Blogs from Jilin, China, Asia - page 3

I have a week off from teaching, so I took a trip to Harbin for the weekend. I went with my girlfriend Lisa. We left from the Changchun train station on Saturday and returned by train on Monday evening. We set off after lunch for the light rail train to the cities major train station. There was a warning at the entry to the light rail Lisa translated "If the first train is too full, please wait for the next. We will not issue any refunds due to overcrowding". My height guaranteed access to "fresh" air at least every time the train doors opened. Many others were not as fortunate. We arrived at the train station and found out waiting room nearly as full. You can get an idea from the picture I have included. The ... read more

Hey everyone! I haven't updated in a very long time-- so this is going to take a while. Where should I start? How about at Thanksgiving? Well, we had a Thanksgiving party at our place and invited all of our coworkers. There were about 25 people there, and most people brought food with them. I made a turkey (that was HUGE-- seriously the biggest turkey I have ever seen), stuffing, green bean casserole, and gravy. Everyone loved the food and had a good time. :) Before Christmas, we went skiing/snowboarding for the first time. I was skiing, Michael was snowboarding. It was so much fun! I only stayed on the easy hill, but it was awesome, and I would like to actually learn how to ski better. Michael had a tough time with snowboarding-- it's really ... read more

On the way back from breakfast today, I was reminded of one of the special Chinese customs that I have not written about up to this point. I thought it would be good to write about it before it seems to mundane to me. I see it everywhere, except in my classroom. On the streets, in the hallways, and some market areas. In fact many times just the sound of it reminds me of what we are missing in the US. So today as I was walking back to the teachers buidling from the dining hall. There was a Chinese woman walking toward me. She closely resembled one of our building supervisors. So I wanted to say "Good Morning" but also wanted to make sure it was her. As she got closer I realized this was ... read more

Because the whole group (consisting of all the international students) wanted to make a trip to Changbai Shan, and because the place is not easily accessible without transport, the Chinese students proposed to go on a trip organized by a tour organization. In the end, unfortunately none of our Chinese classmates could join us on the trip. Especially I was a bit sceptic towards the whole Chinese way of going on tours, but because it is the only option to visit Changbai Shan and because everyone was joining I decided to participate. Of course, it is also part of the Chinese experience to go on a real Chinese tour... The nine of us went by taxi to the train station of Harbin, which was crowded as always. The woman from the travel agency, recognizable due to ... read more

Last Wednesday I had a dinner that I won't soon forget. It was the "Chinese Valentine's Day". Come to find out it wasn't celebrated by many Chinese in this area. It was advertised in Wal-mart, well I think that was the advertisement, I big end display of chocolates in heart shaped boxes. Well anyway I was getting sick of eating the food that I prepared.....anyone guess what I have been eating..............Noodles. Not Ramen, unless that is what the Chinese characters mean. I have also been eating some fruits and vegetables, the ones that I recognize. I just can't seem to buy the chicken wings from the huge tub in the aisle at Wal-Mart. I would take pictures if it didn't seem so tourist. I mean really, when is the last time you took a picture inside ... read more