Nanya Suzhou

The day began very early; 4:30 am. We headed to the airport and took off for Shanghai. Denise and I weren't so sure that this part of the trip would be anything too great. After all, we hadn&#8217;t really heard of any of the places we would be going in Shanghai. It certainly didn&#8217;t have the ring to it that the Great Wall and Forbidden Palace did.<br><br>We arrived in Shanghai and were met by our new tour guide, Joe. Joe helped us to ...

Our school day begins early at 7:30am. It takes us about 15 minutes to ride to school. The last kilometer of our morning bike commute takes us down a wonderful neighborhood street we have come to know as Sesame Street. Each morning and afternoon, as we ride to and from school, we watch in wonder as the people of the neighborhood go about their everyday lives on the street. Sesame Street is a narrow 2-lane street. On ...

Suzhou<br><br><br><br>It is gloriously warm in Suzhou as we make our way to the central park. We find ourselves in "pet shop alley". I am tickled by a minah bird outside a shop which greets us with &#8220;Ni hao&#8221;, We understand the &#8221;Hello,&#8221; but unfortunately can't follow the rest of the bird&#8217;s chat. We meander past the fish tanks and flower sellers but then, unfortunately, our route takes us out of the pedestrian area ...

... BC school. Probably 85% are from China and the rest are from Korea and Taiwan. This is the second year of operation for the BC school. 95% of the students (Chinese school and BC school) live on campus during the week and then go home on weekends. Tuition for the Chinese students is 2000RMB for the year (about $300CAN). Tuition for the BC students is 80000RMB for the year (about $12000CAN). The goal of all of the BC students, and the reason they come ...

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

... different dishes are brought out for us to share. Sometimes our dinner plates are about 4" across, other times a whopping 6". We are indulged with 2 -5 oz gflasses of beer per meal. YEstrday, we had stir fry of tomatoes and scrambled eggs at every meal. lots of egg plant, greens like bok choy, everything pretty tasty. our tour leder has been giving us the history of her life thru the Cultural Revolution ...

... she was wearing a shirt that said "Guaranteed %100 Pennsylvania. AMAZING. My class has one Japanese student one German student and the rest are Korean; who apparently do not have the same classroom etiquette. Cell phones went off consistently, they yelled across the room to each other and just got up and left the classroom. It was quite strange. Anyway, now that my first class is taken care of and I have found my coffee shop I am feeling much more at home! YAYAYAYAY! Much love Kait

... here really don't understand the word patience or have even been taught how to wait for the person before them. <br> <br>I then decided to sit and watch how the tour groups interact with each other with the above in mind. It really is an amazing thing to observe. They just push and shove and race here and there in front of each other not worrying ...

... canal smell, which I was slightly concerned about before coming. I am, after all, in China, where those smells exist in the absence of canals. Do you know what's better than walking along canals? That's right. Cycling along canals. Brilliant. But let's start with my bike. Now, I've had some pretty dodgy bikes in China - from the average average bike that left me stranded in the middle of Beijing to the random pink bike featured in pictures in Yangshuo ...

... qui defie les lois de la flottaison (ca flotte la rouille ?). Quand on marche sur le pont ou dans les cabines, on sent la tole qui se deforme sous nos pieds et se redresse apres notre passage en faisant un "ggooooooooonngg" tres sonore. Des machines emanent regulierement des grands bruits de ferraille... Enfin j'etais sur un ferry, il semble que les bateaux touristiques ou se reunissent les occidentaux soient d'une autre gamme (y'en a meme un avec du faux bois et des gueules de dragons ...