Friends, Suzhou, and a Boat

OK, this is a long one, and I appologize, but there is alot to share, mostly pictures, but first let me say to Kara, yes I butchered the story about the lovers and the West Lake, but thats what I do: take something beautiful and ruin it. However, now let me rectify the situation by presenting romantic dishes that lovers should eat:

May I present chicken, and fish.

Next subject: Friends, well, I lost afew again. My teacher Bianweihuan is leaving, and so has Alice and a bunch of other people who I was actually very fond of. Fortunately, 2 new people have come into my life:

Arve from Norway and Maddy from ~Baltimore.

Arve is a really cool Norwegian...more on him later. Maddy is also a really cool Baltimorian...but just when you think you are doing something outside of the box, you meet someone like Maddy who is 17, and deferred her freshman year at Harvard to travel around China by herself without knowing any Chinese. She is in my beginning class, but soaks everything up like a sponge. It makes me sick. No I'm just kidding she's a great girl. And now, I welcome the jokes about her being the perfect age for me. Does anyone think she looks like Allison?

Here is the other side of the boat from the previous picture. I believe you know Alice, and the other young lady is Sabina from Switzerland. Also a very nice girl who is on a break from her lab job in Switzerland.


Here are 2 philipino girls who we met. They were performing at the bar we were at (school going away party, faculty and students) and actually doing a really good job covering such classics as "Any man of mine" -Shania Twain, and some other funk classics whose name I cant remember. The tall guy is Galen, one of the people who has unfortunately left. Yeah its not a good picture, but hes a super smart guy from University of Chicago. If I could speak Chinese like him then I would call it quits now. The other guy in the photo expressing his opinion of the situation is Mike, one of the teachers. I like him alot, and I think I am going to appoint him my unofficial slang reference. Do not ask me why I have a backpack on in the bar...its a long a boring story. All I can say is dont worry about it, its China and anything goes.

Now, Suzhou. Its supposed to be one of the nicer cities. People often pair Suzhou and Hangzhou (city Im at now) when speaking of "heaven on earth" (in China). Lucy booked an over night river cruise on the boat on the right. Interesting experience. Very small boat...toilets (squaters) emptied out the side of the boat into the river where I actually saw a couple of people swimming. They shouldnt let people swim with feces. However, I want to put in the stipulation that not all chinese would do such a thing. Lucy wouldnt believe me when I said that I saw people swimming with the poo.

Anyways, the boat on the left actually towed our boat up the river. It may have been their way of saving gas. Here is some good news for you: I am actually learning Chinese. Arve and I harassed Lucy the entire trip (total of ~30 hours) to teach us such phrases as:

"Zhe ge difang yue lai yue xiang ti tani ke le"


"This place is beginning to be like the Titanic"

We also learned how to say, "My stuff is really good" (Wo de dongxi hen hao)


Now back to the real education I guess. This is how some people live. I wasnt sure if this was their permanent home, temporary home, or just work-break shelter but.....yeah. The people here work SO hard, its like nothing you really see in the states. We sailed past some brick yards with a football field full of bricks...and there werent any mechanical lifts anywhere around...

And then there is the picture of the way that they transport coal in China.
Notice the train wraps around like 8 cars deep.

Remember how I was making fun of those asian tour groups with the flag and the bullhorn? Well we joined one, but they didnt even try to give us cool hats.

But here is our tour guide:

So one thing that I have developed a liking for are all of the lions that the Chinese use to protect the entrances of certain structures or institutions...I am not sure exactly what they do, but it most likely has something to do with good fortune. The Chinese have alot of things that they do for good fortune, one of which is to pay some guy 5 yuan to ring a bell that will bring wealth...starting with the 5 yuan they just lost. Then you can pay a budhist monk to write your name on the good fortune list...if you dont pay, then they still wish you good health and happiness for your family so thats cool too. I dont want to make it sound like they are selling out, I just thought that aspect was weird.

Anyways, back to the lions. The thing that I like about some of them in particular is that some of them have their mouths open, which I feel gives them alot of character. I like to associate make believe sounds that they are making with each lion.

This one doesnt actually have a sound, I just thought it was a decent pic of an old lion and cub.

This one is saying "Harrrrr....Haarrrr" See it?

(by the way, the female lions have cubs with them, the males have a ball by their feet)



I like these types the most: the ones that look like they are saying "cheese" or "Haaaa! Picture time!" This is actually a garbage receptical...or at least the ladies told me to throw my peach pit in there...



These types of gardens are actually what Suzhou is known for.
That, and pretty girls, but I dont really buy it.




Group photo at the garden




This is a statue of a Budda...who is good at Karaoke

Last, the guy in the yellow is telling him "Ni yao yong yi ge da xiang"

-"No, you should use the big stick of incense"

Thankyouverymuch! I'll be here all year!