The last few weeks were spent going to various Japanese restaurants. Here are just a couple of places.
I went out with Jack and friends Elaine, Killian, and Maiko to a Japanese restaurant that specializes in eel. It was amazing.
Fried soba noodles were delicious.
I also noted a new restaurant near me that specializes in hot pot where you dip the cooked food in a raw egg. Jack and I managed to get a table one night. I was not sure of the raw egg in terms of safety but it was yummy. It turns out the eggs are from vaccinated chickens and flown in from Japan.
This week Bernie Sanders image at the inauguration resulted in many memes. I grabbed this one of Bernie at hot pot.
They also specialize in Omurice. It is a fried rice on a plate where an omelet is cooked with the inside still runny and then when it is cut it flows over the rice. A curry sauce is spooned over top. Here is a video: https://youtu.be/PyOsGWpGk2I
I also went bowling this week with Jack. It has been over a decade since I bowled and it was fun. I won once but at least scored a little more each game we played.
This week was also a surprise at the faculty meeting. Besides the usual snacks was cheese, crackers, and caviar with wine and beer. Not sure why, but nice to have something unexpected.
Running on Sunday morning at Favorview. I like to people watch so always fun somewhere new.
Not too far from my school in Science City is this beautiful park full of plum trees. They are blooming now with white or pink flowers. Because of the beautiful trees, so many people were there and Jack and I decided only to go if we could find a parking space. We both hate crowds.
But once there the photobombing opportunity made it worth it!
Photo bombing a live performance was not the original goal. You could hear singing everywhere and Jack explained that many of them were live streaming. They have some followers who will send them money but if they do something special they can sometimes get more. So I decided to photobomb them for those watching. I then took a picture of what I saw. Meanwhile Jack took pictures of me.
Taking a picture of their camera.And another…Then the one singer realized what I was doing! So funny!!!! They didn’t ask me to sing though which is a good thing…This was my picture from behind the singers.
Beautiful flowers were everywhere. The plum trees were in full bloom and the bees were buzzing. It was so fragrant just walking through the park.
Jack.Lots of people everywhere, talking and enjoying the day. Many brought lunch, some played games….It is a nice free place to enjoy nature and be outside.I had wondered if there were bee hives here and there were at one end of the park. The darker honey is made from the summer pollen and the lighter from the winter pollen. I purchased some of the lighter honey as I had already purchased the darker from a farmers market a few months ago.Bees busy making honey from the winter pollen (lighter in color and thicker honey)This honey is the honey made from the summer pollen.
Across from the trees are a large space for food stalls. I was thirsty so we went in search of something to drink. In Chinese:
Wǒ kěle. Wǒ xiǎng hē guǒzhī. I am thirsty. I want to drink juice.
Sugar cane juice which was sweet but not as sweet as I thought it would be. It was delicious.This bread was yummy. It is baked in a very hot oven that makes a well.This dessert is frozen with liquid nitrogen making it very cold and you can blow clouds with your breath.The food and fresh produce is amazing as it is everywhere here in China.
Running with visually impaired individuals
On Sunday four of us from school learned how to run as a running guide with visually impaired individuals. It was a great day and the gentleman Bin that I led spoke some English and I spoke some Chinese as well.
We held this rigid elastic band and used it to guide. Pulling up means to step up. Pulling down means to step down. Pulling left is to go left while pushing my right elbow against him means to go right. Pulling back means to stop or slow down. Communication is key to be at the right pace and it was a lot of fun.
Bin and I holding the band that we run with.
Late that day I went to Jack’s apartment in Favorview where we drank coffee at the clubhouse. There was a book club meeting there. People are the same all over. I loved how they brought snacks and drinks (they drank tea though in my book club it is often wine). They even had gifts for each other. But mostly they talked about the book while mostly just talking and learning about each other. We do the same as well. They were lovely to watch and notice the care of one another. I can’t wait for my book club meeting next week!
