On a non-basketball note...

My blog has been riddled with NCAA tournament talk, sorry work has slowed down a bit for me so I have a little time to actually keep up with things that I like from the States. On another note, yesterday was a great day other then the games that were being played cause we got to take friends and family around the city who were visiting us. First, to start, Renee's sister's daughter and her husband are in town (arrived on Wednesday for 1 week) to tour around and see the different sights. I know what you are thinking, why didn't you just call her your niece, well primarily because she is older then me (long story, I can explain later if you want me to) and as such, they are more like cousins to us then a niece and nephew, so I have just been referring to them as family just so as to not confuse people. Also in town yesterday was a friend of mine that I grew up with and his wife (they were on a tour in China and had the afternoon free).

It was a fun time of getting cheap pearls, knock off stuff, seeing Yu Garden, riding the sketchy ferry across the river with all the people on bikes, walking all over the place, having a (in my opinion) great dinner made by our domestic helper, getting foot massages (4 people got 1 hour long foot massages each for less then $10USD total) and just having some great conversation. I was worried about having to balance my time with the family and my friends, but Renee and I worked it out so that she was at a place that was convenient for us to meet them so that we could all hang out together for the rest of the day. Anyway, it was a great day and my friend and I (who we hadn't seen each other in a couple of years since he moved to Phoenix and well, I am here in China) were able to catch up and I was able to meet his wife for the first time, so all was well. I finally got home at around 11pm after dropping my friend off, but the whole day was very good day.

By the way, to the 3 readers that are out there, of course you know that there is an open invitation for you all to come and visit (that is pending that I actually know you), in addition to having family in town, we also have another visitor coming in two weeks and already have friends who have booked a trip here for the fall, so we are becoming quite the tour guides having all these people come through.