A morning in Jinjiang

A snip-it from a typical morning here in Jinjiang college:

Every morning I wake up at about 7:15, give or take a few minutes depending on how much work is left before class at 8:50 (which is 3 days of the week).  On clear days this involves a sunrise out the window; on days like this morning it just involves a grey glowing sky.  Contacts in, turn on the hot water heater in the water dispenser (the one with the jug on top like you see in doctor waiting rooms- you can't drink the tap water here), and awaken the Chinese Windows operating system PC from slumber, and then sip instant coffee and read news for half an hour and finish powerpoint slides for class.  Its funny to read the news in the morning- everything happened while you were asleep.  This only adds to the feeling of complete disconnect from foreign events.  

Finally, before classes, I almost always go to the student dining hall for breakfast.  I think Luke and I are the only teachers, both foreign and local, who eat there in the morning.  Almost every morning involves a few baotzi (steamed buns filled with pork and cabbage) and a differing combination of: pita-ish bread with pork inside that's fried in scrambled egg (delicious), baked sesame paste pastry, fried sesame paste pastry, bean paste steamed bun, hard boiled egg, or fried piece of bread that is delicious dipping into your hot soy milk (I discovered this this morning).  And every morning we have a cup of hot soy milk.  Its a good breakfast and really cheap- about 4 RMB each morning (75 cents USD). 

My laugh always seems to echo throughout the dining hall and create a hushed silence as if I just broke a plate.  Absent are the days of ruckus Jewett Dining Hall shenanigans.  If I threw a grape in THIS dining hall, I think I might be expelled.  Even outside of the classroom and with friends, the students have a quiet composure.  I think they are becoming more accustomed to us being there- maybe one day they'll start sitting with us.

Happy Halloween!

Sunshine, beaches, and frisbee

First off, there is a new Chinese oddity on campus that I must tell you about with great vexation.  Along the sidewalks between the student dorms on campus, there are grass clumps growing in the ground.  Not turf lawn that we're accustomed to in the US, but what appears to be stunted bunch grass planted in neat rows all along the sidewalk.  They powerwash this grass, but that didn't alarm me too much.  However, when Luke and I got back last night, we noticed that all the grass had been dug up and stacked in piles along the buildings (new grass or old, I am not sure), and workers were tilling the dry soil with hoes.  OK, time for new grass.  But why would they stack the old grass like that?  They couldn't be planning to replant it, could they?  "No way," I said.  Well, this morning, they proved me wrong.  Right now, workers are outside and split into three groups: one tills the soil, one replants the grass, and one trims the roots of the grass before the other group replants it!!!!!  This, I simply do not understand.  Completely baffled.  Luke thinks its new grass; I am sticking with the old grass for the story's sake.  I asked my class why they are doing this and they all said, "so someone can have a job.  Its a waste of money.  No reason whatsoever.  It doesn't make better grass."  As Stuart is so fond of saying, "This wouldn't happen in America!"  

5 days ago Luke and I left for Hong Kong on a dual purpose mission: leave the country to reset our visa (Hong Kong counts as international despite the fact that they are part of China) and to play in the Pan-Asian Ultimate tournament.  An epic trip began in an epic way.  We left Thursday afternoon amid class drama for me resulting in my class monitor (the student leader) being fired from his position (he was always late and slept through class) and went to Chengdu.  First we went to a recording studio in response to an ad I saw in the Chengdu classifieds looking for foreign models and voice recordings.  We went in and were handed a script detailing a company.  The tech played a recording of their most popular voice and in thoroughly intimidated us- he sounded like Paul Harvey.  Just the voice I would want to hire.  But into a sound booth with an expensive looking microphone and off we read.  It was hilarious.  Here's Luke reading:

       Jeffery said he’d call us if anyone was interested.  Then we were off back to downtown where we met with a girl Luke had met on the train from Kunming named Wu Tong and her friend and co-worker Christina.  Turned out that it was definitely a double date, a surprise, and after a very delicious dinner (the best eggplant dish in China so far) they somehow paid for it.  We are learning that Chinese people are very good at sneaking the bill by you.  But it was very fun and interesting talking to two people working in the international shipping industry.  It takes between a month to two months for a cargo ship to get to America from China!  We spent the night in a hostel for 35 RMB (remember this figure, it will be important later) and spent the night drinking beers and playing with our new smart phones.  In a talk with the bartender and a guy from Switzerland, they asked me if I slept with my students.  Taken aback, I said of course not.  That’s not allowed and definitely a terrible idea.  They were both confused and the bartender said that she just graduated from Sichuan University in Chengdu and that many of her foreign professors, who were “old and fat” dated their students regularly.  It was “gross,” in her eyes.  Exactly, I told her.  “But you are young a good looking,” she said.  “Its ok if you do.”  I think we all left the conversation a little baffled.  I see why foreigners get a bad rep sometimes.  But fear not, I am not convinced- its still a terrible idea. 

