More Shopping

We Cleaned one of our small enclosed porches this morning, the small one, off the kitchen. Usually cleaning does not raise a blip on my radar of things to write about but this little room was interesting. After Linda dusted the windows and the areas above the floor, her feet made footprints in the dust that built up on the floor - almost like the pictures of the astronauts footprints on the moon. Much of the dirt is a white sandy material that we think blows in off the Gobi desert. If we were just patient enough we could have a small desert in our apartment. Linda, however, does not think this is a good idea. I'm thinking cactus garden or even the sand gardens that one see at the Japanese stroll garden or the Missouri Botanical Garden with the rows of sand raked into furrows. I'm looking for support here. A few stones and a few cacti and we could just ignore the porches for the next two years. Nice try, James.

This afternoon we went shopping - again. We walked to the E-Mart, I actually took a picture of the sign this time. The walk to the E-Mart took us by the Water Park - a large park near us that has natural lakes in it and lots of places to walk around. It's probably as big as Nathanial Greene park in Springfield. There is a fence all the way around it because it costs money to get in but it looks like it will be quite lovely in the spring and fall. Today there were celebrations going on for the Spring Festival.

Along the way to the E-Mart we passed some street vendors that had set up shop along the side walk along the water park. Linda stopped and bought a piece of jewelry. I had to pee so bad I wasn't very patient, but I waited anyway and took a couple of pictures.

I can't get blogger to cooperate. The first two pictures go with this paragraph and the next ones go with the E-Mart bit.

It was so warm today that I had to unzip my coat while we were walking to keep cool enough. That was only when we were walking in the sun. I think it's the warmest day we've had since our arrival. It may have gotten into the mid 30s. Tomorrow its supposed to get to 42 - we're keeping our fingers crossed.

I remain frustrated that I can't speak the language and still only study about 40 minutes to an hour a day. I'm trying to add a phrase or two every day that I'm willing to try out on the locals. I tried "see you later" today on one of the dorm mothers and I don't think she understood me - ah well at least I'm trying.

Food highlights: We passed by a French bakery/sandwich shop today and found a great loaf of sour dough bread for 25 yuan (about $4) which was too much but very much worth it with our leftover lentil soup (that was mung bean because we're unable to find lentils. The spicy ginger helped it out alot). James bought a pastry that tasted just ok. The texture of the pastries here are just not the same - not light and flaky but more tough and rubbery. We are eating lots of nuts for snacks from the market - toasted, salted almonds and macadamia nuts are our favorites. If you have heard this before, forgive me. I forget if I put it on the blog or emailed my sister.

I'm not sure if I got a good deal on the bracelet I bought or not. It's a green round stone that is very pretty. The stringing is cheap but it can be taken apart and used in another piece of jewelry. I didn't try to bargain which is very common and expected here. My confidence in numbers is not quite there but I am working on that daily. I did pull out my notebook and ask her in Mandarin what the price was, though. It's a start!