Life is wonderfully busy...

Our life in Nanjing is moving right along...QUICKLY!   My days are filled with some wonderful new things.  I started doing Tai Chi.  Tai Chi is no joke!  My teacher is very tough and it works my legs until they are jello.  I really like it though.  I just take it at the club house in our complex.  

I have also met several ladies in Nanjing.  And we have become fast friends.  There are many activities that the wives do here.  Their are tai chi classes, cooking classes, language classes, painting classes and probably many others that I do not know about yet.  We also do a lot of going out to lunch and venturing out into the city to find cool new places to shop. ;o)  There is no lack of activities to participate in.  I feel blessed to be a part of this community and to have the opportunity to meet new friends and experience some new activities. 

Our friend Jon was also in town this past weekend.  He was on an Asian adventure of his own visiting people in Japan, Nanjing and Hong Kong.  We were happy to see a friend from back home and we had a great weekend with him.  He arrived late Friday night, so we just picked him up at the airport and then came home and had some pizza and beer.  The next day we visited Purple Mountain.  There are many, many, many things you can do at Purple mountain.  You can walk and walk for miles and miles.  We went to Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum. We also went to Ming Dynasty Tombs.  That was my favorite part because they have these huge stone animals that are AMAZING!  If you know me, you know I love animals so I really enjoyed the statues.  I have many pics below of the statues.

Michael taking a picture of our friend Jon

entering Sun Yet-san's mausoleum

many steps to climb

Michael's first...Can I get a picture with a white person picture.  It has not happened yet in Nanjing because most people in a city like Nanjing have seen white people.  But at a tourist attraction like Purple Mountain many people are from out of town, maybe the country side or from places in China that are not that exposed to Westerner and are they are excited when they see white people. ;o)  Michael got asked for pics more than once that day.

eating lunch...it was YUMMY!

these beef noodles...AMAZING!

these beans...REALLY Amazing.  if you know Jon ask him, he said it was the best thing at that meal

stone horse

these stone elephants...SUPER COOL!

stone camels...really COOL!

These are 2 of my new best gals.  We went shopping at IKEA this day.  Angela is on the left and Carol is on the right.  The are both from Michigan as well.  They are have been super sweet and supportive.  They have helped me find all the yummy places to eat, all the great places to shop and have literally made life easier for me here in Nanjing.  Not only by spending time with me and showing me the ropes, but also because they introduced me to the best thing since sliced bread....my Ayi!

This is Li Huai Ping and myself.  She is awesome!  She is super sweet and pretty much does everything for me these days.  I really can't put into words how great she is.  She is sweet as pie and works extremely hard.  I really wish all my friends and family could have an Ayi.  I don't know how to describe all that she does and how much I enjoy her help without sounding like a spoiled brat.  So I will leave it at that.  She is amazing.  I know Michael and I are blessed to have her.  Having house help is not the life we came from and it is not the life we will return to, but we are very thankful to God for blessing us with this experience.  We know that all we have comes from Him!