       We woke up before the rest of the city and the hostel office keeper the next morning to catch our flight to HK.  Success in every way and we were on the plane in no time.  I did not expect any food on the flight, and was I ever surprised when the flight attendants announced that breakfast would be served shortly.  Huh?  And there it was: an omelet with bacon and sausage, croissant and butter, fruit, orange juice, and brewed coffee.  It was absolutely delicious and I savored every bite.  And a few coffee refills.  Dragon Air: I am your faithful and dedicated flyer.

       Off the plane and I entered my 6^th country.  Through customs easily, I got a new stamp on the passport:

       We exchanged money at the airport, which 1USD = about 8HKD, making them slightly cheaper than RMB.  Then we took a train into Hong Kong city.  The light was blinding as we exited the station and I realized that 1) the sky was blue and the sun glorious and 2) there was the ocean.  Is this paradise, I thought?  Honk Kong is a series of islands on the coast of mainland China renown for its deep channels between islands- perfect for an international shipping port.  But what struck me right away was how much green space there was in one of the world’s busiest cities.  For most of the train ride we were looking at green hill/mountain sides with little or no development.  There are small towns/cities besides Hong Kong, but everything is condensed into a tight city plan and at the border, the cities simply end.  Only power lines and cable cars cut across the open spaces.  This distinct edge was also due to the steepness of the hills, I admit, but the effect was appealing.  Equally appealing was again, the ocean and the sunshine.  Glorious.

       We first traveled to the hostel to drop off our bags and check in before we headed out to explore downtown.  Our bus ride zig-zagged through downtown, Luke and I craning our necks out the window the entire time, looking up at all the odd and tall buildings.  Hong Kong is simply crazy.  Instead of sidewalks, almost all of pedestrian traffic is on elevated walkways (“tubes”) that have exit signs in them for which street or shop you can get off at.  Walking through them makes you feel like you are in the Death Star.  But from the road, it makes the city feel devoid of pedestrians as you drive through.  From the beginning, Hong Kong feels very modern.

       What happened next is not worth the space to write or your eyes to read.  In short, we spent our entire afternoon arguing with the hostel manager over our rooms and how damn expensive they were.  Friday night was to be 200 HKD a bed (about 180 RMB) and Saturday 700 HKD.  In short, all of my money.  So, we ended up with a tiny room-in-an-apartment-on-the-12^th-floor with two mattresses for 150 HKD each (whew) from someone else and Luke and I camped for free on the beach with teammates on an island away from downtown.  For that, our souls and wallets were grateful.  However, this took 6 hours to decide and we fasted for the whole ordeal.  And missed wandering Hong Kong.  But we celebrated with waffles, which turns out are popular HK street food drenched in butter and peanut butter (you don’t understand how heavenly delicious this is until you’ve been in Pengshan for 2 months), cheddar cheese, and a baguette.  All eaten in the park as the sun set.  That was nice.

       The odd thing about Hong Kong is that its famous as a shopping city.  Low taxes for goods make it THE destination for shoppers of high end brands because they are cheaper than anywhere else.  But that’s just material products.  And that’s all HK is famous commercially for.  Its too small and mountainous to grow any food, and this key fact escaped me until I got to HK and went food shopping.  All food is wicked expensive, because it is all imported.  The waffles were the cheapest thing we could find to eat on the street and they were 10 HKD.  A cheap meal averaged 60 HKD, which pales to the 6 RMB noodles we have been spoiled with in Sichuan.  With that in mind, we ate mostly tournament food.

       And finally, to the tournament.  Friday night was the captain’s meeting and tournament introductions night at the bar.  It was great being around Frisbee people again; despite the fact I knew absolutely no one but Luke, I felt surrounded by friends and had a great time meeting many people.  Luke was excited to note that no one was taller than him.  I immediately remembered why I loved this sport so much, and we hadn’t even played yet.  The evening digressed to drinking cheap beers on the sidewalk by the bar bought from either 7-11 (!!!!), which were equidistant at 75 yards away to either side- who needs that many 7-11’s?  What was hilarious was that one guy in the group named Derek, was constantly approached by Asian women who demanded, not asked, pictures with him.  And this was a constant stream of women all night.  What’s with this guy? Luke and I wondered.  Turns out he is the biggest movie star in the Philippines, and he plays Frisbee.  The guy is chiseled out of marble by the way.  I was impressed with his humility and grace- I would have lost it early into the night.  But he smiled all night long.  A taxi ride and an elevator ride to the 12^th floor later, Luke and I were sleeping with 3 other guys in a 2 person hostel room and dreaming of Frisbee.

