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Looking of my balcony window into the construction going on in our complex right next door is entertaining and interesting.  These guys are dismantling the framework that goes around buildings.  The metal frameworks principle purpose as far as I can tell is to hold up the green netting that does something.

 Not sure what he was using the cutting torch on, perhaps a rusted in place bolt?  I have seen this framework going up and they do some serious tightening.

 The big blue truck is a fixture on roads here, and it is large---  sometime I will get a close up -- the rough looking buildings in the background are construction site buildings, house workers, store stuff and seems like lots of short term economic activity.

 lots of ground level work on roads, walks, underground piping (gas, plumbing, electricity ?? ) and note the two wheeled wheelbarrow.

 and they will plant trees and do complex landscaping in a heartbeat.

 and this excavator is a favorite of Isaac especially, often asking to go "see the excavator".  He knows his construction equipment.  Julianna kept reminding me that the guard at our apartment complex entrance had reminded us to not get to close to the construction.

a tourist thing

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went to a local tourist thing today not too far from where I am studying Chinese.  The place was crowded.  We are talking Thursday, no holiday and not terribly nice weather either.  This is one of the entrances, look under the arch, see all the people, and yes I went in.  There was the occasional lao wei, (foreigner), but they did tend to get lost in the crowd.  I had gone for a whole day on numerous occasions and seen no other westerners except relatives --yesterday for example - and I was downtown too.

 the place was of course a replica, think Colonial Williamsburg, except a couple of thousand years older replica -- the time frame being represented, not the buildings which were very new and almost smelled of fresh paint.  Did I mention the crowds.  Lots of souvenirs and trinkets, think Cherokee or Gatlinburg.

 There was one restaurant where some really pretty oriental sounding - duh - music was being played.  I went in, intending to perhaps sit, have a drink of tea (did not see any beer, but could have enjoyed one), the idea of staying and having a tea was abandoned when I saw the crowds who also heard the music and wanted to document it.  Notice the poor guy at the right trying to enjoy his tea -- fat chance of that one Jose.  Did I mention the crowds?  and with cameras too.

for the record, I did not buy any of the trinkets, though I did inquire about price a time or two in order to try out my new language skills.  They are less than good, apparently they do not get my accent - because I sure do not have their tones.

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Don’t ya wish you know what he was thinking sometimes.  I am talking about Isaac here (but it could fit for Matt too on occasion).  I mean we are in what  I would refer to as a bit of a strange place, and it all will be part of normal for him I guess.

 More from our trip to buy foam.  Foam is used as a mattress topper.  The mattresses are FIRM – no make that hard.  The foam takes it to a firm rating.  Anyway foam is appreciated by us wusses.    Foam is also used in furniture manufacturing.  Like in making couches seen here

 Next door to the cutting machine was this shop taking used wood, building a frame and tacking fabric and foam over it and bingo, a couch.   and it was not all that loud, but Isaac was being proactive -- a good thing.  

 It was not High Point or Thomasville or Hickory by a long shot.  Out in the street of course there was a noodle stand.  That is the glass structure to my back as one of the three wheeled motorcycle taxis goes by,  There are not many of either in North Carolina.  I am talking about the taxi and the noodle stand, though we could use both.

 The boiling pot was pig parts, like in parts – partially identifiable parts.  Flavor I reckon.  

 On the way home we got stuck in one of the great traffic jams I have been in.  Crabtree at Christmas is a drive down an empty country road early on a Sunday morning.  The cause – ignoring a stoplight and every vehicle  maneuvers for itself.  Matt got out, left me to drive – I can do this !  and he went up ahead to try to straighten out the intersection.  Another woman joined him and together they got traffic moving. 

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yesterday, Matt, Isaac and I went to a very interesting part of town.  It was not the normal touristy place one would go, nor was it a place where you might find students or any of the other types of people we normally tend to be around for extended periods of time.

