"T" in Tennessee!

Bcycle in Nashville!

So.....a few months ago the bcycle company came to Nashville and established many stations of 3-geared bicycles (all red!) for folks to enjoy riding from place to place, etc.  They had a great inaugural celebration which I attended and purchased a reduced fee membership for one year.  I paid $40.00 for my annual membership which means I can ride any bcycle bike for up to one hour....anytime...anywhere....for NO additional cost.  Go over the one hour limit and I will just be charged $3.00 for each additional hour.  I was happy to join.  But, you know, it was winter when I signed up so I waited until warmer weather to actually check out bikes and ride around downtown Nashville.  Let me tell you....it's been so much fun riding bikes on my lunch hour for exercise but I'm also discovering  more about downtown Nashville.  The following is just one ride that I took today on my lunch hour.  I hope you enjoy the tour and I hope to post more "pictorial rides" soon!

So here we are.  I'm picking up my bike to begin my ride! 

As an "annual" member...I have a card that I merely tap on the place at the bike I choose....and the bike is released for me to ride!  If you don't have an annual membership then you have to go through a few more hoops to get a day pass.  For annual members....it's SO easy!

So yeah....this my bike for the ride.  I had to adjust the seat up a bit and then off I went to bike down the "Music City" bikeway!  The bikes have 3 gears which is great on the hills and also "flat" places where you need a bit more speed!

Follow the signs! :)

So....although Nashville is really "coming of age" with bicyclists and dedicated bike lanes and such...one still has to be VERY cautious when crossing the road. :)  But, after looking both ways....I cross and continued on my lunch hour ride.

A Music City bikeway roundabout (ha)with some art (though you really can't see the art in the middle of the roundabout).  Love it! :)

Nothing like a great image of Abe to provide inspiration! 

Not all the scenery on the bikeway is "beautiful."  However, I've ridden past this concrete plant several times and it's interesting to see the trucks getting filled with wet concrete.  Moving on...

The emphasis is on the "E."

Continuing along the "industrial" portion of my ride.

More scenes along the Music City greenway as it traverses along an industrial section.  I enjoy all the graffiti art.

I'm turning left....to continue into Germantown and bike back to work.  But I have continued on....for a couple of miles....so I'll post again about the sights beyond this left turn because it is very interesting as the greenway eventually meanders right next to the Cumberland River.

Yep!  Germantown cares about it's "green" and hopes dog walkers pick up after their loved ones! :)  Incidentally, a human with her canine companion was just behind me and when she saw me taking a photo of the sign....she seemed a bit nervous as it seemed she had NO bag in her hand to "collect" after her dog! ha  Continuing along....Morgan Park in Germantown is small...but very nice. :)

Morgan Park in Germantown of Nashvillle!

Normally....the water flows down the "shute" and it's a nice sight. Today, I think those big cranes in the background (progress, I suppose) have something to do with the water being on the down low! :/  Continuing on....because, ya know, I need to get back to work! :)

A beautiful day to snap shots of the great homes in Germantown!

Beautiful homefronts!

Yes....those buildings in the distance are where I need to return as my lunch break is rapidly approaching OVER! :)  Pedaling like crazy now....

Couldn't resist this photo outside a Germantown coffee shop as this little pooch waited so patiently! :)

I'm getting closer as I bike through Germantown to return to work.  Beautiful day for a "bcycle" ride! :)

So, this hills is steeper than it looks.  It helps that it is a one-way street going against me so I had no qualms "pushing" my bike up this hill! :) I'm almost back to my building, folks.

Flag-flying at the Capitol in Nashville!

So....I returned my bcycle bike right outside my building.  What a great ride I had and I hope you've enjoyed the photos! :)  Until again, T.

Beautiful Wedding in Montreal and More!

As I walked from my hotel to the temple where the wedding would be held....I actually passed by the wedding "getaway" vehicle. :)
Too bad I couldn't have been in on that vehicle decorating.  It would have been covered in shoe polish with all kinds of wedding getaway vehicle words! ha  This looked very classy. :)

The Temple where the wedding was held.  You can see what a gorgeous evening it was for a beautiful wedding.  Did I mention that this was my first time to attend a Jewish wedding?  It was SO beautiful....and LOTS of fun.