       Saturday was game day.  The fields were on the other side of the island, but fear not, they drilled a tunnel through the mountain so you can drive there quickly.  It was a hot day and we played four games, winning the first 11-1, the second 11-7, losing the third 9-10, and winning the last at 10-9.  We lost to the Philippine team, the movie star team, and Derek was a really fun guy to guard.  The last game was one of my favorites.  We were down 8-9 and on offense.  I was on the point, we scored, and then were on defense.  Game point (soft cap had been called at 8-9) and I played again.  We got the D and then scored for the win.  It was awesome.  I saw Luke, we chest bumped, and my calf cramped in mid-air.  Nothing left on the field!  Both days of the tournament though, you could not drink enough water.  It was hot, but being back in the Ultimate community made me smile from ear to ear all day.  I can’t say I played great, especially after I got dazed by a kick to the head, but I had fun.  It was really fun to play with the Shanghai team- some great players and some great individuals all around.  The tournament was a plush one by American standards- chicken and vegetables with rice lunch (actual lunch food!!!) seemingly endless beer that was way better than Snow and Tsing Tao, a disc and a jersey.  After our fourth game we rushed off to catch the ferry to our camping island for swimming in the ocean before the tournament party. 

       This became quite the adventure.  We ran onto the ferry that we thought was the right one.  We cheered as it took off as soon as we jumped on, drank beers on the deck as the sun set and we motored through Hong Kong and enjoyed the views.  An hour later, Alia, our guide, said, “huh, this isn’t our island,” just as the boat was nearing the dock.  A nearby local informed her that was the case.  We were two islands away from our island.  And no ferries for awhile to the right one.  And a private charter was going to be 300 HK to get us there.  So, we ran across the island to the beach, swam in the ocean for 7 minutes with the stars above (hadn’t seen them in a long time) and the lights of Honk Kong on the horizon.  It was beautiful.  Then we ran back to the ferry and took it back to Hong Kong proper.  Ha ha.

       The tournament party was on the 29^th floor of a hotel in downtown HK in a fancy bar.  We did not fit in, but the place was booked just for us.  Again, the tourney was plush with an all-you-can-stuff-yourself spread of Calamari, French fries, mushroom risotto, shrimp, salad, pizza, and chocolate deserts.  I ate until I was uncomfortable and I loved it.  And happily drank some free GT’s.  The view of downtown and the ocean front was unreal, as was the bar show the bartender put on at 10:30, but that wasn’t appropriate.  You’ll have to ask me for that story.  We all passed out on the ferry ride back and crawled into our tents for sleep. 

       We started Sunday the best way possible- with a swim in the ocean.  Just awesome and beautiful.  More sleep on the ferry and we had 3 more games to play at the Aberdeen Sports Complex on Hong Kong Island.  Sunday was a struggle- the team didn’t play like we could have played, due either to lingering dehydration or lack of sleep from the last two nights.  We lost both the first and second game and won the fun, beer drinking last game.  I definitely didn’t play as well as I wanted, but still had a blast.  More delicious lunch food and lots of beer provided by the tournament, as well as fun sideline games.  My favorite was “fantasy Frisbee,” in which each point you pick a player as your fantasy team mate.  If they score or throw the score or D, you get a point.  If they mess up, minus a point.  This carried into the finals and was really fun.  As soon as Taiwan won the tournament, we packed up, said goodbye to our new friends, and headed back to the beach.  That was enough of the big city, time for more ocean.  We had burgers on the way and I was thankful I’m not a vegetarian in China.  Meat is just too good after Frisbee.

       Our friend and fan Jessica from Shanghai training came to both days of games and came back for the beach party Sunday night.  We swam in the ocean filled with phosphorescence, under the stars with ship’s lights out on the horizon.  Little slivers of silver flashed through the night as tiny fish jumped around us.  It was a really magical place.  The contrast of Hong Kong really struck me; how you can go from downtown in this Death Star feeling bustling metropolis and 30 minutes later on a ferry, you are at a sparsely inhabited island with a beautiful beach all to yourself.  I’m surprised to say that I like Hong Kong!  After swimming, I tried to make friends with the grazing water buffalo by our tents with no success, so we just watched them for awhile, thinking about how awesome that place was.  Jess took the ferry back to HK and we slept away our last night in HK. 

