Last week it began to get cooler but the summer came back for a second bite of the cherry this weekend. It’s muggy and sweaty and really quite uncomfortable and I’m really looking forward to the cooler weather.

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After a busy week the pace changed at the weekend. Saturday was a day for reading and lying on the couch and watching TV and it was great. On Sunday I caught up with a few folk for a short tour of “The Couples Retreat Garden” and the “Kunqu Opera Museum” which you will find in the old city in Suzhou. These expat events are held usually once a month and it is really the only time that I catch up with other expats, generally I try to avoid them. The conversation usually turns to Brexit or Trump or Hong Kong and frankly I don’t care anymore, I just want to get to the last page of these books to find out what happened, I struggle to listen to any of it for more than a few minutes………..mind you Trump is a complete numpty and so it’s still fun to listen to his ramblings at times.

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We even got covered by the local newspaper, although I don’t have a copy of it just yet but I am hoping to acquire one for posterity. I’ve had my name and picture in the paper a few times since I’ve been here and I was even on TV…………..and on every occasion I was being very good, anytime I got a mention in Scotland was usually because I did something wrong 🙂

A translation from the local paper.

The translation was done through Google and so you will see a few strange phrases throughout the article

Foreign friends praised “100 foreigners tour hundred gardens” Suzhou gardens are more beautiful than imaginedGravitational broadcast2019-09-08 19:28

Well Well Well

Today (September 8th) afternoon, the “100 Foreigners Touring 100 Parks” sponsored by the Suzhou World Cultural Heritage Classical Garden Protection and Supervision Center welcomed a group of foreign friends who took a tour from Zhangjiaxiang to the North Road. Feel the charm of Suzhou gardens in the late summer and early autumn.

At two o’clock in the afternoon, the All-Jinhui Hall (China Kunqu Museum) in Zhongjiajiaxiang was particularly lively. More than ten foreign friends listened to the history of Kunqu Opera and Suzhou Garden, and felt the charm of Chinese traditional culture. “Look at this pool, the stone around the pool is the famous lake stone.” For the foreign friends to explain the translation is the Suzhou civil organization “Walk through Suzhou” responsible for Qu Weiqiang, he pointed to a pool in the Jinjin Hall Explain. Foreign friends are very interested in everything in the garden. Besides listening carefully, they are taking pictures, taking pictures and taking pictures with their mobile phones.

If the All-Jin Club is the beginning of foreign friends to know the gardens and Kunqu, then the coupling garden and Ming Xuan are the highlights of the in-depth understanding. In front of the main hall of the coupling garden, the interpreter tells the story of the love between Shen Bingcheng and Yan Yonghua, the owner of the coupling garden, and emphasizes the clever use of “coupling” and “even” and the symmetry of the design in the garden. Foreign friends are obviously puzzled by the meaning between the two characters. Qu Weiqiang uses “couple” to further explain. The foreign friends who listened to it seem to realize suddenly, and they all make a “squeaky” voice, and even erected the thumb to express their appreciation.

Jeff from the United States is a teacher at Zhangjiagang Liangfeng Middle School. His Chinese name is Li Yuanhang. He was very excited to tell reporters that the coupling garden is the sixth Suzhou garden he has played. He said that each of the Suzhou gardens is different. At first he thought that the gardens were the same. After the play, they discovered that the same garden elements, such as mountains, water, buildings and plants, combined to produce works with such different effects. “Every garden is a good piece of art.” Isabella from Canada is an elegant lady. She told reporters that Suzhou gardens are far more beautiful than she imagined. “I didn’t expect that in the garden.” With so many plants, I really want to bring the garden home and bring it back to Canada.” She also poetically said that the Suzhou garden culture is also very beautiful. The most precious thing is time. She is willing to use time to explore every inch of Suzhou. land.

It is understood that this event is one of the series of activities of “100 Foreigners Touring 100 Parks”. As a co-organizer of the event, “Walking Through Suzhou” invited more than ten foreign friends from the United States, Ireland, and the United Kingdom to participate. The person in charge, Qu Weiqiang, said that they used to hold similar activities in the past, but basically it was the first time to visit a place like this, and to launch a Suzhou garden tour line like this, for systematic and in-depth travel. “This kind of tour is like a garden culture study, so that foreign friends can have a deep understanding of the cultural essence and connotation of Suzhou gardens.”

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