 We went to buy some foam, as in a large sheet of foam that you could put on a mattress.  We saw this machine slicing foam into thin layers from large blocks of the stuff.

 Isaac was not so sure he appreciated the hum of the reciprocating saw that was part of the machine that cut the material

 Prior to cutting our slice we had to wait for the completion of a job earlier lined up for the machine.  We watched it being loaded on a motorcycle truck.  Quite common here, not so typical of North Carolina trucks that I have seen.

 Seeing an off center load is not so unusual here and this one is actually almost balanced.  You would be amazed at what actually seems to stay on a truck.

 While waiting we toured a furniture plant where sofas were being manufactured (another post) and when we saw the cushion stuffing operation, Isaac pitched in to help.  These guys can flat out cut foam, and stuff cushions at an incredible speed.

corner art

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This afternoon I spent a couple of hours walking around my neighborhood – the nearest intersection is fairly large by Raleigh or Charlotte and certainly other towns in NC.  The overhead highway is the airport expressway.  Highways on top of another are very very common.  As is true for many, not all, but many intersections, it is graced by what I call public art.  


a side note crossing this or any intersection is a work of survival skills to test anyone.  Cars can and do come from any direction, the colors of the stop light are merely suggestions, and pedestrians had best be quick about their moves and always yield because that car is not going to.  Also note, it is a long long way across that baby.  Fortunately this is one very lightly used intersection due to there being a dead end just behind me.

On one corner there is a big red stone like carving of a dragon and two athletes (?) or dancers (?) or who knows.  

Just next to this is a huge mural, stone looking, but I think concrete too.   It apparently traces Chinese civilization from the dawn of time to the space age.- reading from the right going to the left- of course - who doesn't ! 

Close detail shows strong men riding horses, studying things and making progress.  It is amazing how strong and noble the models for these structures look.  

The extreme left end is replete with a host of space and computer like stuff.

the middle shows advances in science and education and even a Western node with the alphabet

Close examination of the middle panel shows that out artist needs a little work on his ABCs.  To the lower left of the alphabet is a man at a computer and to the lower right is a man looking at an abacus with what are other scientific symbols I think.  The alphabet is an indicator of some of the English translations one can find.  there are some great efforts at translation, but it is certainly not native English by any means.  Just a little example, the railing on the steps at our apartment building has a Chinese admonition and this statement that "climbing forbidded"  

Some day when the internet is a little faster - this has been one slow post -  I will post about the art on the other three corners of this intersection.  It is an eclectic mix of subjects.  


and you all thought all I was doing was studying language.  You can see now what Patt is missing.   

language lesson on the last day here.

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yesterday (Thursday for those of us who struggle with the concept of days of the week ) (note when it is your Thursday night it is our Friday morning if you want to make it even more fun )  anyway, back to yesterday.  It was Patt's last full day here and the grandkids were all over her.  Julianna especially took an interest in helping Patt learn Chinese.

 Now Chinese is not so simple and has tones so there is no mispronunciation of a word, you either said it or you did not.  Tones rise. are high, low or constant.  You got this information from a non-linguist so it may or may not be technically correct.  But it does pass for information and is in the spirit of the subject.

 Counting is also done in sign language, sorta like deaf hand signs except most are with one hand and have motions.  Patt's teacher used a total effort, head bobs, hand signs, facial support, full body moves, and of course tones.

 Patt is very good with tones, she learned Thai, also a tonal language quickly and well.  She was an excellent student and can count very very well --  in Chinese -- she has been able to do so in English as long as I have known her.

 Lydia participated for a good while.  Then joined her Mom and Isaac for a Cat in the Hat reading session.  I wish I had started photos earlier in the language lesson as both student and subject were quite animated and as the lesson went along and Patt was able to count up pretty high.

