a nomad’s travel clutter.

We haven’t posted in a while, have been busy (or rather lazy sometimes) and it doesn’t help with the addition of Mimmi. She will be hanging around with us until… tomorrow, when all Janie’s cousin’s tests are over and they can finally be free. Well at least for a few days, before they have to go back to school, or start doing their summer homework. Anyway, there’s a bunch of stuff we have done, we chose some pictures from each occasion and like always we’ll write a few lines below.

This is Nan Chen Shi in the middle of the city. The buildings are built old style, and it’s packed with restaurants and small shops a la market style. We went there on Saturday night to shop last-minute-surprise-present for Mimmi. Julian bought a keps too, the same one that Jay has!!

The next morning Yifubaba (Janie’s uncle-in-law) and Ayimama (Janie’s aunt) took us for a ride around Tai Lake, the big lake in Jiangsu stretching from Suzhou, Nanjing to Wuxi. We passed lots of fruit sellers along the way, mostly selling a red berry fruit called Yang Mei. It’s the right season for it now, so of course we also bought two big buckets of them.

Yang Mei. A little sour but mostly sweet.

After our ride around Tai lake and with the trunk full of Yang Meis and peaches (they are also very famous for Wuxi, and are big and juicy this time of the year) we drove to a restaurant to eat “hot pot” or fondue. Each table has their own electric boiling pot and you just put in all the fresh vegetables and meat in it, when it’s cooked you pick it out and eat with your own mixed sauce. Mmm.

We have also gotten time to do a little shopping… shopping x 70, actually.

Yesterday we went to Li Yuan Park, a big place with many pavillions and small bridges, built few hundred years ago. When we arrived there it was in the middle of the day and were three cars in the parking, the sun was up and it was HOT. We have no choice but to go in, and pose for pictures like this. There were hundreds of beautiful lotuses though!

Mimmi in Li Yuan.

The old houses that once functioned as a place to live, but today is just a museum.

The pavillion you see in the picture is one of the four “season” pavillion (probably the winter one). We had to hide in the summer pavillion because the storm came, and rain poured down. The bright sunny 40 degrees, turned into windy, howling 25 degrees in a few minutes. That’s rainy season for you in Wuxi. It was wonderful sitting in the pavillion watching the rain pouring over the lotus and the storm roaring above. There was even lightening, which scared Mimmi a little bit.

The clouds were also a bit freaky. But nevertheless sooo awesome!

That’s all for today, now it’s one in the afternoon, and we are so tired. Went out in the morning to try and post some postcards, but found out the post office has closed down. Came home and had already sweat like pigs. Anyway, today we think we’ll wait till the sun dips its head before heading out again.

Reply to Em’s “so what’s best about China so far?” question: Well, that it’s hard to give an answer to without being boring. Of course people are nice and so on and so on, but if I shall answer something unexpected it has to be the GREEN RUBBER ICE CREAM! Those were hilarious. It’s like an ice cream that when you lick it, it turns from frozen into a rubberlike substance (jelly we believe) and then it waves/wiggles back and forth on the stick.

I’ve been here in China almost a week soon and there’s been a lot of “I don’t understand”, “Everything is different” and “Janie has to translate everything”. Don’t get me wrong though, cause it’s been a wonderful week. Don’t feel bad for me, cause of course it’s like that. For all of us here. Janie’s family has the same problem. They don’t understand me either. I speak Swedish with Janie, and even when we do use English so that they can practise what they know they can’t hear me. Apparently I talk too fast and I mumble too much. I’m working on that now. The feelings are mutual, they have the ” wo bu dong” too.

There seem to be no barriers to hospitality. They made me feel more than welcome here in Wuxi. Janie says that’s how they are, so that’s fine with me. They help me with everything, it’s hard to get a cup of water for yourself. Also they all wear slippers here, cause they say the floor is either too cold or too dirty. They don’t want my feet to get dirty. Only problem is, almost no slippers fit. At Janie’s grandparents place there’s a pair, but where we sleep none fits. I think it’s fine, cause I’m not used to wearing them at home. Then I found out through Janie that they clean the floors everyday, again so that my feet won’t get dirty from their “filthy floors” that are infact absolutely spotless. I’m trying my best now to wear them, cause I don’t want to contribute to extra work. Also, if anything, it would be me walking around barefoot that makes the floors dirty and not the other way round.

The food is great. I’ve tasted a few weird things that… well, they weren’t my thing, really… but on the whole, the food’s been great. Some things are new to me like today for example I tried some pig brain. I’ve had Japanese pumpkin soup, Chinese milk and you probably know by now that we’ve eaten crayfish like crazy. Although, they’re not cooked like we do in Sweden. Here they’re served warm and really spicy. At least I thought so. I’m not usually sensitive to spicy food, I can eat most types, and Janie’s the opposite, but I found the crayfish hard to eat at time while Janie had one after the next without trouble. Maybe she’s just used to them. Have to point out that the pig brain is nothing I recommend. Slimy stuff!

Janie’s done a great job so far. She translates morning till night so that I get by. Going to Asia by yourself, or at least without someone who speaks the language, must be hard. The younger generations learn English in school and they seem to know it pretty well actually, but they are really shy and they hardly want to try. I don’t blame them. I would probably be the same. I’m a shy guy! (hey, that rhymed! shy and guy, get it?) As proof to Janie’s skills I can say, when we went to the movies on Thursday, seeing the new Jay movie (yes Jen, that’s right, Jay’s first movie) INITIAL D in Chinese she sat there translating throughout (YES, I went to the movies, but at least it wasn’t my suggestion, I just followed along). Not everything, but the important lines. In the end, I found myself fully understanding the movie and forgetting I was watching something in Chinese. Some minor things, that seemed unimportant as they came up, linked together at the end. She passed on the important things. Great job, Janie! Thanks.

Won’t post any pictures this time. This was just talking, babbling a little. There’s been requests of that too. You know, if you have any questions or anything, feel free to ask. If I’m not able to answer, I’m sure someone here can.

That’s all folks. Stay sharp.
/ JULIAN

PS. They eat a lot here. Like a meal every hour. I gained 3 kilos the first 2 days. Has added on another kilo since then, too.

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