马鞍山和上海画风太不一样，我六岁的混血儿子L.J.在田里玩疯了！

Maanshan is so different from Shanghai. Here is my six-year-old hunxueerson L.J. in the fields. He loves it!

隔天气温是上升了，但我跟二叔掰腕子又杯具了，输了20块钱。

The weather warmed up on my second day, but I quickly lost 20 RMB challenging my uncle to an arm wrestling match. 

这间小屋就是我老婆诞生的地方，现在已经改建成了厨房。屋里没通自来水，要想喝点水还得去井里打水来烧。

This is the little room, now converted to the family kitchen, where my wife was born. The house does not have running water, so we pump water from the well and boil it before drinking.

岳母能在这个小小的厨房里变出好多美味佳肴。我是素食主义者，她有点看不下去。其实我从1998年起就没吃过肉。当年我去广州亲眼目睹了菜场里满是待宰的猫、狗、蛇，居然还有孔雀，于是我就决定放下屠刀不再吃肉了。所以，今年春节，我在安徽吃了好多豆制品。

My mother-in-law cooks up some awesome dishes in that kitchen. She thinks my vegetarian diet is a little weird. I haven’t eaten meat since 1998, when I visited the Guangzhou open-air market – full of dogs, cats, snakes and even peacocks butchered on demand. I can’t support killing animals to eat. Plenty of tofu for me this Chinese new year!

我儿子学会了炒米。炒过的小米泡在热水里再加点糖可以当早饭吃，味道有点像我们美国的爆米花麦片。

My son learned how to cook chaomi which is different from dami. For breakfast, we eat the toasted xiaomi in hot water with sugar, something like the American Rice Krispies cereal.

这是咱村的露天厕所，设计简约，通风好，功能性强。

Here is the outhouse for going to the toilet 

我岳父带我们去看了他引以为傲的西兰花田。几年前来还能看到耕地的老水牛，如今都改用大棚了。讲真，眼睁睁看着老水牛下岗还真有点舍不得。

My father-in-law took my six-year old son and me to see his pride-and-joy broccoli crops. The fields he used to till with water buffalo in past visits are now converted to greenhouses. It’s a little sad to see industrial agriculture replace the old customs.

儿子觉得在李家祠堂烧纸超好玩。

My son loved burning money at the Li family temple. 

这才叫真爱！

That’s real love!

作者姓名：David Turchetti

Full Name: David Turchetti

国籍：美国波士顿

Country: Boston, U.S.