Days 259-261: Back to the Grind in Shanghai

Sunday the main thing we did was go back to the Westin for their brunch, which if you've been following my blog, you know we love. The theme for this brunch was Italian food, but oddly enough they didn't have any pizza and not much pasta. I love the food, of course, since they had interesting things like carrot yogurt, hummus, octopus-potato-pesto salad, caviar, and even rare prime rib, but I actually think I'm getting a bit tired of the entertainment: it's the same songs again and again from the opera songs. The male singer sings "O Solo Mio" and they do the same duet each time. Zzzzzzzz.  We decided to take a taxi home, which was cheaper than the one going there--the guy taking us to the Westin took the freeway, which always takes longer and is more expensive: I'm guessing he did this on purpose. We were wiped and strangely hot when we got home, so we took a nap. In the evening, I did reading and prep, but not before I organized gift bags for people (which is harder than it sounds--we have about 20 bags), and Kerry packed some suitcases. With each passing day, coming home is becoming more of a reality, and actually packing some bags made it seem more real. After today, we have only 39 full days left in China. I even created an updated list of things we still need to do.

Westin Brunch pics:

Drinks before brunch. So tasty! The blue was the best.

Look at all the seafood!

I like the DJ there; I think she's cool.

Monday we had another Chinese lesson with Deborah. Today we focused on types of food, and she had us practice some conversation with that. She also answered some cultural questions for us, as usual. I did some grading of response papers in the evening...we had chicken caesar salad for dinner. Kerry made it when I took a nap--pretty dull day overall. One interesting thing did happen, though: our neighbor, who has been yelling, swearing, and screaming at his wife off and on during our stay here, finally owned up to his actions. After he was shouting at 2 am today, I said something to Grace. She confronted him and he owned up to it (to her) and claimed it wouldn't happen again. I hope this is the case, but I'm not betting on it.

Picture of me and Deborah that Kerry took during our lesson:

Tuesday I mostly just graded response papers during the day. Around 3:30 pm, we left to go have dinner with Kate and her two sons at La Creperie in the French Concession area at 5 pm (yes, it took over 90 minutes to get there...mainly because the buses are so slow). Anytime we want to go somewhere in Shanghai, it takes all day. At least 3 hours of transportation. This is the frustrating thing about living here. We had a nice meal, though. I had an Emmental cheese and sausage crepe for the main entree, with caramelized onions. It was somewhat disappointing that we didn't have a French waiter, at least not initially. I was hoping to practice my French. When we did get a French waiter, he insisted on speaking English. Okay...  I got the same dessert crepe as last time, La Bar a  Bar, with coffee ice cream, raisins, and bananas--flambe!--they set it on fire.  Ooh la la.  It took us another 90 minutes to get back home, of course. I then did some final prep things for class tomorrow. We'll see how it goes.

Pics from La Creperie:

La Bar a Bar! Magnifique!

(left to right) Peter, Isaac, and Kate.

Days 256-258: Taipei

Thursday I gave my first lecture in Taipei. After a quick (carby) breakfast at the Via, we took a cab to NTNU, where a couple students met us. Iping had a box lunch ready for us, chicken and rice. My lecture began at 12:30, and Brena gave me a nice introduction, listing all my qualifications. The lecture, "Gender Trouble in a World of Alternative Facts: Transgender Identity in Contemorary American Literature and Culture," went well. About 30 people attended, I ended it pretty much on time, and the audience seemed engaged and asked questions. I had some grad students ask quesetions afterwards, and a few people asked me for my card. Brena took us for a meal at this place on campus called "The Second Floor." We went with two graduate students, one of whom was named White. She's very excited about the possibility of organizing a gender studies conference in the future, and I was grateful for her enthusiasm. I love it when others get excited about things I care about! We chatted several hours and then went back to the hotel. Then we rested a bit and explore Ximending some more. We just had sandwiches at KFC for dinner, and we also decided to explore the gay section near The Red House, too. Lots of gay stores around there, mostly selling underwear, porn, and rainbow items. There are several gay bars in the area--outdoors--with people shouting "Welcome!" Such a contrast from the gay life we know in Shanghai. We ended up at this one "fetish" bar called "Commander." There really wasn't that much to it--just some chains hanging from the ceiling. I had a bloody mary; Kerry had a vodka and coke. We did enjoy the area very much; it's a fun district to be in. Since I'm dealing with a sinus infection, though, I did have to wear a mask to prevent me from inhaling all the cigarette smoke.

