Dr Everhart Presents at the US Embassy in Beijing - China

The most popular part of the talk was the
the question and answer period at the end.

Thursday evening Dr Nancy Everhart did a presentation at the US Embassy in Beijing about Fake News. It was a full house as the crowd questioned Everhart about censorship and propaganda. 

Everhart is a professor at Florida State University in Tallahassee. Since August - she has been a Fulbright Scholar teaching at Beijing Normal University. She teaches graduate classes in library science. The fellowship extends 6 months from August thru January. She is accompanied by her husband - Harry. 

While in China - she has made presentations at Nanjing University and Vietnam National University in Saigon. This week she will present at Tsunrumi University in Yokohama - Japan. She has a talk scheduled at Beijing Institute of Technology. 

During the presentation - the crowd hung on every word. When someone asked how do we learn more about Hong Kong - she whispered - VPN. The place roared. 

It may be a co-incident but our Internet stopped working for 3 days. It is now back up and operating - so I quickly posted this story. 

The presentation was open to the general public -
but you had to register before hand

We attended a week of orientation
at this Embassy

Fake News - An expanded role for librarians

The press interviewed her before the talk

Note the Norman Rockwell photos

Lulu’s Fur-Lined Nikes

No one likes shopping more than LuLu. She hardly buys anything. Sometimes she walks away from fantastic deals - like yesterday. We were getting our groceries at WuMart which is in the basement of our building. We had just paid for our groceries when she spied this shoe pile. I could see an FSU garnet colored Nike from 50 feet away. She walked over and picked it out - it was size 8 - her size. It was easy to find the other one. She asked the guy - how much? He said 30 - she thought he meant dollars. She was ready to toss it when she realized 30 yuan was $4! She asked again and he said 30 yuan. She gave him the cash.

They are brand new garnet and gold "Nikes" lined in black fur. They are brand new - never worn. She put them on - and has been wearing them around the apartment since.

Now she wants to return to the pile.

Lots of Neat Stuff Happening - VPN is down

Our VPN is down. After a few weeks of good wifi and VPN in our apartment - it went down out of the blue. About 3 days ago - we could not connect to the VPN. Therefore - I cannot send detail pictures or videos right now. We do have wifi - but it is just for a few sites. Email is one - but no big emails.

My T-mobile iphone still works uncensored - but it is slow. We always have that.

It is kind of strange - because we can still get Netflix on Apple TV - Sirius Radio - even our Alexa Dot speaker works. Last night I made a nice long phone call to my friend Pete - in Alabama.

Thursday - Nancy made her big presentation in the USA Embassy. It was a full house to see her presentation on Fake News. The crowd was mostly locals that wanted to hear and use their English. Over here kids learn English from grade 1. Chinese really respond well to Nancy - the 90 minutes flew by. They wanted to gush over her - finally Fulbright pulled her from the room so the crowd would go home! Elvis just left the building! I have some pictures and videos of it - and will post them as soon as I can. Nancy was spectacular. I admire her presentation skills. She is at the peak of her career.

Nancy has two more classes on campus at BNU and then she fulfilled her obligation.

We get to Japan on Tuesday for 4 nights. Fulbright will pay for that too. Nancy delivers a presentation there. We have looked forward to Japan for years. People tell us it is very different from China or Vietnam. After that we prepare for Christmas. It is hard finding anything Christmas in China. We went to a tree lighting at the Crowne Plaza on Thursday. It was very nice.

Nancy and I had some pants made at the Silk Market. You pick out the fabric - the pocket style - get many measurements - etc - and they make them from scratch. We paid $45 each. Of course they are the only pants I have that fit. But they are nice. Nancy got some in denim blue - I should have done that.

I have bought very few things here. Transportation and food are cheap. Admissions are mostly free to old people. We bought $1000 of housewares to make the apartment nice. Mattresses - linens - curtains - lamps - side tables - dishes - silverware - iron - hair dryer - etc. We will leave them behind for the next person. As a result - my bags should be less full on the way home. Sometimes - I think I should bring an electric scooter home - other times no.

