No naked pictures today. Just some local flavor from yesterday. Lili and I getting ready to walk out the door.
As Catherine mentioned we went to the park. It was full of families, artists and musicians.
There is a single string instrument for traditional chinese music called the Hu ( or it could be lu) which multiple groups of people were playing and singing along with. Plus there was yet another food on a stick sighting. This time it was ornamental sugar in the shape of a shrimp.
Later in the day Lili and I went for a walk while Catherine tried to recover from some virus that was making her queasy and woozy. Everywhere we went we attracted stares and crowds much like this one. This is one of the families in our group with their own set of admirers.
As you can tell definitions of personal space are different everywhere you go. However no matter how many people crowd around you, they are curious and friendly even if you can’t understand what they are saying to you.
We attracted a crowd of about 30-40 women and children. I finally realized that the old ladies were grabbing lili’s hands to check if she was warm enough. They showed me this by having me touch the hands of this little girl whose hands felt like ice cubes. So while they were initially skeptical of how many layers Lili had on, they were very impressed by how warm her hands were and so they approved.
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I met a very chatty 70-year-old man who was a veteran of the Korean war, on the North Korean/Chinese side but also loved America because of our help fighting the Japanese during WWII . He basically said through a translator – “never always enemies, never always friends” I wished I knew what the Chinese words were for that thought because it’s pretty true. We chatted some more with the veteran and lots of other neighborhood residents. It really is a little neighborhood around the Hotel, complete with small markets, hanging laundry, chickens in the alleys, craftsmen making mortise and tenon furniture by hand and eye, and lots of sausages hanging out to dry. The three-wheeled vehicles/motorcycles are everywhere here and are the perfect methods of transporting loads too big to hand carry and too small for a big truck.
We had a very nice walk around the neighborhood before seeing this littel sunset scene which was a perfect close to the evening.
We’ll post more pictures and stories from today’s travels. Including more pictures and stories. -t
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Grampa
Well, it’s after eight am here in NYC and very cold!- I wake up and go through my morning routine and then I savor the moment to sit down and read the latest. You guys look great together! And the pics from the park are great- especially the painter! I hope Catherine is feeling better- I am sending good vibes in this comment box.
You have the blessings of so many of my friends and family- they have tuned in to see what’s up and they comment on how beautiful Lili is and what an awesome blog you have maintained! Thank you again! Can’t wait to see more! have a great day!
abrazos y besos
slee