May 20

.It's hard to believe that three months ago today I arrived in Shanghai.
. Ever since I've returned from Beijing it's been rainy most days, hard to get used to since it was so hot and sunny on my holidays.
. I'm teaching extra classes Saturday mornings for 3 hours at a primary school, this also means more cash every month for me.

. A group of us went walking around the city yesterday because of another festival, BEER DAY! Restaurants and bars were giving out small, small samples of beer. We strolled down to the park were there were beer pavilions set up. I was offered as much beer as I could drink if they could take pictures of my friends and I. Three hours later we were on our way again to go bowling, after a few more beers we moved the party over to David's house where he made us a superb dinner.

. I'm learning so much about myself and growing everyday here. At first I would wear dark or neutral colours so I would blend in, but who am I kidding? I'm never going to blend in to this society, so I'm wearing my coloufull shirts and wearing a ton of bracelets. I'm also learning and getting more comfortable talking in front of large groups of people (they don't know what I'm saying but that's ok). I'm also becoming more aggressive to get what I want, because of the language barrier.

May 27

. The hot weather is finally come plus the mosquitos are here in full force. Yesterday my roommates, Charity and I went to the zoo to see Ming Ming, the panda. We arrived in the afternoon and all that Ming Ming could do is sleep because of the heat.
. Siesta time is between 12:00 and 2:30, and afterwards people will walk around the streets or shop in there pj's.
.It's nice to have the sun again, clothes dry so much faster (no dryers in this city or maybe in all of China?). Plus with the nice weather being back I'm starting to draw again.

June 4

. Saturday, June 1, was another festival "kids day", the school celebrated this Thursday so the kids could get out of school early. Each class put on an performance of dance and one class put on a fashion show.

. After my class on Saturday morning I met Charity at the bus station to go to Nanjing in the Province of Jiangsu. Nanjing was the Capital of six different dynasties and borders the Yangtze River. The city reminds me of a smaller Beijing but without the pollution or the inflated prices. There's a wall that once inhoused the city and it even has its own Ming Tombs, but all at a smaller scale.
. Nanjing is a two hour bus ride from Hefei and all there is to see is farmland until the Yangtze River which is the longest river in China. At the other end of a long bridge is the City.
. After a full day shopping we went out that night to a disco, we walked several blocks down the main street and all the buildings were lit up like a neon flashing Christmas tree.
. The next morning we went to Confucius's temple which is by the canals similar to Venice but with dragons and Chinese buildings. Next stop was a stone castle adjoined to the wall that surrounded the city, the wall must be at least 40 feet high and is overgrown with lush green foliage.
. Off again, this time to the Ming Tombs. I didn't see very much of the tombs in Beijing because of all the fun on the buses, so this place made up for that. The entrance is a long pathway and is lined with stone animals. Around the perimeter of the tomb is a tall red wall, the tombs themselves are sealed off to the public. After a full day we headed back to the bus station.

. The temperature in the last few days has been around 32,33C and I've had no time to adjust to the heat. First we were in the rainy season for weeks and then suddenly that stopped, then the sun came out and the temperature started to go up and hasn't stopped rising.

. I've started my DVD collection. I first contemplated bringing a bike back home. I could buy my dream bike with the brand name "Giant", a 21 speed mountain bike, with aluminum frame and "Shamano" components for less than $200.00 Canadian, but to ship it back Fedex would have been too expensive, and to bring it back with me would have been a bitch to get from Hefei to Shanghai and then to travel all over Japan with it. So I opted to buy DVD's for 7 RMB($1.50) a movie for $200.00 Canadian and I now have over 120 movies.