One Little Kiwi - My Adventures in Hangzhou, China. October 2011.
The afternoon was spent listening to more presentations and by the end of
the day I was over it! We got back to the apartment and celebrated a long
day with the other tutors before heading out to dinner. We went to the
hotel next to the apartment. Far out... talk about a feast! They have a
room and you go in and point at the dishes you want or at the seafood and
they whip it up for you! There was so much food but was a great way to
celebrate the end of the course.
Today I woke up feeling better but I am still fighting off a cold and sore
throat. We headed to the College for the final time and gave back the
presentation results and helped the students fill out their individual
reflections and group evaluations. We quiet often catch the students here
taking sneaky little photos of us on their phones. I saw one girl and said
to her... do you want a photo? So giggles and all we did before a young lad
wanted a photo too. I put my arm around him and the class room erupted with
laugher. We then posed for numerous photos with heaps of different students
and exchanged goodbyes. There are some beautiful students in our class and
it was an absolute pleasure to work with each one of them. After three weeks
you become quite fond of them!
We have also exchanged email addresses so hopefully we can stay in touch :-)
We then went to a formal lunch with all the NMIT tutors (those staying in
the apartments with us) and with Pan the vice-dean of the business school
here. Once again it was a banquet of food, duck, fish, prawns, mushrooms,
chicken livers, beef (amazing!), soup, noodles and some sweet bread. I am
going to miss the food here that's for sure! Following this we picked up my
suits... the jackets fit and look amazing but the skirts need to be taken in
a little bit... my hips aren't that big! Hehe..So if anyone knows a tailor
that could take two skirts in for me I would appreciate t!
We then spent a good half hour trying to either catch a taxi or bus home.
The buses had sooo many people on them that the doors wouldn't close..It was
a hot day and I was not overly keen to play sardines! We finally caught a
taxi and headed back to the apartments for a sleep and to watch the rugby.
I helped John mark half of the individual reflections before and during the
first half of the game. We then shot down to the markets for the last time
and brought a few more socks (six pairs for $2NZD) and some eye makeup...
then to wu-mart for the last time to buy some candy and zip lock bags for
the journey home.
The good news is everything fits in my bag...although the real test will be
when we check in to see the weight.
We are ready to go... so looking forward to coming home but not to the 30
hours it's going to take to get there. I am looking forward to scrambled
eggs... (Don't ask why because I don't know!) And to not being starred at
while walking down the street. There are many things I will miss about
this city and country though.
We leave the apartments at 8am our time, our domestic flight is at 11am. We
then have about 5hours in Hong Kong before we fly to Auckland at 6pm our
time. We might have a chance to do our school work at the airport.. But
really that's not fun!
I will post again once I get home and will continue to post as I remember
things and as I actually get a chance to reflect on my experiences here in
China.
Take care lovely people xx
We taught for the morning yesterday and then headed for lunch.. I got what I
thought was mushrooms (you get one meat, two vege dishes and rice for lunch.
It's in this big hall and you kind of point at what dishes you want.. heck
you have no idea what you are eating but you still point and hope for the
best.. turns out it was far from mushrooms instead it was actually seaweed..
epic fail! Ha..
I then went up to the classroom and worked on my final report for Advanced
Applied Marketing before Steve turned up to test the reading of the
students. I stayed and helped him oversee the test before we caught the bus
back to Wu-Mart. I then walked home all by myself! (don't tell my mum..ok
yes I know she has probably already read this!). We had a much needed lazy
afternoon and watched a chick flick before heading out for dinner. I
watched the first half of fast and furious 5 before realizing it's a
massively long movie and going to sleep.
Today (Wednesday)
We got up at the normal time - which means to be 6am.. heck I have never
been a morning person. We got on the B1 bus into town and went to the Silk
Market one last time, I got a sa-weet as outfit for my Nephew... it has
dragons on it and everything, not that he needed any encouragement with the
whole ninja thing!
We then caught a taxi to west lake, this is another World Heritage Site, we
paid $12NZD each and got on a boat and were paddled out to the main Island
and around - spend an hour on the water. It was so beautiful, hardly any
people, hardly any noise just sunshine and a slight rocking motion. I have
some amazing photos (well I think) from this wee visit Ill post a few
shortly but will figure out a way to post lots when I get home. Those of you
that are my friends on facebook I will upload them here first.
