In the spirit of the season...

I asked myself this question today...is a quarter marathon something to be proud of??? I quickly found my answer. For me....absolutely!!! This morning, I ran a quarter marathon with 8 friends from school to train for our 1/2 marathon in May, but more importantly to raise money for the relief effort in the Philippines.

I'll be honest, I wasn't very excited to run this morning. I just wanted to sleep in and be lazy with my coffee on my couch. But as soon as I got to the school where we were meeting, I saw my new friends gathered together, supporting and encouraging each other to earn money for those in need...and at the risk of sounding really cheesy, it totally warmed my heart. I am thankful for new challenges and friends that support you and encourage you in these challenges.

During the run, something that I just couldn't get over, were the many many Chinese people that not only watched us as we ran by them in the park, but they waved, nodded, smiled, honked their horns, gave us a thumbs up, and one older lady started running with us up and down a set of stairs. It was so awesome! I felt welcomed and in a way...very much at home. I'm thankful for opportunities to meet new people, learn new cultures and see good in others...all around the world.

After the run I came home, showered and prepared my food for our Thanksgiving Dinner. About 3:00 I made it to the dinner, got some wine and chatted with friends. The food was absolutely amazing! I tried things I've been avoiding at home for years and years and guess what???? I liked all of them! I'm thankful for finally growing up! I'm thankful for the fact that I never have to be stuck in one place...I always have the opportunity to change and grow as a person.

Sitting around the room full of people from all different walks of life, different countries, different perspectives was truly amazing. I am thankful for opportunities that open my eyes to different opinions, beliefs and ways of thinking. These opportunities make me a better person.

And in exactly 4 weeks, I get to fly to Portland and spend the holidays with the most amazing family I could ever imagine. I am unbelievably thankful for a loving, supportive family to come home to.

Happy Thanksgiving :)

November Holiday

I'm starting to get a little too used to these frequent holidays. It was extremely difficult to make it the last 5 weeks of school! My friends at home are, I'm sure, rolling their eyes and cursing my name but...it's true! ;) Alas....my November holiday has come...and  now gone!

I just got back from Hunan Province and it was absolutely amazing, but the week and a half before I went, some interesting things happened right here in the quaint little town of Wuxi. :) First off, I celebrated...I mean truly celebrated Halloween at school with my kids! I never in a million years thought that would be something I would do, but at TIS Halloween is evidently a very big deal! Friday after school, the PTA hosted a pretty decent Halloween party in which everyone dressed up and I, for the first time since....I don't even know when...dressed up to be scary! I know that's officially what you're supposed to do on Halloween, but, correct me if I'm wrong, Halloween in the states for adults without children, has become more a contest of how sexy/slutty you can look, and much less about how scary you can look. I must say, it was REFRESHING! Not only did a group of teachers dress up as zombies, but we also did a little dance to Thriller by none other than the King of Pop! It was so much fun and the kids, as well as the parents, absolutely loved it! I think I only made 1 little boy actually cry,  but I was told I was the scariest. A very proud moment.





After the party at school, we had our own little party. ;) Trick or Shots they call it....we traveled to 3 different houses....ate....and drank! I like it!








After all of the crap we ate during the Halloween festivities I noticed a couple of my teeth started to hurt really bad, so I decided I would brave it and go to the dentist! If you had asked me before I moved here, if I planned on visiting the dentist while in China I would have replied with a big fat NO...however I'd heard there was a woman dentist who spoke no English, but was very nice and did a good job. So I had the secretary at work make an appointment for me and off I went! For those of you who don't know...I tend to have some anxiety about the dentist at home, so you can imagine how much my palms were sweating and how freaked out I was on my way there. I ended up waiting for about 30 minutes to be seen and while I waited I just took it all in...including the dentist who left a patient and lit up a cigarette right there in the office!!! Wow! When they brought me back to be seen, it wasn't so different than what I was used to, except that it wasn't very clean! Not the best feeling when you consider where these tools end up! So I ignored the fact that nothing was covered in plastic, there was splatter marks all over the trays, machines, tools, etc....and I just closed my eyes and thought about raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with strings....you know...just a few of my favorite things. ;)  And with one phone call to the secretary at school and some time spent with google translate,communication was a breeze. :) I survived my first dentist visit in China....I can do anything! :)

Last week I enjoyed my first hot pot dinner with a family from my class..it was delicious! And I also had my first "blind massage". :) 60 quay ($10) for an hour long massage done by a blind person. I went with 3 other people from work. We were all in one room (fully clothed of course), it was very cold, we laid down and laughed for a good 10 minutes because it was completely different than anything any of us had experienced before, and then the massages started and I have to say...it was awesome! Not necessarily relaxing...but awesome nonetheless!

