Days 295-296: Our Last Excursions--Longhua Temple and Luxun Park (finally)

Monday we met up with my former student, Bella, at the McDonald's in Jiangwan Town Station. She gave us a beautiful gift: some Chinese silverware, including chopsticks. We ate and chatted a bit, and then we invited her to accompany us to the Longhua Pagoda and Temple. It took awhile to get there....Line 3 to Line 11....but we had subway seats most of the way. The Longhua Pagoda we saw first. It's a huge pagoda in Shanghai, from AD 242 originally, according to the guide book. Bella told us that there was something on the side of the pagoda that said it would be good for the pagoda if we walked around it seven times, clockwise. So we did! (Fortunately, it wasn't all that hot.)  Then, we went into the Longhua Temple: 10 RMB per person. We paid for Bella's ticket. It's a really huge temple with a lot of different rooms. Many different statues, especially Buddhas, abound. Lots of gold everywhere. It's quite impressive. Kerry and I lost each other at one point: he was following a cat around, and I went off exploring. There were several different buildings all in the same temple complex. We stopped in at a souvenir store there for a moment, where Kerry bought an ornament for Bella, surprising her. Once we were done, we went to the subway with Bella, and said goodbye to her at the Line 9 interchange. We took Line 11 back to Line 3 and then the bus home.  We were going to have dinner with Christa, but she wasn't feeling well, so we mutually cancelled. It was just as well; my feet were hurting a lot, so I stayed off them the rest of the evening.

From Longhua Pagoda and Temple:

Longhua Pagoda. Our first view.

Bella told us this is a "pichu" monster.

Beautiful white Buddha.

Musical god.

Rows of gold Buddhas.

Seated Buddha.

Another Buddha, standing.

Many-armed Buddha.

(left to right) Kerry, me, Bella

Tuesday was a SISU day. First Kerry and I went to SISU so I could have a form signed: I went to the library to get my e-card cancelled, and then to another office in Teaching Building 1 to get a refund on the money I had left: I got 48.60 RMB left, which was a nice surprise.  However, I couldn't understand them, and when they asked for my card, I gave it to them....I would have preferred to have kept it as a souvenir!  After all that, Kerry and I went to Lu Xun Park. I am shocked that we didn't go sooner--it's quite beautiful. Lots of ponds, lilypads, trees, people playing badminton (and even cracking whips!) in the park. Peaceful. And, of course, CATS. Kerry saw at least 7 and got pictures of most of them. We also saw the Lu Xun Mausoleum; there were a couple people doing tai-chi there, and a couple schoolgirls in uniform walking around. Fortuantely, the weather was nice during all this, not overly hot or rainy. Once we were done, after about 90 minutes of strolling around, we paid our last visit to the good ol' Ciao Cafe and got some paninis. Very tasty. Next, we went to the SISU Souvenir store and got some hats, a stuffed bear, and a pen for various people (can't mention who.....or it wouldn't be a surprise!). We then went to the coffee shop next door and waited for Christa and Christine; we had coffee with them (well, water...they drank coffee). I gave Christa my book about Minnesota recipes; she seemed to like it.  I gave Christine a Century College bag. Pictures were taken, hugs were given all around. Then Kerry went home and I went to my interview with Grace. She asked me a few questions, for her research, about my impressions of China and perceptions of China in the American news media.  I also gave Grace a Century bag; fortunately, she was able to send an intern to get my SISU ID back for me as a souvenir, which was a nice surprise!  I said goodbye to both Grace and Christine (again), and then went home on the bus, which was surprisingly uncrowded. I was starting to feel a bit melancholy. I mentioned to Kerry during dinner that I was staring to feel genuinely sad. Saying goodbye to Christa, in particular, was quite hard. It feel like we were just starting to form a good friendship.

Tuesday pics:

Beginning our stroll.

Lu Xun Mausoleum.

A single, gorgeous flower

Lilypads and trees.

Christa's sketch: she wanted to take all her Shanghai friends home with her!

Me, Kerry, Christine, Christa.

We also received the sad news today that Kyle had to put B.B. down. He had to make the trek from Tampa to Chicago to do this. It seems that many things are ending these days: Nathalie and Angela; Kyle and B.B.....and of course our time in China. I am surprised to feel more sad than excited.