Thursday Taipei pics:

Poster of my first lecture.

During my first lecture, talking about Kate Bornstein.

Me and Kerry with some NTNU students, after the lecture.

Another pic with students. White, on the right, wants to organize a gender studies conference.

Huge burger (with fish and beef) at the 2nd Floor.

One of many GLBT friendly stores in Taipei.

The rainbow flag is all over Taipei, as Kerry demonstrates.

Friday, pretty much the same drill: up at 9 am to go give another talk. This time, though, we met Iping, and two students, Herbert and Annie, at The Second Floor for lunch. I had a chicken cordon bleu burger. Iping left around 2 pm, and Kerry and I stayed and gave Herbert some feedback on a novel he's writing. He seemed to pay close attention to our suggestions. We had just read over the first couple chapters that morning. The novel has potential, but he does have some grammar issues and problems with passive description. We left the restaurant around 3:15 for my second talk. There were about 15 students from Iping's class there. I gave a shorter version of my Thursday lecture and then showed the students a clip from the film The Celluloid Closet, the one with Shirley McLaine and Susie Bright talking about The Children's Hour. I feel this clip is a good example of the discrimination and invisibility that persisted in the GLBT community that still exists today. Once I showed the clip, the floor was open to questions. Iping started things off, though, by asking a lot of questions about Caitlyn Jenner and the letters in GLBT--perhaps to give the students some context?  I'm not sure. But eventually the students warmed up a bit and asked some really good questions. Kerry even got involved in the act and answered some of their questions as well! It was cool. For dinner, Kerry and I walked around Ximending. First we bought some t-shirts at the OMA--mostly as gifts, the clothing store near our hotel, where t-shirts are about $100 NTD (or $3 USD each). We intended to try out an Italian place, couldn't find it, then thought we'd go to Subway, and couldn't find THAT either, and then concluded that the map that the Via gave us of the area was pretty useless. So we ended back up at the Japanese place we went to the first night: I didn't have salmon, but I had some of their chicken, as well as some of their great hamburger skewers. I also had a shake....blue with curacao liqueur. Quite tasty.

Friday Taipei pics:

Before my second lecture for Iping's class.

Lunchtime, 2nd floor: Herbert, Annie, and Iping in the pic.

This restaurant cracks me up--they serve food on toilet lids and customers sit on toilets here. Kerry refused to go.

Shakes at the Japanese restaurant.

Saturday not much happened other than the fact that we went to a beautiful temple in the morning before we left, called the Tian Hou Temple. It's kind of hidden away in the Ximending area, but it was colorful and spectacularly beautiful, albeit small. Apparently, I learned later that it's a sea goddess temple. Lovely! We left the Via at about 12:30 and made it to the airport, only to discover that our flight was not leaving until 6 pm, not 3:30 as we thought.  Great.......  So we had lunch, sat around, and then there was more delay, so they gave us a food voucher for $250 NTD (about $8). We went to Starbucks with it and had tea and quiche. The plane didn't actually take off until about 6:50 pm. But it was a nice plane, with in-flight entertainment. Even though they served us only rice for dinner, it had egg in it and was nicely seasoned. I like how the Chinese flights almost ALWAYS provide a full meal; this NEVER happens in America. The cab ride home was long but could have been worse; we really didn't eat anything when we got home because we had been noshing all day, and I still didn't feel all that great. I'm still fighting a sinus infection, as of this writing. But at least we are "home."

Saturday pics from the temple we went to:

View in the front of the temple, when you walk in.

Gold finery and a Buddha.

Me and an enclosed Buddha statue.

Koi fish, Tian Hou Temple.

Beautiful waterfall,, Tian Hou Temple.

Day 255: Traveling to Taipei

Wednesday we went to Taipei, but I had to teach my class first. I got up super early (5:15) so I could do extra packing and prep. Didn't have any issues making the shuttle today. But I notice that I always tend to get a little depressed in the morning before my Wednesday class. It's a long, silent bus ride. All the Chinese people fall asleep, and I don't have anyone to talk to for over 90 minutes. And I can't fall asleep myself. Then, after I get there, I'm alone in my office for another hour or so before class begins. So it's a lot of alone time.

