Life in Tianjin

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Each week seems to be just a prelude to the weekend.

Dave is working hard and I guess you might say that I am hardly working.

While Dave is working, I am managing to keep myself occupied.

I have found a group of expat women in TEDA that have different things going on every day. I seem to be going to the Tuesday morning craft day (which also includes a lot of visiting and coffee). There is a Wednesday Mahjong but I have only been once. And then Friday morning coffee.

Last Thursday, some of us went into Tianjin downtown to the fabric market. It is being moved so the vendors were giving some good deals. It looks like they took every fabric store in Austin and put them in an old warehouse. The great thing were the deals. I found some beautiful linen for about $1 a yard. I hope to have a dress and shirt made out of it. We also found a vendo selling beautiful silk blend fabric with chinese designs. I have not decided yet if I am going to use it for a suit or table cloth. We had a great time. I look forward to more of these shopping trips. There were tailors there, but I think I will use the ones here in TEDA. I need to take Dave there so he can have a few suits made.

Friday, we went to Mario Garcia's apartment. We was having a get together with his engineers. All I can say is that we all had a good time. It was a bit difficult to get up the next morning. Luckily, Mario put us up for the night. Pictures are edited to protect the innocent.

We came back to Tianjin on Sunday for Mass. Let me give a big kudos to people who live in the outback of wildernesses and make it to Church. It takes about 1.5 hours one way to make it to church just in Tianjin. To go to church in Beijing at the British embassy can easily take up to four hours. There is nothing out our way. I know I have a greater appreciation for the ability to go to church with no restrictions. The Catholic Church in Tianjin offers the reading in English but that is all. We hope to go to the embassy as often as we can.

After church, Vicky, a friend of Mario's caught up with us and took us to a market area. It had everything from electronics to clothing to school supplies and everything in between. It was great! Dave and I managed to find a couple of items that we had been talking about. He got a pair of cheap sunglasses and I found an umbrella and curling iron. You would think that curling irons are a common everyday item. The only one I had been able to find that was not a straightener was $50 USD. This was a true curling iron designed for the outlets in China and Europe. Interestingly it is a ceramic barrel and not metal. I also have to use it with one hand or I burn my fingers. But it was not $50USD.

We asked Vicky to show us a dim sum restaurant. Unfortunately, dim sum in northern China is different than Hong Kong. Here it is considered tea and sweet pastries. She did not understand the Cantonese version of dim sum. One day, we'll have to take her out for it. She did show us something just as good.

We went to her favorite restaurant for fish. In China, you get to pick your fish. They are in big tanks and very much alive. What I did not count on was the killing of the fish at the tank. I was about to look in the tank, when the waitress pulled out the fish and raised a large bat and just hit the fish up side the head. Apparently, Vicky did not expect this either. She and I went back to the table quickly. Dave and Mario on the other hand, loved it! Dave was right there up front to watch the action. Vicky said they usually take into the kitchen. Fortunately, I have no pictures of the fish bashing. The food was fabulous. The cooked the fish in oil and chilis. It was very hot. The oil coats your tongue so the chili has a chance to make your whole mouth tingle. It is a very odd sensation.

The rest of the week has been somewhat uneventful.

I finally bit the bullet and got my hair done. I was a bit nervous but it has turned okay. The color is good. The lady cut my hair shorter than I would have liked, but I am starting to get used to it.

I did make a trip into Tianjin by myself on Tuesday to get Dave his tickets to fly to Shenzen. His visa is up on Sunday and he has to get his visa stamped. He is flying to Shenzen on the border just north of Hong Kong. He is taking a train across the border, spending the night, and coming back on Sunday. If we don't go to India in September, we may have to make this trip together at the end of the month. Maybe we'll be extra lucky and be in an apartment.

Tomorrow is coffee day. Saturday, I hope to go to a BBQ in Tianjin with the expat group. should be fun.

You all take care. diane and dave.

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