Chinese Food

Here is a recent photo of our little fridge. Yes, we are bachelors! Oh, in case you can't make it out, this is beer.


This is the label of some tea that Jerry brought back from his summer vacation for us. We are not sure where this translation comes from. Nor are we sure we want to ingest "howling dust" but the tea was good.













Chips in China have the oddest flavours! Check it out for yourselves.

Finger Licking Braised Pork Flavor, Cool Cucumber Flavor, Blueberry Flavor. Some others are: Stewed Eggplant Flavor, Mexican Tomato Sauce Flavor, Lychee Flavor, Stewed Fish Flavor, BBQ Steak Flavor and Succulent Roast Pork Flavor.

Happy Independence Day to Our Mexican Friends!

To all of our dear friends in Mexico,

Happy Independence Day! We can't believe that a year ago, we were there to celebrate with you. Even though we are thousands of kilometers away, you are all in our hearts. We celebrated with a toast of vitamin T and hours of Maná. Don also kept his shirt on to teach his class this afternoon. They are the only students in China who know what September 16th and El Grito are.

Abrazos, Julietta y Don Dengue

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

It was Mid-Autumn Festival on Sunday. We got a holiday out of it and lots and lots of mooncakes. Growing up in Canada, we celebrated this festival but I never realized how important the holiday is here. It turns out that it is the second most important holiday in China, only after Spring Festival (Chinese New Year). While preparing for class, we learned all about it. It is a time to celebrate abundance and togetherness. Families and friends get together to eat mooncakes under the moonlight. There are also many different legends surrounding the festival and they even have a version with a lady on the moon.

We had to call on our friends Sunrise and Cruise at bbq last Friday to check the ingredients of mooncakes for us. Since there is no English on most of them, we have no idea what the fillings are. Some of them are marked with Chinese characters on the mooncake but many just have a swirl pattern. We will be eating mooncakes for a couple of months.

Welcome Newbies!

The school welcomed the freshmen last week. Here is a welcome sign at the south gate... I guess cause I can't read it :)





There was a crush of them arriving shortly before their first day at university. Many were accompanied by their parents. All the street vendors took advantage of this and started selling necessities like washbasins, thermoses, bedding, towels and other basics. Even our fruit lady got into the act and sold more necessities then fruit.













The basketball courts became temporary parking lots to accommodate all the parent units' cars.





This was their first day. Instead of starting classes right away, they have 2 weeks of military training. It was very hot today, about 30C! Notice all their water bottles in the stands. Poor dears.

A Walk in Jinan

Here is a good steady business at a small fountain downtown. A guy sells a baby bottle of fish food to passersby. The fish were almost jumping out of the water.



















These are nice closeups of a newly demolished site. Not too long ago, there were rows of low buildings here. Guess it's making way for progress. Some people have described Jinan looking like a post war city. From these photos, it certainly does.

Another Video of Hong Kong

Here is Don's video from the evening we watched the sound and light show in HK. Enjoy!