What have I been up to?

OK, so I haven't been up to that much- mostly homework, running, playing erhu and complaining about how much work we have. So the usual :) 

On Wednesday I needed to venture to 龙井村（longjingcun）which is about 2 hours by bus, and requires a bus change. Of course it was pouring rain and rather cold when I set off after lunch. So I bundled up like the rain lover I am.

A map of my intended route!

So I made it! 

As I perused this sign, I was swiftly surrounded by older ladies asking me if I wanted to buy tea/come to their houses and drink tea. Some of them were assuaged by me saying no thank you, but some of them were more persistent. I have yet to try this famed tea because I'm too wary of being cheated, but I hope when the new harvest comes out I'll go get some. 

Here is the town's exercise equipment! These are all over the place, but this is the first one I took a picture of :P

In the park/historic site, well worth the 5 kuai of admission.

So on the way back I didn't have any spare change/I wanted to see what the countryside looked like, so I walked back to where I needed to change buses. 

I also ran into this memorial hall for heroes who died in the 1911 revolution. It was a serene place, and the first memorial hall I've seen, so it was a surprise to walk past it on the way back to the bus stop.

On Friday we decided to trek to a western style restaurant, which necessitated a bus ride, during which we met an older woman with the best English I have ever heard a Chinese person speak. She had studied English at Beijing Foreign studies university,  and then taught English at Zhejiang University. We all exchanged numbers so maybe we'll see more of her.

On Saturday I took the bus to the West Lake so I could run around it and then run back, and I saw this:

At the lake.

A house with a tree growing from its roof

People drying clothing

Later that afternoon we ventured back to the lake to see a famous pagoda. Of course it started raining, even though that was not in the forecast: )

From the top

Me trying to pose since all the other Chinese visitors were

On the way back to the bus stop we walked along the lake

A pretty clearing

Cats! Doing...

Street food!

Today I went to my Chinese tea research teachers house with Maia my teachers 1-on-1 student, but first we got foot massages, which was great, especially since one of my legs has been acting up, presumably since I spend forever sitting down in my customary leaning against everything position for many hours. I know, I should just stop, but I default to that position. Anyways, after the foot massage, my teacher made us food! 

Her she is, with her husband and their 6 month old baby boy!

Picking us up from the bus stop

His 100 day picture, which he loves: whenever he sees it he gets super excited and smiley.

Unexpectedly, her husbands parents came back from their ancestral home (they had returned to pick tea leaves) so we got to meet them briefly. We were invited back any time, so hopefully there will be more cute baby photos in the future!

So much food for two people! My teacher and her husband didn't eat, I suspect because they would have preferred to eat meat dishes too :P 

And now I need to do a lot of reading, so I hope this finds everyone well!