上海，杭州，南京

The answer is no.


I have not seen the Great Wall yet.

That's the second most popular question I get from home, and while I do indeed have a month break from school to travel, I opted not to go north to 北京 (Beijing) when it is winter. I kind of hate being cold. Instead I went East to Shanghai, Cixi, Hangzhou, and Nanjing. My sister is currently living in Warringah, Australia, and one of her roommates is a Chinese girl from Cixi, who is home for the holiday. So when I got invited on a trip that direction, I jumped at the chance to go visit and get to know her.

I went with a good friend and our first stop was Shanghai, where we spent two days wandering around, being completely lost, and having a grand time. The weather was remarkably warm for the beginning of our trip, so we walked all over that enormous city. After seeing all that Shanghai has to offer, Chunni (Sammie's roommate) and her dad picked us up and drove us to her hometown. We got to drive over the world's longest trans-oceonic bridge. Her mom cooked us a wonderful dinner where I made a fool of myself trying (pathetically) to eat delicious little crabs with chopsticks. We spent the evening getting to know her family--a difficult task with my very limited Chinese. The next day her and her dad drove us to Hangzhou which is famous for the beautiful Westlake. It was worth the trip, even in the winter, which is reputedly the worst time to visit. Even without leaves on the trees, I was enthralled by the view.

We spent a few days in Hangzhou and could easily have spent more time there I think, before getting on a train to Nanjing. The weather suddenly turned on us, and when we got off the train it was a balmy -3, and dropping. Nanjing isn't traditionally considered a tourist town by the Chinese, which made it much more interesting to me. We climbed "Purple Mountain," a hill where there is supposed to be a Ming Dynasty tomb (the only Ming Emporer not buried in Beijing) which we never did find. We went to visit the Massacre Memorial Museum from when the Japanese attacked Nanjing and killed over 300,000 Chinese. If you happen to be in that area, I definitely think you should see the museum, but it can be a bit overwhelming if you're like me, and violence makes you squeamish.

We spent the second New Years Eve eating dinner with a Chinese family, one of Sooraj's friends who showed us around Nanjing. She invited us to eat with them since every restaurant in the country (except maybe McDonalds--which despite being American does not interest me in the least) closes for the holiday. I marveled at the fireworks being set off in the middle of the street, regardless of cars. We hadn't taken into account that because of the holiday, all of the tourist sites we wanted to visit would be closed, so Nanjing wasn't quite as eventful as planned, but was still fun. We also mistakenly assumed that no one would want to travel on New Years day, since it's bigger than Christmas, and had a bit of a hard time finding train tickets home.


Our planned arrival date of Jan. 27th stretched into Jan. 28th. As I watched the fog-filled fields blur by Jack Johnson sang in my ear that he wished the old train would break down. Although I didn't disagree with his sentiment entirely I am glad his wishes were not granted for us. I heard some pretty terrifying stories of train trips last year, where people were stuck for 60 hours waiting for the snow to clear. So it was with a grateful heart that after two nights in a row of sitting up on a train and desperately wishing for some sleep, we finally made it to YiChang. I then proceeded to sleep until 6pm, effectively ruining any sleeping pattern I had. I am happy to be home for a few days where I can get fried rice for 4yuan rather than the 25 we paid in Shanghai, and it will be spicy enough to make me breathe fire. It's the little things in life...

"No, life cannot be understood flat on a page. It has to be lived; a person has to get out of his head, has to fall in love, has to memorize poems, has to jump off bridges into rivers, has to stand in an empty desert and whisper sonnets under his breath."

-Through Painted Deserts

请说

Let’s all reflect for a moment on the wonder called communication. It’s such a simple thing to tell someone, “You will begin teaching on Feb. 16th”

Or, “You’re going to need these papers later, so hold on to them for the entire semester and don’t write all over them.”

To be fair, 我的中文不好 and their English is mostly non-existent, but I do have a perfectly capable co-teacher who is fluent in both languages, and a foreign affairs office which I believe is there for that purpose.

In fact they did communicate one thing to me, after I had doubled up some of my classes to finish the semester early. They told me I couldn’t do that and I would be fined. What they should have said is “You will be the only moron stupid enough to continue teaching until Jan. 16th. You should double up your classes so your students don’t hate you. All of the other teachers will know we are bluffing and finish early anyway. Then you will have to wait 10 minutes every morning for the lazy man to come unlock your classroom because he thinks there are no more classes this week.”

Let’s just say the local method of informing one of important things leaves a lot to be desired. It definitely gives me something to laugh about, and in the grand scheme of things is not all that important. Just a little…interesting. I still love this place and these people more and more every day but I sure would appreciate some simple communiqué.
On the bright side— literally—the sun is shining. And who can complain when there is sunshine afoot? Not I! I think I’ll go enjoy it.

“We do what we do—not because we’re paid to do it but because [He] has called us to do it.”
-Randy Harris

北山生

At the risk of sounding like a veteran I'd like to observe that all the buses in Yichang have changed their routes and are now totally throwin me off my groove. I thought going to the grocery store--that in days of yore provided me with butter--was already a pain, but henceforth it's an even bigger one. Apparently they're just going back to the way they once were, and the route I knew was only a temporary one though. Good thing I enjoy a brisk, cold walk. It just serves to reinforce the saying that everything takes a day in China. Seriously, something that should take about 10 minutes will take you a whole day. Guaranteed. It's what gives me something to laugh about every day.


I got my first experience riding in a Mamu this weekend, which is quite an interesting contraption. Picture Fred Flintstone's car, and add a motor. It's like a motorcycle that has been turned into a tricycle, and had a shell added to it. Only you can still see the ground flying by underneath you as you careen through the traffic headed at you. I should have taken a picture so you could witness the greatness. I'll try to put one up in the future.

This is my last week of finals and after that I'm off to Shanghai, Nanjing, and Suzhou, before heading the other direction and hopefully hiking Tiger Leaping Gorge. Pictures will be coming, I promise.

"The unexamined life is not worth living."

-Socrates

电话

As I was about to walk out the door for my 8 o'clock final my phone made a funny noise. It's not really my phone so I didn't recognize the sound of a text message. My phone is broken and refuses to do anything, so I now have a replacement which I am not familiar with yet. I looked at it, and here's what I read, "good morning.I am sorry to disturb you at this time.I am monitor of class 20084013.this morning we will choice our classes at 8:00.So Can we change your class at first and second class to third and forth. thank you"

At 7:45 the morning of the final, they choose to inform me that they are not available at 8? Wow I'm so glad I woke up and got ready this morning.

Never will I leave you;

Never will I forsake you.

-Our Dad

饺子

After saying a tearful goodbye this afternoon I went to my friend Kylie's house with Jessie and another friend. Her mom taught us how to make jiao zi. That kept me from crying for the most part. We spent all afternoon learning to make jiao zi and then her dad taught me how to make tang cu li ji (literally "sugar vinegar pork," or sweet and sour) and gong bao ji din (we call it kung pao chicken), two of my favorite dishes. We had a lot of fun together. Then when we stepped outside to leave, it was snowing! I'm glad I didn't have to walk far, but I was excited to see snow for the first time this year. I heard they got an awful lot of it last year but it's fun for a while. I just love Kylie and Jessie, they're two of the sweetest girls ever.

"Loneliness is the first thing which God's eye named, not good."

-John Milton