It is again time to write something on my blog.

Last time I wrote about my trip to Chengdu and said for that weekend coming I would just relax and take it easy. Actually I decided I didn't want to spend the weekend in Shanghai so again I took the train to see around. This time I went to Luoyang. I wanted to go with some people but everyone had already other plans so I went there alone.

I left on Friday evening the 7th of may and arrived in Luoyang on Saturday morning. On the internet I found a hostel but again I didn't book anything. Their website said that I had to take some bus and get out at some stop so I did that. I took the bus and in the bus I was studying my map I bought before at the train station. After I think 20 minutes a lady next to me asked me if she could help me because apparently I looked lost. I told here where I wanted to go. She lived near that place so she helped me looking for the hostel. She had never heard about it so she asked people if they knew. Only one lady knew the place and when we went to the place she told us to go there was nothing. After 30 minutes searching for the hostel Huxia Yun invited me to her place to spend to night over there. That was not a problem for me, I was actually pretty happy with that invitation. So I went with her to her house where I met her mother because they life together.

First I will tell something about there life's because I think maybe that is interesting. Here in China it is very normal that you don't life together with your partner because you both work in another city. Like I told you before about my friend, Yue Ying, from Nanjing where I went in February, her parents don't life together because he works in Shanghai and she in Nanjing. With Huxia Yun it was the same. She is 32 years old and in the evening I found out that she was pregnant for 2 month. She is an English teacher at a high school. I was very surprised because her English wasn't that good at all. Her husband works and life's in Beijing so they don't see each other that often but they call allot. Her father also works far away so her mother was always home alone (I forget where she lived before but it was in the home town of Huxia Yun). Because Huxia Yun works in Luoyang she also lives there and because she and her mother both lived alone, she asked her mother to move in with her. Her mother doesn't work anymore so she takes care of her daughter now. Apparently this is a very normal situation in Chinese life. Personal I think it is a little strange to not life with your partner. I asked if her husband will move to Luoyang if the baby is born but she said no, so the baby will life with its mother and grandmother.

Well after her mother made lunch for us (some delicious noodles) we went to the Longmen grottoes. I wanted to go there and they liked to join me so we went with the 3 of us. It was a very nice place but it is a pretty big and all the same so it started to get boring after a while but there was a big Buddha which was very nice so. Then we went back by bus again and had dinner at some typical Chinese restaurant and she let me taste some traditional Luoyang food so that was nice. It was some very sweet rice and also very sticky, something I have no Idea about what it was and I also didn't really like that and some chicken and pork meet which was ok. Back at their home we checked the internet about some places I wanted to visited the next day. We checked how we could come there and stuff.

On Sunday I would go together with Huxia Yun to the Shaolin Temple and the Baima temple and if we had time I wanted to go to some museum but it would be closes very early so we had to see. Well in the morning she told me her belly hurts so she wanted to stay at home. But because I had to take a long bus to the Shaolin temple and stuff she brought me to the bus station and arranged the bus for me. For the other places she had written down everything like the busses I had to take and the addresses of the places so that was good. For the bus I had to take back from Shaolin temple to the Baima Temple she wrote something on my notebook what I could show the driver and then it would be ok. So because of all her help I arrived at the Shaolin temple. It is a famous kung fu temple and often used in kung fu movies. There was also a Kung fu school and I watched a show which was great to see. After that I went to the Baima temple and because of what Huxia Yun had written down I arrived there. It is the oldest monastery in China. After that I wanted to take the bus but it was not very clear so I asked some girl. She helped me and in the bus I asked her how to get at the Luoyang Museum because the museum I wanted to go would be closed if I arrived. She worked in Luoyang but stayed at a hotel next to the museum so I could go with her to the museum. The museum was very boring so I didn't stay there for a long time.

I went shopping and met another English teacher which English was very good. She asked me if she could help me and if I already saw the flower where Luoyang is famous about. I told I wanted to find a supermarket and that I hadn't seen the flower. We talked a little bit and she showed me the supermarket and how I could go to the garden with the famous flowers. I did that and afterwards I went to the train station and took the train back. I arrived Monday afternoon and in the evening I immediately had class.

The rest of the week I took a rest and studied (because of my traveling I didn't have had time for that a lot.). On Wednesday (12-05) the parents of Anouk arrived in Shanghai and she stayed till Sunday at their hotel. On Friday I went ice-skating with 3 French people, 1 German and 3 Chinese girls. Afterwards we went to a bar which was fun.

On Saturday I studied again because on Monday we had a test. In the evening Morgan, Guilaume and Noemie (French students from my Chinese class) came to my door to say they had to celebrate something. Morgan got a little sister a few hours ago so we sat together with a few people.

On Sunday (16-05) my aunt Maria and uncle Jan arrived in Shanghai but they had a plan for the whole day so I met them in the evening to have dinner. After that we went to the TV tower which had now a beautiful view in the evening with all the lights. On Monday they came to see my room and after that we went to Nanjing road. I ordered a suite at the black market so after Nanjing road we went to pick it up but the trousers didn't fit right so I had to go back on Tuesday. After that I dropped them off at the Shanghai museum because I had to go back to study a little bit more for the test that evening. On Tuesday I had class all day and they would go to the expo so that was also goodbye. I have to say it was very nice to see them here. On Tuesday my suit was finished so I picked it up before my classes.

Yesterday I booked a flight for Guilin. Next weekend we will go there with a group from Chinese class. This weekend I planned to go to Wuhan but I decided that will be too much so I will stay in Shanghai this weekend.

Lots of love