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Mid autumn festival

It is still hard to believe this is the start of my second year here in China. I’m settled in my new area and really getting used to how to get around.

It is still like a first year with IB Biology as it is a two year program. I did work ahead at getting materials ready for this year knowing how crazy it is with cross country.

I am also thinking a lot about my dad and my family. On the 19th it will be one year since he passed. There are still times the realization dawns again that he is not here….

Moon festival or mid autumn festival

Also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Chinese Moon Festival falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. Besides Chinese new year, it’s one of the most important traditional events for the Chinese.
Legend traces the story to a hero named Hou Yi, who lived during a time when there were 10 suns in the sky. This caused people to die, so Hou Yi shot down nine of the suns and was given an elixir by the Queen of Heaven to make him immortal. But Hou Yi didn’t drink the elixir because he wanted to remain with his wife, Chang’e (spoken as Chung-err). So, he told her to watch over the potion.
One day a student of Hou Yi tried to steal the elixir from her, and Chang’e drank it to foil his plans. Afterward, she flew to the moon, and people have prayed to her for fortune ever since. Food offerings snd family reunions are part of the holiday.
When the full moon rises, families get together to watch the full moon, eat moon cakes and sing moon poems. It is an important holiday here.

My friend Lilian invited us to the cowboy bar Mr. Rocky to celebrate. She brought moon cakes and we celebrated at lunch as she would be downing the evening with her family. We had a great time. She shared the legend, the importance of the holiday, and we shared a meal.

This is Lillian. She meets people and strikes up great conversations then brings everyone together.

I spent some parts of the weekend catching up on sleep and doing school work. I had wanted to go away for the long weekend but decided against it as I will be leaving for a cross country meet in Thailand.

On Saturday night, I went to ptv, a karaoke place. It is incredible. There are costumes you can try in and takes in with you.

I had to try this wig on.

My friends Ping arranged the room. It cost 75 rmb which is about $13. This includes a full buffet.

Each room had a dining table with tea set, two screens, a standing microphone and other hand held mics. There were plenty of comfy places to sit. You can choose from a vast array of some and artists and they had a great variety of singers from all over.

We had a blast. I normally don’t like to sing but thoroughly enjoyed myself.

The rest of the weekend I also spent exploring and running of course. I found new places to eat including the Mojito Cafe in my neighborhood (yes, the Mojito’s were good) and finding a new wet market to get my produce!

And I enjoyed moon cakes and spending time on Guangzhou for the holiday.

The start of year 2

I intended to write a blog post before now but the days have been running together. Things are still new: I moved to a new apartment so learning new places and being more adventurous and year two of biology is just as new as the first year as it is a two year program. I also am in an apartment where things are not done for you, so a little learning curve there. This includes getting my own police registration before I can get my work visa renewed.

But many things are easier this year. I worked hard at the end of last year to get materials ready for the start of this year and that has really helped. Much of the learning of Chinese culture makes each successive year easier as well.

I’ve spent days walking in different directions to explore my new neighborhood. Nearby there are three universities and their campuses are beautiful. This is at the Agricultural University.

This is in the park at the China Normal University.

I’ve been paying more attention to places to eat and buildings now that I know hidden gems are in these massive buildings and not really noticeable from the outside.

On a walk I always look at names of businesses too as they can be quite funny. This pizza place had my brothers name on it. I have yet to encounter a Chinese man taking that English name. And, there are also not many pizzas places here.

After living in Western PA, I’ve seen all manner of holding parts on cars, but I’m thinking the use of duct tape here may be for decoration?

I have also been walking along hidden paths in my building that connect adjacent buildings together. This little kitty is guarding antiques. Not sure what this space is for but other spaces have a nail salon, Indian grocery store, etc.

I still run with the Nike run club on Tuesday nights and I am much closer to it and get home a little earlier as a result. I also ran with a few members of the cross country team before school started (and the other coach) one morning before it became too hot. This picture is facing the river.

This picture is facing away from the river and the direction towards my apartment.

I have been going out to dinner to try new places. Some of the events are with Internations to promote meeting people from other cultures.

On the first day of school. My new assistant principal on the left, IB coordinator and curriculum director on the right.

I created a breakout box for my classes for the first day. This class had to get through 5 boxes with locks to get the vaccine to save us from the zombie apocalypse (and to get the carb treats for energy.) Fun!

