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It is actually already Wed. April 27th here in China because we are 15 hours ahead of British Columbia Pacific Daylight savings time.  I am  happy to report that the peach blossom painting I have been labouring over in acrylics this past week is finally done and I can move on to something new.  The work was inspired by my trip to the local countryside for the peach festival the second week I was here.  It is 18x24 inches large and done in acrylics on canvas.  The pink colours of the actual piece are a little warmer and richer.  I will be removing the canvas from the frame tomorrow so I can put on a new canvas and then I can start a new painting, hopefully en plein air in the People's Park.  However, I think that I will just enjoy it for the night.  Hope the Canucks won the hockey game!

 
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In September 2010 hubby Rob and I visited Hongcun Village, an ancient town near the Huashan or Yellow mountains of China, designated World Heritage site in 2000.  There were many art students painting around this lovely village.  This winter I even painted a lotus blossom from the pond there  in watercolour.  What amazed me though was the fabulous black canvas painting bags many of the artists carried. 

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Plein Air Painters BackPack Bag
They have room to stow water containers, folding stool, easel, canvas and painting materials.  They have straps for carrying the bag on your back.  They looked great for plein air artists and I have never seen these bags anywhere in Canada.  We tried to find one in the village but there was no proper art supply store there.  I have been google searching for a similar bag for the last six months to no avail. 

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The bag has backpack straps
Lucky for me, my dear Chengdu friend Prof. Tommy Wu searched the Chinese websites (apparently everyone in China purchases stuff online--even clothing).  He found a similar light weight bag and ordered it for me.   Tommy presented me with my plein air painting bag when we visited him on Sunday.  On Monday I tested it and to my delight it fits up to an 18"x24" canvas and that is the largest size that I have brought on this trip and a pretty large nice size to do en plein air!  Can't wait to get out and use it!  Thank you Tommy!

 
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Yesterday we were invited to Tommy and Tina's to make Jiaozi.  They are absolutely delicious.  We learned that the Chinese like to get together with family and friends to cook a wonderful shared meal.   The labour intensity of patiently creating each little dumpling is perfect for an afternoon of visiting. 

Before we arrived Tina and Tommy prepared the flour dough and filling.  Knowing that we are vegetarians they prepared a special one for us made of  corn, mushrooms, onions, and greens.  When we arrived Tina prepared the little pieces of dough and brought the fillings out. And we all pitched in stuffing and pinching shut the little packets.  Tommy had the most beautiful method of  creating a perfect zipper pattern down the back of his.  Mine, were not so beautiful but passed the test as none ruptured during the 10  cooking process in boiling water.  Then they were served with a beautiful dipping sauce made of a bit of soy sauce, rice vinegar, hot sauce, sesame oil, garlic,green onions, and a pinch of sugar.  Each person usually eats about 20 of the small dumplings if that is the whole meal.    What a tasty meal!  Now if we could just pick up the slippery little gaffers with our chopsticks without dropping them on our laps!

 
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Happy Easter Canada!  While we didn't have any chocolate bunnies or eggs, today we were invited to Tommy and Tina's place to make   jiaozi, Chinese dumpllings. We hope that everyone had as wonderful a day with friends or family as we did. Wish you could be here with us Rob and Kieran!

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Tommy and Family invite us over for Dinner
Dumpling making is a very special social event, one which is filled with conversation and friendship while creating a meal  together. 

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Family Gather to Make Jiaozi
Tommy's cousin's granddaughter LiPing and her daughter LaoLao came to join us in making the jiaozi.  Then Tina whipped up a wonderful vegetarian banquet of Chinese dishes for supper.  There was a special long skinny green vegetable  with some tiny seasoned rice pancakes, seasoned noodles, a rolled tofu skin and beans dish, savoury rice porridge filled with veggies and goji berries, green edible pod peas, fried jiaozi, and spicy pickles.  When we expressed our amazement at how quickly Tina had prepared such a feast he told us that years ago when she was sent to the countryside to work with the peasants for 6 years she spent 1 year as a cook, feeding 70 hungry labourers. They must have eaten awfully well if it was anything like this.  Tiny said that cooking was so much easier than labouring in the fields.  Today still 70% of the population earns their living labouring in the fields.

We are so lucky on the location of Tommy's home.  We hop on bus 504, quite near our hotel and stay on and ride south, all the way to the bus terminus which is right at the front gate of Tommy's complex.  We were able to catch the last bus  almost right home to the Traffic Inn Hostel at around 7:30 pm--no changes or transfers needed.

