Bradley in China!

Epilogue: The Final Post!

2010-05-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

This blog post has been looooooong overdue. I'm not sure why I didn't write this earlier... so, in an effort to make it seem intentional, we'll call it an Epilogue.

...How do you wrap-up a year of your life in a different country? Join me as I reflect on my amazing year: August 2008 - August 2009!

The 2008 Olympic Games

What an incredible way to begin my journey! Knowing I would have family to meet me when I arrived in China made it so much easier to board that 14 hour flight. Nothing felt quite like meeting Monica and Andrew that first night in Beijing or watching Amanda compete in the "Cube" or climbing the Great Wall for the first time. I knew from that first experience with China, it was going to be a great year!

My home, Xi'an

Growing up, I never experienced city life. Living in Gig Harbor, we could always drive to Tacoma or Seattle but it was quite different to actually live inside a city of over 9 million people. The sounds, the sites, public transportation, long walks exploring new areas, even the pollution- it all became familiar as my new home. City life will always have a place in my heart after that year.

"Work"

It's hard to even call it work. Not because it was easy, but because it just felt right. Being a teacher at Xi'an International School taught me so much and I'll never forget my students and the amazing staff. I love them all very, very much and miss them very, very much (I totally teared-up while adding their pictures to this blog).

Thailand

Although everyday was a new and fun experience, the only thing that could compare to that first day in China was arriving in Thailand in the middle of January. To leave the polluted, crowded, cold city of Xi'an and land in the tropical, rural town of Ao'Luk, Thailand greeted by the Grooters sisters is something I can't put in words. From the white island beaches to the busy street of Bangkok- Thailand was a blast!

New Friends

The greatest part of living in a new place is the friends you make. I'm so thankful for all the people I met and I always felt supported- they were my second family. One friend gets a special shout out- Cari Cook! My friendship with Cari enriched my year in China in EVERY WAY (it was a Skype Convo with Cari that finally got me to write this post!).

Old Friends... and family!

I never notice being homesick. I rarely found myself longing to leave or being overwhelmed with thought of home. I have Skype and visitors to thank for that! Nothing in China could compare to the feeling of seeing old friends and loved ones- my brother coming for my birthday, seeing the Grooters in Thailand, T's visit in the summer and the grand finale with my parents!

China

I have such a better understanding of the Chinese people and their culture. I will always smile when I see a group of elderly Chinese doing Tai Chi or cheap paper decorations in a Chinese restaurant window.

So, this is it. I'm finally bringing some closure to this blog- 45 posts after it started (that seems like a good number to end on). I want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who read my blog. It's weird writing these because you really have no idea who is reading (if anyone). It means so much that you followed my adventures and I hope this blog at some point was informative or at least entertaining.

Thanks for reading- 再见朋友!

If you want to hear more stories from China, check out Cari's Blog... but you better hurry- she leaves in less that two months!

But wait... what about August 2009 to May 2010?!
Can't get enough of the blogging excitement? You are welcome to check out my latest adventures on my brand new blog:

Joe and Sally in China: Part II

2009-07-30T22:04:00.000-07:00

It's official- I'm BACK IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!! It was amazing year but it feels great to be home! I'm doing some traveling at the moment and I will be making every effort to see everyone I can as soon as possible. Thanks for following my blog, but it ain't over yet! Here is the second post from our guest author, Joe Thomas covering our last week in China!
Our 24 day adventure to China has come to an end with a return to a scorching, and beautiful, Gig Harbor. We concluded our touring with 3 days in Hong Kong. While technically a part of China (under English rule until 1997), this huge, modern, westernized city was a major contrast to the rest of the cities we visited. While here, Brad commented on a number of occasions that it felt as though he had already left China behind. It was typically much easier to communicate in English than for Brad to use his Chinese and most Americans could navigate Hong Kong without too much trouble. We were up early on Tuesday and after a trip across the river on the Star Ferry we spent one full day finding our way around the Hong Kong area in local double-decker buses (driving on the opposite side of the road, like England).

Buses on the crowed and winding streets of Hong Kong
Our first stop was at the local fishing village of Aberdeen where we took a short river ride, in a sampan, through the fishing boats and to a huge floating restaurant, Jumbo. Next stop was the Stanley Market where we anticipated some of the great Chinese bargains and the bartering that go with them … not so true. Stanley was more of a touristy shopping area with little motivation on the seller’s part and fairly fixed prices (this was generally true of most of Hong Kong), although we did manage a couple of purchases. Back on the bus to appreciate a beautiful sandy beach at Repulse Bay – not much open water during the previous part of our trip. Enjoyed the sun for a couple of hours and did brave the rather gross water to cool off in the 35o C (95o F) weather. We were then back to the city and took a bus to The Peak where we marveled at the breathtaking view of Hong Kong from a point high above the city. Returned to the Hong Kong waterfront, had a quick Subway sandwich, watched the light show along the river and Star Ferry back to our hotel room.