I’ve gone running to various parks and get lost in other areas of the city. That is easy to do here.

Many intersections start to look alike but every once in awhile I recognize a place I’ve been and know where to go.

After seeing the pedestrian bridge I saw the Russian restaurant and knew I was on my road. Still a distance away but glad to know where I was at since I was running and getting tired…

After being gone for several weeks it was good to see construction projects that had been around for some time near completion. Here is under a bridge on the way home from the river. It is a great place to hang out now. They have sculptures of musicians and play music underneath. It looks as if a small stage is being constructed too.

I also upgraded my bike to a trek a friend was selling. On the way there to get the bike I saw my old friend the statue policeman. It is so funny.

At a local Japanese restaursnt.. I love the different groups that have great ideas for dinner. We had fun after school one day. There is always a different School bus to take for a different area and we all travel it together.

I joined a 30 day challenge as I have between deficient working and, weights, and squats. We meet for a killer workout at a gym then rewarded ourselves with good tasting food.

Last weekend’s Internations event was on the 65th floor of the Park Hyatt. Great food including sesame ice cream and a gorgeous view.

I met some people I had seen before and some new friends!! Sara is from Finland and teaches Chinese classes here. The other two are from the British school. Kim, the lady in the blue, gave me a fabulous company to take dive classes in Bali. I’m considering that for the holidays.

Where I used to live is in the smallest building in front.

And it is always great when you find all the resources you need in your new neighborhood. Finding a vet that is owned by the same company as the last one was great. They have the computer records for my cats and they are in walking distance!

Looking forward to more exploration!!!! Miss everyone back home and hope the last part of your year treats you well.

De Ruien

Underneath Antwerp in the underground is the old canal system that made Antwerp look like Amsterdam. We took a tour below here to learn the history. As you walk through the system you can see the original bridges. As we walked it is as if we were boats on a canal moving through the city.

We put on a protective coverall with wellies on our feet as we would be walking through storm water run off in some low areas.

There were others down there with us. Rats which we only saw one and spiders. These are only females as they eat the makes after mating. They are much like a small tarantula. The temperature usually stays around 15 degrees Celsius.

In the middle ages the city of Antwerp was founded in low lands and closer to water, namely the Scheldt river. Canals were created and used for trade, defense, and removing waste. As the population grew, more canals were added, but the stench and disease became a problem.

The city council solved this problem by wanting people to build over the canals. Whoever covers the canal in front of their buildings owns that portion of land. You can see many restaurants with extended outdoor seating far off the sidewalk.

Underneath in the old canals were constructed a sewer system of pipes. As we walked along we heard the history of used of the water in the canals, excess dumping if human waste as the population grew and how disease caused a change in policy. I wonder what else they could have done as the prettiest part of Amsterdam is the canals.

This is a sluice gate where water could be stopped. Before adding the pipes, water would be stopped through multiple gates. At low tide, the bottom hate would open, letting water and waste it, then the next one further up would be opened, washing waste out and do on up through the ruein.

There is still water through these underground canals as storm water run off comes through here as well.

This spot has a church above it and there is a passageway that leads to a closet in the back. This allowed church members to flee through these passageways if needed. It is also rumoured that priests would use the passageways to visit prostitutes.

Here are some informational posters at the end though they are all in Dutch.

It was quite interesting.

Antwerp

Getting around Europe is pretty easy. You can take a train just about anywhere. We walked into the train station and purchased a ticket from Brussels to Antwerp Centraal. Within the hour, we were there.

Do a little research and find hotels that are close to the train station. We walked only a couple blocks each time which is helpful when you are carrying luggage. I chose the more Centraal train stop as it is in the middle of the city. I usually don’t carry a lot when I travel but after winning a class set of VR cubes, my pack is heavier. Okay, I also did buy 4 pairs of shoes and am bringing back a couple more shirts… Quite the workout…

The inside of Antwerp station is beautiful.

We walked to the hotel and unloaded our stuff, charged the phones a bit, and planned the afternoon and evening.

On the walk to see the sights we had chosen, we saw a few interesting sculptures.

Hehe… What my parents used to call me…

Next we visited the botanical gardens. This looks like a Christmas tree (like the artificial kind), but up close it is different…

That was the tips of the tree. They look different but they were hurtful to touch like sharp needles.

This sculpture was really cool.

Of course, statues and art…

De Kathedraal. It is sad that they built other buildings so close to it.

