Adventures in China

So I've been terrible about updating the blog lately but that's probably because we haven't really gone anywhere. The summer months are the busiest for us since we don't work at a regular school and they want to capitalize on any time that the kids are not in regular school. But the 4th of July is coming up and we're so hoping to have a party for it. It's not a big deal to get fireworks anyway because they go off pretty much all the time here, even during the day. My co-workers told me that they are often used for weddings and business openings. And besides, all of our friends want to taste our good ol' American cooking!

So we haven't gone anywhere outside of Tianjin, but we've been able to explore a bit more of our city. Our friends took us after work recently to what's called 'Italian Style Town'. Apparently Tianjin has a history of colonization by Europeans, and so some parts of town show very European style architecture. In general the place does have a fairly Italian look to it, but the shops are a modgepodge of German, Italian, French, and even Thai. It's basically just Foreign Town. And there are so many foreigners there! Usually when I walk around town, I don't see a single foreigner, but when you go to the tourist places, you'll see them everywhere. Hate to say it, but particularly at this place, I see a lot of older white men with young Asian girls...

But it's a really cool place and I got around to going again on one of my free days to take some pictures.

Doesn't this look like jolly ol' London? This is the architecture on a bridge, it reminded me so much of Paris. I like how even though it looks like a European style of statue, it retains its Chinese subject. Italiano street. Beautiful clock tower. This is a garden with a lot of statues of European composers. More pictures of the bridge. Clock tower. There was a big group of Chinese people and they were deaf! I was very tempted to talk to them, but I wasn't sure if they were signing Chinese sign language. Flower garden. Sign for Bulgaria! Unfortunately, it's just a sign. :(  Alleyway that looks rather Italian. The hanging star lights are lit up at night and it looks really pretty. Fountain.

The weather for awhile there was really unbearable to me. Not only was it extremely hot and humid, but there was no sun for like two weeks. Now I can take hot and humid so long as the sun can shine down on me, but to have it be overcast and gloomy? That's just horrible messed up weather. But the sun is finally out again and I am happy. Although now I would really like to find a swimming pool, but most of the people we talk to say they can't swim so it's not really a big thing here. Sigh....

Oh well, we're having fun. We got a Wii while in Beijing renewing our visas, and it came with 200 games all on a iPod looking thingy. The Wii itself was a bit more expensive than what we would have paid in America, but I think with the 200 games it all balances out. They are a mix of English, Chinese, and Japanese games though, and it seems the ones that Dave particularly wanted are all in Chinese or Japanese, so that's a bummer. I have my MarioKart though, and that's fine with me. :)