Great wall

We went to Beijing over the weekend, and went to the Great Wall twice.  The two times could not have been more different.  The first time was  by Mutianyu.  The wall here is straighter, and everything was in a deep, thick fog.  There were not many tourists, and the whole thing seemed very calm and erie.

The second day we went to Badaling.  In the snow!  The snow made everything look bright and clear, and at least for the first part of the day, we could see for miles.  The snow made the walkways very slippery, and walking along the wall in huge crowds while trying not to slip on the steep walkways was exhausting.

Faithful readers will notice that this is the fist post where I show something further away than a short walk from the apartment.

Silas looks at things

Stefanie and Silas came to visit us in Qingdao for their spring break.  We took Silas on a walk through the neighborhood, down to the street market down the street, and he looked at things.  First, we saw kids in the day care down the street.  They were practicing some sort of karate; the teacher was quite serious about making sure they did it right.  I see these kids outside doing their morning exercises every day on my way to the shuttle that takes me to the Laoshan campus.

Here, Silas is looking at some chickens on the street.  If it is not clear that these chickens are for dinner, then the feathers coming out the shoot on the right should clarify that point.

The seafood market is really spectacular.  You can get all kinds of fish, shellfish, and other small sea monsters.  My favorite part is the (live) octopi.  They are about as big as my hand, and swim around in a small styrofoam box.

The zipper on Silas' jacket broke while we were down at the market.  A lady (in the red jacket) noticed me struggling to try to zip the jacket up, and pointed us toward the cobbler.  He pulled out some tools and a new zipper from his bag, and had a new (working!) zipper put on in about three minutes.  It cost 3 RMB ($0.47).  

Later that day, Silas and I walked up the mountain.  On our way, many, many people wanted to take Silas' picture; I guess long, blond hair is still a novelty.  Silas is shy with strangers, and would usually hide behind me.  But one time, he asked to have my camera, and took a picture back at the person photographing him.  I thought this was very empowering.  Here is the picture Silas took of his photographer.

A rainy day

The Chinese prefer umbrellas to raincoats.

Molasses

The internet was like molasses today.  This was the first weekend after the semester started.  It was also rainy, so everybody staid indoors.  Doing what?  I think I have an idea.

Last week, I had lunch with Happy, who works at the Sino-German Exchange program at Ocean University of China.  Her English is perfect (thoughtful and deliberate, to be sure, but perfect).  She has worked with a number of people from Texas A&M during her time at OUC, and she seems at least as familiar with Texas A&M (where I work) as I am.  Although she has never lived in the US, or even been there for a visit, she also knows American television much, much better than I do.  Admittedly, this is a low bar, but her knowledge of American television seems to me to be substantial.  So, what does she like to do in her spare time?  She watches American television series, naturally.  She downloads them from some Chinese web site.

Given the syrupy nature of the internet today, I imagine this is a common pastime.

So please, Mr. Comcast, come to China and provide everybody with American cable TV (subtitled, of course, not dubbed -- better for practicing English).  This will free up the internet for my proposals, papers, and tech blogs.  Thank you in advance.

What's it like running on the street?

In the comments, Kelly Cole asks "What's it like running on the street?"

Well, I'm not entirely sure because I've never done this... for a few reasons.  First, the streets are pretty crowded, and it would be hard to run around all the pedestrians, street vendors, and holes in the sidewalk. The sidewalks here are uneven in places, and I trip often even just walking.  There are certainly directions to go where there are fewer people, and better sidewalks.  More on that below.

Second, running on the street might involve running across the street.  The relationship between cars and pedestrians here is very different than in the U.S. or Europe.  Here, pedestrians are expected to get out of the way (quickly) from (quickly) approaching cars.  This is something I still haven't gotten used to, and I constantly feel like I'm about to be run over.

The best place to go running would be down by the beach.  Running around the track is about as exciting as doing laps in the pool.  Down by the beach, there is lots of space, despite lots of people, and the view is spectacular.  Also, the broad sidewalks along the beach go on for miles.  However, there are a few busy roads between us and the beach, and it is about a kilometer from us.  In the cold weather, the track is just much more convenient.  We are about 400 m from the track (one lap!), but over a kilometer from the beach.  Funny how even with exercise, laziness wins out.

Saturday

There are two tracks across Qing Da 1st road from where we live.  I think they both belong to Qingdao University. We go running there often.  We prefer the northern one, because it is a bit easier to get to, and has a better view of Fu mountain.  Weekdays, in the evenings, we share the track with ladies walking.

Saturday is soccer day.  There is always some sort of intramural game going on at both tracks across the street on weekend days.  The players seem (from my untrained eye) to be reasonably good.  During the breaks, players drink tea, smoke cigarettes, and kick balls against the wall on the sidelines.  Today the southern field was so popular, that another game sprung up on the sidelines.

Saturday is apparently also air out your bedding day.