Inaction

By my last post, I apparently meant "Back in INaction" hahaha oh well, i am writing this while I am finishing up my time in England. I should actually be writing my dissertation as I type because it is due in 4 days!! eeeks. But i work best under-pressure.... frantically taping away the night before something is due haha I think my brain and my thoughts are more fluid :D I am back home, in the States, in 1.5 weeks. So excited to see my family and friends after 10 months away.

I will write again soon. I promise. Maybe.

Back in Action

It feels like my month spent back home in the States never happened. That 'vacation' flew by so quickly that I am not 100% sure it actually occurred. Being sick a majority of the time did not help as I probably was unable to enjoy it as much as could have... oh well.

Now I am back in the UK finishing up my final term of classes before I begin work on my dissertation (yeah, i have no clue what i am doing THAT on yet hahah). Also, this term I am going to be completing an internship which will hopefully get me some kind of experience in my field. I shall keep you all posted on my progress to obtain my masters degree... and any other adventures I might have along the way!

Long Overdue...

It has been some time since I last posted, but it is a new year with many more adventures! To be continued ...

The only one for me is you, and you for me- HAPPY TOGETHER!

A phenomena I have seen while on my many adventures around Tianjin, is people dressing alike. At first I thought they were siblings- after all, many an Armstrong vacation was spent in matching outfits (anyone else remember the american flag shorts we all had to wear?!). In all fairness, my parents had to wrangle 4 kids around Disney World and it was a safety precaution. In case one of us got lost they could tell security, "she is wearing what the rest are wearing." There was no need for them to memorize what each of their four kids had on. So what was going on here in China then? There are no theme parks here and these people are young adults, not children. Well, they are in love...

It is VERY common to dress in the same clothing as your boyfriend/girlfriend. I guess this is a way of claiming each other as "MINE"...animals might pee on things to mark their territory, people here just dress the same (probably more sanitary). Below are some examples:

Matching Stripes!

... you would have to be in love to wear matching pink polos

please notice the boy is wearing lavender, carrying the purse, and the umbrella... I am impressed.

"Just for funny"

The above quote is compliments of one of my fellow foreign teachers (I will not name names haha:) When she said this on the subway, I died laughing because this happens ALL the time for us. After living in another country so long you find you are unable to speak the English language correctly and start picking up phrases never used in the west.

I have now developed a tendency to use phrases such as: "what a pity", "make friends", "so-so", and "that is all" (this last phrase you just put at the end of everything you say). Not only have phrases I never would say in the west started popping up in my lexicon, but also pronunciation difficulties have started to arise. I now include an extra syllable for words ending in -es and -ed (ex: He wore many cloth-es while walking down the different path-es... or saying "Thank-id" not Thanked).

It is very amusing and we laugh constantly at our many gaffes. However, I am heading to grad school in the fall and have to begin sounding intelligent again. Therefore, if you hear me say anything incorrectly when I get back to the States, PLEASE correct me...and THAT IS ALL!

yea, that is right, I'm eating birthday cake with chopsticks...

Nearing the End

I am nearing the end of my time here in China and I am actually getting really sad to be leaving. I truly enjoy teaching these students- they are anxious learners and it is so rewarding to see them improve their English skills. However, I am excited to get back to many western perks- toilets, thinking outside the box, and food with less oil.

I find with my last 40-odd days I have left, that I am trying to experience as much as possible and just get out and enjoy living in a foreign country. I still feel like there is so much more I want to see and do. Having a deadline/leave date makes it so I try and accomplish these goals.

Originally I had planned to head to Tibet for my last week in China, but unfortunately I can not afford it (grad school is beckoning). Oh well, one of my former students invited me to her hometown in Xi'an- home of the terracotta warriors! That is a pretty nice consolation prize. The only reason I am not truly saddened is because I KNOW I will come back to China/Tibet.