The tropical feeling Repluse Bay
During our 24 day, 23 night journey we enjoyed some very unique and interesting food and accommodations. We spent 2 nights “sleeping” on the plane to and from China, one night on an overnight train from Xi’An to Shanghai, 6 nights in Beijing, 3 nights in Guilin/Yangshou, 4 nights in Xi’An, 5 nights in Shanghai and 2 nights in Hong Kong. Most of those nights were spent in modest, inexpensive hostels. A new adventure for Sally and I, these local community hostels provided very comfortable accommodations and the opportunity to meet some really interesting travelers. In some cases we had our own private bathroom, but usually a shared bathroom with other guests. In the hutong area of Beijing Brad slept in a 6-person dorm room and Sally and I had our own private room. We finished up with 2 nights in Hong Kong where we stayed in a more traditional type hotel room on the 14th floor of the YMCA with a panoramic view of the Hong Kong skyline and river. It was an awesome spot and a truly magnificent view.

Sally and Brad outside the YMCA of Hong Kong
We ate and drank a wide variety of food and beverage (a lot of bottled water) items while trying to stay pretty traditional in our Chinese selections and not taking too many risks with crazy unknown “delicacies.” We did make brief appearances in Kentucky Fried Chicken (they are everywhere in China), Baskin & Robbins and Starbucks – but that was more for the air conditioning than anything else. In my opinion, the most enjoyable meal experiences took place in the “down the alley and around the corner” small family operated restaurants where the only communication had to be through Brad’s Chinese (which in many cases was described as very good but locals). These are places most tourists would never happen upon but were the places Brad had come to know and frequent by way of his previous experiences. They were typically a 3 or 4 person operation and it was not uncommon to have a teenage child excited to try out their use of the English language on us. Probably my most memorable eating experience was the place in Xi’An where Brad was a regular. To get to it we walked through small shopping alleys, markets that sold local varieties of fruits and vegetable, every type of whole, skinned bird one could imagine (all unrefrigerated, of course) and the local people who were going about the everyday business of surviving in their 100 square foot shops. At the restaurant, Brad was clearly recognized by the mother and small girl as a regular customer. They visited some in Chinese as we ordered from the strictly Chinese menu. The father cooked the meal over a coal fire in the heat and humidity of an adjoining open air room. The fumes from the coal generated a rather ugly smell and caused all 3 of us to cough. Of course, chopsticks were the only eating utensils (as was the case during most of our trip), we purchased a local beverage from the little store next door and one did not need to worry about a little spillage on the table as that seemed to be the norm throughout China. As we finished another delicious meal, Brad explained it would be his last time to visit and heartfelt good-byes were exchanged.

The people we came in contact with throughout our travels were fantastic. I can honestly say that in the big cities (subways, train stations and busses included), in the countryside and in places where we were the occasional visitor I never felt one bit uncomfortable or threatened. In fact, it was the smiles and welcoming looks of the Chinese people that will provide a lasting memory of our trip. Admittedly, the Chinese people have some different cultural norms: “squatty pottys,” spitting anywhere is not unusual, eating in a seeming manner-less way is common and a habit Brad will be trying to break, aggressive driving, walking across streets and crowding to the front of a subway line is expected, baby’s pooping and peeing anywhere is OK (with “baby-pants” and no diapers what else is possible?). Throughout it all, however, there is a tremendous sense of pride in their surroundings as evidenced by the cleanliness of nearly all areas of even the busiest sections of the big cities and the most remote local communities. We were welcomed by Chinese people of all types: those living in cave dwellings, those living in big cities, those living in rural villages, those running a restaurant or small business, those whom we had just spent 10 minutes bartering over a measly 10 yuan ($1.40), those working in the hostels and especially the lady selling peaches around the corner from our hostel in Shanghai.

We came in contact with people from the past. A big priority was to meet with our Tsinghua High School friends. We made contact with them and had a nice visit and lunch with Jenny our first day in China. We received the tremendous hospitality of Lara as she drove us through insane Beijing traffic (she has only been driving one year) from the Birdsnest to the 798 Art District and then to her apartment where we were her first dinner guests in her home (with the help of some of her extended family including baby Yo Yo). Shi Ping and Helen treated us to a very first class dinner in a beautiful restaurant that included Chinese Opera type entertainment and unbelievable surroundings and service. We met and visited with Brad’s principal, wife and 5-day old baby, Zach, from Xi’An International School at the hospital in Beijing. We received a tour of the new and beautiful XIS from Jon Stewart and then later met his wonderful family for a dinner in Xi’An. We also met Ty (Brad’s roommate) and a couple of other friends while in Xi’An. Our one regret – we did not get a chance to meet Cari, (Brad’s great friend, fellow teacher and adventurer in Xi’An). She was home in Alabama for the summer. Steve Neufer hosted us for drinks in Shanghai and coincidentally on the final leg of our flight home from SF to Sea-Tac we sat next to a long time friend from University Place, Donna Zelazny, and our flight attendant was Cynthia (Warren Willoughby’s girlfriend).

