Making jiaozi for new year

This afternoon we gathered at a big apartment shared by four classmates (only one from my class, but his flatmates all study at our college） to make jiaozi （饺子） or dumplings in English. Making dumplings together is a traditional activity in China shared by family and friends during holidays. The Gregorian new year is traditionally not a major event in China, but it's gaining more and more importance, especially with the younger generation.
Both of my teachers, and one of the other classes' teachers were present, and for the occasion taught us the skill of making the perfect jiaozi. We made a shortcut by using prefab dough wrappers, but the filling was made on the spot. Hacking pork into a smooth pulp, and mixing it with various vegetables, like cabbage, leek, and mushrooms.
A variety of condiments are used to make different kinds of sauce for dipping. Spicy or more gentle on the palate. The shape of the dumplings vary by region and personal preference, and since our teachers each come from different provinces, we ended up with a great variety, from crescent to hat-shaped. All equally tasty!

Excursion to Huo Shan Dao

Just before the end of the year, after Christmas passed almost unnoticed, and with our our end-of-semester exams looming around the corner, we took off yesterday morning with a group of 25 classmates and our teachers for a day trip to Huo Shan Dao （火山岛）, a group of small volcanic islands just off the coast of Zhangzhou, about 50 km south of Xiamen. At least, that's what I thought we would do, but we ended up just visiting the so-called Ziranshentai Scenic Area on the shore, without ever setting foot on the island seen in the distance, just 2 km off-shore. There are actually three separate volcanic islands nearby, one at 2 km, one at 7 km, and one at 22 km off-shore. The nearest island, visible above, is called Linjinyu.
The reason why we didn't get on a boat to visit the island is still unclear to me. One teacher told me we didn't go because it was too expensive, and the other said today it was because of the low tide. Whatever the reason, I felt a bit ripped off, as I was looking forward to the boat ride and close-up view of the basalt formations on the island. On the other hand, I have seen already quite a lot of that during my trip to Iceland in 2009.

Nevertheless, it was a nice day, not in the least because of the sunny weather and the excellent lunch that was presented at a restaurant on the cliffs with a great view on the island. The lunch served us fish, seaweed soup, sauteed clams, pig's trotters, and various vegetable dishes, all equally good, with the exception maybe of the pig feet, which consisted mostly of bone and a thick rubbery and hairy skin.
We spent some time on the beach, which is full of volcanic rocks, and lots of shells. The park also features several opportunities for overnight stays, either in wooden cabins high on the cliffs, or in luxury American-style campers, parked in a grassy field. It's not cheap, at 1000 RMB a night. Well over the price of a 4-star hotel in the city. Not surprisingly, there where no guests in sight.
The bay is full of what appears to be oyster banks, and inland you can see many basins the size of a football field filled with seawater which are probably farms for either fish or shell food. The volcanic activity which happened here many years ago gives a somewhat out-of-place attraction to the area. I don't know any other location in China with volcanoes, maybe that's why it's so developed as a touristic attraction, it's a rarity.

Cycling

This weekend was a weekend full of cycling. Winter is slowly but surely arriving, so it becomes less and less attractive to go for a swim. Cycling is then a good alternative.
Saturday I was just hanging out at the boardwalk after a very late breakfast of shuijiao （水饺）, dumplings in soup, when I spotted a girl drawing in a little sketchbook. Of course I could have just let her do her thing, but I couldn't stop myself from bothering her. So, we ended up chatting (in Chinese of course) and walking a bit.
Xiao Ting, originally from Yunnan province, just came to Xiamen 2 months ago from Chongqing where she studied design, and now lives in Tatou （塔头）, the next town along the coast from where we were standing. She's an illustrator, and works for a postcard publisher. She suggested to go and meet her friends and go bike riding, using the tandem bikes which are offered for rent all along the coast. I happily agreed, so we took the bus to Tatou and upon arrival first went for a bite before meeting her friends, another illustrator with her sculptor boyfriend. Riding the tandem bikes for close to two hours was fun, but there was a gusty and cold wind along the coast, so upon returning we were hungry again. Salvation came in the form of Sichuan-style hotpot, which was delicious and exactly what we needed.

Today was a bit warmer, without the cold north-eastern wind of yesterday, so again I was seduced to get on the bike, but this time by myself, on my own mountain bike. I had never been up the hills behind Zeng Cuo An, which reach up to just over 300m. Not very high, but the winding road is very steep in some places, so I had to use all my gears. At the top of Dong Ping Shan （东坪山）, I reached an abandoned teahouse, which looked rather nice, actually. With a beautiful view over the sea and the already setting sun. Going down a bit, then up again to the next peak, I reached the summit of Da Dong Shan （大东山）, which was covered in Buddhist prayer flags. A small viewpoint gave a good view of a higher hill to the East with some military installations on top, which explains the sign prohibiting taking photos, with the promise to "confiscate the equipment for violation and punish according to police". Needless to say, I took a photo of it.
On the way down I passed a reservoir and dam, and ended up in a highly developed urban area with luxurious apartment towers and expensive looking villas. I passed the sprawling Royal Victoria Hotel just before reaching the coast at the Ye Feng Zhai amusement park which I had visited with Xiao An in the summer. About 6km later I was back in Zeng Cuo An, where a purple sky above the rising tide made me sit down for a moment to enjoy this beautiful sight. I'm so lucky to live at the seaside!

Ice skating

During class yesterday, our teacher asked us if we wanted to go ice skating. I was startled at first to hear about this, since I never associated Xiamen with anything as frigid as ice. I didn't know there's an indoor ice skating rink at the top floor of the China City mall, which opened earlier this year. I visit the mall from time to time because there's a large Carrefour supermarket in the basement, good for some hard to find items like good quality yoghurt and chocolate. I never payed much attention to the other shops in the mall, hosting some exclusive luxury brands like Cartier and Longines, although many stores are still boarded up with "Coming soon" signs.
We took off directly after class with a group of seven, including both of our teachers, 4 classmates and me. The others were not interested. In good Chinese tradition, we first went to eat something. On this occasion we visited a tastefully decorated Hong Kong style dim-sum restaurant on the waterfront opposite Gulangyu island. A nice place which I never visited before, also in a new but much smaller mall, which also hosts some foreign outfits, including a Starbuck's Coffee sprawling across 3 floors. After satisfying ourselves on a nice selection of appetizers and a subsequent 20 minute stroll along Zhong Shan Lu, the most famous but rather boring shopping street in Xiamen, we arrived at the Christmas decorated skating rink. As a promotion, there is no entrance fee on weekdays until December 22nd. The normal entrance fee is 50 RMB, including the rent of skates
I had not set foot on ice for ages, so it took a moment to find my balance on a pair of hockey skates, but soon I felt comfortable enough to let go, and I was zipping across the ice like a pro. Luckily, there was no loud music like at those roller skate rinks which are also very popular in China, and much more common. I've been a few times with Xiao An, in Nanning. Loads of fun! Here in Xiamen on the ice with my teachers, classmates, and a lot of cute girls was also great fun! I was the only white boy on the ice (these 4 classmates all being Asian), so I got a lot of attention, with girls practically lining up for some hand-in-hand rounds. Well, I'm exaggerating a bit here, but it was a good opportunity to practice Chinese :)
All this skating made us feel hungry again, so afterwards we took off to a famous old seafood restaurant, near the #8 market, the biggest fresh market in Xiamen. I had visited the market before, but never went to this restaurant. Our teachers selected a good array of shellfish and other local delicacies, including sandworms （沙虫）, although the latter were somewhat disappointng. The razor clams were very good though, and so was the squid on bean curd. A great impromptu night out, thanks to my sweet teachers!

