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,

Adventures with Carol

Well, the day finally arrived for me to get my friend Carol from the airport in Shanghai. I got up to a cloudy and rainy Sunday and took the new fast train from Changzhou to Shanghai. I arrived about 10:00 in the morning and her flight wasn't due to arrive until 3:00. I decided to spend a little while in the rain looking at a book sale that was being held out on the square across from the train station. I finally took the bus to the airport and had some time to relax until Carol arrived. We finally got her on the ground and through customs. I think she was in shell shock from the long flight over. We decided to take the same airport bus back to the city, only this time it stopped about five times on the way in. What ahd been an hour's ride out turned out to be about two hours back. Since it was still raining and Carol had gotten chilled we decided to just sit in the train station and eat a snack while waiting on our train. Carol was a trooper and was still trying to stay awake although she had been up for over 24 hours.

We caught another fast train at 7:00 pm and was back in Changzhou by 8:00 pm. We finally got to the apartment, got her a hot shower and decided to visit for a bit. She was probably ready to kill me, but after a cup of hot tea she got her second wind.

On Monday it was chillin out time. I left her at the apartment and went off to school. I came home and took her to lunch at a local buffet. We had a really good meal and all the locals got many great laughs at us trying to get her chopstix to work correctly. :) They even finally brought her a spoon. (Then she made it very well). This afternoon I decided she needed the bus experience - so - I took her out to show her how to cross the busy streets to catch the bus going in the opposite direction. My goodness, I thought she was going to squeeze my arm off and she kept saying "Estee there is traffic coming from both directions!! What do you mean we have to stand on this yellow line!! in the middle of the road!"

Well, we survived that ordeal and I think she will be ready to do it by herself by Wednesday. (hee hee)

Tonight, (Monday) we went downtown to the XPat dinner and had a hotpot meal.

Carol decided the hotpot was not her favorite meal and tofu is for the birds. She was game to try the chopstix and kept at it until she became proficient (at least she could grab a piece of meat - forget the fishballs). Okay - so that feat is mastered - tomorrow we are ready for another challenge. I have to order water and Carol will have to converse with the guy when he brings it.

Well....enought of this chitter chatter, I have to get to bed or I will never get up in the morning ..... some people get to sleep in...if you know what I mean.