact Kelly had mentioned.

She happily took us on a tour then led us back to the annex to look at paintings.

I was a little shocked when she started pulling out manila envelops with folded paintings. Katie saw my hesitation but reminded me that Kelly said their mounting jobs were phenomenal and all imperfections would vanish in the mounted work. We hungrily sorted through works with Xiong explaining their origins.

Some were originals by local artists or professors others were replicas of the great masters. Katie and I started forming piles of possibles. Prices ranged from ¥10 – ¥80 for the paintings with a flat ¥30 mounting fee.

I soon found two pieces I just couldn’t live without and three small flower pieces that I thought would be a beautiful gift. I arranged to pick up the mounted works the Saturday before I was to leave for America.

(3 graces/Lady with Blue / Flowers)

Second choice was still beautiful!

When I went to pick them up I unwisely  agreed to browse through their new works with Katie. I fell in love with yet another piece and agreed to purchase if they could rush mount it before I left on Tuesday. Xiong said she could and I hastily agreed.

I returned Monday afternoon to pick it up, to find a rather distraught Xiong. She told me she had written something down for me to read as she wanted to make sure I understood it all. She had had to send the piece to a friend to be mounted that weekend because he husband had been out of town. It was mounted and ready to go when her friends shop had been broken into and robbed. My piece along with others and cash had been stolen. There had been two Cherry Blossom works and so she quickly mounted the other and had it mounted to give to me. She felt awful and apologized profusely. She gave me this piece free of charge with an additional flower painting.

Second Choice was still beautiful although that first piece was AMAZING! So now I have no excuse for empty walls. I mean really with the prices hoovering around $12 for portable art lookout next semester.

The center of life!

 After dinner I was shown to my kang in the adjoining room. One thing I’ve learned the Chinese pull out the red carpet for foreigners. I felt truly guilty when I realized they had given me the large Kang in the Master Bedroom, all to myself no less. There were no heaters in the house so I went to bed in thermals skeptical of the kang’s ability to keep me warm. Wrong decision! I soon learned the errors of my ways as I began stripping layers, then I was glad no one else was in bed with me as I eventually got down to my skivvies and still had to throw the blanket off at times. Holy smokes who knew!

Full Squid, hummm, did I really say that was the great dish?

 Friday morning I woke at 8 and entertained myself until I heard Wendy get up in the adjoining room.  Breakfast was leftovers from dinner and a larger dish of what I had commented on the night before. My bad, it was squid. Okay I hate squid unless it is battered and deep-fried and smothered in a cocktail sauce but I had to admit last nights did taste good surprisingly. But now it was the full squid not just strips.

Peter's Junior High

There is just no way to describe the loss of feeling when you finish this one.

Who said Exercising couldn't be entertaining?

That was a good stretch.

On to the Open Air Village Market. I was the only foreigner obviously and mostly likely the only to have ventured there. I was shocked when I few asked if I was Peter’s wife. Did not see that one coming. We finally just stuck with Wendy’s little sister, Can’t you see the resemblance?

Village Outdoor Market

A relative of Peter's, he gave me two free Candied Hawthorn sticks.

Oh no, please don't, oh great Peter just bought that for lunch. Umm do I have to I mean really what is it?? Oh just Pupas well in that case of course.

Then a quick spin to the beach, on the way we stopped at Shandong International College. The campus was dead.

Shandong International College

Can we say a little Europe in Shandong?

 

This was a random building on the campus. We never did find out what it was for but it just seemed so out of place.

Wendy says this place is packed in the summer.

I'm going to miss these two!

Sea farming

Are engines damaged when they get water logged?

Everyone does it! "Happiness to China"

Peter has quite the arm.

Collecting shells, I collected shells, Peter collected rocks and Wendy just shook her head asking what we planned on doing with them.

 

Beach homes of the rich.

We soon headed back for lunch, which I must admit I was not looking forward to as I knew the menu!

Don't these just scream yummm? Yeah I didn't think so either.

I'll try anything once, the second time is optional.

