As October goes......

October in Ordos has been beautiful! I love autumn, it's my favorite time of the year and I was happy that Inner Mongolia didn't disappoint me. October also brought about several firsts for me.
My first haircut in China~ 

A visit from Garrett Griffith, a friend and neighbor from BYU's Study abroad. It was so nice to see him and his friends and see the fun they had while they were here.

I saw my first, 'non-veterinary medicine' dissected goat. Well, actually 2 goats. I walked into the multi-purpose room at work to get hot water for my soup and saw this on the table....

And this entrails and other 'innards' under running water in the sink.

I understand the local crew were preparing a special feast for the Fall Holiday.

My first face mask. No, I'm not trying to be Michael Jackson, but everyone of our crew members, including Darryl, was sick with flu, sore throat and a cold and I was doing everything I could to not get it! (That's dome #3 in the background).

I enjoyed my first acupuncture.....

....and my first hot cup, suction massage therapy. Hillary will have to tell you the official name of this procedure...

I function as a restaurant critic... sort of. Every week I go out with these lovely ladies, Robyn and Echo, and we try a new restaurant! So far it's all been delicious!

We call this restaurant "Grandmother Willow" because of the tree in the center of the dining room.

One of the things I love about Ordos is the familiarity of the climate. It is so much like Idaho that I feel right at home. Darryl and I love to take walks in the warm autumn sunshine through the many different parks. 

I rode my first camel... well, sort of.

And danced with the Mongolian Children Statues...

I had my first fish hot pot, which was delicious!

The only pigeons in this city are kept in pigeon houses. They are turned out each day for a time and they always come when their keeper calls them.

One of our walks took us to Embrace Park. This park has not been as well maintained as the other parks, probably because the apartment complexes nearby are still under construction, but it was still beautiful.

This is the reason it is called "Embrace Park". All the of Chinese words are embracing!

One more thing I love about China. No one cares what this crazy foreigner wears. They don't care if it matches or blends. It's a wonderful sense of  Fashion Freedom! 

More to come.
We took another trip to Hong Kong. I will try to get those pictures up later this week.