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. 

Downtown Near Wuxi No. 1 High School

So Wuxi has a big canal through the middle of it. I think this is one of the canals that they use for shipping. There is another canal that they light up and have traditional buildings on either side. I drove by it in a taxi and it was very pretty. I will have to get a picture of that sometime. However this is a canal near by the other Dipont program at the other high school in downtown Wuxi.

So here is the canal with shipping boats traveling up and down:

Here is a panorama of the area that I took the picture from. You can see the canal and the big buildings of downtown Wuxi. 

So here is a close up on one of the shipping boats:

Here is a temple that is nearby. I want to go climb up the hill to see it better when I have time. However i had to snap some pictures of it. I was kind of far away when I took these photos. However I saw it sitting up there above most of the city so I had to get a few photos. Here they are:

Taxi Cab Adeventures

So I want to tell you about the many interesting conversations I have had with Taxi drivers.

Early on I was in the taxi and he asked where I am from. I told him I was American. He said something that sounded like oh I thought you were French and then listed off a couple other nationalities that I couldn't remember the English translation for. He tried to keep talking but I said I didn't understand.

The next crazy cab adventure I had which I had to tell everyone about. So I caught a Taxi near the school. He asked me if I was American. Then he asked me if I was a teacher. I said yes. He asked if I taught at Tian yi. I told him yes. Then he asked if I was an english teacher. I said I taught Calculus. He didn't know that word. I said the word for math, but I think I got the tone wrong. The next thing I know he asks me if I have a boyfriend. I say no. He asks why. I tell him it is because I am busy working. He tries to ask me how old I am and I didn't understand. He wrote down the year he was born and used his hand to show me that is when he started growing. So I wrote down when I was born. He was a couple years older than me. Then I think after that he asks me how much money I made. At least I think that is what he asked me. Later he takes a picture of me. Then he takes a picture of both of us. He says I look pretty and I nod my head. Then he shows me a picture of his son. I say oh how pretty. Then he is oh you understand what pretty means. It was crazy. This was all done in my little Chinese and hand gestures. I was pretty proud of my Chinese after this.

Another time the taxi driver asked me if I was American and said that Americans are very pretty. I think he said he can tell who is American because they are very pretty. Then he asked me what I did for work. Then he asked me what I taught. I told him math and he didn't understand. I said one and one is two. Then he understood. I guess I got the tone wrong for the word for math. After that I think he was trying to ask me what type of math I taught after that, but I couldn't really follow. He also mentioned something about Obama. A lot of taxi drivers mention his name after I say I am American. I don't know what they say around that though. I have also heard that they like america.

I just remembered another taxi ride where the guy said he really liked America. Then later he offered me a cigarette. I tried to refuse, but he didn't get it. So to be polite I smoked the cigarette. This trip was my first time to a certain restaurant. So I didn't know exactly know where it was. The taxi driver didn't exactly know where it was either. He stopped and asked a near by police officer. I knew enough Chinese he was making fun of me.

Another taxi ride I took with three other teachers the driver seemed to be shocked to get four white customers. He seemed just beside himself. I was deleting messages on my phone at the time. He was going on in Chinese. He kept asking where we were from. So finally I told him I was American. Then he was like what about them. I was like they are American too. Then he kept carrying on and I couldn't understand. He was so excited that he almost missed the turn back to where we lived. We had to give him directions.

Another note on taxi's is that I am constantly having people offering me rides. They see a white person and think I must need a taxi. Although often I am just crossing the street or I know where I am walking.

However this is a benefit when I am walking looking for a taxi. I like that sometimes they hail me down and not the other way around.

I have learned catching a taxi in downtown Wuxi after 5pm takes forever.

However if you are not traveling to far, like say a few blocks, then you can take a three wheel little car thing. I take it from the grocery store back to my apartment especially when I have lots of stuff. It always costs 5 yuan which is less than a dollar. It is a definite experience. I will post a picture when I get a chance.

So those are my Taxi cab adventures. All of these stories makes me proud of what little Chinese I have. I think it also impresses the taxi drivers sometimes because most foreigners don't know Chinese. I practice my Chinese the most with Taxi drivers because none of them can speak English. Well one taxi driver called it American speak. You see the Chinese use the words ying wen（偀文） for English. The ying（偀） is used to refer to Britain and the wen（文） means language. So the Chinese named English after the British. However this taxi driver said mei guo hua（美国話）. Mei guo（美国） means america and hua（話） means dialect.