After the boat ride we walked around the edge of the lake with an ice cream
(they have amazing ice creams here!) and caught a taxi back to Marriot
Hotel. Ash had found a Puma outlet store on the same road so we got dropped
off and kind of walked down the street in the general direction hoping that
we would find it. We did! Which was a success in itself but we didn't find
any shoes that fitted! They have such small feet over here you struggle to
find any shoes that fit - guess this is a good thing for my bank balance!
By this time Ash and I were hanging out for some food and a sit down, you do
A LOT of walking in this country. We found a Pizza Hut and flip it was
flash and clean! We order a traditional pizza and it was amazing! Honestly
it's the small things in life - AND THE TOILETS WERE NORMAL.. ahh :-)
We then caught a taxi back to the apartment and worked on school work for
our students. The final report is due tomorrow (or so they think) and so
they have been emailing their reports asking for feedback. We spent about an
hour working on these before heading out for dinner. I brought some cold and
flu tablets (well what I am told are cold and flu tablets). I am now gonna
watch the second half of my movie before a massive day tomorrow.
Tomorrow all the groups have to deliver a 15min presentation. We will be
working from 8.30am -3pm which doesn't sound like a lot but heck in China it
is! Ash and I also have this thing as lunch time with the first year
students.. who knows what that will turn out to be. We also think Pan the
vice dean wants to take us out for dinner.. we are hoping this is tomorrow
night and not Friday as we will need to pack to come HOME!
I also hope our tailor made clothes from Shanghai arrive tomorrow.. I am
holding out to see my suits!!!!
Two more days before we leave.. our domestic flight to Shanghai leaves
Hangzhou at 11am on Saturday but we have to leave the apartments at 8am - I
figured out its going to be a 30hour journey home between airport waits and
flights.. just as well it's worth it hey!
Love to you all, take care, look after one another..
xx
Once again please excuse any spelling or gramatical mistakes - we have
decided that in China you get a 'China Brain' much like a 'mummy brain'.
Even the simplistic things are so hard here. I was trying to figure out how
much change out of 100 after dinner one night.. took me 30mins! Hehe xx
I still can't get over how tired I feel. Even spending a day teaching can
make you feel so wasted! We got up this morning and headed to the College.
Ash came with us although she is still feeling average. We brought her some
Chinese drugs and cough medicine which could kill the bugs. We taught in
the morning and then helped Steve the English language tutor oversee the
reading test he had set for our class in the arvo. We then caught the B1
bus into Wu-Mart, 40 cents NZD! We met up with John and headed back down to
the shoe market. This is my favourite way to pass time :P
We headed home and rested for a few hours before heading down stairs for a
farewell drink with Di as she is heading back to New Zealand early tomorrow
morning. We have just got back from another fest at dinner. Prawns,
dumplings, rice and many other veges... yum!
We are looking forward to coming home. It's strange the closer it is before
we come home the harder it is to stay here. We love our time here and don't
want to leave yet the last few days are feeling really hard. We have a full
on week, tomorrow conduct the last lectures before a much needed day off on
Wednesday. Then Thursday we are assessing the team's oral presentations all
day. Lisa has also arranged for Ash and I to speak to the first year
students. I think they want to practice their English or something. I have
no idea what to expect or what we will be doing but I will be sure to let
you know on Thursday night. Friday will then be the individual reflections
before packing to leave the apartment at 8am on Saturday.
We are going to check out the local hotel to see if we can catch the game on
Friday. Would be kind of ironic if they are showing it considering we went
all the way into town to watch the last game.
Hope everyone is warm and well :-)
Much love New Zealand
xx
Thanks to Christine Inglis that set up Skype to point at the TV so that we could watch the Wales vs. France Semi-Final.
Our day two days off and our shopping trip had arrived. We were both super
excited, although we had to leave at 6.45am!
We walked to the taxi stand and got a taxi into Hangzhou city to the train
station (an hour's taxi journey cost about $15NZD), we then brought our
tickets for the 'G Train' into Shanghai. This cost all of $16NZD for an
hour's journey. The G train is awesome, it travels at 300km and it's a
quick way to see the sights between Hangzhou and Shanghai. Once we arrived
at the Shanghai we walked up two floors to catch the subway a few stops to
the city centre. Once we got there we jumped on a bus tour - for $20NZD we
could take three different routes around Shanghai. It was a double Decker
bus and we got to sit up the top in the uncovered area to take photos while
listening to the commentary.
