Getting to know a new culture is difficult. It seems to be a process of one step forward, and  two steps back! Sometimes I feel as though there’s a complete absence of any logical thinking skills I possessed previously!  Even the simplest tasks and transactions  seem to be more difficult in a foreign country, and can be quite funny! Attempts by said foreign country to help us understand, leave me confused! See picture below, posted at the Bank of China!

Then there is the matter of “Weltanschaung”, individualistic versus collective culture. China’s main stream culture is one of collectivism, which has been honored by Confucianism for thousands of years, and in recent history, Communism. This can lead to interesting and confusing dialogue  between the lovely people here, and two type A western interlopers!  Eventually we do get to understand each other, even with the language barrier which exacerbates everything. I must say, the people are quite wonderful, and very willing to help if they are able.

Yesterday was another glorious sunny day, and after having tried out my new little whirlpool washing machine, we left the house of neccesity after all the sheets and towels were draped on everything in sight. You guessed it, no dryer! The shady boulevards surrounding the idyllic Green Lake Park, which is not more than 10 minutes from where we live, have become a favorite haunt for us. This time we found a beautiful, peaceful little patio where we enjoyed a leisurely drink. After a while we heard some singing, so we followed the sound, and to our delight came upon about 50 -75 mostly seniors, their heads shaded with hats and parasols singing lustily from some kind of song book. Obviously these were old traditional chinese folk songs. Quite delightful. I think Howard took a video, so you might be treated to that in his next blog.

An interesting dinner last night. We decided to try a new (for us) restaurant just down the street. The all-chinese menu, did have pictures, so we pointed to what we thought looked reasonably edible, and ordered. Had a lovely spinach and garlic dish, a version of Peking duck, eyes, beak and all (nothing is wasted!)
The third dish was a complete surprise, and we eventually figured it out to be SNAKE!!!!! It was hot and spicy with lots of peppers and ginger, but those round, shiny patterned, scaly looking skin biits were a little off putting. Definitely needed a beer to wash that down.
Beautiful sunshine again today, and if Howard is feeling up to it, (he has a cold) we will head to the Bird and Flower market. I’ve had enough of meat markets for a while (see photo below)!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Zaijien, (good bye),
Maggie

ps. For those of you who are FB friends, I still cannot access facebook, but I can receive messages, so bring ’em on!