angela's blog

No we're not having kids. But a lot of my friends either have them or are getting them (Kim and Howard, Michele, Steve and Sabrina, to name a few) and it's made me and JJ talk a lot more about child-rearing in our first year of marriage than probably the average couple. Or maybe all newly married couples wax intellectual about how they would like to raise their children and we're not that special. Either way, we've been talking about children and how we want to raise them and how we hope and pray they'll turn out. Here are some notes about what we're hoping for: * I hope my child is passionate about God. I know that both of us will remain faithful to the church and to God and I hope that we will be good enough parents to instill that same desire in our children. * I hope my child is passionate about what he or she does. Whether it be writing, baseball, music, whatever it is. I hope my child finds something he or she truly enjoys and loves and gives it the best effort possible. I also hope, in this same vein, that what my child is passionate about is not drugs or alcohol. * I hope my child understands the difference between respecting JJ and me (his or her parents) and agreeing with everything we ever say. * I hope that when he or she grows up, the past will have been rosy, fair, peaceful, and full of love. * I hope that on his or her wedding day(s) that the couple will look at JJ and me and say "We hope our marriage is like theirs." * I hope that we can see the stars and beauty of life in their eyes.

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 6/30/2006 10:03:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

How could you not love this face? I had to take more pictures. Ever since I put Roxy on Dogster and other dogs have been wanting to be "pals" with her I've noticed that the other pictures are all very Glamour-shot like and hers weren't. So even though I can't do the Glamour-shot thing, I tried to make her look her cutest. She didn't help. She kept wanting to have her belly rubbed and trying to lick the camera. This is Roxy's favorite trick. If she thinks we're going to scold her, or we were petting her and we stopped, she'll roll over and show us her belly as if to say "But look at how much of me there really is to love!" Flying super-Roxy! What are we going to do next? If I look right in the camera, can I have a treat? This is as close as we're going to get to a doggie Glamour-shot.

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 6/29/2006 01:02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

After nearly 2 weeks of doggie hugs and kisses, doggie bliss and doggie joy we have stumbled upon our first doggie problem ... Roxy has worms. Having never had a dog test positive for worms before I was a little nervous when I heard that she had two kinds of worms - tape and hook. But apparently it's not a big deal at all ... you just give the dog some pills and she gets over it. At least according to my fellow dog owners and the vet. I find that fascinating. I mean, if you told someone that I had tapeworm people would be like "EEEEEEW!" You say your dog has worms and people are like *shrug* no big deal. But she should be all good as new soon. I guess it just makes for messy cleanup on the walks for awhile. Oh well.

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 6/28/2006 01:25:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

JJ and I are fast approaching 1 year of marriage. I'm excited but not as excited as he is. This is for a number of reasons. Mostly it's that I just don't get excited about sentimental things like he does. For those of you who attended or were a part of our wedding, you'll remember. I was so happy to be marrying the most perfect guy in the world for me that I cried ... a whole 3 tears. JJ? JJ bawled, blubbered, sobbed, and at last count I believe there were at least 4237 tears. Maybe more. I don't think he was happier than me ... he might have been ... but I'm just not an "excited over sentimental things" sort of person and he, well, he's the sweet and sensitive kind. Unlike Josh and Mamie, who have cool photos of each of their years of marriage, and unlike Steve and Sabrina who do super nice things for their anniversary like go to Bogart's or get massages we aren't doing anything particularly splendid for our anniversary. In fact, we're not even celebrating it on the actual day. We both have the 4th of July off and the day of our actual anniversary (July 9th) he's working the church service and so am I. Which means the night before is early to bed so we can get up early. It also means we're going to be tired that night, which means no time for anything fun. But we're going to celebrate on the 4th. We figure that's ok. It's not like if we celebrate early the actual anniversary isn't going to happen you know? Which is the other thing that JJ mentioned last night. He wanted to know why I didn't seem to get as excited as he was over the anniversary because he personally finds it really really cool. And my response was, "Well, it's not like it's some big surprise that we made it. I mean, we kind of knew we were going to right? It's not like we thought we'd be split up by now." I hate to sound like the antithesis of romantic but unfortunately for him I'm way too practical for my own good. I think it's great that we made it a year. I hope we have 70 of them. On the other hand, I don't think the year anniversary that's coming up is necessarily reason for splendid celebrations. However, it IS a good reason for steak!

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 6/28/2006 07:30:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

My friend Nicole often posts lists of things she observes and loves to do and things that make her happy. It's a wonderful idea, in my opinion, because what that means is if I'm ever down I can look back over old blog posts and remember the stuff that makes me smile. 1. Hugs and kisses from my favorite children - Jessie and Jaylyn and Dylan have become almost a part of our tiny little family ... Jessie hugs and cuddles and kisses and shares herself between JJ and me (at the movie Cars on Saturday she took turns sitting in each of our laps); Jaylyn is loyal and devoted; Dylan is sweet and affectionate. It is just so great to see all three of them grow and grow up and to know that their parents are some of the best parents I ever hope to see ... I hope I'm as good a mom as Kim and Michele are someday. 2. Having time, after years of not, to leisure read - I'm reading The Man Who Ate Everything by Jeffrey Steingarten (of Iron Chef America fame)and it's fascinating to read about all the different things about food that I didn't know. 3. Roxy - having her around entertains me. I could do without the persistent slobbering but it's a small price to pay for lots of doggie love and tail wags. 4. Air conditioning - around here it's getting to be 80 degrees with 80+% humidity by 8:30 in the morning. I can barely handle heat and humidity separately, but together I'm just doomed. Our power bill in the winter, when most power bills go up, is much lower since we keep the thermostat set at 65. I love cold weather. But in the summer, it's a tough one. 5. Good sporting events and championship series - between the Stanley Cup and College World Series it's been almost (ALMOST) as good as March Madness around here. The 'Canes won. The Tar Heels did not. Yay. And just as equally, boo. 6. My church and the ministries there - I love WAM. I love HopeTown. I love newhope. And all the people there. 7. Good small group - my small group is lovely. And awesome. And tons and tons of fun. Plus, we like, study God and Jesus and stuff. You should join us. If you're a girl. If you're a boy you should go join Josh and Kenny's group instead.