Some of the buildings we saw along the way…

Hidden passageways through doors leading to back alleyways. The sign “Vlaeykensgang” marks where the door is. I know there are more than one.

Grote market. Grote means great.

In the center of Grote market is Brabo fountain. The water was turned off that day. In fact there is a lot of construction here and in Brussels. The history of the fountain according to Wikipedia:

The reason is the legend of the name of the city, in which it is said that the giant Druon Antigoon cut off a hand to all the ship captains who moored in the area and refused to pay toll, then throwing it to the Scheldt. The captain of the Roman army Brabo cut off the giant’s hand imitating what he had done. The fountain reflects the moment when the Brabo throws the giant’s hand into the river.^[1][2][3]According to this legend, the etymology of the name of the city Antwerp is a composition of the Dutch words “(h)ant” (hand) and “werpen” (launch).^[

The sculpture dates to 1887. There is a lot going on in the sculpture with animals (sources of the water) and the giants hand being cut off and thrown.

Dinner was at an Ethiopian restaurant called Little Ethiopia. It was on a side street of if Grote Market. Their food was amazing.

After dinner we went in search of Het Steen castle. Unfortunately it is under construction inside until July 2020.

Along the river Scheldt there are many windmills around the port.

I love all of the stone paths and streets in these cities. We cast a long shadow at the end of the day.

Another beautiful church…

And another…

We also saw what reminds me of Gringotts bank from Harry Potter. And… It actually is a bank… Nationale Bank Van Belgie.

Tomorrow we tour a couple more places in Antwerp and then travel for the last night in Amsterdam. Only one more day and I head back to China. I can’t believe school starts August 5th.

Brussels

European travel. It seems there is always something. Our train, among others, was cancelled due to a power outage. Instead we took a train to Rotterdam and then on to Brussels. Just put us behind a few hours.

I met a friendly person at the train station named Jon who it turns out actually worked at the power plant in Punxsutawney and new of the steam being used for the greenhouse to grow hot house tomatoes. What a small world!

Brussels is beautiful with the old buildings.

The cathedral.

Views of streets as we were walking.

The Grand Place. These have been government buildings and was also the bread market, notably so all trade occurred here and nobility could directly tax the people. All of the buildings surround the square on four sides.

Later on we took pictures at night. Just beautiful.

While walking through the streets looking for fine chocolates and of course, waffles!

Of course we also set out to find the pis statues.

We found comic book graffiti at as this place is famous for comic books.

We literally ate our way around this city. From fries, to chocolates, to Turkish delights, ice cream (Becca not me), cheese…The best fries ever including one of 8 sauces including a pickle sauce.

Turkish delights.

Waffles everywhere.

Lunch waffles at The Sister right off of the Grand Place. They have gluten free waffles made with chick pea flour. Auderghem waffles for lunch with tomato, avocado, goat cheese, and ruccola (arugula).

Their menu is on wood.

Belgian beer and cheese at the hotel.

Indoor market at St. Hubert’s..

The royal palace and the park.

Statue near Grand place of Bruegges.

Statue of Elisabeth.

Unexpected find in a comic book store: a whole Harry Potter section.

Other statues or artwork that caught my eye.

A really great panorama of the city during my morning run.

Before taking on Brussels.

We stopped at the Marie Louise garden and statue. This is me, Louise Marie in front of Marie Louise.

So true. All about inclusion.

The arch in the park.

Next stop: Antwerp.

