Lao Dong Jie

This weekend was labor day, or Lao Dong Jie. I got Friday off of work and rode the train into Nanjing for the weekend. Over the course of the weekend, I had many firsts: my first (wonderful) Chinese foot massage in a teeny basement apartment, my first visit to a Chinese Wal-Mart, my first taste of Muslim food, my first ride on a stone horse, my first real Chinese conversation (I understood the main ideas at least!), my first experience with a bus full (standing room only!) of non-deodorant wearers on the way down Purple Mountain, and my first time to miss the train home from church! Oops...I was having too much fun eating lunch at the McMullins'. The next train to Zhenjiang was a sleeper train, with six bunks in each small room, departing at eight p.m. and headed in the direction of Shanghai. As I waited in the station, I met some sweet girls who wanted to take pictures with me and get my phone number, and this was when I had my "Chinese" conversation. Since it was so late, when I arrived at Zhenjiang station I took a taxi back to the kindergarten, tried to see if my computer was working (it's not; this is a classroom computer I'm on now), ate some dumplings, and went to bed.

All my classes went really well today and I love these kids more and more and more and more.

Pictures:

Above, the giant elephant is a statue guarding the pathway to the tomb of the Ming Dynasty's first emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang, who was buried in 1398. There were also statues of lions, unicorns, horses, camels, and ancient mythical creatures. The actual Ming tomb is closed for construction, but Caroline and I walked along the ancient path leading up to it. I wonder what Zhu Yuanzhang would think if he could see hundreds of tourists wearing knock-off designer clothes mount his stone guardians.

Below, a section of Zhujiang Lu (Lu means road) in Nanjing is lined with electronics and computer stores. I was finally able to find a USB hub! I thought it was very interesting that the Chinese flags were hung in front of the PC mall. This is a new China, and the government obviously supports it.