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 6/27/2006 07:29:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

One last thing about China ... Since we have returned to the U.S. I have been corresponding with our national tour guide, Toby. He sent me some photos of his wife and daughter the other day and can I just say his family is REALLY good looking? And look at the little girl! She's 6 and will be in first grade in WuHan (where they live) in the fall. It's so cool to have an international pen pal of sorts. Toby has never been to the U.S. but we're hoping that he'll make it sometime ... and maybe when he's here, we'll get to see him.

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 6/24/2006 01:01:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

My dog has a blog. And a dogster page. I've been suckered. Roxy's blog Roxy's dogster page If you have a pet on dogster we should be pals ... :-) I also found out that we need to take some better of pictures of Roxy - some of these dogs on here have glamour shot like photos and my photos, well they look silly. We'll work on that, Roxy and me.

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 6/23/2006 10:25:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

For those of you who know me and/or read my blog regularly you know that I love my church. I love God and I love serving at newhope. I truly believe that the movement of newhope is part of the advancement of God's kingdom and that at newhope we try to live by the standards to which God has called us. I believe that the members at newhope try to live out these standards and that we hold each other accountable and encourage each other to do so. I'm glad we do that. And I was reminded recently why it's so important. My friend Sarah has been working at a church for the last year or so. At the beginning of the year they agreed on how much she would be paid. She's been getting her regular paychecks for the course of the year. A few weeks ago she got a phone call saying that they (the church) accidentally overpaid her about 350 dollars. They asked her to pay that money back. Turns out, according to contract law, this is, in fact, allowed. Because they set a certain amount for Sarah's salary and they made a mistake and overpaid her it is their right to request that she pay them back and legally she is obligated to do so. So far, this stinks, but it's, while unfortunate, all reasonable. Then, a few days ago Sarah got another call from the church. She had told them before that it would take her a few weeks to come up with the money to pay them back, that because she is a law student living on student loans, that she did not have the money right that second, but that she'd be happy to pay up in a few weeks and by the fall she would certainly have it. Well, this second call was ... preposterous, rude, and incredibly judgmental. A woman on the other end told her that the church would need its money back sooner than they expected. When Sarah told her that she was trying to get the money together, that she had spent the extra 350 dollars on bills and necessities, the woman responded with this message: How can you have spent that money, don't you save it? First of all, what business of the woman's is it what Sarah does or did with that money? They paid it to her, it was hers! It wasn't like she was trying to get out of paying it - she was simply asking for a little grace and time because she was unaware she was overpaid and therefore it would take some time to make that money up. At the end of the conversation, the woman told Sarah that she better pay up because if she didn't she would not be going to heaven. What kind of person thinks that it's a good idea to say something like that? And even worse ... it's an unfortunate way for someone to act in general, but someone who is working for a church really shouldn't be passing judgment on whether not someone else is going to heaven. Not only is this NOT Biblical, but I also thinks that it encourages the misrepresentation that Christians think they're better than everyone else. How ... I don't know ... terrible is the word that comes to mind but I'm not sure it's appropriate. It just seemed out of line to me and it saddens me that in some places the church can be so rude and condescending. Everything I've learned about church since I've been a part of one is that it's supposed to be a place of love and grace, acceptance and encouragment, and that all of this leads to getting through the tough times. I wonder where that's gone?

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 6/23/2006 04:01:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Now that the trip has been blogged, the dog is home, and the Stanley Cup has been won I feel like we can get back to our regularly scheduled life. JJ has been working the College World Series (in which UNC is kicking butt, by the way) and so he's been working late nights. I start teaching summer school tomorrow. Plus, July is always hectic what with JJ's birthday and our anniversary. It is, however, less hectic than last year. About now last year I was worried about fitting into the wedding dress, getting everyone from all over here to the Triangle, getting the final headcount, moving from my apartment to JJ's, and on and on. In contrast, our lives have reached a level of steady contentment. Sure we have ups and downs but as a general rule we're pretty happy and pretty busy. An average day now involves one of us getting up early to walk the dog (who is usually squirming with delight at seeing us .... or perhaps she just has to pee), getting ready for work and then playing with Roxy for awhile. She's the happiest dog on earth and we're so lucky to have gotten her. I'm glad we're back to our regular life ... I'm not big on things that are too new or too exciting. I enjoy the normal routineness of life. Of course, that doesn't mean life doesn't come without its occasional pleasant surprises. On Monday my friend Jon from college called. "What are you doing tonight?" he asked. "Whyyyyyy?" "Guess where I am!" After many chaotic phone calls, I got to hang out with Jon Mesh yesterday! I haven't seen him since I graduated from college and it was nice to catch up. He had to fly out yesterday at 5 so I only got an hour but it was better than nothing! Tomorrow I start teaching a summer session at UNC ... it's going to be probably the most whirlwind 3 1/2 weeks I've had in quite some time. Last night we babysat for Dylan while his mom got a much deserved break to have her hair cut. We played Frisbee, watched a movie, and played with Roxy. We now know, Roxy is great with children. Woohoo! I really do think we might have a near-perfect doggie, who is currently sleeping on the floor and wagging her tail in her sleep. I wonder what dogs dream about? I'm happy to report, we have returned, here in Durham, to our regularly scheduled life. And we love it.