Total lunar eclipse

Last night was a spectacular total lunar eclipse, visible all over Asia and Australia. During a total lunar eclipse, the sun, earth and moon are all aligned, with the moon slowly moving through the shadow of the earth. Since the earth's shadow is considerably larger than the moon itself, the moon stays in the dark for almost a full hour, lit only by stray light bending around the perimeter of the earth's atmosphere. Seen from the moon, the sun is setting and rising from behind earth. We can only imagine how that would look like :)
The sky over Xiamen was a little bit cloudy, so the spectacle was not visible all the time, but there were some clear moments, long enough to enjoy the first stage of a partially eclipsed moon, then the magnificent red moon during the totally eclipsed phase, and finally the return of direct sunlight hitting the moon's surface.
I took some photos, but my camera could not capture the beauty of this natural phenomenon in its full splendor, that's why used the above photo by Muhammad Mahdi Karim of a previous eclipse, taken from Wikipedia Commons, to illustrate this post. The photo actually reminded me of the orange & almond cake I made last year in my rice cooker...

No more chocolate & cookies

Now Sinterklaas is behind us, and Christmas being almost invisible in China, or at least easy to avoid if you stay clear from the occasional stray American carrying Christian values to the East, it's a good moment to start a period of abstinence from chocolate, cookies, and even alcohol, or at least the temptingly cheap Chinese brandy I've developed a habitual liking for.
It's not that I'm getting fat, but I can still prevent an almost unperceivably slow downward spiral that would be nearly impossible to reverse if I stick to the same snacking habits for another quarter of a century.
When I woke up this morning, recollecting the fact that I ate a whole 200 gram bar of dark chocolate last night, I decided to put that to an end. Or at least for the next three winter months, until the spring semester classes will resume on February 20th, after the 5-week break for Chinese New Year. I hereby also conveniently void the need for any New Year's resolutions. Hopefully there are no belated chocolate letters or tempting Christmas goodies in the mail...

Beach barbeque

Last Wednesday we had a great outdoor barbeque party on the beach with classmates and both of our cute teachers. We were lucky with the weather, it had been overcast and a bit chilly for a couple of days, but Wednesday was a nice and warm day again. Warm enough even to go for a swim, but I was the only one brave enough. The water was lovely and clean, even though it was low tide.
I had brought a frisbee and a case of chilled beer, and also brought my Chinese friend Rita along, who lives near me in Zeng Cuo An village. While the others had gathered at the university's main gate, we went directly to the spot, because it's not far from Zeng Cuo An. On arrival, my classmates were already preparing the skewers with a large selection of grillable foodies. Besides the assortment of beef, pork, chicken, lamb and fish-ball skewers, we grilled aubergines, corn, green beans, tofu, and even bananas. Someone had the bright idea to buy a bag of marshmallows.
It's funny, even though I'm well over 20 years older than anyone else in this group, including my teachers, I blend in quite well...

November wrap-up

I haven't posted anything for quite a while, but that doesn't mean nothing happened, on the contrary! Ling Ling came to see me for a few days, that was very nice. The weather had been quite bad for a week, with lots of rain, but it improved instantly when she arrived, so we went swimming and made long bike rides along the coast. Needless to say, we had a good time. I skipped 3 days of class, but one day she joined me. Being a language teacher herself, she was curious to see how my teachers are handling things.
Actually, my teachers have been adding a lot of entertainment to their classes lately. We often play games where we have to guess words, or do some role playing. We also have done some presentations by students, showing photos and videos of their home country or travels, and talking about it (in Chinese, of course). I picked a nice selection of images from my travels in the northwest of China, where none of my classmates, nor my teacher had ever been, so it was quite interesting. Also my experience as a volunteer English teacher in Hainan in 2006, on my first visit to China, made a good story.
I went out to foreign restaurants a few times, including two Thai, one in Zeng Cuo An, and one near the university, and I joined a cute (and tall) Chinese girl whom I met a month ago to the Korean grill restaurant at the four-star Ramada hotel where she works as a hostess, welcoming guests with her charming smile and beautiful eyes. She also lives in Zeng Cuo An, so finally a friend who lives nearby. The food was nice too ;-)

The weather is almost like summer again, so I swam a lot this month, and also made a long (40 km) bike tour along the coast, almost up to the airport. I passed a very big beach which I had not seen before. It's called Fantasy Beach, and the surrounding area is developed into a large entertainment park with rides, a big water world, kart racing, night life, and of course shopping. Further north I passed a deserted village, which looks like a ghost town, with crumbling houses and rusting vehicles. Like an apocalyptic movie set. Strange enough, a bit further down the road emerges another equally old neighbourhood, but full of people and very lively.
Continuing around the northeast corner of Xiamen island, I reached Wutong, which has a lighthouse, and from there you can overlook the bay separating the island from the mainland, with plenty of big sailing yachts. After Wutong I had to turn around (or rather, inward), because there is a tall bridge over the bay that also harbours the big marina. Around the bay a whole new suburb of many apartment towers is rising, already finished but still uninhabited, except for the sales offices of the boat dealers. Another charming and lively village nearby is already partly demolished, and will have totally disappeared within a few years, no doubt.
In my village life goes on at the usual slow pace, although there is an ongoing process of entrepreneurial renovation which turns every house into a small hotel or cafe. Some of them are actually rather large and fancy, with prices reaching not so friendly levels. It doesn't stop the stream of young couples and slightly more adventurous singles coming to Zeng Cuo An to escape the hectic life in Guangzhou or Shanghai. The latter are good targets for Chinese practice, and sometimes a nice seafood dinner at my favourite restaurant.

Tomorrow I will get on the train to Nanning again. It has been two months already since I last saw Xiao An, and this time I will have the opportunity to meet the people who I missed on my last visit. It's not a holiday now, so everybody will be there. I have to skip some classes again, but I will bring my textbook, and I have my flashcards app on my phone, loaded with the latest vocabulary...

Hanzi flashcards app for Android

I ported my Hanzi J2ME application which I developed last year to help me memorize Chinese characters using my mobile phone. The original app was written for my Nokia phone which I lost last July, and now I ported it to Android to be able to use it on my current phone. It's been a while already since I did this, but I added some minor improvements today to speed-up loading data from the SD card, so I thought the time was right to write a little blog post about it. The porting process was pretty much straight-forward, but I had to learn a lot about the Android application model, since I never did anything on Android before. Using Eclipse and the Android SDK and emulator, it was not too hard to get it working. The data files are the same as for my original app, so there was no time wasted in re-entering text.
In the mean time I also got the official HSK level 3 word list (600 words), which I also included in the data set. Word lists (or card decks, to use the flashcards terminology) can be selected in any combination through a tree-list interface with check boxes. The only difference in operation is that I included touch gestures as an alternative to the 5-way navigation button in the J2ME app. The translation to touch is straightforward: the 4 directions are translated to swipes, while the center key is implemented as a tap action.
Source code is available on github.

