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Mal du Pays
Entry 19 of 22 | show all | print this entry |
This past weekend we traveled to the wonderful city of Nanjing, 2 hours west of Suzhou. It's smaller than Shanghai and Beijing, but still has a lot to offer in terms of history and culture, especially since it used to be the capital of China. Apparently the city planners/designers were inspired by European cities, so I picked up on elements of Paris (especially the tree-lined streets), which definitely added to its appeal. Our first stop was the Nanjing Massacre museum. Even though I wasn't too familiar with the Rape of Nanjing before this week, it was still really moving to see. They even had a section of ground where people had been buried alive, and their skeletons were still intact and on display with little tags saying whether they were men, women or children. After that we had the rest of the night free to discover the lights and busy streets of Nanjing.
Saturday morning we went to a park that had lots of historical sites, like the Sacred Path and Sun Yat Sen's mausoleum. I was more interested in walking around outside in perfect fall weather with colorful leaves falling down around us as the breeze blew. It reminded me of the park at the Versailles palace, and I remembered all those fall days walking around Versailles with baguettes in hand. It made me wonder if Chinese-esque things will ever trigger the same kind of homesickness in me for China. I'm already starting to feel desperate with my time here, like there's so many things I still want to see and do in Suzhou that the passing days won't let me fit in.
My warm and fuzzy travel high got a little dampened at lunch, where we were served a series of sketchy dishes, including duck blood, tofu in various consistencies and rolls filled with a nasty green substance. There were a couple items I liked, but I lost my appetite after the duck blood was served and the table conversation turned to medical horror stories. After that we went to Nanjing University for a visit and then had an awesome dinner where I had mussels and white wine! You probably think I eat western food all the time, but I really do eat Chinese food most of the time-and enjoy it! I just mention the western food more often because it's a nice treat and it reminds me of home. Sunday morning we visited a couple more places of historical interest and had a really good Thai lunch before heading back to Suzhou. I was kind of disappointed our time in Nanjing was so short, but I'm glad we had at least a weekend there.
We're still having fun being American at SuDa. Last night we had a French toast party on the balcony of our hallway. Dan got a little camping stove thing, so he made us an excellent meal (although he could only do one piece at a time, so we had to be patient as the smell of bread and cinnamon taunted our stomachs). We've also had a couple more birthdays this week, which means cake and going out to eat. Luckily it doesn't cost much to celebrate in China!
We have another field trip today, so I'm out for now...
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