Weekend of fun!!!

I had a great weekend in China! It still feels funny to say that. I have noticed that this going by extremely fast though. Well, on Sat I went with my host mom and sister to look at some houses. They are interested in moving so I went along to check out some new sites. The first place we went to was a huge apartment/living community. Most people here live in apartments and the apartment buildings are about 30 stories high! The one we visited was no different and it was 4 bedroom. Really nice. It also has a garden on the roof for people to have their own plants and herbs growing. After that we went to a cute house that reminded me or a cottage out of a fairy tale. It is about 8 years old but overlooks the city on a hill. It has three levels with little terraces and a big porch on the roof. I wanted it for myself!

After house viewing, Xiao Rong's mom dropped us off at Yue Xiu park. This park is famous in Guangzhou bc it holds the statue of the 5 celestial rams. It is an old story about 5 rams coming down and planting wheat and that is how the city of Guangzhou started or something like that. Sorry, it was one of the less interesting stories, you can google it. So Xiao Rong, Phil, and I walked around the park and eventually to the statue, all while listening to Dave and his views on American politics.

We left there and went home for a few hours before dinner, and I took a nap! For dinner, the four of us went to a popular sea food restaurant where we picked our food out of the tank. We had the choice of over 20 different fish, eel, mussel, turtle, frog, crab, lobster, etc. All things are alive when you pick them out by the way. I almost chose the turtle just for the fact that my mom always claimed we would be having turtle soup for dinner but never delivered! Dinner was very good, and Fresh! Afterwards we took a scary taxi ride home.

Yesterday, Sunday, Phil and I met with Sue (our fav coworker) to go to Baiyun Mountain. It was absolutely beautiful! It took about an hour to climb half way and then once at the top, Sue bought us some snacks (of course she did. They think that we need to eat every 5 minutes bc we have a little more meat on our bones!) After a tasty snack of jellied bean curds and flat rice noodles, (which really are two of my favorite foods here, just filling) we headed back down the mountain. After that, we took a cab to dinner where Sue ordered tea, soup, fish, beef, fried rice, two vegetable plates, and dessert for only three people. She is tiny and does not eat enough to feed a bird. After the first 4 plates came she said, "I order two more." And Phillip and I insisted that was not necessary but she was afraid we would be hungry later! When ever I, Lindsay Day, the Queen eater, am having trouble finishing my food, you know it is too much.

So, after making it back home and receiving Sue's phone call from her acupuncture appointment, making sure we made it ok, I met Phil and Dave for some ping pong! Dave came prepared with a backpack full of supplies. We found an open table in a building on campus. They have one in the lobby of almost every building. Phil and I started playing while David "warmed up", yeah, I know. After Dave was all stretched out, I let him take my place. As he stepped up to the table, I could see the Hulk like morph taking place. His eyes became dilated and his muscles became tense. He was, the Ping Pong Master!!!!! haha, talk about taking yourself too serious. He didn't speak when he was playing at first and would just wait until you hit a ball too high and too soft so he could slam it back at your face, as hard has you can. I guess I should have been expecting this from all the talk I have heard from him about the Chinese being so dominant in this sport. Apparently, "no other nation can produce players like them", and "people keep trying to change the rules in the Olympics to make it tougher on the Chinese." We give Dave a hard time but he sure means well and can be quite entertaining.

Ok, this has gotten a little lengthy. If you have any questions about what I write or want me to talk about other things, just leave me a message on my comments!