86

That's the result of the comprehensive Chinese test I did on Wednesday. 不错! (not bad!). I did particularly well in the grammar section, with just one mistake. Most other errors were related to writing Chinese characters, which remains the most difficult part of the language, but also the least useful, if you ask me.
My overall score would be the average of the scores for speaking (95), listening (83), and this last test, which adds up to 88. I'm quite happy! We will see if I can keep it up for the next two months. In the second week of January we will have the final exams for this semester.

Mid-term tests

This week we had our mid-term exams, consisting of three parts: listening, speaking, and comprehensive Chinese, which includes vocabulary, grammar, and writing. The listening test was on Monday, and I already got the result today: 83. Not bad! At the speaking exam on Tuesday I scored even higher, no less than 95!
For the speaking exam our class was divided in groups of three students, and we had to practice conversation about six different topics, all of which we had covered in the past two months of class. We did not know the topic for our exam until the last moment, which was determined at random. Lucky for us, we got the easiest topic: introduce yourself. This was not only the first topic covered in class, but also comes up regularly in daily life, so it wasn't so difficult to make some fluent conversation during the exam.
The listening test was more challenging, especially the part where you have to listen to a recorded dialogue followed by a question, and then choose the right answer out of three options. Not only do you have to understand the spoken Chinese, but you also have to be able to read the answers (written in Chinese) to be able to select the proper one. And all that in a very limited time, before the next dialogue starts. And no opportunity for a review. I had to guess several times, because I had no idea what the text was about...
The final test was today, and took me almost the full hour and half to finish. It was not really that difficult, but just a lot of reading and writing, and that still takes a lot of time for me. I can't read or write at normal speed yet, instead I have think about almost every single word, to remember what it means, and how to write it. Often I know how to say it, but not how to write it, and for this test we have to write Chinese characters. Anyway, the result will be announced soon...

Zhuhai

I went to this city on the border with Macao for a few days to visit Ling Ling. It's an 11 hour overnight bus ride, so not right next door, but still doable. I skipped three days of class to be able to do this, but it was totally worth it.
Zhuhai is also on the coast, but it doesn't have the nice beaches of Xiamen. There is a beach, but it's quite small. There is a long and scenic road all along the coast, but there is quite a bit of traffic, so a bit noisy. Just off the coast is a big rock with a large statue of a woman holding a ball above her head. It's supposed to be a pearl, but way too big to be a real pearl. I guess it had to be big enough for the tourists to see.
Like Xiamen, Zhuhai is graced with some nice hills dividing up the city in its different neighbourhoods. I stayed in Wan Zai Sha, in a very comfortable hotel selected by Ling Ling. She teaches English at a private language school nearby, and sometimes at home, but that's rather far away, not even in Zhuhai proper, but in neighbouring Tanzhou. I joined one of her home classes one evening. She transformed her bedroom into a classroom just by adding some folding school chairs and a whiteboard, and this way makes some extra cash in her spare time.

Zhuhai is in Guangdong province, where people speak Cantonese instead of Mandarin, although almost all people can also speak the official language of the People's Republic. The food is also quite different, not spicy like in the surrounding provinces. We had a nice Dim Sum lunch at the Bihai hotel, which must have been grand once, but nowadays looks slightly dilapidated. At lunch time it is crowded with mostly elderly people who have probably come here for lunch since they were young.
I also met an old friend from Nanning, a former student at Guangxi University whom I met last year in the first week after my arrival. He has graduated now, and after spending two months in Ürümqi this summer, in the remote North-West of China, he now works as a translator for a company in Zhuhai which exports Chinese medicine. Like many Chinese, he travels all across the country to find a job through relatives or acquaintances. He ended up here because he has a cousin who is a manager of this business. That's how things work in China, it's all about your network.
Although Macao is just a stone's throw away, I didn't bother to visit, since I've already been there two times in the past, and it's not that interesting, once you have seen the old Portuguese colonial-style centre, and have been to Lisbon too. Hong Kong is also nearby, and reachable by ferry in just an hour and half.
I contemplated hopping over on my last day, and take a bus back to Xiamen from there, but finally decided not to, basically for the same reason (I've been to Hong Kong three times) and also to save money. The trip has been expensive enough already, but then again: it was worth every Jiao.

Ten years of One Minutes at CEAC

Last night was the opening of an outdoor film screening programme at the Chinese European Art Center, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of The One Minutes, a Dutch art institute dedicated to (very) short films of exactly one minute duration.
The event was a great succes, visited by a nice crowd of mainly students from the Art College of Xiamen University, and other guests. I went to the opening with Qi Miao, one of my Chinese student friends. She has spent half a year in Utrecht last spring as an exchange student. At the event I had the opportunity to meet Sigurdur Gudmundsson, a renowned artist from Iceland with the stature of a Viking, and the husband of CEAC founder Ineke Gudmundsson. He was joking that here in Xiamen he is only known as the husband of, while in Holland it's the other way around, with Ineke being the wife of.
There were more foreigners present, some Danes, some Dutch, and some others. There was no representation of The One Minutes Foundation, but that did not harm the good atmosphere. The screening doubled as a barbecue party, with a continuous supply of charcoal-grilled chicken skewers, fish, squid, tofu, and veggies. In the coming week there will be three more events like this, each time with a different selection of One Minutes.

Large insects

I don't often encounter these interesting creatures, but on National Day, while visiting a temple in nearby Xitou with Ling Ling, as part of a relaxing bike ride along the coast, I spotted a praying mantis sitting at the base of one of the large intricately carved stone columns carrying the roof of the temple. It looked a bit out of place, without any food to be found there, but it could have been on a religious mission.

Last night I had a slightly more frightening experience while doing my homework. I was almost jolted from my chair by a sudden flurry of a rather large insect hovering around the fluorescent tube high up on the wall, lighting my desk. After banging into the wall and hitting the ceiling several times, it suddenly disappeared without a trace. These insects move so fast that you have no idea where they went, but you know they are still there. After a while it came creeping out of the gap between the edge of my desk and the wall. At first I thought it was a big moth, but at closer inspection, after I managed to take a close-up picture of it, it appeared to be a cicada, known for the loud noise they make on hot summer days, swelling up to a level which can make a conversation impossible, to suddenly disappear again.
In an attempt to lure it out of my room, I opened the door and switched on the light outside, and switched off the lights in my room. This worked, and even though I didn't notice it actually fly out, I saw it sitting on the tiled floor of the landing. After this interruption I closed the door and returned to my books.

Back in sunny Xiamen

When leaving Nanning yesterday morning is was not raining anymore, but the change in weather came too late for me. Not that the five days of cold drizzle and grey skies stopped me from having a good time. It was a great trip, in large part thanks to a lot of time spent with Xiao An. It does hurt to leave her behind again, but it was my choice to move to Xiamen after all.
My bus arrived at 5:10 this morning, but the driver let us sleep for another two hours, before being kicked out of the bus. The sun was already warming the morning air when I took city bus #87 to Zeng Cuo An, arriving home just after 8 o'clock. I have class this afternoon, so I have some time to prepare. Yesterday I also had class, but obviously missed it. The holdiday was supposed to be a week, but two of the five missed classes were rescheduled to this weekend. I'm sure I'm not the only one skipping one or two classes.
First thing to do is find a nice bowl of Sha Cha Mian!