 
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Kelsey entering the auditorium for the English Singing Competition Finals at Chengdu Science and Technology University
Well, we are off again to the finals of the New Channel Language Schools Singing Competition with a dressed up but sniffling Kelsey.  She came down with a cold yesterday but luckily she felt a little better than on Friday.   Sherry our Chinese friend picked us up and took us out to the Chengu University of Science and Technology for the event.  Professor Tommy Wu and his wife Tina (Tommy arranged for Kelsey's practicum at the school in Chengdu) met us at the gates.  Prof.Wu  would be a guest singer at the event to encourage the  language students as he learned to speak English by learning the songs of the American hit parade from the 1940's.
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Tommy, Tina, Sherry and Kelsey walking down the boulevard at the University of Science and Technology
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Judges, as Angie and Kelsey at the Singing Competition
We enjoyed all of the fanfare and excitement of the competition although we felt the heaviness of our responsibility of our input because there was an almost $1500 first prize (10,000 Chinese Yuan) AND we don't really like speaking on a microphone in public!  The audience were so loud.  They shouted and cheered for their favorites, banging noisemakers and clapping along to many songs.  When our favorite, the winner from last week, got up and sang, her music was so wonderful that we all jumped up and danced--we loved it.  Some of the competitors were near tears with emotional excitement--so much drama. The stage lights were flashing and the bubble machine and mist machine were spinning overtime!  Announcers were in tuxedos and sparkling dresses.  Our special pick was the most unassuming but very incredible singer-- very much like Susan Boyle--but what a voice, even Tommy said that if you closed your eyes you would have thought that it was the original singer, not a Chinese student as her vocal talents and use of English were incredible. 

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Kelsey and Angie beside our Winner Choice
The whole event ended with even more drama as she,  the most talented competitor, was almost rejected from the prize-winners because the majority of the judges were overruled by the one so called professional(?) judge.  We were flabbergasted and greatly disappointed (Kelsey was almost crying) but at the end were atleast able to go up and congratulate our favourite and let her know that we all felt she was the best.  The young fellow who did get the first prize was our definite other favorite.  He was a lovely fellow with a very professional Frank Sinatra style.  At the end we were introduced to a very talented vocal coach--our choice and the actual winner were both his students.

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Kelsey at the Teahouse down the river from our hotel
Too excited to go straight home, Kelsey and I took Sherry to our favorite teahouse garden just down the river to the east of our hotel.  Sherry loved it and said it was only a few blocks from the New Channel Language School office where the singing contest sponsor is and she is creating her lesson plans and will begin teaching in early May yet she didn't even know it was here.

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Restaurant on the Bridge Chengdu, China
We headed back to our hotel, walking past the Saturday night crowded Bar Street and enjoyed this lovely view of the Bridge Restaurant-- a beautiful evening in China especially as  the weather was so warm today.
What a interesting arts and beauty filled day in China.  It is part of the amazing experience that being a traveler here who takes the time to be involved in the local culture can have-- so much more than the quick tour package visitor ever savours!  Life here has its highs and lows and wow, is it ever rich! 

 
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After working on my painting of peach blossoms all afternoon we went back to Jinli Street in the Tibetan Quarter of Chengdu with some of the other nice young travellers at our hotel from Europe.  It is just a mere 15 minute walk over there from our location by the Tourist Bus Depot along the river.

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When Kelsey was a little girl she dreamt of having a pet monkey.  On the way over to Jinli Street we encountered some Chinese men that had pet monkeys.  As you were walking by they toss the monkey on you.  At first we were delighted.  However notice the monkey is grabbing Kelsey's ring.   Either he is fascinated with the shiny stone or a professional thief.

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Unfortunately the cuteness ended fairly quickly as the monkey started grabbing and pulling Kelsey's hair.  Notice him eyeing Kelsey's ring again?  His master was jumping up and down laughing saying "Monkey" or "Money"--or something.

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Another fellow threw a monkey on my head as I was trying to take pictures and I was jumping and freaking as it grabbed my hair and jumped all over my head.  Luckily mine didn't stick its fingers up my nose like he did one of the other fellows who was walking with us.  I had had enough!  Now I get it.  They were saying "Money" and "Monkey"  and you have to pay them to get the obnoxious monkeys off your head!  I tossed him a few yuan and we high tailed it out of there.  Noone was able to get a picture of the monkey on my head as we were all too busy fending them off.