Beautiful music as we waited for the bride and groom!

Tamara and her parents prepare to walk the aisle.

Tamara and Michael are Mr. and Mrs.

Beautiful first dance!

What a beautiful bride, my friend, Tamara!

The evening was wonderful!  Lots of eating, drinking, laughter, and dancing!  I returned to my hotel with some guests also staying at my hotel and headed out early the next morning to walk back to the train station for my train ride back to Lake George, NY.

Goodbye, Montreal.  You are a beautiful, diverse city and I was happy to spend a couple of days with you!

So long.  Hope to visit again soon.  The Amtrak ride back to Ft. Edwards, NY, was uneventful and beautiful!

I wish I could post all the photos of such beautiful sights from the train both going and coming from Montreal.  But I'm afraid that might be a bit boring. Suffice it to say that the scenery from upstate NY to Montreal is amazing!

Long train break where nearly everyone milled around for a bit.

Back in Lake George! ha

From the porch of Tapawingo (my friends' place) on the beautiful Lake George!

On our last day together, my friend Lois and I gallavanted around the area at many antique shops.  Love the middle windows on this building!

Goodbye, comfy bed, but I'll see you again soon!  My visit was incredibly wonderful.  What a great adventure, combining a trip to friends in Lake George with a fabulous trip by train up to Montreal for another friend's beautiful wedding!  It was a fantastic visit!  I look forward to my next visit to Tapawingo at Lake George in late August, 2013!  Lois and Larry...PLEASE DON'T SELL THIS MAGICAL PLACE!

Amtrak, Take Me to Montreal! - Part II

So.....after enjoying a wonderful night's sleep at the Hotel duFort...I rose early to experience all I could of wonderful Montreal before returning to the hotel to dress for Tamara's wedding celebration! :)

Thank you, Montreal, for a beautiful day to enjoy!

Great Canadian postal box!  Why can't American post boxes be this great?  Actually, our post boxes are becoming obselete.  Sad.  So....I rose so early and walked down a major street (name escapes me but Tamara would know! ha)....that no one was even on the street yet! ha  I loved my early morning jaunt walking towards to the heart of Montreal and then down to the waterfront where I would take a great amphibian boat tour! :)  But hey...lots of photos before we get there. :)

Standing on the street....looking down into this lower-level shop.....and really wishing I could grab a fresh doughnut....or bagel....whichever it might have been. :)

So tempting! Seriously. VERY tempting! :)

I truly had the street to myself.  Like....I could have easily walked down the middle of the road with no worries on this early morning! :)

Oh....Montreal on a beautiful early morning!

I stayed here in 1980 with my father!  I remember every detail of that trip while I was in college. It was a business trip my father took and my Mom couldn't go so I went with him.  We traveled by train to Quebec City and I will never forget seeing the Hotel Frontenac, the St. Lawrence River, and all the sights of Quebec City!  But I digress....back to Montreal on this beautiful beautiful day!

Chinatown in Montreal! :)

Great building art.  Not graffiti....ART! :)

Wow!  Could this day BE more gorgeous? :)

Uh...isn't this on a U.S. stamp! :)  Love the LOVE! :)

I eventually made my way down to the waterfront and learned about this great tour along the Montreal watefront in an amphibian vehicle! :)  First....we drove down some streets in Montreal....then headed into the water! :)

Throwing caution to the wind and heading into the water! :)

Funky, quirky, apartment complex built, I believe, for the Olympics in days past.  Pretty cool!

No words needed! ha

Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal!  Beautiful! Historic!

One could just stand and stare in awe....for a long long time!  Oh how I love traveling and seeing such incredible sights.  And.....sometimes I am grateful for being alone so I can enjoy such incredible sights in my own time without any worries.  On this day in Montreal, I was enjoying all the sights in my own time....seeing sights I planned to see.....without any stress.  This might sound strange, blog friends, but I truly enjoy time with myself.  I do not need a traveling companion.  I am completely happy and comfortable traveling alone.  What can I say? ha  It might be hard for some to understand but I honestly enjoy traveling with someone that I know will be a great travel companion....ME! ha

Gorgeous stained glass.

