images

suzhou friends 
1

During the second half of 1999, I taught at Suzhou Zhong Shan College. This is the administrative staff (minus Xiao Lu who was taking the picture. To learn more about these guys and Zhong Shan College and to see the larger version of this picture, go here.

River Lu was my colleague and good friend at Suzhou Zhong Shan College. Go here to learn a little more about him.

I first met Katrina during my 2 months in Suzhou in the Summer of '98. When I returned to Suzhou for 1999, we hung out together a lot. Kat is very cool. Here we were visiting an ancient Buddhist nuns' temple. It's hidden in the mountains near Lake Tai and not on any tourist maps so it's a great place to go to get away from the teeming hordes of tourists in and around Suzhou.

Katrina and Old Man Christmas on Christmas Eve, 1999.

Read about it here.

The INDIAN PUB crew wish you a Merry Christmas:

L to R: Lisa, Maria, San Guo Wei (the manager), and Pang Zi ("The Fat Man"). Pang Zi is the Chef and makes the best hamburgers to be found anywhere in Suzhou (and that includes the Suzhou McDonald's!)

More of my INDIAN PUB friends-on Christmas Eve, 1999. From R to L: Lisa, Rachel (head barmaid), Pang Zi-("Fat Man") disguised as Father Christmas, Maria, and your boy Chuck.

Late at night on Christmas Eve, 1999.

Pang Zi, Moi and San Guo Wei.

That Cleveland automobile license plate which inured me to this joint on my first appearence in Suzhou in 1998 iis still gathering dust on the back bar as you can see.

Finding a GOOD pair of shoes bigger than size 8 can be difficult in China. As I wear size 11, shopping for a good pair of shoes usually becomes a weeklong odyssey.

So imagine my bliss last summer when, in search of a replacement pair of sandals, I stumbled upon a shoe store last summer which carried large sizes. The owner was a beautiful young woman who spoke a modicum of English. She told me her name was Maggie Xu (pronounced "Shoe"). and the shoes she had were 3 cuts above the usual cobbled together junk that 90% of the shoe stores sell here.

Maggie gave me a deep discount after we talked for awhile and she learned I was a simple teacher living in Suzhou as opposed to the typical run-of-the-mill tourist. So a few weeks later, when I needed a new pair of basketball shoes, I went back to her shop and, again she gave me a great deal on a great pair of shoes. She said I was "Zun Jing" and "Xing Zuo". I don't know what that means, but after that, we became very good friends. I re-dubbed her "Maggie Shoes".

For her part, Maggie Shoes gave me my next two pairs of shoes, including a beautiful pair of tan Wolverine boots (which are just about impossible to find in China). Gratis. Free. 免费。

Shortly before I left Suzhou to return to Jinzhou, her shop was closed down to make way for yet more Suzhou development. Maggie currently is living in Shanghai working for a real estate joint venture. And I am looking for a new source for good-quality shoes in size 11.

Xiao Yan Jing (a/k/a Little Eyes)-Co-owner of Bingbo Coffee and Ice Cream Shop in Suzhou showing off her goods. What rocks about this place is that it has five (count 'em 5!) kinds of fresh coffee beans and will grind and roast a cup of coffee on demand! AIYAHHH!!! I spend a lot of time prepping classes and grading papers at here. And I gave them my Mocha Shake recipe from my old coffee house, so it's a little bit of Uncommon Grounds in Suzhou.

Penny Chen (Chen Feng Fei) is from Ningbo but now lives in Suzhou with her aunt and uncle. She's a hair stylist at a chic hair salon in Suzhou. We met when she took my Oral English class in the summer of 1999. As her first foreign teacher, she insisted that that entitled me to free haircuts (yet another surprise - people just DO NOT give away free stuff in China. I must be the luckiest guy in all of China). So I insisted we go out for ice cream drinks with umbrellas after my hair cuts.

Julie hails from Zhejiang Province. Here, she tries to hold down the pool table at The City Hunter in Suzhou where she works. The nicest sweetest girl you could ever meet.

I say bye-bye to Julie and my good friends at City Hunter in Suzhou shortly before I return to Jinzhou.

In Ancient Chinese culture, it is said there were The Four Ancient Beauties. Had Joanna, pictured here, lived in ancient times, they would be talking today about the Five Ancient Beauties of China. No matter. in Suzhou today, everyone talks about Suzhou's Beauty at Jerry's Jiu Ba: Joanna.

sz friends 2 | sz friends 3