Shanghai Part Two (April 4 to 6, 2013)

Hello all,

Got back last night from my trip to Shanghai with Maggie.  We had a three day holiday for QingMing (Tomb Sweeping) and we decided to spend it in Shanghai since Maggie had not yet had a chance to explore the city.  It was a great three days, seeing parts of the city that I hadn't in December and returning to a few of the same places.

April 4, 2013
Our train left Nanjing at 9:02am and we didn't fall asleep in the hostel until after 10pm. It was a great but long day.

Nanjing South Railway Station...the largest in Asia

So smart! Cleaning the floor with mops attached to scooters!

Going down to the platform.

Me at the Bund

Maggie's new friends.

The French Concession.

The restaurant 'More Than Toilet' - a very unique experience.

Toilet Seats!

Delicious Ice Cream in a squatter (toilets here in China) shaped bowl. 

Dan's Cafe all the way in China.

Very Cool Shop but definitely weird.

Tree lined road way in the residential area of Shanghai

I heard alot of children playing and wanted to check out this park as we walked by it.

Exercise equipment in the park - free to use.  Great Idea!

The Bund at night.

Stupid fog made the flash do weird things.

Every time we walked passed this hotel there were a bunch of people taking pictures of it.  We don't know why but we thought we'd join the group and take a picture of it as well. 

April 5, 2013

Oriental Pearl Tower...not much to see with this stupid cloud.

Elevated Pedestrian Walkway

The Best Pants Ever!!!

"Hello, Can we help you find something?"

East Nanjing Road - Pedestrian Street

DON'T BLINK!

People's Park in the Centre of Shanghai

Megatron outside an arcade on the way to the best burgers in Shanghai (and since I've arrived in China).

Angry Birds store in a mall...these hoodies really disturb me.

Crying Panda.

Creepy dolls.

Elevated Road at Night.

ATMs in Shanghai, individual booths to protect you and keep people from crowding you while you do your banking.

It locks!

April 6, 2013

Rolls Royce Wedding Car...followed by 3 Mercedes. I also saw a white Lamborghini but my camera wasn't fast enough.

Jade Buddha Temple

Maggie is too tall for China.

Still too tall.

I'm just the right height for China.

All of the paintings in the background were hand painted by this woman...no brush just her fingers and that black plate of paint.

Reclining Jade Buddha.  There is another Jade Buddha in this temple but you are not allowed to take pictures of it but I got a free postcard with an image of it so that's okay.

Lucky bell dragon...people would place money on the dragon and then rub it.

My name in Chinese!

Maggie's name in Chinese!

Art District of Shanghai

Graffiti artists on the outside of the Art District.

Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station

Nanjing Hash March 24

Hello all,

This past Sunday I participated in my second HASH here in Nanjing.  I'm finding that I enjoy it very much and I look forward to the next one in April. 
This month we had almost 30 people walking around one of the largest parks in Nanjing - known to the locals as Zhongshan Mountain (or Purple Mountain).  This time we went off the trail quite a bit more and got thoroughly lost a few times.  But we eventually made it to the restaurant which is located on a part of the Nanjing City Wall and serves German/Western food.  We had a delicious buffet where I had my first sausages since arriving in China (the ones the Chinese eat look like toy hot dogs and not like real food at all). 
I took a few pictures, not as many as I probably normally would just because I was enjoying myself too much with the conversations and watching to make sure I didn't trip on the trail that I rarely thought to pull out my camera. 

Right after we got started, we had to cross a river

It wasn't too hard just surprising as we only started five minutes before this.

Let's go fly a kite!

Kite flying on a grey afternoon

A tree that from a distance looked real until you noticed mixed in with the branches were satellites.

Sycamore trees lining the road.

The Giant Lion of Nanjing

Nanjing's City Wall

Up on the wall making our way towards the restaurant.

When we reached the restaurant before we could eat we had to do something called "The Circle."  This is where we all stand in a semi-circle and listen as one of the Hashers makes people do "down-downs" (drinking a full glass of beer).  The reasons for these "down-downs" vary, there is always a Virgin Down-Down (anyone new to Hashing - me in February).  Mostly its punishments for ridiculous things.  Some of the punishments were that the runners of our group had not marked the trail properly, um men that stood in the circle with their hands in their pants pocket (pocket-billiards), people that "wet the trail" or go to the washroom (i did that this time so I had to do a down-down with about 8 other people so it wasn't bad).  Its really just an excuse to drink after walking for three hours so I didn't mind having to drink the beer for going to the washroom. 
Then we all settled in for a delicious dinner after a toast to the woman who was supposed to host next month's Hash but recently passed away. 

Next one is in a few short weeks on April 14 and I hope the weather will be warmer and the sky will be bluer. 

A Beautiful Friday in Nanjing

Today was an absolutely beautiful day, we reached a high of 29 degrees Celsius.  In celebration of this I took all of my classes outside to enjoy the "fresh" air.  The Chinese confuse us, here it is nearly 30, our students are wearing heavy knit sweaters under their jackets and people on the street are still wearing winter coats, while I'm wearing a skirt and t-shirt.  I know that it's only going to get hotter here but 30 is pretty hot.
Anyways took some pictures of the kids as they worked on their completely inconsequential Egyptian artwork. 

One student opted to stay inside...to each their own.

After school today Maggie wanted to see the plum blossoms before they all disappear and turn into fruit.  I went along with her, since I didn't really have much to do after school back at the apartment.  The park we went to was a 40 minute bus ride from the school, called GuLin Park.  The place was huge and had a lot of beautiful plum blossoms spread throughout.  Here are the pics, I think these could be pictures I put on a wall in some future. 

The older generation playing Chinese Chess in the park on a Friday afternoon.

Plum Blossoms on Purple Mountain

Hello all,

Sorry it has been a while on updates, my life has been pretty boring after I returned from Beijing.  I've gotten into the swing of teaching again and the temperatures are starting to rise and be quite comfortable. 

Today I went out with the international kids (Marta, Adriano, Leon, Torge - Shanghai group) to see the plum blossoms around the mountain here in Nanjing.  Its a big deal to see this trees blooming and they were quite beautiful with a fragrant aroma.  Here are the pictures, I had some fun playing with my camera to get the shots I wanted of the flowers.  Hope you enjoy them as much as I do.  I don't know if I've mentioned this but especially with these if anyone would like copies of these pics just send me an email or facebook me and I will send you copies. 

Sitting down for a picnic of German bread made in China and Nutella from Italy.

Blowing through your thumbs with grass in between them.

Chinese can nap anywhere.