However, once class began, I was good. I had to tell one student that he needed to start using evidence in his response papers or I was going to keep giving him zeroes. He didn't give much reaction to this; personally, I don't think he's doing the reading and he's getting stuff off the Internet. He doesn't participate very well in class either. Today I lectured on "Themes in The Great Gatsby." The class was attentive during my lecture but 4-5 of them started playing with their phones during the class discussion, and I called them out on this (but without singling out anyone in particular). I am beginning to feel that the class discussions are very regulated and not very spontaneous. Some of the students just want to read these that they've written down previously, and they give very "prepared" responses. On the plus side, quite a few of them do participate...because they're forced to do so by the discussion leaders.

After class, Aleks walked with me to the place where I was supposed to get a cab. Of course the driver called, but Aleks handled it for me. It was a long ride to the airport; I kept in touch with Kerry (who was taking his own cab) the whole way. Ultimately, the ride cost 338 RMB, which is probably the most expensive cab ride I've had here in China, other than the one from the airport when we got back from the USA. It was 298 RMB, and then he charged me an additional 40 RMB fee....I still don't know why. But I paid it because he wouldn't have let me out of the cab otherwise; Chinese cab drivers lock you in the cab until you pay the fee.

At the airport, Kerry and I met up at the J area in Pudong airport, where we encountered a long line (surprise!). We didn't have problems getting seats (except they were far back in the plane), but, oddly enough, they did a baggage check on our one bag...why?  Because it had liquid in it: my eyeglass cleaning solution. We have been carrying liquid in our bag all over China, and this is the first time we've had to deal with this. Strange.

The immigration and security lines were quite short, but I thought I lost Kerry's battery charger in security, and it turns out I put it in my pocket. When I told the security people that I lost it, they acted completely indifferent. And I know it doesn't do any good to yell or scream; they honestly don't care. They are there to do their job, not help zany Americans in trouble.

We had a lunch at Starbucks (chicken ceasar wraps) and then waited for the flight. The flight was pretty uneventful--and fast--they did serve us a good meal of tomato-based rice and peas with shrimp, watermelon, seaweed cookies, and some sort of red bean gelatin cake. Overall, pretty tasty. When we landed, the immigration line took over 30 minutes to get through. Fortunately, though, the taxi line was pretty short. The taxi drivers looked very professional, sporting shirts and ties, and they spoke English to us.

We checked into the Via. We had a smaller room this time because we got the "economy" size room, but there is still a lot to like: a soft bed, a nice TV with a lot of English stations, great shower. After we changed our clothes, we went out to the Japanese restaurant near the hotel that we liked so much last time. We had salmon sushi (well, I did), Japanese chicken, hamburger skewers, and a Japanese baked potato with pollock roe. Once we were done, we explore the Ximending area a bit--it's a great atmosphere, like a party every night. There was a street performer dancing, lots of music, shopping, street food. It's an amazing, vital area of Taipei.

Late night in Taipei:

The hamburger skewers from the Japanese restaurant that we loved!

Kerry, late night in the Ximending.

Days 253-254: Two Days before Taipei

Monday: did some grading in the morning, and then in the afternoon we had a Chinese lesson with Deborah. She mostly practiced conversation with us; she had us practice going to the store and picking out clothes (talking about sizes, colors, methods of travel, etc.). This was helpful. After lunch, though, we just napped a bit. Ate spaghetti in the evening and did some grading. Quite uneventful. I came to find out that while we could book seats for our return flight from Taipei by phone, we couldn't do so for the flight there....the second guy I spoke with told me I waited too long to do so, but I could get seats when we checked in. Bummer.

Tuesday really not much went on except that I graded some response papers (even worked ahead a bit), and we cleaned and packed for Taipei. A very dull day. I did talk with my students on WeChat a bit...I'm thinking of going to the Shanghai Wild Animal Park with some of my graduate students. I can already tell that they're going to miss me, as I will them. 

Days 251-252: The Weekend....with Students!

Like Wednesday, Saturday I had another student conversation, this time with Kerry. We met up with Bella, a student of mine from last term, and had a conversation with her at the McDonald's at Jiangwan Town Station. She asked us a series of questions about communication in China. It was fun to talk about these topics. We then had lunch with her and went home. So we got our walking in: it takes 25 minutes to walk to the subway, and that's the closest one to us. I really hate this about where we live. (I remember when I lived in Russell Square in London, I was about three blocks from the subway.)  We were tired when we got home and took a LONG afternoon nap, then had a VERY late dinner (pork chops and potatoes).. I worked on my presentations for next class and for NTNU. I also finished reading Gatsby today: I did some in the morning and some in the evening as well.

