Traffic

The traffic in China is crazy. I would not have the guts or the skills to pull off driving in this country. It seems like there is an unspoken rule of the road here. It appears that the lines on the road are mere suggestions and that the biggest vehicle always has the right away. It’s almost mesmerizing how the bus driver drives in Jinan; he can maneuver the bus into any ally/busy road. The car horn is used liberally in driving as well. I wonder what the driving test is like in China?

Locusts! They’re Everywhere!

So the food in China comes in all sorts of forms. When the group eats out at restaurants we are fed like royalty. The food just keeps on coming out of the kitchen. Some of the food is unidentifiable, some is tasty and familiar and some is questionable for Americans.

Here are some interesting foods that are available to anyone who want to try.

100 year old egg.Tiny scorpions.

Locusts on a stick. These were actually served at dinner on a plate a few nights ago. I didn’t have any. I don’t regret it either.Crabs, also on a stick.

The last dinner in shanghai.

Today was our last day in China. I walked around and went to the MOCA. It had some cool stuff in it but it was very small. The rest of the day was really spent working on my personal project. I’m working on something that resembles a coin. Its not finished and I don’t want to post pictures of it yet.Later we went to a vegetarian restaurant, which was one of the best meals we have eaten as a whole group.

On another subject for just a moment, there have been a few days that I haven’t written about. Well, when I get back home I plan to finish this blog up and add all the rest of my adventures.

The rest of the night was spent packing and writing the last words of china.

The Opening

So, I realized that I had yet to write about the opening we had in Jinan. It was a good show and we all worked hard to finish what we needed to on time. I think my group project turned out nicely. My personal project was ok. I wish that I had more time to maybe work on multiples. But overall I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.
These paper cuts took a long while to cut out. The red poster above was my personal project. It's really big.

Some Thoughts

We have one more full day in China. This trip seems to have gone by really quickly. Soon I’ll be back home and walking to school.

Today I went walking around and saw what Shanghai had to offer. It was really hot and humid and I was out for most of the day. At one point it started to rain. It has rained at least once at every place that we’ve been to.

A Spring Sprung

Jinan is known for its springs and one morning we all got to go to a park with well-known springs. It was very busy there. Like every park that I have been to in China, interesting activities are happening. At this spring there was a man writing calligraphy on the pavement.It seems that here, keeping the old arts alive is very important. Calligraphy is very respected and is still taught in school.

Also, for some reason still unknown to me, there were seals in one of the springs.

Besides seals, a lot of the ponds were full of fish.

After wandering around a bit, I came across a bridge and there was a group of men playing musical instruments. Most were traditional but one guy was playing a saw. He played it really well, too.

A Little bit extra

Ok. I can't leave without saying something more interesting. This morning at 7:00 we all got on the bus and went to Zhoucun. Zhoucun's cultural festival was going on and we just happened to have seats at the opening. There was no English spoken but there was a lot of "singing" in Chinese. I say that because I think that there might have been pre-recorded vocals present in some or most of the acts. I'll post some pics as soon as I can. I just need to get them on the computer.