It reminds me of our 25th anniversary trip to Bermuda. Everyone there wore these bright green Bermuda shorts. They looked so cool in Bermuda. On the way home you are cruising at 35,000 feet over the Atlantic - you look down - and think - what in the world did I buy these shorts for? Never wore them.

I need a new laptop - mine has a sticky keyboard. It is a $400 fix. So I will buy a new one once we get home in January.

So - now you have an update - without pictures - to come later.

We will probably have good service in Japan.

Thanks for reading.
harry nancy

Testing Email Post

I was wondering if I could still post a message directly from email in China.

The Temple of Heaven - Beijing

I did not take this lighted picture.
I took all the rest.

Last week I took Mimi to see The Temple of Heaven. To me it was easily the neatest building I have seen in China so far. It is all wood - no nails - and was built about 600 years ago. Today it sits in the middle of a large park. There is a separate admission for the park and temple.

I wanted Lulu to see the Temple - hoping to be able to see it lit up at night. We went into the park at 4 PM - it was sunset time. The park and temple were open to 5 PM. When we got to the Temple - they were no longer selling tickets - but the lady gatekeeper waved us through. We were in for free.

There was hardly anyone there and we enjoyed the temple and the other museum buildings. When I asked an attendant if the lights would be turned on - she said no. But the sun was just perfect for lighting up all the gold leaf. We got some really nice pictures.

It was a double whammy for Lulu - just outside the park gate is the famous Pearl Market. She loves shopping there. While she shopped I had a Philly Cheesesteak at Subway. We took the subway home - I could tell Lulu really liked the adventure.

Sunset lit up the gold leaf

I had a tripod and remote control

Inside the temple
they killed animals

Lulu likes taking pictures
of others

Note the marble pavings

Lulu teaching in China

Other museum buildings

layers of marble steps

Wooden model in museum

Sunset popular for cameras

Facing north

Doornails - 9 x 9

Museum

Beautiful marble carvings

On Thanksgiving We Explored the Forbidden City

Mimi in the Forbidden City

While Lulu was doing school work and preparing our Thanksgiving meal - Mimi and I went to tour The Forbidden City. It is called The Forbidden City because it was the emperor's home and you could not leave or enter without his permission. Some men were even required to be castrated before they could enter. I wonder what they did when it was time to leave? 

We took a taxi for the 4 mile trip from home. The ride was uneventful until the last few moments. When the driver was pulling over to let us out - the police commanded him to move. He made the mistake of saying he had to let us out. He got into an argument with the cop - and we scurried out while he was arrested. Mimi and I did not look back as we fled down the middle of the street because all the sidewalks were cordoned off. 

It was 11:45 - and our tickets were free - but only good until noon. We hurried to the Meridian Gate - gate A on the map below. 

We enter in gate A and left at gate B

The Forbidden City or Royal Palace is the largest wooden structure in the world. It has 980 buildings and covers 180 acres. A football field is 1.3 acres. The palace was built by the Ming Dynasty in 1406 to 1420. It has been continuously occupied for over 600 years. It is surrounded by a giant wall which is surrounded by a wide moat. 

Many of the buildings are open museums - many more are private residents of government party people. They are presently restoring everything to its pre-1921 look. Just south of the Meridian Gate is Tiananmen Square - the largest city square in the world. 

We got the chance to climb the wall and encircle the palace on the north and east side. It was a pretty clear day - so we got some nice pictures. 

Afterward - we took the subway and bus home in time for our Thanksgiving meal. It featured chicken - mashed potatoes - gravy - corn - cucumbers - rolls - and Great Wall Wine. Not bad for a "no oven" apartment. 

Meridian Gate - Chairman Mao 

Gargoyles and lightning rods

You enter in the south Meridian Gate

All these buildings are 

600 year old wood structures

We live at the blue dot
Beijing Normal University is magenta
Forbidden City is red

Lots of wood - lots of marble - many tiles

Panorama

Perhaps the symbol of China
Gargoyles

Many roof peaks

Marble steps

they were maybe 2 feet tall

Looks of bronze castings

Lots of slanted roofs

Walking along the north wall

These were the quarters

Acres of tiled roofs

Life inside the wall

In the subway - check out the hat

Thanksgiving wine
What goes with cat - red or white?