Golden week in Nanning

Last Sunday I took the train to Nanning, to visit some good old friends, and not in the least to see Xiao An again. She awaited me at the train station in a lovely see-through top which was rather revealing, and clearly not warm enough for the cool weather. After this titillating first sight, we took off to find some typical Nanning food to warm the body and soul.
The weather was indeed much cooler than I expected. I had checked the weather report before packing my bag, but the optimistic forecast had put me on the wrong foot. I packed only T-shirts and even brought my swim shorts and flip-flops, but they are clearly not needed this week. What I did need was to go shopping for some warmer clothes.
I'm staying at the hotel opposite the main gate of Guangxi University, in exactly the same room where I lived for several weeks last year, until I found my apartment. Unfortunately, it has been grey and wet all week, instead of golden and sunny as promised.
Nevertheless, it's great to spend time with Xiao An again, walking under our umbrella in People's Park, feeding the pigeons and the goldfish. We also went to the popular Western restaurant Babel, which for some reason I never visited while living in Nanning. It's actually a very comfy place, with soft couches, and lots of plants under a glass domed roof at the foot of a high-rise downtown, serving excellent burgers and yoghurt shakes.
This evening I will meet one of my first friends in Nanning, James the dentist, reunited with his young and lovely girlfriend, and now living in his own apartment. Tomorrow evening will be a grand hotpot dinner party with my student friends, before I return to Xiamen again on Saturday morning.

National Day

October 1st is China's National Day, celebrating the founding of the People's Republic of China on this day in 1949. It also marks the start of the Golden Week, in which almost all 1.36 billion people in China enjoy a week long holiday, resulting in travel chaos and elevated prices across the nation.
Being a seaside village, Zeng Cuo An also enjoyed a surge of travelers from across China, mostly the neighbouring provinces, with the majority of visitors coming from Guangzhou (the 3rd largest city in China), and also quite a few from Shanghai. The latter recognizable by their over-sized sunglasses, floppy hats, and iPhones. The young and wealthy Shanghainese prefer to fly in, instead of coming by train or bus, like most travelers from Guangzhou and elsewhere. This young tourist crowd (mostly couples in their early twenties) represents the new generation of wealthy Chinese who can enjoy the pleasures of traveling. Many of the people I met here have also traveled abroad, still a privilege for a very small (but steadily growing) percentage of the Chinese population.
Festivities in Xiamen on National Day are minimal. I did not even notice a grand display of fireworks, which I certainly expected. But maybe I just was not at the right place at the right time.
I did however had the pleasure of meeting Ling Ling (29), visiting from Zhuhai, south of Guangzhou, and whom I spent most of the past 3 days with. Living in a place like Zeng Cuo An has the benefit of having a lot of opportunity to meet people from many different areas of China, but the downside is that they will always disappear after a few days. What's left are good memories and online chats on QQ.

High tide, low tide

The sea at Xiamen has substantial tidal movement, with high tide normally about 5 meters above low tide, but sometimes the tide surges to well over 6 meters, like during this week. I always check the tidal chart before going for a swim, because it's much better with high tide, when clean water is coming in from the open sea. The low tide carries a lot of dirty water from the the river delta and ports to the area where I swim. Better to avoid that.
Today's high tide was more than a meter higher than usual, flooding the boardwalk which is normally high and dry above the waterline. The preceding low tide last night was also lower than usual, giving good opportunities for clam diggers and other entrepreneurial types to find something valuable in the mud. The rocks which are completely submerged at high tide, were now fully exposed, the perfect time to harvest oysters clinging to their surface. Some locals even bring ladders to reach the upper parts of the large boulders, walking away with buckets full of seafood.
The low tide coincided with sunset, which made it a nice photo opportunity. One guy brought an elaborate analog camera rig fitted with an ultra-wide Schneider-Kreuznach lens, to take some razor sharp landscape shots, no doubt.

While I was looking out over the sea at high tide today, I spotted a small sea turtle. I was very surprised to see it, because I never saw one here before, and from the distance it looked more like a pet turtle lost at sea than a proper sea turtle. I have seen some large species in the wild in Malaysia while snorkeling there several years ago. This time the small (about 15 cm) creature was trying to navigate itself towards the boardwalk on which I was standing, while bouncing up and down on the waves, and I managed to capture a short movie of it.

Beach monks

Sometimes, while sitting on the beach, you see a monk passing by in his yellow or brown robes. I don't know if these monks are residing at the local Nanputuo monastery, or just visiting.
Today I went to the beach with a new female student friend, and we were greeted by a passing monk carrying a satchel around his shoulders, who stopped right in front of us, broadly smiling. He started off on a lecture about God knows what, in a beautifully articulated voice, although I did not understand a word of it. My friend explained later it was some kind of fortune telling story. He ended his speech by reaching into his satchel and offering a prayer card with an image of Buddha in 3D. I curiously accepted the offer, not realizing that now it was my turn to offer a small donation. I actually did not want to give him money, so I took out a branch of  longyans (龙眼), which I had bought while leaving the campus, across the road from the beach. The monk accepted the fruits, but looked slightly disappointed. After another series of greetings, he walked away.
Longyans are delicious now, juicy and sweet, at the peak of their season. You can find them hanging from the trees in my village, or buy them from fruit vendors everywhere in town. They are similar to lychees, but slightly smaller, and with a yellow skin, instead of red.

My first class

Time to take out the textbooks again. Today was the fist class of the autumn semester. Since Friday, when I met my teachers and classmates, my class has grown considerably, with some more Koreans added, three French girls, two Germans, an Irishman, another Thai, and an overseas Chinese from unknown whereabouts. We now have 26 people in our class. Quite a lot, and exactly the same number as last year in Nanning at the start of the semester. But a few weeks later the number of students had dropped to under 20, and I expect some movement here too. Students are free to attend other classes during the first week, and decide if they want to switch to another level or not. I'm quite OK with this level, going up would be far too challenging, and going back to the basics unnecessary.
We started with the second book, which we had already finished in Nanning, but it's good to rehearse it, because a lot of the knowledge has evaporated. The teaching style is snappy and interactive, giving a lot of opportunity for oral exercise. Now I can feel how much my oral skills have improved, and my reading and writing skills have degenerated during the second semester when I did not take classes in Nanning, but instead lived more among the local people.

Butterfly garden

This weekend is Mid-Autumn festival, which draws some extra tourists to the coast of Xiamen island. There are fireworks, and every night a performance of Chinese folk opera in a small open-air theater right next to the beach. On my daily stroll along the boardwalk, I met a girl from Guangzhou who was in Xiamen to attend a conference, and tacked on the holiday weekend as a gift to herself.
As it happens, we spent most of the weekend together, sharing meals and going for walks, swimming and drinking tea. We also went to the nearby Taiwan Folk Village, which includes a butterfly garden. I don't understand what the reference to Taiwan was all about, because it didn't see anything related to Taiwan at all. Walking among thousands of butterflies darting about in the humid air was nice though.

