Wet Sunday

gingko & sky
Originally uploaded by rogerejones

Woke up at 7; had coffee and some good, chewy bread.

Meditated 30 min.; finished reading Hesse's "Siddhartha."

Braved the wet cold day to take the bus to Lianna's Bakery. It was closed. Damn, for once in my life I had a taste for a grilled ham & cheese sandwich, apple pie, and coffee.

Went to Roma Square, which is now occupied by many antique sellers. Didn't find nuthin'. Looked at electric heaters - too expensive. I can freeze for a while.

Went to Namaste Indian Restaurant for lunch; wrote in my journal for the first time since Aug. 30. Food just OK: chicken tikka masala, curried tomatoes & potatoes, garlic naan, masala tea.

Walked home, took a nap.

Went out to get a roasted chicken, bread, eggs, garlic. Gave chicken to Xiao Gou Gou for dinner. I had scrambled eggs. Walked dog.

Studied Chinese 20 min.

Typed blog entry; posted blog. The end.

Photo of the day - November 13

making caramelized sugar figures
Originally uploaded by rogerejones

Friday the 13th, and nothing disastrous, except a painful, sore neck. This photo is from several weeks ago.

Photo of the day - November 11

Let me out
Originally uploaded by rogerejones

My sixth-floor walk-up apartment
...bars on all the windows
...burglar alarms
...and a dog

Overkill?

Vocabulary lesson

Tea Time
Originally uploaded by rogerejones

The hazards of teaching:

I'm always correcting my students' pronunciation when it comes to the similar words "snack" and "snake," as in "We ate some food at the snake bar."

Yesterday during the class break, as I was on the school balcony enjoying some "fresh" air, one of my students said, "Roger, our other teacher brought snake today!"

I said something to the effect of "Oh, well that's great - did he give you some food in class?"

At that moment another student appeared, carrying a clear plastic box that contained - you guessed it - a real SNAKE. Yipes.

I learned my lesson. Believe it....or not.

Popcorn and a movie

Popcorn movie
Originally uploaded by rogerejones

I spent my usual Sunday riding my bike all over Chengdu. I visited two big markets in the northeast part of town - the housewares and dinnerware market, and the used furniture market. I didn't find much of what I was looking for, but I did score an incredibly cheap 5-yuan teapot. I then stopped by Han Baozi for a huge serving of steamed dumplings with a side order of pickled vegetables - my afternoon snack.

I later met two teacher friends at Peter's Tex-Mex Restaurant. The food isn't too good, but we had fun. I'd stopped by Sabrina's Country Store earlier to stock up on coffee and Jolly Time yellow popcorn (the real thing, not that microwave stuff).

When I got home I popped some corn; the Chinese 锅guō (what we would call a wok) is perfect for popping. I use imported olive oil, but I had no sea salt on hand, which would have made it perfect. I then crawled into bed with my laptop computer, and munched popcorn while watching the incredibly lame Ministry of Fear (Fritz Lang, 1942), a formula WWII anti-Nazi propaganda film, on DVD. At least Ray Milland was good.