Carpe Diem, my fellow readers, and seize the carp! ("out cold" movie reference haha)

Shameless Flirt... The Art of Bargaining

My mother, Tootles, came to visit during the Easter holiday. It was an amazing trip and I was able to see some new parts of China- Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou. For my mom, it was a stress free trip since I handled all the reservations, flights, money, and bargaining.

Understanding the Art of Bargaining is essential to living in China because there are no set prices on any goods. This can be VERY frustrating because once the merchants see your white face coming, the prices go up... way up!

It is important to realize three things:
1) Never appear too interested in something. You have to be willing to give up if the seller does not match the price you think it is worth
2) it is always WORTH less than you think it is (this is china... land of fakes and cheap labor)
3) the seller would never sell you something unless they are making a profit- they often try and tell you that you are getting it for less than they paid for it hahah yeah right

Once you understand those three facts, then comes the fun part of using your charm. My mother witnessed firsthand my shameless tactics... I FLIRT! Yep, I bat my eyelashes and look sad and say I can not afford what they ask because I am a poor teacher. Basically, I make a fool out of myself and the merchants love it... therefore giving me a large discount. I managed to get a table runner for my mother that originally was 180rmb down to 30rmb. Also, some "Rolex" watches that were originally 100rmb each instead managed to bargain and get them 2 for 40rmb. The rolex showdown was with a woman, so instead of flirting, a lot of arm waving around worked best.

Tootles was shocked by my behavior but it got her what she wanted- great wall t-shirt, rolex watch, and a panda bookmark. Plus, she couldn't stop laughing.

Cleanliness is Next to Godliness

I know I have joked around before about kids pooping in the street and a lot of other unhygienic things going on in China, but it was never as apparent as when we made a trip to the hospital. Like I mentioned in previous posts, I was sick and then Abbie got sick. Well, Abbie ended up having a REALLY bad stomach issue and only 5 days after my trip to the infirmary. I was still very sore and occasionally having bouts of a fever and bad headaches, so I had just taken a medication to help me get some sleep. Two hours later I was awoken by a text and a bang on my door. Abbie was crouched over in pain and saying she had to go to the doctors- it was 1:20 am. I was so disoriented because I was on medication and was out of it, but I called Howard and tried to relay the message. Since I woke him from his sleep (and he is a new father), he too was as disoriented as I was. He came to our rooms by 2am and we all headed off to the Hospital. Abbie was in excruciating pain and said it felt like someone had shot her in the stomach. We get to the hospital and see a nurse in a white cap who pokes at Abbie's stomach once (the only examination she receives) and says she should get an injection to stop the spasming. The 3 of us head off to the one room, where we are greeted by the site of trash on the ground and a man who looks like he is severely burned being stitched up. In the back corner, the nurse needs to give Abbie her shot. We are all standing like we are about to play 4-square with only about 2 feet in-between each of us and a small curtain separating Howard and Abbie. The nurse tells Howard in Chinese what needs to be done. Howard then awkwardly looks at his feet and starts shuffling around and whispers to me "Abbie needs to pull her pants down, it has to go here ::points to butt::" I then peak around the curtain at Abbie and say "it's going in your ass"... even though she could totally hear what Howard said hahaha

Unfortunately, as time ticked on that drug did not work. We ended up staying on to see if maybe an IV might help. Somewhere by the time of Abbie's first exam and us waiting for the first drug to take effect, we acquired a friend we christened "Clarence" after the guardian angel in "It's A Wonderful Life." Clarence, basically watched over us and stood near us and pointed to places we needed to go inside the hospital. He followed us to the IV area- over 40 beds crammed into one room- and looked at the drugs being used and predicted how long they would take to work... have I mentioned that he does NOT work for the hospital?! Yep, he was just hanging out. When we each grabbed a bed (it was 3:30 am at the point and I was still on some strong meds), he took one across from us just to watch. Clarence wore a suit jacket and timberland shoes and just lounged in the bed. I secretly tried taking pictures and this is the best I could get of him:

While we were waiting for Abbie's IVs to finish, the 'burn' victim I previously mentioned was wheeled into the room. It turns out he wasn't burned but was hit by a car that then left the scene. Luckily, he had some great friends who took turns helping him out. It was just so hard to sit there next to this guy who I felt needed better care plus some place clean and sterile. Chinese hospitals look like they are straight out of the 1950s- including nurses with white dresses and CAPS! The only people who actually wore gloves were the cleaning crew and it did not look like proper disinfectant was used.