       Monday morning was started the same way as Sunday- a swim in the ocean.  Back in Pengshan now, I miss everything about the ocean.  The sound of the surf, the saltiness of the water, the scenic view, and the freedom of swimming.  I don’t dare swim in the river here.  We soaked up the last rays of the sun and went back to the tents to pack up.  Walking up the beach, head down, I suddenly heard, “MATT CAMERON??!!??”  And lo and behold, there is Julia Nelson from Whitman in a camp worker’s polo shirt.  Wow.  Excited hugs, amazed looks, and many laughs.  You see Whitties everywhere.  We couldn’t linger, so after goodbyes, we walked up the road to a restaurant to order breakfast.  The waitress was speaking Cantonese and everyone was confused, but Luke asked if she spoke Mandarin and when she replied “yes” in Mandarin, I was surprised with how relieved I was.  In 3 months, this baffling language has actually become familiar and I was so happy to hear it.  Ha!  We had baotzi and rice wrapped in a leaf- both delicious.  And from there we took a taxi to HK airport, which was built up out of the ocean because there is no ground flat enough in the area for an airport (crazy, huh?), and whizzed through customs back to China.  We were both wiped out after the taxi ride, airplane ride (China Air this time, which sucks compared to Dragon Air), and two bus rides back to school, and fell asleep early Monday night.  Walking back to school, we both shook our heads, amazed that this had all happened in only four days.  Many new friends made and we hope to see them at more tournaments in Asia to come.  We sure have enough invitations to keep us busy for the rest of the year, but the most appealing is to visit Derek in the Phillipeans.  Wikipedia says he collects cars……  And he did invite us to play and stay with him…..

       Thanks for reading!  Miss you all back in the states

National Day Vacation

Here I am on the train from Kunming back to Pengshan.  I fell asleep in Yun’an, where the sky was clear and view of the mountains unobstructed; and today I awoke in Sichuan, where the mountains are still beautiful but the air filled with that familiar fog of pollution and haze.  I did not miss this part of Sichuan.  But this has been an exciting and fun week, so I won’t delay with talk about hot air; here are the details:

This week was National Week in China, a week vacation dedicated to visiting family, traveling, and military marching.  In a perfectly Chinese move, classes were excused for the whole week, but then make-up classes were scheduled for Saturday and Sunday the following weekend.  Oh China!  As we finished classes and working on our performance on Friday, our friend from the Shanghai training, Jess, flew into Chengdu.  We took the bus into town, and on the way saw an accident where a truck had blown out its back wheels on the highway, flipping over and spilling it load of sandbags.  I bring it up only because it highlights a common Chinese custom here in the rural areas: if you are only making one trip, put as much on as you can.  From bikes to tricycles to trucks, the steadfastness that the Chinese follow this rule is staggering.  This truck in particular was loaded far above the cab with sandbags, enough for a flatbed semi-trailer in the US, but this was normal for the Chinese.  I’ve seen it plenty in Pengshan.  But sadly the wheels and single axle did not hold the load this time on the highway.  

Once we made it into Chengdu, we lost Jess in the enormity of Chinese roads, traffic, and confusing directions.  In the meantime, however, Luke and I found bacon, milk, Mac and Cheese, canned lentils, and cookies in our shopping adventures, as well as played Frisbee on campus with many stares.  We found Jess and went to the bus station to get tickets back to Pengshan, where we found the hardship of travelling on National Week: every person in China, the biggest nation in the world, is also travelling, making it a complete disaster.  So the bus station was completely filled with people waiting in a mass (and I saw mass because lines are rare in China.  Often they are pushing matches resembling basketball defense rather than a line, and this one was no exception.  “Cuts” seem to be the norm at times) and it took an hour to get tickets to our little “village”.  Once on the bus, traffic was so bad on the highway it took 2 hours for the normal 45 minute drive (the road resembled LA at rushhour).  The highlight was the pickles we found on sale at the western market, which made our mouths water more than we could imagine.  It’s the little things....  And eventually we made it to campus, which is an adventure and a victory in itself on National Vacation Week. 

At our campus, we sang KTV in the evening, ate French toast for breakfast (words simply fail at this point, each bite tasted like a different memory back home, from Alaska to the Watershed to Colorado.  I got a little teary on the first bite), and rented electric scooters for a tour of Pengshan.  There is a lot to see in Penshan- from the memorial arch to the river to the lake tower to downtown to the yogurt store and down the main road back to campus.  We played a street game in the town square where you get 10 rings for 1 Qai (RMB) and if one leans against any of the prizes you get it.  The place was deserted when we arrived and within minutes business was bustling and the crowd packed.  Luke turned to me and said, “I’ve never had such an influence on the local economy.”  I got immediately hooked playing, but did not win the golden rabbit piggy bank I threw, rolled, and flipped rings at.  The kids found it hilarious.  That afternoon we moved to Chengdu and at the Italian restaurant Mama Mia.  Oooooohhhhhhh man, it tasted so good.  Red wine, caprese, carbonara, molten chocolate cake.  Delicious.

