Greetings friends, family, and lost web surfers, December in China is just lovely. Christmas decorations are all over the city. Twinkle lights sparkle in palm trees along city streets and beautifully decorated trees are in the lobby of every hotel. I wasn’t expecting this at all. Christmas in China? You betcha. I’m sitting inside my smoky webcafe surrounded by old Chinese men playing poker and hundreds of delicate paper snowflakes hanging from the ceiling. A white western looking Santa Claus is in the corner smiling lovingly while I type away. I so didn’t expect this. Santa window clings and reindeer are pictured in most store windows while the malls are draped in tinsel red and green. I didn’t expect THIS. Christmas, apparently, is international. Christmas sweaters, gifts under the tree, jingle bells on the radio. I. ... read more

Pri-VET English world, Guangdong is suddenly very cold. I went outside today and immediately ran back up to my apartment to grab my big Wisconsin hoody. I thought it certainly must have reached a historic low... I just checked and its 67 degrees outside... What's happening to me? I should be embarrassed. My friends in Wisconsin would laugh at me. People are wearing jackets, jeans, and scarves outside. You would think it's about to snow. I mean it IS kind of windy, that doesn’t help right? Weatherman says we should be leaving this ice age by the end of the week and returning safely back to 80 degree weather. Thank God. Aside from miserable weather life has been really fantastic. I have been reaping the benefits of being the sole western representative in a city of ... read more

Hello Aliens, Sik jaw faan may? Where is that large automobile.... Anyway I am in the midst of another holiday. I have about two weeks free for Mid Autumn festival and National Day. The communists just finished tossing themselves a big party because it was their 60th birthday on October 1st. Currently there are firecrackers exploding in the street outside my window and small puffs of smoke floating by my balcony. These are not your typical American firecrackers. They are heart attack inducing, earth shaking bombs. You know those super loud fireworks they use only at professional displays in the States. Well they string like 100 of them together and light them off in the streets. Not the best wake up call, I promise you. There are large flower displays and Chinese flags flying all over ... read more

Greetings Comrades! The past week was one of the better of my life. I ventured out to an isolated ancient Chinese city deep in the mountains of Hunan called Fenghuang. The journey was epic. Short of writing a novel I really can't recite all the stories and experiences I encountered along the way. Hopefully a few of my pictures can capture your imagination better than this babble. The adventure began last Monday morning. My alarm laughing loudly at my daily morning rage. I showered quickly and fumbled around in the dark shoving what clean clothes I had into my backpack. Late as always I flew down the five flights of stairs and caught a taxi to the bus station where I was meeting Tyler my friend and traveling partner. He was late too and we missed ... read more

Ni Hao friendly people, I'm still alive and kicking in the PRC. Sorry about the lack of an update as of late. I had a really busy week of school and then I managed to get sick with some nasty little bug that really put me out of commission. Happy to report that I am feeling a LOT better and should be in tip top shape in no time. If I had to guess I'd say it was caused by strange hybrid mix of heat, stinky tofu, and 1000 year old eggs. I will probably never know... BUT 1000 year old eggs are REAL, and I did eat them, you shouldn't. Ha Actually they are pretty harmless but they do look like the name implies. The past couple weeks have been filled with teaching, Buddhist temple ... read more