China makes a lot of things…but the cutest thing they make are kids. Here are some snips of some children or hái zi (pronounced hide-zha) that caught my eye this week. Girl playing with her smart phone at a Muslim Goat Hot Pot restaurant. A pint size sherpa climbing Snow Mountain, Yunnan, China. Bundled up Bus Baby in itsy bitsy glasses. David likes to […]
Cute Háizi
Hong Kong
It was over thirty years ago, the term after I broke my back skydiving, and the height of the now forgotten Falkland Island Crisis. My life was in a bit of a crisis, too. I took a break from MSU and studied for a term in London, being mindful to call my parents collect every Sunday assure them I was […]
Go fly a Fengzheng
You think it would be easy. I brought my kite from the USA to China, which sounds as ludicrous as Anheuser Busch importing their own rice to this country to make Budweiser beer. In China, fengzheng flying (pronounced phone-jen) is a serious hobby, where yeyes, (wise grandfathers) rule the skies and teach youngsters the ropes. Or in my case, give advice on how to untangle a three […]
Farmer’s Market
I went to a farmer’s market today in Kunming. It was more colorful than a bag of Skittles. A lot of shoppers rode bikes… including this guy who needed one of those OVERSIZED LOAD signs. My favorite was the rice bike. It’s the Chinese version of the Good Humor truck. Do you want one scoop or two? Or strawberry shortcake? You can […]
A DAY THAT NEVER WAS
It’s funny flying to the flipside. Father Time either swallows a day when you fly west over the international date line, or gives you a day back if you fly east, allowing you to land before you ever left. Well, yesterday, while flying back to China, my mother in law passed away. It was about nine o’clock CST, seven hours after take off, putting […]
Why I got my hair cut.
It was a typical day in China. I was out enjoying the typical Chinese scenery… teaching English at an upscale Equestrian -Golf club outside of Kunming, China. It was the kind of resort where you’d wipe your butt with hundred dollar bills…that is,if they offered toilet paper in their restrooms. Luxurious was an understatement for this resort. Easily five stars, just like […]
Golden, Fushcia and Leopard Print Temple
Monday was the fifteenth day of the new Chinese Year, which is also known as the Lantern Festival. Fireworks are replaced with colorful incense …. and floating lanterns are released in the sky. This caused a colorful block of traffic on my way to school, as I take a short cut thru the Golden Temple (in Kunming, China) to get there. The buses had to wait […]
Chinese Diners and Dives
I did the math. Eight seven thousand five hundred. That’s the number of servings I prepared last year at Jesus People USA, feeding three hundred and fifty funky folks each night, five days a week. That doesn’t include the meals that end up at Uptown shelters or the folks at Tent City. Or the lumpy grits that no one would […]
Oh, crap! 糟糕: Tzao Gao
The biggest difference between countries is not their style of politics but the little things, ATMs, traffic signals, directions on a washing machine, but most important, the rules and expressions for using the toilet. In the land of the free to pee, American public johns are not filled with signs about fines of how to squat or what to plop. […]
The Nightmare Before New Years
There’s only one thing louder than in China than New Year’s. It’s a Chinese Walmart on New Year’s Eve. Instead of fighting over Tickle Me Elmo’s and large screen TVs, shoppers grab for handfuls of prawns. And lucky chicken feet for your hostess. There is a tea tree instead of a Christmas tree. And itchy festive clothes for the children. […]