I could be talking about culture, or shopping, or the fun of being together with Ross again, but tonight I'm just going to whine about the heat a bit. 

"Here in Zibo, we don't have spring and fall, only summer and winter," I've been told more than once...  the weather ricochets from bone-chilling cold to sweltering heat, they say.  

When I first arrived in Zibo, the willow trees were just beginning to leaf out. For the first two months, the temperatures were very pleasant.  I didn't need heat or air conditioning in my apartment.  Then it started to get warmer and while riding the bus to work I noticed that the road crews were preparing the flower beds for annual flowers, and they were planting portulaca, a flower that's very heat and drought tolerant. That really let me know that summers are hot here.

Yes -- newsflash! -- China is hot in the summer and the humidity reminds me of childhood visits to my relatives in Southern Illinois or Georgia. I always think about my pioneer ancestors in the summertime before the invention of air conditioning -- my great--great-great grandmothers and aunts having to wear long skirts and petticoats  and maybe even corsets -- surely they ditched some layers if they were at home and the menfolk weren't around?  ...

Hi all, just a quick post to let you know that Ross arrived safely and on schedule on Wednesday night in Beijing. My original plan was to whisk him back to Zibo and let him rest, but we ended up staying an extra day in Beijing.  My work obligations brought us back to Zibo today. 

More pics to come but here is Ross at the Double Happiness Courtyard Hotel in Beijing. 

As things have turned out, Ross will finally arrive in China after most of my teaching obligations have wrapped up for the semester.  And it's just as well, I suppose, that he is coming when I have the time to relax, explore the city and do a little traveling with him. My time so far has mostly revolved around classes, students and doing lesson plans.  The last few weeks have been particularly hectic, with individual oral exams for almost 80 students, another 35 oral exams for external clients of the school, a little freelance tutoring, a new corporate client for Business English and a one week summer camp for middle school students hosted at the campus where I work.  I have a few reflections about the end of semester that I'll post in the near future. 

I spent today catching up on housework and realized that, although my apartment is large and under-furnished, every available bit of horizontal space -- window sill, table, coffee table, desk, shelves, has been colonized by my "stuff."  My clothes, my girl stuff, my teaching stuff, and other debris. I had to rearrange things to make some room for Ross's stuff so this can be his home as well. So he'll be pleased to know he has a nice sturdy cardboard box for a side table for his side of the bed.  And there's room for his toothbrush in the bathroom.

I made up a little rule (more of a game, really) that when I go grocery shopping, I'll buy one new or strange item. Sure, this is an excuse to sample from China's vast cornucopia of junk food. (BTW, ESL teacher and blogger Austin Guidry has a YouTube series called "Eat All of the Things" which is also popular with the Chinese.) But more recently, while walking along the juice aisle, I spotted a bottle of Seabuckthorn juice and decided to give it a try.  Perhaps you've never heard of Seabuckthorn. The online dictionary for my website host has never heard of it, because it underlines Seabuckthorn in red every time I type it.

This little bottle of Seabuckthorn is the impetus to write a post that meanders from Peachland to the Loess Plateau, to Tibet, and from the 19th century to Mao Tse-Tung.  First, more about the virtues of Seabuckthorn (Hippophae).

I've been interested in Seabuckthorn since learning that a company in the city of Peachland, near my hometown in the Okanagan Valley,  is promoting the many virtues of this plant.  It is great for erosion control, as a windbreak, as food and as fuel. Downside -- apparently the plant is very thorny, but I used to get sliced to ribbons picking blackberries in North Vancouver. It was worth it.