"It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood......."

Today is a lovely day in Nanjing.  The sun is out, the air is cool but not cold.  I just love this type of weather and I am trying to enjoy it because from what I have heard it will be hot, hot, hotty in the blink of any eye.  Others that have lived here longer say that as soon as it starts to warm up, the weather turns quick.  There is no easing into the 100% humidity that is part of the Nanjing summer. 

I have not walked up the mountain by our house all winter, so today I ventured out to enjoy the sunshine.  It was glorious!  The air was clear-ish and the mountain was alive with signs of spring.  We have had lots of rain here, so everything was a lush green and the flower blossoms on trees were out and they are BEAUTIFUL!  I cannot help but feel close to God while up on the mountain, seeing all the beauty He has created.  It overwhelms me at time.  The fragrance from the blossoms was so awesome and seeing all the blooms reminds me that "Hope springs Eternal." 

Here are some pics from my Saturday stroll:

some pretty yellow blossoms

some nice white blossoms

Gorgeous pink blossoms

a couple walking their 3 dogs...cute!

mountain views

this is the spot where I usually stop and turn around...not sure if this is supposed to be an art installation or just something random

view through the hole of the structure

yellow and pink blooms together...pretty

Gorgeous pink blooms!

family on a picnic...cute!

here is a couple having a picnic on the top of this cool stone

a guy I met who brought his birds out for some fresh air...I think it is sweet he drove them all the way up the mountain on his scooter just to hang them in the trees for fresh air....

Lessons learned from fruits and veggies....

I have found there are many positive things about living in China.  One of them is the price of Fruits and Veggies.  They are very inexpensive. 

I bought all of this:

1 Chinese Mango
A bag of strawberries
A bag of potatoes
3 leaks
2 onions
2 heads of cauliflower

It cost me 29 Yuan or about 4.59 USD....I think that is pretty good.  I don't know the cost of fruits and veg right now in the U.S. but I think getting all of that for less that  $5.00 is good.

It is very interesting because the view about food is opposite here.  In the U.S. I always heard  talk shows and new shows discussing the problem of obesity in the United State.  One reason that would come up is  because fresh food costs more than fast food or processed foods.  I was talking to my language instructor and telling her that fruits and veggies are very cheap in China and she said matter of factly, "it is because the majority of Chinese people are poor."  That makes sense.

A lady who volunteers with me at Hopeful Hearts was telling me how she went to visit one of the children that was able to get heart surgery because of Hopeful Hearts.  The family was from the country side and they were very, very poor.  She the little girl who got the surgery was eating a little serving of mashed potatoes from Kentucky Fried Chicken, which is EXTREMELY popular in China.  They LOVE KFC.  My friend said that the little girl's grandpa was trying to teach her the value of money and how she was fortunate to be able to eat those KFC mashed potatoes.  He told her those mashed potatoes cost 4 yuan...which is about .63 cents USD.  He told her that is extremely expensive.  Back home in the country side, he told her, we can buy a whole bag of potatoes for that amount of money.  My friend was telling me the story because it touched her.  She is of Chinese descent but only just recently moved back to China.  She said that it amazes even her how the Chinese can live off so little money and they really take nothing for granted because they have so little.  She said it made her cry when the grandpa was talking to the little girl.

That  is one thing that I also am learning in the almost 6 months that we have been here.  How easy it is to take things for granted.  I am learning to try and be more conscience of how I spend my money.  I have to say having Xiao Li and Yi in my life helps me with that.  Xiao Li was cleaning out the fridge and she showed me that she was going to throw some strawberries away because they had gone bad.  I had forgotten about them and I felt so bad when she showed me because I knew to her that was probably so wasteful.  I was embarrassed, so having them around helps keep me accountable.

On a funny note, my driver Yi keeps me accountable by telling on me.  The other day I bought something for the house in the "as is" section of IKEA because it was a great price.  ☺  Michael called me on the way home from work and said Yi told me you bought something big today at IKEA.  Luckily Michael had already approved of the purchase, but Yi did not know that and we thought it was funny that he felt the need to let Michael know.  I told Michael I am not going to be able to get away with buying stuff on the sly anymore! ☺

On the road again...

It is weird to think that I have not driven a car in over 5 months.  When you are from a city where automobiles are king and they have no decent public transportation system and no bike lanes, driving is what you do. 

