I went to ohio last month for an annual pig roast put on by my girlfriend's dad. They order a whole roasted pig, and a bunch of their friends and old neighbors bring all kinds of other delicious food. And apparently all the men in the group are supposed to wear hawaiian shirts for some reason, and I found that this didn't exclude me when a nice large button-up covered in palm trees was tossed my way.
One of my last pictures in Linfen as I waved goodbye out the train window. I must admit I got a little choked up; I had grown attached to the dirty little city and the friends I had made there. The people are warm and the life is more relaxed, not to mention the food I've grown fond of and the Chinese I speak has been forever influence by this place. My friends would often joke how I'm a Shanxi native, and I'm ok with that.
Jess and his wife Yvain
Ali and Andrew
Some of the other teachers at Shanxi Normal University chowing down at Big Pizza (比格披萨)
toaster oven cooking: Meatloaf
toaster oven cooking: stuffed eggplant. Yum.
So I wasn't so great with the dishes, but it didn't help that I ate out 80% of them time. I probably ate breakfast that day with a tupperware container and a spatula.
Cool little bird that kept trying to live in my stoves exhaust vent.
Probably twice a month I would finish showering, look down at the floor and find there was more than just water pouring out of the nozzle.
My temporary solution to warding off mosquitoes. Yes I brought a tent to China.
Lychee (荔枝), A native fruit to southern China that's supposed to be pretty good for you.
There are some pretty cool alcohol bottles in China.
This liquor cost roughly $150 a bottle, and we finished both of them. I can't say it tasted a whole lot better than $10 baijiu (白酒) though
This one somehow has bamboo worked into it.
Here are just some random personal images from when I was living in China.
Hua Shan (华山) from the Highway.
The apartments above the police station I waited at while one of my friends tried to track down his towed car. Until then I didn't know there was such things as parking violations in China.
A bridge over the Yellow River (黄河), connecting Shaanxi (陕西) to Shanxi (山西).
Same bridge.
Went to Xi'an (西安) for a few days at the end of my stay in China. We drove there from Linfen (临汾), stopping off in Yuncheng (运城) on the way. The three day trip turned into four was mostly full of driving, visiting and eating, and we sure did eat good. I say turned into four days, because when our car got towed for parking illegally, we kinda had to wait to get it back.
Philadelphia is my new home. Moved here from China a little over two months ago.
Lin
Fen
