Pair-of-Pants Update: Inseam Finished, Construction of Zipper Begins

The "Pair-of-Pants" is a new building under construction just across the street and down the block from us.  It's been mentioned several times in past postings.  When we first arrived, it was no more that a couple of stubs up to the ankles.  Construction had stopped (and had been stopped for a long while) due to some funding issues.  It restarted again May of 2011, or thereabouts.

Last Summer and Autumn, they hit the construction really hard.  The building rose two or three stories higher each week. It appeared that the work was 24 x 7, and late at night you could see the flickers of the welding torches from up in the girders.  Well before dawn of each day, the trucks would bring in the steel to keep the cranes occupied.

Some time early this year, the two towers finally came together and were joined by a single strip of steel.  Then progress suddenly stopped.  Amongst the English speakers, a rumor spread that someone with a Chinese girlfriend had seen on the local news a report that the Northern tower was suffering from an unstable foundation.  Heavy rains in combination with landscaping changes in the neighboring field, the story goes, had caused the tower to shift out of alignment.   Furthermore, the engineers had decided to tie the buildings together early so that the South Tower would keep the North Tower from moving anymore. 

I have trouble believing that story.  If there are really foundation problems, then a few steel beams seem like no match for the force of gravity.  There may be some nuggets of truth, though.  Building two towers and having them meet with precision so high above the ground has got to be tricky business.  The wind must make the structures sway.  Or maybe somebody screwed up and got things misaligned.  But it could just as easily be caused by more funding problems.  Or it could be that all the construction workers left for Chinese New Year and didn't come back for six weeks.

Regardless, the structures are now joined.  The inseam measures in the hundreds of feet.  The crotch has been stitched.  From now on, it's all zipper and pockets to go.  Construction has resumed again, though slowly.  Expect more updates when they get to the belt loops and waistband.

For the investors, the end must be in sight because they are advertising like crazy to sell floorspace.  The photo above shows the big sign that is high up on the North face of the North tower.  The Chinese characters spell the name of the building; "DongFangZhiMen" - the Gateway to the East.  The soft white glow from this advertisement floods through our apartment windows like the light of a full moon.  Every night.  All night.  Theresa's friends now refer to it as "Theresa's Nightlight", because she has complained commented so much about it.

Above you see a billboard posted outside the construction site.  More advertising.  It illustrates what the complex is supposed to look like when finished.  In it, you can see the Pair-of-Pants dwarfed by two yet-to-be-built towers.  I don't expect to be around here when the steel of those two buildings reaches full height

The Biggest Store We've Ever Seen

Maybe I've mentioned the Auchan store in Suzhou....and maybe not.  In any case, it deserves a posting all its own.

Auchan is a supermarket chain from France.  When we lived in Strasbourg, the local Auchan was Theresa's favorite place to hang out.  The Auchan stores in France are comparable to a Super-Target or an upscale Super-Walmart.  Big, brightly lit, good prices, and everything you could ever want.  I think the Auchan was the biggest supermarket in Strasbourg.  Actually, the store was located in Illkirch-Graffenstaden.  And actually, Auchan calls its stores "Hyper-Markets" instead of supermarkets.

Turns out, Suzhou has an Auchan Hypermarket. When we arrived to Suzhou, all the wise old-timers told us to go to the Auchan...but never go on the week-end.  Thinking that nothing can be that bad, Theresa and I decided one Saturday to go see for ourselves.

It is the biggest store I have ever seen in my life.  I am not fibbing or stretching the truth.

Biggest.  Store.  Ever.

We've been going there, off and on, over the past year now.   These photos were shot from my cell phone just before the Chinese New Year holiday.  Unfortunately, the photos don't provide a lot of depth perception.  (The hanging lanterns and banners don't help either).  The top photo shows a sea of people going back as far as the eye can see.  The photo below shows the line-up at the checkout counters.  You should be able to easily see the sign marking checkout lane #79, just left of center.  There are 110 checkout lanes in total.  On this day and most week-ends, all 110 registers are open.