Here's a selfie we took with Bella!

Sunday we went to a cat cafe in Shanghai with two of my current Short Novel students, Ashley and Sway. The name of the cafe is "Cats and Alice." It has an Alice in Wonderland theme. It took awhile to get there--we took the bus, and then the subway each way: 10 subway stops, with two transfers. But we did manage it. We met up with Ashley and Sway in the subway station and we walked to the cafe together. Or, at least, we tried to. They couldn't figure out where it was at first; it was the blind leading the blind. Eventually, though, they discovered it: it was in what appeared to be an old office building, on the 17th floor. Geez! However, on the inside, the cafe itself was very cute. No fee to get in, and lots of cats. We were allowed to pet them, feed them, and even pick them up. The cats were very active, crawling over tables and jumping up on things. I couldn't entice them in playing, though; they were much more interested in food. We ate some chicken, fries, and cheesecake as well as "ice cream teas." We chatted with Ashley and Sway a bit: Sway is taking 12 classes and Ashley 14. I don't know how these students do it. We stayed a couple hours and then went home. (Unfortunately, when we take the bus and subway, it takes much longer to travel, even though it is much cheaper.) In the evening, I graded papers. We had leftover pork chops and chicken for dinner and made a salad, too. Good stuff.

Pics from the cat cafe visit:

My favorite kitten from the cafe.

Sway and Ashley feeding cats at our table.

Selfie--(left to right) Me, Sway, Ashley, and Kerry.

Days 249-250: Hangzhou

We had a very hot, but fun, couple days in Hangzhou. Thursday we took a 6:40 am train there; we had to get up at 4:00 am to make it. We didn't have any issues getting the tickets or anything, so this was good. And the train wasn't even very crowded, which is unusual. When we got to the hotel--the Sofitel--our room wasn't ready, so we decided to go to Fei Lai Feng, which I read about online. It's a stone mountain with Buddha carvings in it from the 10th-14th centuries. It took only a few minutes to get there via taxi. It was very touristy, near the Lingyin temple (but we didn't see the temple). Fei Lai Feng was an interesting place to explore. We saw some Buddhas on the outside of the mountain and even went inside muddy caves to do some exploration. Unfortunately, we got the idea to climb some steps inside the mountain. We climbed and climbed--in the heat--and didn't get anywhere. Eventually, we ran into some kind Chinese people who indicated to us that what we wanted to see most--the Laughing Buddha--was down the mountain. So we headed in that direction. Eventually, we saw more Buddhas, and, just as soon as we gave up on seeing the Laughing Buddha, we were able to see it! I was so happy. The carvings were all quite beautiful, but that was my favorite.

We then ate lunch--a splendid buffet--at the hotel. Then we went to our room and changed for Janetta's lecture. We met Elliot outside the China Art Academy at 1:45 and then went to the building for the lecture. She talked about medieval gargoyles, which I found fascinating. (However, it was very hot--Kerry and I sweated constantly in the 97 degree heat.) Afterwards, we all went back to the hotel for a drink. I had a margarita--blueberry--that I wasn't crazy about, but it was okay. We then went to accompany Janetta to buy some silk pyjamas--black and white, of course!--we tried to barter below 3000 RMB, but the salespeople wouldn't budge. Still, Janetta decided to purchase them. One woman felt it her duty to inform me and Kerry that we were "fat"; however, we don't take such comments too seriously because they're not said in a mean way.

Once that was done, we went to a Grandma's in a mall and had some VERY tasty chicken, along with shrimp, lotus root with sweet potato, and some pork buns. Good food, for cheap prices: about $38 for four people.

Here are some Thursday pictures:

Buddhas in the cave, Fei Lai Feng.

The Laughing Buddha we pursued, Fei Lai Feng.

Another Laughing Buddha we noticed on our way out, Fei Lai Feng.

