This Great Work

We have talked for a few years that for our 20th anniversary we would take an international trip.  I guess you could say we made it for our 18th.  This is hardly a trip of pleasure or a get away, though.  (Even though we are most definitely 'away' and  we do find much pleasure in it !)   It's a bit hard to take off on a get away here as we don't have anyone to entrust our girls to, nor would we leave them alone. But we did find some fine dining to celebrate our happiness to be together. Mr. Hu recommended it to us and Tom made reservations.  We took a taxi and arrived all by ourselves (without our driver--you have no idea how big of an accomplishment those things were!). Complimentary fruit:  nectarines plums and grapes. Complementary crackers.  Slightly sweet and very good! The menu was an entire book with large pictures.   This was one option. We didn't get it; but I'm curious enough that I think we'll get it next time. We got a salad.  It had rolled up ma

Clothes shopping here is a completely different experience than where we hail from! There are so many places to shop for clothes:  warehouse shops, small shops on the streets or in malls, or off of TaoBao.  All are vastly different than the US, however the malls come the closest. The first main difference, even in most mall stores: there is only one of each item.  One style.  One size.  So it is like thrift shopping.  They also have small quantities of merchandise; maybe 100-200 items total in a store.  If you like something, but it's the wrong size or a color you don't prefer, you are out of luck. So finding something you like and that fits you is very challenging. Note:  there are MANY items to not like ( think t-shirt problems ) and in most stores t-shirts make up about 25% of their merchandise. Probably 98% of the stores are a conglomerate of styles and clothing types ie. tennis shoes being sold in the same store as formal wear.  So finding things usually means combing thr

 Every once in a while you come across a real gem, worthy of its own blog post: It must be totally fine to lean a ladder on 3 sets of tangled wires if it's bamboo.  As safety master Bishop Bruce Dallin pointed out:  you do have a guy holding it at the bottom.  Good point-- I won't worry any more. Safety is not really a thing here.  There are large screws sticking up out of sidewalks an inch or two, twisted wire poking a foot out of fences or other barriers, rusted barbed wire lining a busy sidewalk, a long fall into deep water protected by a single rope, holes several inches deep every few steps on sidewalks, rotting wooden on well-traveled bridges, the wiring job you see in the pictures above is very organized compared to some....  I could go on and on and on.  HOWEVER we are warned every 5 minutes in the subway station that the floors are very slippery.  I don't doubt that they are if they are wet, but we haven't witnessed that yet (maybe we'll be very thankful fo

I've decided that T-shirts come in 4 categories here.   1) They make perfect sense.  2) The English is correct, but the message is puzzling, or hilarious. 3) The English is correct enough that you can discern a message, but the spacing and spelling are off, sometimes these make sense, sometimes not.  4) They have random letters of the alphabet and don't make any sense.   You could also make some sub categories that include copyright infringements or where a stolen message has been altered by spacing or spelling.  Or ones where some words are discernible with other non-words.  But I'll stick with the 4 basic categories.   My favorite ones by far are category #2.  Enjoy! This one is a bit hard to read:  "it's time for a love revolurion" This is one of my favorites.  New York Giants are so big here.  Clear trademark infringements. Disney is also a big stolen market. These kinds make me laugh and make me feel like I just don't understand English very well.  It