I've been trying for a while to find some hard statistics regarding the size of this store.  I haven't had a lot of success, but here is what I've found.  (Remember, you can't trust the Internet!)

• Auchan opened it's first hypermarket in China in 1999.  It now has over 100.
• Suzhou's Auchan is the largest of the Auchans in China.
• It is the second-largest Auchan in the world.  (I would hate to see #1)
• The floor space is around 15,000 square meters.  (about 3.7 acres)
• The store averages 25,000 customers per week day, 30,000 per week-end day, and can hit 60,000 per day in holiday periods.

Note that the customer figures above were from a document written in 2004.  I suppose traffic might have gone downward, but I really doubt it.  Especially when you consider the population of Suzhou has probably doubled (or more) since then. By my math, the photo above shows an average of 10 people waiting at each of 110 checkout lines.  That's 1100 people just in that little section of the store.  And you could barely move through the aisles in the normal shopping areas because of the crowds.

Even though the brand is French, Auchan caters to the local tastes and is the most popular shopping place amongst the Chinese people that I know.  If you walk through the electronics or the clothing departments, you might not be able to tell that you are in China.  Once you get to the grocery, however, you will know immediately you are not in Kansas anymore.  You will see (and smell) dried-salted-chickens, dried fish, live fish, live frogs, live turtles, fried duck, and just about every part of the pig you can think of.

Not much cheese to be found, though.  That was the great thing about the Auchan's in France - the cheeses would cover two or three full aisles.  In the Suzhou Auchan, the cheese aisle barely stretches 4 or 5 feet.

The Subway Opens

 For most of our time in Suzhou, the city has been torn up due to construction of the subway.  The trip into Old Suzhou was a 30 to 40 minute taxi-driven ordeal of congested traffic and honking horns.  Most of the East-West main road had been narrowed by half to make way for the construction. Sidewalks were torn up and everything was covered with concrete dust or blocked off by construction barricade walls.

In March and April, though, things began to change a bit.  Most of the main roads suddenly were made whole again, almost overnight.  In other areas, the construction barricades came down and revealed new public spaces shopping areas.  And every four or five blocks, there appeared a pile of curved steel which was destined to become a subway entrance.

 The first line of the Suzhou Subway officially opened on May 1.   We were still in Indiana, wrapping up our visit after Amanda's and Dave's wedding.  When I got back the week following, Suzhou was operating as if it had never been without underground transport.  The trip to downtown is now only 10 or 15 minutes.  Above ground, the buses are a bit less crowded and taxis are now almost plentiful.

 The top photo shows the subway entrance which is closest to our apartment - about a 5 minute walk.  Our station is named "DongFangZhiMen", which translates into "Gateway to the Orient".   It takes its name from the large skyscraper that is being built directly above the station. (a.k.a. the "pair of pants" building)

The second photo shows the view from the platform.  The design and equipage of the station is almost identical to the Shanghai Metro System.   Passengers are separated from the tracks by glass walls.  The walls have sliding doors which align perfectly to the doors of the train.  Both sets of doors open when the train arrives, allowing passengers to get in and out.  It's not as charming as the old, open subway tunnels of Japan and Paris and Madrid.  But it cuts down on the number suicides and other accidents.  Also helps with the air conditioning, I suppose.

There is also English.  All the signage is in both Chinese and English.  The station names are written in both English and traditional Chinese characters.  All announcements - whether in the station or on the train - are made first in Chinese and then in English.  This makes the subway the first and only mode of public transport in Suzhou to accommodate non-Chinese speakers. It may not be as adventurous as taking the bus or a taxi, but sometimes you don't want any more adventure than necessary.

 Not everything is in English, though.  There are tons of video terminals in the stations and on the trains.  These terminals stream what appear to be public education cartoons - all in Chinese.  Even if you don't speak the language you can still figure them out.  Don't throw trash on the train.  Give up your seats to the older and disabled.  Don't play loud music.  Don't light fireworks on the train. Don't get stuck in the doors when they close.