I also bought a new bicycle right before I left for holiday...a real grown up bike with gears and everything! :) And while Doug and I were sitting there, waiting for them to finish fixing it all up so we could go, we couldn't help but notice the man waiting next to us with his long ass finger nails which he was trimming right there in the store with wire cutters!!!! Hahahahah! At that point Doug and I decided the new phrase to use when describing life in China...."You can't make this shit up." :)

So Tuesday morning, my trip to Hunan Province started. I went with my friend Cordelia and with the exception of a couple of hostels that Cordelia booked before we left...we had very little plans as to what we would do on this trip! We knew we were heading to Hunan to go to the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, and we knew the sights would be amazing. Well...we were right! Our first day started with a quick plane ride to Changsha in Hunan Province, where we caught a 4 hour bus to Zhangjiajie City. The bus station in Changsha was absolutely disgusting....absolutely disgusting!!! I went into the bathroom and there were dividers, but no doors and the toilet was one long trough basically. Not slanted, no running water... everything just sat there. It was so so so so gross. :( The worst part for me though, was when I see women squatting, and then they whip out a packet of cigarettes and light up, or they whip out their phone and start a conversation, text, or game. It was a very difficult couple of minutes.

Anyway, we got on our old nasty bus and 4 hours later, made it to Zhangjiajie City. We were told our hostel in the park is very difficult to find and if you arrive in the city later than 2pm, it's best to stay in the city and find the hostel the next day. We arrived much later than 2pm so we met up with a friend we work with, found a hostel in town for the night, and went to a play that was set in an amphitheater that was built into the side of a mountain. It was freezing cold and I quickly realized, that I did NOT pack well for this trip. Despite the frigid temperatures and my terrible clothing, the views of the mountain were pretty amazing.

The next morning we woke up early and got on a bus that took us to the entrance to the park. The park itself is a pretty decent size, just shy of 20 square miles. It's set up for people to tour it, so the hikes we did were mostly concrete pathways and lots and lots of stairs, with the occasional climb up rocks to get to the very top. Inside the park there are areas you have to walk through, but they also have buses, cable cars and the world's longest elevator, to get you from point A to point B.

So Cordelia and I knew all of this before we went, but like I said, we had no real plan as to what these few days would look like for us. But lucky us, on the bus ride to the park we met 2 guys who had met a couple days prior, who were also touring around the park and they were very prepared!!! They had a map with highlighted routes they wanted to take to see all the best sights, and they could not have been nicer! So, while we thought we would go straight to our hostel, drop our bags off and then tour around a bit, we actually ended up walking the entire day with our new friends...just shy of 10 hours...carrying our packs (did I mention I didn't pack well????). It was absolutely amazing! And honestly, I'm so glad I didn't know I'd be doing that all day, because if someone had told me I would have to carry my backpack all day long....I probably would have bitched and complained about it and made it a huge deal, when really....it was fantastic! Yes, I was incredibly sore by the end of the day, yes my shoulders were killing me and my hips felt like they were full on bruised, but the important thing is....I did it. :)

Entrance area of the park. I was beyond excited to see color on the trees! 

Cordelia, Korben (from California), Me, Ram (from Sri Lanka)
It was a little cloudy/foggy out, so it's difficult to tell in some of these pictures just how amazing these Karst mountains were!

