Salt, sold out!

Talked to my mother on the phone tonight. She told me that salt was sold out in Zhongshan, China where my parents currently reside. This surprised me and also makes me concerns. Salt is one of the most common things for daily life. If it could be sold out, anything could happen. I have bad feeling about this.

Thanks to facebook and MSN messenger, friends informed me that people are stocking up and buying lots of salt now to avoid buying the new batches of salt which could be contaminated from radiation due to Japan's nuclear meltdown.

Another Decade

I was signing up for a Kendo taikai last night,
I found that
I am a decade older than most of the participants!

Chinese New Year 2011

I don't think the new year starts until the Chinese New Year. I really miss the Chinese New Year celebration in China. I haven't experienced it for almost 10 years since I moved to the US in 2001. I miss my family and relatives, the lucky money, the food, the flower and the flower market, and of course the fireworks and firecrackers. Besides, we celebrate the new year for 15 days!

This year, the Chinese New Year is on February 3rd. I hope everyone

一帆风顺 (Smooth)
二龙腾飞
三羊开泰
四季平安 (safe)
五福临门 (blessing)
六六大顺 (smooth)
七星高照
八方来财
九九同心
十全十美
百事亨通
千事吉祥
万事如意！

(Each greeting starts with a number, including one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, hundred, thousand, and ten thousand. However, I don't know how to translate all these Chinese New Year greetings.)

I hope I have a new start in the new year, travel to new places (Tibet, Xinjiang, Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Shaolin Temple), and eat authentic Chinese food such as 钟水饺, 夫妻肺片, Sichuan hotpot, Hainan chicken, 冬瓜烫，汤包，etc.

SWAT were Outside My Building

Last night around 10:20pm, I heard outside someone shout "Police" and "Search Warrant". Then, I heard someone break into a door nearby. I peeped outside my window and saw a SWAT staying on the top floor of the next building with a gun pointing down towards my apartment building. I was terrified, left the window immediately and stayed inside my apartment. Outside, I could still hear people shouting. Around 10:50pm, it calmed down. When I peeped outside the window again, I saw some of my neighbors staying outside talking. When I opened my door, I saw some of my neighbors gathering outside and a few policemen walking towards their cars. It seemed like one of my neighbors was taken away by the police.

This morning, I saw the building manager. She told me Sam, my neighbor, was taken away. The police found robbery items in his apartment. He might stay in the jail for a while. He looked like a nice person! He lived in that apartment before I moved to the building.

I like watching detective dramas. All the actions on TV are exciting. However, when it happens in the real life, it is terrifying!

End of Year Road Trip

Started driving


Crossing a bridget to Oregon


Welcome to Oregon


Cannon Beach


Somewhere on the Oregon Coast (North of Newport)


Newport, Oregon


Somewhere on the Oregon Coast (South of Newport)


Three of us


Sea Lions

Pictures from a warm sunny island

Parents Visiting Seattle -- Part 3

After two weeks in Seattle, my parents and I went to Honolulu on November 4th.





The weather was very nice in Honolulu. However, due to the low immune system of her body, my mother suddenly developed an illness which causes her immense pain. Except for the first day, my mother spent most the time in the hotel room. The foreign language and the unfamiliar medical system made things even more difficult for my mother. Thankfully, my mother is a doctor herself and she diagnosed what illness she was having. The doctor's visit on Sunday (November 7th) in Honolulu just confirmed her diagnosis. In addition to see a doctor on Sunday and request wheel chair assistance at the airports, my parents had to shorten their US visit.





My parents went back last Wednesday. Right after they arrived in Zhongshan, they went to see a doctor again. My mother is taking medications and receiving treatments. Even though it might take some time for my mother to fully recover, things are under control.

I'll remember to buy medical insurance for my parents when they visit me next time.

Parents Visiting Seattle -- Part 2

The second weekend of my parents' visit, I had to travel to Canada for a few days. My parents were left alone in Seattle. They told me that they went to Woodland Park.



When I came back, it was a couple days before Halloween. My mother and I did pumpkin carving. My mother enjoyed it.





On October 30th, we went to watch a UW football game. Even though UW lost to Stanford 0 to 41, we had a lot of fun.





On Sunday (October 31st), we went to Museum of Flight with two of my friends.

South Beauty

When I was browsing the gossips online, I found a high-end Chinese restaurant chain "South Beauty". Their website includes menu, which is great. Because I can use it to tell people about some Chinese food.

Parents Visiting Seattle

Parents came last Friday and will stay for a month. A couple days before, I talked to a couple friends whose parents had visited. All of them said that their parents got bored within a week. It seems like I have to find ways to keep my parents entertain.

First day when my parents arrived, my mother commented my apartment was too small for three people. I didn't want to tell her how much I pay for my rent. My father defended me that my place was as big as our first apartment in Zhongshan.

Second day, my parents and I visited Space Needle. It was my first time as well. We also went to Kerry Park. Then had a late lunch in Chinatown.

Third day, we went to Best Buy at Northgate. My parents already started to think about presents for relatives.

Fourth day, I took my parents to the UW campus. They were excited to see the library in person, as they had seen it online all the time.