You can find any kind of food here in Guangzhou including a Poutine place. This restaurant is not far from me and friends met to try different versions of toppings for french fries. There is the original Canadian poutine as well as others inspired by different countries. I tried the Lhaksa poutine with shrimp and crab meat. It had coconut and was spicy.
On the weekend, Jack took me to the Liwan district for authentic Cantonese food. It was off the beaten path. We had bamboo noodles. It is regular rice noodles but shaped using bamboo sticks. The soup had pork blood cubes in it. That is a standard Cantonese dish.
Afterwards we went for dessert. You know the place is good when there is a long line waiting for take out.
This dessert Bai xiang guo had papaya in it and a sweet juice. I’m not sure what else is in it. It looks like a rice noodle (chang fen) and the dish is good for those with a sore throat.
Rice triangles with a variety of fillings which could be pork, mushroom, bean, or plum. They are stranded in bamboo leaves.
This dish is made with almond paste and rice milk. It is not as thick as a pudding and it’s served warm. It reminds me of the filling of a bear claw but not as sweet.
The next morning we went running on the Guangzhou International Bio Island. It is a manmade island that houses international corporations many for pharmaceutical and other technology. Self driving cars are tested here and move people around on the island. There is a great running track around the perimeter and it is very beautiful to run with the view of the river.
Beautiful park in the center.Mangrove trees. Unfortunately many were taken down when guangzhou was developed and the islandsc were made.Burning Rick works with individual genetic testing of cancer patients for individualized treatments.An international hotel on the island.Astra Zeneca China. This company is one of the covid-19 vaccine developers.
Then later we went for sauerkraut fish. It is a sour soup that is quite hot. There are many different peppers and the little round ones that look like peppercorns makes your mouth completely numb of you accidentally eat them.
Later in the week we went to another fish place where you add in other items to the fish and sauce you choose. This was Mekong fish with a spicy garlic sauce. There is so much incredible food here.
We passed by a place where young children get their hair cut. They sit in cats and watch cartoons to keep them still for their haircut. Clever.
After arriving back from Shanghai I spent more time with Jack. He had been so sweet and lovely. He gave me a great silk floral arrangement and organic perfume oil for my birthday.
I went to lunches with my friend Elaine. She always finds great food to try. This was a black tea with whipped cream and pecans. It was delicious.
Jack surprised me with plans to go to a village north of the city called Xitou. We had already made plans to go to my friends Tricia and Dan’s for new years eve get together in Huadu so went on a road trip a night early.
Ww ate at a place in Xitou village. They had rice wine that has bees soaking in it. It is to help with certain medical conditions. I didn’t try it but very curious….
The food was amazing. The soup (tang) was made with many different kinds of mushrooms. It was very tasty soup. The sweet potatoes had the best sauce ever.
The mountains in Xitou were beautiful.
The village was also beautiful. Some old buildings are original. Many new places have been erected for others to come from the city to stay and is growing as a tourist destination.
We also had congee and rice roll with egg the next morning in the village.
Then we took a hike to the next village.
We took a wrong road and saw this bird. It is a wild bird that stays there and is hand fed. He was fascinating. The owner of the property brought it a cooked potato to feed the bird.
There is actually a place to charge your phone and make a call in the middle of the bamboo forest. This is solar powered.
In the other village they grow Camellia flowers for tea. It is also being developed for tourism.
Meat drying outside.
After the hike we walked in the village to look at what they are selling.
Tofu dessert and sesame seed dessert. Warm and delicious.
Lunch was amazing at another village. The sour cabbage dish was delightful.
View from the restaurant.
We arrived at my friend’s. There we played games, ate pizza and dips, and watched movies and shows until the new year. With the pandemic, there are no formal ball drop celebrations and in China there are some parties. Getting together as a small group was still better.
I’m the morning, Jack and I ran 5k, had breakfast with everyone and took a stroll around their area. It was a great end of one year and start of the next.
