Another week colder....

Hello everybody and welcome to another week of stories from China! I hope that everyone is well and enjoying winter back at home.

Well, as my title suggests, winter has finally come to Shaoxing. The temperature is about 50 degrees during the day, cloudy with an ever present sense of rain. At night it gets down to about the mid to upper 30s. Not cold by Minnesota/Wisconsin standards, but when your classrooms don't have heat and your house only has two wall "air conditioner" type sources of heat.....well, it gets a bit chilly. I miss a Mid-West winter, well, just the part where you get to walk into a warm building when it's cold outside. You never quite get that relief here. We bought an electric blanket for the couch, so we can grade papers and watch TV in some warmth. We have two down comforters on the bed, and that seems to help so far. And they say it will get colder still.....

So our Thanksgiving dinner was a success! At one point John had 28 people in his apartment, I don't think that everyone ate, but it was still a lot of food and a lot of good cheer. Natalie and Brian found a bakery in Shaoxing to bake their pumpkin pie. It was SO good. None of us were expecting to eat such a delicacy and we were all so very thankful for it! Along with pie we had: Stuffed Chicken Breasts, Chicken in Mushroom Gravy, Roast Chicken and Roast Duck, Mashed Potatoes and Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Seasame Broccoli, Cranberries, Stuffing, Mashed Yams and Bread. Whew. We all ate well that night! Here are some pictures of the feast and of the people we shared it with. More on people in the coming weeks.

Prior to the big feast we had a whirlwind trip on the actual eve of Thanksgiving into Hangzhou to go to Carrefours, a French grocery store chain that carries a lot of Western food. We loaded up and will now eat well for the next couple of weeks! The trip consisted of a trip to the train station, an hour cab ride there, 1.5 hours shopping and an hour cab ride back, all after 7pm, when most of China shuts down for the night. Luckily we got a really good deal on the cab ride. Here is a picture of all of our loot.....

So the day after the big feast John and I got a treat, well, John did and I invited myself along. Three of his former students came over to his house and taught us how to make pork dumplings. (Andy was stuck grading papers, he has a writting course that keeps him neck-high with grading to do...) So the students; Echo, Rose and Angela came over about 10am and started with cleaning John's kitchen and washing his dishes (why didn't I have them over to my place......?) They then seasoned the pork and prepared it for the dumplings. Then they taught us to put them together. It really is more difficult that it looks! Echo had a very fancy way of folding them that her father had taught her and Rose had a more simple version that was no less beautiful (or difficult!) Each village/section of the country has their own way of folding and making dumplings. John and I decided that we created the American way, since neither of us really mastered either technique. By the 500th or so dumpling, however, we weren't too bad. After we made ALL of the dumplings (so many in fact that they had to go out and get more dough) they cooked a portion of them up for us. They both boiled them and steamed them in a rice cooker. Delicious! Dumplings are some of my favorite foods and I can't wait to have a dumpling party when we get back. I can imagine a table full of good friends making dumplings and chatting and then eating them!

A while ago Andy and I did a kind of touristy activity and took a "Black Awning Boat" ride down one of the canals in Shaoxing. Black Awning boats are specific to this part of China and Shaoxing is full of them. The ride that we took was in an older part of town, and although it would have been really cool to see what was going on on streetside, we were so far down into the canal that all we saw was the walls and the people taking picures of us. That's right, we were a side attraction for another group of tourists that were taking a walking tour of Shaoxing! But as revenge we decided to take pictures of them as well. One part of the boat ride was underneath a bridge that was so close to the water that we had to shrink down into the boat. Another part of the tour was in the back of some houses so we were able to see how some of the more traditional Chinese live. All in all it was a rather fun and cultural experience. On a side note: this is where Andy first used his amazing bargaining skills and got us a good deal on the boat ride. Origianally they wanted to charge us 50 kuai for 20 mins. What a rip-off! Eventually Andy got us a 20 min. boat ride for only 25 kuai (about $3). Not a bad price!

Yesterday I had a really exciting afternoon. My friend Georgina took me shopping to get some pants made. Here in China it is very difficult for me to find pants; back in the US Andy and I can wear the same size, but here since they have no butts or thighs, no commercial pair of pants will fit me (but Andy has no problem.....) So we went to her tailor to try and find a pattern and some fabric that we liked. They had a georgous black and grey wool print that I fell in love with. So I will be the proud owner of a tailored pair of wool and lined pants next week for only 200 kuai (app. $25) Who can beat that? It's so cheap that by the time I come back I might have a whole new wardrobe!

So we have a pretty exciting weekend planned. Tomorrow we are going to Hangzhou for the night/next day. Hangzhou is about 1 hour away and it would be like us going from St. Cloud to Minneapolis. A little bigger, a little better, a little ditier, but with more Western ammenities. We are going with some friends to drink real beer, possibly eat Mexican type food and celebrate Brian C's birthday. So, more on that trip next week. And speaking of next week, on the 9th we will be going to a Chinese wedding! I am really excited about this. We don't know the woman that is getting married, but John does so we got invited too. I guess she used to work at our college. It is quite "rich" to have foriegners at your wedding, so we will be treated like honored guests, I think. Either way, I will let you all know all about it after it happens!

So, that is all for this week. I look forward to reading your comments (those of you who post comments.....) and am hoping that there are packages coming in the mail for us (a little shameless hinting can't hurt can it?) Until then, take care all!

PS. Here are some bonus pictures of what we see on a daily basis!