Fu Julie has this wonderful streak in her – an innate kindness that is at once heartwarming and life affirming. Having known that Birdy won’t be in Chengdu for her birthday, she invited us, and the whole class along to celebrate Dofu Pi-Eater’s birthday the next weekend we were in town. I couldn’t bear the […]
I am so far behind in my posts. Blame it on the non-stop tests here. Monday in Xuchang dawned hazy, cloudy and drizzling. Zhang You’s unbelievable kindness was still lingering on my mind. It was around 7:30AM when the phone rang, and the receptionist at the hotel announced that Lynn was waiting. Lynn was one […]
It’s just a short taxi ride. We stop before a hotel I have never been to before in Xuchang. We enter, and I can see the “live display” in front. The place is buzzing. In case you are wondering with your dirty mind what the live display is, rest it. Just poor little frogs, eels […]
It was around 11AM when Stefanie – an old friend from my teaching days in China – and her daughter, Emma, came to our hotel. The initial meeting was a bit awkward – I don’t know if this is how it is for everyone. But for me, whenever I meet someone after a long time, […]
Here, I am in the Saturday Business Hotel in Xuchang. I have covered more than 1000km in less than 10 hours. The D-Train has to be the best train I have ever been on. I haven’t seen the European trains, but I think this can come close. It was around 2AM when I woke up […]
Last Saturday, Fu Julie invited us home to watch South Korean movies. Why is an American who was staying in Cambodia for 4 years, and now in China inviting two Indians to watch a South Korean movie? Globalization, eh? Having had nothing to do that evening, we readily agreed. Fu Julie’s apartment is typical of […]
And finally…India wins the cricket World Cup! Having been an ardent cricket follower ever since I can remember, it was sweet joy to sit in a pub in Chengdu, well past midnight and watch Indian cricket’s finest hour in more than two decades. Saturday afternoon presented itself and having decided well in advance that we […]
Qingcheng Shan is a famous Taoist temple, but lurking behind it is the disdainfully named Qingcheng Back Mountain. It was a gloomy cloudy day on Wednesday when the university packed all the foreign students into 3 buses for what was to be a day-long trip. Except that none of us that time knew we were […]
Sometime back, Birdy was casually walking in the campus, feeling good after a nice meal, when she saw some birds. Birdy being Birdy being bird-lover, she stopped a while to stare at the birds. I, having little else to do, also stopped. The air was crisp and spring was in the air with the birds […]