Thursday, February 4, 2010

H now

Hi again:

The picture here is the world's largest flower. It blooms only every 3 years and that is why people are looking at it. It is in bloom now.

For some reason I must sleep very restless. I have 3 blankets on top of my quilt to give me the added weight I need to feel comfortable in bed. By morning, all three are on the floor. I don't wake up during the night but I do wonder how much I toss and turn each night...

I am reading a book The Vagrants by Yiyun Li, a story about a girl being executed post-Cultural Revolution time in China. My time in China gave me an interest in stories about China.

I read articles in The New York Times about China. I listen to NPR stories about China. The government of China is a bunch of old men still holding to the old bankrupt ideas. They have married free-market capitalism to their stupid Communist government standard. The choice it gave its citizens a corrupt bargain: we will give you jobs and you will be happy with that you will not notice the bizarre system of the government, with its reliance on bribes and corruption.

I may be going back to China in late March or early April. I will have to get a tourist visa to get in, but when I arrive in Shanghai, I will get a new visa, called a business visa that lets me stay in China for a year before it expires. From Shanghai, I will go back to Xi'an (pronounced "SHE-ann"). From there to Beijing and to Shenzhen to visit battery manufacturers there. Shanghai in on one coast and Shenzhen is on the other coast of China.

China is about the same size as the United States, but with 1.4 billion people, compared to our 350 million people.

Earlier on this blog I noticed that I moved from the State of Oregon with about 3 million people in the entire state to Shanghai, a city of 18 million people.

I made my cranberry pie a few days ago. I used walnuts I cracked, but there were a few small pieces of shell in the pie. I found I really like cranberries in my pie, so yesterday I bought Craisins, dried cranberries. I will see if I like to eat these.

Steven

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