100 Happy Hotel Suzhou

... bus and we took an hour and a half bus ride to Suzhou. Most of us in the group had never heard of Suzhou, but it has been around for a while. In fact, it was founded over 2500 years ago! Marco Polo visited here and called it the Venice of the East. The Grand Canal, which at over 1100 miles is the longest canal in the world, runs past Suzhou and connects to the moat around the old city of Suzhou. Suzhou is considered a small city, since it ...

... has changed through the years. We finally pass by the giant statue of Mao guarding over the school entrance as we pedal through the gates. Every morning we look forward to our bike ride down this fascinating stretch of road. A few weeks ago, as we were riding along taking it all in, we agreed that we had to give the street a name. Sesame Street seemed like the perfect fit. A bustling, teeming, energetic and happy place.

... we find a group practising Tai Chi. It is so graceful and they make it look so easy although I am sure it is not. There are more fish ponds, walkways, pavilions, seats and picnickers. The sound of more music leads us to an outdoor version of Strictly Come Dancing. OK, maybe not, but the dancers are extremely proficient at the nifty foot-work. From what we can see anyone can join in but we decide that we might need longer to learn the steps ...

... pretty relaxed time. I now wonder how we manage to wolf down our lunches in Canada. When I come back to Canada having two hour lunches is going to one of the things I'm really going to miss. <br><br>At 1:30, it's back to class. School ends at 3:25pm. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we do clubs with the students. Right now I'm doing a card playing club and Lois has a drama club. <br><br>The students here are pretty awesome to teach. There are zero discipline ...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!! I'm dressing up *s * pir*te / cr*cked out gypsy loh*n, it's pretty legend*ry. Tonight were going to Pulp Fiction, who *re ridiculously nice *nd giving free beer to everyone who is dressed up. It should get f*irly rowdy. App*rently none of the chinese dress up so it's b*sic*lly drunk exp*ts flooding b*r street cre*ting *ll sorts of shen*n****ns. <br>H*ve *n *wesome h*lloween!!! <br>-B

... money returned... it all happened right under the bright neon lights of the MASASAGE sign (no spelling error)... it is amusing to see some of the misspellings and English errors. I can't believe it is almost time to say goodbye to my new friends and head to Japan. Today was the first time I felt the pang of missing home... a rarity indeed for me but there none the less. I guess that means I'll be seeing you all soon. Hope all is well. Much love from China.

... to embrace the arts (primarily visual and aural) as the optimum teaching tools. This will forever remain the universal language - for what human being does not respond to a display of passion? One never does know how humbling an experience will be until she throws herself into the epicenter. *clears throat* I start Wednesday.

Tong Li is about 25 km southeast of Suzhou. This village, entry 100 RMB for non residencies, is quite good preserved. And not every window offers the usual souvenier ****, but has a real family living behind. We visited some courtyard houses, wandered through the village along the canals and ...

... some songs in English and some in Chinese. The pastor, or "senior elder" as he was called, was American and he had a Chinese translator. It was a very modern service, with rock-ish music, lights and such...an interesting experience. Anyway, we spent the afternoon at the Summer Palace where Cixi lived. It's a really beautiful place built along a lake, and we had a little boat ride to enjoy the day. Later that evening we caught a train to Suzhou, where we arrived 12 hours later. I'm ...

... that draw people to great world cities and furthermore to finance, icons of wealth creation, beacons of innovation. The Jian Mao Tower is the 4th largest building in the world, the tallest when it was first completed, and we had to climb. Reaching the 150th and top floor with dozens of other tourists in search of dusk cityscapes, we peered out of the windows; the view was breathtaking as lights began to flicker on the huge HSBC tower and its peers, day turning to night. Whilst in ...