After helping Cat with grocery shopping for the holiday meals I took a Didi into the city to meet my friend Tricia and Dan at the Grand Hyatt. I splurged on a massage then meet them for tea in a lounge.
View from the massage room.
While they were getting ready for dinner I went to the adjoining building to view the city on the observatory tower. Beautiful lights.
Dinner was in the French concession at Pollux. The French concession was an area of Shanghai under foreign control from the 1800’s until about 1943 when it was signed over to Japanese control. Since then it has retained its european flavor and is a popular tourist destination
It is a well rated restaurant. My dinner consisted of charred cauliflower (pureed cauliflower topped with a cauliflower steak with a parmesan crisp on top. Yum!), Salmon with bernaise sauce, and creme brulee.
There are beautiful markets, music venues, and restaurants here. It was lovely to walk around and take in the sights and sounds.
I am grateful to have a variety of friends and activities to keep me occupied during this holiday season. Even though it really does not feel like Christmas and just another week in this crazy ridiculous year that was 2020, it helps to keep my mind off the fact that I had planned to be home in the US this holiday season. Of course now, no one really should be getting together in the US as the virus cases are out of control.
I am equally blessed that my family is healthy even if my brother was potentially exposed at work. So grateful that his covid-19 test came back negative.
The combined Christmas concert at school featured choir, band, and orchestra. As usual it did not disappoint.
My legs were better midweek after the marathon to play in the girl’s teacher-student basketball game. It was called the Christmas chocolate classic. Teachers wore ridiculous clothes. To make it fair, teachers had no rules. We could do anything. We still lost. It was a blast though. Even though my legs didn’t hurt, they didn’t want to run back and forth across the court either! But honestly, those girls can sprint.
The coach is so fun and everyone was great as a team!!
Book club was held where I used to live in Clifford mansion. Tatz made a carrot cake for my birthday, we swapped books for Christmas gifts, and we were surprised by carolers!
We closed out the end of school for the holidays at a 90’s themed holiday party. It was fun despite losing my voice voting (screaming) for my friend Trisha and Dan to win best couples contest! They won and I did win the trivia contest as well.
The first weekend of break I decided to relax. I was originally supposed to travel to Chengdu to go hiking with my friend Morgana before traveling to Shanghai. Unfortunately, Chengdu went red with a covid-19 case that infected multiple places (a young person going from bar to bar…). I cancelled that part of the trip. Money was refunded easily.
Instead I stayed in Guangzhou and ate food and other things. Brunch at a Christmas market and movie on Saturday and dim sum on Sunday with Jack.
At the lobby of the grand international hotel where we ate dim sum.Shrimp jiaozi (steamed dumpling)
After dim sum we took a walk around Tianhe park.
I can’t quite figure this out.Practicing Tai chiArtist who is famous for depicting the mood of the times.Soldier who led the battle against the Japanese and is buried in the park.Jack had never tried stinky tofu. It is fermented and has an off smell but tastes like regular tofu. Very spicy sauce.
Great start to my two week vacation. Next on the agenda is Shanghai to visit a friend and then off to Harbin. I really have no plan and am just winging it for this vacation.
The weekend started out with Japanese food with a couple friends. I played it safe on the food but did have sake. I was to travel the next morning to run a fun half marathon with friends for charity and needed to be good with what I ate. We ran so that a few new runners could set a goal of running their first event and then we added raising charity for food banks. My friends Trisha And Daniel had this great idea months ago and I was keen to join in!
The next morning I drove with two friends, Jack and Claire to Huadu which is the north part of the city. I attended my last class for the leadership assessment class as we drove using zoom. It was beautiful sunshine but much colder of late.
We ran through the ecological park that connected with other parks. I couldn’t help but stop and take a couple pictures. My time was still 2 hours and 7 minutes trying to take it slow. However I made a wrong turn and ended 2 km away from where I needed to be so had extra amount of running.
We went afterwards to a nice restaurant (Sean was gracious to let us shower at his apartment.)
