I'm sure all that honking really helps...

I want to apologize to my dear friends and family who have been thinking upward about me these last few weeks.  I have not been faithful about letting you know what's been going on... so I'm going to change that, hopefully.  I want to share stories, pictures, and requests with you about my time here in Shenyang.  Thank you so much for supporting me as I follow this call to China.

One of the biggest surprises for me here in China is the driving.  I thought that there were crazy drivers in the parking lots at IWU.  But nothing compared to here.  Lames are only a suggestion.  Sidewalks are not just for walking or riding bikes.  Parking is at one's greatest convenience, even in the middle of the road.  And a car is worthless without it's horn. 

First taxi ride!  So scared

Last Saturday, my roommate, Anna, and I took taxi ride into the middle of the city.  This was my first taxi ride.  Boy was I in for a treat.  I thought that the drivers for the school were crazy... I was not prepared for this.  You wouldn't have been able to tell that we weren't in a hurry, because he drove like we were.  You don't want to drive in the slow lane?  And the fast lane's not fast enough for you?  Ok, just drive on the other side of a road.  Not a problem.  The bus is slowing you down?  Ok, just lay on that horn, like the other six cars that are waiting as well.  I'm sure your horn is really helping.  

It's amazing how aware the drivers are of the cars around them.  Well, they have to be or they would get squished by a cement truck.  It's an interesting experience every time I get into a car.

 Last Saturday when we finally got into the center of the city, about a twenty-five minute drive, Anna and I went to what they call the underground market.  This is a mall of sorts that runs under the road.  It's full of little shops for clothes, jewelry, scarves, shoes, and neon orange leggings. It's barter style shopping, which is always fun. It helped me learn my numbers in Mandarin! We were getting headbands from one stand, and he wanted way more than we were willing to pay. So once he refused our price, we walked away.  And he called us back and gave them to us.  Score!  I felt accomplished in the art of Chinese bartering.  We made our way through the crowds, pushing and shoving to the next stand.

Anna rescued a kitten from the evil pet-seller int he underground market.  Carrying it around was an adventure... the poor thing wouldn't stop meowing.  People would stare.  One woman said, "Aww!  I want one!"  In Chinese of course.

Oh Walmant... it's not too much different from a Walmart in the States.  It even has Great Value brand peanuts.  One big difference, the meat sat in the open on large tables and you walked over and picked up whatever you wanted.

Street food!  This is squid. It was actually really good!

More street food... though I'm not sure what any of it is.  I picked out the little white balls  because they looked like Mozzarella cheese.  They weren't. My favorite thing in here: the stringy ones that look like an animal.  Weird.  It was pretty good though.  Very spicy.