London Bridge is Falling Down

I was walking to a look restaurant for dinner. I passed by a local shop or something. I am not sure what they sell. They have a bunch of beds in the store. However standing out front was an older woman and four children. The children were playing in front of the store with what I assume was their mother watching them from behind. There were children holding hands together like in London bridge is falling down with the two smaller children running in circles through outstretched hands. I walked by when they were counting. The kids counted in Chinese then the bridge fell to catch one of the smaller kids. It seemed like London bridge is falling down and I really wished I could hear the rest of the song. I smiled that games like this are universal. Plus I loved seeing the children's delight when they caught one of the small kids. I smiled at the children and the mom after they caught one of the kids. Then I went on my way.

I had a similar experience when I went to Austria and Germany. Our choir sang with the Vienna boys choir. A few of us from my choir taught a few of the Austrian boys how to play this sort of game/song that starts like this down by the banks of the hanky panky. Once they saw how the game is played they taught us a similar game in german. I wish I could remember how the song goes. Even though I can't remember the words I still can vividly see this moment and remember the cultural exchange. We took turns playing the game in English and Austrian. It was a great exchange of culture. It yet again shows that each culture has things in common.

If we can focus on these things that we have in common then we can begin to work together. If we as a human race are going to survive or improve then we must work together. I think that our economy is suffering because the world has developed more and we must think globally about the economy. The economy in Europe affects ours and so there for we must work together. We must not only think about how are actions affect the local area, but the nation, and even the globe. This is something I have been thinking about a lot and wondering about recently. Because I see myself as a creating and teaching global citizens.

My Chinese Thanksgiving

So the had enough turkey in the kitchen to scrounge up some for me and a few other teachers who didn't have time to get tickets.

The dinner consisted of turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, and peas. Then for dessert it was apple pie, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce. I love the apple pie. It was quite good. The turkey was good too. I like the corn as well. Although it was Chinese corn which apparently tastes different. Although I am not a big fan of corn in general. However the Chinese love corn. They make all sorts of dishes with corn.

The best part of the meal was being surrounded by amazing people. All of the foreign staff gathered to celebrate Thanksgiving. While I have been here the staff has become my family. I see them everyday in the office. They are also my friends that I spend time with outside of school. They are all supportive professionally. They are also caring enough to help each other through the trials and tribulations of living in China. They have become my support system here in China. So it was good to spend the evening with all of them. We shared stories of our own family traditions back home. We shared food, stories, and good times.

All in all it was a good thanksgiving. I hope everyone at home has a good Thanksgiving as well. Eat plenty of turkey, pumpkin pie, and stuffing for me.

Thanksgiving

So happy Thanksgiving from China. This is my first Thanksgiving away from home. I realized that a while back. Now that I think about it I can not help but be a little homesick. You can not appreciate something until you can't have it anymore. This year I am missing the almond prize. I always make the pumpkin pie and cheesecake with the Lomax family crust. It is usually only a small family affair at our house consisting of my Mom, Dad, brother, sister, and myself. Sometimes my aunt Karen will come join us for the meal. Although it is a small gathering that is kind of low key I still miss it greatly. I plan to skype with the whole family Friday night which is my Saturday morning.

So I am spending my first Thanksgiving away from home at the blue bar. It is a western bar here in Wuxi. They are doing a Thanksgiving dinner tonight. The tickets cost 98 yuan(15$). However when I got the tickets Hans who owns the blue bar was worried if he would still have enough supplies for the dinner. So he stopped selling tickets because he didn't want to sell tickets to a dinner that may not happen. So anyways I am going down to the blue bar without a ticket to see what the blue bar has to offer on Thanksgiving. It is not going to be as good as the home cooked meal I am missing at home. However it is the closest I can get here in China. Plus I figure I have to do something on this holiday.

However this what I am thankful for:

Family that loves and supports me
That all of my family is either working or going to school
My best friend from the U.S. who I can talk to at weird hours about my life
The family of people I have made in China.

The foreign staff at Tianyi because it is the best group of people to work with. It is a small group that works together great. I don't want to work at Tianyi with anybody else and will be sad to see the team break up. The team is amazing both professionally and socially.

For the opportunity to be in China
For all the people, classes, and events that led me to China.

Now off to the blue bar for celebrations.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Photos from Suzhou

The street outside of the garden was crazy and packed with people. There was lots of people selling lots of stuff.

So here are some pictures of the view from the hotel that I stayed at. The first one is of the bell tower in the middle of the city. It absolutely beautiful. It kind of seems more European than anything else really. However very interesting. 

Notice the big circle arena. I am told that concerts happen there and it is a great place to get together. It looks really cool. You can see the big red projector screen there as well. What is really cool is the tiled design of the arena. You can see some of it in this picture, but here is a close up of the design. 

See the design. It is the world in tiles. When I walked across it I was all like oh look it is Africa and America. It was a very clever design.

So Suzhou was very interesting to see. There are still more places to see in Suzhou and more gardens to see. Plus Suzhou has a much bigger foreign presence. I was shocked by all the white people I saw. Plus there were so many good western restaurants. So if I need a slice of home then I can go there. I had Indian food while I was in Suzhou as well. I am told there is a good Mexican restaurant in Suzhou too and I am dying for Mexican food. You can't really find any here. So I am glad I ate tons of Mexican food before I left. I also noticed that Suzhou was a much cleaner city. That was the first thing I noticed when I got into town. So I hope to go visit again so I can see more of this clean city and see more gardens. 

Chinese Garden in Suzhou

So on my one week break for the founding of the People's Republic of China I went to Suzhou. Suzhou is about a 10 min train ride from Wuxi. It is known for its traditional Chinese Gardens. I took a class that focused on Traditional Chinese Gardens. My midterm in the class was to write a 10 page paper on the Chinese garden in Portland, Oregon. We had to write about how it followed the rules of Chinese gardens. I loved the garden and the class. Anyways when I first learned about the job I saw that there was a center in Wuxi near Suzhou. I really wanted to go to Wuxi so I could visit Suzhou. I was asked if I wanted to go to Xian or Wuxi. I was like of course Wuxi. I was so happy. So it was in the stars I would be in Wuxi. Anyways now I got a chance to go Suzhou. Here are some pictures I took and some pictures taken by the English I traveled with. 

These are all from the Humble Administor's Garden. It is the largest garden in Suzhou. The name could also be translated to the foolish politican's garden. It is a Unesco world heritage site. It was packed with Chinese people. All of China had this holiday off so they were being tourists too. This was also near the end of the of fall when the weather was still good. 

The above photo is the view you see when you go through the other side of this moongate. This lake and lilly pads were hidden by a wall. Then when you finally saw this it was breath taking. You thought the garden was so small then you go beyond the wall and are surprised by how much is still there. This is a common feature in Chinese gardens. It is called the hide and reveal. This feature at this very point was amazing. One of the important reasons why they hide and reveal parts of the garden is to make such a small space feel much bigger than it is. This way when the reveal comes you think the whole place is so big. It makes it feel more like a whole other expansive world. I can not describe to you the feeling and awe I had after stepping through the moongate to see the above scene. I think that it was even more moving because I knew the theory and history behind the design. This moment made coming to this garden and fighting the tourists worth every penny. You have to experience it yourself to really appreciate it. There are a few more photos of this amazing reveal after this. However none of these photos conveys the experience of the garden or that feeling  of discovering a whole other world.