day 11

after waking up late.. again, my nanny brought me and k to see her husband. it was really nice to visit, especially since he has cancer so i might not see him again next time. before that though, my nanny dragged me to see a few different people who knew me as a two-year-old. i didn't really recognize them, but that's okay. apparently i was a really fussy baby.

there is a bakery right next door to where my nanny lives that makes these HEAVENLY pineapple cakes. we bought some fresh out of the oven and they were SO SCRUMPTIOUS (i'm running out of synonyms for delicious).

While at Steph's nanny's apartment, she showed us lots of pictures of Steph as a toddler. (CUTE. although Steph doesn't think so) and then her nanny took us to the Lin Family Mansion and Gardens, right in Banciao, which we've been meaning to visit for a while. It was pretty amazing, all these huge buildings and ponds and trees right in the middle of the city. It was built 150 years ago, and it's routinely restored, so all the paintings and carvings on the walls seemed pretty fresh. Everything was so intricate: the lamps, the doors, the windows, all wood and beautifully carved.

I LOOK LIKE A BALL NOT A PERSON IN MY BABY PICTURES. SO EMBARRASSING!!

anyhow the Lin Family Mansion and Gardens is really pretty, and i pretended that it was my house (since my last name is lin. it was fun) k took a lot of pictures and i recorded a lot of footage. we even got some pictures with college students in traditional chinese dress. they were making a movie for a class or something like that.

then we came back, had some fried dumplings for dinner. once again, STUFFED.

Afterwards, since it wasn't too late yet, we went on a quest for jeans. Steph's mom wants her to buy a lot here, since you can get them hemmed for free and she can't often find good jeans back home. Enough to last her through college apparently. So anyway, that's what we were looking for this time in the shops in Banciao. We finally found a couple of pairs that fit her (yay!) and we're supposed to pick them up the next day after they're hemmed.

Each day is passing so quickly, because they're always pretty full. We've been lucky with the weather so far. 2 full weeks of rain were predicted, and it's only poured about 2 days, so we've been able to do a lot more than we could have otherwise, and Steph's relatives seem to have made it their mission to take us to as many different cool places as possible. So that's been awesome. Anyway, I guess that's about it for this day.