Laundry, Crabs, and Grapes

Friday night I decided it was time to tackle laundry. I have a new washing machine in my apartment, and the only instruction I was given was to move it into the bathroom when I wanted to use it. So, I opened to the lid and found a variety of parts and instructions NOT in English. I managed to screw a grate on the bottom (no screwdriver, I used a table knife), attach the water hose to the faucet, and the drainage hose to the drain in the floor (once again, no screwdriver). I have to say it was one of the proudest moments in my life when I started the first load and NOTHING leaked and EVERYTHING worked as it was intended. Amazing. The only thing missing from the instruction sheet was the happy woman with the laundry basket.

On Saturday we went to Hangu District to pick grapes and catch crabs (see map of Tianjin) . What a lot of fun we had. This trip was planned in coordination with the influenza conference on Friday. There were 2 buses full, about 100 people, on the trip. It took about 1 1/2 hours to reach our first destination. It was a place to catch crabs. We sat around a pond dangling pieces of pork in the water. When the crabs started to eat, we caught them in a net. It was somewhat difficult to pull the line up, scoop a gyrating crab into a small net, and not fall in the pond all at the same time. I think I caught about 8 crabs (see picture) although I threw them all back. After lunch we went to a vineyard to pick grapes. They were delicious! I paid 12 yuan (less than $2) for about 8 bunches of grapes. A fun day out in rural Tianjin. Tomorrow I have been invited to a wedding!