We stayed at a hostel in Chengdu for two nights, which was more of an experience than I imagined.  Usually, when I see foreigners around China, they avoid you completely.  No eye contact, no hello, no nothing.  Its as if you aren’t supposed to break the spell that you are the only foreigner in the whole country.  Its really weird and surprising.  But the hostel was a haven.  You walked in and immediately people said hi and wanted to talk.  Most were travelers enjoying the familiarity of a language they understood and homely customs at the bar.  The bar was happening.  I saw car bombs happen and smiled.  I met people from Israel, Colorado, France, England, and Sweden.  It was the two Swedish girls who impressed me the most.  The night we got there, I saw two touring bikes that looked very well used and had all the sweetest stuff.  That night I couldn’t find the owners at the bar, even though I asked everyone I met.  The next morning the bikes were completely set up, Ortlieb packs on the back and front, and the two owners looked to be in their mid-20’s.  They were helping the third and less decked out bike strap shopping bags onto the front rack and a pack onto the back.  The story goes that they are from Sweden and have been on their bikes for a year already, making their way to China from the North and now are heading south.  Where and how long?  No plan.  They guy was named Chris, from England, had just me the girls in Chengdu, bought a bike, and this was his first day touring with them.  Good luck Chris!  My heart went out with them as they pedaled off- I wished I was riding a bike that day. 

We ate an English breakfast that morning at the hostel- toast and eggs is another thing I can’t get enough of.  We all rode the bus through town (by this point other friends from Shanghai have arrived and we now number 10 all together) to the old town street called Jin Lu.  On the way Adrie got to sit next to a puppy named grapes (in Chinese) and eventually got to hold and pet grapes.  An international scene on the bus, but it was very cute.  Jin Lu was PACKED Chinese style, filled with everyone it seemed on the holiday.  Times like that its nice to be tall.  We people watched and shop watched, eventually making it out of the craziness and walked to Ren Ming Gong Lu, People’s Park. 

Quick side note: we are descending down a valley towards Chengdu, going in and out of tunnels high up on the valley wall.  The short breaks of scenery between tunnels are amazing- lush green jungle disappearing into the fog both up and down the hillside.  Uninterrupted the trees seem, and mystical in the fog; exuding an air of ancientness that is very Chinese.

Back to People’s Park: also packed, but in a more celebratory way.  We met a new Chinese friend at the noodle restaurant we ate at for lunch who followed us around with her friend.  Both are students at one of the universities in Chengdu.  They were both shy but awestruck at being in the presence of so many foreigners.  It might have been the highlight of their vacation I’m afraid to say!  But they were very nice and walked around with us as we played bumper cars with Robin and everyone else, including the girls who’d never driven a car.  Big smiles!  We walked through the gardens, watched all the dance groups (a common sight here), watched a little Chinese boy poke at a duck for a long time, thinking it was funny (I did not think so), and finally Luke and I settled at an auction for the scroll artwork that we think of as typical Chinese souvenegers.  Again, we caused quite a scene sitting down and appearing to join the auction.  The crowd doubled.  The scrolls were nice and very cheap compared to the prices in the stores, so Luke bid on one.  Outbid.  I bid on one.  Outbid.  It was a great listening exercise in Chinese and I learned some new sayings, and the crowd all awed when we bid.  It was a blast.  We both ended up buying a scroll each, mine of a gorge and Luke of a blossoming tree.  We loved it and our friend, who helped assure us that the lady was actually saying “150 qai” (yi bai wu), also enjoyed it.  With our scrolls and smiles, we found our friends for tea and promised to try to find the auction another weekend for round 2.

We ventured through downtown after that, meandering back to the hostel.  Chengdu’s downtown square is a big open space surrounded by tall buildings; the center opens downward to the metro entrance below, and standing guard over the northern edge is Chairman Mao, recently posted as sentry and standing about 75 feet tall.  It’s a nice place for people watching (Chinese kids are the cutest) and wandering.  We meandered by McDonald’s, where the ice cream tastes just like back home (which puts it as a delicacy compared to Chinese ice cream and is even cheaper at 50 cents US) and we saw a McDonald’s delivery man on a bicycle.  Awesome.  Dad, I must give you a good laugh saying that once again in my life, I find myself excited about McDonald’s.  We walked by one of many ‘fitness centers’, where Chinese stay the effects of aging.  These places really crack me up- they are all un-weighted exercises like the stationary steering wheels, swinging legs contraption that makes it look like you are running but not, twisting foot pedestal with stationary grip for back twists, and rowing seat thingy.  I guess to keep you agile?  Once again, something that doesn’t make sense in China.