 
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Bronze Casting in the beautiful granite floor of the outdoor pedestrian mall at Spring Brook Road.
More on Shoes:  Shoes and travelling are quite an issue.  I do rather like nice shoes but when you are travelling you have to have sensible shoes so you can walk for miles.  If it is warm as it is here in the summer you also have to have sensible sandals to stay cool. If it rains you have to have waterproof shoes.  However, if you wish to dress up and go out you need some nice shoes.  How can you possibly pack enough shoes to cover all bases?  The women of Chengdu do dress up, just as they do in Beijing and Shanghai.  As a matter of fact, Kelsey and I have at times felt downright dowdy in our sensible shoes and comfortable "hiking" style clothing when everyone walks by, even with the dangerous pavers on the streets and sidewalks, wearing beautiful dresses or stylish pants and frilly tops and fabulous high heeled shoes or boots.  YES, I said high heels and many women go by wearing very stylish boots of all hights, designs and colours. On Sunday night we finally addressed our lack of fancy shoes when we were attending the Singing contest at Sichuan Normal University.  Sherry took us to a little shop right by our restaurant at the university gates and we found fantastic fancy shoes  for under $10.  Sherry bought a pair with silver jewell stars on the side and Kelsey and I got black shoes with fancy jewelled bows, Kelsey's were flats and mine had nice heels.
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When we were down at the fancy "Spring Brook Road Mall" tonight with Luis's wife Nancy she took us inside the stores and we ended up looking at shoes--many were $150 US.  Very expensive.  I was wearing my newly acquired fancy jewelled black highheels that looked the same as the expensive ones and Nancy couldn't believe how little I paid for them.  When we went out and walked around the pedestrian mall area there were these beautiful bronze castings in the walkway.  I was delighted to see that this one had a picture of a woman trying on shoes!  Something that seems to have become a recurring theme in our days in China.  We'll be ready for the finals of the Chinese English Song Idol style competition on Saturday (we've been invited to attend the finals).  Kelsey and I will appear in style--we got new dresses and fancy shoes to wear.  We'll fit right in with the ladies in Chengdu!

 
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Kelsey, Angie, and Supervising Teacher Luis Downtown for Dinner Out
This morning I went out looking to buy flowers for Kelsey's teacher mentor and supervisors and their wives.  They had invited us out for dinner at 5 PM downtown at the fancy Spring Brook Road shopping area with a pedestrian mall.   They were going to take us to a Japanese Hotpot restaurant because it would offer a less spicy version of the famous local dish and had a lot of vegetarian choices. After a nice dinner we walked around the most amazing glitzy pedestrian street and shopping mall.  It is fancier than anything I have seen in Canada with many beautiful shops, giant TV screens and beautiful paving.   
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Gerbera Daisies
Looking for flowers in the morning I walked around the corner regional tourist bus station to Xinnan St. and headed south a few blocks and then turned left.  On the side street I saw a little shop.  I tried gesturing to the proprietor to enquire about price but he could not understand what I was getting at.  Finally I remembered my little Chinese phrase book in my purse and was so happy when I found "how much does this cost".  He laughed and was happy and wrote down 30 yuan and so I picked up two very lovely bouquets for less than $5 each.  One was filled with carnations and the other had brilliant gerbera daisies. 

When I returned to my room I decided I had to tackle my photo imaging problems as it is very difficult to deal with my pictures to paint or for this blog  lacking photo imaging soft ware. On browsing the web I discovered Photoscape at http://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/index.php.  I downloaded their software and voila--all of my problems are solved. Tomorrow I can happily work on the painting of  the cropped image of my peach blossoms without wasting half my time returning the computer view of the photo to the proper screen size. 
 
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Close up of Peach Blossoms in Peach Blossom Village near Longquan, Sichuan Province, China.

This is a picture of peach blossoms that I was testing out my acrylic painting gear on in my room before I venture out on the street--I coud really use some liquid courage for the size of the crowds around here.  Unfortunately tea is not strong enough and I don't drink alcohol.  While I was working in my room,  (luckily we were finally able to change to a bigger room that has a nice little alcove that I was able to set up with my easel in as a little painting studio) I was having a few glitches so so far I only have my basic outline done in acrylic.  I wanted to paint this nice closeup image of the branch of peach blossoms but my travel computer didn't have any photoimage editing software so I couldn't actually crop the image I wanted to paint.  
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Kelsey and I have managed to work in watercolours twice when we have been out touring around at the temple and at the mountains.  I have been busy trying to organize my gear and figure out where is a spot that I will be a little more inconspicuous to start working on acrylics while being on location.  It would be best if there would be a nice quiet place near our hotel that I could walk to.  Unfortunately for me the river right in front of our hotel is barred off from view for miles due to a massive reconstruction project of the whole riverfront.  They are working on putting in large rock paved pathways.  I am still looking for a suitable location to work at on my own.  When Kelsey is with me and there are two of us then I am braver to attempt to work in a crowd.

