Trying to Keep Up With Estee

Well, Carol is quite the trooper. She is still trying to get over the jet lag and still see all the sights of Changzhou with me. Yesterday afternoon I took her downtown to Nandijie (a big mall that is 3 stories tall) and we walked and shopped and even found us both a pair of shoes that were big enough for us. After having a frappacino (probably not spelled right) at Starbucks, we set off and tramped around again. We finally went to a steak house and had supper. Carol said the steak tasted like liver so she didn't eat but one bite of hers. I, on the other hand, scarfed up all of mine. I guess I have become more acclimatized to the cuisine here than I thought. At any rate, we finally made it back home about 8:30 last night.

We received the sad news this morning of a friend of ours passing away with cancer. After a good cry and talking to the great one, I left Carol to her own devices while I went off to school. After my classes today I had her catch one of the local buses (all by herself!) to the school and we went downtown to Plum Park. We walked around the park for a while, then took a trolley cart around some of the sights. Since Carol's husband likes flowers we took some extra photos for him (hope you like them Harold) :)

We saw some giant aquariums and beautiful white peacocks like this one!

Finally we decided to go for some supper. Of course, in Changzhou, it is easy to get turned around (which I did). After trudging for several blocks, we finally got to another park by the church and had to sit and rest a spell. Then we waded through heavy traffic (two more times) and eventually arrived at a good ole American restaurant - Pizza Hut!! Carol got to observe the art of salad building and couldn't believe how much salad one person could put onto a bowl. She decided that meal was the best one she had eaten yet. By the time we finished, we both were exhausted and ready to take a taxi back home.

As soon as I finish this post, I'm off to bed. Now doesn't Carol look like she is all comfy? She has already retired for the night...and tomorrow it's off to the bank for that great experience along with Chinese lessons! Sorry about the pics that won't enlarge. I inserted them twice and they still won't.

Until next time,