"Lead you into a trap restaurant" - Macau and Yangshuo

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I'm doing a lesson on being in a restaurant this week where the kids make up their own restaurant and menu and then practice ordering from it. One group named their restaurant "Lead you into a trap restaurant." This is how I feel about most restaurants in China this week. I got food poisoning in Yangshuo (google that shit-- Yangshuo, not the food poisoning-- it's incredible! We bought a new memory card for Cody's camera and it was JIADE. Fake...all of the pictures come up on the camera but not on the computer. So sorry, no photos to upload.) I haven't been able to look at Chinese food since. Being in China, this presents an obvious problem. I'm quickly running out of Western food options, having gone to Subway, Pappa John's, used all my easy mac, and lived on a diet of bananas and peanut butter. (I can't even live on a diet of government cheese, living in a van, down by the river, because there is practically no cheese in China.)

Back story: I didn't have any classes last week. My contact teacher came up to me and said, "Megan, the students will go to learn how to cook, make things, and receive some other technical training. You will not have class." So, early last week I went to Macau and stayed for two days. No one else had any time off, so I went alone. It was kind of boring and oddly deserted; however, Macau is very picturesque. My friend Mike says, "Macau is the only place in Asia where you could die of boredom." I walked around and saw all the sites including the facade, Seranado Square, the ruins of the church of St. Paul, Monte Fort, Guia Fort, St. Domingo's Church and the Loyal Senate. I also saw the village of Coloane, an island to the south of Macau, which was almost completely empty and very colonial. The curving sidewalks and bendy lines were somewhat reminiscent of a combination of Gaudi and Dr. Seuss...I wish I had pictures to show you what I mean! On Macau island, remnants of Portuguese culture are subtly intertwined with 15th century Taoist and buddhist temples and ultra-modern buildings, such as the cluster of neon-lit casinos in central Macau. I went into the Lisboa casino to look around, but I'm not really a gambler so the only bets I made were on the price of the grotesque chandlers. The whole city is extremely clean, and the white and black tiled sidewalks seem to shine. People are also really polite...the cars actually stop for pedestrians! There is no jay walking, and people line up for buses! Amazing. Also, there were a couple of protesters at the facade handing out literature about the Falun Gong, which is always interesting to see because they would be arrested instantly on the mainland. Their articles described believers being beaten, arrested, and tortured. It also illustrated the depth of the problems in Chinatowns across the world-- there has been violence against Falun Gong supporters in New York, Sydney, and across Europe. I always wonder how much my Chinese friends know about these episodes...but I'm always too afraid to ask them. You never know who's listening!

I came back from Macau on Tuesday so I could tutor and then left for Yangshuo Thursday night with Cody. Yangshuo was beautiful. We stayed in an authentic renovated farm house surrounded by Yangshuo's karst mountains. If any of you are planning to go there, stay at the Giggling Tree-- it's amazing. It was freezing and raining the whole time, which was miserable, but the countryside was so beautiful it was easy to stay cheerful until I got sick. We took a three hour bike ride along the other river, took a bamboo boat cruise down the Li River, and Cody went to a cooking class while I stayed in bed. On the Li river, we were able to see the view of the karsts that's on the back of the Chinese 20 yuan bill! So beautiful! Our tour guide told us it would be very cold, and to wait a moment for her to get us more clothes. I was impressed with my Chinese comprehension, let me tell you! The man steering the boat stopped on the side, she hopped out, and returned with two blankets and two big jackets! She then waved us goodbye as the man took us the rest of the. Chinese people are like that-- they'll go so far out of their way to help you (especially if you're paying them for something, but also just if they think you might want to be friends with them!) On the way back, we had to wait at a gas station for our overnight bus to come pick us up. Apparently they didn't stop at Yangshuo, but made an exception for us because we had bought our ticket from "their friend." The bus driver called me on my cell phone and told our taxi driver where to drop us off. It was so shady! But we got home on Monday morning safe and sound.

I have to send in my "intention to return" letter this week for my program, so I've been weighing all the pros and cons of my life in China. Until this week, I had a very positively lopsided balance sheet. The ability to constantly travel, the high quality of life I lead considering the salary I make (including massages, eating out almost every night, pedicures, free rent and food during the day), the friendliness of Chinese people, and the appreciation I feel for just doing my job all make me want to come back. But, oh boy, how the shits and some nausea can change that. Bad China week, let me tell you. Along with the food poisoning, Cody and I both developed this weird flu-like thing that makes you sleep endlessly. One of the other symptoms is that your eyes get all swollen and hard to open. I'm not sure if the fact that I look more Chinese all of a sudden is a sign telling me to stay or go.

Regardless, swollen eyes and intestines aside, I'm really excited about coming home in the summer and seeing everyone! I fly into JFK on July 2nd, in time for the annual VA fourth of July party. If I'm a coordinator (I applied but the chances are slim) then I'd have to be back in China on August 3rd. If I'm in CTLC again, then I'd have to be back around August 20. The extra 17 days would be glorious...I've been more homesick this week than I've been all year! Because we've been forced to think about next year and the summer, I can't stop thinking about what I'll do when I'm home. I plan on taking a huge East Coast roadtrip, hitting Boston, maybe Vermont, Middletown, NYC, D.C., NOVA, maybe Fred, and probably Florida. I might just get a job next year with one of the private teaching centers here where I could make more money and live in an apartment that isn't attached to a school-- ie no groups of shouting students walking by my window at 7:30 in the morning or knocking on my door for extra help at 6 in the evening-- and then I could pick what date I'd come back on. Oh that'd be nice. Anyways, I find out about my job in the next two weeks, so I'll keep you posted. Love and kisses!!

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