Considering that it’s been over three weeks since we returned from China, and we are already deep, deep into the regular routine, and friends are starting to comment on this lack of closure….here we go on a whirlwind recap of our last few days in China and our trip back.

On January 3rd, while Aaron went off to work, David and I went back to Vide Lu to stock up on some good Chinese souvenirs. A couple of hours later, we made our way to Aaron’s school, laden with candles, a couple of Chinese jackets, and various other knick-knacks. We met up with a bunch of Aaron’s friends for dinner at an Irish-style Pub. David and Aaron enjoyed real steak, and we had a great time hanging out with Aaron’s friends. We took a squishy cab ride back home, and that was about all we did that day! (or we did more but I can’t remember it! I suppose this is what I get for not blogging for three weeks!) Read More »»

Tuesday the 2nd of January was a pretty laid back day for the two of us, since Aaron had to go in to work. We hung around the house, watching TV, catching up on our blog entries, and eating snacks! We met Aaron at his work place when he was done and headed for dinner at Pizza Hut (we definitely enjoyed eating real pepperoni!) And here we have our daily digest of “Mock the Bad Use of English”… We found this gem at our table at Pizza Hut….not sure exactly what expression they were trying to get at, but it sure is funny. Next time you want to go out to Pizza Hut, tell your friends, “Let’s Yummy!” Read More »»

If we had known the crowds that would surround us as we attempted to maneuver about on New Years Day, we surely would have stayed inside! As it was, we headed into town, oblivious to the masses as we stood on the Guang Di bus (that already should have given us a hint!). We met one of my old boyfriends and his parents at the Starbucks of a well-known mall. It was great to meet up and catch up on each other’s lives, as well as to introduce him to David. We enjoyed a great meal at a Brazilian-style BBQ restaurant. David and Jp really enjoyed all the meat, although David couldn’t help comparing it to the real Brazilian Churrascurias!

We completed our meal with some ice-cream from a NZ company which funnily enough, Jp hadn’t even heard about! We were planning to see some of the sights, but Jp was called away to buy a real sleeping bag for his upcoming trip to Tibet. As we entered the metro station, we realized there was no way we could see anything…unless we wanted to see a sea of Chinese people! Literally, you could not see the floor, there were so many people! We gave up on that idea and headed home instead, enjoying the comfort and space of the bus! Aaron’s housing estate runs a bus hourly to and from the down town area for everyone who lives there. It is a great way to make living in the suburbs possible. Read More »»

What better way to spend the last day of 2006 than at one of China’s premiere art museums (well, one of China’s museums, anyway)? The museum’s walls greeted us with an eerily apropos religious statement (see above - if you can’t read it, it looks like the words “In God we trust” used to be affixed to the wall for years before being removed). I’m not sure what was more disconcerting, the fact that the words had been removed, or that they hadn’t bothered washing the walls afterwards (i.e. they didn’t care if people saw –or wanted people to see– that the words had been removed). Read More »»

To continue where David left off; after our whirlwind tour of “One-Link International Plaza” we met up with Aaron’s friend Miriam who was to take us to the infamous DVD “store” (the term can only be used very loosely here!). The existence and location of this place has been preserved through a long line of foreigners (makes you wonder how the first guy found it?). We made our way along the street, preparing ourselves to innocently wander to a store selling extension cords and other electrical stuff and surreptitiously ask for the DVD’s. Before we could put the plan into action, a little Chinese girl came out, spotted Miriam (a regular to the DVD store) and rushed us inside, around a pillar, through a door which led to a badly lit, damp hallway…(at this point we had to go back and find David who got left behind because he was busy taking photos!) Read More »»