Happy Turkey Day!

Suzhou was very beautiful, however I didn't see as much as I had hoped. It was a rainy weekend, so we didn't want to visit as many gardens as there were to see. But we saw a couple and they were okay; because of the season there wasn't much to see other than the architecture and design of the gardens as all the flowers and trees are mostly dead. However, I had a great time hanging out with Alex. She is from the other city and it was nice to have girl talk since I am usually around only my male roommate. We stayed in a hostile that was near a couple of smaller canals. We had a great time walking up and down the canal side streets that still have that older Chinese architecture look to them.

Also, the vendors were very interesting, I mostly liked the food vendors! :) he he he! The city had great shopping to offer, as well as the numerous gardens, it was the perfect size for a weekend trip. Getting back to Nanjing was a whole other issue. We had only bought our tickets to get there because we didn't know when we would leave Sunday. So at about 10 in the morning Sunday we went to buy tickets and found that while many trains were going that direction, the next one with availability would be at 10 pm, not to mention that availability was standing room only. So, we were a little worried, because I had no choice but to get home Sunday as my classes begin bright and early Monday mornings. We found the long distance bus station and were very lucky. We arrived at 11:35 and I was able to make the 11:40 bus to Nanjing, Alex made the 11:50 bus to Wuxi. It was a very lucky day! We had had trouble with transportation during the weekend, which was why we walked to the bus station from the train station.

On the way, we saw a slightly different look at China then Nanjing affords. I live in the middle of the city and in general we don't have many beggars. Suzhou had what seemed like a million. The "worst" if you will was a little child with his mother, I assume she was his mother. She would tell him which people to go beg to. He was a little younger then the children I teach and he got in front of Alex and begged, and then he was trying to hold onto her arm while she was walking. I hate to admit it, but my first feeling was anger at the woman for using the child in such a manner, and thus I didn't want to give. Also, we've been told many of the children beggars are actually hired children, ones that have been stolen and are then used for this type of work; it was difficult to see.

Being our Thanksgiving week, it made me extremely thankful for having such a life as I lead and for all the opportunities I have been given. Also, I'm very thankful for my education and the education I am able to give to my children. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Eat lots of turkey for me, I'm not foreseeing a turkey feast this Thursday. I'm thinking hot pot in the street (basically soup where you choose the ingredients and they cook it right there and then).

Don't forget to look at my albums on Picassa, I've updated them with pics from Qixia Mtn. and Suzhou. Guess what, I'm even in some of them!!! The picture is from inside one of the gardens we visited.

My First Chinese Haircut!

Yeah, I finally got all those dead ends cut off. We communicated pretty smoothly. I was concerned at first because he washed my hair and then dried it. Well, my hair drys straight, but he got out a straightener and started straightening my straight hair! It took awhile, but when he was done he finally began cutting my hair, guess he wanted it really straight before starting. I indicated I wanted only a little off, and he nodded. At any rate, I have decent layers now, there is like a 4 inch difference between the shortest layer and the bottom of my hair. It looks good, I was just shocked at first to see so much hair cut off, I thought it was Spain all over again! I have noticed that those girls here with longer hair do have a lot of layers in it and usually bangs (I stopped him before he gave me bangs, it was a close one). The best part about the hair cut was, it was a little shop down an alley next to a huge fruit market. I only knew about it because my friend lives in the area. It was great, because it was a smaller shop and out of the way it was extremely in-expensive and the guy put a lot of effort and thought into the layers and wanted everything to be just the perfect length. He did a great job.

Other than hair adventures, nothing much has happened here. Oh, we did have a loss. Our bunny died! :( I woke up one morning and looked at the cage and the bunny was laying on its side all sprawled out. My roommate and I have decided to forgo getting another pet. My bike chain fell off today and I couldn't figure out ho to put it back on. In the city within a 100 yards there are usually at least 3-6 bicycle repair men. They are everywhere and really good. I had the fella fix the chain, which he did in a second so I felt kind of special, then I pointed to my brakes and he tightened them all up for me. The repairs are very cheap, only 1 kuai! I wasn't sure, but his partner didn't look happy that he only charged me 1 kuai, I don't know what that was about. To show you where my priorities lie, I spent 4 kuai on lunch (which was like a big tortilla rap thing and 5 pieces of bread stuff) and the 12 kuai on a smallish bag of Hershey Kisses! There are some things I just won't live with out, dark chocolate is definitely one of them. :)

I successfully bought a train ticket today. I am headed for Suzhou this weekend with my friend Alex. She has already booked the hostel and everything, I just have to show up. Suzhou has been called the Venice of China (I think Ive mentioned that before), anyway, I'll tell you all about it when I get back. And who knows, I might even post a picture or two (but don't get your hopes up!)

Heres a picture from Qixia Mountain. I went hiking there two weeks ago to see the red leaves of autumn. The temple is the main thing we took pictures of. This is where the Thousand Buddhas are. Here is one with me in front of the temple.