Birthday Shopping Trip

I kept Peter and Jack home from school today and we went shopping nearby.  We took a taxi cab and the driver had the radio on.  As I was listening, I realized that I was understanding some of what was being said!!   What a thrill that was!  Here's the street we shopped on, on this cloudy, cool day - not rainy though!

Left: Peter and Jack, with their wallets loaded, ready to SHOP!  Right:  Part of a Buddha statue on Hefang street.

In this touristy area, there are plenty of bicycles available to rent; but then how would we carry all of our packages!


We stopped in another shop that had all kinds of interesting herbs and roots for sale, because we saw so many weird looking things inside!  Here is some kind of root artfully displayed in the window...
  

Left: In the same store was some delicious looking snake wine - snake included.  Since my brother-in-law Dan had tried some on his trip, I guess I'll have to give it a go too, just to say I did.  Right: Some green tea leaves left out to dry, available by the "jin" or 1/2 kilo.
 

Some hand-made slippers that can be had for your guests to wear.  In China, people don't wear their shoes inside their homes.  There is also a ready supply of slippers available at someone's house for guests, and shoes are always left at the door or outside.  This is one custom that we have really come to like.
 

There's a McDonald's on this street too.  I'll leave the translation of the sign up to you.


Peter and Jack successfully found some beautiful artwork to hang on our wall, which they are excited to give their Mom for her birthday (12/31).


More sights from this touristy street.  The man in the picture on the right is a Chinese tourist that paid to dress up and have his picture taken.  He doesn't know he's famous now on our blog :). 

Though Jack's hair is so short, he really wanted a Chinese comb.  So we stopped at this little kiosk where the owner was making them out of some kind of animal horns.

... and here is the finished product!  Nice!  Jack bought one with his name inscribed for 30 quai (about $4 US).
  

This weekend we both will teach class.  In China, it appears many of the major Chinese holidays (New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, being two of them) are taken off - however, the whole country makes them up on a weekend day.  So, Saturday I work and Sunday Sue works.  Then, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, we have off from work.  We'll go to Shanghai, stay in a fancy hotel, eat fancy food, and maybe send Sue to a fancy spa for her birthday.

When we got home today, our water was turned back on - a day early!  Yahoo!  It's so nice to be able to flush the toilet again!