Someone contact the Whizzo Chocolate Company!
The name of this chocolate is “Crunchy Shark.” I am not making this up.
I hope that it isn’t crunchy because they left the bones in!
Author: Den Hoopingarner
The true meaning of Christmas
Lately, several visa applicants have been telling me that they want to go to America to experience a true American Christmas. Oh really? I ask. Where do you want to go to get this true American Christmas experience? Lately, the answer has often been: Las Vegas.
I still think that this answer is funny, but it started to make more sense when I saw the Christmas decorations in the lobby of my building.
Apparently, by some twisted thinking, “Christmas in Vegas” has become a thing in China.
Downwear
Endless, physical, training, snowflying downwear!
This is also modern China
A few blocks off the main street, with its high rise building and international companies, you can still find traditional wet markets. This part of China is a fascinating combination of old and new.
Chop that Lamb
Buying lamb in the halal market this morning. Our friend asked the guy to slice the lamb for her. This is what she got.
Do you ever feel like you’re being watched?
My lunch the other day.
I can’t believe I read the whole thing
I finally finished the book that I have been reading since March. I bought a historical novel, and started reading it before I realized that it was part one of four.
The story was pretty good, and it takes place during my favorite historical period in China (the Republican period), so I bit the bullet and bought the other three volumes. Little by little, I worked my way through the 1600+ pages.
When I finished volume four tonight, I rewarded myself with a glass of good scotch.
Now I have to decide what to read next.
Even buying a movie ticket involves drama
We went to a movie today. At the theater, there was a guy standing to the side of the ticket counter. We asked for two tickets, and the person working there said the tickets were 100 kuai. Immediately, the guy standing beside us said that we could get the same tickets from him for only 75.
Because we have been in China long enough, we looked for the scam. The person behind the ticket counter appeared unperturbed by the guy’s offer. The guy assured us that they were real tickets, he just “happen to have” a bunch of extra tickets that he was trying to unload. The ticket counter person indicated that yes, the tickets were real.
So I gave the guy 75 kuai, the ticket counter person asked us where we wanted to sit (movies are assigned seating in China), we went in and watched the movie.
Later I looked at the ticket more carefully. It was a group purchase for a local car manufacturing company. The scam was that the guy got hold of a bunch of tickets for 25 kuai each, then sold them for 75. He made 50 kuai on the sale to us. We paid 25 kuai less than we would have if we bought the tickets directly from the theater. The theater already sold the tickets, so they technically didn’t lose any money. The money that they lost was the opportunity to sell tickets to me at full price.
We are still confused about this transaction. I don’t think that we were cheated, but the experience makes my brain itch a little bit.
It snowed today
So the snow removal crew was working.