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 6/21/2006 09:26:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

Last night the boys' small group and the girls' small group put aside our respective studies and instead gathered for a VERY important occasion ... Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. Hurricanes vs. Oilers, 3-3, winner take all. Burgers, hot dogs, salsa, goat cheese and peppers, watermelon, cole slaw, corn on the cob and drinks were all put aside by game time. All eyes were on the TV. I'm sort of a sideline hockey fan to be honest. Kind of like Sabrina and football. Football is my sport of choice. Hockey is Sabrina's. So earlier this year when the Steelers made the playoffs Sabrina and I made a deal: If she would cheer for the Steelers as they made their bid for the Super Bowl, then if the Hurricanes made the Stanley Cup playoffs, I would return the favor. Well, Sabrina and I? We did something right. First, the Steelers won their first Super Bowl title in over 25 years ... And then last night, after a nail-biting 3rd period, this happened ... That's right, the Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup. Cam Ward, rookie goalie, was named the game's MVP. I think next year, Sabrina and I might be making the same deal. As we left Steve said, "So we agree ... we'll all blog about this tomorrow." And we have. Here are the other Hurricane faithful bloggers. Josh's blog Sabrina's blog Steve's blog And for those of you keeping track I believe I may add hockey to my list of sports I like to watch. So that's Steelers football, UNC football, UGA football, UNC basketball/college basketball/March Madness, UNC baseball, Braves baseball, USA and Olympic swimming and now Carolina Hurricanes hockey. Hmmm ... I wonder if I could get into the World Cup? ;-)

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 6/19/2006 10:29:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

On Thursday we brought home this beautiful girl: Her name is Roxy. JJ's roommate right after college had a dog named Roxee (note the difference in spelling). She passed away, Roxee, not Roxy, a couple of months ago and JJ really liked Roxee so we named Roxy after Roxee in Roxee's honor. So far she's been sweet, a little jumpy when we let her out in the mornings or after we've been out but other than that very well behaved. I'm sure eventually in the blog there will be Roxy stories. Look at that, we have a family now! Kind ... of. :-)

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 6/17/2006 04:34:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Well my readers, we've almost completed our tour. And if you're like me and JJ, it wasn't that you didn't enjoy it but you're ready to return to the regular life. Or maybe not - maybe this trip to China has been more interesting than the goings-on of a couple of pretty boring people. If that's the case, well ... I hate to disappoint you but we are but a few days from the end of this series. Thanks for coming with us ... I hope you enjoyed your trip! Today we're going to the metropolis of Shanghai. It has a population of over 17 million. The name "Shanghai" means the "city on the sea." It is situated on the eastern coast of the People's Republic and is a thriving metropolis with over 300 highrise buildings. Shanghai is the New York City of China. The people who live here seem to live in a different world than the rest of their fellow countrymen. Being a "Shanghainese" is an honor worthy of sneering down one's nose at everyone else. You can only become Shanghainese, or an official and legal resident of Shanghai, by birth. Your father or mother must be Shanghainese otherwise you cannot reside there. If you were originally Shanghainese and you leave, you cannot return and be a resident of the city unless you apply for permission through one of a few avenues that include a student at the university, marriage to a Shanghainese resident, and other possibilities. The bottom line is that it's difficult to become a Shanghainese if you're Chinese and don't already live there. Shanghai is also a melting pot of international proportions. Many foreign business people will go to Shanghai and start a branch of their business. We saw everything from Philips and Samsung and Kyocera to major shipping companies to Mercedes and BMW. One of the ways that a one can become an official Shanghainese is to move there as a foreigner. While there are restrictions on domestic moves into Shanghai, they seem to be wide open to waigoren or foreigners. Shanghai is home to one of the biggest international shopping avenues and one of the most internationally famous waterfronts, the Nanjing Road and the Bund. The Bund, so named because of its draw for people and gathering places, is on the waterfront, a small distance of water that divides the two sides of Shanghai. The view from the Bund is hazy at best, but it is a popular place to gather and stroll. We visited the Bund first, then headed to the Nanjing Road. The Nanjing Road is a large, pedestrian only shopping area with a McDonald's every half block and a variety of both western style (Polo, Nine West, Adidas to name a few) and eastern style (Chinese herb and candy stores, jewelry, and traditional shops) stores. The biggest difference between this major shopping area and the rest that we encountered while abroad was the set prices. No bargaining! But that was only mostly true. In shops such as Nine West and Adidas, plus the 9-floor shopping mall, the prices were set and they were pretty close to American prices. 