Baby Steps in Guangzhou

Hello! Just another week in China. At my job at the kindergarten I completed my first teaching evaluation. I was observed by a few teachers while I taught a class and I think it went alright. I'll find out for sure later on. 

I love my class. I'm probably really biased, but I think they are some of the cutest babies in China. 

Lately I've been feeling really homesick and sad. Especially for dance. It was just such a big part of my life before, and my heart has a hole in it now. I'm trying to find ways to fill the time, and I'm sure I'll get used to a new routine soon, but right now I just really miss my family and dance families. 

But onto catching up (So when I'm old I can look back and remember all my adventures). This is from June when I first tried going to Guangzhou. Guangzhou is a huge international city. It has an airport, tons of metro and bus stations, and connects to all of China's major cities through the trains. It is pretty intimidating, and the buildings are huuuge! I stayed pretty close to the fringes my first visit. 

These pics are from the People's park. The building in the distance is a government building of some kind. The park was really nice and shady and full of people. 

Next up was the biggest temple ever! JK. But one of the biggest, and smack in the middle of the city and a huge mall. There was a lot of historical markers on what is called the Beijing Road that runs through the city. 

This was another historical marker. An old schoolhouse where some guy started a teaching method of some kind?? I don't read Chinese so I'm kind of guessing. 

This cute little well was inside the school as well. 

And another temple on the Beijing Road.

Such big buildings. I still get intimidated by Guangzhou

This place was a memorial to Dr. Sun Yat-Sen. He was a big figure in Communist China's history. The museum was dedicated to him and I think architecture. I didn't go in though, because I wanted to go so many other places.

I found another small temple

Then I finally came to the museum I'd come here for. The Museum of the Nanyue King of Weastern Han Dynasty. 

These are some ceramic pillows people used to sleep on. Yeah, ceramic.

Then these were some tiny replicas of some family ancestral tombs and burial houses... I think?

Finally! The tomb of the king. Apparently, they were digging in the city in 1983 and discovered a tomb of the king and the mummy inside. 

The door to the underground tomb!

Such a bad picture, but this is all that was left of one of the concubines they believed were sacrificed and buried with the king. 

This is how the mummy was wrapped, with stone chain mail made with red thread. 

And weighted down with these discs. 

All in all, I enjoyed my first solo trip to Guangzhou. I really loved the museum and Seeing all the historical things right in the middle of such a huge city was pretty strange and interesting.