Alright more Taxi adventures and Taxi pictures to come.

Nan chan Temple

So this is an area in downtown Wuxi. It is near Nan Chan temple. It is square with lots of shopping. Pappa John's is located here as well. Also this really great ice cream store that I tried. It is also near the big shopping area Bao li. I went to a goodbye party here and stopped to take photos before the party took place.

Above is the Bell tower in the middle of the square. It is quite pretty and rings at the hour. I believe it is quite old, but don't quote me.

Here is a panorama of the square:

Here are more photos of statues and the city scape taken around the square:

Just outside the square or to the side of it is a park. Below is a small lake next to the park where apparently you can rent a little paddle boat and ride around the lake. 

Here is the panorama of the area near this boat place. Notice how nice and renovated the park area is compared to the buildings on the other side. I also find it interesting that there is the beautiful park next to so many buildings. 

Well that is the area around Nan Chan. More photos of Wuxi to come as I find time to be a tourist in this city. I may take many more during the spring festival which is a three week break for me. I hope you enjoy. 

Experiencing China

I have not had a chance to post recently since I have been so busy exploring Wuxi and China. I wanted to let you guys in on what I was really experiencing on my way and what it has been like living here.

I must say that it didn't really hit me that I was really leaving until I was in San Francisco waiting to board my plane to China. I read an e-mail from my mom and started crying. I was talking to my best friend in the world on skype. She was telling me everything was going to be ok and that I would have a blast. I was saying good bye and writing some final e-mails before I took off. I talked to my friend until just before boarding. I knew that once I stepped on the plane from there it was all new and I didn't know what was going to happen. If you know me at all I don't like the unknown. I have to know the plan and wear I am going. I stick to the route that I know. In math I don't like not knowing the answer because I don't like the unknown. Once I got on the plane it was in gods hands. I had also never made this trip without adults  who knew what they were doing more than me (or so I thought at the time). During the plane ride I spent much of the time clutching this necklace my mother got for me in China town. It had the characters for success on it. I was clutching it and hoping for success. I was also singing a bit of a spiritual my choir always sang. I have always found peace and strength in music so I turned to it at this time. I kept singing: "Lord listen to your child praying, Lord send your spirit in this place. Send me Love, send me power, send me grace." I was worried about going through customs and finding people from the company. I was worried carrying four very large bags through customs by myself. Although to make myself feel better I compared myself to Jershey Shore (yes I watch it to make fun of them, but I am no die hard fan. It is mindless entertainment). The girls from Jersey Shore went to Italy with more bags than I did and they were staying for a shorter amount of time. They couldn't carry their bags and were absolute fools in the airport. I figured I had to better than they did. Indeed I did. I got all my bags and headed out of customs no problem. I found the person waiting for me no problem. I was quickly thrown on a bus headed to Wuxi. They held the bus for me and the bus driver seemed very angry about the fact I had so many large bags. I didn't have to speak much Chinese to know that. It turns out the new physics teacher working in Wuxi was on the bus too. He was easy to find since he was the only white person on the bus. We chatted for most of the trip. We almost got off in Shanghai. We figured we had traveled a distance and were in Wuxi. However we were just making a stop at the other train station for more people. We saw people get back on the bus, so we did too. When we arrived in Wuxi the physics teacher had fallen asleep, but I couldn't because I was just so excited. I was trying to get to know my new home as much as possible. I was in awe and wonderment. However I was greeted by a rock from Lake Tai Hu. I studied this in great detail in my class on Chinese Gardens. They are placed on many streets in Wuxi since Lake Tai Hu is near by. When I saw this I felt like I was home and that I had made the right decision to come to China. I felt like I belonged here. It was a great feeling after being so afraid. Below is one of the rocks I was talking about. This one is located in a residential area near the other high school in Wuxi which is located near down town.

I have since learned to control this fear. I now don't mind just walking somewhere and exploring Wuxi. A colleague told me that fear and excitement are the same thing. The only difference is your control of the emotions. If you have some control than it is exciting. However if you let the feeling control you than you will be afraid. I have been able to accept this and control my fear. Just today I just walked around not knowing where I was going and it didn't bother me. I think that this is an important survival skill that I have learned. I can take whatever comes my way and feel like I can find my way in the world. I may still stumble and fall or get lost, but I think I have better learned how to deal with that. So all in all I have enjoyed my adventures in China. I will post photos from these small excursions in the following post.