Get It in Writing

View image

One can only marvel at the noodle maker, a cousin of the pizza tosser. The noodle maker goes into action when soup orders come in and starts with a mass of dough that he kneads and rolls into a long strand. Holding each end of the strand of dough, he stretches it out and whips it up and down in a flourish that ends with a dramatic slap of the dough to the counter (see photo).

After several iterations of this move, he whips the dough to the counter again, but this time brings his hands together to make a loop of the dough that spins into a plait. These two steps are repeated several times. He then massages the dough into a smooth, long roll and divides it into four parts. Each part is one serving of noodles.

In a series of deft moves, he loops, doubles, and stretches the dough until it becomes fine loops of noodles, which he tosses into a vat of boiling water. Another cook stirs them for a few seconds, pulls them out with chopsticks, and drops them into a bowl that he fills with broth and garnishes.

You can't get noodles any fresher than that.

Posted by Ron Corio at 9:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

View image

On a busy corner near Fudan University sits the shop of this friendly bike mechanic. What he does not have in parts are just a short bike ride away. Customers can sit on the little chair and watch him do his bike magic or leave the bike to pick up later. His pliers double as tire levers and he cuts an old tube into a narrow strip to serve as rim tape. A good use of the available materials and technology. Bike repair stands like this one can be found on many street corners.

Note the electric bike leaning against the street sign.

Posted by Ron Corio at 7:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Home Away From Home

Exterior View image
Living Room to Dining Room View image
Dining Room View image
Kitchen View image
Bedroom View image
View from Living Room View image

Posted by Ron Corio at 10:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

View image

Thanks to Jiang and Wu I now have the use of a Chinese bicycle. Note the attached bike lock on tbe seat stay and rear fender. It encircles the tire and is opened and closed with a key. The basket is a popular model seen on most bikes here.

Jiang, a Chinese linguistics professor, who is doing a one-year exchange at VCU and living in my apartment, is using my Schwinn Mesa Runner and I am using his commuter bike. Wu, Jiang's cousin and a Ph.D candidate in biology at Fudan University, took me to Jiang's home where we got his bike. We then took it to a bike mechanic, whose shop is an umbrella-protected cart located on a street corner near Fudan. The mechanic reparied a broken brake rod (no cables on older bikes), installed a new seat, and put air in the tires. The charge: 40 RMB (Yuan), the equivalent of five U.S. dollars.

My first trip was the ride back to my apartment, accompanied by Wu. Today, a trip to a department store about two miles away was my maiden voyage. The riders who passed were polite and did not stare at this white man wearing a helmet while riding a bicycle, something unseen here.

Posted by Ron Corio at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Thanks to a software program called Skype, one can enjoy voice communication worldwide from computer to computer for free and from computer to telephone at a nominal rate. The software is free and can be downloaded from www.skype.com. A headset that includes a microphone and a computer connected to the Internet is all that is needed.

My Skype address is ron.corio.

Posted by Ron Corio at 10:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tlhe connection. View image
Two-wheel commuters. <View image
Anybody have a chain tool? View image
Fudan from the kitchen. View image
West on Handan Road View image

Posted by Ron Corio at 4:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Travelers from Chicago to Shanghai on United Airlines do a lot of sitting in front of a screen, given a 14 hour and 31 minute flight. A flight like this takes a big plane, namely the Boeing 777 Overwater, and lots of fuel.

The entertainment for this trek includes a choice of four films, most of them not on any Top Ten list. Another option on the armrest keypad is "Map." This screen uses GPS technology to trace the plane's polar rouite to the other side of the world.

Heading north northeast from O'Hare the line takes passengers on a geographical melange that begins with a bay study of Green, Thunder, and Hudson. In Canada comes Edmonton and Queen Elizabeth Islands. Passing to the east of Alaska there is Churchill and Great Bear Lake.

The geography lesson is interrupted from time to time with a bevy of flight facts. The plane is cruising at an altitude of 38,000 feet and at a land speed 540 miles per hour. One takes comfort to be cozy inside the plane, upon learning that the outside temperature is minus 61 degrees, Fahrenheit, passengers assume.

The map returns to tell viewers they are over or near the Arctic Circle, the North Pole, and then arcihng over Siberia and the Plateaus of Patom and Alden.

The map toggles from a micro to a macro view to include Sapporo in Japan off to the east of the route. Crossword puzzle fans delight in seeing Ulan Bator, knowing that Mongoliia is only 34,000 feet below.

Into Southeast Asia brings Tientsin (China), Seoul, Shenyang, and a bevy of cities in China until the destination comes into view, showing coastal lowlands in green beginning just east of Beijiing and sweeping to Shanghai and the East China Sea.

After all that long lesson, one is enticed to veg out with the comic antics of Robin Williams' antics RV.