Trivia night at the bar that night with burgers- which, by the way, the Chinese take the word ‘hamburger’ literally and is a pork bun with bacon on top; a ‘beefburger’ is extra- was surreal.  With just the right twist of memory, one could forget that outside of the bar was China, bumping and foreign and loud and exciting, while inside it felt like any other Sunday night trivia in the states.  It was fun.  And after a few games of pool with Shaka and Matt from Israel, some conversations with the French and English guys at the bar, me and a few other English teachers were on our way across town in a cab to Club CC, one of Chengdu’s premier Clubbing establishments (or so we were told).  Our host, Sam from France, was the owner’s bodyguard who had ridden a horse across Mongolia and had 5 different black belts in 5 different types of fighting and had been shot once and more unbelievable things and was a tiny little guy I who I wouldn’t think could do all these crazy things.  Stuart ended the night by exclaiming that this Sam from France was the “most interesting guy in the world.”  I just enjoyed hearing these fantastic stories- you know me.  So, Sam from France took us past the bouncers into the most ridiculous club I have ever seen and were given a table and paid only 50 RMB for the entire night.  Looking around at the club and at our company: a Brit, a French host, a rasta-looking Israeli, 3 friends from America, and me in an Ultimate jersey, made me laugh the whole night through.  It was a blast.

Our last day in Chengdu was dedicated to hotpot.  We met up with some of our student friends and they showed us one of Chengdu’s premier hotpot restaurants downtown and ordered the best stuff.  If you don’t know, hotpot is the craze of Sichuan and surrounding western provinces.  There is ongoing debate about Chengdu vs Chongqing having the best hotpot and when you tell anyone in China that you are going to Sichuan, they will say have the hotpot.  You are served all of the ingredients raw, even the meat, and you boil them all in a pot of spiced oil in the center of the table.  Then you have a variety of dipping sauces to dip these things into.  To be honest, I have no idea why it is such a craze.  I’ve had hotpot five times by now, one even in Chongqing, and I’ve been sick from three of them.  I don’t think it tastes that great, I like pooping solid (which hotpot is not conducive to, and well, I just don’t like it.  I recommend trying it if you come and I promise you won’t get sick if you cook everything thoroughly, but I might not join you.  Still, it remains a Sichuan tradition and I’m glad to have given it a thorough try.

We returned to Pengshan for the night, where we worked on our performance until I got hotpot stomach and retired early.  Thankfully it didn’t last.  The next morning was fried homefries, toast, and eggs.  Again, so many memories of the west in every delicious bite.  Chinese breakfast is good with the Baotzi and all, but I love eggs, bread, and potatoes.  We looked at our watches and realized that we were late to begin our journey and rushed off through the maze of public transport to get to the train station in Chengdu.  A brief word on said system: I am very impressed with its usefulness.  The busses, though scary at times, seem to take you anywhere and often quickly, even in Pengshan.  The effect of moving an entire country’s population, most of whom don’t have cars, I guess.  And without speaking the language well, I am impressed by how useable it is, albeit frustrating at times.  Through the maze of Tuesday, we stepped onto the train with 5 minutes to spare and we were rolling to Kunming as we were settling down in our beds.  Whew.

We bought ‘xia pu ying wo’ tickets, meaning lower bunk hard sleeper beds for the 18 hour train ride for about 250 RMB one way.  This was a great idea.  It is set up as six bunks in a small compartment on the car- three bunks tall with a ladder on the end and the car hallway going along one side with fold down seats and small tables on the wall.  The bunks had a blanket and a pillow (and were pretty comfortable) and the lower bunk was taken as a shared seat until it owner, through subtle body language, deemed it time for bed.  We met some very nice people who shared their knowledge and patience of Chinese with us as well as snacks.  And as always, we were rock stars, getting lots of photos taken and talking with the high school kids a few compartments down.  Lights out at 10:30 and even though my feet hung into the aisle a little, I slept great the whole night.  Ying wo is the way to travel in China!  Soft sleeper beds were the deluxe, with 4 to a private compartment and a bigger table, but this was a great way to make new friends.  This is the two girls who came and played with us- the cute one was the most photogenic toddler I have ever seen, and the other was cute as could be except for when the camera came out.  Then she struck the most coolest-kid-in-school modeling pose the looked more like a scowl.  But when you would show her the photo she would burst into glee.  Here they are:

 

And then while eating in the dining car (which was Chinese gourmet), Luke got to showing a young boy (nu haitzi) magic tricks with cards.  His reactions were priceless- on the first one, upon seeing Luke reveal the card he had chosen earlier, just simply scratched his head in earnest and looked bewildered.  Then after Luke appeared to eat a 1 RMB crumpled note and then pull out a 1 USD note that was folded into a pig,, he hurriedly explained (in Chinese) exactly what Luke had done back to him.  Oh man, did we laugh hard and Luke became the impromptu and unpaid babysitter while the parents napped.