Something we had heard we might see in the park were monkeys. I myself, was very excited about this because I'd never seen monkeys in the wild before. So imagine my surprise and excitement when we were about 5 steps into the park and we saw about 10 monkeys scattered around! They were so cute!!! Even when they were stealing bags of food from people. :) Anyway...we kept seeing these monkeys all day long. I dealt with it by taking an obscene amount of pictures...Cordelia dealt with it by carrying around a stick to ward them off. ;)

I'm sorry...but how can you not fall at least a little bit in love with these faces??? :)

After our first, very full, day of hiking, we got on the last bus leaving the area of the park we were in...totally dark outside...and headed toward what we were hoping was our hostel. We figured if we didn't come across our place, we would just ride the bus into the village area and stay at the hostel our new friends were staying at. So as we got on the bus we showed the driver the address of our place, and about 5 minutes up the road, he stops the van in what looked like the middle of nowhere, told us to get out and pointed back in the direction we were supposed to go to. Our jaws both dropped a little because we thought he had to be mistaken! We were in the middle of nowhere! But he pointed again, so...on a leap of faith we got out! We walked up the road just a little bit and saw what looked like an old abandoned house, no outside lights, no signs, nothing. But we walked in thinking this was our only option. Lucky for us...it was our hostel! It was very very cold, not nice by any means...but it worked. However, at this point we were pretty much frozen. My feet were totally numb and our room was like an ice box. We paid the extra money necessary to make our heat work, and cranked it as high as we could. While we were letting our room warm up we stayed in the common area, met some people, ordered some extremely salty Chinese food that we waited a very long time for! We met a guy from Michigan who has been living in China for 6 years; he is fluent in Chinese and works in Taiwan as a translator. He and his friends were very nice and told us they had been waiting for their food for a long time as well, because they actually had to go out back and kill the chicken. Hmmm... I'm sure for a lot of people this is actually very normal... but it's very different then the world I grew up in.

So after our meal, we went back to our room and the only way I could warm my feet up was to run them under hot water....thank God the hot water was in fact hot! I got into bed still totally cold, wrapped in clothes head to foot including a scarf and we attempted to go to sleep on the rock hard "things" that were our beds. Let me just tell you, it felt awesome on my newly bruised hips. :( About halfway through the night it did warm up a little; we were able to move around in the cocoons we built for ourselves without letting in freezing cold air. The great part is, the next morning we realized...we left a very large window open all night long!!! Not our finest moment...but funny nonetheless. :)

The next day we got to leave our packs at the hostel....yay!!! And we met our friends for another full day of hiking and amazing views! Truly breathtaking and at times I really felt like I was on top of the world. The really great part about these mountains..is that they are extremely dimensional. That probably sounds stupid, but it's the best way I can think of to describe them! I always say to people at home, when you drive across the 205 bridge on a clear day and you can see Mt. Hood...I always want to stick my finger out and touch it because it's so insanely clear and crisp and when I look at it on these days...I can imagine exactly what it would feel like. These mountains kind of reminded me of that. Not covered in snow of course, but there was so much dimension and texture to them...it was insanely beautiful!

Our last day Cordelia and I traveled on our own just outside of the park, to Baofeng Lake. We went up many more stairs and at this point, every step we took up and especially down these stairs we were wincing and basically limping we were in so much pain! The pain might have even rivaled daily doubles during pre-season volleyball. Truly painful!

But of course, the lake did not disappoint and was absolutely beautiful! We were lucky; it was almost empty when we were there. We took a ride on a boat around the lake and we pretty much just sat and took it all in. So serene, peaceful and just beautiful. A great way to end an extremely amazing, exhausting, freezing and at times a little nasty...holiday. :)

Leaving the park on our last day...we were blessed with beautiful blue skies! 

         

Random Stuff and some pictures!

There's been many moments over the last few weeks where I've done something exciting, crazy, stupid...whatever! And each time I say to whoever I'm with, "Help me remember this! I want to put it in my blog!!!" Haha....well I'm on my own right now so I'll do my best!

The weekend after I got back from Vietnam I went to Shanghai with my friend Emma and we went to the finals match at the Shanghai Rolex Masters tennis tournament! Now...some of you may be thinking....why the hell did you go to a tennis tournament??? I know, tennis has never been part of my life but a few years I randomly turned on the TV and started watching Wimbledon and I pretty much fell in love right then and there! Every year I try and watch at least part of the tournament on TV and I was so excited to hear that the same players that made me fall in love with tennis, were going to be playing in Shanghai! 