Clarence had left us at 6am, and we were saddened by his departure. However, only an hour later he reappeared wearing a hoodie that said "HOT" on it, changed into jeans and was now wearing white sneakers. He also was carrying a sack with 4 buns in it and his hair had been combed. We still are not sure if he lives at/near the hospital or why he was watching over us. He did come over to us and offer us one of the buns- we declined. Thinking back on it, I wish I would've had one because I think he intentionally bought them for us. We appreciated how he made a grim situation seem comical.

Thankfully, the IVs worked for Abbie and we were able to leave the hospital by 8am. I know the hospital might have been 'unclean' by our standards, but she had spent 6 hours there and had multiple drug treatments all for less than $20 USD... pretty amazing when you think about that 'burn/crash' victim earlier who probably will get treated and taken care of to the best of the hospital's ability and still be able to afford it. Maybe Clarence will keep an eye on him, guardian angel for the infirmed and the foreign.

Gifts for the Infirmed

As mentioned in the last post, I was sick and running a fever earlier in March. The next day, Abbie ended up coming down with a stomach virus of some kind and she too had to cancel classes. As a result, people were dropping by our rooms giving us bags and bags of fruit.

In the west, chicken soup. In the east, fruit (apples, bananas,... and this weird grapefruit-y thing):

From Beijing to Burning Up

After the first week of school in March, Abbie and I made a trip to Beijing for the weekend. We decided to take the subway to our friends place... what were we thinking taking the subway IN China AT rush hour ON a Friday?!? Needless to say, we were crammed into there like sardines (you often hear this expression, but this might actually be the first time I TRULY experienced it). A man behind me had a box by his feet and therefore when more people poured onto the subway pushing me back farther, I ended up being bent over backwards and not standing upright. PLUS, someone was using my messenger bag as support to keep them upright bending me farther back. I was awkwardly holding on to Abbie's pants so that I would not fall back completely or get trampled. Oh and have I mentioned before that I am somewhat claustrophobic?!? My heart was racing so fast, I honestly think I was having a panic attack.

By the time we finally made it to our destination, I was jittery and so incredibly sore. That whole weekend I ended up not feeling well and just felt drained. Finally when we got home Sunday night, I was just physically exhausted and spent. Slowly as the week progressed, my symptoms got worse and by Wednesday it hurt to move any part of my body. I went to class Wednesday morning and did not even have enough energy to stand. When my second class ended, I knew I could not do the next period and it had to be canceled. The walk from my classroom to my bedroom normally takes 12 minutes... it took me 25 minutes to get back, I was moving so slow. I passed out and by the time I awoke, I was feverish. My temperature was over 38*C and if we ever have a fever we have to call our liaison officer, Howard. He ended up coming to my room and taking me to the doctor. I was really nervous, so Abbie came with me for company. The doctor said if my temperature was over 38*C I would have to go to the hospital. She takes my temperature (under my armpit- THANK GOD) and it turns out to be 38.3*C... she decides instead of me going to the hospital I should take this effervescent type stuff and drink hot water. Let me tell you something, when you are BURNING UP the last thing you want to do is drink HOT water! So when I was taken back to my room, I opt for a COLD shower and western drugs... my temperature drops.

A new post...FINALLY!

I have been a little behind in posting- my apologies (ann). A lot has been going on this past month and I have lacked the energy to think of anything to write about. I am going to break down the events of the past month into a couple of blog posts in order to cover all the different highlights haha

Last month, Abbie arrived from the U.S to join me in teaching at the University here. She is the latest foreigner to grace the city of Tianjin (and I am glad another young lady joined the teaching staff so we are not as outnumbered hehe). I think she is handling herself well and is adapting to the culture change. We have been pretty busy exploring the city and traveling around- actually headed to Beijing in the beginning of the month (more on that in another post).

