Photo Journal

Here is a little glimpse into my everyday life here in Kunming.

On my walk to class in the morning I always pass by a group of older chinese people sitting around, gossiping and people watching. I think they are very cute.

China's rule for elevators is you only need them if the building has more than 8 floors, so a lot of apartment buildings only have 7 floors so they don't need an elevator. My school is on the 6th floor, hence my walk up 6 flights everyday.

(Vegetarians close your eyes) Outside of my school there is always some sort of meat hanging waiting to be sold. As you see here, a whole goat is waiting to be cut up and sold. The big bowl underneath is filled with the blood that runs down when the goat is cut.

This family is selling roasted chestnuts, the man stands next to this barrel continuously stirring the chestnuts and coal.

Here is the postoffice I stop at to mail postcards home to America :)

JiaHua is the local bakery in Kunming. I often stop on my way to the office from school to pick up a loaf of bread. My favorite kind of bread here is BeanSprout Bread, I don't know why its called that because the bread is normal with a slight sweetness to it, delicious.

I often stop and buy fruit from villagers selling their fruit on the street. These people usually live outside of Kunming on a farm and come into the city to sell their products.

This is the menu from one of my favorite lunch spots. I am trying very hard to learn the basic chinese characters so I can read menu's like this one.

My favorite lunch in China, jiaozi! It is a chinese dumpling, usually filled with some kind of meat and vegetable. You can get them fried, steamed or boiled. Then you dip them in a soy sauce/parsley mixture. Yum. I go to this place so often, the woman who owns the shop knows what I want I don't have to order anymore.

My desk at the office

I try to dedicate a portion of my afternoon to learning Chinese characters. Here are a few of my practice sheets.