Wow!  So....it's now time to head back to the hotel and dress for Tamara and Michael's wedding! :)  I was done with walking! ha  So I took the subway to the closest stop to my hotel.

Here comes the train! :)  I exited the subway with just a 10-15 minute walk back to my hotel.   And on my walk.....I had to take a look at these cute little row houses!

I want to live in that blue house! ha

My next post will be about the great wedding of my friend and the end of my time at Tapawingo in Lake George, NY.  Those who know me....know that my posts are definitely photo-heavy! ha I hope you don't mind and enjoy the posts because I truly enjoy creating them. :)  Cheers to all, T.

Amtrak, Take Me To Montreal! - Part 1

So....while I was in Lake George, NY last summer, I traveled by Amtrak up to Montreal, Canada, to attend the wedding of a friend, Tamara Dawn!  I met Tamara when she came to Beijing to teach English at EF where I was working.  However, I got to know Tamara much better AFTER we both returned from our life in Beijing and began chatting via email and facebook.  I wish I had spent more time with her in Beijing but that's another story.  Suffice it to say I was a bit stressed out and dealing with life issues which prevented me from getting to know her as I should have.  When I learned she was getting MARRIED to the love of her life....I coupled my visit to Lake George with a trip to Montreal to attend her wedding!  What a great trip!  I've not take an Amtrak train trip since I was so young I have no memories of said trip! ha  The ride from Ft. Edwards to Montreal was gorgeous!

I left NY from Ft. Edwards train station...very historic...but would see SO many historic train stations on my jaunt up to Montreal!

Here comes my train! :)  SO excited!

So many wonderful views and incredible scenery as we headed north to Montreal, Canada!  Traveling along Lake Champlain (with Vermont just across the water) was amazing!

Another historic New York train station.

Lake Champlain!

Another wonderful old train station that, sadly, is no longer being used and the new station is on the opposite side of the tracks.  The trip from upstate NY to Montreal on Amtrak is NOT a trip where you can enjoy a nap.  You are simply mesmerized at all the wonderful scenery!  It really is beautiful and this trip was on a beautiful sunny day and I loved every single moment of it with my face plastered to the window!  I loved it!  So......we stopped at the border....border patrol boarded the train and took their sweet time checking everyone's passports.....2 passengers were booted off never to be seen again (ha!  we could see them being escorted off so who knows what the problem was)....and we were on our way into Canada! :)  And lo and behold....how lucky was I to be able to see the most incredible moonrise I have EVER experienced as we continued on towards Montreal!

Yes, it's WAY blurry!  (you can click on the photo to make it bigger.....it's still blurry but a bit better).  But I hope you can get an idea of just how incredible this moonrise appeared!  I was on a moving train....with a cheap lame camera (ha)....but still....surely you can see how very amazing this moonrise appeared.  I literally stared at this moon all the way into Montreal until it rose very high in the sky.  It was truly a sight to behold!

So now I'm in Montreal, having just emerged from the train station.  Tamara was right when she told me how easily I could walk from the train station to my hotel.  And I was blessed with this sight on my walk!  Though it was night...I felt very safe walking to my hotel.  Thanks to Tamara for great directions.

View from my hotel room (you have to click on the photo).  Beautiful views and a wonderful hotel room.  Sad I only got to spend 2 nights there.

Hotel Du Fort!  If you ever get the opportunity to spend some time in Montreal....stay here!  Great location and within walking distance of just about ANYTHING in Montreal! :)  And as it was the hotel where wedding guests were staying....they had a wonderful sign in the lobby in honor of Tamara and Michael's wedding!

That would be Tamara Fisher and Michael Berry!  Stay tuned as I post Part 2 of my trip to Montreal soon!  T in TN, T.

And now for something completely different! :)

Before I continue on with last year's adventures.....I thought I might post a bit about one of my favorite hobbies....papercrafting and writing letters.  I LOVE snail mail and write to about 8 folks regularly....and I LOVE paper, stationery, STAMPS, etc. etc.  So...lately I've been working a second job, part-time with H&R Block, evenings and weekends.  I'm not a tax professional.  Just the front desk person who checks folks in, answers the phone, makes appointments and takes payments for services.  So....on most shifts I have time to do "other" things.  Recently, I made this little rogue letter book and then decorated it...wrote a letter in it....and sent it on it's way today in the mail! :)

A bit blurry.  Apologies for that....  It's really a very small handmade book.

