神农架

The season is changing here in China, and carrying on its shoulders vibrant colours, a renewed desire for hotpots, and the bitterest of colds. In Oklahoma the advent of fall doesn't necessarily signify any changing colors. Here the sight is spectacular. The school took us on a trip this weekend to Shenongjia, a national forest about 5 hours from here. It has some of the most beautiful mountains I've seen. The forest was breathtakingly beautiful, the kind of beauty that leaves you aching for more. I took picture after picture--not knowing that the beauty was just beginning and that my camera battery was plotting suicide. Saturday morning we ventured off bright and early at 7:40 and drove for hours and hours, stopping occasionally for a short hike in the rain, while it got steadily colder. For supper that night we had some firsts for me in China. Fried pumpkin rounds and boiling hot coca-cola. I think in the future I'll stick to the cold kind.

Sunday was a different experience altogether. I woke up at 5:30 in the morning with the terrible realization that something was wrong yet without enough awareness to identify the problem. Sparing you the details I'll just say I was horribly sick. Riding on a bus for 9 hours with complete strangers when you feel that miserable is pure torture. The sun was taunting me as it revealed itself for the first time in a week, saying, "Ha ha you're sick and can't enjoy my blessed rays." Everyone else would get off the bus and hike through the mountains at incredibly scenic spots and I sat there wishing I were either in bed or put out of my misery. I told Gisele to take lots of pictures for me, so maybe one day this week I'll get around to posting mine and stealing hers. I'm almost 100% better today, so it was just a one-day attack but it sure was awful. To make matters worse all the people on the bus wanted to diagnose my illness and tell me that if I wore more clothes I wouldn't get sick. It was very obviously something I ate that affected me the way it did, but because I wore my chacos to hike in they are all blaming it on my near-nudity.

Today my friend Snowy came over so I could teach her how to make apple pie and she ended up staying for 5 hours. We had a great time pie-making, and playing cards, and just talking about Important things. She taught me how to make Jiao-zi (dumplings)--one of my China faves. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and food. Then I brought applie pie to Zack and Elizabeth's and we watched The Office and gorged ourselves together. So all things considered life is pretty grand.

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

Maya Angelou