18 hours later, we arrived in Kunming to a glorious day.  The sun was out and we regrouped at our friend Jess’s apartment on expat row near the university.  Wednesday was spent walking around the lake near her house, where we won tickets at an arcade and gave them to a little kid, bought incredible hats :

(They read “Space Man.  Cuty is you a super polar” and “FRESHJIVE Rostage Crisis, The Score Roihless, Conspiracy Hard Times, Insurgents)

And watched the group line dancing on the river’s edge.  Jess lives in a surreal and fun part of town.  Next stop was downtown, were I found basketball shoes for 100 RMB that nearly fit (a size 45 EU (10 US) is the best I could do on the street) and have been great for basketball.  People watching highlights: a man with deformed hands doing beautiful calligraphy with his feet: 

 

I was happy to see his money box full; he was jaw droppingly impressive; children fishing in the bench/fish ponds for goldfish and taking them home in buckets; an old Buddhist stone pagoda, and DOUGHNUTS.  The pictures say it all

 

We were all almost in tears on the first bite.   You don’t know how much you miss the small things until they are gone for a long time. 

We ended the day with sword shopping.  After lots of searching, we found a shop covered wall to wall with swords.  We unsheathed, we jabbed, we hacked, and we hmmmed and hawwwwed over all of the options.  There were a few real swords that were a) sharp b)weighted and c) lighter than 6 pounds, but alas, they were all too expensive.  So Luke haggled the seller down a hundred RMB for a sword we later determined was a replica from the famous TV show “San Guo” (Three Kingdoms).  And since such purchase, has unsheathed and hacked and sheathed his sword constantly.  Without fail, whenever we came back to Jess’s house, he would unsheathe his sword and look at the metal blade and give it a swing. 

That night we ate stir fried vegetables from the wet market down the street from Jess.  It was surprising how much the simple way of sautéing a bunch of vegetables together over rice in soy sauce reminded me of college life.  So delicious, and the best is the golden mushrooms you can find everywhere here.  Yum!

Jess’s apartment is an awesome place at the top floor of her apartment building, which is eight stories high.  And I have come to discover that Chinese apartment buildings don’t have elevators.  But don’t worry, there is a poster of David Beckham in a cowboy coat with a Pepsi in a holster in the seventh floor to cheer you on up that last push.  And to top it off, Jess’s apartment came with a vault security door that is about 3 inches thick with 10 pins that seal it on three sides.  Opening her door feels like robbing a bank; whoever lived there last really didn’t want anyone to get in.  The benefits of living in the top floor of an apartment building are numerous though, and her view over Kunming was excellent.  Her shower made me realize how plush ours is and feels like a waterfall, but it was a warm shower none the less.  Thanks Jess.

Thursday was started with Frisbee throwing practice on campus- Luke and I are now officially going to the Hong Kong tournament on Oct 22^nd.  In an attempt to find somewhere to throw, we took one step onto a medium sized grass field in front of one academic building before a guard stood up out of a shadow and said no walking on the grass.  Apparently the grass (which was the first manicured grass we’d seen in awhile) was not for any type of walking.  We attracted plenty of stares when we threw on the basketball courts shortly afterwards.  We finished with round two of doughnuts- Jess bought so many that they gave her a VIP card automatically. 

We spent Thursday on a bus trying to go to the Stone Forest outside of Kunming, a famous attraction of eroded carst formations that resemble a haunted forest.  We ended up on a trans-Kunming tour of the public transportation system lasting most of the day, without success to the Stone forest because once at the bus station, we were unable to communicate when the last bus was going to come back to Kunming that afternoon.  Or how long the bus ride was.  So we decided to err on the side of caution and not-getting-stranded.  On the bright side, the bus station does have a ‘Dishonoring Office.’

We spent the afternoon at an amusement park along the side of Dian Chi lake.  Accomplishments: paddle boating around the lake (wish we had one of the ones with a water cannon on the front), pellet gun balloon popping marksmanship, shooting a CANNON at targets and winning a pink keychain prize (it was awesome),

And seeing some high tech kite flying by old retired guys, with reels resembling giant fishing reels.  They were having a blast.  And their kites were really high up there; almost as if they were competing for who could get the highest.  That night we ate Dali food (a Yu’Nan ethnicity) that was delicious- spicy, different, and sticky rice in a pineapple.  Eating your way through China is an excellent experience.  That night Luke and I learned part of the Party Rock Anthem music video dance sequence from high school girls on YouTube, much to Jess’s enjoyment.  This was to prepare for the National Day Performance when we got back to school (plenty about that on the next post).  From shuffling, spinning, cross body arm thrusts, foot slide, to singing, we annoyed the downstairs neighbors and humored Jess to no end.  I never expected to be learning a choreographed dance for a big performance before…..