So you can see how small it is!  It's really just paper, some recycle cardboard...and glue!  It was fun to make and FUN to write in for a special friend. :)

With 8 interior pages....I was able to write quite a lot....in small writing. :)  More soon!  Teresa in Tennessee! :)

Another great visit to Tapawingo in Upstate New York!

I have a wonderful friend, Lois Stone. She and her husband, Larry Stone, own a wonderful summer home on Lake George in upstate New York.  These photos are from my fourth visit to Tapawingo!  It's a great Adirondack home (huge) right on the lake and the Stones are WONDERFUL hosts!  On this visit....last summer in late August/early September....I visited Tapawingo, spent great time with Lois, and also traveled by Amtrak up to Montreal, Canada to attend the wedding of a former colleague in Beijing and now great Canadian friend.  Here's some photos of my time in New York.  Next up?  Photos of my short time in Montreal!

Sign on the boathouse!

Lake George....taken from the back porch of Tapawingo!

Lois created wonderful meals each and every night of my stay and because it was the season....we had wonderful steamed corn on the cob nearly every night!  SO delicious!

The boat dock at Tapawingo is truly beautiful!  They have a motor boat and also canoes!  Lois and I took a canoe trip one evening (she let me guide! ha) that was almost magical as we silently paddled along the shore of Lake George gazing at so many wonderful homes and just enjoying the evening!

Though this photo is taken from the Tapawingo boat dock....the views of the sunset from their back porch is equally amazing!

So.....Lois told me that the hike up to the top of Prospect Mtn. (great views) would be easy peasy!  OMG!  That 2 hour hike was grueling...straight UP....and over rock after rock after rock.  I now question Lois' hiking descriptions.  If she says "easy" then I know I'll be lucky to make it.  If she says "it's a difficult hike" then I know not to even attempt it! :)

Yeah.....that's right!  She uses TWO walking sticks but I had NOTHING! ha ha  To her credit, she did ask me if I wanted a hiking stick.  I declined.  But even if I had accepted it would have just meant one more thing I had to lug up that huge uphill hike! ha ha  Poor Lois.  I complained SO MUCH on the way up.  I questioned her judgment....her description of the hike.....and verbalized words just SHORT of cuss words! ha (in hindsight....I think I might have let fly a few curse words, ha, such as "what the "fudge" were you thinking when you said this was an easy hike!" ha)

wow.

Then...you get to the top and you find yourself saying, "Wow!  That wasn't so bad!" ha I did, however, refuse to hike DOWN....and ended up hitchhiking with a nice couple and their kids back down to the Village of Lake George where Lois eventually pulled up in her vehicle to retrieve me (true story).  Yep....I learned that you can drive to "nearly" the top of Prospect Mtn. and a shuttle bus takes you to the very top! ha  But I'm proud that I did hike to top, even if on my own lame steam! :)

Top of Prospect Mtn....Lois Stone....next to a fitting sign! :)

Ahhhh.....Lake George.  The hike really was worth all the huffing and puffing! :)

Back at the Tapawingo dock with a beautiful sunset!

A shot of the tourist ship from the porch of Tapawingo.  Incidentally, Tapawingo means "place of joy/happiness."  A very fitting name for this wonderful summer home of Lois and Larry Stone! :)  I am grateful to be blessed with their friendship!  Up next?  Photos of my great Amtrak trip from upstate New York to Montreal, Canada, for the beautiful wedding of my friend, Tamara! Until tomorrow (yep....I'm on a roll with blog updates)...Teresa in Tennessee!

The Midnight Jamboree!

