Linyi Town

Yesterday morning after doing some shopping I bumped into some more foreign teachers that were heading out for a day on town. They didn’t have an idea where they were going but just wanted to do something. This is my kind of traveling and sight-seeing!! You usually see things that others won’t see because you just drift around aimlessly and every now and again you end up at a place you would otherwise not have seen if you had a schedule. I quickly ran up to my apartment and chucked my groceries in my room forgetting about my washing and with a quick jog caught up with the other teachers.

We got on the bus and made our way towards town and the big “People’s Square” which is also the center of Linyi City. This is one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions. We arrived in the center of the city at around 13:00 I think. I am on holiday so I am not keeping time or date! Most of us have been at the square already, so today we were just in the mood to discover town. We went from shop to shop, mall to mall and street to street. It is then that you realize the city you living in is much bigger than you expected. The central city is about 15min drive in taxi from where we live.

On this expedition with me was Al who is a 30year old black African American whose speaks very good Mandarin, his wife whose name is Lilian who is an Asian American whose family are from Pilipino and Japanese descent can also speak some Mandarin and Spanish, another Michael who is older and from Australia (Brisbane) and speaks fluent French and Pygmy, and there was George who is from Australia but actually from the Middle East and speaks fluent Arabic and some French. It felt like a UN meeting. And this was just 5 of the teachers together. Imagine what it is when all 50 teachers are present.

What you experience in this city is that during night it goes through some kind of metamorphoses. During day the city looks like an old run-down Communist country, but at night it gets a facelift and the grey buildings get exchanged for the most beautiful city lights that you have seen. It becomes this place that you have never before experienced. Nighttime is definitely the way to do sight-seeing in this City. The day was spent jumping from taxi to taxi going from restaurant to shop to restaurant to taxi. We ended up in Macdonald’s which is on one of the corners of the road facing the "People's Square". There we had some great coffee, discussed different languages, countries we’ve been, and politics. We sat there until around 00:00 and then decided it was probably a good time to go home. New sites, new friends, all in a day’s work.

(Linyi City, Shandong Province, China)

Eating someone's best friend

Yesterday morning I was interrupted from my beauty sleep by a phone call at around 8:00. You will understand that I was very surprised when I tell you that not too many people have my telephone nr, and those that have it would still have been sleeping. But, it rang and I felt the need to answer it. It turned out to be a lady from the politics department that I met a couple of days ago at a staff meeting/conference. She wanted to know if I wanted to join her and her daughter to do some shopping. Not having anything planned I agreed to join. A couple of minutes later I was picked up by “Shirley”, and her 8year old daughter “Bright”. She is the cutest little Chinese girl. I tried to communicate with her with my non-existent Mandarin, but realized I need lots more work.

We first went to a shopping mall to do some window shopping. Mostly clothes were in these shops and we had a good time just walking around and talking about brands. Shirley pointing out some known brands, that ended up not being too famous in my eyes. She rated the popularity of clothes by all the languages that appeared on the labels of the clothes. Mmm… I ended up nullifying her theory.
We then headed to all the food products where she wanted to buy some food for the festival that was lying ahead. These shops were as busy as you have never seen before. Food is a big culture in China and the New Years festival is a time and place where Chinese show how much they can eat. This is a time of family and friends. It is almost like the family getting together in the Western world for Christmas.

After collecting all that she wanted for the festival we headed to the food corner for something to eat. It was already 12:00 in the afternoon and my stomach made it known that it needed some food. While walking around and looking at the different food they offered, we got to this one stall where they had a couple of different kinds of meat. “This is dog” Shirley pointed to some strips of cold meat. Well, how could I not. We got a whole plate of dog meat. At first it took my mind some working on!! Eating dog is not a bad idea, but your mind could be the only thing actually coming between your mouth and the meat. But, how can I put it… I had a couple of bites of someone’s best friend. I am not a dog person, but more of a cat person. I have to admit that the meat is quite salty. Shirley admitted unashamedly that she eats dog quite often, while I was eating and keeping the voice in my head quiet. Will I eat dog again I got asked by a friend. Well, yes but this time I want to eat it warm with some nice spicy sauce.