Our last day in Kunming was hiking 西山 (Xi Shan), a mountain at the edge of Kunming and at edge of 滇池 (Dian Chi) lake.  This was the best part of the whole week for me.  Again impressed by the public bus, we got dropped off at the base of the mountain and walked up the road winding through the forest.  The birds were singing (just how the people’s language is foreign to me, so is the birds’), the sun shining through the leaves, the clear air that smelled of forest and dirt and sunshine and shade all at once , and most of all the briefly interrupted silence all reminded me why these are my favorite places to be.  I was smiling all day.  We walked up and through the touristy temples that were carved into the side of the cliff, as well as the stone steps that crisscross between each.  The most impressive was the Dragon Gate, with a walkway carved out of the cliff leading to it and then a tunneled staircase through the cliff taking you to a vantage point above it.  Here in China, there’s no doubt that it was all carved by hand.  Here’s the view from above the Dragon Gate:

At the end of the path was a pavilion overlooking Kunming, where the clouds had socked in the city but had granted us a glorious reprieve on the mountain as well as a view to the west, where the mountains and forests stretched into the distance.  Kunming stole a bit of my heart with that view.  We climbed around on the spines of water eroded carst formations at the top of the mountain, jumping over cracks that reminded me of glacial crevasses, and laughing at all of the yelling and yodeling (albeit Chinese style yodeling) that both men and women do up and down the mountain.  Some way of declaring themselves bigger than the silence of the forest, perhaps?  Or just that the absence of those daily sounds creates an unfamiliar pressure in their throat and it builds and builds and builds until they can’t hold it in any more and then a yell, wordless and surprising, leaps out of their mouth for no apparent reason at all?  I tried to remember if people yelled this much hiking up Flattop back in Anchorage.  And when I thought of Flattop, I realized that this hike filled the same place in Kunming as Flattop does for Anchorage- a close hike that’s not too hard and well paved for everyone to enjoy with a view over the city.  We descended down a stone path through the forest, with birds singing in the bushes on either side, that zig-zagged through carst stones that resembled statues in the shadows.  When we hit the road, we walked down with two Chinese people, one of whom had taught English at a University for some years.  Impromptu Chinese lesson on the way down and new friends made.  Luke’s Chinese improves tremendously every day and I’m learning little by little- he’s an inspiration to listen to chat it up in Chinese.  A little late, we rushed back to Jess’s apartment, packed, and loaded onto the bus and headed to the train station.  On the way, we caught a glimpse of the construction downtown, where they were installing a subway system into a city that was built without one.  The holes were massive, the project overwhelmingly massive, the chaos that ensued in the traffic pattern was baffling, and the success of this project was doubtful.  They had a long way to go; it seemed perfectly Chinese that they would begin such a project.

And the end to this story is a little spicy.  Remember how Luke bought a sword?  Well, it was too big for his bag, so it stuck out one end that was wrapped with his sweater.  OK, so far so good.  But then we remembered that to get on the train, you go through a metal detector and your bags go through an X-Ray machine, all in an area that is marked “dangerous items prohibited”.  An imitation sword, no matter how dull, is still a dangerous item in our mind.  So, with great trepidation, he put his bag through the X-Ray machine and hoped.  And walked through the metal detector.  And hoped.    …    …  …   …

And out his bag came on the other side without any hurried words of Chinese in pursuit.  He picked it up and walked toward the gate briskly, not looking back.  I noticed that the people at the X-Ray machine we just chatting away, facing each other while no one watched the machine.  Only in China…..

And that brings the story to the train ride back to Mei Shan, the stop before Chengdu and near Pengshan.  We had upper bunk hard sleeper beds and we watched San Guo episodes with the computer on the baggage rack across the aisle, watched a little girl do Chinese lessons on the family iPad (I learned some too I’ll admit), enjoyed the uninterrupted sleep that comes with your feet not getting bumped in the night as they hang over the aisle and not into it, and Luke talked to a cute girl in the bunk below him and learned Chinese.  I love the train ride.  Here’s the hard sleeper bunks:

 

And the grand finale to the story lies in Mei Shan.  We needed to get to Pengshan and planned to take the public bus; after a confounding exchange of Chinese with many people, we got on a small bus and hoped that it would take us to the bus station (train station does not equal bus station).  It did, whew, and when we walked in we were quickly reminded by the sight of military guards in camo uniforms manning another security checkpoint that you have to go through security again to get on the bus.  We were lucky once, we couldn’t ask to be lucky a second time.  But we were and somehow not a word or eyebrow was raised by a sword going through a security checkpoint.  Do they just not count in China?  A short bus ride later, complete with a man yelling at the top of his lungs into a perfectly working cell phone and an elder woman asking to sit by the window so she could hack spit all ride long every 5 minutes out the window (both exemplify Chinese daily culture), and we were home at Jin Jiang College.  Whew.  And it felt like we hit the ground running at top speed with everything we had to do, but that is for next posting.  

Thanks for reading and I miss you all!

Matt