Meeting my teachers and classmates

The results of the entrance exam were posted this afternoon, and everybody was trying to find their name on one of the many lists. Quite a hectic affair with 300 new students. On the website of the Overseas Education College everyone has their own profile page, but the class schedule was not yet updated there.
I found my name on the list of class 8, among many different nationalities. We went to room 305 to meet our teachers, Wang Li Yuan and Liu Yan. Two young women still in their early twenties. My classmates are mostly Asian: Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Thai, and Indonesian, but also a Russian, Armenian, Estonian, Israeli, and me as the only Western-European. To my surprise (and relief) no Americans and no other Dutch in my class.
We all did a short introduction of ourselves in Chinese, which gave a nice indication of the varied levels, even within this class, which was already put together based on the entrance exam result. I expect there will be some movement between classes after the first week, when it becomes more clear if the class level is the best fit for each student. For me, it will partly be a rehearsal of last year, since we will start with the second book, which I already finished. But since I forgot most of it, it won't do any harm to redo it.
My class schedule is very relaxed. I only have classes in the afternoon, from 13:00 to 14:30, and from 14:40 to 16:10, five days a week. So I don't have to get up early and have the mornings free to either sleep in, go swimming or do homework ;-)
I took my Israeli classmate (Lulu) to my village to direct her to some real-estate agents. She tries to find a place to live here, but didn't find anything suitable at her first round through the village. Most of the foreign students are either living on campus (many of the Asians who have a scholarship), or in one of the highrise buildings opposite the West gate, paying up to 2000 RMB for a single room.
I count myself lucky in Zeng Cuo An.

Entrance exam

This morning was the entrance exam, but before this, the opening ceremony. Not much of a ceremony, really. Just a short series of speeches (most in Chinese), and a talk by a female police officer from the Public Security Bureau, the same who accepted my residence permit application on Monday. The whole affair was very similar to the opening ceremony last year at Guangxi Daxue, and equally boring.
After this formality, the oral part of the entrance exam took place at the 3rd floor of the same building, which will also be our teaching building. Each of the 300 or so new students present were given a short oral exam, one by one, in six classrooms simultaneously. The exam consisted of reading a paragraph (in Chinese of course), and then answering some questions, interview style. The teacher first asked me how long I had been studying Chinese, and then selected the appropriate paragraph for reading. I was given paragraph number 2, out of 14. The text was not too hard, although there were a few words I didn't know. My score was 70%/70%/80%, for the categories reading, comprehension, and speaking.
Then up a floor for the written part of the exam. This was much harder, and of the 60 multiple-choice questions, I only felt comfortable with the first 10 or so. I could not even finish it in the time given. It's amazing how much you can forget in a few months, although I have to admit I hardly studied since the end of my first semester in January.
I had lunch with some Thai students, all from Bangkok, but they met here. A nice bunch. There are quite a few Thai, and also a lot of Korean and Russian students. Other nationalities include American (less than expected), German, French, Japanese, Indonesian, and Dutch (more than expected), among others.
In the afternoon we had a campus tour, led by a very cute female teacher ("you can call me Ju Ju"). She is a master's student (like Li Yong Mei, my cutest teacher at Guangxi University), and speaks English very well (unlike Li Yong Mei).
Friday afternoon the test scores and class allocations will be posted in the lobby. I expect to be just one level above absolute beginner, which suits me fine.

Registration day

Today (and tomorrow) is registration day at the Overseas Education College of Xiamen University. I had set my alarm to make sure I would be there on time, and after getting up and a 15 minute bike ride I arrived at the registration office, well before 9 o'clock. I already knew where it was from my previous visit, so I didn't have to waste time finding it. There were already quite a few people at the office, but the whole situation seemed less chaotic than last year at Guangxi University.
A friendly young woman greeted me in English, and gave me a checklist of 8 tasks to complete (in English and Chinese). Last year I received a similar checklist at Guangxi University, but it was written only in Chinese and Vietnamese, so not very helpful to the Western students.
I had paid the tuition fee and registration fee already at the bank (the ICBC branch near my home), as advised at my previous visit in July. In order to collect the cash to deposit into the university's account, I had to visit the ATM several times on consecutive days last week, using two different cards, since the daily limit is only 2,500 RMB, and I needed 16,400 RMB in total.
After all tasks were completed, I could go to the Public Security Bureau with all my signed and stamped documents and photocopies, to apply for a new residence permit. There was only one slight hiccup: the passport photo I brought was not accepted, because it was too small. I was sent outside to make new ones across the street. After that, my application was accepted, and I can pick up my passport with a new permit next week, valid until August 31st, 2012.
Now I have to prepare for the entrance exam on Wednesday, which will determine the class that I will join. Hopefully I don't have to start all over again. Classes will start next week Tuesday the 13th.

My new quarters in Zeng Cuo An

Things can move fast in China. Within 24 hours of my arrival in Xiamen, and being kicked out of my apartment, I was already moving into my new place. Yesterday afternoon it was decided that I would move here. It's actually a nice room, spacious and quiet. I live on top of a family of three, with a 19 year old daughter who speaks a little English. I have a neighbour on the second floor, but I haven't seen him yet. It's a Chinese man, that's all I know. Our rooms are separated by an open corridor, used for hanging laundry, so I don't expect too much noise. The two rooms upstairs are reached by a steel staircase attached to the outside of the house, so I have my own entrance, without having to go through my landlord's house, like at my previous location.
The view is not as great as before, but at least there is some open space behind one window, and a big tree behind the other, so not too bad. I have seen much worse. The building density in the village is very high, so most windows just face another building at just a few meters distance. The only thing that changed in my address is the number, since the whole network of streets and alleys in the village count as one street, as far as the postal service is concerned.
I don't have my private internet connection yet, but I am using the family's WiFi, with their permission, of course. It's actually pretty fast. However, I do hope my private line will be moved, since I payed for a whole year when I got connected last July.

How I lost my penthouse

My direct flight to Xiamen left 10 minutes late, but arrived well ahead of schedule at 9:45 this morning. A smooth 10 hours plus 45 minutes of flight. I did not even open my book. A movie (Limitless), an episode of The Big Bang Theory and two documentaries (about Django Reinhardt, and about the incarnation of Lou Reed's Transformer album) made me sleepy enough. The experience was enhanced by an unusually attentive stewardess. In my experience, KLM crew was always bitchy and unattractive, so this was a welcome change.
Upon arrival it was raining, which was not totally unexpected since we are in the middle of the rainy season. I found my way to the bus stop, which is a bit far from the airport due to ongoing construction, and arrived in Zeng Cuo An well before noon.
I was welcomed by my landlord and his family. They had to talk to me. Already slightly alarmed, the true scale of the impeding doom was yet to come. Both daughters were also present, and with their help the story came out. In my absence they had decided to rent out the entire house, including my top floor, to some entrepreneur who was going to turn it into a hotel. Right, a hotel! They kicked me out, in short.
I couldn't believe it, but they were already packing up their stuff and moving the whole family to a 3-bedroom apartment they had rented in a new block nearby.. It was clearly an irreversible deal. In a civilized country this would not happen of course, but in China a signed contract is not worth more than good intentions. They had tried to contact me, they said, but of course that didn't work, since I had swapped my SIM card upon arrival in The Netherlands. In any case, it would not have made a difference.
On a positive side, they will refund me all the rent already paid since I moved in, and help me find another place to live. I needed some time to let it all sink in, but agreed to go out and take a look at some rooms in the village, guided by the youngest daughter. What else could I do? For a moment I thought about leaving Zeng Cuo An altogether and move to a highrise near the university. I knew what kind of apartment I would end up living in, and paying the premium price for it. Going rate for a single-room apartment without kitchen started at 1600 RMB per month, the same as I was paying here for the whole floor. At this time, with the semester about to begin, there would be not much left anyway.
So, I decided to go ahead and check out the offerings in the village. There was actually quite some choice, but nothing came close to what I really wanted, and had, until now. My landlord is not the only one who decided to turn his house into a hotel. The whole village is under renovations for this purpose. The best offer by far was a rather large room, with a huge bed, on top of a simple single-storey house. There were two of these additions (one already occupied), constructed in more or less the same style as my penthouse (sob). It's a little more to the back of the village, and thus very quiet, but not with the grand view I had, since it's only on the second floor. Still, it has two windows at different directions, looking out over some open space and a small garden. The big omission of course is the shared space with the large windows which I fell in love with here. The room was offered to me for 800 RMB a month. I pondered it a bit, but then decided to take it, since I have not much choice anyway, and I probably won't find a better room for less than at least double that price.
So, in the end I will save some money, but have to abandon my plans for starting an artist residency in Zeng Cuo An. While I was in Amsterdam, I already took this plan out into the world, by talking to transartists and posting it on their website. The talk I had there was very encouraging, and several people from different corners of the world had already showed interest just from posting a short announcement. Now I have to tell them it won't happen. Very sad. It was such a great new adventure!