We went through the French area with tree lined streets and beautiful old
apartments, saw some old temples before changing buses to be taken down to
the bunt. This looks out across to the 'new Shanghai'. The buildings and
skyline are truly breath taking! The reason why it's called this is because
15 years ago this area was swamp land and they have now built a whole new
city on the other side of this massive bridge. We got off here and took so
more photos like true tourists, grabbed and ice cream and make a quick
comfort stop. October is the month for weddings up here so we quiet often
see brides getting photos at prestigious locations like the bunt. What
impressed Ashleigh and I was we saw a bride come out of the toilet fully
dressed in her bridal gown. She had managed to do her business with streams
and streams of fabric and walked out like it wasn't a problem. Ash and I
battle to use the Chinese style toilets at the best of times, let alone with
a flippn wedding dress on. SORRY if that's an over share but I was totally
impressed!
We took the bus around the spiral of the bridge that joined the old Shanghai
and new Shanghai before getting off and making our way back down into the
subway to find the shopping mall - which is within the subway but a few
floors up. The shopping was A-MAZING! We got our bearing and began in the
jewelry section. Diane knows a specific shop so we went in and met Cindy,
they gave us bottle of water and cute little baskets as we made our way
around the shop. Brilliant Marketing FYI! I brought a pressie for my Mumma
and a few earrings and a bracelet which cost me $11NZD!!
We then headed to the clothes section and to the tailor. Peter (another NMIT
lecturer) wanted to get a coat and I ended up looking around the store and
saw a blue suit - blazer and skirt. Before I knew it I had been measured up
and she was going to send me a tailor made suit for a very good price. I
then decided I should get another. So I walked away with a blue suit and a
black suit, tailor made for $260NZD. They will send them to the college
next week once they have been made. Both of mine are cashmere. Stoked! Now I
just have to find the job to wear them too once I graduate! Ha!
I also purchased a north face jacket, a carry on suit case, a new handbag
and pressie for Rog (no not the golf club sorry rog!). By 5pm we were all
stuffed and decided to make the long trek back to Hangzhou. We caught a
packed subway train back to the train station. This train station is one
rugby field wide and four rugby fields long! 24 trains come into this
station carry about 1000 passengers each time. The subway trains also come
into this transport station but on another floor. Its HUGE!
It was an hour back to Hangzhou on the train and then an hour back in the
taxi to our apartments. Was pretty sweet that I brought a carry on cause I
just carried all the shopping in there! Was well worth the three hours
each way to shop though! And the taxi ride was fun back as we were trying
to race the other taxi with Peter and Chris & Di in it. By this time it was
9.30pm but we were still hungry so walked down and got some KFC for
dinner... yum! We got back to the apartment and looked at our purchases
before much needed sleep :-)
Had a good sleep in and today I think I will work on my study and watch some
movies. Might pop down and get some more bread too! It's a half loaf and its
sweeter than New Zealand Bread.
Very happy we have the day off today!
Much love my peeps
Xx
HIGHLIGHTS:
* SHOPPING!
* Sightseeing around Shanghai
* Seeing other westerners in Shanghai! Ha!
* We have some sweet haggling skills now! Ash and I are awesome. You
give them a realistic price and start walking out of the shop if they want
to sell it to you they will chase you or say yes before you leave the shop.
LOWLIGHTS:
* Would have been awesome to spent the night in Shanghai but we don't
have enough time to do so. Doing the sightseeing and shopping in one day
was better than not doing it at all!
INTERESTING:
* The population of Shanghai is the size of Australia!
* You get random smells of sewage in China, you can be walking down a
clean as street but then suddenly there are some fowl smells!
I will upload more pictures when I get back to New Zealand or in Hong Kong
with our five hour wait for the flight home.
P.s I still need another handbag and more shoes before I return home!
X
We then went to the class to meet the students. It was crazy as we didn't
know the level of English or their names but they started to warm up to us.
