Ok- some more random things i have either seen, or learned about life here, since my last posting to this blog, which was ages ago! Sorry for the uncharachteristic silence faithful readers!

- I was overjoyed to discover that cilantro is abundant in China, it being the food that i missed most in Lithuania. What surprises me most is that Koreans on principle HATE cilantro. Something about the smell/taste drives them crazy, kind of the proverbial liver/brussels sprouts for Americans. I will never understand this reaction to something as amazing as cilantro from a people who have no qualms at eating every sort of rotten fermented vegetable under the sun. (and under the waves!)

- In one day in Wuxi I saw:

a shagnasty comatose panda

thirty old chinese people doing the electric slide in a park

people beating dogs with sticks and getting them to attack their arms, which were covered by a protective shield

a giant topiary that was part brontosaurus part elephant

cats in a monkey cage

people throwing their trash (hard) at bears in tiny rancid cement zoo cages trying to get them to make noises

panda bear shaped paddleboats

boiled corn on the cob that was so soggy and nasty that i almost rolfed when i bit in to it

a bright pink fake pagoda

GIGANTIC hornets

- In Shanghai, I saw many old men with "stat sheets" on sons and daughters who were too busy working to actually meet people to date. The parents basically haggle in the park all day trying to match up propitious marriages either among each others progeny, or with helpless bystanders. Given that the prospective marriage partners are too busy to actually meet people, i would say this doesn't bode well for the quality of those marriages. I laughed watching the desperate scene, but was also stuck by the tragedy of the frenzied capitalism here. mao is surely rolling in his grave, if he were to see the parade of guccis and starbucks and western tourists.

- in the oldest building of Shanghai, there is a gigantic starbucks on the first floor. In the ancient temple complex in Wuxi, a McDonald's adds an authentic oriental touch. Even little Yanji is due to have its first Walmart this spring!! (which normally i would abhor on principle, but given that my chances of finding decent cheese and possibly even tomato sauce will skyrocket upon its opening, i must begrudgingly admit an amount of eager expectation on my part).

- China is an urban planners dream. I remember walking through the halls of the UPLA building at MSU thinking how cool the projects were that the students were doing, redesigning little parks or neighborhoods. Here China is redeveloping massive hundreds of square mile tracts of land into cities. The advantage of communism- no red tape. Seriously, the projects here are MASSIVE, and surprisingly well done. China is building a modern harbor way out in the middle of the East China Sea, based around what is currently a small cluster of islets. It will be connected to the hungry markets of the mainland by a huge superhighway bridge, 35 miles long. They are already in the middle of doing this. A building is halfway finished in Pudong that will dwarf the Sears Tower, all of Chongming Island is being redeveloped into a massive exhibition of green living and environmentally friendly city-scape. Gigantic concentric park cities, harbor cities, StarWars-like in scale and farm are sprouting along the Chinese coast. Jaw-dropping, absoultely jaw-dropping. I dont see how a country that hasnt yet figured out that concrete sealant could keep buildings from crumbling after 5 years, or how to run a waste management system can pull this off.

- I wasn't kidding about the buildings here. Everywhere you see construction, but the problem is that buildings that are only 5 years old look like they are 20 years old. the construction quality is so bad, that all these buildings will probably have to be all built again within a decade or two.

-the scale of shanghai is mind blowing. there is no center, the way we think of it. you can take an hour train ride through the city, and basically never experience a change of density. As far as you see, 50 story towers crowd each other out, along narrow streets, old style chinese houses are being torn down everywhere that they still exist to make room for these towers. I have experienced density, as in manhattan. But such density sustained over such a large area- that is something i have never come close to experiencing and can't describe. Even Hong Kong is squeezed basically into a very small area, instead of sprawling across a huge area, the way that Shanghai is.

- remember the 80's game frogger? it has nothing on crossing streets in Chinese cities. No vehicle ever has any intention of stopping, swerving, or arresting speed for the sake of a paltry pedestrian. I thought tbilisi was bad. It is a mystery to me i haven't seen any human roadkill.

- just a short walk from YUST i am in a total wilderness, total agrarian landscape. I am so glad that i live outside of Yanji up on this hillside. Even in these crystal clear golden october days, often there is a huge cloud of smog which totally blocks the view out over the city.

- i was able to go to the meat market all by myself.. i wish i could take pictures there, but i think they'd construe that as rude. Seeing the filetted dogs, and random pieces of meat and every available sea creature. First you buy the meat, then you take it to ladies who grind it for you in a meat grinder. There are 6 of them and they all yell at you and try to get you to come to them. I don't discern any difference in the grinding abilities among the ladies so it is always hard for me to choose which one to use as they all shout at me. The reward for this is sometime this week i will cook some ground lamb with onions and cilantro and eat it on homemade tortillas- on a day when i cant stomach the caf food that will be the perfect treat.

- apparently ice your muffins with your ersatz evaporated-milk/non-dairy-coffee-creamer frosting BEFORE you bake them in your toaster oven.

- i played Mafia the other night... in Chinese... the official party game of Chr'stendom. I think i have played mafia in 10 countries and probably 6 languages. a good way to learn some vocab

- When i was in Wuxi i went crazy on the western food- i was so happy. i ate at a mcdonalds twice, starbucks once, and TGI Fridays. I was never so happy to see a hamburger. You know the movie Office Space, where Jennifer Anniston has to wear all those "pieces of flair"? Well we (kathryn and I) had a waiter, who was so covered in flair that he could barely move. Buttons, ribbons, spangles left and right, the combination of that, plus a slightly nerdy physique and the awkward Chinese accent--- poor kathryn- was in tears... It was a perfect random end to a random day that included me randomly attending the prewedding reception of a chinese couple i had no clue who they were. they had a really bold event though, declaringly publically their belief.

-Wuxi has giant 5 foot fake water lilies that glow at night. i am used to fake many things here, including (according to kathryn) fake rocks, that make fake "nature sounds". but somehow these water lilies managed to pull it off.

- it is pitch dark by 5 pm, and there is no heat yet- i am freezing.

- i am slowly learning my way around chinese food- had two amazing successive dinners of ordered in chinese food at chunhua's flat.

- i feel like i could sleep forever here- little things are so draining. i need to be cautious that i dont get too much sleep.

- i finally got a korean textbook today- a gift from its author!! a korean sociolinguist who studied under Bill Labov and did the seminal study of sociolinguistics of Seoul korean.

OK enough trivia for now. stay tuned for more- these are the kinds of things i dont think its worthwhile to send out in a support letter, but are nonetheless maybe interesting to someone.