60 dollars for a pair of Nikes, 15-20 dollars for a shirt made by Dockers. But we discovered something - in our quest to find the perfect presents for our local favorite children, Dylan, Jaylyn and Jessie, we went to the children's floor in the mall. Things made not in China, or things with namebrands - Lego, Crayola, Barbie - are comparable in price with items from the U.S. But things made in China, which is what we were looking for for the girls and Dylan, were still ... well, Chinese prices. For a total of 8 American dollars we got the three kids cute presents and they were nice! Here's a view of Nanjing Road: One thing we finally got around to while we were in Shanghai, mostly because we had more free time, was we got to experience Chinese McDonald's. Things there were pretty cheap - a hamburger for about 70 cents, a chocolate dipped ice cream cone for 50 cents, a value meal for $1.25. JJ ordered a hamburger and wolfed it down, just to say he had. Chinese McDonald's After Nanjing Road we headed of to a performance of the New Shanghai Circus, a Chinese acrobats show and one of the best at that. It had jugglers who juggled hats in bow-ties to "It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing"; a man who stacked chairs and balanced on the very top; men who climbed dangling ropes and hung upside down; women with the spinning plates; women who spun things with their feet while balancing other women on them; and the climactic end, a steel ball with 5 motorcyclists riding inside. We (my family and I) had seen the steel ball with 3 motorcyclists before in Las Vegas but 5 is a lot! And as JJ pointed out, how do they practice for that? Centripetal force keeps the bikes from falling down into a pile in the bottom ... and that means that the drivers have to ride at a certain speed ... and that means if you crash, you're dead. It boggles the mind. Unfortunately, for safety (and to me, obvious) reasons we weren't allowed to take flash photos in the dark theatre so I have none. When we got back on the bus Joanna, our local tour guide, and Toby, our national tour guide, asked us if we enjoyed the performance. After we all said yes, Toby said that his favorite part is always the ball and the motorcyclists, he thinks it's so exciting. There was a brief silence and Toby said, "You know, there used to be 7. And then there was an accident. A real bad accident. There's only 5 now." And that was all the information we got. We went to dinner at a restaurant that serves hot-pot, a traditional Chinese food. With hot pot, called huo guo in Chinese, a pot full of flavorful broth is placed in the middle of the table. The table has its center cut out and a small gas stove plugged in. Fire up the gas and make the broth boil. Then plates of raw food - meat, vegetables, noodles - are placed on the table and the hungry eaters cook it to their own liking. At our house (mine and JJ's) we generally only eat it in the winter because, well, boiling broth is hot, but we couldn't pass up the chance to eat it in Shanghai! The hot pot adventure came about as a matter of mutiny of sorts. Everyday the tour guides, local and national, would load us up in the bus at around 9 or 9:30, and give us the itinerary for the day. Our last day in Shanghai (mine and JJ's, not everyone else's - we left a day early), as we drove to the Nanjing Road, Joanna was telling us about the Road and the Bund, and then said, "And tonight you're going to see the amazing Chinese acrobat show and then go to a hot pot restaurant for dinner," and at that about half of the busload - those of us that knew what hot pot is - went "Ooooh!" and then she finished with "But you won't be having hot pot," and we were like a bunch of deflated balloons. Over lunch that day, in a private room for our tour group, my family and I explained what hot pot is to the group members that weren't familiar with the term. By a unanimous vote, all 13 of us decided that we would ask the tour guides to cancel our originally planned dinner, pay the difference, and request hot pot. My father was elected the spokesperson. We were granted our request. So there we were, sitting at a table with no center, but a gas stove and a boiling pot of broth. And here we are, admiring the amount of food: And here we are, admiring our own ability to consume the food: A picture of a full and happy table -- or at least those of us under 35! And finally, as the perfect cap to what can only be described as a grand trip ... the 3 Wongs and 2 Coopers ... full, happy, sleepy, and really ... about as "Chinese" as we're all going to get: Thanks for coming along with us for the wild and crazy ride. I hope that you've enjoyed your photo tour through China and narrated by yours truly. Over the next couple of days JJ will be going back and commenting and giving his thoughts of the day for each of my previous posts so be sure to check back for those. Finally, he'll post his "Top 10 things I loved about China" and "Top 10 things I missed about the U.S." list. That will conclude our commentary on the trip. Our thanks to my parents for so generously offering us the opportunity to see history, culture, art, and an international phenomenon as great as the Great Wall and as entertaining as the New Shanghai Circus. This is your narrator, signing off.

