Gloria Plaza Suzhou

... talking/arguing/convincing, she finally told me rationale behind it. apparently the accountant thinks that e-tickets/receipts can be used more than once but a boarding pass is only good once.

so i hurried back home, desperate to find any boarding passes. boarding passes are usually the first things i throw away when i'm traveling. when do you ever need it after you travel??? at all the previous places i've worked at, an e-ticket is more ...

... jimmy. i've been excited for that. would be nice to see him after almost a year. sure i saw him in feb that seems like a lifetime ago. so much has happened. like both of us agreeing to move back home within the year. he said he'll be back by the summer of '10. i know a lot of people in nola that's going to be happy about that. it's awesome that i'll be getting most of my friends back when i get back. (jason and lil also said that they'll be back in jan.)

but i am worried ...

... refreshing experience in my opinion. I mean, most years i do the routine two family dinners, both a little boring and containing not near enough booze to get me through happy and content. Also you could never play a decent game of Trevors Ass at a family dinner haha. Trev i'm hoping you'll read this because then at least one person will get my joke! But anyways, great night, great company, and great laughs =). 
Happy turkey eating!
-B

... out. The items on display were of incredible quality and the prices were not bad either. I bought a couple of scarves there. I was really impressed by it. Nobody pushed sales on visitors. They just let them wander around by themselves and if they did have a question, there was always somebody eager to answer them. The factory produced silk quilts and pillows, clothing, embroidery ...

... is now. The garden is separated into three principal parts, east, central and west. The eastern section has colourful flowers but is of less interest than the other two.

We enjoyed a cruise on the one thousand year old Grand Canal then went to an embroidery workshop and had lunch at a nearby restaurant.

That night we took a taxi to a shopping area and checked out the local shops, found a KFC and had a burger for tea.

... from Shanghai and known as a garden city. The traffic is horrendous and road rules are very limited, there are push bikes, motor bikes and scooters everywhere, helmets not worn and even the babies are taken on the bikes and held by a parent. Enjoyed a walk along the street dodging the bikes parked on the footpaths and taking our lives in our hands when we crossed the road, even when it's on a crossing with the green light.

... the trap of being a permanent outsider in China), I was lucky to be able to accept my friend's invitation to spend this New Year with her family. The day before the Eve, we went to my friend's husband's family's house. There were about 10 of us total. Before the main meal - always the focal point of an event - a small, square table was laid with seven dishes (there must be an odd number of dishes) all facing north and behind two candles and three sticks of incense. Everyone took it in ...

... busy. Upon arrival at the station, we realized I had forgotten to purchase the tickets while at the hotel. That is when Xia sprang into action. The next thing I knew, we had tickets, a porter for our bags and were able to bypass the entire waiting room for immediate and priority boarding of the train. Without him, we may still be in the train station! Thanks Xia...... The train was very comfortable and the ride smooth as we journeyed 1.5 hours through ...

... students come study Chinese language and culture next year. We were impressed with the campus and facilities. The University was started in the early twentieth century by American missionaries. Some of the orginal buildings remain. Check out some of the photos I have posted.

... relaxed apart from the bolt-upgright chairs...Think we may have died had it not been for that (somewhat non-backpacker-practical) machine. The only English channel is best described as benign. By the look of the other channels, it is actually less controversial than the Chinese channels. So we now have about a 50 DVD library, at about $1 a DVD... Now we've just got ...