After the food we went to this big fish pond full of “koi” (colorful carp "fish"). Here, for a fee you can feed the koi with a bottle full of a liquid fish food. Bright and I ended up feeding the koi with this bottled food mixture. Bright loves fish and her fish recently died, so we headed to the fish market where her mom purchased her a couple of fish for her tank at home. After returning from the shops we headed towards the ping-pong (table tennis) club where I got my ass kicked by a high-school girl!! This sport is what they do for a living!!

(Linyi City, Shandong Province, China)

Intro to Linyi

Linyi compared to Linfen is like a dream. As you might remember, Shanxi is the most polluted Province in China. Linfen which is a city in Shanxi Province is the most polluted city. So, I lived in the most polluted city in the most polluted province in China. I love taking things to the extremes!! This pollution is due to all the coal mines in the area. Linyi City on the other hand which is in Shandong Province is a more developed city and pollution is not taking its toll on this beautiful city as it does on Linfen. Shandong Province is much more developed and advanced as it is right between Beijing and Shanghai. This means that transport etc is of a much better standard due to trade and industry.

I just need to correct something that I wrote previously. You need to understand that sometimes you get lost in translation in this country, so everything that I say you need to take with a bit of salt as there could be a slight possibility that it might change as my revelation of this country progresses. Previously I said that the population of Linfen was 400 000 people. Well, seems like they had nothing to do for the last month as the population increased by a couple of million people. The actual population of Linfen is 4million people, and this is seen as a small city. The population of the city in which I find myself at the moment which is called Linyi City is 11million. This City is seen as a middle size city for China. I sometimes think that TV arrived a couple of centuries too late for China.

Well, this is the city that I find myself in at the moment. Advanced, developed/developing with a good infrastructure and close to the town that sells the best beer in China “Tsingdao”. How can I be any closer to heaven?? Tsingdao which is actually spelled Qingdao is also a city on the coast and a favorite tourist destination due to good weather in the summer. Will make a trip down there soon enough!!

The University I will be teaching at this year is called Linyi Normal University. This is a big University and all and all we are about 50 foreign teachers from all over the world. The University has just opened its new second campus. This new campus has a capacity of 30 000 students and it sits on a piece of property with a radius of 10km. I have been told that it is like a city with even its own mall on campus. When they are finished with all the development, this will be the biggest Uni in Asia.

Making me Linyi savvy at the moment is a young girl called Mary. Don’t know what her Chinese name is, and not even going to try. She has been a great help in pointing me in directions for some nice food, a phone simcard and a buss that goes towards a mall. She even made me dumplings (Jao tsi) for the second night in Linyi The Uni is not as helpful as in Linfen, as Linfen had a much smaller foreign teacher body. That makes Linfen more personal. But I am glad to be here and enjoy the city and the food that I had so far. I discovered a nice little local food shop close to the mall, and it’s about 15mins drive on a free bus. A very nice old lady and man who I presume own the shop has become my great friends. We can’t speak a word to each other, but my facial expressions show them that I love the food and with every visit they give me free tea, and a top-up. They cook this meal with veggies etc. which is called “Ma la thang”. This is my newest favorite food. Can’t wait to speak a bit more Mandarin.

In case you are wondering about the photo? It is the only way for me to know i am getting on the right bus back home!! Take a picture and you can't go wrong.

(Linyi City, Shandong Province, China)

Bar Room NY finale

After KTV (karaoke place) we started heading toward our apartments. The actual plan was to go to the pool club and celebrate our New Years there. The main reason we were heading towards our apartments was because of some needy toilet visits. This can only mean the person will not be standing. Walking down the street we passed this place that me and Jess have been meaning to go and visit for quite a while. It is called "Bar Room" and this is a club/bar under a kind of car park. Just there and then our options for venues expanded and we decided to start our New Year in that club. With that in mind we took a brisk walk to the apartments for the toilet run.

Jess had a couple of bomb crackers (fireworks that sound as loud as a gun shot) and he had this great idea of taking it along. Walking back towards the club, now around 22:45 the streets leading towards the club empty, apart from a couple of street vendors selling food on every corner. Fireworks in hand we decided to start spreading the good news of New Years. Don't really know if fireworks are allowed in the streets, but hey... it's only New Year once a year. The first firework ignited and was thrown right in the middle of the street. It went off with a bang... windows reverberating and car alarms going off around us!! "What a beautiful sound this time of night" i was thinking to myself. After a couple more of those and one ending up right in front of a police car we decided to leave them in a little bush where we could retrieve them from again later.

