Street Food

 One of my very favorite parts of China is the street food.  A short trek out of campus, across the bridge and on your right one will find a large alley filled with different vendors selling food made fresh on the spot.  There are seats and tables for people to sit and enjoy their meal.  There are men with their shirts pulled over their bellies after a big meal, women sneaking a cigarette while chasing children in their heels, and foreigners out for some fresh air, draft beer and non-cafeteria food.  I feel as if these pictures barely give you a picture of what it looks like...but I will post more pictures later.

Sweet Potato French Fries!  So delicious!

A 'onion-bread' type snack.
 It is cut into bite size pieces, a delicious finger food.

Everything in this cart is thrown into grease and fried.
Hot dogs, chicken, and little meat sandwiches.
Needless to say I've not visited here often. 

Strawberries, watermelon and cherries.
Watermelon is a favorite food here!

You can get a bit of different dishes and sit and enjoy. 

I found this terribly creepy, so I thought I'd take a picture.
They are children's rides outside a grocery store near street food.

Fabric Market

Dinner Music

Tonight whilst enjoying dinner with friends we were greeted with the background music of fireworks!

And what beautiful music it was!

Dear Mom & Dad, I...

Lovely Luoyang

This is backtracking a week...last weekend the school hosted a trip for the foreign teachers to Luoyang.  We went the opening weekend of the Peony Festival.  The Peony is the flower of Luoyang...and it will always remind me of mothers day.  So mom, these are for you.  

The festival was hosted at a place that had rides including a zip line.
So, with a little encouragement, I sat on a jerry-rigged zip line.
We watched many go successfully before we tried.
Under the zip line was a river full of trash and mud. Gross!

Almost safe!

Some of our lovely tour guides, translators and friends.

The very first person I met in China!
She greeted me at the airport when I first arrived.
A very sweet friend!

An easy way to get a crowd of Chinese to take your picture.
The man and his wife (on his shoulders) have been special friends.

Dinner?
As one who rarely ate meat in the states...this was quite the sight.
We took the meat and cooked it in our individual pots full of hot broth,
hence the name "hot pot".

 

Time in Tianjin

Tianjin is known as "the biggest village in China" with a mere 12 million people.  Being a "suburb" of Beijing, the city hosted some events of the Olympics.  The history of the city is full including home of Eric Liddell (Chariots of Fire) and Herbert Hoover (just for a year).

For me, the city was the most Western influenced city I had been to.  But no worries, it is still very Chinese!

A traditional street market full of bowls and bowls of nuts, seeds and grains. 

West meets East:  A Starbucks and Subway in the center of town. 

Culture Market:
A touristy shopping area full of trinkets and treasures.  

A woman working on beautiful embroidery art in the culture street .
By the time they are finished they look like fine paintings...intricacy and it's finest.
If you look closely at the picture you can see the pink flower she has already embroidered.
Seriously, it looks like painting...it is not.  

The Tianjin TV Tower which I called the Space Needle, wrong city!
The fisherman next to the TV tower is such a good picture of the city.

Playing a street game trying to throw hoops on treasures.
I did not win.  :( 

My sweet host, tour guide and friend.
It was a gift straight from above getting to spend time with her. 

Opening Ceremony

The quality of the video is minimal.  The zooming and shaking may make one feel sick.  With all that said, below is a glimpse of the opening ceremony today for Sports Day at Sias.  It was quite the event!