Adventures in China

Last week I got to make cookies for one of the centers of our school in Nankai. They had the flour, salt, butter, sugar and eggs all ready, but I had to tell them about the very much needed ingredients of baking soda and baking powder. Luckily they were able to find them in the regular Chinese grocery stores (strangely they're not in the big "Wal-Mart" type stores we usually go to). I didn't have any measuring cups so I had to eyeball most of it, and also I had only a toaster oven to use (with only a timer- no different settings for temperature and no idea what the set temperature is). It took a few tries, but we eventually got it to work alright and the cookies turned out pretty good. I also taught a class about it for the kids and all of the old grandmothers were asking how to make them at home apparently. :)

After that was our day off and we got together with some friends from work to go shopping. It was a big outside market-like place with lots of foods, clothes, and basically everything. They have these kind of places all over, though usually mainly with food. I got some new pants, shoes, and yarn, and all for much cheaper prices than at the main stores.

We had to go back to Beijing for a day to get our visas renewed. We got to take the train so it would only take 30 minutes to get there, and I was very impressed by the train station. It was so modern-looking and clean, and the atmosphere was just the same as an airport. Chinese people don't travel by plane too much it seems, so I suppose trains are a much bigger deal to them. While we waited, we kept hearing this loud buzzing sound and had no idea what it was. A man sat down near us and pulled out a wooden tube. Inside was a big cricket! The man took out the stopper for the wood and let the cricket out to play a bit. Now I think I want one. ;)

Once we arrived, we explored for a bit before meeting our friend. There was a beautiful park just down the street from the subway and we took lots of pictures. pic 1 pic 2 pic 3 pic 4 pic 5 pic 6 pic 7 pic 8

We got to go through some of our old stomping grounds in Beijing, and saw some of the scenic areas there too. pic 1 pic 2 While we were in that spot, a lady was singing to a crowd and a guy in a costume was walking around so of course we had to take a picture with him.

We got our papers in to get our visas renewed and went back to Tianjin the next day. Our schools were waiting for us! Lately everyone has been talking about how spring is coming and it's going to get warmer, but lately it's been super foggy and cold, and tonight the weather forecast says it will snow!!!! I for one am excited. :)