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 6/14/2006 02:39:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

We're going to see the suburb of Shanghai, SuZhou today. Sorry about the delay but as promised, we'll see a silk factory and the Master-of-Nets Garden today. We will also take a riverboat tour through the canals of SuZhou - the Venice of the Orient. One thing, among many, that China Focus did well, at least to us, was that as the tour was reaching its end, we had more and more free time. Rather than having us on tours from 8 am to 7 pm, they slowed things down. 9:30 meeting time, back to the hotel by 2 or 3 in the afternoon. I think that's wise just because people start to wear out. I know I appreciated it! Onto SuZhou we go! At this point we were old pros at the get-off-the-plane-get-our-bags-meet-the-tour-guide routine. Toby, as our man-in-charge, got the carts and the rest of us got the bags. Walk to the bus. Meet the new local tour guide. Like we'd been doing it for years. From the domestic Shanghai airport, called HongQing (later we would fly out of the international one called PuDong), it was about a 90 minute bus ride to our hotel in SuZhou. As we rode, our SuZhou-Shanghai local guide told us about the area. SuZhou's popularity has exploded recently, with its population nearly doubling in less than five years. Between Shanghai and Suzhou you can see factories and dormitories and apartments. Scattered between the factories are farms growing everything from oysters (for pearls), rice, wheat, corn and other goods. One thing you'll notice as you drive down the road is that even though it is clear some of these farmers are quite old and have been doing this for most of their lives, the quality or standard of life here, in the outskirts of an industrial city, is still somewhat higher than that of a an area that is more agricultural, such as Guilin. As we drive along Joanna tells us that the day we arrived, May 31, is the day of the Dragon Boat Festival. And today for the Dragon Boat Festival the locals are feasting on zongzi made of sticky sweet rice, sometimes accompanied by sweet ingredients such as red beans, or savory ones such as mushrooms, shaped and wrapped in bamboo leaves, tied up with string, and then steamed until cooked through. The Dragon Boat Festival originated in honor of the Chinese poet Qu Yuan who committed suicide by jumping into the river. The people, who believed Qu Yuan was a good man, made zongzi and threw them into the river, hoping the fish would eat the sticky rice treat, rather than Qu Yuan's body. They also made dragon boats and banged on the side to scare the fish away. The next day, June 1, is also a holiday, Children's Day. The remaining 364 days a year teachers, parents, and grandparents push children to their very limits, hoping they will excel. Parents in China don't necessarily do so with loving encouragement and helpful advice. Chinese parents show their love by stern offerings of food, strict regimens of studying, and declarations that their children are lazy and good-for-nothing as a means of motivation. But on Children's Day, the children become the center of attention. They get new clothes and new toys, get to eat special food, and are little emperors and empresses for the day. Remember that in China, each couple is only allowed one birth so most parents have only one child. This is their chance to shower affection on their little offspring. Even the tour guide, Toby, got a phone call from his daughter asking him, "Daddy, tomorrow is children's day, what are you bringing me for a present??" The silk factory we're visiting is called the SuZhou No. 1 Silk Factory. Everything there is made by hand. The silk starts off as little tiny worms, silk worms. They eat only mulberry leaves and grow to be just short of 2 inches in length. **Warning! If you're made ill by the side of bugs, do not scroll down!** The life cycle of a silk worm is about 35 days long and during that process it will sleep for a period of 24 hours 3 times. The third time it arches it back and the silk farmer will pluck the worm and place it on an area where it can weave its cocoon. When the cocoon is woven it is exposed to a heat source to kill the pupa inside. Then, it is brushed to find the end of the silk thread. Each cocoon can produce a silk thread up to 1200-1500 meters in length. No, that's not a typo. A single silk thread can be nearly a mile long. Several threads can be woven together to make a stronger thread. And that's just a single cocoon. Double cocoons, cocoons in which two worms were so close together that their cocoons have made one double-size cocoon, are sorted out of the pile and put into a different group. These are handselected and used for silk quilts and comforters. A lot of the process has been automated, but a lot of it is also still handcrafted. Cocoons waiting to be brushed These cocoons have already been brushed and are waiting for the machine to pick them up. Spools of silk thread being spun This woman is hand selecting the cocoons for the comforters. She will stretch them over the little arch. Then she will stretch them over a bigger arch. The fabric from the arch will be laid out to dry in the sun and then stretched into a comforter. She has been hand-selecting and stretching silk for 30 years. The big arch Pulling the fabric into sheets for a comforter. After the silk factory (and there was much shopping) we visited the Master-of-the-Nets garden. SuZhou is home to a number of gardens that are delicate in their balance and structure. The Master of Nets garden is one of the most famous in the world ... the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has copied this garden for its delicate appearance. It was named Master of Nets for a fisherman who saved a drowning child. The child belonged to an official and the official had the garden renamed to honor his child's rescuer. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves: The happy couple at the garden - aren't we cute? Then there was the tour of the canals. These canals are basically the backyards of people's homes. For a few yuan a boat driver will take you up and down the canal. Awhile ago (I don't know exactly how long ago) the canal went all the way from SuZhou to Beijing. It was a way to deliver goods without using the busy roadways. Now parts of the canal are too shallow to drive a boat through. Normally the passengers are not allowed onto the boat's decks to see - they are only allowed to view through the windows. But we got special permission! Here are some photos from the Venice of the Orient: And once again ladies and gentlemen, the happy couple Tomorrow it's off to Shanghai!

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 6/13/2006 03:46:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

My apologies to my readers --- AGAIN. Before we left for China my computer's hard-drive died. We just got a new one shipped to us. But all my pictures are downloaded onto my other computer! It's taking longer than usual but hopefully by tomorrow we will have seen SuZhou, the silk factory and the master-of-the-nets peaceful gardens. By the end of the week we will finish our tour of China with a hot-pot dinner, an acrobatics show in Shanghai and some time on the Nanjing road. This weekend will conclude our time in China and we will return to the comfortable home of Durham, North Carolina. In a side note, congratulations to our friends Kim and Howard who found out while we were in China that they are having a boy! The baby is due in October. Jaylyn and Jessie are going to be big sisters again, and Jovie seems pretty excited too. The girls are ready to meet you little Jackson (aka Jacks)Forrest!

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 6/13/2006 10:05:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