Back to Xiamen

It's already time to return to Xiamen, those 4 weeks went by very quickly. I was lucky enough to enjoy a nice and sunny last afternoon in Amsterdam, before packing up and stuffing my bags with some Dutch goodies, like stroopwafels, drop, and chocolate.
At the airport I met three Dutch boys who where also going to study Chinese in Xiamen. Same as me. Two of them were doing an exchange program hosted by the University of Utrecht, which is sending a total of 8 students to Xiamen this year. I have the feeling my class will be full of Dutchies!

Home sweet home

Today I moved back into my own house again. My tenants left this morning for Paris. The have kept my place in impeccable state. I could not have dreamt of better tenants. They also bought new curtains for the bedroom, fixed a leaking toilet, and added a whole array of mugs, glasses, and other utensils to my kitchen inventory.
It's lovely to be back home. I almost forgot how nice it is here. It made me hesitate for a moment to go back to China at all!
I need to find new tenants soon. The coming few days several people will come to look at my place. While I was in Menorca I placed an ad on a independent expat service website, which generated a lot of responses, and the real-estate agent who I hired last year is also in the game again. They already brought two prospective tenants here during the past week.
Time is moving fast, it's only 10 days before I take off again!

Menorca

Menorca is still a little gem of an island in the Mediterranean, despite tourism and an invasion of permanent foreign residents. It's a hangout for rich Spaniards with big yachts, and mostly British and German sun seekers. The capital Mahon is a small and quiet old town overlooking a beautiful natural harbour.
I have been to Menorca numerous times since I was 12 years old, so I know almost every corner of it. It didn't change much since I was there two and half years ago, just got a little bit more tidy and luxurious. A new generation is slowly taking over. Lots of old and crumbling houses are for sale, and new trendy bars and restaurants are popping up after renovations. The sizes of the yachts in the harbour are getting bigger each time I visit.
Restaurants change owner and scale up a notch. We went to a nice place overlooking the port of nearby Es Castell, where they served an excellent 4-course menu with nice appetizers and a leg of lamb from the oven, followed by home-made mojito icecream, including a nice bottle of red wine (from the Navarra region) and coffee, for just € 18,50 a head. A steal in this area, and with a view to die for. We had to walk home because we missed the last bus, but that helped in digesting.
I also found a pair of handsome flip-flops (Reef), with a foot bed made of woven reeds, and leather straps. Heavily discounted, and thus affordable. I was in dire need of a new pair since the ones I bought last year in China had almost fallen apart. Shopping in Spain proved to be quite successful!

Barcelona

I spent half a day in Barcelona on the way to Menorca, where my mother lives. It's good be be back here. Barcelona has great snack food, and good shopping too. I spent some time in the narrow streets and alleys of El Raval, and found some cheap and funky clothes. Then to the MACBA (Museum of Contemporary Art) to soak up some culture, much needed after spending almost a year in the cultural wasteland which is Nanning.

Say cheese!

The corner stones of Dutch food culture: bread and cheese.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam welcomed me with a cold drizzle, but the next day the sun came out, and it was quite pleasant. It was a bit of a shock to be immersed again in this frenzy of individual style, after having been living in a homogenous Chinese society for almost a year, but I soon felt at home again.
I visited my apartment to pick up my bicycle, which after a year of being parked outside still rides like a train, much smoother than my old Chinese bike! I only had to inflate the tires a bit.
My apartment looked super nice. My tenants have kept it well, and even invested in new dark blue curtains for the bedroom, which they found too bright. They will stay until the 20th. I am staying at a friend's place for the time being, but will also spend a week in Spain to visit my mother.
The past few days I've met already a lot of my friends, and went to Friesland on Saturday for a barbecue party with some old boys from my years at the Delft University of Technology, at a lovely house with a lot of land and water around it. The weather is a bit cooler than I expected, at about 20 degrees, with occasional rain showers, but it has been much worse lately, so I consider myself lucky.

Xiamen to Amsterdam

As usual I didn't start packing until the last hour before I had to leave, so I was quite stressed about forgetting important stuff, but I think I got everything. Right now I'm at Vienna airport, waiting for the last leg of this long trip home.
I booked my ticket to Beijing last year with Austrian Airlines, so there is a stop-over in Vienna. Last night I flew from Xiamen to Beijing, where I slept at the airport, with many other travelers.
In Xiamen it was the first time I visited the airport, and it took me a while to find the right bus. I didn't want to waste my money on a 20 km taxi ride, so used local public transport, 1 RMB a ride. I needed 2 rides to get there though, and the connection was a bit fuzzy. It took me 15 minutes to find the bus stop for the second leg. But I arrived in time, and at least did not have to wait long before boarding.
Xiamen airport is small and efficient. On the way to the gate I passed a bookshop where I picked up a copy of Keith Richards' recently published memoirs: Life. Brilliant! Nostalgic and hilarious, with a lot of detail and interesting facts and observations.
Upon arrival in Beijing just before midnight, I found a noodle shop which was still open, and after that settled on a hard wooden bench. Not very comfortable, but I managed to get some sleep before checking in at 6 am the next morning for my flight to Vienna/Amsterdam. The flight from Beijing to Vienna was a breeze, mainly thanks to my entertaining reading material. Austrian Airlines served no less than 3 meals on this 10 hour flight, and I realized it was the first time in a year I ate bread. Apart from that, the food was rather uninspiring. Looking forward to some good old European home cooking!

Going home

This evening I will fly to Beijing to catch my return flight to Amsterdam early tomorrow morning. I will spend the night at the airport. In the future this won't be necessary anymore, since there are now direct flights from Xiamen to Amsterdam. Xiamen is actually the 4th largest international airport in China, measured in number of international passengers. Quite a feat, with only one runway.
I just had my last swim this afternoon, and after finishing packing, I will go for a last snack of seafood, and say goodbye to Zeng Cuo An for a little while.
See you in Amsterdam!

