I'm exhausted! Yesterday, I left my apartment in Tuanli at 6am, four hours later I arrived at Simatai...what a beautiful spot. I kept saying to myself "I'm really here"!

I spent four hours hiking this extremely steep section of the Great Wall & wandering around...when my time was just about up, I went on the cable car that goes part of the way up. Some nice mountain scenery in every direction.

Then I made it back to my home by 9pm and just fell into my bed and crashed! For more photos, click here.

Hey Everyone,

Sorry I haven't posted in a while...I've been busy working, got sick for a day (not fun, just slept most of the day away). Missed Mike terribly, he always knows how to make me feel better...

I've taken some more pictures from around Tuanli & at the school. I'll be going to some interesting places on Saturday, so I'll post some of those this weekend.

go to the photo album

Miss you guys and hope everyone is well (especially my uncle Dale, recovering from surgery). Leah! How was your birthday?...I hope it was special :)

love,
Kirsten

Today's work day was 6:40am to 6pm, but it went by in a flash! I was given a laptop & cubicle, and I was very busy creating staff lists, designing posters & signs, and helping out wherever I was needed.

Dad got me to take pictures of the Opening Ceremony of BCCSC's Korean Class (quite an affair!) and later I supervised their English Language Assessment (which took a while). I enjoyed my busy day :)

When I got home, we had a small dinner of vegetables & congee with birthday cake . Happy Birthday Dad! Chinese cake is like a sponge cake with a center layer of fruit & frosting, covered with frosting (it's like a light meringue). I gave Dad two books that I bought in Saint John (English books are expensive here and can be sometimes hard to find).

Here are a few more photos from my day :)

I spent all day out shopping for a few items to decorate my room. I bought some orange daisies & large bamboo :) , and I sent a package to Mike.

As I was looking around a grocery store, I found the meat & seafood section and wanted to take pictures of all the different choices. I saw some pupae (and thought they were dead, so I looked very closely), and screeched when they started to move, lol! I was extremely embarrassed!

Click for today's photo album

Hey everyone, today I went with some of the Canadian teachers from BCCSC in to Beijing to play tourist. We went shopping at the market...I found two pieces of pottery for my room, a vase & something to hold my pens on my desk. The market is very large (and a bit overwhelming).

We had some lunch, then off to the Temple of Heaven. A beautiful area (covers almost 300 hectares) with temples and gardens that seem to go on forever. Locals linger in the shade, play musical instruments and sing. A great place to get away from the bustling & noisy city. :)

Click for my day's photo album

Cynthia & I went shopping again today...I needed a few items for making communication with everyone in NB a little easier. I got a webcam, microphone...and it was interesting to watch Cynthia barter for a good price. My vocabulary of Chinese words is limited to maybe a dozen, and once they start going fast I'm lost. Still fun to watch though :)

I also picked up some treats for Mikey at the Century Mart, a very, very, large store (like 10 times the size of Wal-Mart back home). Cynthia is going to help translate some of the items so they won't be a complete mystery for Mike.

After a nice bus ride back to Tuarlei, I took some pictures of some vegetables that will be for sale tonight at the roadside market. After supper, all the vendors line the sides of the street to sell many types of produce :) mmm...I'll be getting watermelon later.

I woke up this morning wondering where I was...definitely missing the bed back home, this one's a little hard...lol :)

I arrived yesterday morning at 11:30, got through customs, and somehow found Dad in the hundreds waiting for people to arrive. He met me with a beautiful arrangement of flowers and a big hug :)

I unpacked quickly then went out for dinner at a place called the Fangshan Restaurant. Beautiful setting in Beijing not far from the Forbidden City. I had a wonderful dinner of cucumber, bamboo shoots, snowpeas & green onion.

Now I'm off to see Dad at the college before I head out. Dad's co-worker Cynthia is taking me out shopping for the day :)