I have been so bad about finishing the Thailand trip. These are photos are from Day Three’s adventures. We headed out to the Wat Arun, the oldest Wat in Bangkok. Our morning was spent there, followed by lunch at a sidewalk cafe. An afternoon of cocktails at the pool. Dinner in the Towers Lounge followed by massages.
Yesterday, October 1, 2009, China celebrated its 60th Anniversary as a Communist governed country. There were phenomenal displays of pride and strength around the country. Beijing was the obvious starting point. I can honestly say I am probably the most ignorant expat when it comes to Chinese politics. The presidents name is something like Hu and he seems well liked by the people of this mystical country. I can say that he is much more photogenic then Chairman Mao. That isn’t saying much but I judge by the way people make me feel, their aura if you will. 
Here in Nanjing there were numerous activities around town to celebrate the day. Parades and dinners during the day but the night was all about the fireworks. One of the main displays was at Yuahaiti Nan Den, Rainflower Terrace, which is also the site of the Communist Martyr Museum and but a quarter of a mile from our apartment. We watched the fireworks from our north side terrace. The fireworks were amazing and huge. The display started at 8pm, remember 8 is a lucky lucky number and as it was the 60th Anniv. the fireworks went for 60 minutes. Crazy I tell you. I get bored with the boomers so I kept going out the the south side terrace to watch the show on the bridge that we overlook. 1000’s of Chinese lined up on the bridge to watch the show. 
Bill and I choose to be observers and not participate. As American’s it just feels a bit bizarre celebrating communism. My grandparents and great grandparents would never understand that option. I can celebrate thought the advancements that the Chinese have made in the past 60 years. My understanding of just the past 10 years the changes have been astronomical. A kin to being a caveman and waking up in 2009. The things that we think of as common place are still l ooked at here with mystery and unease.
Take my bread machine. I just inherited it from a family that was returning to the US and I was using it for one of the first times…my cleaning lady (Ayi) watched me pour all the 
ingredients into the machine turn it on and walk away. I glanced back and she was standing on a chair and peering into the viewing window watching the paddle mix the dough. For the next three hours every time the machine beeped she would come running to find me….yelling “T! T!”. Once the loaf was done I had to send it home with her so she can tell her family about the magic machine that makes bread.
These are things that happens often enough to remind us how different our world is from what the common Chinese person experiences.
If you go out into the rural areas something as normal as a digital camera is interesting….special video cameras. Bill was recording this older gentleman playing his flute, one of the homemade bamboo flutes. Bill recorded sev
eral minutes and was asked to show the footage back to the player. This old man, Bill guessed his age at around 80, got to hear himself play for the first time in his life. Bill had an interpreter with him so we are sure of the sentiment. I would love to present the man with a copy of the footage but what is he going to play it on? His laptop? DVD?
My take on this whole communism thing for the time is that it is doing the best it can for Modern China. The things lost during Mao’s regime cannot be replaced but the lessons learned are priceless.
As much as I may complain or ridicule about my experiences here, under it all, I love China. I love the simplicity of the people, I love the fact that everyone here wants to learn, I love when I speak in Chinese to an older person and their eyes just light up because the freaky westerner is saying Hi, I love when the older person speaks back to me in English – maybe I can learn something from them and how is it that they, the generation that lived through Mao was speaking English?
I love the Chinese food, well, most of it. I love the monasteries and the temples. I love the kids following me around wanting to practice their English and I love the little babies with their chubby cheeks and onyx colored eyes.
Happy Commie Day to all my Chinese friends and family!
The government building by our house.
My in-laws have recently celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary. Unfortunately Bill and I were unable to attend the celebrations since we are so very far from home. Warren and Teena Maki were married on September 5, 1959 in Upper Michigan, USA. To commemorate the occasion, they returned to the church where they made their original vows, St. Peter’s by the Sea, Episcopal Church in Eagle Harbor, Michigan. 
On Sunday afternoon, September 6, family and friends joined Teena and Warren for a liturgy of Renewal of Vows and Eucharist. The Rev. Manuel Padilla officiated with Nancy Auer of Christ Church, Calumet serving as Eucharistic Minister. Daughter, Jeanelle Maki, read the lessons and the Rev. Peg Padilla worked the CD player so there was 
music.
Teena (Mello) grew up in Eagle Harbor, and when she married Warren there in 1959, theirs was the first wedding performed at St. Peter's. St. Peter's is a summer chapel only, and the service this Sunday afternoon was the last in the chapel for this year.
I really respect this amazing couple for their love for their family, friends and their faith in each other. I hope that they have many more years of joy and laughter. I know that there are days that they look at each other and think, “What the hell was I thinking?” but at the end of the day they are there for each other.
God grant them many years. God grant them many years. God grant them, God grant them many years.
“Two men who tried lighting up cigarettes in a public toilet in Qinzhou, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, were seriously scalded as they accidently ignited the marsh gas last Thursday.
A blaze broke out in the environment-friendly toilet in the city’s Erqiaotou road when they lit the cigarettes.
The men suffered burns on their hips and were rushed to a hospital for treatment. They are out of danger.
It took firefighter two hours to put out the fire.”
-Nangou Morning Post
This article was printed in our only English language newspaper the only one that we have access to in Nanjing, The China Daily. The China Daily is full of many delightful stories of happenings around China that the government feels that its citizens should know about. The paper is the Chinese standard paper that is translated to English for us expats.
As an English speaking expat I am always interested in finding out all I can about the area I now call home. Stateside all we do is tune into one of our many local channels to see why the highway was diverted or why there was a crowd of people gathered in the park. In China we see many of these same sites but have no idea as to the reason why mainly due to the language barrier. The China Daily covers happening across the whole country and on occasion we get tidbits about things happening in our city.
This weekend Bill brought this article to my attention. Oh, my God – I have had several days of laughs thanks to the China Daily and its ability to connect with what the readers are want to know. Random thoughts that immediately crossed my mind:
I just love living in China. My bonus site was today I saw a chubby china man strolling down the sidewalk wearing a t-shirt that said Made in Italy. False Advertisement?