My students this term are as lovely as ever. In an interesting twist, I was given graduate students to teach this term. I love how this university feels that I am qualified to teach the graduate level students...definitely putting that on my resume!! One of the best things about teaching here another term is that I can re-do my lesson plans and create even more exciting activities and discussions for class ((if only I did not have student loans, I would totally love this as a permanent profession)).

When I was back in the States for the holiday, I went to my mother's school and had her 13 year old students ask a questions for my chinese students to answer. Some questions included: "What is the one child policy about?" "Do you eat dog?" "Where do you like to shop?" etc... I loved the 'eat dog' question, because it is something you assume about China. My students are currently in the process of creating a video response that I will send back with my mother for her students to watch. The chinese students LOVE this direct question and answer session lesson plan, because they actually get to 'converse' with foreigners in a way... this gives them the opportunity to ask the all important question about american culture- "Is life like the 'Gossip Girls'?!?"

China doesn't have plows...it has people

It snowed last night in Tianjin, the evening before classes were set to begin. As I was showing Abbie around the campus today, I kept seeing well dressed people dragging shovels behind them as they walked down the main street on the school's property. Finally we ran into someone we knew and asked where everyone was off to-- Apparently the teachers and faculty had to all grab a shovel and help with the clearing of the snow! (I do not think that would go over too well back in the states) No need for machine power when you can use MAN power.

Exploring Tianjin

Well, 2 weeks ago I started to feel a bit homesick. This was mainly because of some issues with the foreign language department that made me angry. How they deal with things over here is SO different then how things are done in the States that it can be very frustrating- 3 hour lunch breaks, issues not dealt with quickly enough (from my perspective) or brushed aside, etc. This all just puts you in a negative frame of mind which definitely is NOT they way to live in a foreign country because you start looking at everything negatively. At this point, I stumbled across a book, "Survival Kit for Overseas Living", in our office (which is currently 'under construction'...one of those previously mentioned issues haha). The book looks horribly outdated and full of pretty pointless graphs. However, it did have some useful advice for getting through those bouts of homesickness.

One of the suggestions in the book, was exploring your environment. Yes, I have lived in Tianjin for over 3 months, but a lot of it I have yet to see. One of the main tourist attractions is Ancient Culture street and I have never even been there. It is a shopping area filled with the typical chinese goods from all different types of minority groups. I went here with one of my students, who is pretty good with her oral english so it is easy to carry on a conversation with her (it is nice to actually be able to joke with a chinese person and they understand your sense of humor etc). We were able to do a bit of holiday shopping and Rosa was incredibly helpful because she was able to bargain with the shop keepers (whitey alert: raise the prices!). Therefore, I was not totally ripped off thankfully. It truly was a wonderful shopping day and totally helped me get over my little bit of homesickness (darn holiday season gets you every time).
Me throwing up the "V for Victor" sign like all my students do haha

My student, Rosa, rubbing the foot which brings 'good fortune'

All about FACE

By now I should come to expect/accept the cultural differences that I encounter on a daily basis...but there is just one thing I can not accept is the lack of responsibility I see here. Let me explain:

The foreign teachers have been having some issues with some customs students who are living in the same hotel as us. I had one try and enter my room and a drunk customs student tried picking a fight with another teacher. Needless to say, we complained. We were told by the International Office that they would take care of the problem etc etc. On both accounts, the chinese customs students lied. They told me that the guy made a mistake about trying to enter my room and that I was 'blowing it out of proportion'(next time you are in a strange country and a guy is entering your room, you let me know if you are frightened by it or not). And in regards to the drunk student picking a fight, that it was actually the foreign teacher who was the aggressor...WRONG!

