A few weeks ago Bradford, a teacher here in Guilin for nearly 7 years now, organized what he called The Cave Party. I was a little hesitant about attending, but he assured me that fun would be had by all, so I agreed. On a Saturday night, myself and about 30 other foreigners (and some Chinese) gathered outside of the Shida campus where I teach. We hopped on a bus that took us about 15 minutes outside of town and dropped us off on a deserted corner in the dark. With Bradford as our guide we walked on a dirt path [View Full Entry]

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Guilin lived up to its name the week I got Meimei. Guilin is Chinese for "Forrest of Osmanthus Trees." Trees allover the city burst with tiny, fragrant flowers. It was like swimming in a perfume bottle for an entire week. Osmanthus tea is famous here, and I saw dozens of little old women picking the flowers from the lower-hanging branches. I assume that they were gathering the petals to make the tea. At first I thought I recognized the smell of the flowers from one of my favorite perfumes that I bought this last summer, but then I realized that the [View Full Entry]

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Two weeks ago I went with Katie and her two bosses to the Bird and Flower Market a few kilometers north of campus. It was beautiful, and heartbreaking all at the same time. Not only were there beautiful plants and flowers for sale, but all kinds of birds and various other animals. Small turtles and fish were stacked in buckets being sold for three kuai a piece (about 45 cents), rabbits, gerbils, hamsters, guineapigs...even chipmunks were crammed into small cages and being sold for hardly anything to be kept as pets...or to be served for dinner. On the way in and [View Full Entry]

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October 3, 2009 - The New Moon Festival fell on our second full day in China. Our hostel held a large barbeque that night with lots of fresh seafood, and vegetables that we skewered ourselves and cooked over a trough full of hot coals. That style of barbeque is really popular in China. A lot of the people staying in the hostel came down to the patio a little before dark. We drank beer together and had our formal introductions while the girls who worked in the hostel prepared the food and set up for dinner. I met a group of [View Full Entry]

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We caught the train October 1st (National Day) at 10:45...and rode for about 10 hours to Zhanjiang (a city on the southern coast of Guangzhou province). The views were both beautiful and surreal, but the ride was crowded and uncomfortable. A hundred or more people crammed into the train car in Guilin, and most of them rode for 6-7 hours, leaving us only a few precious hours to stretch our legs out in our seats. We played several rounds of musical chairs with the people sitting near us in order to be close enough to talk to one another. Every once [View Full Entry]

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Tomorrow the guys and I take off for Hainan Island. Given everything I have heard about Hainan, and Sanya (where we will be staying)...I get to look forward to spending a week in the Honalulu of China. I wanted to post a few more pictures to tide you over until I get back from my trip. Apart from the picture of my class...this may give you an eye into my weekends. [View Full Entry]

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Steve, Owen, Phil, Tyler and I have decided what we will do for our Fall Break. We are going to Hainan Island, off the coast of Vietnam. We can't buy our train tickets until tomorrow (one week before the trip), and we will stay for just short of a week in a hostel on the beach. As far as the traveling - we will be taking a train for eight hours SSW of Guilin, where we will catch a bus. The bus runs for one hour to the coast, where we will catch a ferry to the island. If we leave [View Full Entry]

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Katie and I met for lunch last Thursday. She is a God-send. It is soooooo nice to have a girl around to spend time with. I feel like I am literally drowning in testosterone. We met at FLS so she could say "hi" to some of the teachers she worked with the year before last, then we started walking. We went south past my school...and that's when I found it. There was a huge open-air market that was built into a giant warehouse. People were selling all kinds of colorful, exotic fruits and vegetables, rice wine and nuts...and there was a [View Full Entry]

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Here are som photos that I managed not to accidentally delete from my camera. I have been having a little trouble with my cameras...so I will do my best to take more photos and post them now that I have figured out how to post. [View Full Entry]

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It's been a little while since I posted. Classes started a few weeks ago. Teaching ESL has it's ups and downs. Most of the kids seem to idolize us...despite the fact that they don't seem to understand us half the time. I have become a bit strict. I don't know how else to get them to treat me like their teacher, instead of a circus attraction, (the white woman at the front of the classroom). I've made a few girls in my various classes cry. :( I start teaching Spanish on Monday. I will have 2 Spanish lessons a week on [View Full Entry]

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