Janetta's lecture, China Academy of Art

Friday we went with Janetta and Elliot to the China Tea Museum. Gorgeous area--took many pictures. The museum itself was mildly interesting: tea bags, pottery mostly. I met one young woman from East Pointe, Michigan who was just finishing a semester teaching in China! We chatted about Michigan a bit. I also chatted with Janetta; she wants to do yet another Fulbright. I would do another one, too--just not sure about doing another in China. (Kerry and Elliot had fun exchanging puns, in the meantime.) We also visited the gift shop: bought some small tea bags and other souvenirs. When we got back to the hotel, we had lunch there with Janetta and Elliot: another buffet, just like breakfast. The food was EXCELLENT there; in general, the hotel was SUPERB, certainly one of our favorites in China. Soft beds, good English-speaking staff, wonderful food, nice bar, great shower--this place had it ALL. In fact, other than the Abritz in Changchun, it's probably my favorite hotel in China.

The cabbie who took us to the Railway Station was VERY weird--listened to loud Chinese EDM music and kept bobbing his head to the right, like he was in a club. And he was an older guy, too.  I'm guessing he was probably on an upper of some sort. He also insisted in smacking me on the shoulder and making gestures to indicate my wide size. But at least we got there on time--the station was extremely crowded and our train was delayed. Yet we eventually got on...it rained the whole way. The driver taking us home was quite nice and took us to the front of our building. I mostly relaxed in the evening (beans for supper) and Kerry went to gaming, even though he missed half of it.

Friday pictures:

Lobby, Sofitel.

Tea field, National China Tea Museum.

Blue jade, National China Tea Museum.

Gorgeous waterfall, outside Tea Museum.

Lobby of Sofitel, wire design backdrop: Elliot, Janetta, me, Kerry.

Day 248: Long School Day

Today was one of my long SISU days. The morning was fairly uneventful: no drama in getting to school, but it took a long time, of course. My first class was on The Great Gatsby. My lecture topic today was on characters in Gatsby; it took a bit longer than usual, so we didn't have as much time for discussion as I thought. Again, discussion seems to work best when discussion leaders call on people. It's very odd how no one seems to volunteer. I passed back the midterms at the end of class. I noticed that the student who earned the worst grade (she plagiarized parts of her exam) sat there by herself at the end, reading over her exam but saying nothing to me. I then danced off to lunch with some students.

We went to lunch off campus: I went with Aleks, Lily (who's actually not one of my students, but she helps runs the salongs), Olivia, FuFu, and Hannah. We had some interesting conversation--indoors with air-conditioning, thankfully, for it was BRTUALLY hot today: 99 degrees!!!  I was surprised at how much food the students ordered: Aleks ordered a huge meat platter! And what's interesting is they all shared: they shared salad, dessert, etc. It's so different from the American style of eating. But we had a really good time; they asked me a lot more questions than I asked them, though. Cost me 400 RMB, but I'm glad I did it.

When I got back to my office, I was sweating like a pig. I couldn't figure out the air conditioner, so I called Kerry to pass the time a bit and sat down on the couch to rest. My grad students showed up a bit late for the reading group; there were only 5 today. We discussed three poems: Giovanni's "Nikki-Rosa"; Plath's "Daddy"; and Dickinson's "Much madness is divinest sense--."  The discussion was productive and interesting; we didn't get to all five poems I assigned, in fact, because we spent so much time discussing the three works. I'm going to miss this kind of intellectual engagement.

I arrived about on time for my Honors class, and they straggled in a bit late. I reprimanded them a bit and told them that they needed to be on time next class, when they're doing presentations. I asked them if it was okay for me to bring my husband next class, and they seemed fine with it. I did discussion a bit differently today: I had them write out questions, and I answered them. Then I had then answer some of the questions we didn't get to. The topic was gender and race issues in the United States; we're now on the "American culture" part of the course. Most of their questions were about the #MeToo movement and/or white privilege. In fact, one student, Gal, walked with me to the bus, wanting to discuss the issue of white privilege more; I don't think he fully grasped it. But that's okay: I'm just glad he wanted to discuss it.

I then took the bus home. Samira was there--we talked off and on, complaining about the hot weather. It was nice to have someone to walk home with, of course. Again, my long days are not always bad: I really do like interacting with the students. But they are tiring.

One of the many BEAUTIFUL buildings on the Songjiang campus.

Lunch with Short Novel students! (left to right): Lily, me, Hannah, Aleks, Olivia, FuFu.

Days 246-247: Nanjing Normal University

Monday we got up fairly early and went downstairs in the hotel for the breakfast buffet. For a three-star hotel, they had pretty good stuff: baozi, fried clams, noodles, salad.  Not amazing, but better than some I have had. Then we met Ms. Zhou, our student guide, in the hotel lobby. She seemed very business-like at first. She ordered us a taxi to the Nanjing Museum; she decided to take us there first because it closed at 12 noon. The ride seemed to take forever. She eventually concluded that the driver was trying to cheat us out of a few bucks with a long ride. This happened to us just the other day when we were with Richard, only he recognized it.