Amsterdam Day 3: what we didn’t see the other days…

I started the day running 5.7 miles through the streets of Amsterdam. I found this great resistance art when I took a different turn and therefore a different route. The art is a dollhouse on a vacant lot as a symbol of resistance to development. A cute kitty came out for some head rubs.The Amsterdam pass is worth it. We saw so much and paid less than half price with all that we saw and did.Here is the oldest building in Amsterdam, dated in the early 1500’s.First on the agenda was the hop on hop off boat tour. We didn’t hop off anywhere but took the whole route around. Afterwards Becca went to the pride parade and I went on an open boat canal tour. Some sights were the same but the stories were different.These stones in the buildings would be how you identified where people lived before there were addresses. They would have symbols of their profession.Many buildings are not straight but what do you expect from houses that are many centuries old and built on land that used to be under water.I also liked looking at all the different gables on the buildings.From this point of view you can see multiple bridges. There are actually 7 in a row.In this area is where flea markets still occur and have been going on for over two centuries. This is near city hall.In many of the canals there are iron rails to stop cars from going over into the canal. However, there are some that do not have the rails and cars drive over often. Unfortunately so do bikes but mostly from mischief. Approx. 15 people a year die in the canal, usually men, usually after drinking and trying to urinate in the canal. It is very difficult to climb out of the canal.Below is Nemo, the children’s museum and science center. There is a sand lot on the top for people to hang out on nice days.There is parking lots for bikes. Thousands of bikes. Some people have two bikes as they may not remember where they parked one!Speaking of bikes, there are more bikes than cars and dedicated bike lanes on every road.This boat passed us and is a literal garden on the canal. Yes, that is actually a boat.After the tours I walked back to the Rijksmuseum where there were pride celebrations already beginning.I walked to Vondel park, the most popular park in Amsterdam. As I walked through I realized the end of the pride parade was here. They had great family games, dancing, information, and empowering everyone. It was fun and peaceful.I walked to the Jordaan area and window shopped. This is the best place to see unique boutique shops. I stopped at Cafe Jordaan for an Amstel.While I was walking, I overheard a your guide say that this shop had the best stroopwaffels. I decided to try it and he was right. It was amazing. They make a thin waffle and split it in half making a sandwich with caramel.Here is how it is made:https://youtu.be/PenYHmMK6gkI stopped for food at foodhallen. It is in De hallen where there are also vendors for crafts.I bought fried vegetables. Green beans, carrots, and artichokes are lightly battered and fried. Very good.Last for the day is the Heineken experience. It walked through how beer is brewed. The original chemist that found the yeast to give the beer it’s unique taste studied under Pasteur.They have their own horses too. I really miss the smell of a farm.They had fun activities along the way learning how the beer is brewed and bottled, and fun and games at the end. We toasted “Proost” with freshly brewed beer and at the end were allowed to have to more glasses of beer. You can also bottle your own beer and have it ready for you at the end.On the way back to the hotel I snapped a few more pictures. A shot of houses along the canal (this would be their back door).This pic is in the museumplein.I never noticed the top of this building as a great hangout for people.Tomorrow we are off to Brussels, Belgium. But before we go, another Dutch pancake at Pancakes Amsterdam.

More Amsterdam walking… Still day 2

Including my run, we walked almost 20 miles today. Yes, my feet do feel it.

Here is the last part of our day.

We went from the tour to the A’dam lookout, the tallest point in Amsterdam. It is also a great hang out spot, just too hot today (105 degrees F). Definitely the best view of the city.

I feel a little bit like Cersei from Game of Thrones even though this chair is made from guitars.

A view from the top. In the distance just right of the center is where Zaanse Schans is located.

Overlooking the city center where most attractions are found.

A little apartment building like a doll house on display.

More views from the top.

Amsterdam Centraal and the ferry that brings you to the other side.

Next we took the ferry across and walked to the Amsterdam dungeon. I don’t like haunted houses but this was fun. I didn’t take pictures, they were not allowed but actors talked about Dutch history with a few scary spots throughout. They used people in their acts recreating sentencing people for witchcraft, etc. Lots of funny but that were pretty entertaining and a few scary parts that were well done. Best part: we were out if the heat.

Becca became part of the act and was put in a cage. I had to choose a mystery hole to out my hand in and find a key. Of course the sound and movement of something inside made me jump! Poor Becca, we left, she was still in the cage. But not for long. At the end we had beer or the choice of pop.

We did see some macrons. Perfect snack.

Next was the red light district. Sex workers on display and lots of clubs. As it was late in the afternoon there were a lot of people there but not too racey yet.

Dinner at a Thai restaurant.

Enough walking for today. More adventures tomorrow.

Hopping along the countryside

If you have a chance to go outside of Amsterdam, you should! It is beautiful. There are many tours to see parts of the countryside, but if you get the Amsterdam pass, the hop on hop off tour is included. There are 6 stops including the tour office and you can get off in as many or as few as you want. There is about 45 minutes between buses and you can stay in any one location as long as you want. Of course we had it planned out down to how long we would spend in each place.

The tour office is called This is Holland and is just after you get off the free ferry from behind Amsterdam Centraal. A’dam lookout is there (which wasn’t open when we got there but we visited afterwards) as well as the Eye, which is an art museum.