It's all about WenMing or 文明.  Google translate and most dictionaries translate this as "civilization" or "culture".  In China, you see it all over the place and almost always in a context that means "proper behavior".  On the roads, you see signs that remind drivers to be "WenMing" and not to speed or run over pedestrians.  If you enter a park, you might see a sign that encourages people to be "WenMing" and then reminds them not to be rude to others or to spit or to urinate in the bushes.  Good WenMing makes for good neighbors.

Our Baby Girl Gets Married

 Dave and Amanda's wedding was on April 29, near Baltimore.  They chose a beautiful location - a Japanese style garden in one of the local parks.

 There was a wooden pavilion in the middle of the garden, surrounded by lakes and gorgeous landscapes.

 Amanda had selected her wedding date in hopes of catching the peak of the cherry-blossoms.  Unfortunately, the warm spring weather caused the cherry blossoms to come and go much earlier than normal this year.  Regardless, it was still a beautiful site with colors and blossoms and gurgling waters.

 Below are Amanda's aunt Eileen and niece Kali.  Kali was the flower girl.  She made the 10 hour drive to Baltimore with Theresa and me, and she was the most well-behaved child I've ever seen on such a trip.  Never complained and never through a tantrum.  She was better behaved than I was.

 Below are Dave and Raiden and Dave's Father Bill.

 You can see the girls awaiting the arrival of the bride.

 ...and finally the bride arrives.

 All-in-all, it was a beautiful wedding.  The weather and the geese tried for a bit to disrupt the ceremony.  But even they could not dim the bright, beautiful day.

Spring Time

 Spring time in Suzhou has come and gone.  Let me catch you up on a few of the highlights, since it's been three months or so since my last confession.

Compared to last year, the spring of 2012 was relatively nice in Suzhou.  While the U.S.A. was suffering through an abnormally hot spring, the rest of the world....including China...was cooler than average.  The high temperatures temperatures stayed in the 30s and 40s for most of February and hovered in the 40s and 50s for most of March and April.  And it was dry.  It rained a bit, but not nearly as much as in the Spring of 2011.

 Zapata's threw a Mardi Gras party on this year's "Fat Tuesday".  February 21 was the date, I believe.  Costumes were encouraged.  Milton, the owner, splurged this year and had a local tailor make him a copy of Prince William's wedding uniform.  Theresa splurged and bought a mask down on wedding street.

 In the photo above, Theresa is sharing a Margarita with Michelle Zwick, who came to Suzhou late last year with her husband Dave, who is looking on at left.  (Dave, by the way, is one of the many Caterpillar ex-pats stationed in Suzhou.  There must be 40 or 50 of them.  Many, like Dave and Michelle, came to China after finishing a 3 or 4 year tour of duty in Japan.)  Michelle was elected queen of the Mardi Gras party

 Amy Vangeloff and Mark Beeman came in early March for a work visit.  Amy and her husband Jim and Theresa and I go back 30 years - when we were all newly married kids living and working in Lafayette, Indiana.

 Theresa took Amy and Mark for the obligatory trip to the Pearl Market.  Of all the tourist stuff you can buy in Suzhou, I believe that pearls are the best deal.  You can pick up nice stuff for much, much cheaper than the U.S. or Europe.  If you know what you are looking for.  I normally don't.  But I've been told that you can tell a real pearl by rubbing it against the sharp edge of a front tooth.  If it is real, you will feel...almost hear... a high pitched vibration.  If it is fake, they say, it will produce no sensation at all.

 The reason pearls are a good deal is that a huge number are produced nearby.  Most of the land around Suzhou is only a few feet above sea level.  Scoop out a bit of dirt and you have yourself a lake.  The Chinese mastered aquaculture long, long ago for production of fish and frogs and other foodstuff.  So when the Japanese discovered how to culture freshwater pearls 100 years ago, it was only a matter of time before the Chinese overtook them.  Abundant natural resources and cheap labor are a formula that keep on winning for the Chinese.