Last year Emma and her husband Shan, were randomly in Shanghai for the weekend, heard about tickets to the finals of the same tournament and got great seats! Totally unexpected and random! So Emma and I thought...let's definitely go, but we'll wait to buy tickets to see if we could get great seats...cheap! Well...when we finally tried to purchase tickets online...of course they were sold out! So we decided to be adventurous and just give it a shot! So the day of the finals match, we went to Shangai....me, Emma and her newborn son Nadeem...and we made our way to the stadium. We were still in our taxi and of course we started to see scalpers selling tickets. One came up to our taxi and instead of being selective and waiting a bit more...we bought tickets from him! Haha...we had no idea what we were doing and we figured...why not? So...we bought our tickets and were totally excited! We get through the first gates which was a very pathetic excuse for security, and then to the next gate where they actually check your ticket. We knew something was wrong as soon as they started letting people go by us and they kept looking at our ticket...pointing at one spot specifically. At this point, we were not feeling optimistic. :( Finally they tell us...the tickets are no good. They're real tickets...but they were from the day before. They had used freakin permanent marker to change the 12th to the 13th. We were SO...VERY...SAD. :( However, the fact that we were 2 foreign women and a tiny little baby was about to work in our favor ;)  because one guy who worked there came up to us...apologized multiple times and said how sorry he was that this happened. He then helped us go back outside of the gates and buy legit tickets from scalpers. :) 

So eventually...we got into the stadium which was, by the way, the quietest stadium I have EVER been in. It was totally awesome though...I'm so glad I got to go! 

And now a few random pics! 

Me and my buddy Nadeem at a yummy Greek restaurant before going to watch tennis.
 Babies....piece of cake! ;) 

Emma and Nadeem at the tennis match. Nadeem was a
total all star! 

I got a legit Hermes scarf from a mom in my class. Her son is a bit of a "behavior" problem...and she appreciates how I'm trying to help him. Wow...definitely the most outrageous gift from a student's family. Sure...the colors might be a bit "loud" for my taste, but the thought behind it was extremely sweet. 

Roy and Sunny, really taking this whole measurement thing seriously. ;) 

Carl and Isobelle....this is so cute!!! 

Julie, a tiny little Korean girl, measuring Jesse...the tallest kid in class. 

So I'm heading to a bar downtown and I was lucky enough to get a picture of this!!! I know, it's not unheard of....but LOTS of people in my area do this with their dogs. So hilarious! 

Today, when I walked out of my building I saw this and thought to myself....this is VERY efficient! :) No gloves necessary! 

And here it is...my favorite picture from the last couple weeks. This was taken in an elevator in my friend's apartment building, but much to my surprise...one of the same signs showed up in my elevator just the other day! I was so happy because I'm sorry....it just makes me laugh!!! Enjoy! ;) 

One last thing....today Doug and I were doing some grocery shopping and on our way there, we stopped into a spa I'd seen before because I wanted to get a list of their services. It looked like a western-ish kind of spa, so I figured I'd be ok. The lady we spoke to first spoke no English, so she went to get someone who did. The new, English speaking girl came up front and attempted to answer our questions. It was a confusing couple of minutes to say the least, but the very best part was this: when Doug and I turned to walk out the front door, the girl who had been "helping" us walked back to all of her co-workers and they all started a round of applause for her!!!!! Haha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We couldn't believe it! 

Finally....Vietnam!

Clearly it's been a busy few weeks...trip to Vietnam and straight into 2 weeks of parent/teacher conferences at school. Conferences went really well...but I'm so glad they're done! 

Vietnam was a totally amazing experience and one I really never thought I'd have in my entire life....I think that's a big part of what makes it so great! We spent our first, very rushed night, in Ho Chi Minh City and then headed out the next morning for Dalat. We spent a couple of days in Dalat and then made our way to the beach town of Nha Trang where we spent 2 days. Then back to Ho Chi Minh for one last day before heading home.

Sadly I don't have much to share about Ho Chi Minh. I'm sure it's a great city, but we were so rushed the first night we were there, that we experienced very little. Then when we had our last day there we were so tired from our other travels that it was a very lame effort on our part, to explore the city.

