Strawberry Point, Iowa is home to the world’s largest (and probably only) strawberry statue. New Salem, North Dakota and Arlington, Texas arguably both have the world’s largest fiberglass cow. The largest ball of twine belongs to Darwin, Minnesota, and when passing through Rugby, North Dakota, make sure to note the geographical center of North America. Of all the things Montana can boast, some of the truly remarkable icons/bests would either be how cold it was on a certain day in a certain spot, or the longest, straightest length of highway with absolutely nothing to see… [View Full Entry]

---

---

For today we offer a few small observations towards food; namely eggs and dessert. Two foods we all think, from time to time, that we should or could do without. Let us all be honest with ourselves; we love both and do well to enjoy both in moderation and perhaps coupled with a bit of exercise at least in the spirit of good health. First, I present the egg; hard-boiled and steeped in tea. 茶叶蛋, pronounced chá yè dàn, literally means “tea leaf egg”. These busters can be picked up at nearly any stand along the street, inside temples, at bus [View Full Entry]

---

---

In Madison, Wisconsin everyone from ages 3 to 60 puts on a costume and shows the town a good time. In Billings, Montana, the kids get excited and go out trick-or-treating fully clad in snow coats and boots to tromp through the snow or in costumes and tennis shoes to run around in the warm autumn air. In Iowa City, the college students go out and party and the little kids go from house to house to collect their treats. In Tacoma, Washington kids run around with umbrellas and rain jackets covering up their costumes, and in Spokane, no one really [View Full Entry]

---

---

The very first week of school was spent sitting tight within the school’s H1N1 quarantine (only applicable to foreigners, as the Chinese teachers came and went as they pleased). In past years new teachers were taken out paint the town with a complimentary tour de Yangzhou. In an effort to make reprieve for our immobile time lost, the school gave us a park pass for free entry into any one of Yangzhou's multiple parks. Last Friday afternoon was the first day our passes went into effect and we hopped on our bicycles and took advantage as quickly as possible. Boy, oh [View Full Entry]

---

---

The Chinese love their rice - and out-eat their nearest competition (India) by nearly 9:1 (thanks Wikipedia). Here in Yangzhou, rice harvesting season has officially arrived and the beautiful golden fields are seeing a flurry of labor and movement. Every rice field in the Jiangsu Province has been harvested and the grains of rice stripped from their plant. The still-green grains of rice can be seen drying on pretty much every available flat surface in China - soaking up the warm sun and drying out before being hulled. Nothing is left to waste and the rice straw is bundled up to [View Full Entry]

---

---

Last Friday the two of us boarded the overnight express train, Z29, from Yangzhou to Beijing. Around 6:30 a.m. we arrived to a beautiful, clear, crisp Beijing. The main objective of this trip north was to run in the Beijing International Marathon. Our traveling companions consisted of my running buddy Asunsun Halim, his wife, Gyu, their dangerously cute 19-month-old son Eugene, and four other co-teachers; four of which ran in either the half or full marathon. It was now the third weekend in October we had spent in the Northern Capital and we felt like we were returning to an old [View Full Entry]

---

---

About halfway into the fall, the Chinese celebrate two holidays - Mid-Autumn Festival and National Week. The first holiday usually marks a long weekend of eating Moon Cakes (a rich date-filled pastry-ish treat-ish) and family time. The latter holiday marks, for the better part of a week, a mass mobilization of most of China when everyone plays tourist while waving small Chinese flags. This year the two holidays collided and we found ourselves with a solid double holiday of ten days. China’s National Week was of particular interest being that it marked the 60th anniversary of the curr [View Full Entry]

---

---

Similar to the market back home in the good ol' US of A, there is usually the factory, the middle man, the other middle man, the distributer, and then the actual store where one can purchase a product. One cool thing about China, while they may require the use of ID in many, many places (to buy a cell phone, a train ticket, a plane ticket, and stay in a hostel, etc. ), they do not require anything at all to go to the wholesale markets. Because of the one-two punch of constant humidity/heat and mosquitoes, many people have these sweet [View Full Entry]

---

---

I’ve been training for the Beijing marathon and my running buddy and coworker, Halim, had penciled in a long run for the day. We ran from the far east side of town, straight through the mayhem of Yangzhou, and finished at the train station on the far west side of town. We hopped into a taxi and three dollars and 12 miles later, hopped out of the car and strolled through the School gates. It was officially my first taxi-assisted run. I think there are more of these such runs for me in the future… Later that day Elizabeth and I [View Full Entry]

---

---

I suppose I’m not the first international traveler/teacher to describe this sentiment, but I’m the first person to write about it on the Kelly and Elizabeth blog. The feeling I’m talking about is the extreme waves of complete loneliness followed by extreme waves of complete elation. The feeling of loneliness I suppose is partially because of the language barrier. I’ve been working pretty hard at learning the language… writing down words I want to remember, trying to learn the names of dishes, and attempting to take conversation further than “good mor [View Full Entry]

---

---