Robust Growth and Totally Fine! Hilarity!

When I moved to China five years ago, somewhere in the first week I bought this bath towel. It amused me to no end to see the text "Robust Growth + Totally Fine + Robust Growth..." at the bottom of it. Or the "Lapse of Time" and "Hilarity" slogans across the picture. What on earth could it mean? Five years later I still can't work out how something like this even gets printed and produced. Is it just a bad translation of a Chinese towel print?



In any case, despite the "Lapse of Time," I never used the towel, and two weeks ago offered it up at a yard sale. It was snapped up immediately!

Our yard sale in general was a big success. We sold lots of old puzzles (including a puzzle we had borrowed from a friend; oops), Pokémon cards, a pair of flippers, old cables and CDs, a pre-historic PlayStation, and some books the kids had rejected.



Someone's trash is another person's treasure!
 

Thomas says goodbye to his old bike.
 

 

We hired batman to do the sales. (That, or we had some old batman masks to sell...)

 

Not bat business!

 

Only the car is not for sale.
 

In het Nederlands: Een paar zaterdagen geleden deden we mee met een "yard sale". We verkochten wat spullen die of te oud of te lelijk waren, of waar de kinderen niks meer mee wouden doen. Het is nog best ontnuchterend om te zien hoe sommige (ooit) geliefde spullen totaal niet interessant zijn voor anderen!

 

It's the Season to Be M...

My joke was going to be, "It's the Season to Be Moving," but I am afraid you would then think we are moving.

 

We are not.

 

But it is the season to be moving. The little foreigner-village where we live is full of yard sales and moving trucks. Every summer people move in and out, as most expatriates change location in July or August because it easier for the kids who have to change school. 

 

I could have also called this blog post, "rabbit on the move," as the only reason I am writing it is to show you the picture below. This week when I came back from the grocery store, I was biking behind a truck that had a rabbit in the back. It was hot that day, so the door had to be open to give the rabbit (and the guy sitting next to him in the back of the truck) some air to breathe. Somehow it was just such a comic sight -- this rabbit driving by with his precious paintings -- I had to let you share in the fun...

 

 

In het Nederlands: I moest lachen van de week toen ik toevallig achter deze vrachtwagen aan reed. Het is wat lastig te zien maar er zit een konijn achterin. Ik denk dat hij een nieuw groot konijnenhol had aangeschaft om al z'n schilderijen op te hangen! Het is weer verhuistijd bij ons in de wijk. In de zomer gaan altijd veel families verhuizen--hun baan achterna--om dan het nieuwe schooljaar op een andere plek weer te kunnen beginnen. 

 

 

Blue Sky Morning Run

Hello dear reader,

 

As I am sitting cozy inside with my laptop, outside the pollution particles are quickly stacking up again. Simon was supposed to have a soccer tournament today, but it was cancelled because of the 375 "hazardous" pollution level.

 

 

As you can see in the photo, our local grocery shop sells masks at the check-out counter, along with condoms and some drinks. I guess that's all you need in a rush, really!

 

 
So with this dreary, gloomy weather outside, it is about time I post some fun pictures from a recent run. It was a beautiful Thursday morning last week, three days before the Beijing marathon. So I decided to stretch my legs and go for an easy run.
 

 
This is just at the edge of our "foreigner neighborhood." The building on the right is actually from a golf court. Some people play there, others just pass it on their run :)
 

 
After the golf court, I usually run through a small orchard. Well, I don't really see the orchard, but I run through this little group of buildings where the farmers live. I guess the tea is almost ready!
 

 
Just out of the little farmer's compound, my journey continues past a more secretive complex of buildings and parks. I am not allowed in the park, and armed guards are standing at the gates. This giant lion probably knows more, but he is not telling me. Rumor has it that family members of some high-ranked party officials of China's Communist Party live here. Great for them to live so close to me!
 

 
I follow the lion's gaze and run out towards the big road. (The road through the farm field was kind of a short cut to go to this big street behind my neighborhood.) Ooh, look out, a school is coming up. It's Simon and Thomas' school. It's great to run while they are busy building their brains!

 

 
Some guys at work in the middle of my running trail. After I pass the school and a couple of shops, I turn right to zip past a little shopping malls. I think the flags are for Halloween. (They might also still be from last year's Easter.)

