Tim in China

About one week after Aunt Debbie's visit, Tim arrived. Tim spent an entire month with me and then, we flew back to the states together for the summer. Our time in China was great, with many adventures along the way.

Teaching. Unfortunately for Tim, upon his arrival I put him to work and made..I mean, asked him to help me teach a lesson on music (if you don't know, Tim is a talented musician). It was the last class, and I thought this would be a fun way to end the term. Tim, of course, kindly agreed. He brought his guitar from America, and we created a lesson covering various genres of music. We wanted to broaden the students knowledge beyond Lady Gaga. We introduced the lesson by singing 'Sing a song' by the Carpenter's and had the students sing along. They sounded so good. Following that song, one student raised his hand and asked us, 'Do you have an album?' It was hilarious and flattering. We then covered 5 genres of music (country, bluegrass, rock, reggae, blues) and sang a song from each. We also played a trivia game by asking a couple of multiple choice questions about each music type. My favorite trivia question was, 'which hairstyle is associated with reggae music?' Most picked the mullet- they had no idea, which was great because they were learning new and not to mention, important things. Tim did an awesome job, and I know the students really appreciated his talent and willingness to participate.


Shanghai. Everyone that visits me gets the Shanghai tour. Below, we are at the World Financial Tower, which has the highest observation deck in the world. Being my third visit, I had to mix things up so I acted scared being up so high. Tim was not acting.



Shanghai is stunning at night. Below are some photos.



World Expo. The World Expo (formerly known as the World's Fair) happens to be in Shanghai this time. Participating countries create national pavilions that focus on positive changes or contributions their country is making. It is really neat and kind of bazaar at the same time. I found the unique architecture fascinating.









Despite the crowds, we were able to tour several pavilions. I will show a few here.

My personal favorite was Belgium. There was an awesome tunnel, algae, and SMURFS- they are Belgian, who knew?!




Hungary.



Australia.


Africa.


Huangshan. Tim and I decided to trek into the mountains and to get there we took a sleeper train. It was a lot of fun, in fact, 15 hours worth of fun.



'Huangshan' means Yellow Mountain. This is one of, if not, the most beautiful place I have ever been. Sadly, the photos do not come close to portraying the stunning scenery. The main reason for this was the constant mist. In spring/early summer, it is a very common occurrence. Huangshan is truly unforgettable, not only for its beauty, but for its pitch. It is either straight up or straight down, literally no in between. The hiking was awesome and intense, and we were fortunate to spend two nights in the mountain range before heading down to the base.










At the bottom of the mountains were hot springs! They were so much fun. Besides the typical hot springs, they had pools containing coffee grounds, red wine, alcohol, and milk. Each substance supposedly benefited the body in some way. To top off the entire experience, they had one particular pool that was at a lukewarm temperature containing small fish that eat dead skin. Tim and I laughed for the first several minutes. Getting used to it took some time. What fun!

Yummy eats. Who wants duck tongue? It tastes like soft jerky.


Good times.