Neighborhood Market

Self-explanatory - one store at my favorite Jinan marketplace. Expect to see more from this area all week.

Someone Really Likes Snoopy

Now I'd say this is going overboard, but that's just my opinion.

Me & City

This weekend Sex and the City has been released so I thought I'd capture it's Chinese cousin, Me & City, a store for fashionable young people.

I've never been a fan of Carrie and her pals, but I realize many people are.

Second Best

These aren't the best pastries in the neighborhood, but they're closest to my apartment. On Saturday I can take the time to go getthe best kind.

China Post

I had to mail my resume off to a prospective employer and snapped this photo of my local post office.

Morning Tai Chi

Though I'm not one for early rising, I got up and out by 6:30 am to photograph the Tai Chi on campus. My colleague Diane in the turquoise shirt has been attending daily since she arrived. The start time has gotten progressively earlier. In March they started at about 7 am and now though I thought they started at 6:30 it's actually 6:00 am.

If they did this in the evening, I'd be there. Maybe 8 am I could manage on the weekends.

Vegetable Vendor

Near school, self-evident.

Fei Wei Che Ze

This fried eggplant with caramelized sugar and spices is probably my favorite dish here.

Jinan's Cathedral

Since today's Pentecost, I thought I'd add a photo of Jinan's cathedral, which was build and designed by Germans a hundred some years ago. It is quite full on Sundays and on Christmas Eve people pack in so that every seat and all the aisles are crammed.

More pictures are available on my other blog.

Drying

Lotus Street a.k.a. Food Street

Downtown there's a pedestrian street serving a wide array of street food and offering restaurant after restaurant.

Not Just the French

The Chinese eat snails too. These were on sale down the street.

In Search of the Mosque

I know that there's a mosque, maybe a small one, near our campus. I hear the call to prayer on Fridays and occasionally on other days.

Today I wandered over to the area where I thought I'd find the mosque. I saw several buildings with Arabic over the doorways, but nothing that looked like a mosque.

Lunch

The best baoze, for my money, are down the street in front of the campus. I always get the non-spicy beef and cabbage ones. Four baoze cost less than 40 cents. The carrot ones are good too.

Pleasant Goat & Friends

Pleasant Goat is a wildly popular cartoon character here. Toddlers to university students alike have some tchotchke with his image on it. Beside him are two tigers, fitting as 2010 is the Year of the Tiger.

Gray Day

Bread Man

I went down to the intersection today where there's a hub bub of breakfast activity. This round savory bread enticed me.

University Classroom

Here's a typical classroom at Shandong University of Science and Technology.

Vendors Playing Cards

Mahjong

I love the open air mahjong and card games throughout China.

Tonight's dinner

No sweet and sour pork isn't a dish invented in America. It is real Chinese food.

TNL

Just got back to Jinan today from a weekend trip.

I missed Jinan and China.

Breakfast in Jinan

These are savory long donut like treats.

Jinan's Symbol

This statue is in the center of the city and represents our 72 springs, hence the nickname, City of Springs.

Our Campus Canteen

Can't say I've eaten there much. Just once in fact. It's rather dark and the food's no where near as some of the nearby restaurants.

My Workplace

Shandong University of Science and Technology, Jinan Campus, Building 1

Destruction

Another big part of this era of Jinan history is destruction. Lots of buildings, big and small, are in the path of a wrecking ball. There's a new law that all new construction must be at least 6 stories high.

Thousand Buddha Mountain

Today I went here with some friends. A student took us after learning that we went to 1000 Buddha Mountain and somehow missed this big guy.

I've put more photos on Ruined for Life

At the Market

You'll soon see I'm big on markets.