Entering the bar/club it sounded pretty quiet. Through the whole night there was only about 20-30 people... not too many for an occasion like the New Year. On entering the club i could hear with my little Chinese and the broken English of the DJ that they are welcoming these two white faces assisted with the Chinese girl. Partly cause everyone looked at us when we walked in and a "Hallo" by die DJ and locals. We were taken to a nice couple of red couches right next to the dance floor with complimentary seeds. Yip, in China it is not peanuts but seeds. We ordered about five beers and started making ourselves comfortable. I felt in a dancing mood so needless to say it didn't take long for me to enter the dance floor. The dance floor was more like a small little stair, just high enough that you should realise it is not part of the walk area. We started dancing and i saw this Chinese move by a couple of girls that i needed to get the hang off. A couple of minutes later... there was I, Jess and Amy doing this dance with the locals having a ball. What can i say we had to teach them a dance as well. The only dance that came to mind that me and Jess would know i thought, must be the "Macarena". It turned out that i was correct. Here we were, teaching the "Macarena" to Chinese people with Chinese songs. We were the heroes.

Learning the Chinese dance before heating it up with the Macarena!!

After a couple of dances i started making my way down the dance floor, a young man appearing out of nowhere shoved a beer in my hand and said "gumpay" meaning down with me. No worries... got that one down... then this girl enters with another beer and repeats the same word "gumpay", wanting me to down with her. Jess walking towards the dance floor wanting to take a photo of me downing gets a beer shoved in his hand "gumpay". He drank the beer as quick as he can and made his way back to the couches in no time. Man, Chinese people love downing. It is a symbol of respect to drink and down with someone i think... who knows... just down it.

So midnight arrived and with some more "gumpaying" we enter the New Year. Let me not forget about the drunk man that had his arm around my shoulder, not really in a way to be a good friend, more in a way of keeping himself on his feet. Yip, he also just walked up to our table, using Amy's drink to "gumpay" with me and Jess. The waiters got him away quickly!!
As if we hadn't been treated like VIP's yet, the owner of the club came up to us and sponsored us another 3 beers after he "gumpayed" with us. Now we were Rock stars!!
Well, it ended up being a great start to the New Year!!!

You might think that i was totally wasted hey?? Well, i have successfully worked out that if i was in London i would have had two pints, and if in South Africa i would have had three dumpies (bottles of beer). The beer in China is only 3%alc. How can you not have a couple more than your average Londoner have per day?

(Linfen, Shanxi Province, China)

Chinese Karaoke New Year

A couple of days ago we started with a whole New Year. Yes, it is officially the year 2009. Shees, just the thought of me turning 29 this year makes me think that life runs past too quickly. It is because of this reason that I decided last year I needed to do all I can in this life while I can. Experience different cultures and do things I said I will never do, go to places I never thought I would go. And here I am, in China. It was never really an option of mine to come to China. I had in mind the lusher Spain and South America. There were many places I would have loved to go, but it just so happened that all the doors opened towards China.

So, why not end the year with something different and start the New Year with something even more different and daring? You can imagine this was going to be a night of fun and games, doing things you never see yourself doing again!! Or maybe you will.

Here I was in Linfen, trying to gather some people to do something really fun. We ended up going to this place called Dico’s for a meal. It is like the Chinese Mcdonald’s. It was me Jess and his girlfriend Amy. Joel didn’t make these festivities as this time it was his girlfriend Joy that was feeling ill. Got the burgers down and successfully converted Jess and Amy to my kind of thinking. Jess was fully up for it in any case, it was just Amy that needed some convincing. I already had the next stop in mind!! KTV… the best Chinese karaoke place ever, that's what i got told in any case!! With not too much convincing everybody was sold to this idea. Amy with pure brilliance suggested that we enter a shop to buy some snacks. Now you have to understand… in my mind this karaoke place is like a bar you walk into and loads of drunken people taking their turns on the microphone. I was all up for it. But there was a useful piece of information that I didn’t know. Karaoke places in China were nothing like the picture I had in mind. I entered the shops in search of a cigar… I mean, it was the start of a New Year!! Did not find any cigars, no. But I decided to settle on a small bottle of some strong Chinese “bagio” this is like “mampoer” in South Africa (never check my Chinese spelling; I write it as it sounds). Made from the purest corn! Amy grabbing a couple of snacks and drinks we are ready to hit the karaoke place. We must have been lost in translation a bit because when I asked Amy if we could take these things inside the karaoke place she said it is fine. It ended up not being so fine because on the way to the karaoke place we had to hide all the snacks at the most uncomfortable places.” Mmm… seems like we are not really allowed to take these in” I thought by myself. Sometimes the language barrier can be a bit of a problem.