We're going to take a little breather from the travels and take a day (or a post) and talk about the culture, the traffic, the hello-people, and the general life we experienced during the 12 days we were in China. The traffic Traffic rule number 1: The rule for traffic in the U.S. is generally "Pedestrians have the right-of-way." If a pedestrian is crossing the street we yield, and as a matter of fact, the last time I checked, yielding to pedestrians is a matter of the law, not even just good manners. Such is not the case in China. In China the rule is "If my wheels are bigger than your wheels, I win!" Buses have right of way over SUVs. SUVs have right of way over 2-door compact cars. 2-door compact cars have right of way over electric scooters, and on down the line. Here's the kicker: 60% of the population in any given city doesn't drive to work, home, or out. They ride bicycles. Bicycles, by rule of the traffic food chain, have right of way over pedestrians. JJ got hit by one, so we know THAT'S true! (not enough to hurt him, just a graze) Traffic rule number 2: As if this weren't foreign enough, there's another major difference: horn usage. Here in the U.S. we toot the horns in our cars as a matter of annoyance. Get out of my way, move along, you dumb driver, that sort of thing. In China, horns are used loudly and often, but in a completely different vein. The horns are blown every few minutes, but as a matter of courtesy. Excuse me, I'm going to pass your vehicle, just alerting you to my presence, please don't merge yet I'm here! On the other hand, on about day 3 of the trip we found out from our national guide, Toby, that China has a nation-wide "no-arms" rule. People are not allowed to carry guns or knives. At all. Perhaps that has something to do with the connotations of their horn use. Traffic rule number 3: Crossing the street in the U.S. is a matter of finding a crosswalk, pushing a button, waiting until the little "walk" man lights up, and crossing the street. Crossing the street in China is a death-defying, heart-racing, flirtation with disaster. While in Xi'an, JJ and I decided to visit the market across the street from the hotel. We came up with our street-crossing strategy before we dared taunt the keepers of the door of heaven: follow the locals. Keep the locals between you and the nearest oncoming vehicle. That way, you have time to get out of the way in case ... well, let's just say it wasn't out of the question that someone was going to be run down. We made it. And it was about as risk-taking as me and my equally cautious husband will ever get. At least until we decide we want to do this thing called "parenting." ;-) Traffic rule number 4: Lane markers in the U.S. are considered important. It keeps us separate from our neighbors and at a safe distance from each other. In China, they're just a polite suggestion, much like a teenager's mom might say "Don't you think you should drink milk instead of soda with dinner?" but not really caring. 3 lane roads have 5 cars across. 2-way traffic in the countryside can have up to 4 cars going in any direction. We had one situation with our tour bus in a tunnel. The traffic, technically on the OTHER side of the double yellow line, had come to a standstill. The traffic on our side of the road was moving along nicely. A Jeep pulled out from the standstill, honked it's horn (see traffic rule number 2), flashed its headlights and pulled into traffic. Into ... oncoming traffic. Here's the best part ... our bus driver, not to be intimidated by a smaller Jeep (see traffic rule number 1) didn't slow down, change lanes, or anything of the kind. He honked HIS horn and proceeded full speed towards the wayward Jeep. I've never played "Chicken" in my car. I never want to again. However, in case you're wondering, traffic rule number 1 reigned. The Jeep slowed down, stopped, and pulled out of the way before the bus barreled down on it. But not before there were gasps and moments of panic on the American tour bus! Another interesting difference in Chinese traffic is ... they're all used to their way of driving! While we were there we saw only 1 traffic accident and we drove around in that tour bus a LOT. However, Wen, our Beijing local tour guide, says that there are about 200 bike-to-vehicle accidents a month. She didn't give a mortality rate but said that "Sometimes people even die." No kidding. One of the more useful and fascinating things we saw was the stoplight countdown. In major metropolitan areas the stoplights came complete with time pieces. When the light would turn red, it would read "45" and then count down to when the light turned green. On the opposite side the same thing would happen with the green light. I was fascinated by this but wondered whether if we used such a method in the states that it would lead to more accidents. "I still had 2.3 seconds before the light was supposed to turn red!" sort of situations. Before we leave the topic of traffic, I'll end with this. In Shanghai, we had to cross a couple of streets to get to the tour bus. Toby led the way. He was surprised. When we got on the bus he turned and said to us "I really thought I was going to turn around and no one would be there. Americans are usually afraid to cross the street here but I turned around and everyone was right behind me!" Yeah, Toby. On day 11. By that point, it was "Follow Toby or get run over." The Hallo People When we arrived in Beijing and departed for our first of many tours we were warned by our local guide, and by Toby, about the "Hallo people." What on Earth are Hallo people? These people are not quite beggars, not quite legit sales people. They surround you the moment you disembark the bus. "Hallo, hallo, hallo" they'll say, as they show you cheap wares. Postcards. Cheap trinkets. Rolex watches. "One dollar, one dollar" they'll offer. Their wares are cheap, they are persistent. And they are EVERYwhere. It seems like they learned somehow that Americans say "hello." So they greet you, "Hallo hallo." And then offer their 1-dollar pieces. Toby warned us not to buy anything from them - especially of the Rolex or trinket variety. "It'll just last you long enough to get you out of China" Toby warned. We ended up buying an umbrella from the hallo people. Best buck we ever spent. The bartering Almost nothing sold to tourists in China has a set price. From food to clothing, jewelry to postcards, everything costs only as much as you'll pay. Everything does have, however, a marked price. Everything has a "suggested retail" price as it were. This is often 25, 30, even 60 or 70% more than you will actually pay for the product. Sometimes if you offer to buy more than one, you'll get an even better deal. I'm not a big fan of the bartering. You'll understand this better in a second. I'm not a compulsive buyer. I buy things that either (a) I know I absolutely want or (b) I know I absolutely want someone to have. But for the bartering system, that's a problem because the key to bartering is the willingness to walk away from your product and leave it to the retailer because he won't come down to your price. My father is an excellent barter-er. He will leave something. He will walk out of the store. So I learned. 2 bracelets for 50 RMB apiece? No way, I'll pay you 25 for both of them. Earrings for 70? I'll offer you 25. And as JJ learned, it helps to speak the language. Join us tomorrow as we head to SuZhou and then finish our tour in Shanghai. Stay tuned for JJ's thought of the day and his top ten list when we return stateside after our whirlwind visit to the Orient.

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 6/10/2006 03:49:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Today we are going to take a riverboat cruise down the Li river to see some of the most famous Chinese scenery in the world. Most people, when you mention China, think of Beijing and Shanghai, maybe the Terra Cotta warriors, certainly the Great Wall. Usually people don't think of Guilin and few people know about it even though they've probably seen it. I'm not going to narrate much today other than to explain where we are. I'm going to let the scenery speak for itself. The day we took our Li River cruise was cloudy, misty, and a little rainy. The tour guide that we had said that people argue over whether Guilin is prettier by rain or by sun and that the general consensus is that it's beautiful either way but that the mist, clouds and rain, as you will see, offer an element of mystery and intrigue that you would never get on a sunny day. By comparison, Guilin, with a population of 600,000 is a small town relative to the other cities we visited and would visit. Beijing is home to a hefty 14 million, Xi'an to 6 million, SuZhou, which we'll visit in a couple of days, has a population of 7 million (up from 3 million in 2002) and Shanghai a staggering 17 million. To put it in perspective, Wichita, Kansas, my hometown, has a population of around 500,000. It is, and has been for some time, the largest city in the state of Kansas. The largest city in the U.S., New York, New York, has a modest 8.2 million. Of all the cities we visited, Guilin was the perhaps the most mysterious. We didn't spend much time there - just the 3 hour boat cruise, a visit to the university, which is home to Solitary Beauty Hill, and a foot massage. We were on our way the next morning. We didn't stay long enough to learn much about the tiny, beautiful farm town, but as you'll see from these photos, what we did see was breathtaking. The unique mountain structure is the result of limestone erosion. The mountains along the Li River in Guilin are of limestone, resulting in the one-of-a-kind shapes you see here.

