Why Should I Worry?

Yesterday was officially 6 months that I have been in China. Hard to believe, isn't it?


Anyway, last Friday, I visited another park in Nanjing. This weekend, I went to Ningbo, on the coast of China about 2 hours east of Shanghai. One of the sales girls who worked at our center in Nanjing just got promoted to Ningbo, so I went to visit her. It was much bigger and nicer and more beautiful than I was expecting. Ningbo is smaller than Nanjing and it was very peaceful. And sunny. And warm. Springtime! On Tuesday, she took me around the city, to the town square, shopping mall, and a food market that is supposedly famous for having food from all over China. We also walked around Moon Lake and visited 2 of the Disney English centers there. That's one of the reasons I love traveling to certain cities - the people at Disney English are mostly all very nice. We went out with them to a bar on the river that night, where we saw a man walking his pet monkey. First one I've seen I think.

Moon Lake

Wednesday we went to a Buddhist temple and to Tianye Ge, which is an old library combined with gardens and museums. I was very excited to go, but then discovered there were no books displayed. There were some books, but they were blank. That was disappointing, but the gardens were pretty and there were a bunch of stone carvings, and we saw a Mahjongg exhibit (the only one in China. I didn't know Mahjongg was developed in Ningbo). After lunch we went back to Moon Lake and went paddle boating and had ice cream by the lake side. We also briefly met up with a girl I did training with back in September, but then it was time for me to catch a train back to Nanjing.

Tianyi Ge Library Pavilion

Garden outside Tianyi Ge Library

Since I've been here 6 months, I took some pictures of a "typical" day. Here you are:

The Kindergarten next to my apartment

The fruit stand by my apartment. If you look closely, you can see the Santa cling on the door.

The trash lot I walk past on my way to work. I believe my old  neighbor called it "soul killing."

A person cleaning a bus

The place where I have started buying breakfast on my way to work when I  run out of cereal and milk.

This breakfast wrap cost 3RMB (about $0.50)

I call them "marshmallow babies" - so bundled up for winter, they look like giant walking marshmallows. This one's not so covered because it's getting warmer, but I like the orange in its mouth.

The rooster that crows in the morning as I walk to work.

The mall where I work - Disney English is the only thing left open in the mall. The rest of it shut down around Christmas. 

Magical