There was a lot of starring at our hair and laughing when I was introduced -
maybe my name means something funny in Chinese? Had a little insecure
moment! We talked for about two hours about the course and what was expected
before lunch. Over here its two hours long, we walked across the road to
one of two cafeterias and walked to the third floor. I had twice cooked pork
with a bok choy and picked swead maybe and some rice.. and a coke of course.
Following this we returned to the class room and broke into groups. The
class has been streamed on academic results and then given one of three
topic areas. I am helping the groups that are looking at 'Innovation and
Imitation Strategies' used by companies in business. So I had groups
1,4,7,10. It took a wee while for each student to get their head around the
fact that this was only the topic subject not the actual research question.
We then spend the next hour working this through hoping to form these
questions as we are on a tight schedule. It was good, I can understand how
teaching can be rewarding :) By the end of the day we were all really good
friends and any anxieties I had about teaching were gone.
At 5.30-6pm so we decided to head to the western restaurant 10mins down the
road as I was not going to eat noodles for dinner again! Well not this week
anyway. We ordered garlic bread, chips and pizza. It's crazy how much I am
craving our food.. it's not like I don't like Chinese food. I guess it's the
little comforts of home?
This country really makes you think. I almost feel guilty that I haven't
made the effort to get to know those students that are in our classes back
home. I appreciate that there are hesitancies on both sides yet each
culture has so much to offer the other. I will never be able to teach these
students to the same degree that they have taught me already. I am hoping
that I can play my part back home to be more engaging and to further help
NMIT with this venture until the duration of my study.
Tomorrow we are back in the class room but not until 9am so a wee sleep in.
Haven't even looked at my own marketing research project but will attempted
to get on to that tomorrow night now that we have wireless sorted in the
apartment.
Happy Holidays to all you NMIT students!
Lucy x
HIGHLIGHTS:
Meeting the students and seeing the 'ah-ha' moment when they understand what
it is they have to achieve
Having Pizza for dinner
Clean toilets at the college - a strange highlight I know, yet compared to
the ones we have used previously these toilets look like thrones!
LOWLIGHTS:
We are not going to be able to watch the Australia, South Africa quarter
tomorrow as we will still be in class. Its gonna be an awesome game!
INTRESTING:
I was explaining to some of the students here that in New Zealand Blonde's
are made fun of and are often called silly or stupid. They were absolutely
shocked that this was the case but loved that we had both topped this paper
when we had taken it.
Thanks to all those that have stopped by to read my blogs. I know that are a
'Novel' (M. Laing, 2011) but I hope you are enjoying hearing about my
experiences.
Today we heading to the World Heritage site - The Wetlands. We were
escorted and shouted by the Water College and had a lovely translator and
guide in Elaine, a first year student doing business English.
We spend two hours walking around this site. Was beautiful and peaceful
which made a change from the craziness of the city. The wetlands are
beautiful in context but New Zealand kicks butt when it comes to landscapes
and beauty. However I am told that China also has these sites but just not
where we are.
The Wetlands was filled with lots of domestic Chinese tourists. The kids
over here are sooo cute and they love saying hello to you, some follow you
and others point you out to their parents. The people are so genuine,
hospitable and accepting. We got many photos of this ancient wetlands and
the buildings within it.
After finding our way out of the Wetlands (not as easy as it looks) we got
back in the van and next thing we knew we were at this Chinese Restaurant.
Ashleigh and I exchanged looks of panic as we walked in and had no idea what
was about to face us. John and our driver went and selected the food while
Ash and I scouted out how the rest of the people were eating and what they
were eating with and what plate belonged to what meal etc. We ate bamboo
shoots, mushrooms, cucumber (a saving grace), rice, octopus & spring onions
- which I thought was duck.. yeah nah it wasn't.
The food just kept coming, deep fried prawns (AMAZING), a whole fish, a bowl
with a soup filled with dumplings, ham and god knows what else! We also had
these crispy pumpkin thing. Even though our driver could not speak English
he was the most amazing host, always raising his glass to us, ensuring that
our glasses were never empty, showing us how to eat stuff, clapping when we
used the chopsticks for something that was hard to pick up. He was lovely.
It was an experience using chopsticks to eat the whole meal but It was good
practice and gives us an insight into what to expect for lunch at the Water
College tomorrow.