Got to the doors of KTV, snacks squeezing etc. Here we are, paying 68Yuan for an hour of listening to other people’s false excuse for singing. What a rip off “can’t believe we actually going to pay this” was all on my mind. After a quick tour through their snack corner to avoid any suspicion and a packet of popcorn later we are ready and lining up in front of the lift. Gentlemen start your engines!!

We go up to the sixth level. Mmm… exiting the elevator this place reminded me of the dodgy places you see on movies in Bangkok. You know, like a hostel with some small rooms. Ok, a brothel!! This could just have been a much classier brothel. But alas, our own little private room!!! This is awesome!!! Our assistant exiting the room we all empty our pockets of all the stash. Let the games begin. This place is fitted out with big speakers, streamers, big screen, microphones, a long black couch and even some tambourines. Probably because you can’t sound false on those. I mean, they make anyone sound musical. You should have been there!! Jess singing Avril Lavigne (Skater Boy) not even looking at the screen, no wonder he got the best score for the night. The Titanic sinking again with the back-up voices of Mike and Jess. Eat my shorts Celine!!! We ended up paying for another hour!! It is ten a clock… what now??? Two hours to kill before the New Year, what now?


Me and Jess... think it was either a sad or high pitch song, we both have tears in our eyes.


Well, hang around for the next update.

Check out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpzJXmf5jvk&eurl=http://jesstival.com/cake/
for some live entertainment.

(Linfen, Shanxi Province, China)

Canadian, Ghanian-Canadian and South African

We were walking down the street one day and there in front of me was this big black African entering a shop. Suddenly it felt like I was back in Africa. For a couple of seconds I felt a bit confused. I felt the same way a Chinese person must feel seeing a white person on the street. It is as if this person does not belong there. Then again, who said I belong here? Well, I feel like a local now. It turned out that Jess and Joel knew him, and it was only me that haven’t met him yet. He went out shopping for shoes assisted by a very short Chinese girl. I think compared to him anything in China looks short. Jess is around 1,90m and Chris (the black man) is even taller than him. You can imagine the people staring at him on the street. I think you can understand the difficulty finding shoes that will fit him in China. You are more likely to be eating dog in a shop than find a number 13 shoe!! Well, he found his shoes… pretty scary judging from the analogy!!

Chris claims that he is from Canada. I am sure he has a Canadian passport, but he has the accent of a Ghanian. He must have moved to Canada later in his life as his accent labels him as a Ghanian. Chris is also an English teacher in China. He has been in China for about 14 months and he can speak more Chinese than all us whities together. Yes, his Chinese is very good and it is quite an adventure to walk around with him and hear him speak this language, you find Chinese people at a loss for words. Imagine a 2meter tall Chinese man… this is more or less how strange I find this black man speaking Chinese. Chris is a great guy and very kind and I think he is probably in his early 30's. He has some strong African mannerisms and this is why I also think he might have lived in Ghana till his childhood. I could also be very wrong assuming this. But I want you to get a picture of what Chris looks like.

So, i got a picture. Canadian Chris from Ghana.

A Couple of days later Chris invited us to join him and some of his friends for a meal. He is the only foreign teacher at his school, so his school was happy to pay for our meals as well, just for some different company for him i suppose. I think he might get very lonely sometime being the only foreigner. This explains the reason for his good Chinese… there is no other option for him.

After going for a meal at “Big Pizza”, one of our locals that serve western style buffet, Chris asked if we would like to join him to his school where the classes do some end of year performances. We gladly joined him to see some of these performances. Joel was not feeling well this day so it was only me and Jess attending these festivities. Got to the school, we realized things weren’t as they seemed. Let me put it like this. We weren’t going to see performances, we were the performances!!! Yip. Ok here we were, one black African Canadian, a Canadian and a South African. Jess 1,90m, Chris even taller and me in-between them. I am like 1,8m. I have never seen three young men that could dance and pull the moves we did that night!! I think we surprised ourselves!! We did feel the strain on our bodies the next day though. I also have new respect for the 27year old Jess and his singing abilities and knowledge of music!! He managed to know all the words of some Avril Lavigne and Spice Girls songs! He is such a nerd, but the coolest nerd that i know!!

