Monthly Archives: October 2013

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The Guizhou Library has a very nice collection of English books on the 4th floor Foreign Language 外文 section. Open every day.  This Saturday English corner there has been organized by 85 year old “Camel” for many years (his first English corner was at the Qianling Park).   Library cards that allow borrowing of books for one month are available with a 200 yuan deposit.

children’s collection at Guizhou Library, 1st fl, Beijing Rd, with Jack Porter (Guizhou Normal U. English teacher) , Oct 2013, posted at http://www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/10137882495/in/photostream/

Occasional story reading at the children’s section of the Guizhou Library (Beijing Road, next to the Guizhou Museum) by volunteer teachers on Saturday afternoons.

 

Chinese Made Simple

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In China, the term “waijiao” denotes “diplomatic relations” or “foreign teachers” .  These are so closely related that it is very difficult for me not to get them mixed up.  Chinese is very easy in one way,  you don’t have so many sounds to learn.  You just have to keep  track of the tones . . . In this case: wai4jiao1 and wai4jiao4 (diplomatic relations and foreign teacher respectively).

Incidentally, if you are a student of the tones, you will note a difference between what was said, what was written, and what you will find in a Chinese/English dictionary.  While Chinese seem to have no trouble understanding each other, they often disagree on tones and stroke order.

videos of Guiyang 贵阳的视频,useful for newcomers or those considering coming

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 http://v.ifeng.com/news/society/201306/3392ab33-bfa0-4f4c-b889-843d5f1dc24b.shtml (If flash video doesn’t display, paste link into browser)

爽爽的贵阳 中国避暑之都, uploaded at: http://v.ifeng.com/news/society/201306/3392ab33-bfa0-4f4c-b889-843d5f1dc24b.shtml

Tied together by shots of a girl from a Guizhou minority rural background who has achieved success and come back to Guiyang (yeah, kinda corny), with a secondary story of some high living businessmen. But many video segments are well filmed. Narration is in Chinese with well done English subtitles.

贵阳市城市图片, uploaded at: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjIwMTk1MjA=.html

Still photos of Guiyang, perhaps 5 years old.

 

Vice Governor Chen Yiqin welcomes Foreign Teachers and Investors

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On September 29, 2013 Guizhou Province hosted a reception ceremony welcoming the foreign  teachers and foreign investors to Guizhou.  Executive Vice Governor Chen Yiqin told the foreigners that Guizhou appreciates our efforts to help build the economy here in Guizhou.  A fine banquet was provided in a demonstration of thanks.

A Woman is a Flower

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I recently visited the Guiyang Botanical Gardens off Shacong Nanlu with my friend Yifei, an incurable camera addict. Yifie was the primary photographer in my “Shopping With Chef James” video http://www.tourguizhou.net/shopping-with-chef-james/. I am told that in China, a beautiful girl is often referred to as a “flower”, the same as in the West.

IMAG2468 IMAG2469  Which photo shows the best flower? I couldn’t decide, so I posted both:

 

The Trouble with Rats . . . Update #2

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Well it was just about am month since putting the last rat to sleep.  This ground floor older home is vulnerable, but I just can’t bring myself to put out poison.  I caught a big guy about 3  days ago and killed him the same way, dropping the live trap into a bucket of water.  It was a very heavy animal, and I’m sure that if I let him go free that he would have beat up on the neighborhood cats. After killing my first rat a month ago, the second one was much easier. This rat was caught on a potato.  I am baiting the trap with French bread and peanut butter. Both potatoes and peanut butter are proven rat baits.

Note: Complaints about my rat picture led to it’s deletion. I have inserted a more popular rodent:Mickey

going native

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Anna in Miao minority dress, Huangguoshu Waterfalls, Anshun, Guizhou, Oct 2013,

Anna teaches at the Guiyang American-Canadian International School, see: www.flickr.com/photos/101438178@N05/with/10051855993/

at a store in Guiyang with things to burn to the dead – money, paper clothes, paper gold ingots, paper cigarettes, dominoes, mahjong table, etc 冥币等等,  uploaded at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/10063978115/

American $1 dollar bills with the Chinese god of the underworld in the place of Washington’s face, and the denomination changed to US$1,000,000, was the surprise.

The store was close to a hospital.  There was no Buddhist or Daoist temple in the area.