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Standard Equipment to Staple Canvas to Frame is too Heavy to Take Traveling
Also, before I get out to paint in acrylics, I had to set up my canvases.  Being here for 6 weeks I figured I could go through alot of canvas and they are quite bulky with the wooden stretcher frames to fit in my suitcase.  Canvas boards without frames are too heavy to bring many and would have more than used up all of my allowable luggage weight.  So just before I left I got a 12", 16", 18", 20", and 24" pair of wooden stretcher bars.  I bought gessoed canvas at home and cut it to fit 12x16, 16x20, 18x20, and 20x24 frames.  I just brought a regular small household stapler because the standard framing staple gun and canvas stretching pliers are way to heavy to bring on an international flight.  So now I have a nice selection of canvases that will be alot easier to take home when I am finished.  Acrylics dry very quickly and I can just remove them from the frame after a day or two and then I can put new canvas on the frame to do a new painting. I can just roll up the completed paintings on the canvas to bring home. I could have never fit or had the weight to bring 12 complete frames the size I have here with me in my suitcase.  As it is, my clothes were a very small portion of my luggage weight what with my suitcase being filled with tubes of acrylic paints, brushes, squirt bottles, and a fairly lightweight set of watercolour gear.  Now if I had known I could find  the same portable painting chair I brought here, in the store for $2, I could have left mine at home.  I had also considered trying to purchase paints and canvas here but it is a good thing I didn't do that.  I am sure there are art supply stores somewhere around but I haven't been able to find one.  I have been asking all of our guides and Chinese friends but so far I have struck out on finding one. Good thing I pretty much have everything I need with me.  Now to just get the courage to get out and paint when there are bound to be many people stopping to look over my shoulder.  Oh well, I guess if they are critical I won't understand what they are saying.

 
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After her busy first day actually instructing a class at school Kelsey and I went for a walk.  We found a really cute dress shop.  The man and woman running the shop were talking in extremely loud aggressive voices.  It was very interesting because we keep getting told that although people in Chengdu really relax and drink tea and play games all day they talk really really loud.  Prof. Wu our Chengdu friend who arranged Kelsey's practicum at the school  says one person on a bus talking on a cell phone can ruin it for everyone--sounds like Canada doesn't it?  We then walked down the road until we found this beautiful restaurant with a fantastic garden and fish ponds. 

We had a great afternoon sipping our bottomless cup of tea for less than $2, watched cute little children and the goldfish getting fed. We enjoyed the comfy arm chairs.  Other people were playing cards and mahjong.  We wished we had brought ours.  As we were leaving others were arriving for dinner and there was singing and dancing entertainment on the stage--many were playing modern songs on traditional chinese instruments.

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Cute little girl feeding the fish

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Kelsey pretty relaxed and enjoying the warm mid 20's weather at the tea garden in Chengdu.  As we walked down the street back to the Traffic Inn, just south of the river and west of the tourist bus depot on Xinnan Rd. we discovered the tea garden we had been enjoying was right beside the famous "Bar Street".  We took a few pictures and headed home. 

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Angie on "Bar Street" Chengdu, China.

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Kelsey contemplating a return visit to bar street with some younger friends.

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On the way home we walked through a town square by the river that had three large groups of people dancing and doing excercising with three sets of very loud blaring music.  This group was doing Tai Chi to some very soft Chinese music.  Another group had the loudest music and were doing some sort of a club or line dance.  The third group were more elderly and they had a smaller ghetto blaster and were doing some sort of a gentler older persons traditional dance or excercise.  People everywhere in China are out in the mornings and evenings, getting together with their friends and neighbours and having some good old fashioned fun and excercise.  What a pleasant way to enjoy life--more people connections.  I think that Kelsey is understanding why I am so hooked on China.  I love the people here!

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View of downtown Chengdu across the river  from the little community square where people were dancing.  Look at all of the highrises in the background.