http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , China , Zhejiang en-us Wed, 11 Nov 09 00:41:36 +0000 Wed, 11 Nov 09 00:41:36 +0000 First Day I slept for ages last nightthis morning. Tarik woke me up at 11.30 but i would have slept longer if I could. Am still yawning as i sit and type this...I visited Tarik's school today. He's done a lovely job with it. Goo sized classrooms andd a glass wall and a welcoming waiting area. He's teaching at a chinese school just now and I was going to go with him but had to go and register at http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-450619.html We woke up around 630am probably the earliest we've set our alarms for since being in China other than the whole training in Beijing thing... as we rarely have to teach before 9am. It's a tough life. It was a bit chilly outside so being up that early and showering on the balcony sans hot water we still haven't figured that out wasn't the most fun but it had to be done. We'd quickly packed http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-449892.html The bus ride from Suzhou to Hangzhou went faster than I thought. At arrival it took a while before I found the right bus stop to the hostel but when I finally found it the ride went very well. And then I have to say taking the bus is more fun than to get into a taxi that brings you to your destination at once.After having checked in the hostel I decided to do completely nothing that day. The http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-449110.html Zhouzhuang once is enough http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Suzhou/blog-448036.html Huqiu Penmen The Surging Waves Pavilion http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Suzhou/blog-448035.html The Lion Grove Garden The MasterofNets Garden The Lingering Garden Fengqiao http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Suzhou/blog-448033.html The Humble Administrator's Garden the best garden of the world http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Suzhou/blog-448032.html Longjin tea http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-448028.html Xihu West Lake is a really nice place http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-448024.html heavy rain http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-448022.html Here in China all 6 million people get the same week off in October for traveling home to see their families. Great idea...not. It's kind of like the chaos of Christmas travel in the US. Except a billion times worse. Of course it was my time off too and I wasn't going to sit around Suzhou for a week so I fought the swarms of people to see which surrounding cities still had bus tickets available. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Putuoshan/blog-446962.html So I have been studying quite a bit but as we all know I do occasionally go out on the townhellip and this post is dedicated to the most interesting two nights I have had in the first month or so that I have been here.My First Chance at Stardom Josh as the Lead Singer of a Chinese Rock BandI have a Chinese friend named Tommy who I met at a bar near my house. Tommy is a student also but on t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-442851.html Since I rarely bring my camera with me I thought I would shoot a few photos of Huzhou and some specific places that I like here.Wuxing Shiyan Zhongxue This is the middle school that I teach at. We have some 700 students some of whom board at the school. It is a socalled experimental middle school that has a more progressive curriculum that deemphasizes rote memorization for standardized tes http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Zhejiang/blog-441978.html Yesterday October 1 was National Day in China which celebrates the founding of the People's Republic of China. Since we have a week of vacation it is a normal time for people to travel to different cities or to return to their home towns. While it is normally a big holiday here this year it is especially big because it is the 60th anniversary 19492009.I was lucky enough to be invited by on http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Zhejiang/blog-441374.html A special Nanbeihu entry.Helloooo everyoneSince staff training ended it's been pretty much non stop for those good enough to be picked to do actual work p. Katie being fabulous beyond belief or in fact just white and female the two things missing from the other Nan staff was selected to go to Nanbeihu where there were two back to back trips. To get there the staff had to undergo a gr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-440919.html 4 stndige Busfahrt nach Hangzhou. Wir sitzen in einem Doppeldeckerbus ganz vorne direkt vor der Scheibe es dmmert wir schweigen IPod an ich lasse den Blick ber das Land schweifen und in meinem Kopf summt eshellip bdquoDie Eisenbahn fhrt durch unbekanntes Land vorbei an gold'nen Feldern tiefen Flssen und zum Strand. Der Vorhang vor dem Fenster flattert durchs Abteil. Und ich ve http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/blog-440491.html So I am at the end of me second week of school and I couldnrsquot be happier. I have class every morning except Mondays when it is in the afternoon. Starting next week I will also be taking a class in Kung Fu Tai Chi and Chinese calligraphy the last one surprises me also. Our language classes are divided up into 3 different courses Grammar Spoken and Listening. Grammar is our core cl http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-440079.html Depending on who you ask Huzhou is a city of somewhere between 12.5 million people. This population is quite large by American standards especially considering that many buildings here are over 20 stories. However in China it is not big so it is often described by people here as a quaint place that is nice to live in. In the words of a Chinese teacher here people here seem to believe that Hu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Zhejiang/blog-439010.html Anmerkung Es gehoeren noch Fotos dazu. Die werden demnaechst nachgeliefert wenn ich eine bessere Verbindung habe.Am frhen Morgen habe ich Risas Apartment in Shanghai verlassen und bin mit dem Zug nach Hangzhou gefahren. Obwohl Hauptstadt der an Shanghai angrenzenden Provinz Zhejiang und mit einer Einwohnerzahl von ber 6 Millionen ist Hangzhou fr chinesische Verhltnisse doch recht berschauba http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/Hangzhou/blog-438738.html Hello.I wanted to quickly upload some pictures and talk about the work. I was walking up very steep inclines up to 55 degrees and taking measurements on seedlings. The work was exposed as there is no forest at this time as a result of planting 100000 trees in March. Still there are a lot of climbers vines with thorns and caterpillars that hurt like hell and leave discolored blisterin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Zhejiang/blog-437853.html