And the adventures continue...

Ni hao,

Tuesday morning Liya took Yi and me downtown to the shopping mall and a park. In the park were many older people who would dance, do tai chi which is a slow motion routine and practice calligraphy.

I wish I had pictures to describe the traffic here...all I can say is I have never seen so many cars, people, buses, mopeds, bicycles and so much honking in my life! No one here follows the law and if they want to drive down a one way street or cut some one off they will. The crazy part is no one ever gets a ticket....even when police are flashing their lights, no one lets them through.

That evening we drove to Nanjing where Yi's grandfather lives. It was a great experience getting to stay in their home (which is actually an apartment to us).

Early the next morning we got up early and were out on the street by 6:30am to get breakfast. One of my favorite dishes here are steamed vegetable buns. For breakfast I also love what we would call porridge with a little bit of sugar. All it consists of is white rice that cooks for awhile until its a big mushy. That evening we had dinner with everyone including Yi and her dad Ming, aunt, uncle, cousin and grandfather.

Around midnight last night I got on the train and rode overnight to Beijing. I really didn't know what to expect because I was the only American aboard. Ming made sure I got on with all my luggage and even asked some young men if they would help me get to a taxi when we arrived. I did meet a girl who spoke very little English, so I wasn't completely alone. They were all so kind and even helped carry my bags. The first taxi I got up to to take me to the hotel shook his head and drove off...at this point I started to worry. Then this little old man who knew just a bit of English said he would make sure to get me to the hotel and then would go home from there. He was so kind and insisted to pay for the taxi fee.

Last night I met the rest of our group from Purdue for dinner. Today we will be going to visit a university in Beijing and see the Temple of Heaven.

Zai jian!