In Nashville.....there is something called the Grand Ole Opry! :)  But most folks do not know about the Midnight Jamboree.  It's a venue, very close (you could walk) to the Opry House where certain Opry folks sometimes come to the FREE Midnight Jamboree after they perform at the Opry around midnight.  So my Mom and I learned that Mel Tillis would be at the Midnight Jamboree (June of 2012) so I took here there.  It's after the Saturday night Opry show.  Mom LOVED seeing Mel Tillis give another free one  hour concert to a crowded house.  I left the concert early to get in line so Mom could be one of the first to meet Mel at the Ernest Tubb Record Shop next door (where he would be signing autographs).

Mel Tillis!

He gave a great performance!

But the best part of the late evening was capturing this photo of my Mom and Mel! :) T in T, T! :)

Amazing Trip to China: The rest of the rest...take 3! :)

Beautiful!

turtles!

I brought this little dress for TongTong from America.  It fit her perfectly and just look how cute she is with her pink shoes! :)  What a great day I had with Seven, TongTong, and Seven's mother, Mao!  VERY SPECIAL FOLKS, for sure!

So....a few days before I left Beijing I did what I have been wanting to do for a long time.  I wanted to get a tattoo and decided that getting my FIRST tattoo in Beijing would be appropriate in my 50th year of life. :)  And given that I wanted to get inked with the Chinese characters for Bei Jing....what better place than a seedy little tattoo parlor in Wudaokou (one of my FAVORITE locales in Beijing) with some of my Chinese besties followed up with a great dinner (and cheap rum drinks) at LaBamba, a Mexican restaurant! ha

ha!  Seven!

Put my ink HERE! ha

This is that point where you can't go back and you must deal with the pain and NOT jerk your leg! ha  Tattoo virgin no more!

And....it is done! :)  LOVE IT SO MUCH!  And yes...I have great thoughts about my second tattoo (they really ARE addictive) and will surely post photos when I finally decide to do it! :)  And as a reward for getting my first tattoo?......

Fajitas at a Mexican restaurant in Beijing, China!  SO good and so ironic! ha

Seven! ha  SO glad that Seven, Wendy, and Ivy could be there for my first tattoo!  You see....I didn't trust just ONE Chinese citizen to make sure those Chinese characters really said BeiJing!  I had to have THREE! They were such troopers and treating them to a great Mexican meal was totally my pleasure! :)

Love these women!  So happy to spend time with them again!

This is Bill and I was SO happy to be able to meet up with him.  He moved to Beijing from Florida and taught with EF for one year and he's still living in Beijing. A good guy and good friend! :)

Sometimes you just have to STAB street food to enjoy the goodness! :)

Chinese LOVE American actors!

These are the lovely parents of a former student who is currently in Illinois at Northwestern!  They took me to a wonderful restaurant for a great meal and good conversation!  Their daughter, JingPing, is an accomplished flutist!

Trust me when I say that EVERYONE I know in Beijing KNOWS how very much I adore Beijing roasted duck! ha  When they take me out for a great dinner...it's almost ALWAYS about the duck! :) 

Another wonderful former student of mine, Payne, standing next to a bus stop sign!  Actually, the stop where I would be boarding a bus to head back to my former neck of the woods. :)  Payne will soon be coming to the States for his college studies.

No return trip to China would be complete without a trip to a wonderful Russian restaurant with Jeanette (lower left corner) and her daughter, former student Nicole! :) 

Best skewered steak in all of Beijing! 

Meeting up with Colin (another former colleague...Scottish...still living in Beijing) was great!  He offered me a job at his new company where he has to power to hire.  It was a GREAT job offer. Sigh......

My stay in Beijing is coming to an end.  I SO wanted to return to China in 2013 but it wasn't in the cards. However, Jeanette and I have a GREAT trip planned for the fall of 2014 where I will FINALLY get to travel to Xinjiang with a native (Yep...Jeanette) and see Urumqi and all the wonders of that region of China!  I am SO excited and cannot wait for the time to pass by quickly!

Time to say goodbye to Tongtong, Seven, and Mao!  Jeanette is taking this photo and taking me to the airport!  Oh Beijing.....I wish I could stay longer!

The international concourse at the Beijing airport is massive! :) And...this would be mine and Jeanette's farewell dinner for the second time at....