Dalat and Nha Trang were both amazing for totally different reasons. Nha Trang was relaxing and warm, Dalat was an experience unlike any I've ever had. So glad I was able to experience them both. :)

Dalat is a small touristy town in the southern part of the central highlands of Vietnam. It was so lush and green with all kinds of vegetation and I was shocked to see so many flowers/plants that are native to the NW as well. Made me feel close to home in a way. :) The town itself was fine, nothing too terribly fantastic. It's pretty well known for some waterfalls that are a ways out of town...you need a ride to get to them. So we decided we would do one of the "easy rider" motorbike tours. When we talked to the guy running our hostel about finding the right people to tour with, we had no idea what we were in for! Mr. Rot, as it turns out, has his own "secret tour" he gives. He was an absolute riot explaining this to us. I wish I could convey with words, the personality this guy had...but sadly I cannot. He was so funny, a total practical joker which I'm not gonna lie...worried me a couple of times. ;) Anyway, we decided we would book his "secret tour" and see where it led. The next morning we met outside our hostel at 7am; Doug, Kayla and I, as well as a couple from Australia. We each had our own motorbike driver....I may be biased but I think I got the best girl. :) She sang or hummed  a lot of the ride and she was also very funny....also enjoyed the practical jokes. I never found out her actual name but Mr. Rot referred to her as "my sister" although she was not his sister. I don't know! :)

 

Me and "My Sister" 

Anyway, we started our tour, heading up into the mountains and the views were absolutely amazing! Pine trees as far as you could see, the freshest air I'd breathed in awhile...it was amazingly peaceful. He took us first to small village market that was pretty unreal. Here I tried two things I never in a thousand million trillion years thought I would EVER try! Fried crickets and pork blood!!!!

I deliberated about which one to choose for probably
a good 2 minutes. My hand would get close and then
I would jerk it away. I couldn't help it! 

First the fried crickets....wow! I just have to say, choosing a cricket to touch (and eat) was by far the worst part! I have no idea why, but I had this feeling that as soon as I touched it, it was going to jump, bite me...whatever! Completely ridiculous, I know, but that's me! Anyway, once I picked "the one", I dipped it in a little chili sauce which was a nice touch, and ate it! The taste was nothing really, the texture reminded me of popcorn....just kind of a puff of air. It actually wasn't that bad....I just had to make sure I didn't look in it's eyes as I took the bite. :(





Next we strolled through the rest of the food...some nice fresh fruits and veggies that looked and tasted great! Also...a WIDE variety of animal parts. I would say "meat" but I'm not sure that's a fair assessment of what was really there. ;) The picture to the left is just to give you a small idea as to what one might be able to find at this particular market. :) We were told that it is not at all uncommon for people to eat their dogs after a few years of having them as a pet. Mr. Rot said that they love them as their pets, but then they eat them. There were also some kittens for sale...not as pets. :( It was really shocking and awful to see/hear but....it's a different culture, different beliefs so I guess...to each his own? I just know, I won't be adopting any of these beliefs in the foreseeable future.

On the far left is the pork blood I ate. :( Since trying this I have learned it's pretty normal to eat in lots of places but I have to tell you....I did not care for it! The really funny part however, is that as I was lifting the congealed piece of blood to my mouth I saw a hair stuck in it! THAT was what freaked me out!!! Haha! I did manage to keep it down, but barely!!!

 After the first village we went to another village that was hands down the coolest part of the trip! It was the village Mr. Rot grew up in. We had lunch at his family's house where his sister who I believe is/was a monk (can women be monks???) prepared lunch for us. 

On our walk through the "neighborhood"...this was different. 

After lunch, Mr. Rot took us for a walk to a neighbor's home so we could get a chance to mingle with the locals. We weren't allowed to take photos in the actual village area where people live, but I have to tell you, it was unlike anything I'd ever seen or experienced. We came to what looked like an old shack that would house wood or tools or something like that. Standing in the doorway area were 5 or 6 women who looked old and haggard...like they'd had a very hard life. As soon as Mr. Rot began talking to them wow...the personality that came out of these women was amazing! This is when I started to think the Vietnamese were the funniest and most charismatic people I've met! Most of these women had maybe 5 teeth, wore no shoes and looked like they were 50 years old (a very rough 50 years old) at best. The oldest woman I was sure was in her mid-late 80's....I later learned she was 68. She was the mother of several of the other women and they very kindly invited us into their home and chatted with us for over an hour. We sat around on wooden benches, while they sat on the dirt floor. The room in it's entirety was about 10' x 15' and about 1/2 way through our visit with these women...I noticed a chicken just chillin on a pile of stuff right behind us. Ha! It was dark in the room...no electricity of course, and their left over lunch was still cooking on the tiny fire in the home. 