First stop is Zaanse Schans. It is a neighborhood in the Dutch town of Zaandam, near Amsterdam. Historic windmills and distinctive green wooden houses were relocated here to recreate the look of an 18th/19th century village. There are houses that showcase different aspects of Dutch life from cocoa to cheese making.

The windmill that is used as a mill was also a gift shop.

We visited a Henri Willig farm where there is also a cheese shop.

We tasted some awesome cheese! Not the plastic stuff shown here but really awesome cheese like the baby sheep (Becca’s favorite) and original sheep cheese (my favorite).

I had been hungry for ice cream and for licorice and was lucky to find…

You guessed it…

Licorice ice cream. Very tasty. The ice cream had a hint of licorice and only the pieces of licorice mixed in provided enough taste. I loved it. I always look for a unique ice cream or potato chip wherever I go to try.

Areas of Zaanse Schans smells like chocolate. There is a chocolate boutique there that sells exquisite confections. I resisted.

We skipped the Edam stop and instead started on the bus until the next stop, Volendam. This is a very quaint fishing village.

We walked down to the water. Originally this water was salt water from the Zuiderzee inlet of the North Sea. A series of dykes reclaimed land and created a fresh water lake called Markermeer instead.

More cheese tasting.

We visited a wooden clog museum which is very interesting why they were used as shoes for so long (they insulate and can withstand many weather conditions with the bonus of knowing where your kids are) and how they are made both by hand and by machine.

Back along the waterfront.

We stopped at a street vendor selling salted herring. We split a sandwich of herring. I am up for trying anything new.

We skipped the Henri Willig cheese stop. I know, but we had enough cheese for the day.

Last stop was Monnickendam. It is a classic ancient Dutch town and you can tell by looking at how some walls lean differently from adjoining walls.

The stone on the roads and sidewalks are amazing.

The old church.

We stopped at a couple boutique cheese and chocolate shops.

I found beer made from salt water. It was very mellow and mild. Being dehydrated I drank it pretty fast.

The town was beautiful.

Now to head back to Amsterdam for more sight seeing. All in all we spent about 4 to 5 hours on the tour.

Get out and find something cool. AKA day 2 Amsterdam

This will be probably more than one part as there is a lot to share.

Early morning run outside the city center through Artzuid, sculptures scattered throughout connected parks. I stopped to snap a few pics of ones I thought were very interesting.

Next on the agenda was food but it was a long walk to Amsterdam Centraal where the mass transit is centered. Behind the station is Pancakes Amsterdam. They have Dutch and American pancakes and they were delicious. In the back of the picture is berry and in the front is a savory smoked salmon.

A quick ferry ride across the section of water between North Amsterdam from the old city is all that separated us from the countryside tour.

Some sights around Amsterdam as we were walking to breakfast:

The royal residence.

Inside the tunnel to get to the back of Amsterdam Centraal.

Next post is the countryside tour.

Amsterdam day one

July 25. After getting in a little later than expected (our original flight was cancelled as the airport had refueling problems and limited the number of planes that could arrive. We were lucky to get a different flight quickly as the flight was cancelled mere hours before take off.) With our rooms not ready, we left the bags and started sight seeing.

At the airport.

Before we left we planned what we wanted to see and mapped out our days to see what we could fit in. Becca is going with me and we are obviously alike. We purchased the Amsterdam pass for two days (you can get a mobile download instead of a card.) It gets you a lot. Many of the things we wanted were covered in this pass.

The first thing we used the pass for was a free trip on bus 397 from the airport. It makes many stops near hotels and attractions. The closest to the Apollo Marriott was the museumplein stop. We walked the rest of the way to the hotel.

After dropping off our luggage we walked back up to the museums. The first in the list was the Moco museum that had contemporary art like Banksy and Andy Warhol.

This is in front of the museums. The van Gogh museum is in the background.

Mickey snake. Or is it Mickey swallowed by a snake?

The museum is in an old house and loved this above the fireplace in one of the rooms.

Another artist created interesting art eroding areas of the art for effect.

Next was the Rijksmuseum, the national museum of Netherlands.

Lots of drinking horns…

Ships as this was a shopping powerhouse back in the day…

Originally Belgium and Netherlands were one land. When unrest let to a split, artists fled North to what is now Netherlands. It was always known that Belgium was known as a land of heavy drinkers and drinking games and ornate vessels for drinking games. The second from the right is a vessel that looks like a book.