That's right, folks! Kenny Rogers ROCKS the chicken dishes at the Beijing airport! ha  Life is full of wonderful surprises! ha  So with this photo....so ends my multiple posts about my first trip BACK to Beijing since I moved back from living there! I miss living there every single day and I miss all my wonderful friends there.  But I rest easy in the knowledge that we all stay in good touch and I will be returning soon as I know I will do many times until I am no longer able to fly to my beloved second hometown....Beijing! :) Cheers, T.

 

 

Amazing Trip to China: The Rest of the Rest...take 2! ha

I promised a post tonight.....but have realized that even with THIS post...I will not finish completely with  my trip to China last Spring.  But let's continue one.  I left off with a great trip out to Shelagh's parents home on the outskirts of Beijing.  It was a wonderful visit for me to meet Shelagh's parents, have a great lunch, and walk around her parent's neighborhood.

I love taking photos of the doors of traditional chinese residences.  Those "door knockers" are great and I'd love to have one of them on my front door! :)

Beautiful doorways and this:

Chinese DO love their birds. :)  They hang their cages outside during the day and just look at that wonderful porcelain pot for this lucky bird! :)

This is Shelagh's Mom.  We went to a local restaurant for lunch and took leftovers back to Shelagh's father as he had to stay behind due to workers working on their  home.

ha ha  Shelaugh's father appears to be saying "What?  You had a great lunch and this is all you brought me?" :)

Okay....he's happier now and all I well (just a bit of fun because he was thrilled that we brought him our wonderful leftovers from our lunch).

Do you know what this is?

Fresh Lychee! :)  Delicious! :)

Food coma! ha  But what a beautiful food coma! :)

It's all about the sunglasses! ha  What a great day spent with Shelagh and her parents.  And guess what?  Because this is a post that happened a year ago...Shelagh is now a mother! :)

Click on it to make it bigger! :)  On this day, Seven, her Mom, and her daughter, TongTong, and I toured the Beijing Botanical Gardens!  This is the place where the LAST Emporer of China, PuYi, spent his last working years (while continuing to be under tremendous scrutiny by the Chinese government).  I have visited PuYi's residence in Changchun twice and remain fascinated by his story. But I won't go into all that here. The botanical gardens are beautiful and yet another destination that I wanted to...but never did....visit when I LIVED in Beijing. :)  (you know, kinda like living in Orlando, Florida, and never going to Disneyworld! ha).

Yes.  Blue skies and beautiful flowers and Mao...Seven's Mom! :)  It's not always about polluted skies, folks! Trust me.  I lived there. :)

The gardens had some incredible displays of orchids! :) SO very beautiful!

I can't post anymore tonight!  Too tired. :)  I've been working a part-time job with H&R Block and that job will end in just about a week. Still...I think I'll be able to continue with another post to finish up the botanical gardens (and more) tomorrow since I don't work evenings again until this Wednesday. :)  Take good care all my blog friends.  Until tomorrow, hope you've enjoyed these photos. :)  T in Tennessee

Amazing Trip to China: The REST of the trip! ha

I have lots to post about my Christmas trip to Austria and Poland but feel the need to finish up...in one post....the rest of my trip to China.....yes....LAST SPRING! :(  So here goes:

After the treat trip to Datong/Hunyuan County to see the sights and to visit with my friend's parents and their daughters (staying with grandparents) Amy Li Xing and Audrey Li Xing...we headed back to Beijing and I moved from staying with my American friends (the Griffiths) in Chaoyang District to Haidian District where I stayed in Seven's old apartment for the rest of my stay in Beijing (she and her husband bought a new apartment and her mother was living with them).  I loved staying in my old neighborhood and also within walking distance of my apartment on DaChengLu! :)

This is TongTong, Seven's daughter (about 15 months old at the time) with her new doll that I brought her and that's Seven's mother, TongTong's grandma. :)  Love this child!

Seven and her daughter, TongTong!