Little did we know that his singing abilities will lead us all the way to a karaoke club for New Years festivals!!

(Linfen, Shanxi Province, China)

Meet the Vice-president

Christmas in China is not really such a big festival and celebration as in the Western world. Some of the shops in Linfen did put out some Christmas decorations, but we reckon it was only to cater for all the foreigners in the city... there's about six of us all together. Every second shop has a santa poster and some other decorations. The question is really what to do on Christmas day as life goes on as usual. I had to teach for four hours in the morning at the Business College.

The Chinese do have some customs that go together with Christmas. One of these customs for instance is the giving of apples. Mmm... i didn't know what this was either until my class explained to me. I was given apples since i walked into the class. I thought this was just them not being able to buy decent gifts, or they thought that i looked hungry, or that i needed to go on a diet!! Well, this is actually a wish of good luck. In China to give someone an apple means that they wish you a safe and peaceful life. Well, i can provide some of the war affected countries with apples now if need be. I also got a nice little Buddha statue from the whole class. It weighs about 10kgs, so not really made for my nomadic lifestyle. I know what will need to stay behind at the airport for my next trip.

The University arranged a meal for us in the evening at this beautiful expensive hotel. The room was laid out with the most expensive materials imaginable. Beautiful big couches on one side, a massive round table on the other side of the room to seat about 25 people, and a red carpet thicker than my mattress. The bathrooms? You feel to bad to pee in the toilets it's all so beautiful!!

So just before the meal we all sat around waiting for more people to arrive. Person after person walked into the room. Relaxing and making good use of the couches is what westerners do best. Then this tall Chinese man walked in, fitted out in black shoes with a big long black overcoat. It was like something out of the movie "Blade". The only difference was that this man was not a black Wesley Snipes. The room went quiet and all the Chinese people stood up. Us westerners for a couple of seconds sat there, and then gathered that this must be an important man. So, we got up. Well, it turned out to be the Vice-president of the University. Titles has never been my strong point, but when president is connected to the title i think it sounds important. He greeted us all in a "Ni hao" and a handshake and it was off to the dining table.

This is something that always happens to me, and i promise i never plan it!! I ended up sitting right next to the big man!! His English is non-existent, but we communicated by the use of hand gestures. I had to check myself on using those chopsticks cause he was very observant on that. The Chinese love their communal eating and combined with this goes a toast(salute, cheers). You find people walking around the table going from person to person, drinking, downing and toasting the night away. When they say the word "gumpay", this means to down. Needles to say we had a couple of those that night. As soon as your glass is empty, the waiter or Lifei or Carson is there to top-up. The beer flew freely and it just so happended that Jess went home with a little too much to drink. For such a big man he is quite a sissy when it comes to beer.

Me, the Vice-president and the Director

Overall, good food, good people and a great Christmas eve in China!

(Linfen, Shanxi Province, China)

Stay clear of a baby's rear

When i first arrived in this country there was something that caught my attention, but i thought the first time this happened i might have been mistaken. Then as this happened more often and as time went by, i realised this is the way things get done. Literally get done... if you know what i mean.

It happended like this:
I was walking past a shop, minding my own business, Ipod screaming in my ears when out of one of the shops on my right came this mom running with her child in her arms. In front of me was this flowerbed which this lady also now found in front of her. I can tell you one thing, if ever this was a boxing match, then i would have been sitting in the most expensive seat. Yes, ringside seats!! Those seats that when someone gets slammed against the head, droplets of blood makes their way onto your face. Too close for my liking! But here i was, caught between the traffic on my left, shops on my right, and the flowerbed now being turned into a dumping site by a young four year old squatter assisted by his mom. When i talk about the "squatter", i am not implying someone who illegally sets up tent at a random location. No, this is a different kind of squatting. This kind of squatting i would advise you to miss if at all possible! Yes, this young boy was sitting right in front of me taking a poo, and like i said, i had the best view. But this is the way they do it over here. Who said China doesn't have squatters? South Africa isn't the only country with squatting problems!!

