Perhaps it was the poor sleeping conditions or the lack of friendly smiles being seen as we would roll into a town or maybe even the fact that our 40 pound bags were weighing us down; whichever reason or excuse you decided to go with the truth of the matter is... slow travel was proving to be too slow and too stretched out for our wallets. So, without much talk and just a look between Simone and I we knew our walking days were over ( for now, let's not get too depressing) Jumping on a bus that ended up making [View Full Entry]

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A piece of my personal journal and journey.... "Today is the day we call Day One. Because today held the morning where we rose from our restless, peaceless night of sleep at the starting hour of 5 am to begin this adventure. Walking sticks in hand and our eyes adjusting to the still night light, we started walking. The early morning hours would show us the beauty that we would be surrounded by... limestone mountains jugging up without notice, twist and turns, ups and downs all with very green lushish trees and unripened fruit. Cow patties and dead frogs. These were [View Full Entry]

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Early rising is not for us. We're not those kinds of travellers. We're more of the dirty, smelly and now being added to the list, lazy kind of trekking girls. I would like to say that it's strictly due to the heat, to the days closing in on us where we're unable to sleep till noon. When the time is not gripping us to heave on our packs but instead casually and oh so cooly just lay out in the sun beaten patio deck with a local beer. Yes, doesn't that sound better. Lazy can be a delicious sin. Yangshuo, the [View Full Entry]

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Transitions times Little moments have collected and rolled into themselves making them almost hard to remember…months have past without any real evidences of time moving forward. I’ve been moving though; and I have scars and stories to show for it. With my contact of one year finally ending, and I do stress that finally ending I flew with much hesitation back to the home land. Although I cried and didn’t welcome leaving my students, it wasn’t till I felt the freedom of being able to travel again that I was truly happy. Being back in Canada was without knowing [View Full Entry]

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When I lack the words of what to write sometimes I know just need to start with something, anything. This is that something. I imagine everyone has those words that there are dying to be released from inside of them. It’s been too long since I’ve written and I’m feeling the build up. Problem is though, time has suppressed so many of those stories that I know I want to have in writing, and to share with all of you back home. The small stories, the ones that make it real; the ones that prove to me that I am living [View Full Entry]

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New changes are happening everywhere I look; within myself, my city and my friends. The semester ending has left parts of the city, especially those near the university empty and almost unused. Many of the thousands of students have returned home to their local city far from here. Like the students, many of the foreign teachers have taken this summer holiday as a chance to travel. I, myself just came back from a two week trip up north. It started with a very early morning train ride to Beijing with a friend of mine, Dusty. We didn’t stay long in [View Full Entry]

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Something in the way it feels out here makes me so happy Settling in here and starting to get really comfy. Although I’m still lacking things I feel are essential I am enjoying my time here. Time has been disappearing so quickly since I’ve arrived here, and now with only a few months left lately I’ve been wondering what the end of the contract will bring for me. There are so many options that for someone like me who wants to do everything I feel more than slightly overwhelm at times. My comfort in those thoughts is that I don’t [View Full Entry]

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So I’ve been in China now for about 3 weeks, seems a rather short amount of time and yet enough time has past for me to get into the groove of how most things work around here. I have discovered a rather useful phrase know as TIC which means ‘This is China’ and it is amazing how often I find myself thinking how true that statement is. It really just refers to how there seems to be a constant flow of organized chaos. And for someone who is foreign to the way things are done here, we can only just [View Full Entry]

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New pictures, mostly of Xuzhou. [View Full Entry]

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I’ve been living in a city called Xuzhou for the last four days, and I will continue to stay here for the next six months. I have an apartment with two other teachers near the heart of the city. The school I work at is only a ten minute walk through street vendors, men playing strange title games and women sweeping the streets with branches. The city is not glamorous or clean in anyway, but what it lacks in hygiene it makes up in delicious food and wonderful people. This city in particular is known for their spicy menu, and I [View Full Entry]

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