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 6/10/2006 02:40:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

If Angela and I were ever to live in China (something that will never happen, because a) Angela hates to fly; b) I don't speak the language and neither of us read it; c) we like living in the U.S.; d) while it's more capitalist, still have a big problem with the whole Communist thing, e) well you get the idea, never going to happen). But if we did, it would be in Xi'an. It's not as big of a city (only a measly six million people, which seems to equal a small neighborhood in China); it seemed more laid back and it was reasonably affluent. And probably most importantly, Xi'an is famous for dumplings/potstickers (my favorite) and noodles (Angela's favorite). Our first night in Xi'an probably emphasizes some of the differences between the Chinese and Americans. I mentioned how we actually were in air conditioning almost everywhere we went in China. Well, the hotel in Xi'an, like all the others, was air conditioned. But our first night there, we woke up around 2 a.m. because it was sweltering in the room. The AC was on, so we wondered what was the problem. Angela called the front desk (being able to speak Chinese is a nice advantage), to be told that they had shut the AC off for the hotel because it was now cool outside (a humid 75-78 outside, seemingly a very humid 80 inside our 12th floor room). We found out the next morning, after panting and sweating our way through the late evening that they had actually shut the AC down for repairs (or so they said), something that left our tour group all sweltering throughout the night. After seeing seeing the Tang dynasty show (which featured a guy imitating a duck that was hilarious), eating 20 different kinds of dumplings and seeing the Terra Cotta soldiers, we were given some free time. Angela and I took our lives in our own hands crossing a busy street to go check out a market. The market is not a tourist stop, but something designed for the locals. I have no idea how anyone makes any money, because there were at least 250 stores, but only 10 kinds of stores. You had 30 stores selling loose tea (how you could tell a good store from a bad, I don't know). You had store after store selling kitchenwares. Stores that sell fans. Stores that just sell pens. And each store is usually the size of a large walk-in closet. It was a truly Chinese experience. We ended up not buying anything there (although Bryant bought some teacups for 3 yen (roughly 35-40 cents). But after dashing back across the street, I was able to find a Chinese aviation magazine for 10 yen ($1.25). Sure, I can't read anything in it, but the pictures are cool. While the market was seemingly aimed at the bargain shopper, we later drove into the old city, which has turned into a shopper's paradise. We drove down one street that had 15 shoe stores, all selling seemingly top of the line shoes. Another street was for women clothes, another for appliances. Imagine a mall that covers 10 square blocks of a city. We're not window shoppers, but if you are, Xi'an is a place to spend a week. By the time we left Xi'an, we were true travelers. We had survived four flights, hours in the bus and I was up to a four word Chinese vocabulary.