This is Ivy, a former colleague.  Wonderful young woman.  I met up with Ivy, Christina and Wendy....all former Chinese colleagues and all who have left where we used to work.  It was SO great to see them!  We went to KTV together!  (karaoke)

Ivy, Wendy, and Christina!  My lovely Chinese buddies.  Love them and loved being able to spend time with them.  Later in my stay, Ivy and Wendy would also accompany me on my "first tattoo" adventure in WuDaoKou! :)

I spent nearly every evening meeting up with former students and their parents for wonderful dinners.  During the days I walked around my old neighborhood and checked in on great shopkeepers and former neighbors that I enjoyed so much when I lived there. :)  What a GREAT visit and incredibly...all the Chinese that I knew came right back to me and I was still able to tell a cab driver exactly where to take me (in Chinese) with no problem.

This is Linda, my former student, and her Mom, Melody.  Linda and her parents took me to a wonderful restaurant where we had great food and conversation.  Linda will soon be coming to study in the States, as many of students are doing.  I've connected with several of my students here in the States and it has been a wonderful thing.

So...um....of course we had delicious Beijing roasted duck!  My fave! :)

One of the GREAT gates at the far edge of the Forbidden City (National Palace, as they are trying so hard to call it now but will forever be known as the Forbidden City).  On this day I was enjoying time with one of my besties, Jeanette, the mother of one of my dear students, Nicole, and I became very close with her mother.  We still keep in close contact and are planning a wonderful trip to the Xinjiang Province in fall of 2014. :)

Jeanette took me a famous street near the Forbidden City (name escapes me) where we had dinner at a famous restaurant serving traditional Beijing dishes!  What a great time we had! :)

This is Jack (formerly known as Horace, if you are a loyal blog reader) and his parents!  Jack was just 6 when I began giving him private lessons at EF.  I was his exclusive private teacher for 2 years.  This kid spoke English (due to his parents and grandparents who all spoke great English) nearly fluently but needed help with reading and writing.  WONDERFUL family and great people! :)  We also had a GREAT dinner together! :)

Which included this GREAT dish of tiny delicious shrimp!  Oh So Good! :)  I'm telling you....you want great food?  Go to CHINA! :)

This is Polly and her father....mother and grandfather to my former student, Jerry (Bohan), who is currently attending high school in Chattanooga at McCallie and he's spent lots of time with me here in Nashville.  They prepared a wonderful meal for me in their apartment and gave me far too many wonderful gifts, including some beautiful silk scarves. 

In addition to MANY incredible dishes, Jerry's grandparents made wonderful jiaozi (pork-filled dumplings) for me.  SO MUCH FOOD!  I felt bad when I just couldn't eat another bite...yet there was still SO much food on the table!  This is the Chinese way when having guests but I always felt like I needed to eat everything!  Even with my big stomach....not possible! ha

In China....when it's noon....it's naptime! :)  and if that means you need to spread out some cardboard to get your snooze on....then you do it! :)

LOVE these folks!  That's Frank Wang and his lovely wife, Yanzi!  Frank was my first "boss" in China as he was the manager of the Center where I worked.  He left and someone else stepped in but we remained close.  Frank was instrumental in my living happily in China as he was the one who found me a great apartment and also he and Yanzi helped me tremendously when I was SO sick with dysentery and had to go to the hospital multiple times for IV drips and such.  Their lovely daughter, Cherry, was one of my students and she is a beautiful young woman now! :)

Cherry is SO tall! :) 

Frank and Yanzi took me to a wonderful Korean BBQ restaurant where you cook meats at your own table on a grill and then wrap them in lettuce leaves.  SO delicious! :)

After Frank and Yanzi and I had a great dinner we did something that I promised myself I would do for two years while I was LIVING in Beijing but never did.  Go to the top of the old CCTV Tower! :)  Oh, what a GREAT time we had.  They have a big ole microphone-like thing at the top where you can yell out anything you want to at the City of Beijing.  But it's so far up....no one can hear you! ha

The view from the top was incredible but SO windy and was kinda scary!  I was glad to come back down! ha

This is my friend and ex-colleague, Shelagh, and her father in her parents' home.  The visit with Shelagh to her parents' home (another visit that I always wanted to do with her when I lived in China but work always got in the way) means I need to post lots more photos!  I am afraid I was a bit crazy to think I could post ALL of the rest of my great trip to China last spring in one post.  I can't! ha  SO....I intend to post more tomorrow night and try to finish up because I have great photos of other trips to post between this trip and the present!  Cheers to everyone and stay tuned!  :)