During our visit with these ladies, we learned about some of their customs such as how and when they get married. In this particular Vietnamese culture, which unfortunately I can't remember the name of, the women have to pay for a husband with money, livestock, whatever it may be. If you have a lot of daughters and don't have a lot of money, like this particular family, then not every daughter has the opportunity to marry. Out of the 3 sisters that were there with us that day, the older two forgo-ed getting married so their younger sister could get married. Their younger sister got married when she was 10 years old and had her first baby when she was 13! I really wanted to know how old her husband was...but no one asked that question. Anyway....we got to see the oldest woman take a dried piece of cotton, straight from the bud....roll it out....and then use a wheel to spin it and make thread. Right in front of our eyes! It was amazing because this "machine" she used was old old old and she used it so effortlessly. Such a different world than I'm used to. And I have to be honest, I found myself feeling bad for these women several times and then I realized...why? They seem happy! They don't know any differently! They're lives aren't tainted by material things. In a small way....I was jealous of them! 

After leaving this village we made our way to the Elephant Waterfall, which is what Dalat seems to be best known for. It was a beautiful hike down to the waterfall and despite the fact that the water was nasty brown...it was still really beautiful.

We're getting totally soaked in this picture! 

View from the roof deck of our hostel, where we had breakfast. 

After Dalat was Nha Trang which was a totally different kind of vacation spot! It was a tiny little beach town with beautiful beaches, delicious drinks and an ample amount of sun! We were so lucky, the weather was perfect! We had about a day and a half in Nha Trang and mostly our time was spent at the beach getting a tan, or eating delicious food and really fabulous dessert! The town was pretty much full of either beach bums or Russian tourists! :) Haha...that part really surprised me! Anyway, this was a great way to end our trip...nice and relaxing (minus the pretty significant sun burn I ended up with). 

Pretty much my favorite thing to do at the beach...read a good book. 

 We woke up at 4:00 the day we were leaving so we could get to the beach and watch the sunrise. It was a little cloudier than we would have liked...but it was still absolutely beautiful.

Mid Autumn Festival Weekend

This weekend was great for many reasons....but I have to say my number 1 reason is this: this weekend was our first holiday from school and after this they just keep coming!!!!!!! Incredibly selfish I know...but it is my truth. :)

So the Mid Autumn Festival is a Chinese holiday; other times I'd heard it referred to as the Moon Festival. I know there was a full moon during the festival but other than that, I have no idea what the holiday is about. :( Pathetic as it may be, my research into this holiday ended when I asked my two TA's what the holiday is about and they didn't seem to know either...haha! They're adorable and very funny....oh and I forgot to mention they are Chinese! So I don't feel quite as bad NOT knowing about this seemingly not so important holiday. I do know that during this holiday the big food to eat is called a "moon cake". I did have a parent buy me 2 tins of these things and I thought....when in Rome. So I tried one....and only one. :( The cake part is not bad at all, but inside is chunks of who knows what! I think the one I ate had fruit in it, but apparently they can have pretty much anything in them. Fruit, cheese, meat, vegetables, etc. I'm sorry but I'm not tempted enough to find out. These moon cakes however, are not cheap. So I thought I'd give them to someone who would appreciate them. :) The cleaning ladies in my building work ALL THE TIME so on my way to school one morning....I delivered them a little present. Not a waste after all!

This guy was a true performer! At one point he grabbed the mic
from the stand and threw the stand behind him. Hilarious! 

A lot of people from school went out of town this weekend...myself included. But before leaving, I managed to check out the Taihu Music Festival at the lake/park near my house. I went with my friend Doug and we had a blast! It was definitely an experience where I felt like I was really immersed in Chinese culture. That being said, this culture was not the traditional Chinese culture, but more the culture of young Chinese people. :) The amphitheater where the festival was held was large and very cool and the Chinese people liked to rock! The two bands we saw were both great! The 2nd one, which we later found out is a pretty famous band in China called Black Leopard, was extremely entertaining! We found it really funny because what we would have considered pretty much 80's rock, these young people were all about! I have no clue if this is typical, but when you consider what China has evolved from...who knows!