After the lunch Jack drive to the Imperial Springs. It is a hot spring resort that is pretty pricey. 400 USD for a standard room and much more for the villas that have their own hot spring in the residence. Jack had a personal connection to one of the dignitaries in charge and we were given permission to enter. It was beautiful but it had much more history than its beauty.
It also has a presidential palace that dignitaries use when they visit. We were allowed to walk in the upper floors. The actual loving areas need an elevator to go below. The top buildings are meeting rooms and in the typical Chinese style of the Tang dynasty. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have stayed here (Obama after he left office.)
A video of the view off the balcony of the main meeting room over top of the presidential quarters: https://youtu.be/wx7yFMRG2u4
We ate at the hot pot buffet restaurant. Pricey but very good food.
The next day I went for a hike with my friends Joanna. We started at baiyun and found the elevated walkway to the 5 rams park. It was beautiful and we passed through some parks I had not been to yet. The elevated paths connect the parks and then you walk through portions of the parks.
One of the parks that we went through was the Sculpture Park. We only walked along the part of the park that took us to the next section of pathway. There were quite a few sculptures in this part alone.
We also enjoyed noodle soup for lunch with handmade pulled noodles. So yummy and good on a cool day after walking.
a great weekend and my legs felt great as I have been lowering my weekly amounts to keep my hamstring healthy. It was great to spend time with friends!
This year for Thanksgiving I did not host a dinner like last year. Killian instead hosted at his place on actual Thanksgiving day. I had PD that day as well as a fall celebration so made cornbread and pies as my contribution. I think these were the best pies I have made.
The Thanksgiving dinner was great. Killian has an 0ld but cool apartment in Dongshankou which is a historic area of the city.
The Thanksgiving celebration before the holiday weekend was fun with corn hole tournaments, food and drink and live music with a teacher band.
We may not have had Thursday off, but we did have a three day weekend. Of course, I scheduled doctors appointments and tests for that day! But before that, I ran 17 km to train for the marathon I signed up for then went to my appointment. After leaving the Imaging center where i had a mammogram, I walked through Martyr’s park that commemorates those who fought for the current form of government. Even if it was communism it was better than the Qing Dynasty which ruled before that. Martyr’s Park is really beautiful and many people writing poetry with water and practicing TaiChi.
I took the subway to the sports center as it is a beautiful walk around there. My friend Elaine messaged me, so I went to see her at PoPark to grab lunch and walk around before my next appointment.
I’ve been eating out more than before… there is so much good food here! My favorite is Thai food and there is a great place in PoPark near the East Railway station. A good vegetable soup, Pad Thai inside a thin egg omelette with coconut jelled dessert.
We walked around and visited some of Elaine’s other friends that had rescued kittens. They are so adorable.
Over the weekend I also met with some other friends to hiking in Baiyun. I had not seen Joanna in some time! Morgana is also very busy at the Canadian school. Whenever we can make schedules work, it is amazing.
Afterwards, we traveled to Dongshankou to go to the Owl’s Nest whcih has a really nice brunch and coffee shop.
This is really reminiscent of the types of houses in the area at that time. Very romantic and beautiful.
It was a great holiday weekend and the start of the week was pretty spectacular too. Elaine, Killian, and I met near the river for Vietnamese Pho and then walked along the river to look at the light show. Some of it is paid entrance (in the amphitheater), but the rest was the pedestrian area of Huacheng Square.
It also was the first time that Book club met in person now that more of the teachers are back in China. Yummy food of grilled vegetables, an eggplant dish, and rice. The discussion was of the book Lizzie Borden which had some great analysis of all the past information about that famous persona.
It is easy to let multiple weeks go by without writing everything down. This year which is the longest year ever. Covid-19 had made this the most ridiculous year ever. No big travel trips this month but many little outings as school returns even more to normal and all students are on campus. We are almost back to the normal schedule. This has less to do with the virus itself but with finally having most of our teachers back in China. I’m also taking a leadership class on Saturday mornings (virtually …)
One of my really good friends here is Elaine from Canada. She and I live close to each other and we go out to eat every Monday. Sometimes Killian, my other good friend goes with us too. She works in an English language school so she works nights and weekends. Monday is our one day to catch up.
