day off

Today was our first day off.  Our roommate, Dave, took us to a few of his favorite spots.  We learned a few back alley ways that have great fruit markets on the way to downtown Wuxi.  Our final destination was Huangshan mountain.  There is a family that lives in a temple on the mountain top.  I forgot the camera so these are a few photos I borrowed.  We ended up at a restaurant back in our neighborhood (called Dongting).  The restaurant is known for the Sichuan spices it uses in their food.  Needless to say our mouths were on fire when we left.  Nothing that a few good beers couldn't take care of though.  It was a great ending to a perfect day.  top photo via, middle photo via, bottom photo via

man with pigeons

This man lives across the road from us.  

This is our apartment.  It is two stories!  It happened to be the nicest and least expensive of all the apartments we saw.

arriving in Shanghai

In Shanghai we stayed in a small hotel called "Hanting".    We woke up at the crack of dawn (5am) and looked out the window to see a little old man fixing his breakfast.  If you look closely you can see his birds hanging out the window.  We are now in Wuxi and will be posting more photos soon!

We flew out of the Nashville airport four days ago.  

Nashville, Tennessee

Before leaving for China, we are visiting some of my family in Nashville.  The peaches and banana bread that showed up on the doorstep the other day turned out to be a great end to a busy day.  Thanks aunt Annie and aunt Mary!

"Hitch" was found on the side of the interstate when he was a puppy but he sure has a great life now with my aunt Ann and uncle John.  We stopped by their cozy house to say goodbye and for one last cup of mint tea before we go.  Their house is one of those places where you feel at home as soon as you drive up the driveway.  Know what I mean?

yum 

Wuxi, China

Mark and I will be leaving June 19th for Wuxi, China.  We will be teaching English there for one year.  Wuxi (woo-she)  is also called "Little Shanghai" and is only an hour away from Shanghai.  It is a city of 5.99 million people.   We will be posting photos of our trip on this blog throughout the year if we are able to.

photo by Barbara Beach