People in our neighbourhood: the corn roasters

 This man has been located on the street behind our residence (from now on called our alley) since we arrived in mid August.  He is at work every day from around 7 am to 9 pm. There are people everywhere here with piles of corn spread on the sidewalk. One or two are busy husking corn and there are always people buying bags of this wonderful food. Most of the vendors have small charcoal braziers. Roasted corn on a stick is a popular street food and it is very common to see shoppers and walkers munching away as they walk.  Corn cobs in plastic bags litter the street, but never for long.  By sunrise each day the sweeper teams with brooms made of twigs have cleared away the mess.

The picture shows have a specialized roaster with slots for individual cobs of corn. It can also be used for sweet potatoes; the child in the stroller was sucking on what looked like an orange popsicle but was actually one of these sweet potato treats.

Infants, toddlers and children of pre school age are often with their grandparents, toddling around our sports field, being carried or pushed in strollers. They are always greeted with the smiles and joy that are shown in the picture.  Slightly older children are often encouraged to wave at the foreigners and say "Hello." (Even they giggle at our attempts to say "Nihao.")