Saturday, November 8: This was a weird weekend, or rather a non-weekend, as, for the third time since I arrived in China, the university required us to work on a Sunday. For our midterm exams, the administration decided to test out a new computerized British Council test on Vocabulary, Reading and Listening, for which a lot of computer labs were needed. We had to give the exams on Sunday, as the computer labs were booked during the weekdays. That’s the story anyway.
Wu li ting market
As you can imagine, I wasn’t one bit happy about this. The thing that made it a double blow was that classes were cancelled on Friday and Saturday due to Sports Day, meaning that if we hadn’t had to invigilate for the exams, we could have had a three-day weekend, and I could have possibly traveled somewhere.
Wu li ting market
oranges
There were two bits of saving grace: one, it rained all weekend and I would have probably had a miserable journey if I had gone away; and two, we were told we get to take off the 19th, 20th and 21st, meaning we’ll have a five-day weekend after midterms. Assuming nothing happens to upset these plans, I’ve booked a room in Ping an at the Longji Rice Terraces, also known as the “Dragon’s Spine,” north of Guilin.
Pomelos and apples
a dark and dreary day
Of course I have a list of things to do and see in Nanning itself, so I ventured out Friday to the Guangxi Museum of Nationalities. Today I went to Wu li ting Market, not too far a walk from the main gate of the University. The students from my English Interest Course had told me about this market, which, as they mentioned, is bigger than the market on campus, but not hugely so. Though the rain slacked off today, it was still overcast and cool, and the light seemed uncooperative for pictures. I did capture the essence of the market, I think, and I found the vendors friendly and gracious.
Grapes and lady in red
jujube and vendor
I’m not sure what these are: melon and durian perhaps?
pomelo and dragon fruit
relishes
the vegetable lady
greenery at its finest
arrangement
bed of eggplants
vegetable city
On my way back from the market, the construction for the new underground railway, which won’t open until well after I’ve left China, was as jarring as always. This sight is always a striking contrast to the leafy pond-dotted campus of Guangxi University.
Construction for the new underground railway
work in progress
towers of steel
We have our Writing midterm on Monday morning, at which time I will have to mark 71 papers with two essays each, a total of 142 essays. I dread this. In addition to marking those papers, we’re to continue teaching classes following our normal schedules. I hope to come out from my solitary marking confinement sometime before next weekend, when hopefully the rain will stop and the air will glow with ribbons of sunlight.
china diaries 
Fun with fruit, Cathy! 🙂 And Ping! What a great place name 🙂
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Yes, it was an okay market, Jo, but not one of the best I’ve been to. I’ll have to try some of these fruits while i’m here. Oh the place is PING AN. It is quite a cute name. 🙂 Have a happy Monday walk. 🙂
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Do you buy some of those unknowns just to try them? The problem would be figuring out how to fix them, I guess. I’d need a recipe book or classes, probably.
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Carol, so far I’ve tried dragon fruit, pomelos (my new favorite), jujube, green oranges and Asian pears. I still need to try the durian. I honestly don’t know what half of the stuff in the market is!! I need a class for sure. 🙂
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Yes, that’s durian!
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I thought so, Gilly. Dare I try it? 🙂
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Smells disgusting and although the taste isn’t horrid, I didn’t like the texture – a bit too slimy for me. Maybe you could ask for a taster from a stallholder?
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I’ll definitely work up the courage to try one before I leave here, Jude, I promise!! Ha! 🙂
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Hold your nose!
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Such a great variety of fruit, Cathy. You should be very healthy if you try it all. 🙂 Good luck with the marking. That’s an awful lot of essays to wade through. I hope they’re interesting. xx
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I wish I was more of a fruit lover, Sylvia, and I know my sons wish I were too, but for some reason, I am never drawn to it. I love vegetables and cheese, and salty things, but I’m not a big fan of sweets, even when they’re natural sweets from fruits. That being said, I have tried the pomelo and I’m becoming addicted to that.
As of today, I’ve finished 55 of my 71 papers (two essays on each paper). I’ve been hunkering down and focusing on knocking them out. At least I get to look forward to a break to at the Longji Rice Terraces once all my grades are in next Tuesday. 🙂
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I think Pomelo is a lot like grapefruit. I’m sure the vitamin C does you a lot of good. Well done with the marking. You’re winning the battle. 🙂
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I like the Pomelo, Sylvia, but it is rather hard to eat. I need to figure out the secret of eating it because I actually like it quite a bit.
Finally, all my marking is done and I’ve turned in my exams and marks. I can breathe again, thank goodness! I’m off to the rice terraces tomorrow. Can’t wait!!! 🙂
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I found this video on how to peel a Pomelo. It looks quite time consuming, but not too messy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4K2P-fO2eM
Enjoy your free time tomorrow. 🙂
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That video was exactly my experience, Sylvia. It’s a real pain and very time consuming, but pomelos really are delicious when you finally get down to the pulp!! I’m glad you sent this so I can see that I was doing okay just figuring it out on my own. However, I was hoping your video would show me an easier way!! 🙂
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What an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables. Your marking sounds like my world at the moment – 31 children x 8 subject areas to report on = many hours of work. It’s less than five weeks till our 6 weeks of summer holidays so that’s something to look forward to.
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Oh dear, Carol, I’m sorry you’re under the gun too. I guess we as teachers shouldn’t complain too much because after all, we do get more time off than people in other professions. We really do have to work for that time off, don’t we?
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By the time I add up the mega-hours spent on these reports my extra time off is more than made up for. I think people who don’t know a teacher don’t really understand the extra work we do. Lucky I like my job.
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You are so right about that, Carol. I don’t know if we’re compensated nearly enough for the work we do as teachers. I don’t mind my job, but it isn’t my dream job. I do it mainly for the travel. That being said, my Chinese students are my favorites so far of all the nationalities I’ve taught. 🙂
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I’m happy enough doing my job…and let’s face it. It pays for the next holiday!
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That’s for sure, Carol. That’s the payoff. 🙂
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When we travel one of our stops in each destination is the local market. They’re always fun and are a great way to learn about the local culture; what they eat, drink, and what they buy to meet their daily needs. Your photos of the vendors are a good addition to the veggie and fruit shots. Nice post Cathy. ~James
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Thanks so much, James. I too love to explore markets when I travel. On this day, I was disappointed by the lighting, which made the photos quite disappointing. I need to get better with photography to deal with these poor light situations.
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The market is full of such wonderful colour – so much more vibrant than our fruit/veg markets here. I recognised the durian before I read your caption – I am told that you should ignore the smell and eat it, but I never did manage to pluck up the courage when I saw (and smelled) them in Malaysia and Thailand.
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I’ve still never managed to get up enough courage to try the durian, Elaine. Maybe I’ll make it a goal to try it at least once while I’m here. 🙂
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The fruit and veg in this market look wonderful Cathy – so fresh and colourful. I’d stay away from the Durian though 😉
Are you eating lots of healthy stir-fry veg dishes then? If so you must becoming very streamlined 🙂
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I eat a lot of healthy stir fry vegetable dishes here, Jude. I also am a fan of the quail eggs and dumplings. 🙂
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All sounds delicious 🙂
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