This is the only show I've ever been to where I didn't understand a word that was spoken except the title of the last song..."Don't Break My Heart".

It was awesome! :)

The morning after the festival we headed to Shanghai for 2 days. I honestly cannot imagine staying longer than that...I was EXHAUSTED!!!!!!!!! We did manage to fit a lot in, especially on Saturday. So, I suppose the exhaustion was worth it. :) Doug and I stayed in a hostel; I hadn't done that since college and it was great. I especially loved hanging my towel and dry clothes in the tiny shower with me. That way I knew they would be clean (and dry) when I was done. :( No...really it was totally fine, but I might write a letter to the hostel suggesting a small little alcove in which you can place things you'd like to stay dry, whilst showering. :)

We had 2 Chinese guys in our room; they showed up sometime  in the middle of the night. But when we walked in the room at the end of the day we were greeted by a Spanish guy sitting on someone else's bed in very tight undies. :) His wife was in the shower and when she came in wearing nothing but her towel, she looked surprised to see us! :) After that though, she went and put on a T-shirt and underwear...that was it! So there they both were, in their underwear, packing stuff up getting ready for their flight early the next morning. :) Haha...they were really nice but it was a different experience for me. Traveling really teaches you a lot about being open-minded and tolerant of differences among cultures. Just because it's weird to me, does NOT mean it's weird.

I did have a first happen on this trip that I could have done without. However, now having "experienced" it, I feel like I really live in China. :) I may have mentioned children not wearing diapers/underwear, etc. and that they pee on the street, on the sidewalk, in the bushes...apparently on the ground in the grocery store!!! Yuck! On this trip though, while walking through an incredibly busy metro station, we were fortunate enough to see a small child, probably 2 or 3...poo on the ground in the metro station. You can't recover from that people!!!!

Anyway...here are some pictures from the trip. We did take a bus tour of the city which was pretty awesome actually. A lot of great pictures passed me by, but it was nice to see an overview of the city, and you could hop on and hop off as you pleased. So when we found a place we wanted to explore...we did!

This picture was taken from the bus tour and I thought perfectly depicted the essence of Shanghai...East meets West. If you look closely you can see an H&M on the corner of a building on the right. :) 

We got off the bus and stumbled upon an old park that was filled with mostly old men, sitting around tables playing games! Some were card games, some were games with tile type things that kind of looked like a version of checkers. They just played and smoked and played and smoked. It was pretty great!

 This picture was taken in a place I will definitely go back to! It's in the French Concession; a very nice area of Shanghai that has loads of good places to eat delicious food. This street was very inviting to me! We didn't stop, but sometime I will go sit here with a bottle of wine and a book and I will either read, but more likely, I will people watch! The perfect place to do it!

 A couple of pictures of The Bund at night. It was cloudy, but I think that made these pictures even more cool! It was very pretty and again...great place to people watch. :) 

One more that I took with my phone. I love this panorama feature it's got! It's ONE redeeming quality!!! :)

After all the lovely pictures I thought I should throw this one in there too. :) This was on our way back to our hostel...really close in fact. And this....is the reality of China. You see this kind of stuff happen a lot! And during this trip I noticed something else. Even in the "nicest" places that are made for tourists, etc. stuff falls apart so quickly! Doug and I were walking in Pudong (the newer part of the city) on a sidewalk made of nice slate-looking pavers and I noticed...a bunch of them were moving when we walked on them! In fact, that happens a lot! Big tiles, bricks, etc....they look nice, but after being there no more than 10 years for sure...they are falling apart! Kind of reminds me of my lovely bicycle. :)  

Anyway....one week of school and then I'm off to Vietnam. I'm so excited! Just 5 school days to get through...I can do it!!!. :)

Peace out...

Another long week...but a very nice and relaxing weekend which was just what I needed! I thought about today's blog this morning and felt like I was going to have very little to share about. It hit me today though...if I ever feel like I don't have something to write about I need to step outside, take a walk, sit and people watch....whatever it may be. Because I will always find something interesting, crazy...whatever!