Pupas are Peter’s favorites it turns out so I turned to him for eating tips, wrong idea should have just waited for his dad. I tried Peter’s way first, pop the whole thing in you mouth and chew don’t swallow the casing just the creamy inside. After a few that way, yes I had a few, his dad came in a insisted his method was better, I have to agree with his dad. Pull off the end and using your teeth to squeeze/suck the filling out. I think I had about six although Lao lao didn’t think that was enough. I never could bring myself to eat the heat sack on the inside it was hard, after the gooy insides I just couldn’t bring my self to chew something crunchy.

Lunch with the family

Friday evening I watched “The Founding of the Republic” the Chinese film about the birth of China. It was on television and had English subtitles, surprisingly good subtitles to boot. I was also surprised at the sypathetic way in which Chang Kai Shek was portrayed throughout the film.

Saturday was colder than Friday so we remained in doors most of the morning. I took the time to study Chinese with Wendy.  A’yi and Lao lao made fish dumplings for lunch which were to die for.

A'yi and Lao lao making dumplings, yumm Now there's a wok.

After lunch I asked if I could take a walk around the village, Peter volunteered to give me a tour. It was fun just walking and looking but the guided tour made it amazing. He showed us all his old haunts and favorite spots.

Main Street

Peter's home village. Looking down Peter's street back to the Main Street.

 

Peter and his childhood home. His home is at the end of the lane.

Side Street

Nothing like a good game of "Arrows & Bows" Peter's favorite growing up.

The boundary between villages, crossing over

The villiage across the river - This is where Peter attended Elementary school.

Before garages where needed this was the original parking space.

This is a piece that has been up since Peter's childhood days, I'm guessing the original from the 50's. Where is Mao?

Exploring the villiage in the late afternoon was picturesque, now if I could only learn to capture that.

The family garden.

Saturday evening I watch one of Wendy’s favorite films, a good Chinese Spy movie. When I discussed the plot with Victoria upon my return boy did she have a good laugh at the historical inaccuracies of the aligencies portrayed in the film. It was intriguing and the subtitles were dencent. If you haven’t caught on by now the quality of the subtitles is something of a running debate in China. There is no point in commenting on the quality of the film, I mean what do you expect from bootlegged copies. But really are subtitles suppose to be legit no matter the picture quality?

 

Sunday Morning A’yi and Lao lao woke early to make a fresh batch of dumplings in China it is a tradition to serve dumplings prior to a departure as a sign of good luck. The dumplings resemble little boats and the attached saying is equivelent to “Smooth sailing”.

Sunday's farewell breakfast. Traditional dumpling sendoff.

You enter into a courtyard and rooms are situated along the right and back walls. The front walls are storage and pig pens there is only the outhouse along the left wall and a staircase to the roof.

 

 

Feeding the Kang

 

* The Kang is heated from outside. Corn husks are dried and stored all winter to feed the fires lit beneath the stone beds.

 

 

 

 

About a month into this excursion I realized there were going to be plenty of moments where no words would capture my feelings. That’s when I discovered the phrase “Welcome to China”, mind you your arms must be thrown up into the air and your head shaken to get the full effect. This is the closest I’ve come to expressing my feelings.

Since I’ve discovered this line I have used it on numerous occasions to which all westerns have agreed. A child tinkling on the bus while the mother holds his legs spread eagle, “Welcome to China.” Afternoon planes never being less than 2hours delayed, “Welcome to China.” Class is canceled tomorrow (from your students but not a word from administration), “Welcome to China.” Shall I continue, okay you get the picture.

The truth, I’m getting sick of this phrase but it seems to be the only thing keeping me from insanity. I know common sense and culture is unique to each country and I know “West is not always Best”. I wouldn’t dream of forcing American ways on anyone but really basic human nature people? Anyone?

It is interesting to note that at lunch today Bonnie, Katie and I had a rather surprising conversation on the effect of propaganda here. After so long you just stop resisting. Scary, but true.

