Learning how to make jiaozi with Ma Jing's mother.
Kitty learns how to make the dough.
Rolling out jiaozi dough.
Grandmother Jing shows Kitty how to shape the jiaozi.
Making jiaozi!
I'm a messy jiaozi maker -- flour on the eyebrow!
Ma Jing's ma admires our handiwork. Our handiwork was pretty dismal compared to hers, but she kept saying "Keyi! Keyi!" to everyone we made.
Folding little jiaozi.
Stuffing little jiaozi.
We are a jiaozi factory.
Making little noodles.
Slicing little noodles.
Taking notes so I can attempt to replicate this at home.
Check out our jiaozi!
These were the best jiaozi I had ever had. SO GOOD.
Kitty and a jiaozi.
Ma Jing and Kitty surrounded by amazing food.
A satisfying meal.
Kitty and I with our dinner.
Notice how Ma Jing looks like an exact morph of her parents?
Bowling! Who knew Xi'an had a bowling alley? With cast-off American machines and everything.
Kitty preparing to throw.
Kitty, Ali, and a hot pink bowling ball.
Kitty and her awesome Lindsay Lohan shirt.
Acting goofy at the bowling alley.
Washed out Lily.
A rainbow of bowling balls to choose from.
Kitty, Lily, and Ali.
A big poster of instructions we found downtown.
Back at the Back Nook Bar.
Something funny.
Lily playing Jack Daniels Jenga by candlelight.
Jenga!
Ali carefully makes a move.
Lily and the tower.
Me and the tower, peace from Ali.
Ali choking on cheesecake?
Wink wink.
Planes on the NPU campus.
Planes! This is what we get for teaching at a school known for its aeronautics program.
Part of an old airplane. I wish I could get inside.
Lily and the fountain in front of her lab.
Fall leaves.
Me and fall.
Words of wisdom, brought to you by NPU.
Jens often attacks Sarah like this; I don't know why. Sarah is holding sugarcane, by the way. A sweet treat!
Chowing down on sugar cane.
Jens tries the sugar cane.
A map of the park.
At the park.
Lily has popcorn, Ali has shuibi (Sprite), and it is a fine afternoon at the park.
Help! I'm trapped in a giant bubble!
Inflating my bubble.
Ali waits for his turn.
Ali's turn!
All ready to roll onto the lake.
We are like giant hamsters.
Trying to stand up. It isn't easy.
Falling over again.
Splat!
Running in my hamster ball.
It was nice just to lay down on the lake. It got hot in there.
Standing up...
... and falling again.
Let me out!
Relaxing on the lake. We only paid for five minutes, but they kept us in there forever because two foreigners in hamster balls were attracting a big crowd.
Lily feeds the fish.
Lily feeds the fishies.
Ali and Lily try the bumper boats!
Bumper boats framing bumper boats.
Musicians in the park. I want one of those organ things.
Ali and a chariot rider outside a bathhouse.
Some kind of Taiwanese food, which turned out to be not as good as we had hoped.
Kitty challenges Jens to a game of ping pong.
Sarah prepares for another round of ping pong.
Really beautiful woodcuts at the shop of Professor Ding Ji Tang in the Muslim Quarter downtown.
The Bell Tower at night.
A Mrs. Claus sighting.
Jens and Sarah wait for honey biscuits.
A street scene.
Jens is excited for the honey biscuits.
Down on the left you can see some people around a small fire. Everyone was lighting fires in the street this night to honor their ancestors and deceased family members, burning paper money and clothes for them.
Lily unwraps some baijiu.
Ali admires our delicious pork.
If only the baijiu tasted as nice as it looks.
Passing out the baijiu thimbles.
Ashes from all the ancestor fires.
Sour noodles!
A view of Changsha, in Hunan province, where Kitty and I went for the China Teacher's Consortium conference.
Windmills of light in Changsha.
All of the Whitman in China teachers reunited in Changsha: Elinor, Kitty, David, me, Katie, and Annelise.
Ali and Kitty await our Thanksgiving duck, being carved in the background.
Sarah, Ali, Kitty, and our non-traditional Thanksgiving feast.
A classic Jens face.
Me and Lily.
Misa and Pat share a goofy moment.
Pat presents: Misa!
Ali wore his kilt, to make it a really traditional Thanksgiving.