After we got back to the apartments we skyped and had a wee nana nap before
meeting up with Chris & Di and heading down to the local markets. Di is the
most amazing barterer, she has a PHD is shopping so we were keen for her to
show us around. We went back and I got one of the two jackets I liked. I am
a LARGE! Ha! The other one had sold in two days. We then went to the shoe
market and I brought a pair of try hard adidas running shoes for $14NZD. We
grabbed some food from the supermarket and headed back to the apartment.
Its 9pm and we are going to go over the course work as tomorrow is our first
day in the class room. It was great having Elaine today as it gave us a bit
of an insight into how to interact with the students that will be in our
class. Looking forward to it but not sure what to expect.. mind you that's
the theme of this whole trip!
I love how everything we have done is building upon itself to give us an
insight into what is coming next. The trips to the supermarket, the trips
on public transport, the shopping, eating out. As we take in each of these
things it starts to prepare us for the next day. Love that!
I have sore as feet.. all we do it walk all day and every day. Hoping these
new shoes will help with that.
We are still working on how we are going to view the All Blacks game this
weekend. Not so fussed about this one but really want to see the Semi Final.
John told me SBW is on the wing and Zac Gilford is injured? In some ways
it's nice to be removed from the pressure of the build up to these big
games.
Looking forward to sharing how tomorrow goes..
Does anyone have any questions they would like me to answer?
Much love always
Lucy xx
HIGHLIGHTS:
The amazing food at the restaurant
The awesome jacket I brought
The price of everything here!
LOWLIGHTS:
Sore feet.. guess that's the price to pay for good shopping
INTERESTING:
I found this quote from him which I think is powerful and certainly a
reminder to all of us to live each day as it presents itself.
"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die
to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever
escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the
single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the
old to make way for the new. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living
someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the
results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions
drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to
follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly
want to become. Everything else is secondary." - Steve Jobs
:-)
Once again thank you for the emails! So nice :-)
We left the apartments just after 9am and caught the B1 bus into Hangzhou
City, this is a 40min journey and cost approx 60cents NZD. It was a new
experience to say the least! Figuring out where to pay and how much to pay
was just the start. They have one dollar notes and coins over here.. it's
really weird trying to figure out which ones to use and when. The bus was
filled and there was only standing room.. a great way to be introduced to
the locals. This coupled with the random breaking to avoid other vehicles
and presidents was intense. Oh and did I mention no air con?
We got off the Bus and had a brief look at the upper class shops, the likes
of Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Tiffany and Co. Even in China these
shops are not cheap so it was window viewing! We then walked to what is
known as the Silk Market. As far as I know it is where Marco Polo used to
bring the silk into China. It was an older looking street with lots of
shops holding silk scarves, dresses and nightwear. I had my first experience
at bartering, I had found a cool scarf with different shades of brown in
it. She wanted 80 Yuan for it.. which is about $16 NZD, we agreed on 55 so
I am okay with that. It's kind of weird, not something we are used to as
Kiwi's. They use the calculator to talk about prices which is kind of cool.
Following a break and an orange drink we finished the silk market and
crossed the road to a mall that isn't really known to 'westerners'. It was
in here I found a pair of brown boots.. nothing flash but a standard
wardrobe item ( I can hear the girls agreeing with me!). We used the
calculator to figure out my size which is in USA sizes. I am a 40 which is
a size 8, which is large over here! The lady wanted 280 Yuan, I had 200,
she said 260 and I said no and got up to leave. She walked away - I thought
it was all over.. was really keen to buy them! Next thing I know she has
them in a bag and is handing them to me.. felt kind of stoked about that.
Many of you know that I am competitive so now I am thinking about how much
cheaper I could have got them for! Mind you that works out to be $40NZD so
not bad!
Antique street was where we heading to next, it is just that a very old
street dripping with heritage and culture. Lots of cute shops and old
sculptures. I brought a bling ring and Ash brought some sunnys. I then
needed to go to the bathroom.. which brings with it a sinking feeling. If
you think the public toilets or NMIT toilets are bad.. you have NO IDEA! We
found a Mc Donald's in this old street.. this speaks volumes in itself but
that's another story. We went to the second level and joined the line for
the female bathrooms. Well there were two.. it turns out one was a
traditional one and one was a hole in the ground. It wasn't until afterward
that Ashleigh and I compared notes that I realized I got the short end of
the stick! The hole in the ground made me feel like I was going to vomit
the smell was soooo yuck! Let's just say it wasn't the cleanest toilet and I
am pretty sure that I got Pee on my shoes through no fault of my own!!!