Here we have a driver who we depend on to take us everywhere.  We do not have a Metro (subway) stop close to us, so we always use the driver.  They are in the process of building a stop close to us, but it is at least a year if not 2 away from being completed.

So I recently purchased a bike and I am on the road again.  I feel like I have a little bit of my independence back and it feels good.  The other day I just got on my bike and drove around to explore the area where I live.  I came across a metro stop, so I hopped on and went downtown.  On the way back I got a foot massage and got take out from one of our favorite restaurants.  Here are some pics from my day out!

Suguo or SG...the market I sometimes shop at ...we can walk here or I can now take my bike as well!

these peeps were in front of me on my bike...I am getting ready to pass them ☺

these ladies are street cleaners...people that literally just go around and sweep the streets all day and pick up the garbage on the streets...like their brooms? they are made out from branches and stuff...that big one with the leaves on it is a broom also! way to recycle!

one of our fave restaurants...Dong Bei is North East Chinese food...this is where I grabbed take out on my way home

as you can see LOTS of bikes and scooters in Nanjing

someone drying their laundry

me heading down to the subway

a heavy load

getting my feet soaked in tea before my foot massage

foot massage in process

the tea and treats that come with a foot massage

another heavy load

Don't leave me hangin'....

Early on when we moved to China I posted about laundry.  The machines are tiny here, not like the ones in the U.S. that advertise they can wash 50 pairs of jeans at one time.  Well, maybe not 50 but at least 49.  And then the gigantic capacity dryer that can dry them all as well.  Here in China... not so much.  We have teeny tiny washer/dryers, literally a washer and dryer in one.  If you try and dry more than 5 items at once you end up with a wrinkly mess.

Thank God for Xiao Li who does our laundry now and we now dry our clothes the old fashion way....hanging them up to dry, rather than dry them in the dryer.

We have one of these dryer things upstairs and downstairs.  The Chinese locals just hang their stuff outside on trees, rooftops, out windows...wherever.  But it is VERY dusty and dingy here, so we, or shall I say Xiao Li dries our clothes inside.  When it is dry she irons everyone of Michael's t-shirts and boxers as well as the rest of our clothes.  I have already informed him that this will not happen when we return to the U.S.  ☺

Pics from around town...

While I was in the car going to my friend's place I thought I would take some pics of things that I saw out the car window.  The pics are going to be sub-par as the car is moving and I was using my iPhone camera, so sorry about that.  But I just wanted to try and share a little bit of what I see when I look out my window.

 

We have IKEA...can you see the small sign?

looks like the Capitol Building, but it'snot

Going through the Nanjing Wall....Nanjing used to be a capital city, so it was surrounded by a wall. 

a sign leading onto the highway, that I think says...no tractors, no people, no bikes, no horse and buggy, no motorcycles and no 3 wheeled cars

a place I go to get western food items....hence the word Occident, meaning western hemisphere/the countries of America and Europe.....I looked it up, I do not have that kind of knowledge in my head

the fountain at my friend's apartment complex...I love the horses, to bad it has not water in it...it would be pretty

many people here have their own chickens...not for eggs...but to kill and eat.  and these are not people out in the country, these are people living in the city, in apartment complexes and such

gas station

many, many people drive scooters and bikes here....Xiao Li drives an hour on her scooter to get to my house...rain or shine, bless her heart!  I am hoping to get one to just go around our neighborhood, but Michael is not convinced yet, he does not want me to kill myself.  Right now, I started riding a bike to the fruit market and the little shopping areas close to where we live, hoping to convince him I can do it!  So far I have not gotten hit. 

bad pic, but cute...the dad taking the daughter home from school...she is just sitting in the back of the bike reading, on my way home there where lots of parents with kids on scooters and bikes being picked up with school, it is so cute and I wanted to get more pics, but it is not easy taking pics from a moving vehicle ;o/

there are tons of little shops all over town, lined up one after another...selling anything you can think of

this is ingenious ....the stop lights count down when the light will turn green, red, etc....so you know exactly when you will be able to go or if you have time or not to get through the light before it turns red....even our friend Brian, when he was here visiting, said we should totally have that in the U.S.

driving Ling Ling.....

Yi is our driver.  He is a real Gem!  Michael and I are blessed to have in our lives!