At the museum, we looked mostly at prehistoric things: dinosaur bones, pottery, and jade. Older civilizations, and artifacts that came from right around Nanjing itself. However, I knew that we had to get going if we wanted to see the Zhongshang Scenic Area. It was brutally hot Monday; I was sweating like crazy at 11 am already, when we left.

The Zhongshang Scenic Area was indeed scenic--a lot of trees and forests--but a lot of climbing and very touristy. Saw some beggars. We did cave and purchased a couple small trinkets. We walked all the way to the Sun-Yat Sen Mausoleum....and we got to see it from the outside....but we didn't want to walk the 390 or so steps to get there, not in the brutal heat. Besides, it was closed on Mondays. So we walked back and had a bite at McDonald's; our guide, Ms. Zhou, said that she wanted to go there. While I was talking to her, at one point I asked her if she wanted to go to America. She looked somewhat frightened and her eyes got wide. "No," she replied. "I only travel with my father and he is a business man." At first I thought this was an odd thing for her to say, but then I realized that maybe she thought I was asking her to go WITH ME. Oh dear.

Another taxi took us back to the hotel (Ms. Zhou paid for all the taxis for our activities, thank goodness. We paid for her lunch). Kerry and I really wanted a nap, but we had to take showers and get ready.  I had to put on a suit for the lectures, which is never an easy task. Some students met us in the lobby about 3:40 or so and WALKED us to the lecture building--about 20 minutes away in 95 degree heat. That was pretty bad; it made me long for the days of Chulalongkorn U and the air-conditioned car they provided for me to their buildings. At NNU, we had to walk EVERYWHERE.

When we got to the venue, I noticed that my poster for the first lecture was hung upside down. This was a bit of a foreshadowing. On a positive note, this first lecture on "The Sentimental Tradition in American Literature to 1900" went from only 4-5 pm; I timed it pretty well. I thought I did well, but only one student asked a question and then they all left. I wasn't really hungry yet, so Kerry and I just hung out in a lounge on the fourth floor until it was time to walk (another 15 minutes) to the second lecture. The second lecture went better. Again, though, like the first, it was ALL students, except for one English teacher who introduced herself to me and then said, "Do I have to introduce you?" She clearly didn't seem to want to, so I replied, "No." "Oh, good," she said.  Weird.  The lecture itself was good. Even though it was long, a LOT of students stayed to ask questions after. In fact, the teacher had to put a stop to the questions, although I'm not sure why she did. I was happy to talk to the students, even after the lecture. It made me feel wanted, needed, and even loved. Some of them wanted my WeChat ID. I felt popular. :)

After the lecture, we endured ANOTHER walk back to the hotel: 20 minutes, although it had cooled down a bit. Jowell, the student taking care of us, gave us some fast-food chicken he picked up. Interestingly enough, he revealed to us that, in June, he was "visting his boyfriend in Shanghai." Another gay guide! I love it. But when Kerry asked him if he was going to Pride, he said no because "of the political situation." Sigh.

Tuesday, we got up early, had the breakfast again (lots of veggies this time), and headed out, with Jowell's help, about 7:45 am. We got to the train station about 8:20....when I asked the driver to confirm that the total was "si shi leo quai" he said, very loudly, "SI SHI LEO QUAAAAAAAAAI???"  He sounded like someone from a very bad kung-fu movie--somewhat loud and obnoxious. Oh well. Once we got in, I had to use the squat toilet and struggled a bit with this. Fortunately, we made the train, and the ride home was fine.

Didn't do much after we got home. Graded a couple response papers, rested, got ready for Wednesday's classes.  We had pork burgers and Chinese greens for dinner. More tomorrow.

Here are some pictures from my two-lecture day on Monday:

Vessel from Nanjing Museum.

Pot from Nanjing Museum.

Giving my first lecture at NNU.

Sign for my first lecture at NNU.

Giving my second lecture at NNU.

Me, Kerry, and Jowell at the end of the day.

