More spring in Nanjing

Magpies bring you good luck and crows bring you bad luck. Luckily, I see magpies all the time. Of course, I've always been lucky. A few weeks ago, while walking through the old campus, I heard a lot of squealing and squawking in the air. A magpie was attacking a bat. This was about three in the afternoon so I had several questions. Why is a bat out at three o'clock? Usually I see a lot at dusk. Why is the magpie attacking it? Do magpies eat meat?

A magpie is about 4 times as big as a bat. It was a lengthy battle. The bat flew out of a tree; the magpie attacked from a nearby roof. They battled a minute or two then each retreated to the starting places. The magpie had a friend in his corner, sitting with him on the roof. After a few more attacks like that, the magpie chased the bat into his tree. Branches rustled a lot and the magpie flew out alone. The bat never came back out. I left.

Bats are also considered good luck. They are one of the common sidewalk designs seen in the formal gardens in Suzhou, or the Confucious Temples. I've seen them in every Confucious temple I have visited. Smooth river pebbles are used like mosiacs stones to have a white background and a black bat with wings spread.

Flowers are blooming everywhere. The heat has started along with the humidity. I find it very, very warm here; I guess I depend too much on air conditioning.

New subject:
English Corner at the Police Academy

My friend, Kristen, needed another native English speaker to go with her to the Police Academy for an English corner. (That's the name for an event geared at English conversation.) I went with her. Most of the men and women in my "corner" had never spoken with a foreigner before. Half of the group are English majors and will be detectives. The other half will be regular police. The first question was about the private prisons in the U.S. Luckily, I had read one article about the private prisons and how awful they are. I tried to moderate my descriptions. The TV show "Prison Break" is very popular here and that's the image that most people have of American prisons. I watched one full series so that I could talk about it. After the prison discussions I got the regular questions, "Do you like Chinese food?" "What do you think of President Bush?" etc.

The police here don't carry guns. They are trained to speak softly and to negotiate. Foreigners are treated very well; at least, that has been my experience.

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Upcoming blogs: the provincial opera and visiting the western desert.

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