 
Basically I am still running in a big square around my own house. On the picture on the left, you see the view as you gaze back across a still empty field towards my own "villa" neighborhood. The field is empty, but for how long? Things change here overnight. I could come here tomorrow and it might be a five-story apartment building. There are also always funny cars parked everywhere. It looks like a greenhouse, but I think this contraption is to shuttle people and materials, not plants.
 

 
Did I mention it was a blue sky day?!? Wow. One good thing about all this pollution is that you absolutely learn to treasure a blue sky.

 

I turn right, along with this public bus. Still running in that square around my house.

 
But here things get exciting! I leave the big old square and turn left into this little village called Maquanying. Nice little gate to remind the innocent pedestrian where he is going.
 

 
I skip the bathroom stop and run a couple meters into this street. Oh well, I might as well tell you, I am having so much fun taking pictures that there's not much running going on anymore. But I do take little runs between the shots.

 
From the main street I turn left into a little alley. And this is where time starts to stand still and I just love being in China. 
 

 
So many colors and things to see!
 

 
Notice the mop on the right--one thing I actually don't understand about China is why there always have to be so many cleaning products out on the street. I don't want to be nasty, but China is not a squeaky-clean kind of place, so what on earth is everyone doing with all these mops and brooms everywhere all the time?
 

 
A village still-life.

 
I thought that the color of the door was so awesome, I had to take a selfie. The door's clearly up for some new paint, but Europeans like it that way, nice and rustic.

  

 

 

 
I think at this point I am getting lost in all the streets. The desk chair is a clear marker though -- if I see it again, I know I have gone full circle.
 

Oh, we're here!
 

 



 
Left at the shoes...
 

 

 
And right after the cute kids...

 

OK, now I am getting obsessed with laundry.
 

 
In addition to the cleaning products.

 

 

 
Just missed a wedding: The character on the right is the sign for double happiness. It's the Chinese character xi (喜), but double, so it's double-happiness for the married couple. For a divorce, you only need scissors.
 

Call me maybe?
 

 
Eventually I do find my way out of the maze and pop out onto the street (the one with the public bathroom in the beginning). I check out some clothing and then turn right, to head back home.

 
Some restaurants. The bottle of soy sauce (or is it vinegar?) reminds me of a funny story. Internet groups in China often use the phrase "I was just buying some soy sauce" to basically say "no comment," or "it doesn't concern me." The phrase comes from an interview with people on the street about some scandal, when one man commented "This has nothing to do with me, I was just buying some soy sauce!" The phrase went viral and now is used a lot in online forums.
 

It's hard to imagine, but just next to the little shopping street is this field of corn. I had never even seen it before myself, so you are getting first dips!
 

 

Would you like some egg on your jian bing?
 

 
Big smiles from the shoe lady, who has her shop just outside the big supermarket.
 

I admit it is an obsession. (But really, at the bus stop?)
 

 
Yi weihai zuguo wei chi, which I think means that if you harm your homeland (zuguo), you are in disgrace. Can't exactly understand what the guys on the right are doing, but it looks bad. The Chinese Mr. Bean on the left appears to be meditating. That, or he has a stomach ache. Luckily the other piece of street art (photo on the right) shows a more manageable objective: a yoga tree pose.

 
After my quick education on the vice and virtues of disgracing myself and hurting the homeland, I run (step) out onto the main road behind my neighborhood: good old Xiangjiang beilu, which means something like the "sweet-smelling river street (north)." I don't think they got that name from the little canal on the left.
 

 
No bus or bike for me today.
 

 
Lions bigger than the forbidden city watch me from across the street.
 

 
Back in my street...and home sweet home!
 

 
It was a lovely run. My own little lion peers out of his polluted eyes.

 
Speaking of pollution... hhm, even on my blue sky day the pollution index was 100, or "moderate." In other places that is cause for alarm, but we call it a good day. Oh well-- did you enjoy the run from the comfort of your own chair and while inhaling clean air?
 

In het Nederlands: Een uurtje rennen (maar vooral lopen) door de buurt. Het was een prachtige dag, al bleek het bij thuiskomst toch niet zo'n heeeel zuivere lucht te zijn.