Blogs from Guangdong, China, Asia - page 148

We are completing our third month here and have realized how integrated we have become into the program and the students here. No mistaking our foreignness for sure, but students have seen the opportunity we present and have vigorously seized upon it. They come to us with their professional and personal challenges and it has been a real privilege to be of use. We continue to be amazed at their talent and naiveté, their hard work and their acceptance of things that we would find intolerable. I have but three classes left to teach, followed by three weeks of presentations by students of their final projects. I think both sides will undergo some withdrawal when we return home/ We had the May Day holiday off and spent a week meditating and working at the Vipassana Center ... read more

I am officially one year older - I'm finally 24. Those of you who know me may be thinking. "How did you skip a year? We thought you were 23!" But here in China I was 23 when I got here so now I'm 24. However old I may be I am, and always will be, a day older. So what did I do on my birthday? I went and did a bit more shopping - as that's what Hong Kong is best for. But unfortunately I wasn't feeling good for the most of the morning. I checked my e-mail in the morning but haven't really had a chance to respond. I decided to go to Guangzhou even though I didn't feel good as I wanted to be there a day early in case anything bad ... read more

Had dim sum with the whole family at the same restaurant as the night before. We made the rounds, visiting each aunt and uncle’s house and her aunt’s small garment factory below her house. We went into Changping town with Felicia’s cousins, Yee-ling and Wai-ling, and hit a couple malls. We had tea at OC Revolving Restaurant, 30 storeys up, and traditional Chinese small fare and sweets at a dessert shop. The whole family had dinner together at the restaurant and went back to Dat-suk’s to visit. Felicia played mahjong with her aunts and uncles.... read more

Got the bus to the train station and had dim sum with Goo-poh in a nearby restaurant. Took the early afternoon train to Dongguan, China, about an hour's ride. Felicia's Dat-suk (dad's youngest brother) met us at the station and we got a taxi back to his house. He later told Felicia that he wouldn't have recognized her, since it had been over 5 years since the last visit. Luckily, Goo-poh told Dat-suk to look for the tall guailo (white guy, or literally, “ghost guy”). Over the years Felicia’s dad had already got the family used to foreigners because he would bring his kung-fu students to visit. The taxi driver was behind a cage surrounding the driver's area....All the aunts and uncles and most of the cousins came over. We all went to dinner at a ... read more

Sitting here with my feet on top of my shoes. For a person who used to love not wearing shoes at all in this kind of weather it's rough to wear and walk around in sandals all day - not that they're bad shoes. They're some of my best and most comfortable shoes. My hair feels nice on the back of my neck. Paul just took me to get a head massage at the best Salon in Daliang (not to be confused with Dalian as the only difference in spelling is the g in English but the characters are completely different). The massage itself was so relaxing that I fell asleep (or just about) but then afterwards the man who blowdried my hair literally took 4 minutes arranging my topmost hair trying to figure out where ... read more