 Above is a photo of a freshwater pearl farm.  It's not much to look at.  The busy stuff is going on underneath the water.

 In March, we also were visited by Tomoko Moriyama.  Moriyama-san and Theresa became best buddies during our visits to Kobe, Japan.  Unfortunately, she was only in town for a couple of days.

 After 3 months of winter, the flowers finally reappeared at the end of March.  The plum trees were the first to bloom.  Traditionally, the plum blossom is considered a winter flower whose appearance portends the coming of spring.  Shortly afterwards, the azaleas and magnolias began to bloom.  I'm not sure what the flower below is.  Perhaps someone out there can tell me......

Modern Michaelangelo

There are lots of street merchants over by the Suzhou Museum.  They sell tourist stuff, mostly.  They will carve you a stone "chop" with your name in Chinese.  Or they will sell you silk scarves, or lacquer jewelry, or pearls or T-shirts.  They look forward to the busloads of tourists that come filled with people in search of mementos to take home. 

In the cold weather, the tourists are more scarce.  The vendors still have to make a living, though.  They sit outside all day in the damp cold, clutching their hot water bottles and drinking gallons of hot tea. .

There is a sculptor, shown above, who is always camped out directly across from the main entrance to the museum.  He works in clay and appears, to my untrained eye, to be pretty good.  I first noticed him last summer.  He always had a line of young couples waiting.  The girlfriends would sit in the chair as the artist's model and the boyfriends would stare on lovingly and coo at them during the 20 or 30 minutes required for immortalization.  During the slow periods, he would crank out a bust of Barack Obama or Brad Pitt from a photo, just to show the passers-by that he was A-number-one quality.  After all, if he can make a good looking Obama from a passport-sized photo, then imagine what he can do with your true love in the flesh.

The photo above shows the sculptor in February.  On this particular day, it was damp and it was misting and it was about 35 degrees outside. (2 degrees if you're Celsius kind of person).  My fingers were numb and I had kept them in my pockets during the 30 minutes that I had been outside.  Yet he was sitting, bare-headed, with his fingers stuck in wet clay for the whole day.  Like the Lion in Winter, he was taking whatever prey that could be found on a cold, cold day.

In this particular case, his customer was a young man.  He payed for the artist to sculpt the bust of a young lady from a photograph on his cell phone.  I'd like to think it is his girlfriend away at university.  Or maybe a gift for his wife on their first anniversery.  Who knows.

But regardless, I think it is pretty amazing that this guy can sit out in the weather and make art from the images on a cell phone.

   

One Year and Counting

As of the 19th of February, it is one year that we are in Suzhou.  Over one year and one month as of today, the 26th of March.  Over a year without driving a car or fast internet or decent TV.  Over a year without seeing people who are very important to me.

Not much of note has happened since the last posting on February 26.  Sure, there were some trips to local tourist spots.  And there were some really good parties for Mardi Gras and Saint Pattrick's Day.  But these were not too much different than many of the other blog postings.  I have to face the truth....life in Suzhou during the first few months of 2012 has fallen into a rut.

The weather hasn't helped.  If 2012 has been the year without a winter in the U.S., it has been the year without a sun in China.  Cooler than normal.  More rain than normal.  When there are no clouds overhead, it is only because the clouds have descended to ground level and shrouded the world in fog.  Occasionally, the wind picks up and drives away the fog, but it also drives the rain like a sandblaster.  In the absence of the sun the world has no colors.  At least no bright colors.  The view from the window has looked like an old color TV with a failing picture tube.   

Also, things at work have been getting much more time-consuming.  We are in the busy phase of the project now - just weeks before we go-live.  Days are spent chasing problems and evenings are spent explaining the problems to folks in the U.S. over the phone.  Such is life.

But two days ago, the sun came out.  The temperatures got up into the sixties and the world regained it's colors.  So maybe...just maybe...there will be some more frequent updates now.