Blogs from Wuxi, Jiangsu, China, Asia - page 5

13 th July Today is Party Day! It is tradtion in China that when you move into a new house/flat you hold a party whether it be a few relatives fro a meal or 30 people at a massive hotel. Olina's family opted for the latter. Yes 300 people we had to sit with. To start the day we got up and went out to eat noodles with lots of people we didnt know. Then came back to the flat whilst lots of people came and went, me and daisy read and then got ready into some slgihtly more respectable clothes: dresses. When we arrived at the hotel there was also a wedding taking place, this was interesting as in mine and daisy's words it was 'taky' very very taky. The bride did look nice though. ... read more

We've been at Olina's home for almost a week now. Tomorrow Lauren, Olina and I set off to Olina's university, near to Nanjing, to meet her friends. After that, our journey should be: Nanjing - Xi'an - Yichang - Wuxi (Jiangyin) - Wuzhen - Wuxi (Jiangyin) - Shanghai and then for me, England. We're planning to see the Terracotta army in Xi'an and the Three gorges dam, the largest hydroelectic power station in the world, in Yichan. We're trying to fit all this travelling into a space just over 2 weeks, and I'm trying to keep optimistic that things will go to plan. Over the past few days we've done some Karaoke, shopping, photobooth stickers, and experienced some public transport. The same begger man, each day we go into the city cetnre, keeps asking us for ... read more

After a a flight from Gatwick, London to Dubai, then on to Shanghai after a 7 hour crossover wait, LAuren and I were picked up by Olina and her dad at Pudong Airport. We were driven by her dad's diver from Shanghai to Jiangyin, Wuxi her city. The journey should have been 2 hours, but traffic made it four. And were were knackered. Straight away we sat down to a meal in a restauran with the parents and driver, to a pick and mix chopstick buffet of: fish, shrimp/prawn, sweet cure goose legs, jellyfish, various veg, beef, noodles and probably some other things too, with watermelon to finish. This feast was topped today when we had a similar variety at lunch with the boss of where Olina's parents work. We've had a quick taste of the ... read more

The morning started off with us (Andrea and I) discussing with 3-9th grades students (2 girls, 1 boy; all 16 years old) about their lives. Very fascinating stuff! It could have be a typical middle class student in the US. We asked if they had cell phones—yep, 2/3 did. They have been to Disneyland (in Hong Kong); they had teddy bears; they like to hang out with their friends. Favorite activities included: watching TV (only on the weekends), having soda (every night!), instant messaging (the boy had a “long-distance” girlfriend from another city), and going shopping. Goals and aspirations of the three: to do something meaningful, to play basketball (Yao Ming!), and to figure it out (an undecided major). Outside of the language barrier and issues, at times it’s easy to forget that we’re in another ... read more

Onsdag D. 19. marts 2008 Der blev arrangeret en tur til Mei Hua Shan (Blomsterbjerg). Kun nogle fra klassen tog med. Det blev til en rigtig hyggelig tur. Det var meget godt lige at kunne snakke lidt med klassekammeraterne uden for skoletiden. Der blev taget en masse billeder. Jeg har prøvet at tage nogle close-up billeder. Ved ikke hvor godt de blev efter professionel standard, men synes nu de er meget pæne selv. Efter turen tog jeg ud til Fuzimiao for at mødes med Sara, hendes veninde Mie og sin far, Peter. Vi gik selvfølgelig rundt og shoppede. Jeg fik købt nogle få ting, og har pruttet med priser en hel dag, da jeg også skulle hjælpe de andre. Det var godt, for så fik jeg øvet lidt på min prutte-kunst. Synes selv det gik ok, ... read more