Kaiping

Our staff took a sightseeing trip to Kaiping last weekend- a UNESCO World Heritage site. Chinese who had made their fortunes in the US and Canada during the 20’s and 30’s and returned to this area of China to marry (I think) and to retire. The houses are of interest because they look like a cross between an architectural folly and a castle tower. Apparently they needed to be secure enough to protect the inhabitants from: (and I quote) marauders.

This guy would be enough to scare me off- no tower needed

The big tower above belonged to this dude and his 3 wives. 

One floor for entertaining and a level for each wife. 

A fabulous kitchen on each floor.











All connected by a spiral staircase with beautiful
scenic roof view.

At its peak Kaiping had 3000 towers. Now there are only about
1000. Only a handful are open to the public. I think the rest are still considered ancestral homes.



People still live in the area. Although I think that there live off the tourist trade. 


 It was very interesting for about 40 minutes. Unfortunately, we were there for 2 hours.

Security Issues

OK Joe. This might entertain you. I laughed until I cried.

 A short time ago I discovered these files on my phone. Apparently I unknowingly downloaded a security app that captured the image of anyone trying to access my phone with the wrong password. 

The resulting images are hilarious....

...except the last one. I don't know who the hell the woman is in the last picture, but it is super creepy. Is she sleeping in my bed??????

Storm Chips (and chocolate)

I once heard a radio story about how Halifax residents always go out and buy potato chips before a snow storm. Apparently storm chips fly off the shelves in the hours leading up to a blizzard.

We had a typhoon warning one Friday morning in October. The school was cancelled and we were allowed to go home as soon as all of the kids had been picked up- about 9 am. as it turned out.

They were predicting days of total chaos, so it everyone stopped to shop on the way home. It seems that everyone had a different idea of what constituted emergency preparedness. I work with dudes who slugged liters of Coke back to their apartments. A few of my co-workers who refuse to cook carried stacks of take-out meals from from local restaurants to heat up. I hit the corner store and the fruit stand and dragged this lot home.

Dried soy beans, snacking seaweed, milk, ramen, potato chips, yogurt drink, chips, a chocolate bar, cucumber, some form of green leaf(?) a red onion, celery and a few potatoes.

I also filled as many containers as I could find with water to flush my toilet. I have learned the hard way that the water doesn't work when the power goes off. People thought that was weird???

The chips and chocolate bar were gone before 2 pm when it was officially announced that the storm had changed direction and wouldn't hit the city after all. Oooops. 

Food Fun

Another food post. In fact, I am going to try to pound out a number of posts this weekend to amuse Joe. I hope they are amusing as they will be mostly photos from my shitty phone.

I’m not one for photographing meals- too busy eating. So these are photos are weird foods or events that made me stop and take a photo. It may be interesting to note that I became a strict vegetarian upon landing here in China.

mmmmmm. FINGER LICK'N GOOD

This little face was staring up at me all through lunch last weekend.

I have a nuber of coworkers who have given up on eating meat because of the high probability that it will be served with a recognizable face.

SHOPPING IN HONG KONG
I went shopping in Hong Kong a few weeks ago. I think people were a little surprised that my only purchases were made in a grocery store. I'm not sure what they thought that I was going to buy.

I have actually located most things on the mainland now except for lentils and bulgar. Hot chocolate, a cake mix, ginger cookies, granola bars, a measuring cup and spoons and a loaf of bread were just impulse purchases.

'TIS THE SEASON

I have a co-worker that says that you know the oranges are in season when the streets are paved with the peels. We have been walking on them for a few weeks now. 

Most are tiny little things with so many leaves on them. Some of them are basically branches with an orange attached. I LOVE them. I buy them with as many leaves as I can even though it makes them more expensive. Like 20 cents a kilo instead of 18 cents- so I guess expense is relative.

I also love the dragon fruit here. It is neon purple and dyes everything it touches neon purple. It tastes little like water melon.

A New Initiative

Cathy is encouraging me to post more often so I have decided that I will post short notes about things that happen more regularly for those interested.

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Although I live in the Canton region of China, the primary language spoken here is Mandarin with a small percentage of Cantonese. The monkey wrench, however, is that the local pronunciation of Mandarin sounds so much like Cantonese to me I can't even determine which language people are speaking. 

Mandarin is a language with 5 tones. The same word can be pronounced 5 different ways to produce a variety of different meanings. Given my inability to even identify the sound of the language entirely, I have decided that I am not in a hurry to study it seriously.

A returning teacher has just discovered that he has actually been telling cab drivers that he is a teacher with the incorrect tone. One of our Chinese Canadian colleagues swears that he is actually saying that he “shit his pants”. His girlfriend thinks that this announcement makes the drivers drive faster.

One of the new teachers has apparently been asking the staff at the grocery store deli counter for knowledge instead of cheese. Again the words sound identical to the untrained ear. I forgot to ask him if the deli counter had any knowledge to give.

              

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Fast Food

Last week was the three day national holiday creatively named: October Holiday. My school, and most of China, added two days on to this holiday to round it out to a full 7 days. The catch was that most of the country was then required to work the following Saturday and Sunday to make up for the time lost. Not only do we not get Canadian Thanksgiving off, we have to work a 7 day week starting Saturday.

I have been invited to a Thanksgiving pot-luck, but I am at a loss as to what to take. It has to be quick and easy because it is a work day and still be a festive addition to the holiday table. 

I found these prepared chickens at the local grocery store.  Well prepared may be a bit of an exaggeration because they are actually raw, but the feathers have been removed. The feet are tucked under the body so it will balance nicely on a platter and the head is tilted back so far it basically present itself- a sprig of parsley in its beak and voila! The fact that I don’t have an oven, however, presents a problem.

This dilemma forced me further in to the meat section of the

store to investigate some of the many convenient options in the no-cook category as well. At first things looked pretty dire: Dried squid- doesn’t scream Thanksgiving; hunks of mysterious meat-presentation a challenge.

I was surprised to find the perfect answer one aisle farther along- dried duck pucks. Duck is a traditional Thanksgiving treat! And finally, for those who don’t care for poultry, dry, flattened pig faces.  My idea is to anchor these beauties upright in mounds of garlic mashed potatoes.Pot luck contribution complete (no oven required).