Instead of taking responsibility for their actions, you often have people over here try and blame someone else or pass the buck. It often works out to their advantage, because their are so many layers of people you have to jump though that you can actually do this. Also, the whole concept of "saving face" means you never admit to being wrong. THAT IS SO FRUSTRATING to me because I think one of the greatest aspects of a civilized culture is the ability to admit your mistakes and realize what you have done wrong SO THAT YOU CAN GROW FROM IT.

So just in case you ever encounter a giant, fat customs official when traveling in China and he obviously has a dislike for foreigners (and his favorite swear words are 'f*** your mother' in both English AND Chinese)...you will know it is our fine friend who tried attacking one of the teachers.

P.S- Because of these incidents, the customs students have been removed from our floors... but they have now told everyone that it is our fault for both occurrences. Let's just keep shifting the blame and changing the stories- ARGHHH

Adverts

This past week I had the students create their own commercial. Their only goal was to try and sell the audience something they thought was needed. It had to have been one of the best assignments I have done because it was asking them to be creative. You can tell they LOVE this kind of stuff...probably because they do not get to be imaginative in their other classes. The products ranged from miracle weight loss to being able to eat your books and that is how you would learn the material. I loved what they had to show me and I am definitely doing something like this again next term (maybe have them script out their own comedy??).

Exploring Tianjin

Well, 2 weeks ago I started to feel a bit homesick. This was mainly because of some issues with the foreign language department that made me angry. How they deal with things over here is SO different then how things are done in the States that it can be very frustrating- 3 hour lunch breaks, issues not dealt with quickly enough (from my perspective) or brushed aside, etc. This all just puts you in a negative frame of mind which definitely is NOT they way to live in a foreign country because you start looking at everything negatively. At this point, I stumbled across a book, "Survival Kit for Overseas Living", in our office (which is currently 'under construction'...one of those previously mentioned issues haha). The book looks horribly outdated and full of pointless graphs. However, it did have some useful advice for getting through those bouts of homesickness.
Told you the book looked ugly haha Random find in our torn up office:


One of the suggestions in the book, was exploring your environment. Yes, I have lived in Tianjin for over 3 months, but a lot of it I have yet to see. One of the main tourist attractions is Ancient Culture street and I have never even been there. It is a shopping area filled with the typical chinese goods from all different types of minority groups. I went here with one of my students, who is pretty good with her oral english so it is easy to carry on a conversation with her (it is nice to actually be able to joke with a chinese person and they understand your sense of humor etc). We were able to do a bit of holiday shopping and Rosa was incredibly helpful because she was able to bargain with the shop keepers (whitey alert: raise the prices!). Therefore, I was not totally ripped off thankfully. It truly was a wonderful shopping day and totally helped me get over my little bit of homesickness (darn holiday season gets you every time).
Me throwing up the "V for Victor" sign like all my students do haha

My student, Rosa, rubbing the foot which brings 'good fortune'

Halloween = a big "HUH?!"

It is interesting being the ambassador for something as awesome as Halloween. Trying to teach my students about the importance of a holiday- where girls have an excuse to dress up in skimpy outfits, you get to demand candy or else foul play will be involved, and general weirdness is acceptable- is hard work.

I started by teaching them Halloween vocab such as Vampire, Goblin, Jack-a-Latern etc. This led to one of my students asking why I was teaching them something that they do not know about. It was so hard for me to not go- "Duh?! Isn't teaching you NEW things what a Teacher is supposed to do?" However, I refrained and explained the cultural importance of Halloween, its history, economic impact etc. Once I pointed out that everything you get for Halloween is 'made in china' and that if the west stopped celebrating this weird holiday then china would loose a lot of money, they finally understood its importance.