Online shopping

Online shopping in China is big business. At sites like taobao.com and 360buy.com you can buy almost anything online. However, those sites don't except foreign credit cards or PayPal, so shopping there is almost impossible for non-Chinese, even if you can read the website. While living in Nanning I ordered some books at amazon.cn, which was as easy as back home. Now I used the same website to buy a new phone, and that was a bit more complicated.
The books I ordered through amazon.cn were prepaid with my VISA credit card, but since my bank cancelled my card for a stupid reason, I could not use it anymore. Luckily, amazon also offers a COD payment option, so I could just order the phone, and they ship it without any payment. You pay the delivery man once the product arrives at your doorstep. Convenient, except... you never know when it arrives.
After ordering my phone (which is the cheapest Android 2.2 smartphone I could find, at 699 RMB), I received a confirmation email with a scheduled delivery date of July 29th, which was just one day after ordering. Fast!
However, nothing arrived on July 29th.
Like most online retailers, Amazon uses an external courier service for deliveries, in this case Feiyuan, which provides a tracking service on their website. The tracking info told me in detail where my package had been (originating in Fuzhou, it had traveled to Xiamen, and was in the hands of a delivery man named Lin Kai Ming since July 29th). I expected mr. Lin at my door any minute now, or at least a call or email to notify me of the imminent arrival of my order. Because there was no such notification, I asked Xiao An to call the info hotline mentioned in my order confirmation email. She got the reply that the delivery company was very busy, but my package would arrive soon, probably by the next day. The next day nothing happened, and also on Sunday no news. In China weekends don't exist, so that was no excuse.
This morning Xiao An left. I brought her to the bus station and after that returned home quickly to await the arrival of my new phone. At about 3 in the afternoon I got a call, but I did not understand what the pretty voice on the other side was saying, except that is was about my order. I asked her to call me back in 5 minutes and rushed out to the hostel across the street where the helpful staff would surely help me, and they did.
One of the boys answered the call (she did indeed call again, so my Chinese isn't half that bad) and it turned out it was Amazon inquiring if my phone had arrived. It had not.
My friend asked for another phone number of the courier company, and got 4. However, all of them responded with a prerecorded message asking you to hold on, while playing annoying music. Then he got really resourceful and used Baidu (Google's big brother in China) to find the number of the delivery man himself. He found the number of a colleague of our delivery man on a forum where people were complaining about Feiyuan, and called him. The colleague was so friendly to give the mobile number of our man (remember, we had his name), and seconds later we were on the phone with the man who had my phone in his possesion. He was indeed very busy making deliveries, and did not have my package in his car (or rather: electric bicycle, as I later found out), but he suggested a simple solution: I could pick up the parcel myself! He would meet me at the bus stop at Xiada University this evening.
So, this was how I got my phone. I had to go pick it up at night by meeting a stranger at a bus stop, handing him the cash, and collect the merchandise. It was almost like a drug deal. After I waited for half an hour at the said bus stop, he found me, still wearing his uniform. All information on the package label seemed alright, so I handed him the money upon which he produced a pocket knife to slice open the box. Everything seemed in order, the invoice and receipt of payment in the box, so I happily took my new phone home. More on that later, once I figure it out.

Bye bye, Xiao An

Xiao An was supposed to leave tomorrow, the same day as I am flying out to Amsterdam, but could not get a train ticket anymore, at least not a bed, only seats were still available. To spend 28 hours in a seat would be cruel, so we went to the bus station last Saturday to buy a ticket. We had come by bus as well, so it was a natural choice. The train takes (much) longer, but is still more comfortable, with a nice bed, and the ability to walk a bit, go to the toilet, etc. That's why the train was the first choice of transport to return to Nanning. The schedule from Xiamen to Nanning is good too, departing in the afternoon, and arriving in the early evening of the next day. Much beter than from Nanning to Xiamen, which departs at 5:15 am. That's why we had come to Xiamen by bus (at the time of booking unaware of the ungodly arrival time of 4:30 am).
At the bus station they told us that tomorrow there would be no bus to Nanning, so we bought a ticket for today. The bus left at 9:30 this morning, and Xiao An should arrive around 1 o'clock tonight. Quite late, but better than 4:30. She would have to take a taxi to get home, and wake her parents, but that should be fine.
We didn't make a big fuss of our goodbye. After 7 months of spending time together on a almost daily basis, and the past 3 weeks for practically 24 hours a day, we got to know each other quite well, and don't need to make a scene. We had a great time together, and only time will tell if we will meet again or not.

Zeng Cuo An

It's about time to write a bit about my new neighbourhood. I live in the village Zeng Cuo An, on the south coast of Xiamen island, about 3 km East of Xiamen University. The village is very small, only about 400m across. It's a dense network of narrow streets, packed with low-rise buildings, at most 4 storeys high. The village still has some traditional Chinese countryside farmhouses, but most of the buildup is much more recent, in the typical bathroom-tiled style you see everywhere in China. Many houses have been altered or extended, with an extra floor added, as in my building, or new rooms build in what was once a courtyard.



The reason for all this buildup is tourism. Zeng Cuo An is right next to the beach, and its residents can make good money by renting out rooms in the summer and during the Spring festival. Almost every house in the village doubles as a hostel in the high season. This time of year the village is flooded with mostly young couples who flock to Zeng Cuo An for its small-scale charm and sandy beaches. There is no large scale tourism here, the atmosphere is very casual and low-key.
The beach at Zeng Cuo An is part of a string of beaches starting at Xiamen University (aptly named Xiada beach), and continuing eastward for about 10km, once in a while interrupted by outcrops of rock. However, the lovely boardwalk built along the coast is uninterrupted, supported by steel poles embedded in the rocks where necessary, floating over the waterline, and offering a continuous path for endless strolls. The beach almost completely disappears at high tide, when the water rises up to 5 meters relative to low tide.

In the village itself, the locals mix easily with the ever changing population of young visitors, offering each other on one side an affordable vacation in an uncomplicated setting, and on the other side a welcome economic opportunity. Some local entrepreneurs came up with interesting concepts, such as Sunny Icecream, which doubles as an Absinth bar offering a fine selection of French, Spanish, Swiss, and Czech brands, and also sells ukeleles. Not surprisingly, it's a popular meeting place for local artists and musicians.
Zeng Cuo An is home to several art studios and galleries, mostly sculpture, but also painters and musicians live here. The Dreamer House has frequent performances of international bands, and the Temple Cafe organizes full moon beach parties. It is a restaurant inside a traditional Chinese temple, serving Western food at Western prices. I prefer the small local eateries, where you can find a nice variety of seafood or simply a have bowl of noodles or a serving of dumplings.

I tried to find a map of the village, but all I could find was the map painted on my neighbour's wall. My house is located just to the left of the church (with the blue roof), but obscured by the lush vegetation.
The narrow streets and alleys of Zeng Cuo An are not shown on Google maps, neither on the official map of Xiamen which is on sale everywhere for 7 RMB. Here in the village you can buy a detailed tourist map of Gulanyu island, but a printed map of the village itself is nowhere to be found. Maybe I should draw a custom overlay on my annotated Google map of Xiamen, based on the satellite image. This is a bit difficult however, since the satellite image is mis-aligned with the street map. I don't know if this is a global issue with Google maps, but on my Nanning map it's the same thing. The satellite image is off by 500m relative to the street map, so any markers placed on one, are misplaced on the other. Rather annoying.

