What does the Great Wall of China Have in Common with Supermarket Swivel Chairs at Checkout?

Guard Tower, Great Wall, Simatai, China © 2017

When I was sitting at this sentry gate at the Great Wall last Summer with our school group - I first thought about the many soldiers who had to man their posts at these gates. Then I thought about swivel chairs (which I will explain in a bit).

The wall is dotted with guard towers like this one in the Simatai portion of the Great Wall north of Beijing. How did the soldiers get up here - what was the supply line like when they had to stand guard and maybe were hungry? How many men or women had to stand guard here? What whispers were spoken? What tragedy was befallen?

I am also sad that Airbnb canceled its prize of a night at the Great Wall. It was a thing, and now it's not.

I am then reminded of today's workers who have to endure jobs where you stand in one place for like eight hours. It boggles the mind that in the United States grocery store clerks have to stand at their posts. Wouldn't it be a great idea if we gave workers at our grocery stores sleek work chairs that swivel?

In German and Belgian supermarkets, clerks use ergonomic swivel chairs.

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Tempus Fugit - Photograph of a Green Landscape in Jingdezhen, China

Jingdezhen, China

Image source: Patrick X. Liu

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Transcript of a Dream (from Beijing)

In my dreams, I heard the thumping of feet and I thought it was the sound of my feckless roommate thumping towards the bathroom to puke but it wasn't my roommate thumping.

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Take a Ride on the Nanjing Metro: A Photograph of "Happy" & "Forlorn"

A photographic selfie of that time Amira Booth-Soifer and Greig Roselli navigated the Nanjing metro system.

Without a guide, we navigated Nanjing's subterranean transport system.

Amira and Greig on the Nanjing metro (ca. 2017)

Logo for the Nanjing Metro

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That Time I Arrived in Beijing to Begin a Six City Tour of China

Grill work from a door 

in the Forbidden City in Beijing.

In the Summer of 2017, we took a month-long tour of China. Here is the first post of that journey:

I feel relieved and at peace today.

It's been four days since we landed in La Guardia after a twenty-one day, six-city tour of China.

Coming home on the Sunday before the Fourth of July, we first landed in Detroit, went through
immigration retrieved our luggage and grabbed our connecting flight home.

Monday was the Fourth of July. You'd think I
would've been journey-weary; but, I scooped up
whatever energy I had left and watched Macy's fireworks on the East River with my age-old buddy Anthony Charles who was in town for work.

I hadn't sorted through all the photographs we'd taken, ticket stubs, leftover RMB notes, and select tchotchkes bought and packed, but sitting in the park before the fireworks started, I told Tony about our trip.

Self-Portrait at the Simatai Portion of the Great Wall of China: Photo Post

It was friggin' hot that day ... just saying (at the Great Wall at Simatai in China).

Squinting at the Great Wall of China 🇨🇳.
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