I also subjected myself to watching "Hocus Pocus" 10 times and now have that movie completely memorized. This was a children's movie, yet they still found it difficult to follow the plot line and I had to do a summary of events haha It did manage to frighten a few students (especially when SJP jumps out from under the bed). When my English classes were leaving, I made them say "trick-or-treat" if they wanted to get the candy I brought with me to hand out. I told them that they had to say the magic words and their response was 'teacher can I please have candy' after I told them like 7 times that the magic words were 'trick-or-treat'... I do not think they really listen to me hahah oh well

For my non-major students, I joined with another foreign teacher and created a mini haunted house. I blacked out all the windows, had toilet paper draped over the doors and walls, tea lights lite up around on tables, and a fog machine going. It was pretty awesome room considering what we had to work with and not being able to find Halloween stuff in China. (You might be wondering where the fog machine came from but that was a random find in one of the offices that I had made. Apparently a past foreign teacher also taught Halloween because we also found a huge bag of costumes and a big hairy spider to put on the wall) We bought apples and I made caramel sauce for the students to eat. I also made 'sensory boxes'- you take a shoe box and put something in it and without looking the student has to feel what is in there. I had brains (noodles) and eyeballs (grapes) which freaked out the students sufficiently.

We also made the students play the "Mummy Wrap" game. I divided them up into teams and handed them each a roll of toilet paper. Before I even explained the rules of the game, they were already cheating and wrapping up their person. I told them to stop and roll the paper back up because we were all going to start at the same time, but they would not listen. Jim (the other teacher) and I had to go around to each group and roll the paper back up and tell them DO NOT START UNTIL I SAY TO. It was so funny though because once they started they really got into it.

Of course, after this was all over everyone wanted their pictures taken with the witch (that is me hah). I posed for 20 mins taking pictures with my students. They found the whole thing pretty cool even if they had a big 'huh?!' face the entire time... perhaps that was their attempt at a costume ?!?

A little taste of home...

One of my closest friends from the States visited this past weekend. It was SO wonderful to see her and experience some good ole' western logic. The things you miss when living over here seem so peculiar-- but it was so refreshing having someone who understands your sense of humor and how you think, come to this county and see what you see every day.

My friend Abbie and her friend Leah came to China for a one week whirl-wind tour. They arrived off the plane at 10pm on Saturday, where I promptly greeted them in their hotel lobby for a night out in Beijing. Nothing quite like getting off a 14 hr plane flight and then being subjected to the Chinese nightlife. But I say instant immersion into insanity is the best way to rip that 'sissy western ideals' bandage right off! HAHA That night was so hilarious- Abbie nearly got engaged 3 times, I was forced to prop-up an Asian man named "Alan" while his friend chased down a street kid who stole 100 yuan, we all danced in a style that was a cross between eastern european techno and bizarro chinese fusion HAHA All in all, it was a fabulous night. Since it was after 3 am when we devoured our street cart hotdogs (these hotdogs are delicious and are all beef(i hope)) we decided it was time to head home. Abbie and Leah did have to be on the bus 3 hours later to begin their 'cultural' tour of china...I think walking the Great Wall slightly tipsy and hungover is the best way to see it anyhow :)

((sorry last post was done in the wee hours of the morning so there are a lot of run-on sentences and typos... fixed some of the typos but couldn't care less about the run-ons haha))

There is nothing you can not doooo in Chengduuuuu

(sorry the title sounds like it should be a song hah)

Last week was the Chinese National Holiday and everyone got to have a lovely 8 day vacation. There is nothing quite like witnessing the Chinese take a holiday though. I boarded the aircraft to begin my 5 day trip to Chengdu in the Sichuan Province. The plane ride had to be the strangest thing I have ever been a part of- there were passengers getting up and walking around during takeoff, people taking off their seat belts so they could peer out the windows during the landing, a lady diagonally from me throwing up because of the turbulence and some man with a video camera getting a shot of the only 'whitey' (that's what I have taken to calling myself over here) on the plane. It was insanity!

