Living in China

I know it's only been a few days, but it turned out I had another convenient opportunity to use the VPN at the neighbor's house.  So, I suppose it's time for a short update.  All the rules still apply- pictures take too long, this whole thing took forever to load in the first place, I can't promise when I'll next be on... You get the idea.

Over the past few days, I've been establishing the schedule that I will hold for most of my time here.  Wake up and work out in the morning with my aunt, breakfast, shower, do schoolwork.  Go out for lunch, or eat leftovers.  Do schoolwork.  Have dinner.  Watch a movie or hang out with my cousins.  Get on Skype and go to Physics class.  Go to bed.  Not a bad schedule.  It's full-time school at the Blackburn's house now- my cousins have even more schoolwork than me to keep them busy.  But we still have time to do fun things.  We've gone out to lunch several times this week to small restaurants around their complex.  Noodles, fried rice, Chinese raviolis (as they were described to me.  I can't remember what they're called).  So good.  Yesterday, Maggie, Aden and I went to the Bird and Flower Market.  Basically, the markets around here are content-specific.  So the Bird and Flower Market sells pots, plants, dogs, fish, fishing supplies, birds, gerbils...  Anything alive or having to do with living things.  I've also been to the fruits and vegetables market and the hardware market.  I hope to find the clothes market soon.  Everyone here wears such adorable high heeled boots, I can't wait to get a pair!  Today, we rode our bikes up the hill to a really fabulous piece of construction- a glass tower, Space Age looking.  It was built by the government to serve some unspecified purpose, but I think it would have made a fabulous viewing area.  Sorta like going to the top of the Empire State Building or Rockefeller Center, just to look around.  It had a great panoramic view of the city.  But it was decreed "bad luck" when it disobeyed some rule of fung shue and several construction workers had accidents, so the building was never used or even completed.  Such a waste of money, space, and construction.  It was really a gorgeous building.  But that's the power of superstition at work.  Too bad, really.  Tomorrow, we're taking the afternoon off to go to Old Dali and visit a friend of the Blackburn's who has a personal library we can use.  Hopefully I'll have a chance to do a bit of tourist shopping in Dali, and go out for dinner.  Exciting!  That's pretty much what's going on so far.  I understand we leave Sunday for Kunming to go to the co-op.  I'll try to keep you posted- thanks for keeping up with me.  Can't wait to show some pictures!
~Monica