• my architecture pages
    • Lost Chicago Building: Steinway Hall, 1896
    • Looking for Mr. Goldberg
    • The Punch and Judy Theatre, 1930
    • Lost Chicago Building: First Regiment Armory
    • The Edison Shop
    • The theater that never was
    • Lost Chicago Building: The Masonic Temple
    • elegy for Chengdu

running into myself

Monthly Archives: February 2011

quiet corner

Posted on February 21, 2011 by Roger

jinsha-corner

金沙庵大殿 Jinsha Nunnery, Chengdu, just before New Year

Posted in Old Chengdu | Tags: Architecture, Chengdu, China, expat, expatriate, life in China, Monastery, Old Chengdu, Photography, Sichuan, Street Views, Temple, traditional, 成都 | Leave a comment |

winter bird

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Roger

I can’t believe that this bird allowed me to get so close to it with my cell phone camera. I followed it into the yard of my apartment building, and instead of flying away it seemed to strike poses for me. I was attracted to its vibrant color in the gray deadness of the season. The bird was also tiny, and very difficult to photograph clearly. Perhaps I was chasing some promise of spring.

It’s been a cold winter, wet, drizzly, with occasional snow.  Mostly I’ve hibernated indoors, trying to get warm.  Now, the new semester is about to begin, and on Monday it’s back to work.  The second semester is always easier; the first one was a long dark night of the soul, of which I hope to write more later.

Posted in China | Tags: Chengdu, China, English, esl, expat, expatriate, life in China, Photography, Sichuan, 成都 | Leave a comment |

street scenes

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Roger

Here are a few more shots from just before Chinese New Year, taken in the Wenshu Fang area – the tourist area around Wenshu Monastery.

 

 

hat

hat

 

 

food-is-coming

food is coming

 

 

checkers-2

solitary game

Posted in Chengdu | Tags: Chengdu, China, expat, expatriate, life in China, Monastery, Old Chengdu, Photography, Sichuan, Street Views, Wenshu, 成都, 文殊坊 | Leave a comment |

new year scenes

Posted on February 2, 2011 by Roger

noodles

Eating noodles

 

 

It’s Chinese New Year’s Eve, and at midnight the Year of the Rabbit will officially begin.  I just can’t decide what movie to watch to take me through the next couple of hours.  This year seems quieter, although I suspect that an ear-splitting cacophony of fireworks will occur around midnight.

Yesterday I made a rare foray into the real world, deciding to embark on my somewhat-annual pilgrimage to the Wenshu Monastery area for the New Year temple fair. It was a good idea – the sun even came out – but the temple fair wasn’t happening yet.   I contented myself with getting some rather good photos.

 

 

partners

Odd pairing; I wonder if they’re both in the driver’s seat?

 

 

I was starving, so I had a quick lunch of jiaozi and long chaoshou (two different types of dumplings) at a local Long Chaoshou Restaurant.  Since nothing much was shaking in the monastery area, I visited my favorite quiet and semi-hidden spot in Chengdu:  Jinsha Nunnery.

 

 

jinsha-doors

Jinsha Nunnery:  doors

 

 

I sat and enjoyed the peace and quiet of the small nunnery, listening to the wind rustling through the trees and the birds singing.  A stooped elderly woman was shuffling around, making offerings;  she might have been one of the local volunteers.  She startled me when she sneaked up beside me and offered me a handful of peanuts.  Seeing some scattered on the offering table in front of three Buddhas, I assumed I was to make an offering.  But no – she said something and I recognized chi, “eat,” and so I repled xie xie, ate one peanut, and pushed the rest in my pocket.

For some reason I felt like going downtown to Starbucks to rest while drinking some hot chocolate, but my plans went awry.  The #1 bus had changed its route, so I ended up just south of the Tianfu Square in the center of town, and walked back to the subway entrance, in the center of the park and down a huge sunken entrance that looks like some archaological dig gone horribly wrong.  My feet were killing me, so I headed home for a nap.

春节快乐!Happy Spring Festival and Year of the Rabbit!

Posted in China | Tags: Architecture, Chengdu, China, expatriate, Food, life in China, Monastery, Photography, Sichuan, Street Views, 成都 | 1 Comment |

Roger Jones

Subscribe
Loading

Categories

Archives

Blogroll

  • ArchInform
  • david lebovitz living the sweet life in Paris
  • Lyric Opera of Chicago
  • my architecture pages
  • runningintomyself – old version
  • The Art Institute of Chicago
  • Urban Omnibus

Pages

  • my architecture pages
    • Lost Chicago Building: Steinway Hall, 1896
    • Looking for Mr. Goldberg
    • The Punch and Judy Theatre, 1930
    • Lost Chicago Building: First Regiment Armory
    • The Edison Shop
    • The theater that never was
    • Lost Chicago Building: The Masonic Temple
    • elegy for Chengdu

Archives

  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • October 2020
  • May 2020
  • February 2020
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • March 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009

Categories

  • Aix-en-Provence (2)
  • Ancient towns (46)
  • Architecture (103)
  • Arles (4)
  • Chengdu (139)
  • Chicago (47)
  • China (71)
  • Chongqing (7)
  • Food (23)
  • France (26)
  • Hong Kong (3)
  • India (22)
  • Istanbul (3)
  • Marseille (15)
  • Mount Everest (3)
  • Movies (5)
  • Nepal (10)
  • Old Chengdu (26)
  • Paris (18)
  • Personal history (32)
  • Photography (84)
  • Shanghai (11)
  • Suzhou (8)
  • Teaching (34)
  • Tibet (25)
  • Travel (123)
  • USA (20)
  • Writing (2)

WordPress

  • Register
  • Log in
  • WordPress
© running into myself