Rhododendron is native to Oregon
there are all kinds of different types and colors
i would like to grow my own someday
90 degrees fahrenheit
Tag: summer
portland elephants
street photography in Portland, Oregon
mural near the pizza place Doughboys Pizzatopia
downtown street exploration on a weekend
walking to cinema 21
Lairhill neighborhood on a sunny day
gift shopping at Cargo imaginative space
Tea Ceremony and History Museum
Today I had a truly Chinese tea ceremony with my coworkers in one of the cool restaurants in Nanjing. I wanted to experience a ceremony like this for years, I kid you not. In Kyiv we went to a few different ones, they were all fine but not exactly authentic. In this restaurant not only they made black and green tea for us, they fed us like kings, like it was a wedding reception or something just as grandiose.
Let me share a few pictures with you. I loved the outing and the company. I didn’t overeat this time, it was another victory. The restaurant was established in 1933, and the wait list is long if you just show up without a reservation. We had a reservation and ate in a private room at a huge round table. This time they had desert for us, it was mango smoothie with chunks of other fruit in it, a pretty awesome idea. Many dumplings and sea food options were specific to the region.
After lunch we went to see Nanjing History museum, we all loved it due to epic architecture and the gardens surrounding the buildings. Lots of bamboo plants grow there as well as palm trees and flowers. I greatly enjoyed the peacefulness of the place and a well curated gift shop on the property. We got traditional Chinese fans and postcards for gifts. I took a few pictures with my phone and was over the moon about the walk after heavenly food experience we just had. There were families with young kids and some people dressed up for photoshoots.
The day was nice and sunny, not too hot thank God. In the museum all signage was in Chinese only so we had to guess what the things were and appreciate the gold collection displayed. China is a brave new world for me, once you think you got it, you will discover something new previously overlooked.
The day went smoothly , we didn’t get stuck in traffic and were back on campus at 4pm. We should have done more museums and gardens, they are simply the best. It’s my last week here, I loved the long weekend, next one I will spend flying back home.
Hangry
I got up on the wrong side of the bed, decided to do early morning laundry, had breakfast and then remembered I had to take a shower. Well, the towel was already clean and wet after the fast 15 min cycle. I walked to the office which was nice, still early and empty for the most part. I noticed five ladies were gardening in their cute little hats that cover most of the face. They seemed happy to be working so early before the heat starts.
On the way to the office I saw these bushes bloom, they smell like roses and I don’t know their names, the only thing I can tell they are late bloomers. I also saw some birds I couldn’t identify, they looked like pigeons but with more intricate designs on the body and wings. Brighter color scheme is also characteristic of that kind of birds. They were basking in the morning sun just like I was. I saw a few security guards riding their motorbikes keeping us secure.
When I finally made it to the office I felt sad and angry for no reason at all. I had some tea with cookies and went to teach my morning class. The girls on the front row decided to have breakfast right there and then, they brought some stinky food to see what I will do. I guess it was the plan because they started at 8:57, class starts at 9. I looked at them and thought, I’m hangry this is it. So I let them know that if they stink up my classroom it will make me angry because I’m hungry and they don’t want to know hangry me, it’s not a pleasant experience in any way. By 9 am they were done eating and the desks looked clean. It made me happy.
I wonder why I couldn’t let it go in the first place, I tried to teach as usual but my screen stopped projecting. It was not out of the blue, I had those issues before yet today it just refused to work . It made my students happy we couldn’t cover as much but I felt frustrated due to such a bad timing, there is no good timing for the screen to freeze to be honest. They were sweet as always and I taught on a blackboard using a piece of chalk. I think chalk is the reason cords wouldn’t connect well, I came home and used a hairdryer to try and solve this problem. I don’t know if it helped but fingers crossed it did.
Technology is not my strong side, I keep learning while it keeps evolving so whatever I learned is water under the bridge. I became a FB pro but now it doesn’t matter because who uses Facebook anymore? I got all the tricks about Epic in hospital but it’s irrelevant because those miserable hospital days are long gone. Thank God! I suffered thru Teams the whole year and now they want me to learn Canvas for my current job. Live and learn I guess, I’m getting better and better!
Sunday Start with Students
Today was an opening ceremony for the summer program, meet and greet kind of event at the University of Posts and Telecommunications. We were introduced as honored guests, I was honestly blown away by the scope of an event and organizational culture.
Nanjing has about 10 mln residents, the school I am working for has a huge campus housing 26000 students with about 260 faculty members. From the name you could have guessed it’s mostly for IT and Engineering industries, that are growing rapidly.
The days are so hot that you can only go for a walk early in the morning or after the sunset.
Morning and afternoon class with a three hour break in between sound a lot like my student experience in the early 2000s, but we had two classes in the morning and two classes in the afternoon. It was fun and games, 5 years of living in the dorm with other folks taught me a few life lessons, we had both good and bad days, but all in all it was great. Do you miss your school days?
Why I quit my job 