You said you wanted pictures...

In other words, be careful what you wish for. :D


These are photos from various adventures and excursions plus some shots of life at Gaoxin No. 1 school.  I'll explain as I go:


The first two are from an underground museum built over the excavation site of Emperor Jan Di's mausoleum.  Jan Di was the third emperor of the Western Han dynasty.

He was buried with lots of terracotta figures, that's what you see scattered throughout these photos.  Oh and the museum has a glass floor so as you go you are actually walking over part of the excavation, it is a true 3-D experience.

This is just a funny shot I took one afternoon in my office.  There are about 7 girls all gathered around two of the male teachers in the office.  You can get a picture here of the student's dress and demeanor.  They are just regular high schoolers.  Oh I should mention that the two teachers they are listening to so intently are pretty cute :P 

About a week and a half ago I ventured with the family of one of my students, Will and his friend Eric and another teacher, Jo (who is the sweetest girl), from the school to this little Chinese village where life in "old China" is reenacted for the enjoyment of visitors.  I will post more on that soon when I edit all the photos.  Here are some to whet your appetite, literally.


In the first one some pigs' feet, because as my friend Jo says, "We Chinese are good at cooking feet."

Here is a local specialty, pepper noodles.  Spicy and delicious! 

Wave at Chairman Mao! 

 That same day we went to another emperor's mausoleum, this one is built into the side of a mountain.  Saw some spectacular views.

 This is probably telling me something very important, but the guide we got didn't speak English so I didn't catch much :) will do some research and get back to you.

This last week was loooooooong.  Taught for 7 days in a row but had Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off.  Here are some pics of my adventure with host mom and dad to the Daoist Cultural "theme park" (my name for it)

 there were about 8 of these stands selling sweet corn and popcorn.

 fairly blah pic of me but at least it's proof I was there!

Then most importantly-lunch!
This is a photo for my dear Tingting whose list of must try foods is being diligently followed with the help of host dad, he's having fun with it to! These were wide flour noodles with spicy chili oil and local greens!  Sooooo yummy, but mom told me not to eat too much because there would be lots of other food.

 No kidding!  This was the first dish, a local fish fried up with chilis.  (my personal fave)

 Wild chicken and bread in a sauce with different spices, I think some cinnamon made it in there.  Very good.

More fish with different kinds of peppers.  This one had the whole fish which I'm still not good at picking around the bones,  but since you're expected to spit the bones out when you find them I'm not the only one looking a little weird! 

Tuesday these three students invited me to explore the Muslim Quarter and part of the old city.  (from left to right: Jessica, Eric and Candace)  


This photo was taken on the Drum Tower.

I'm just going to mention this again, being a teacher in China rocks!  These kiddos invited me out and paid for everything!  But I made them let me pay for Starbucks to round up our day.


 This was taken on the Bell Tower, the other young lady is Amanda, a college teacher in Nanching visiting Xi'an over the holiday.  She's from Philly.

This is what we had for breakfast, soup dumplings!!  Yay for dumplings :)

Here's a last shot for the day, looking out of the Bell Tower towards the Drum Tower and the Muslim Quarter.