Wan Shi botanical garden

The Wan Shi (10 thousand rocks) botanical garden occupies a large part of the hills north of Xiamen University. We entered through the East gate on Wenping road, not far from Zeng Cuo An village. This part of the park is very quiet and without special attractions, other than a nicely winding stone path surrounded by hibiscus flowers going up the hill, with good views on Zeng Cuo An.
After a good hour of hiking, we reached the more developed part of the park where tourists swarm out in small groups. It was a hot day, and we already finished our bottles of water, so we needed some refreshments. Luckily we found a small shop selling cold drinks and snacks, but most of the buildings in this area were rather deserted.

Continuing towards the main attractions of the park, we passed a small temple amidst some giant boulders, and reached the lake near the main gate.

After a lunch of instant noodles with beer we headed for the cactus garden, but in order to reach it, we first had to cross a part of the park named the "Stele forest", which I initially interpreted as a misspelling of style forest, since I had never heard of the word stele, meaning 'a vertical stone slab with inscription'. But that's exactly what it was: most of the large boulders in this area are decorated with traditional Chinese calligraphy, carved out of the rock in bas-relief and painted red.
From the top of the hill, we could see the cactus garden spread out below. Supposedly the largest collection of cactuses in Asia, and indeed very impressive. There is an outdoor area with a sculpture group of camels in a desert-like setting, and several glass houses displaying the most diverse array of cactus species imaginable.

Xiamen noodles

Xiamen obviously has different local food than Nanning, including noodles. Rice noodles （米粉） are seen everywhere in Nanning, but here in Xiamen, wheat noodles （面） are more common.
One of the most simple dishes is Ban Mian （板面）, which is often nothing more than a small heap of thin flat wheat noodles drenched in a mild peanut sauce, with a pinch of chopped chives for decoration. It's cheap (3 RMB), but rather boring.

More interesting is Mian Xian Hu （面线糊）, pictured above, which uses thin wheat vermicelli (also known as Misua) in a clear broth. It is usually garnished with small cubes of congealed duck's blood, but sometimes enhanced by a choice of seafood, meat, or vegetables, according to taste. Each additional ingredient adds to the cost, so the price can go up to over 10 RMB per serving.
My favourite ingredients are shrimp, clams, squid, and seaweed. Quail eggs are also nice, and there is usually a good selection of meatier stuff, like pig's or duck liver, chicken hearts, fish balls, or shreds of chicken, beef or pork.
Another popular local noodle dish is Sha Cha Mian （沙茶面）, which are wheat noodles in a peanut-flavoured spicy soup, with additional ingredients added to taste, just like with Mian Xian Hu. You can find it everywhere in Xiamen.
Yet another style of noodles commonly found here is Suan La Fen （酸辣粉）, pictured below. Not a Fujian dish, but originally from Chongqing. The noodles are made of sweet potato, which creates transparent, rubbery thick round noodles, which are very elastic. Served in a spicy-sour beef broth, with lots of garlic, some green leafed veggies, and optionally a fried egg on top.

Got internet!

Today I got my home internet connection, yay!
The 15 year old boy who showed up around 3 in the afternoon to connect me was in a hurry, and not in a good mood. He did help me to get the wiring as I like it though (not through the window, but through an existing hole in the wall), but almost gave up when the connection between the ADSL modem placed in the shared space and a wall-mounted RJ-45 jack in my room failed. After some probing with a cable tester, he told me the internal cabling was my own responsibility, but then I noticed that the RJ-45 plug he had crimped to the modem end of the cable had misaligned contacts. He replaced it and all was fine. He left immediately without saying a further word.
Anyway, I now have a proper 2M internet connection, which hopefully stays connected for most of the time. In Nanning I had only one or two short interruptions during the past year, but looking at the outdoor telephone wiring here in the village makes you shiver. I keep my fingers crossed.

Authentic Shaxian style snacks

Zeng Cuo An village has a lot of small eateries, each with a good choice of local dishes. It's always a challenge to navigate the menu of these places, offering only a long list of Chinese text, without pictures to help you choose.
With the help of Xiao An, I annotated this photo of one such menu with the pinyin and English translation of every item. Hover over a the text to see the translation.

It would be nice (but a lot of work) to collect menus of all the restaurants in the village and annotate each of them in a similar way. Presented on a website, including links to photos of the actual dishes, would make a great directory of Zeng Cuo An snack food. I could even allow people to comment, or add a rating system per dish, thus creating a crowd sourced guide to Zeng Cuo An snacking.

Change of contract

Things can happen quickly. After I came home from a swim at high tide yesterday afternoon, my landlord came up accompanied by a young Chinese couple. They where interested in renting the other room. After my landlord showed them around, I spoke briefly to the girl, who speaks perfect English. They are both college graduates, and have jobs on Xiamen island, but not close to Zeng Cuo An village. However, they like the atmosphere here, and are looking for a place to live. I could imagine myself living on the same floor with these people, they seemed nice and well-mannered.
After they left (still undecided), my landlord told me he would build a wall in the shared space, dividing it in two, the better half (with high ceiling and windows) to be used by the couple exclusively, and the remaining part, which includes the stairwell and water connections to be shared.
I was left in disbelieve and anger. How could he take away most of that lovely big space, after I had signed a contract for a year? he might as well have removed the windows from my room. Unbelievable he would do that. I could not talk about it, because I needed the help of Xiao An for translation, and she was out.
Later that evening, we spoke to him. It turned out that the couple did not want to share any space. Fair enough, but then go find another place, I would say. But they negotiated a deal with my landlord to build that wall, and then they would have 2 rooms, and pay 1500 RMB per month. My contract for my room and use of the large shared space is set at 900 RMB per month. I would surely get a big discount if I would be deprived of that extra space. With the wall in place, their space would be twice as large as mine, so it would be fair to charge me half their rent, or 750 RMB. Still, I was very unhappy with this plan, my room suddenly became a lot less attractive.
After a lot of talking by Xiao An (again deserving huge credit!) we arrived at a new deal: I would rent the whole floor for 1600 RMB (as was also proposed when I first saw the room last week), and could find another tenant by myself, or just keep the whole floor to myself. They would not interfere anymore.
Well, that was a good deal after all. We sat down and wrote a new contract. I would pay the extra rent and deposit as soon as possible. The couple will not be very happy when they hear about this, since they already had payed a 1500 RMB deposit, but had not signed anything. Of course the landlord will reimburse them, and probably has to offer an extra amount for compensation.
After the initial shock, I now feel quite pleased with the situation, and happy that my landlord did not push it through for the sake of more money. By abandoning the deal with the couple, he misses out on 650 RMB per month extra income each month. Thankfully, fairness prevails over greed.

After it all sank in, I felt hugely relieved that I now have complete control over the whole floor. I could find a new tenant, possibly a classmate, which would halve my monthly expenses on rent, internet access, and other shared cost, like buying a fridge and washer. On the other hand, I have the option of keeping the floor to myself, and use it for other purposes. I already imagined a wild idea: to start a small artist residency here in Zeng Cuo An, which is already a place favoured by arty folks. I could invite artists from Holland or elsewhere to stay for a month or more (at their own expense, of course).
I could use my dormant nonbreakingspace foundation, registered in Amsterdam, to organize this. Setup a website, create some buzz, etc. I already came up a nice sounding Chinese name: 老马艺家 (Lao Ma Yi Jia). Haha!