If I didn’t know with certainty that the Chinese are incapable of subtle hints my first Christmas present would have offended me. Two students dropped by for photos Friday afternoon. I’m really quite touched my students want to take pictures, they don’t seem to want to pay attention or participate in class. But hey the Chinese will never miss a photo sho0t, which is what “Can I come to your apartment for a quick picture” really means.

By now I know the drill. The standing half hug with the victory sign, then the stoic face, then the sitting leaning, then we get all crazy and take pictures all over my living room (the backgrounds varying, the nativity and scrolls seem to be the biggest hits). They always come bearing gifts, usually oranges, crackers or the occasional  bracelet. Today’s was a shocker. It was a Christmas gift Lucy said as she knew Christmas was coming soon. I was touched, my first Christmas gift of the season!

I really hope my face didn’t give away my taken back feelings.

I’ve stopped wearing make-up as of late because well I’m just lazy and really who am I trying to impress around here? My first thought was she was trying to make a statement but that was very very wrong of me. Lucy would never, could never make such a statement, wish I could say the same for some of her classmates. I was debating to pick up a new blush so now I’m good.

So Merry Christmas to all!

Over the last few days Dantzelle and I have been discussing the Chinese zodiac and the personalities that are associated with them. Her zodiac, the tiger, matches her personality pretty well. So I decided to try mine. To start off I got the rabbit or hare, or better yet the BUNNY,  from the start I was rolling my eyes. So here is the word for word description from Chinese.astrology.com  

When in China do as the Chinese.

Well that’s me according the my Chinese Zodiac!

It was breathtaking to say the least. One of Adam and Dantzelle’s students took them to a fabulous little restaurant around the corner from the school. When they described the atmosphere they said think Communist. Okay, communist, nope nothing could have prepared me for this place. I’m just going to adding pictures, for pictures really do say a thousand words.

The back wall of the restaurant.

Hail to the leaders, can you name them all?

Can't beat those Waitress uniforms.

Great posters all over.

A flag or two, but in case you didn't get the hint this is a Chinese restaurant.

So I'm thinking they stretched that photo, I don't remember him being so wide.

Family Style, going to miss that to be honest.

One thing I’m still trying to get over is not lowering my voice when I say the word Communism. It is not equivalent with a bad word nor does it have a negative connotation here, yet I still throw side ways glances when I say it out loud. This restaurant was a little nerve jarring to say the least but everyone in it viewed it as any good American would view your grandmother’s kitchen. A wholesome place embodying all those home taught ideals.

So Mao’s Dinner is what I’ll call it.

I’m going with a Middle Eastern Stable Scene but in this case I guess I should say an Eastern Stable scene.

A Reagan family tradition is collecting Creches, it has become a family hobby as we begin traveling and widening the selections. I didn’t really put much thought into a Chinese Nativity before coming as this is not a Christian Country nor is it open to Christianity. When another member of the Branch shared a Christian wood carver with all of us I jumped on the chance. I surfed the website with Mom and found the ONE.

Chinese Nativity

Victoria  picked up my order and held it until I could get it from Qingdao. Last night I opened the box while in Qingdao and pulled out a few pieces to preview the Creche. Katie and I enjoyed the mini Christmas, and joked about not finding the Christ child. I just figured it was at the bottom of the box tucked away.

When we set it up this evening in my apartment we were all floored to discover the Christ Child was truly missing. I seemed to have an abudence of animals, or atleast more than I thought normal but no Christ Child. How exactly you forget to but the key component in the scene I don’t know but the proper channels have been alerted and I’m hoping to have him in time for Christmas.

Angel, I'm a little scared it will fall and break as it is not very secure.

The Wise Men from the East!

What's missing?

The trees are one of my favorite parts of this Nativity

The characters on top say "Christmas" in an ancient Script not the modern simplified

The Nativity is camphor which smells absolutly wonderful. It is so light weight which is a real blessing for transportion. It also came in a beautiful wooden box.

The following is a wall hanging Creche that turned out to be more beautiful in person than I had imagined. Well with three Creches hanging in my living room I think it will be pretty hard to miss the fact that I’m Christian.

