A couple things

• Fates have conspired to keep me from going to Suzhou this weekend :-( Soon, though. Soon. Meanwhile though my tutor showed me photos of her recent visit to Xitang. The place is like Venice, with canals and bridges everywhere. And it's also pretty close to Shanghai. I should go there also :-)
  
• You know how when we're taking someone's picture, we say "Cheese!" to get them to smile? Well they do the same thing in China, too -- although, they say qiezi. Phonetically, I can hear the similarity between the two words. They kind of sound alike. But what does qiezi mean, you ask? Certainly not cheese.
  
  Eggplant. It means eggplant.
  
  When I heard that, I immediately started laughing like crazy. When I get back to America I'll say that when I take pictures of people.
  
  "Okay, three, two, one ... EGGPLANT!!!"
  
  Perfect :-D
• I need a haircut. Just thought ya'll would like to know . . .