Back in America!
Wow, 3 months since my last post. I’ve been seriously neglecting my poor blog.
We finally returned to the states. At least, two of us did. My wife and I. Our daughter, Lilly, is staying in China for a few more months, to attend school there. We’re quite proud of her – she’s only 3.5 years old and already knows 3 languages. Ok, she can’t hold a solid conversation in Chinese yet, but she knows the vocabulary, and can count from 1-20 in chinese, as well as make basic sentences. That’s something, considering she was only there for 2 months. 
Haven’t finished sorting through all our pics yet – it’s likely I wont be posting too many. Don’t really have anyplace to post them, and my blog’s primary focus is on development topics and the like – so I guess its kind of my.. portfolio? Resume? Window into the labyrinth of my mind? Dunno, take your pick, but I’d like to keep personal stuff to a minimum, I guess. Unless it’s about Lilly, of course 
She’s the gem of my life! It’s amazing to watch her blossum, her personality morphing as she grows and learns new things. If I could beam online, y’all would be blind, I tell you
Anywhoo.. China was awesome. There is NOTHING, I think, in the world quite like the Chinese – they’re such a close-knit people, yet so friendly and welcoming to complete strangers. Definitely a unique experience, and we look forward to returning sometime this December or Jan. Definitely look forward to the food. OMG. The food there is AMAZING. They put US organics to shame. In the 3 months I was there, never once was anything frozen brought into anyone’s home. Live fish and shellfish were available in every supermarket, and extremely affordable (not just by American currency standards – but in the Yuan as well!). Meat came directly from live animals butchered only when someone purchases a cut. Absolutely nothing wasted, no preservatives or food dyes needed or used. And I have to tell you, the taste is completely different. Just.. wow. Have you ever seen a clam trying to escape a bin in your local supermarket? I can tell you right off, nope. Never happen. Maybe if you live next to the docks. Have to say though, watching a clam trying to escape is.. hilarous.
Let me paint a picture in your mind. You’re in front of a big blue bucket, filled with circulated water. The bottom of the bucket is lined with clams. Exactly one layer of live, happy clams. There’s more bins on either side, about 10 or 15 in either direction. All identical to the one you’re standing in front of, each one with a different size or species of clam, mullosk, oyster, or other shellfish. Anyway back to our clams. You see one crack open just slightly. a tube protrudes, and jettisons water and sand, before sucking more water in. Tap the bin a bit, and the scene changes — the clam never opens the crack any wider – it’s open maybe 1mm. But from that 1mm crack, a huge muscle blurbs out, like something out of “The Blob” — and starts pushing the thing around like a giant tongue. It never gets anywhere – but its a damn funny sight to watch. Yep, very fresh shellfish indeed. Let’s see you do THAT, Whole Foods!
I spent the majority of my time in southeastern china, but was able to hit up Shanghai briefly. Didn’t see any of the kinds of foods I saw in southeastern China, so not sure if the organic/freshness thing is limited to smaller cities. Definitely hit up the small cities for a down-home experience — but stay away from Guangzhou lol.
For all you girls reading this blog – China is definitely king when it comes to shopping. I forgot to take pics of their malls – but suffice it to say, you will never see 2 of the same shoe design — or color. Not even similiar. Thousands and Thousands of cloth and shoe designs, guaranteed to leave you in a fashion-induced seizure.
For you guys — sadly, technology is hair-raisingly expensive there. What would cost $60 USD here, costs about $90 USD there. Flat-screen TV’s start at around 15,000 Yuan ($2,196 USD at current exchange rates). There’s cheaper, chinese-branded flats-screens, but they’re almost guaranteed to explode. Even the chinese wont buy them.
A last note for anyone planning to travel in China – Please download Tor to a USB thumb drive. China’s military monitors *ALL* internet traffic, reads IM chats, and emails while they’re in transit between you and anywhere in the US. If you’re just telling family back home of the sights, thats no biggie. But if you do any kind of business or work with code.. TOR. Oh, and just about every single blog, news, and video site on the internet is blocked in china, including Youtube, Facebook, Twitter (sometimes), Vimeo, and numerous other services. Really, I dont know why they bother having internet over there. Nothing’s accessible! Tor will get you around China’s Great Firewall, and restore the internet equivalent of life-giving oxygen.
Popularity: 42% [?]