Since I arrived at the hostel late in the evening, I started my explorations of the city the following day. The town has started creating these 'old' shopping streets- meaning they were recently built but they did them in the ancient style. So, now I can pretend Starbucks is really a traditional drinking location and not feel guilty about drinking my green tea frappuccino :)
My next stop after a brief time travel back into 'old' china, was the "People's Park." This place was really amazing because of all the strange activities going on in one location. There were people joining sing-a-longs, old people dancing all over the place, people in boats on the lake colliding into one another, spun sugar candy making, and my favorite bizarre activity-EAR CLEANING. Yep, that is right, you can have a cup of tea at one of the tea houses and have your ears cleaned by a man and a tuning fork. It probably was one of the strangest things I witnessed and definitely did not want it done (though I was asked a BILLION times) because I did not see them clean their instruments from one person's ear to another's ear...GROSS

Chengdu is also home to the largest Mao statue. This guy definitely ate his Wheaties for he is a big one:

The following day was my trip to the Panda Breeding and Research Center. This had to be the best experience of my whole trip because for the low, low price of $150 you can have a 'baby' panda sit on your lap! Honestly, it was totally worth the money when you think what a cool experience it was- well at least I do, and that is all that matters haha
There is absolutely NO WAY, you would have been able to do something like this in the U.S unless you paid 10 times as much. It was so incredible and I am glad that I was able to spend one weeks pay on having a panda sit in my lap HAHAH
That evening, after my "panda high" I decided to go to the Sichuan opera. This is famous for its 'face changers', 'fire breathers', and shadow puppets. It was pretty cool and very entertaining. I spent the extra 5 dollars and sat in the "VIP" section haha which just meant that I could feel my eye brows being singed by the fire breathers (if you are interested in what this might have been like, check out the Travel Channels Samantha Brown's trip to Chengdu on like youtube).
On Tuesday, one of the other female travelers staying at the hostel and I headed 2.5 hours by bus to Mnt. Emei so that we would be able to 'climb' one of the 4 sacred Buddhist mountains. I put climb in quotations because we really took a bus from the base of the mountain to about halfway up (2.5 hours of winding roads, fog, and 2 accidents that we had to wait through), walked 1 mile of stairs, and then took a cable car from there to the top of the mountain. After 7 hours of travel, we finally made it to the top of this sacred mountain to look out on a lovely view of FOG! Yeah, we could not even see the famous golden statue at the top (we originally thought it was a weird smoke formation caused by the burning incense sticks) until we were right underneath it. Once we made it to the highest temple, we were constantly harassed by Chinese tourists to let them take their pictures with us...WHITEY ALERT! It was all so anti-climatic coming to this sacred place, that Sonja and I ran down the mountain to escape the paparazzi to only then be attacked my monkeys. These monkeys have now taken to stealing food from tourists. I witnessed one grab peanuts from a man wearing a poncho--taking the peanuts and tearing the poncho haha The funniest thing though, is if you are completely lazy, you do not even have to walk ANY part of this mountain (Sonja and I at least walked up a million stairs it seemed like). If walking seems like too much you can be carried- two men will put you in a jampan (sedan style chair) and run with you up and down the stairs! I was content with the fog, sore legs and feeling the altitude sickness that I did not want to ruin it by being carried and dropped down the steep steps haha

Like I said in my title, there is little that you can't do in this town (or anywhere in China really)...there is only a price that has to be negotiated ;)

The Great 'fire'Wall of China

As you might have noticed, it has been 3 weeks since my last post. This was due to the Chinese government systematically shutting down all of the free proxy servers. They did this to prevent communication to the outside world during their National Holiday. Any sites dealing with freedom of expression- blogs, facebook, etc- are all blocked because the government does not want people writing about China in any negative light. The government insists on controlling information and therefore many sites are blocked, especially any news sites that might not show China at its absolute best. Expats living in this country have no choice but to throw their fists up at Hu Jintoa (current leader) and buy an outside service.

I am now the proud owner of a VPN, which allows me to get on any site I want because I have an american IP address. The Great Wall of China was built to keep enemies from harming the people. The Great 'fire'Wall of China was created to keep 'bad' information from getting to the people. However, history repeats itself- the Hun army made it past the defenses of the Wall and so now Facebook has made it through the 'fire'Wall! muwahahahahah I attack* from within... (*dear chinese government, please note this is a joke- do not arrest me!)