Today was a great day for just that. I went to the park with some friends from school; the bike ride was perfect, the park was lovely, the people were interesting. :) Like I mentioned before, I feel like my adjustment to China has been relatively easy however there is one thing that really grosses me out...over and over and over. The men clearing their throat repeatedly and then spitting. I can't even write in words how gross it is, but it happens all the time, everywhere. Even indoors, which is really nasty.

Anyway, today while we were at the park, a few of us went to the dock where all the Chinese people were going swimming. I put my legs in the water; I'll let you know if I end up with some kind of skin infection/disease. :) We kept hearing this compulsive throat clearing and spitting, and it was really nasty. But then something even nastier happened. This man was walking around, in his speedo, because that's what all the men were doing...very proud they were!!! So this guy is walking and he's about 6 feet from my friend Doug when he lifts his hand and there's an electric razor in it. He proceeds to shave his head, right there on the dock with the first batch of freshly cut locks landing about 3 feet from Doug. I'm sorry...but that's really gross!!!

It's not all gross stuff that you see though...thankfully. :) There was an adorable little white dog with it's owners....made me miss my Maggie a lot! It was so so cute and loved to swim in the lake, even though it was so little. Made me smile. :) And as we were sitting on our blanket, enjoying our picnic, a mom and her daughter walked up to us and the mom tried to talk her daughter into practicing her English with us. It happens a lot actually. Usually the kid is embarrassed, but the parents are all about it. I'm betting that for the parent, it's a way to show off, which is really flattering if you think about it.

A few random things from the week: I found out my old man neighbor that I'm so fond of is a professor of literature at the university near my school. We text frequently...it's pretty awesome. At the pub crawl I went to last weekend I got asked to be in a movie! Haha....pretty hilarious stuff, especially considering that the woman who is looking for "foreign women" for her movie, goes by the name Candy. Hmm....not too sure about this one. I might have to wait a little longer for my big break. I randomly had dinner with parents of some of my students twice this week. At first I thought it was strange to sit down and have a beer or glass of wine with them....at home it wouldn't typically go over so well....but here, no big deal! Kinda cool actually. I also was introduced to a little hole in the wall noodle place really close to my house this week. Extremely yummy beef noodle soup with freshly made noodles, good beef and cilantro! Yummm!!The serving is more than two meals worth for me and the cost....a whopping 7 quay which is $1.14. :) Cannot complain!

Lastly, I finally got a decent video of the women who "dance" outside my building on pretty much a nightly basis. I'm curious what happens during the winter. It's really entertaining, and maybe someday I'll join in. ;) But I've been wanting to get a good photo or video and tonight the opportunity presented itself.

This coming weekend is the Moon Festival here in China and lucky for me, that means I have a 3 day work week! Thursday I'm heading to an outdoor music festival in the park with who knows what kind of music...but it should be fun. Then Friday I'm off to Shanghai for the night! One week of school after that and then it's time for Vietnam. Time is flying!!!!

One of the guys working at the noodle restaurant took my phone in the back for me and got a couple of up close pictures of the guy who was making our noodles. It was so awesome! Kind of hard to see clearly, because it was an action shot, but you get the point. ;)

Doug, Cordelia, Daniela #2 and I enjoying a picnic at the park! 

Cordelia, Daniela #2, Daniela #1 and Doug. Behind them you can see all the vegetation in the water. We saw several people wading in the water to pick it. No clue why!!! We were hoping not for food, but one thing I've learned while in China, when it's comes to food.....anything is fair game! You learn to be very selective...or very sick. :)

This was a little earlier on in the day. The dock really filled up. I'm sorry to disappoint, but I did not get any close ups of the guys in speedos. :( 

I did get a close up of this adorable little pooch. :) I really wanted to go cuddle it for a bit, but I resisted. Didn't want them to think I was a "crazy westerner".











Doug and Cordlia sitting on the dock. I think this was before the hair cut occurred. That would have been an awesomely disgusting picture!!!

These guys showed up on the table in front of me while I was eating with the parents from my school. I tried to not look too terribly disgusted, however I did take a picture. I think I gave myself away! The good news is...they were pretty grossed out too. It's the teeth that really get me. Well....the eyes too. No me gusta. :( 

The Chinese....not extremely safety conscious!

Here they are...in all their glory! I literally walked right outside the gate of my courtyard and this is what I happened upon. Pretty cool! Enjoy :)