This portobello burger is amazing and the little restaurant is so retro.
I am still running to get ready for some races. My favorite place to run is along the river.
I also attended the AmCham ball. It is the American chamber of commerce. My school is a member and has a number of tickets. It was a great night with my colleagues. The food was amazing and the Garden Hotel never disappoints with atmosphere and food.
We also found a Poutine restaurant. It has original Poutine and also different nationality themes. Delicious!
Christmas displays at Parc Central in Tianhe!
I pulled out a Christmas tree I was given to decorate. It may become a cat climbing tower!
This was another foodie and experience weekend. I’m training (sort of) for a marathon. I can’t train fully as I still have a chronic hamstring issue. But I can run a half marathon and if I go slower I could run the full marathon. At worst, I can run and walk it and still finish in the time limit. It will be my one and only marathon and it is here in Guangzhou. I ran the half there last year. Crazy but up for the challenge.
After my 9 km morning run I had a leadership class on assessment at 8 am. At least I get the class done early enough in the morning. After that I went to dim sum with colleagues at the Luck Win Teahouse. Dim sum is the same in a lot of places. They have the same foods which you share as a table and sample everything. Each dim sum restaurant though has their one special dish you can’t get anywhere else.
You scan the code to order and then also to pay. So convenient.This was the amazing dish that is a specialty here. A fried dough that is hollow on the inside and filled with a warm sweet coconut milk. Yummy.
Other dishes we ate:
This is fried radish. It was so good. Better than fried tofu or potatoes.This had shrimp inside and was cooked perfectly.A meat dish I did not try.This was really good. The rice roll on the outside is made with red rice.
Then off to a doctor’s appointment to check on the 4 stitches in my head (I had a cyst cut out the afternoon before. How many do I need in my lifetime?). I walked home and passed this little farmers market. I bought honey. The day before I stopped and bought pumpkins.
I went to a Diwali dinner that night but had to leave to go to another event. Shalini and Sai are wonderful people I’ve been working with while they help until all our teachers are back. A great night with authentic Indian food and spending time with friends and the meaning of the festival of lights and dispelling dark.
The next day was TedX Guangzhou at the Garden Hotel. It was a pretty long day but some great messages from a variety of speakers. They had translator devices we could use. The gardens there are beautiful. (Pictures a few paragraphs below.)
The theme was Embracing complexity. The first session was: It’s about us. It focused on having empathy for our own transformations. Another speaker spoke of the kids lack of connection with the natural world and the result we see in how students and people think about one another and the resources around them.
The second session was Nitty Gritty. One message about climate change is that it is all around us and how small changes in temperature have made large changes where others are not aware. Another speaker spoke of complexity in systems from large scale (Earth) to small scale (cells). The energy constraints on systems are a common property as well as feedback loops. Another speaker spoke of protecting animals, and not just the cute ones. An educator spoke of perception opening hearts and ensuring that education is not indifferent. I like the speaker on the food crisis. She engaged with people to make the point of knowing where raw materials come from, learn recipes, make food, eat, clean up…. It brings up the motto from 4-H: head, heart, and hands….. Know how everything is used and what it takes to bring food to our table.
Lunch was delicious and I followed it with a walk around the gardens.
The third was Full Spectrum. There were many messages here including migrants who want a better life and should be trusted that they are motivated to do just that. It also discussed economics such as inflation and other items that affect society.
I chose a breakout session where we broke in groups to find evidence of various things in a neighborhood. We then moved around groups to look at what each group found and heard interesting stories as each group interacted with people differently. There were some common assessments of the neighborhood and similar stories from the residents.
The fourth session was Onward and Upward. It focused on high density areas that are dealing with high livability issues. It also looked at serious environmental issues and local groups stopping destruction of old neighborhoods and environmental areas.