My complete Chinese Nativity

Nativity with the Chinese Knots

Large Ornament Nativity

Were both up and ready by 7am so we headed out the door, no point in wasting daylight. Traveling with Victoria was a real treat. As soon as we were both ready we hit the road, we were both eager to see all the sites so it was a marathon of sorts.

Hotel Subway stop.

Before we headed up to Purple Mountain we decided to find the metro stop next to the hotel. As not everything was in Pin Yin I found it easier just to take a picture rather than try to memorize the characters. One plus to Chinese subways is that each entrance/exit is numbered which makes getting out on the right street a breeze. Some of the stations will dump you out on to as many as 8 different locations depending on the exit.

Jumped in a cab to head up to Purple Mountain, this time we had an illiterate cab driver. The night before the concierge had written out the instructions for us in Chinese to show the cab driver. He looked at the paper and shook his head, then I showed him a picture from my travel book and he brightened pulling into traffic.

Unfortunately we didn’t understand the mountain and the cab driver didn’t understand what we wanted so he pleasantly dropped us off at the foot of the mountain and took off. We looked around and I panicked for a min. Not a single English sign and no big ticket office. Okay this is a big site with more than one HUGE historical attraction so where are all the people? There was a nice couple by the big wooden sign with the layout of the mountain, thanks to Victoria’s nifty guide book we were able to match up characters and point to where we wanted to get to. The one thing I do have down in Chinese is numbers. So after a lot of gestures and the number 20 二十 repeated a half a dozen time we figured out we could take bus 20 up to Sun Yet-Sen’s Memorial.

The bus ride up the hill was another adventure in itself. One sure trick I’ve learned, chant the name of the place you are trying to get to in the poorest Chinese possible (which is no challenge) and when you get to the right stop half the bus is happy enough to kick you off. We finally made it to the top and found our way to the clearly marked ticket office. We purchased the full park pass but were unable to figure out where to catch the shuttle between sites.

The first stop was the Sun Yet-sen Memorial. It was magnificent. Victoria told me the memorial is almost identical to the Memorial in Taiwan.

Entrance to Sun Yet Sen's Memorial

Brief History: Sun Yet-sen is considered to be the Father of China. He is revered and loved by both China Mainland and Taiwan as he was the first official President of China. He was the leader of the Nationalist party prior to the split of Chiang Kai-Shek and the Communist party. He was a great man who was a true visionary for what China could become.

View from the top.

The memorial and view was breathtaking, both visually and physically after the hike up the stairs. The hike provided plenty of time for a history lesson on the founding of China and the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty. After China I think I’ll just laugh at a StairMaster. As they love to say in China, “It’s good for your health”. They use that line as an excuse for just about everything, especially their lack of elevators and love for long walks UP stairs.

Memorial Room

As we entered the Coffin Chamber there was a guard reminding visitors to be quite. This was the first place I’ve been in China that has requested reverence. It was a beautiful tomb. (I was not able to take a picture at the tomb, this is a postcard) Victoria said it was the complete opposite of Mao Zedong’s tomb in Beijing years ago.

Field Trip!

On our way back down from the Tomb we came across school groups on their way up. Of course I had to take pictures, it is only fair right. I was asked to be in two photos on the way down. Oh the stardom of being a foreigner in China. After a small rant of having your picture taken oh so obviously by Chinese Victoria reminded me that I too take pictures of Chinese to catalogue my trip and they are just doing the same. Okay so then I felt bad and had to agree.

The grounds were just so peacful.

Just didn't really fit the overall mood in my opinion.

We contemplated walking to the next area of the mountain but as we could not accurately judge the distance we finally just decided to find the shuttle. It is horribly convenient speaking English because really there is always a student who can muddle through directions. We found a group of school girls who helped us locate the shuttle, which turned out to be a tram. Victoria and I think someone here visited Disneyland. What do you think?

Bought my Chinese Christmas tree ornaments.

Designed by an American as a memorial.

