Catching Up

Hello dear readers, it's Zoe here. Not sure how are where to start since I've completely neglected to blog for months. Perhaps with a bowl of tasty instant noodles that comes with an egg?


Difficult, if not impossible to find in Vancouver and very delicious. Marie told me about this once, and then I saw this brand on T.V. As I don't take pictures nor write often, you would be correct to guess that I must love or am fascinated by them, since I photographed these noodles and they take top spot here.


I would eat instant noodles more often, but they are too bulky to carry home and so every so often, I bring food back to my room from the cafeteria. Tomatoes and egg underneath the rice; beansprouts and black beans on the right; and spicy mushrooms and chicken, or what would be more aptly called, mushrooms with crushed bone shards.



And, in other news, I've moved! The room is narrow, and it's smaller than my old room (now Marie's room), but it's great. I am on the 4th floor, the window faces east and looks onto the street. I do hear street noise but I like it.



The washroom is across from the closet which is visible in the picture below:


A maid cleans the room daily.


Here is Marie standing with Colin and Ella. We were in line waiting to get into the traditional arts exhibition:


Some artists made alot of money. This guy was counting a thick wad of RMB.



I bought a papercut with the subject of flowers from each season, and the Chinese character for good fortune appears inconspicuously on the vase, appearing more like a design than a character. I chose it because this design requires more labour than the typical symmetrical ones (see the one on the table in comparison which first entails folding the paper in half before cutting), it differs from traditional designs which show lucky characters too overtly, and finally, because each flower displays a different cutting technique (some petals were round while others are pointy).

The artist is signing and putting here seal on it below.



I also asked them to give me a freebie. This one is of a rooster with a scorpion in its beak. I love it. It's just funny looking; and I love to see odd subject matter or odd depictions of serious subjects in traditional mediums. It's completely different than any other Chinese paper cuts I've seen. I think it is the roundness and proportion of the bird to the insects that strikes me funny or maybe it's the rooster's nonchalant expression.



Some people were making butterfly candy sticks made of what looks like caramel and honey.



A fridge:


Eye washing instruments:


Landscape by beadwork:


Silver ornaments:


I bought some silver jewelery from this artist:


I also bought a butcher's knife from here:


Knife making:


Rabbit hats!


Fish skin shoes:


Fish skin outfit:


That's all for now. Phew! Marie, this blogging thing takes much more time than I thought!