Many of the restaurants have their food choices set out an you make selections. 6-8 dishes, or even up to 12-13 are served. The tables have 'lazy susans' and everyone digs in family style. Not unlike a roulette table. A young girl uses some kind of data collector to note your table's choices and they bring them as they are ready. Duck blood and fishheads are common & plentiful.

The markets are intriguing. Fresh, if not sanitary, meat display for your selection. These merchants are parked within feet or other merchants selling the same cuts. This undoubtedly promotes discussions and better deals.

Shoe repairmen and mobile bicycle repair shops are readily available. Older men gather on streets and play cards or Chinese chess, with non-playing guys surrounding them, somewhat shielding them from the wind. Since the shops and buildings are not heated, they usually have their door wide open for full view of their wares. Some shops may sell pots & pans; others brooms and plastic dishpans. The brooms all look to be homemade and are basically the same whether used for street cleaning or in households. These stores are like 8' X10' or 12' in size. Entry doors are open everywhere, I guess if there is no heat it doesn't really matter. Everything seems to be concrete, granite or marble so it won't likely warm until mid-summer.

The small children/toodlers have hoods on their coats with floppy rabbit or other animal ears. They are bundled up to where they move robotically. Most are shy, but parents encourage them to interact and Lucas carried someone's child up a couple of flights of stairs Saturday. The parent was aware and had another child in tow, but did not have a problem with him touching/carrying the 2nd kid. He was playing with the child-something that would maybe bring a bear out of a U.S. parent.

Being a small town (relatively, at 450,000) many or most have not seen Americans or English speaking people. Elementary age kids like to use their English skills or at least their parents often encourage them to do so. Almost all speak English very well. the schools have made it part of the cirriculum in the past 5, or so, years. They are very good with it.

Lucas is insistant that I learn some Chinese words. Nee-hao is like hello, meaning 'you good', Xie-xie, (pronouced shhee-shhee) is thank you. Many young adults can read though not readily speak English.

A few department stores are around, but one would not know from the outside except for the heavy flow of people into a double doorway. They have plastic strip curtains hanging in the doorways to hold back the wind. Some have thick, padded army green curtains which look like 4' X 8' army coats hanging in their doorway, insulating from the weather. These stores have clerical help all over the place. Some ladies have vests with 'promotion' on the back. As best I can tell, these ladies are provided by the department store venders, like Sam's in U.S. has venders hire people to hand out samples (JoJo's blue-haired ladies in U.S.) & etc. If a customer going through checkout needs a different one of something, one of these ladies get the replacement article and sprints to checkout. The unemployment numbers push performance and effort here!

Sweet potato-cooking guy and the #1 cobbler are some of my favorite people. When I made motions that I wanted to take the cobbler's picture, he proudly pushed his chest out and provided a smile. The sweet potato cooker is genuinely making something out of nothing.

I am having trouble gertting the pics on here, but will get them on later.