Life Lately

Things are slowly coming to an end. This was my 2nd to last weekend I'll be in Nanjing. Next week is Tokyo, then Nanjing, then Shanghai (hopefully) then back to Texas. Whoa, right?

I don't really feel like I've been up to anything super exciting lately. I did go to a small night market last weekend with Jill. And I took this video for your personal enjoyment.

I'll miss all of the random/crazy/funny/unusual sightings in China. I think I've been here long enough that I don't notice most of the time anymore. I know. How can you not notice a guy, standing on a fairly crowded street corner, singing? We actually had crossed the street to the little market, then went back after we realized that it was unusual and probably deserved to be documented. Literally, there was enough of a crowd there that traffic was getting backed up.

I've also been doing some last-minute shopping. My aunt Kim wanted some traditional Chinese souvenirs so Alex, Jerel, and I went to Confucius Temple last night to shop around. AND THEY TORE DOWN ALL THE STALLS! I was so sad. Literally, torn down. In a pile of rubble. Alex said I should take a picture, but I didn't. There were a few of the actual stores still there, just not all the fun little stands. I'm guessing they will rebuild?

Anyway, one of the things I suggested was a carved stamp. They are referred to commonly as chops. Maybe in the US as well, I don't know. I got one carved out of stone. The top is a dragon since its the year of the dragon this year, and the stamp itself says "fu" meaning good fortune.

I was going to order the stamp online, but when I saw the guy at the market making them, I thought it would be cool to have a few pictures of it "in the making." I think she is planning to use it not only because it's cool, but to teach her classes about Chinese New Year. By the way, that knife had to be super sharp to carve like that. It took him maybe 2 minutes to carve. If you think about it, he actually has to carve the character backwards so it stamps correctly. Impressive, right?

Today I did some more errands. Nothing super exciting, or even Thanksgiving related. Actually, I ended up eating some left over taco soup (that I made about a week ago) and a frozen burrito. Lunch was better-- a sandwich and nutella cake from Skyway's.  Yum. Surprisingly, or maybe not since I live in China, it was actually a step up from last year. Last year Ashley and I had our "Thanksgiving" lunch at Johnny Moo's (burgers and milk shakes) and for dinner we sucked at life and couldn't even find decent Chinese food so we ended up going to some crap place with bad service and ordered green beans and fried rice to share. Taco soup is sounding better and better now that you've heard my pathetic excuse for Thanksgiving last year. My work won a sales competition and we're supposed to get turkey dinner delivered--maybe tomorrow when everyone is there? 

Back to today. I ran a ton of errands--got a zipper put in my duvet cover, took some clothes to be altered (the good clothes I actually want to keep), got measured for a custom suit, and bought a few other Chinese things. Paper cutting is a very traditional art form. We're lucky to have a master paper cutter in Nanjing. This guy at a different market showed me about 1/2 a dozen books with his picture and articles on his skill. He has some beautiful designs which I'm not posting because they are gifts. His wife and another lady that spoke English were both there. They said this man thought I was very beautiful and wanted to make a silhouette of me. So that's what this picture is. I stood there while he skillfully cut my profile. And a few doves because he said beauty and peace go together. Then he signed it for me. I asked for a picture with him, and his wife made him put on the suspenders and had us both hold the piece he made of me. I thought you'd all enjoy the story more with a picture :) I made the picture bigger so you could see my silhouette better. Best of all, it was free!