Day 245: Travel to Nanjing

At the beginning of the day--Sunday (Mother's Day)--I did a lot of grading of response papers for my Short Novel class. Kerry and I also packed, cleaned up a bit, and got ready to go. We left the apartment about 3:30 pm, which turned out to be a really smart idea. We arrived at the Shanghai Railway Station in plenty of time, got our tickets for the train quickly, and then went to KFC for a bite to eat. Then we walked to the waiting area, and there was NOWHERE to sit. It was jammed. But eventually we found a place and sat down. About 16 minutes before 6 pm, they started letting people enter the train. The train ride was uneventful for the most part; I did like the first-class seats. I did more grading on the train. We managed to find a taxi okay, and then it drove us to the gate at NNU.

But.....then the fun started. A student met us there (Jowell, from the Honors College...an undergraduate) and took us to the hotel. We had to walk 20 minutes to get there; I'm not sure why they couldn't just drop us off in front of the hotel. So we get there, and then they want us to look at the room first. It was a small bed, but it's sort of like our bed in the apartment, so we figured we could deal. Then we come to find out that they don't have anything to eat. Jowell offered to order us some food from McDonald's...which he did. Of course they didn't have my first choice (Big Mac), so I just got a Filet-O-Fish. Next, we get a call from the front desk claiming that I don't belong in China. I got very indignant about this and got Jowell to sort this out. I don't blame him for any of this, but I was tired, hungry, and very frustrated. Fortunately, we got our food (and, of course, they forgot the fries), but we just didn't care at this point. At least we didn't have to pay for it. So we ate our food. I tried to relax by watching an old NBA game: Blazers vs. Cavs (Cavs won).

I hope tomorrow goes well. We'll see.

Here's a picture of the outside of our hotel, at night:

Day 244: A Day with Faculty Friends

Today, Saturday, I actually got out and socialized a bit. First we went downstairs to meet Alex's new son, Kieran. We gave him a Porg that we got at Disneyland, and I also got to meet his wife, Helen. Kerry had met her before. We chatted for about an hour, mostly about school stuff and China. They had a nice apartment--it certainly looked like more of a home than ours: plants, pictures, books, etc. Ours is much more spartan by comparison. It was nice to talk to them. I had been hoping to get to know Alex better during my stay here because he seems like a nice guy, easy to talk to. But he's been busy, and I've been travelling so much. Life gets in the way, and I get that.

Afterwards, we met up with Richard to hang out. First we took a taxi to a mall and had lunch at Carl's Jr. This may not seem like a big deal to you Americans out there, but having access to refillable iced tea and napkins brought tears to my eyes. And the burger wasn't bad, either. Oddly enough, they served fries with a few onion straws. I have no idea why. And a chocolate chip cookie!  The price was comparable to what you'd pay back home.

Once lunch was done, we headed over to the Wanda Cinema to see Avengers: Infinity War. Took awhile to get there, and it was very crowded. One thing about Chinese movies: no previews. They start RIGHT AWAY. I guess they don't have the tolerance for lateness that Americans do. The movie was okay--not totally my thing, but the special effects were amazing. A lot of people died at the end, so that was sad--and death and sacrifice were big themes. The movie was quite long: about 2. 5 hours. There was a preview of the next film after all the credits: I guess there's going to be a sequel.

After the film, we hung out in the mall a bit. First we went to a MLB store. Mostly all they had were Yankee and Dodger apparel, with a smattering of Red Sox, Angels, and (gasp) Tiger stuff. Once I saw a Yankee cap for 800 RMB (about $130), I was so out of there. That is INSANE. Some Western things here are RIDICULOUSLY expensive. Then we headed to a bookstore Richard recommended. We looked at children's books for learning Chinese characters (by copying them), and Richard bought some colored pencils.

We went to Taco Bell for dinner. I mainly wanted to see a Taco Bell with beer and margaritas, and Richard was right: it did have both. I got a variety box that I shared with the guys. The shrimp burrito and the taco were my favorite; I wasn't as crazy about the chicken quesadilla--too spicy. And they didn't provide enough sour cream, ketchup, or cheese for my liking. They screwed up Richard's order quite badly--forgot to bring him his tacos--and the ice cream I got melted almost instantly. Plus, no diet soda. So the place wasn't a total hit.

After dinner, we took a taxi home. All in all, a good day.

(left to right) Alex, me, Porg, Helen (holding Kieran), Kerry.

A view of the shopping area mid-mall.

Kerry with the movie poster.

Me with Peppa Pig, who is insanely popular here.

Enjoying Taco Bell. Note Kerry's cheese.