A New Perspective

On Friday my friend, Steffi, and I were feeling like we needed some perspective...a different perspective of China and particularly Tianjin. So, we went up to the observation deck of the TV Tower (the tallest building in the center of the city.) Steffi has lived in Tianjin for several years so as we walked around the deck, she was explaining different parts of the city to me and telling me many stories about Tianjin. The entire city is actually built upon swamp-land and much of the newer part of the city used to be ocean! There were some other very interesting stories...ones that I'll have to tell you when I come back to the U.S. As we walked around, Steffi pointed out where I live, where we go to Fellowship, where our organization's office is, etc. and I realized that I have become a biker babe! Ha! I really have to travel quite far to see people and to get to different places...it's good for me though since I've definitely been enjoying the Chinese cuisine! Anyways, as we took our last loop, we saw this beautiful sight...the TV Tower's shadow was extending out and across the city - it was breathtaking. I came out feeling renewed and quite proud of my small, yet seemingly mountainous accomplishments in this huge and vast city.

You've seen the Olympic stadium from the inside...this the outside view.


The Water Park where I took the pictures of the lanterns in a previous blog...


And just to prove that I'm an official "biker babe," here I am on my new bike...someone gave it to me and it's loads better than the old one! And, you probably can't see it but I am wearing heels - true Chinese-style!


Finally, I just have to share this with all of you Iowans out there --- today in class, one of my students was munching away on some corn-on-the-cob that she brought with her! :) It's probably not sweet like we have in Iowa but nonetheless, she had it and was enjoying it!