Climbed to the top of the 8-story Pagoda. I had debated whether to go all the way up and boy am I glad I did, I’d  hate to lose face with the elderly man with a cane coming down the top flight. The view from the top story was well worth the work out. Some of the leaves were beginning to turn purple. I wish the view of Nanjing was clearer but that is too much to ask in any Chinese city it seems.

View from the top of the Pagoda looking down on the entrance.

Temple Courtyard

Visited the Buddhist temple. The temple was moved to the present location to make way for  a tomb. There are three major tombs on Purple mountain dating back to the Ming. Learned more about Buddhism.

Last stop on the Mountain was the Ming Tomb Complex. We took the tram from the Temple. We were not informed that the tram dropped us off at the end of the complex. Half way through the self tour we figured out we were going through the complex backward. We just assumed the DIY tour book was horribly organized, whoops.

We started at the final stage of the tomb. This is the Entrance into the burial section.

Further down the processional. It was one long complex with numberous buildings along the way. Each held significance in the funeral process ensuring a prosperous afterlife for the decesased emperor.

Another stop along the way, China is a very hands on country regardless of what the signs say.

The final Gate House before the Burial Mound. You just got to love the incomplete guide book. If a half constructed picture in the guide book does scream replica I don't know what does.

The book said they don't clean the walls because the grim gives the "ruins" an ancient feeling.

Thr burial mound, There was a path leading up to the top. I couldn't help but think of the burial mounds from the Lord of the Rings, the first book not the movies.

 

Remember this is backwards... This is the end of the Sacared path before you reach the tomb complex.

After touring the complex backwards we stumbled into the back door of the museum and proceed through the exhibits backwards, no joke. So the Ming Tomb was great backwards. Hint for park transportation, drop non Chinese guests off at the front!!  or at least have clearly marked signs reading EXIT at the drop off point.

We caught the bus into town and were able to find a metro stop back to the hotel. We crashed for an hour and then headed out to find a restaurant that served the local speciality, Nanjing Duck. Turns out the local speciality is hard to find unless you want the flash freeze foil take home. Our hotel provided the flash freeze take home version but did not provide a meal, go figure. We ended up settling for chicken wings and breaded pork. We were both pleased with our stay in Nanjing. We were able to see everything on our list with time to spare. I was so excited to have extra time in Shanghai!

Okay the only way I’m actually going to get everything posted is if I take it a day at a time. Please remember I am printing my blog as my scrapbook/journal for the year so please feel free to just skim through and look at photos. I know I get long winded so you’ve been warned. 

We left Victoria’s at 6:00am to catch our flight. She had arranged for a cab to pick us up and he was waiting just out side the building. When we got to the airport we found our ticket counter and were thrilled at the short lines, then out of nowhere a Chinese tour group saddles up next to us and we realize the first customer in line is the tour guide who is getting tickets individually for each member. Needless to say all the foreigners in line were ticked, there was a group of Russians in front of us.  After a few min a kind Chinese women tapped us on the shoulder and pointed to the other side of the counter to open lines. Thank you, check-in was a breeze from there.

Plane Food! and in China wet-naps get handed out at every meal.

The great thing about airports is the fact that check-in is pretty universal. You just hand the person your reservation and your passport, when they point to you bags you shake your head and make a carry-on motion and you are good to go. All relevant information is in numbers and letters and tickets are bilingual with English as the second language. The flight to Nanjing was only an hour and they gave you an entire package of crackers with a beverage. Do they even serve snacks on 1hour flights in the US?

Quick history Lesson:

• Nanjing literally means ‘Southern Capital’. It plays a prominent role in Chinese history as the seat of many of the dynasties. Beijing was actually only established as the main capital for the last two Dynasties, Ming and Qing. Nanjing as the power house of Ancient China became the headquarters for many of the riots and revolutions that have taken place in the last two hundred years. Many of the sites we visited reflected these historical ties. With Victoria as my guide I got a walk through of Chinese history as we visited each site.