Today, my parents met my advisor. My mother felt she couldn't express herself due to her lack of English capability.

My parents walked to my office from home themselves this afternoon. I was a bit relief. However, I still concern if they can explore the neighborhoods on their own. I suggest my parents to go to the Gasworks Park themselves tomorrow. Let's see what happen.

Pictures taken from the airplane to Seattle

College Station and Houston, TX

Zhouqu

For the pass few days, I have heard a lot of news reports from TV and radio stations about landslide happening in Gansu Province, China. However, I had no clue what the news reporters said about the town. I had to check online and found it was Zhouqu(舟曲).

Do I expect too much from the western news reporters?

Wild Flowers on Mt. Rainier

Wallace Falls

Housing

I was invited to lunch with two friends who, like me, came from China for graduate school at UW. One of them is working on her dissertation on housing in China. Inevitably, I asked her about her dissertation, and we talked about how ridiculously expensive the housing in Beijing has become.

Nine years ago when I just graduated from the university, the housing market in China started to become active. People started to own their residential units and purchase condos. Shanghai had the most active housing market in China at that time. I always heard how rapid the housing price in Shanghai increased.

The skyrocketing housing price and struggles of many people in China facing to buy a house made a TV series "Wo Ju", meaning a nutshell of a house, very popular in China last year. Wo Ju tells the story of a white-collar couple struggling to buy a house in Shanghai. They graduated from renowned Chinese universities and have a 2-year-old child. Yet as they could not afford a house in the city, they end up borrowing money from their relatives. Protagonist Hai Ping's younger sister, Hai Zao, rents an apartment with her boyfriend Xiao Bei, in an attempt to save money for their future house and wedding. Hai Zao then meets Song Siming, a 42-year-old government official, and has an affair with him. Song gives Hai Zao money and other benefits to help her sister's family out. Song is later found guilty of taking bribes and dies in a car accident. Hai Zao and Song's child was born premature and died.

I don't always understand why the housing price in Beijing could start practically nothing and caught up with and surpass Seattle in less than 15 years. Economists like to explain as demand surpassing supply. I can't help wonder why there are so much demand. Beijing is the capital. For people who are not familiar with China, China is a country with a very long history of central control. In other words, China is a country with a very strict hierarchical system and politics is closely related with economy. The center of the politics is also the center of economy. If the housing value are determined by location, location, and location, Beijing, no doubt, is the prime city to live. This justifies why housing is more expensive in Beijing than other cities, but it doesn't explain housing is unaffordable for the majority of the residents in Beijing. I don't define affordable as 30% of a household's gross income. Unaffordable here means even a household uses all their income or acquires all kinds of loans and mortgages, they still can't buy a tiny condo.

My friend who is working on housing in China stated a theory. A very small percentage of Chinese people have got rich. They're looking for high return investments. However, Chinese government control all high profitable industries, and no private investment is allowed. Housing market is the only market that the government doesn't forbid private investment. Thus, money is flooring in, which escalates housing price. That's why so many rich Chinese purchase housing in Beijing even though they don't live there at all. That's why housing price in Beijing is unusually high that owning housing is a unrealistic dream for ordinary Beijing residents.

Talapos and Ollalie Lakes

Food, Eating

Growing up in China, I was not particularly introduced to a religion or encouraged to take a religion. Some of my friends teased me that I was a communist. Well, I don't have a religion, but I consider myself as a socialist or an unbeliever of capitalist more than a communist. However, I take what I eat and what restaurants I go seriously and adventurously.

Even though sandwich is simple and fast, I don't like to have it for lunch. I don't like American hamburgers or pizzas. Not because they look cheap or unsophisticated, it is because I don't find them tasty. Ordinary meats such as chicken and pork from American supermarkets are tasteless. I have to buy organic kosher chicken and organic pork (I wish I could find organic kosher pork.^_^.). I didn't know how to cook until 22 when I moved to the states. I made international phone calls to my mother to ask how to cook. However, at the second year when I started cooking, I invited ten people for dinner and cooked all the dishes.

One thing I enjoy most while traveling is to try local cuisine. I had an unforgettable time at a local restaurant in Seoul with a friend who introduced me to eat live octopus, a famous Korean dish. I still remember the moving octopus in the plane when the waitress bringing it out from the kitchen. I also love telling people funny stories about food. I have told many of friends the experience my parents and I had on eating larvas. Exploring different restaurants is one of my favor activities.

Not surprisingly I enjoy "No Reservation", a travel TV show on food, and like the TV show host, Anthony Bourdain. I even bought one of his book - Kitchen Confidential. I'm reading it every morning during breakfast. I'm having a good time. I found Bourdain's comments on vegetarians amusing.

Vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit, an affront to all I stand for, the pure enjoyment of food.

.... Amoebas, however, are transferred most easily through the handling of raw, uncooked vegetables, particularly during the washing of salad greens and leafy produces. So think about that next time you want to exchange deep tongue kisses with a vegetarian.

4th of July 2010

Like a Marathon

Finally sent my first draft out this morning.

Hopefully I can be in time to do defense in July.

At the meanwhile, I'm still looking for a job.

At least, summer finally came.