Yuck! John just laughs at us as we relive each toilet experience. Hand
sanitizer is our best friend!
After that delightful experience we caught a taxi back to where we started
by the bus stop. I was craving French fries so we found a KFC. Have you
ever tried to order a zinger burger in a language you don't understand?
There was a lot of pointing at the pictures and hand gestures... I got a
combo.. it wasn't a zinger burger (which Ash successfully ordered) but it
still had chicken in it and it tasted good! Yum! By this time we were so
stuffed as we had been walking for six hours. More than that it is very
tiring being in a different place with basic tasks like using the bathroom
and ordering fast food being a mission!
We wanted to make sure we caught the right bus home so we waited for four
buses to pass by before we got on. Yeah Nah it was the wrong bus we ended
up two blocks over from our apartments. This wasn't a problem in theory as
we could just hail down a taxi to zip us back. Well we couldn't, every taxi
that went past was full so we ended up walking half way back. We finally
caught one and ended up back at the apartment eight hours after we started.
Chris & Diane and Peter are tutors that are up here also, staying a floor
below us. So once we had got home we went and said hi and spent some time
socializing with them. By 7pm I was ready for some Kai so ventured out back
to Wu-Mart. We brought some noodles for dinner, some strange looking fruit
which I am told is a melon, a pot plant to try and make our apartment
somewhat more ours and a bunch of other stuff. The city is very pretty at
night so we walked back looking at the trees and high rise buildings.
It's now almost 10pm and we have opened the Cadbury chocolate and I might go
make a Milo before bed. We are heading to a World Heritage site tomorrow -
The wetlands. Some of the students from the college are going to show us
around as this has been organized especially for us. Should be fun!
I hope you are enjoying hearing the day to day events of my trip.
Although I am loving it here this makes me appreciate New Zealand in such a
greater way! There is NO place like HOME... especially when you're the
future Rugby World Cup Winners!
More tomorrow.
Much Love xxx
Luce
HIGHLIGHTS:
We are on the 9th floor and there is a high rise next to us that is 28
stories. We saw a man in his underwear washing his apartment and just
generally cleaning.. ha!
The people! We saw a man on a scooter today with four LPG bottles smoking..
ironic huh? We also saw a man that had an eye patch on one eye. As we
walked past he lifted up the eye patch to get a better look at us..
priceless! There was also a lady that is one of many employed to clean the
streets.. she stared as us for about 100m before we past each other and
didn't take her eyes off us the whole time. She was driving some sort of
cleaning vehicle. I turned around and saw she was still looking so waved
and said Ni Hao... she LOVED it! So cute.
LOWLIGHTS
... Public toilets... No further comment.
Still haven't got my phone working, I think it's the sim card? I took it
out and put it into Ashleigh's phone and it didn't work. Which is strange
because it worked in Hong Kong. Any further ideas people?
INTERESTING
People hang their washing outside the windows of their apartments. Kind of
looks like a modern slum on some levels.
Babies over here sometimes don't have pants that cover their bums. There is
a triangle missing so you see their bums.. when the wee ones need to go to
the bath room they just place them near a drain and let loose.
We are starting to learn some more of the language. Tonight I learnt how
'excuse me' is said (for the crowds), I also learnt that if you emphasis
different parts of the word and / or different tone it can mean SEX.. mhh
not sure If I want to risk walking through the city attempting this!
Thanks so those that emailed me to say this update worked :-) it's so nice
to get your emails so please keep them coming! (lucyryan@clear.net.nz).
We are off to the Silk Markets shortly. So far this morning we have found
two more cockroaches! One in the shower and one the lining of Ashleigh's
bag. I need to point out though that our apartment provided by the Water
College is beautiful and that the cockroaches does not reflect the standard
of the apartment! In the five years John has been coming here he has never
seen any.
Will post some more photos later today after we have been out and about.
It's meant to get to 23 here today.. nice!
Photos:
1) Shoes anyone?
2) We are trying to buy washing power.. can you tell?
3) Shopping
4) Another great sign
Sorry if the photos aren't rotated.. sending them from my phone