Took a bus into the city easy enough. Most people have a background in English and with a combination of horrible Chinese, basic English and exaggerated hand motions things are fairly simple to figure out. Having all our reservations in Chinese was helpful too of course. Once at the hotel we asked directions to the first site and hopped on the bus hoping for the best.

Map of Nanjing, I'm pretty proud of myself for getting around with only a Chinese map!

We started with the Heavenly Palace also known as the Presidential Place in later years. It was a large complex with few English signs, and those were sent through google translate it seems. (not to diss google, Dad can attest how much I’ve come to love Google, but really you can NOT just translate Chinese word for word it just DOESN’T make any sense.)

Originally built as two successive ducal palaces in the early Ming Dynasty. It really saw its hay day as the headquarters for the Taiping Rebellion in the late 1800’s, Sun Yet-Sen was sworn in as President in the Early 1900’s and finally as the headquarters for the Chiang Kai-Shek and the Nationalist Party before fleeing to Taiwan.

The Chinese love models! So here is the first model of the trip. The Heavenly Kingdom Palace

The decorations throughout the rooms were phenomenal.

The Gardens were beautiful, I have fallen in love with the moon gates

the gardens were extensive so this is one pavilion of many throughout

The ancestor worship hall within the complex

More gardens

A modern picture of Sun Yet-Sen and the Nationalists

Chiang Kai-Shek's office

Next we took the bus to the South Gate. It was huge, well preserved and unlike most of the historical sites in China, original. Built in 1368-1386 by the first Ming Emperor Hongwu, it was the most extensive in the world at the time. (DK-China)

 okay can you tell what college drilled into me? Mom how do you site a guide book?

Zhonghua Gate -  On the south side of Nanjing, this is the city side of the Gate complex.

 

Side view of the Gate complex, there is a ramp on the side that leads to the Gate house area on the very top.View from the entrance

Ramp to the Gate house. Got to love the Cheesy Soldiers.

View from the top of the inner stairs looking towards the city

Some of the blocks contain the signatures of the brick maker and crew with the date.

View of the city wall extending out from the Gate

We decided to risk the walk to the Temple and set out with our Chinese map to find the Confucius Temple. Originally built in 1045 it was the seat of Confucius teaching the area for hundreds of years. Rebuilt in the 1900’s.

The entrance to the walking street on which the Temple was located. We just stumbled across it.

It was a pleasant walk and to be perfectly honest we just lucked out in finding it because I took a turn and was lost on the map for a second. The temple was tucked away down walking streets.

The Fuzi Miao Temple

Burning Incense in the temple courtyard

The stone inlay was spectacular. They represented various stages in Confucius Life.

Scenes of Confucius Life, all in stone

The dragons were my favorite

one of the many structures with in the temple compound

 

Prayer tree in front of the temple.

Market Stalls around the temple, great finds!

Went shopping in the market stalls. Found some beautiful fans, wasn’t sure if I really like the first few so I decided to wait, yeah should’ve gone back but oh well. I did find my NANJING piece of jewelry though. A beautiful jade pendent. (I collect a piece of Jewelry from each city I visit. Light weight non dusty collecting souvenirs, that are functional and bring back memories each time I wear them.)

China towns look like Chinatowns in the states!

 

A good taco pot-sticker! Yumm.

I have to admit I was dissapointed in the lack of enthusiasum by the person who lit this monument.

 We walked back to the South Gate hoping it would be all lit up in true Chinese fashion (aka completely tacky) but were disappointed to find it rather dull. I had the map and was the designated navigator. I still say according to the map the closer metro was to head south for what looked like three blocks. Well China maps seem to say one thing when reality says another. We ended up along a shady street that just made the wrong side of the tracks look pleasant. Finally we saw a metro sign but couldn’t find the entrance when we asked the shop keeper about the metro we just got confused looks. So when all else fails hail a cab and hand over the hotel business card!

Now for the part, a cab driver with a bad optometrist! He couldn’t read the business card, he even held his lighter up to it before finally giving up and asking a teenager on the sidewalk to read it to him. We did make it back to our hotel and turned in for an early morning!