Sorry so late!

Sorry this post is so late. I got sidetracked last night and completely forgot to write.

Yesterday morning we all went to the Confucius Temple in Shanghai. It was such a beautiful and peaceful place (until it got later in the morning and the typical car horns started to blast). Because we were missing our usual class periods for this, we ended up having class right there in the temple. We found a little porch with a covered over-hang and benches that looked out onto this little courtyard pond with huge goldfish everywhere, and we ended up having a discussion about Confucianism in the Modern World. I can't lie, I didn't understand most of the conversation because it was lead by most of our Philosophy majors, and I have never taken a Philosophy class in my life. But I did have some input here and there and it ended up being a rather enjoyable time.

Soon after we all went to a restaurant together and ate Dim Song. (Not sure if that is spelled right). It is little dumplings filled with this stuff that tastes like chicken noodle soup. It's really good. Professor Shang told me that the restaurant we went to is famous in Shanghai for their food. It was amazing because we also got spring rolls, which ended up tasting exactly like egg rolls. I had always been told that egg rolls were an American food and China does not have them. Well, Spring rolls were close enough for me! Yum!

From the restaurant the group split and Kendall and I were brought to Old Shanghai and the Yuyuan Garden. It was so beautiful. It was huge and I probably would have gotten lost in it if not for Kendall. I guess it wasn't your typical garden. It had once belonged to a family and it seemed as though their house was integrated throughout the garden. There were buildings here and there, built up on rock formations and down on the ground. The setup kind of reminded me of the Swiss Family Robinson Tree house because it was built all spread out and on whatever landforms were around and all of the stairs were carved out of the rock that the building sat on. Another strange thing was that the garden was not blooming at all. It could be because it's not in season, I'm not sure. But there was a lot of rock and greenery. Oh and there were a million goldfish on the pond that was scattered throughout the whole property. There were rivers and little bodies of water all over the place and millions of goldfish. It really was beautiful.

From there we went out of the garden and back into Old Shanghai where I did some shopping. I got myself a new suitcase for my carry-on and a few gifts for people.

Once we got back I did some homework and just kind of hung out. Last night Erin, another GVSU student came and joined our group for our trip this weekend. She is doing an internship about 2 hours north of Shanghai with Irwin Chair Co. (sp?) She studied abroad here in China last year for about 6 months and now is back for the summer. It was great to have another girl around. That brings our number up to 5. We chatted until all hours of the night, now I am dragging my feet to get to class. Hopefully I will get a nap this afternoon before we leave for the train station.

Oh and I forgot to tell you, Erin taught me how to use a phone card, so I was able to talk to Joe for about 5 minutes last night. Mom, I'll call you next, but I need to buy a new one with more minutes on it.

This will most likely be my last post until Monday when I get back from the weekend trip! Keep me in your prayers please and please have lots of emails waiting when I get back!

Love you all very much.