The Best Thing About Living in China...

**Note to Reader: There was an error in my last blog! I claimed to see a Dragon Dance, but I was wrong- it was a Lion Dance! Just FYI.

**Reminder: Any text in my blog below that has orange text is a hyperlink. That means you can click on it and see another web page (i.e. my photo album) or right click on the orange text and select "Open in a New Window" to keep my blog open and see the other web page.

This blog will start with a long over-due geography lesson of where I am living in China. Below is a map of Xi'an with some place you may have read about or seen so far from my blogs and photos. Click on the map for a larger view!


This map was inspired by cousin Doug's facebook photo album "Where Gig Harbor is (for all you who don't know)" and powered by Google Earth (and, a note to Eric J, all layout done on MS paint... should have gotten PS CS before I left!). The map above includes some of the following hot spots:

Tang Paradise	Wild Goose Pagoda	My Apartment/School
TV Tower	City Center/Downtown	The Hutong

Study hard- you'll want to be able to cruise the city during your first visit while I'm busy during the day at school! Now that I've built some anticipation, on to...

The Best Part of China

I've only been here a month and I've already discovered my favorite part of being in China: riding a bicycle! Our apartment owns 6 bikes that the residents are allow to barrow whenever they like. I finally got around to borrowing one earlier this week and, eureka! In a matter of 3 days, I biked over 20 miles (I've been using my GPS unit to track my journeys)! There are so many reasons why I love riding a bicycle in China. I will try to cover them now:

1.) Having a bell- and using it!
All bikes in China have bells. I always thought the bike bell was a novelty for 1950's suburb kids to add a pleasant sound to the neighborhood. Now, I am experiencing the real purpose of bells on bicycles as I weave through streets full of other bikers and pedestrians.

2.) Exercise!?
I am beginning to understand just how spoiled I was my first couple weeks here in terms of weather. Now, the haze has arrived and good visibility is at about 2 blocks. It's been hard to decide how I want to exercise. Part of me really wants to avoid running because the air quality is so low and I would need to be up at a painful hour to get the cleanest air. By bike, I'm able to do some light exercising while exploring.

3.) Traffic!
There is a special kind of thrill that comes from riding a bicycle in China. My first journey on a bike, I was off to buy a guitar stand and a satchel or "man purse" (laugh all you want, but they are incredibly handy and totally acceptable in China. Plus, it's nice to know what I was missing out on all these years as a male with only a wallet). On the return trip, it was raining and dark and I found myself weaving between street lights to protect myself from the on-coming traffic. It's such a rush to pull out into a busy 4-way intersection using a bus as a shield or aiming for the back tire of a taxi as you cut across 4 lanes of traffic- the kind of stuff that would give your mother a heart attack (sorry mom!). It can't really be explain- just experienced. So far, I've followed this simple rule: never comfortable, but always confident.

4.) FREEDOM!
After 7 years of being able to drive, it was strange coming to China and having to rely on taxis, buses and my feet to get everywhere I needed to go. The obvious issue with taxis is the price (even though I rarely pay over $3 for a ride) and with both buses and taxis, it is helpful if you know where you are going. I'm all about walking, but the longer I'm hear, the more I want to explore further from the apartment and there are only so many hours in a day. The bike is perfect for getting around- I can be downtown in about 20 minutes (definitely faster than a bus).

Meeting My First Chinese Friend?!

Being here for a month now, I've met many Chinese people. I work with several at the school and many of the other teachers I work with have introduced me to some of their Chinese friends. Unfortunately I've had few good interactions with Chinese locals on my own... until this week!

Thanks to my new found love for bicycling, I was downtown last week just cruising. I had gotten off my bike to take a picture and a Chinese man came and said something about my bike. He noticed i was struggling with understanding his Chinese, so he began to talk to me in English. He was very good at English and we began to walk and talk.

He told me all about how he wanted to be an English teacher, we talked about the differences in table manors between Chinese and western cultures, we talked about some news and the difference in family structure between US and China- it was a great conversation!

After about an hour of walking, I told him we should get some dinner. We went to a delicious noodle restaurant and continued our time. His name is Jonathan and at the end our our evening I was sure to exchange cell phone numbers with him. I hope to see him again soon! The picture was a little blurry, but I had to get one with him since it was a big deal for me!

Other excitement from the week:

I tried to go back to Chinese corner at the cafe with Carrie, but the waiter said something about it not happening... maybe for a month? We decided to order some ice tea anyways and play a card game. About 10 minutes into our card game we were told we could not play cards (we figured this was because there is so much gambling in China) but the waiter brought us Chinese checkers- that was fun!

I was invited to dinner with by one of my student’s parents. It ended up being me and three other teachers and two families. The dinner was at a fancy restaurant and the food was really good. I sat next to my students at the table and we tried to trick each other with riddles the whole time. It was a great time.

Oh yeah- we played dodge ball in PE- that was cool too!

Well, that's it for now-
Thanks for reading!