Nancy is still teaching in No.42 but apart from that just about every other aspect of her life has changed from when I last saw her. She is now married to a fantastic husband who works for sinochem in Shijiazhuang and they live together in a two bedroom flat near to the park. The house they live in at the moment is quite small so I couldn't stay there when I visited - instead i got a room at the World Trade Plaza hotel - but in the summer they will move to their own house which they bought in a different part of the town. This house is going to have 3 bedrooms and will be much more modern, so hopefully I can stay there with them when I next visit. Nancy says that she and her husband will probably try for a baby once they have settled into their new house. Hopefully when I next visit them they will have some good news! I hope to be able to buy them something for their new house - if they let me - as I 
missed out being able to give them something for their wedding.Nancy and I met saturday morning at the hotel and then went around town quickly before going to the school and seeing my old students. In the afternoon I walked around Shijiazhaung park and the neighbourhood around the school. It was great to go back and see some of the old markets and restuarants where I used to shop at and visit. The town hadn't changed much at old apart from they have brought the shops a row back from the road to make more of a pavement area. This means that many of the shops are about half the size of before. The most noatble example of this is that the blue restaurant in the post 
below is the old muslim restuarant where we went after nights out and was huge but is now about one eighth of the previous size!
below is the old muslim restuarant where we went after nights out and was huge but is now about one eighth of the previous size!After walking around the town we went back to nancys and made dumplings for tea. I was pretty useless at making dumplings (despite having done this once before in China) but all the ones Nancy and her husband made were delicious. We also had some Roast duck and some vegetable dishes that Nancy made. It was all very delicious. Their current house doens't have a dining room so we ate off a table and chairs in the bedroom - hopefully I can buy them a dining table for their new house. We watched their wedding video which was hilarious - really told the story of a chinese wedding.
Afer eating with Nancy and her husband I met up with Shirly who i also met at No.42 school. Conveniently Shirly's parents have two houses; one where they live and another for Shirly to stay during the school week. The house where Shirly lives turned out to be in the same development as Nancy's - just the opposite block so that saved one potential moment of confusion. Shirly had some friends round at her house so after having a few drinks and introducing myself we went to Youth Year Bar and then on to Mazzo Club.
Thankfully Mazzo club is still completely free for foriegners. It is also free for women. So the only people that actually pay for drinks in there are chinese men - I'm not sure how they manage to stay open!! The clientle of the bar had grown a little younger from the last time I was there but the music was near enough exactly the same and it was still absolutely mental. There wasn't many foreigners there - apparently they mostly go to a new bar in town (that must be free alcohol as well!!) but the people were just as friendly as ever.
Afer eating with Nancy and her husband I met up with Shirly who i also met at No.42 school. Conveniently Shirly's parents have two houses; one where they live and another for Shirly to stay during the school week. The house where Shirly lives turned out to be in the same development as Nancy's - just the opposite block so that saved one potential moment of confusion. Shirly had some friends round at her house so after having a few drinks and introducing myself we went to Youth Year Bar and then on to Mazzo Club.
Thankfully Mazzo club is still completely free for foriegners. It is also free for women. So the only people that actually pay for drinks in there are chinese men - I'm not sure how they manage to stay open!! The clientle of the bar had grown a little younger from the last time I was there but the music was near enough exactly the same and it was still absolutely mental. There wasn't many foreigners there - apparently they mostly go to a new bar in town (that must be free alcohol as well!!) but the people were just as friendly as ever.
After Mazzo we went to KTV with Shirlys friends for a few hours and then headed to McDonalds about 5am for a snack before heading home about 6am. The next day was hard work! Flying home at 6pm I was absoltely exhausted!
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