 You can get just the slightest feel for the intensity of the lesson from these pictures (I have a lot more if you would like to see)

We are all going to miss Patt -- also known very very well as Grandmama, who is at this moment on a flight headed towards the US of A.  

yes they do have another life

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This is to prove that the kids have a life outside of Patt and me -- all be it brief.  Isaac did get to take a promised ride on a neighbor 's motorcycle.  He does like to ride a bike.

 Matt. of course had some last minute instructions, and the neighbors wife and young son were very interested observers.

Laura gets to read too.  Complete with double attention and double talking.  Goodness there is talk in the house.  We had sorta assumed that Isaac would not talk because his sisters talk so much.   Nope, he is in the discussion.  So this is actually a quiet moment.

 Speaking of Isaac, he tries so hard to catch a ball, eyes tightly shut and all.  But he does try.

 now you tube of Mary Poppins is a sure fire attraction.

 I mean you can get some serious attention.

 And a walk on a campus too.  (the uniforms are students who have just left the athletic fields where military training (marching and such ) is done.  All Freshman appear to take part in this activity.  More on colleges later.  They are BIG.

Sleep-over

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The great sleepover event of 2011 occurred the evening we celebrated Lydia's birthday.  We had cupcakes, of course, for desert at Laura and Matt's.  The world map behind me is a frequently used part of the house as the kids frequently need and ask for references of where who or what is.  They will not be ignorant of geography.  (nor much else if you ask me).  Anyway I digress.

after cupcakes it was time to move the girls to our apartment.  Among the things you get to do is try on Grandaddy's slippers, and use the i-phone camera.  (Julianna, really likes the i-phone and i-pad, she was the photographer for this action shot of me on the couch and Lydia on display.

another thing done was a lesson in knitting.  Patt, as is her custom, knitting for a future Grandchild, and Julianna was desirous of a lesson.  Not being one to deprive a grandchild, Patt taught and when one child gets attention,-- who else needs a little attention.

 Bedtime came, (just a little late Laura) and I read not one but two chapters of Wind in the Willows - or "wiwos" as Isaac calls it.  (We enjoy listening to him).

The next morning Matt & Laura, brought Isaac as they were off on errands.  Well we played Leggos, or weggos depending of who is doing the talking.

Julianna also spent some time writing an email to her parents.  The text consisted of a series of names.  Full discussions of issues of the day will be the subject of future emails .

 

and then it was back to Wind in the  wiwos. 

 

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Such a grand time.

If you look out the window you can see some of our neighbors.  We are on the 12th of 17 floors.  A tour of our apartment will come soon.

sometimes we just attract attention

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Patt and I now have a Chinese phrase book, borrowed from Matt and Laura, and given a phrase book, I become one of your basic bi-lingual (or try-lingual ) people.  -- Patt is getting good too.  One of our newest advantages is that Julianna is teaching and helping us with pronunciation.  She is also stepping in when we are struggling- see second photo below-

Well Patt and I took the kids to the grocery store and armed with "yo mei you"  and a dictionary we could find out if the store had most anything on our list.  Finding helpers to help understand me and find something and look at the kids was not hard.  It was a slow day at the store and the multiple helpers where busy helping me/us -- it was becoming comic.  (this particular store has helpers like old time department stores did in the US.

Patt left me and my linguistic ability working through the particular knotty problem of finding honey (the word was not in the dictionary and my imitation of a bee did not help the clerks/helpers understand what we wanted at all.   Patt had gone to find one of the few items which we knew beforehand where it was.  She returned and saw me surrounded.  Did she offer to help, no she asked for the camera.  

Later Patt was recounting to Julianna why she had brought one kind of a drink instead of the preferred when Patt responded that the shelf was being restocked and she could not see the entire selection.  Julianna then said "  Grandmama, you should have said  "___ ____ ____ ____ ___ _ ___ "  (the dashes stand for Chinese).  Patt then said well how would that have helped.  Julianna said, it means "move, I need to find the mango drink"  Julianna is getting to be quite the helper.

yo mei you" -- with proper pronunciation means "Do you have "_____?