Then you will say to me..."but how could you not get away quicker and avoid the whole(asshole) scene?" Well, people in China have very little money. They don't have money to buy diapers so the kids go without. You see, they have a better invention!! When you look at a small child's pants, you will notice that they have a massive big rip right down the middle back part of their pants. This is for quick exit purposes. No time to take your pants down, you just squat and the pants open by themselves. Does that explain me being caught in the action??

Here is another example:
You remember the one day that i sat in the bank for about two hours? Well, here is something that i didn't tell you about that day. While i was sitting on a couch a little boy entered with his mom. This boy was the "whole in the pants" age. He took a seat on the couch next to me to wait for his mom to finish her banking. This seemed to take very long, well it is a Chinese bank. But while i was sitting there on one couch, the boy on the one next to me, he decided to lean to the side. Unfortunately he didn't lean to my side but to the other side. And there it was.... his whole ass hung out of his pants!! The more i tried to look away, the more his ass stared me right in the face. You know those moments when you know you have to look away, but it is as if gravity just pulls you towards this unwanted view?? Well, there i was, staring at the ass and it staring back at me. The only thought that went through my head was "I would like to know who sat on my seat before i arrived... or maybe not".

Last but not least, you never know what you might step into on the street. My good friend Joel, a fellow foreign teacher had the privilege once of stepping into baby poo. His words were more like: "Man!! I stepped into baby shit!!!"

(Linfen, Shanxi Province, China)

Buy this one... how about this one?

I feel so rude that I haven’t introduced my foreign friends to you yet. These are two guys, one is from Canada and the other one is from America and they are both English teachers. We have been doing quite a couple of things together. Things like eating strange food, visiting interesting shops and using public toilets. Yes I had to use a public toilet a couple of times, but you will be relieved to know that it was all number ones. I have not squatted on one of those babies yet. The thought of some unknown guy dropping his pants right next to me, getting into position, this is an experience that will need to wait until I find that special friend who would like to share it with me. Me and these friends don’t have that relationship yet. I think they will both agree!!

The two friends are Jess, and Joel. Jess is from Canada. He is around 1,90m tall and weighs in at about 115-120kg (All depends on how much chicken popcorn we eat). Joel is from America. Joel on the other hand is a little shorter than your local Chinese and likes swearing. This is truly a scene when we all decide to go into the streets of Linfen together. You have people staring out their shops, constantly walking out of their shops and some almost making accidents to see this phenomenon. Joel decided that he wanted to buy himself a freestyle bmx, partly to do stunts, but I also think to make up for some of his shortcomings. He would look pretty big on a small bmx made for a 9year old.

Assisting us today in the purchase of this bike is another Chinese friend whose name is Carson. Carson is a great guy and he is officially in charge to help with everything that the foreign teachers need to purchase. From jocks, to water, to Wii’s to televisions, anything you can think off. He is also the man with the contacts and knows where to find the good deals. Today he finds himself in the position of the haggler. He is the only one that can say more than the local “Ni hao”. The other two boys aren’t too bad when it comes to speaking Chinese. They both have Chinese girlfriends and seem to learn a thing or two from them.

After running in and out of a couple of bike stores we eventually find what we are after. It is a big shop with a lot of variety. The shop owner’s son starts showing Joel around. Carson haggling at the best of his ability. The shop owner has turned into the local paparazzi and me and Jess duck and dive to stay out of the camera lens. We look like two convicts ready for trial, hoodies and all. After some bargaining and pointing Joel decides to take a bike for a test drive. Outside the shop, groups of people start gathering around to see this white man do some tricks. Did I mention that Joel hasn’t been on one of those bikes for about ten years? I decided to get the focus off me and made my way to the back of the group. After Joel tried his luck with no results, it was Jess who took on the challenge. “Man, am I glad there’s no attention on me”. I don't know who was more embarrassed, the two idiots on the bike, or me... for the two idiots on the bike??

Remind me not to go bike shopping with those two again!! The shop owner on the other hand was ecstatic about his clientele. He even took a couple of group photos with all us boys and his sons. This one will go on his wall saying, “The day we had a good laugh at those whities… and the shy one in the back”. You can call it shy… but I will call it smart!!

(Linfen, Shanxi Province, China)