I guess I haven't posted since I came back from Nanjing. As to be expected, some stuff happened since then. Most of it not too exciting, just trying new local food I never had before. Pictured on the right is Ox spine soup. I know if you saw that in the States, you'd think "That's an odd name - I wonder what's really in it?"

This is China. It's an ox spine, dummy.

I did make it to Shaoxing, which only leaves Ningbo on the list of "cities nearby I can easily travel to" list. Shaoxing isn't exactly a tourist town, but it is nice enough. It is perhaps the "oldest" city in China I've been to, in that there a sections that look trapped in time. Walking through there is like flashing back several centuries. I mostly went to visit a friend and see the nice and shiny EF school that was just built there. I can say with confidence that it is significantly more shiny than our EF. I have building envy, if that's a thing. Other sights in Shaoxing are Yu the Great's Grave (Didn't go - heard the "great" thing is an exaggeration. Maybe "Yu the Not Bad") , and Lu Xun's house. Who's Lu Xun? I don't know, some dead Chinese author. Anyway he has a museum and it's surrounded by some old timey markets. Denis and I checked out the museum by pulling the ol' foreigner trick - just walk through the door with confidence, and if anyone stops you, reply with "ting bu dong". You can go anywhere you want, moreso if you have a suit. Also there were boats.

Boats!

We had the Halloween party at work, which was really cool and made me miss Halloween at home. My job was to make/be in the Haunted House. We were supposed to build a tunnel, but they weren't able to get boxes big enough. Apparently nobody has fridgerators in China. So the few boxes we did have I turned up vertically, and got to be a "creepy moving wall that followed you". It worked, and combined with Emelia as "dead person in a coffin" and Jane as "mysterious hands that grab you", we promptly scared the shit out of some kids. There was crying, which I am very proud of.

Anyway, here's some pictures of some people, with more to probably come at a later date. Speaking of dates, the end of my contract is fast approaching. I'll be headed back to the States at some point soon, after a few detours throughout Asia. One in particular I'm very excited about.

See you all soon!