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 6/09/2006 05:31:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Sorry about the delay, my faithful readers (or at least my guest readers that have started reading just for the trip!). Blogger was down yesterday for quite some time and therefore I couldn’t post the promised stories. Never fear, we’re back. AND in the intervening time my mom, the flash-happy queen, has sent me her pictures. All 800+ of them. Our journey will now be supplemented by many many more photos! Today, before we start on our tour of Xi’an, it might be a good time to introduce to you some of the members of our group. It was a relatively small group since China Focus has been known to have up to 25 or more in a group before, but 13 to me was a nice number, enough where we could get to know some people and not so large that we’re always waiting on someone. I will point out there was one small flaw in this, which is that you’re always going to get to know your tour group at meals. These are the times when everyone is doing the same thing. Not everyone is going to climb the Wall, or stroll to the same houses in the Forbidden City, but everyone has to eat. Well, since my parents are the ones who took us on this trip, that made 5 of us – 3 Wongs, 2 Coopers. Most tables can’t accommodate more than about 7 which meant that we were stuck with only 2 new people at every meal while everyone else was mingling. I think we did the best we could with what we had, though. As with a lot of tour groups (according to our tour guide) the most popular age seemed to be “just retired” or “just about to retire.” People our age (JJ’s and mine) and Bryant’s age seem to be rare. Our group was actually a bit of an exception. Our ages ranged from 19 to 91. I’m not kidding. Gene is 91, his wife Pat is 82. She’s been to China before. As far as their story goes, he lost his wife a few years ago, and she lost her husband. They lived next door to each other. Friendship turned to compatibility turned to marriage. This trip was their 1 year anniversary present to each other. Katherine is 19. She’s a sophomore at Columbia University. She is the girl that every gamer boy wishes he could have. Her boyfriend is VERY lucky. Katherine and her mom, Elisa, came on the trip together. Elisa and her younger daughter, Allison, had been on a different China Focus tour 5 years prior. These two had what JJ and I called the “perfect attitude.” They embraced the culture and the life wholeheartedly and enjoyed it immensely. You’ll see what we mean as we get further into the tour and I have the photos to prove it! The last 4 of our party we never got to know all that well, Dana and Leonard and Chuck and Vonnie. The extent of mingling with them usually came at breakfast (which was on our own) and if we ran into each other during free time at a sightseeing destination. Mostly we spent our time with Elisa and Katherine and my brother and my parents. Now on with the tour . . . Today we're going to Xi'an to see the famed Terra Cotta Warriors. These warriors were built by the Emperor, Qin Shi Huang who ascended to the throne at the age 13 in 246 BC. When Emperor Qin Shi Huang became, shall we say, painfually aware of his mortality he had his servants build his mausoleum, facing the East. Guarding this mausoleum, he built over 8000 Terra Cotta soldiers, modeled after his REAL LIFE soldiers. Each of these 8000 soldiers is completely different from the soldier standing next to him. Complete with facial expressions, facial hair and so on. It took over 11 years for the Emperor's terra cotta army to be built and in that time, 8000 full size soldiers, a number of horse drawn carts, and the emperor's tomb were completed. During the raids that followed the emperor's reign, the original terra cotta warriors were beaten, trampled, and broken and in the years that followed, were buried in layers of earth. In 1974 three Chinese farmers were digging a well outside of Xi'an province when they found pieces of something that didn't look quite right. At first they tossed the pieces aside, thinking nothing of them. But as they continued to excavate the site of the well, they kept finding more pieces. So they put the pieces in a wheel barrow and took them to the government. The government, recognizing that these pieces were not just junk, thanked the farmers for discovering what might be a piece of history and gave them 37 yuan to share between the three of them. **If you remember, the conversion rate is about 8 to 1. The three farmers who discovered the terra cotta warriors shared between them just over 4 dollars and 50 cents!!** Today, the museum that houses the terra cotta warriors has 3 pits and covers over 16,000 square feet. The excavation has been overtaken by archaeologists who have recreated the position and figures to the best of their knowledge. The first pit is the largest and has both soldiers and war chariots. The third pit appears to have been the brains of the whole terra cotta works, complete with officials and generals. Now, let's take a look at these famous guys! From the first pit. You can see the expanse of the biggest pit here. If you look carefully you can see what I'm talking about with the individual soldiers. The two soldiers standing next to each other are distinctly different. Here you can see their army-style arrangement. The story goes that the emperor wanted these terra cotta soldiers to protect his tomb. His original plan had been to bury the real soldiers with him when he died! His top advisors talked him out of THAT ... saying it wouldn't be fair to the real soldiers to end their lives that way. This just proves we were there ... you know, that I didn't pull these pictures off the internet. ;-) After leaving the soldiers, we went to see one of Xi'an's famed culinary accomplishments, part I. Xi'an is famous for hand cut and hand made noodles. Noodles are important in Chinese cuisine because they symbolize long life. We NEVER EVER cut noodles at the table in Chinese tradition because, well if noodles symbolize long life and you take a hack at it, it's rather horrifying. You should have seen my face the first time JJ sliced up his spaghetti at the table! That aside, for lunch, following the Terra Cotta warriors we went to a small restaurant that made noodles as their specialty. The longer the noodles the longer the life, and the idea is to try and eat the noodles without breaking them. See how we did! The noodles were so long that 8 noodles made up a whole plateful! Just 8! Katherine does her best! JJ did finally do the noodle in. He had to chew though. Or he would have choked. I cheated (unintentionally). My noodle had folded itself in half. I finished a little quicker. Following the wonderful noodles at lunch we had some free time to do a little shopping. Then we went to a dinner theatre to have Xi'an's other culinary accomplishment - dumplings! We didn't take any photos they were so good. But we had 16 courses of dumplings ranging from dumplings shaped like little mice full of rice noodles, to dumplings that were made of fish, to dumplings that both looked like pumpkins and were full of pumpkin. Then we watched a traditional Tang dynasty show. And we did take pictures of THAT. These are all from the show that took us through the 4 seasons. It was lovely. The next morning we finished up our tour in Xi'an with a trip to a lacquer factory and to the largest and one of the most famous of Buddhist temples - the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. It is one of the largest pagodas in China. But first the lacquer and silk-carpets factory. Like many of the other wares in China, everything here is painstakingly handmade. Silk carpet weaving is becoming a lost art because of the technique and concentration it takes. Silk carpets come in a variety of densities. The more knots per row, the more luxurious the carpet. Normally available densities range from 150, to 300, 500, and 800 knots per row. We did get to see one that was 1000 knots per row but that is very rare. To put it in perspective though, it can take a carpet weaver working 8 hours a day a full day to weave a single row in a carpet. It will take a carpet weaver 4 or 5 months to finish a carpet that is 150 knots in density and is 2 feet by 3 feet. It can take an experienced weaver over a year to finish a carpet that is 800 knots per row and is 2 by 3 feet in size. In a weaver's lifetime, she will probably only make 1, maybe 2, 800 knot density carpets. Now, ready to see something incredible? We found this carpet hanging on the wall. It's 14 feet by 200 feet. It has a density of 500 knots. I cannot even imagine how long it would have taken a carpet weaver to make this masterpiece. It was the only one of its size and density in the store. We tried to line up to make it more obvious how enormous it is. I don't know if it worked. In the same factory there were handmade lacquerwares (is that what you call it?). Everything is handmade and painted by hand. Lacquer is harvested from trees and cultured so that it's perfect. Lookit all the beautiful work. Everything is handcrafted - the painting is done by hand and the pieces are inlaid with mother-of-pearl, abalone shell, or other natural stones. This piece, which is a replica of a piece that is only for show and not for sale, has a retail value of 1.9 million American dollars. It's not for sale but they were asked at the factory so often how much it was worth that they put a tag on it. Following the factory, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. And then lunch. Here you can see the guy ACTUALLY MAKING noodles! He never used a single tool except to cut the large chunks of dough into smaller pieces of dough. But all of the winding, twisting, and pulling was done by hand. And immediately after the noodles were pulled, they were popped into boiling water, and poured into perfectly seasoned soup. YUM. And that's it for Xi'an everyone. Tomorrow we'll travel to Guilin, famous for it's beautiful scenery. We'll take a riverboat cruise and after a long day, get a therapeutic foot massage. Sorry this one was a little long, it was a busy day and a half! After Guilin, we will take a short pause to discuss the culture outside of sightseeing. We'll talk about the hello-people, the traffic, the air and the quality of life. Then we will return to the tour - we will see SuZhou and visit a silk factory, see some of the most beautiful gardens in the country, and take a cruise on a boat in the Venice of the Orient. Thanks for coming along for the ride so far!

Posted by Mrs. Cooper at 6/09/2006 02:57:00 PM | Permalink | Comments