Tang Qiao Hotel Zhangjiagang

... with your girlfriend/boyfriend
Just everything produced in your home town is “very famous in China”
You don’t do any favors without wondering what your personal benefit could be
You never ask “Why?” anymore.
You go back to your country and spit bones on the table at a restaurant.
You understand all the above listed references."

*gulp* yep, i understand them all. even if i haven't started most of them, i'm doing enough to be scared. :S

... 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 ...

so it's official. i have less than a month in china now. and not surprising, it's beginning to affect my sleep. i woke up this morning at 7. my first class isn't until 1 p.m. so why was i up so early? because of stress and anxiety. despite my better intentions, i always procrastinate til the last minute to do everything. preparing for home hasn't been an exception.

i finally bought the final leg of my trip today. from nyc to nola on 11/17. so i'll be in ny for a week hanging out ...

so jason and lillian came over to wuxi on 9/30. they leave tomorrow. in the 7 days that they've been here, we've:

- gone to the best wedding i've been to in my life. read previous entry for further info: (http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-e ntries/maymay1980/wuxi_2007-08/12548069 49/tpod.html) very entertaining and honestly the only thing missing from the spectacle was for them to be on ice OR for them to fly in from the ceiling- peter pan style. that would have been ...

... rencontré beaucoup de gens. Et surtout un sculpteur qui travaille cet art chinois très ancien (à ma connaissance uniqueau monde dans sa formulation tout au moins) la sculpture de racine. Cela consiste à prendre des racines tortueuses, les débarasser de l'écorce et trouver une forme signifiante en sculptant une infime partie de la racine 1/5 du total au maximum. Cela donne souvent des oeuvres fantastiques ou la nature dépasse l'imagination.

email from my brother today:

House got robbed in New Orleans! Give MOM, DAD a call ASAP & me. Love U!

called mom. i couldn't really understand her from all the crying. she was so distraught, it was mostly sobbing on the phone. i have never heard her like this before. usually, she's the epitome of calm during any type of accident or disaster ...

... station by our friend Barry Bao who had arranged and delivered us to our apartment in the ‘heart’ of Shanghai. I chuckle when I say ‘heart’ because with Shanghai’s 20 + million residents I think you would think anywhere would be the heart!

We spent one day at the museum and bookstore and another at the Barbie Temple (six story building of everything Barbie) and double decker city bus tour.

... sticks his head into my office and says "it's time for some lunch". The lunch is rice with something, prepared on site by our chef. I like this food, it's simple, we get a bowl of rice each and there are a few bowls on the table with different things in them. I normally do not eat all the dices served. I'm a bit picky with too much fat on the meat and things like chicken feet etc. This day there was a mix of green beans, potatoes and garlic in one of the bows, I ...

... saw one class, ballet. The children were so precious. The teacher gave instructions in Chinese, and the little girls did simple exercises. One little girl in the back (there's always one who's clueless) looked like she was going to cry the whole time. One little girl in the front wasn't as limber as the others, so she tried and just never quite got into the positions. Two other little girls in the front were obviously stars, every move ...

Today is Tuesday December 14th and it's around 6 p.m. as we write this (Gino is narrating and Tobi is typing). Mmmmm...dumplings...aaaggghhhh.... Friday night the hostel hosted a dumpling party. A large table was set up in the restaurant for the mass production of delicious Chinese dumplings. Guests were able to take part in the creation of these wonderful morsels. Gino became quite a pro. His skill, no doubt, was inherited from Noni (his grandmother). Not only were we able to make ...