We also met numerous new friends during our travels. I will try not ramble with all the details but mention a couple: the French family of 5, including 3 young blond kids (they were the talk of the Chinese locals on our tour of the Tarracotta Warriors), the guy and wife from Turkey, previously from New York who we saw on a tour of the Great Wall and then again more than a week later at an obscure temple in Xi’An – quite a coincidence, Jakie and family who owned the Lakeside and Riverside hostels in Guilin and a couple of the local people who led tours for us (Ada on the Li River cruise and countryside tour and Clarence on the Tarracotta Warrior tour).

However, the most valued “friend” we encountered for the entire 24 day trip was none other than our son, Brad. After an enriching and very rewarding 11 months in Xi’An, Brad was able to be a most gracious and understanding travel partner. He put us with his mom and dad’s (especially mom’s) annoyances; he revisited some of the tourist spots for the 4th time without complaining but instead providing insightful information and he survived the anticipation of the countdown to his return home. It was a great pleasure for us to travel with and watch as Brad communicated in Chinese with the locals, navigated his way around the hectic streets and planned our busy travel schedule. I am not sure what the future holds for Brad but I am certain that the experiences, people and culture he has lived with for the past year in China will serve him well.

Thanks for reading … if you are still there.
Joe & Sally

Check out more pictures from Hong Kong in Joe and Sally's Album HERE!

...and that's not all! I still have a couple "wrap-up" blogs I think I would like to write. Since I'm unemployed... I should be able to find some time to take care of that! -Brad

Joe and Sally in China: Part I

2009-07-23T17:16:00.000-07:00

大家好！Hello everyone!
It has been 20 days since my last post and I've been super-busy traveling with my parents. For this blog, we have a guest author; my father Joe Thomas! Enjoy!

Will try to keep this short and interesting, but doubt either of those will happen since we have spent about 15 action packed days in this exciting country of 1.3 billion people. TJ dropped us off at the Gig Harbor shuttle and a mere 36 hours of travel later we met up with Brad in the Beijing Airport. Since that time we have traveled by airplane, bus, overnight train (17 hour trip from Xi'An to Shanghai that included the 9:30 am darkness of the solar eclipse), big boats, little boats, bamboo boats, 10 passenger electric cart, 2 passenger "beng beng che", crowded but very efficient subways, numerous reasonably priced taxis (varying degrees of white knuckle trips through seeming uncontrolled traffic of the big cities, little cities and countryside) and finally uncounted miles of walking to experience China up close and personal.


Airplane in Hong Kong- Transfer 1 of 3 on trip to Beijing!	River cruise on Bamboo boat in Yangshuo

Playing cards with our friend on an overnight train from Xi'an to Shanghai	Crowded Subway in Beijing

The sights we have seen have included spectacular must-see sights in Beijing, Xi'An and Shanghai: The Summer Palace (an amazing summer destination for the emperor and one of my favorite spots), the 2008 Olympics Park (sight of the Bird's Nest and Water Cube), Tianneman Square and the Forbidden City (jam packed with people), the Temple of Heaven (a beautiful place of worship, although the sacrificial animals probably did not think so), the Lama Temple (including many practicing Budhists burning incense as they worship), a tour to the Great Wall (included stops at an underground Ming tomb, a jade factory, a silk factory and the incredible hike along the great wall, which included the more touristy, but fun, chair lift up and toboggan ride back down to the bus), the amazing Terracotta Warrior Museum in Xi'An (a spectacular combination of history, discovery and ongoing archeological work that one must experience to really appreciate), the Bell Tower and Drum Tower (where Brad signaled the beginning of the day by ringing the bell and end of the day by hitting the drum), the amazing architecture of the Bund and PuDong sections of Shanghai (a big, modern, more western city with never ending skyscrpapers that can only be described by "wow.")


Joe and Sally at the Forbidden City	All of us at the Great Wall of China

All of us at the Terracotta Warriors site.	Sally and Brad with the luggage arriving in Shanghai. 10 to carry between three people!

We have also seen many equally as interesting but less known sights. In Beijing we visited the 798 Art District (a collection of numerous art galleries containing some very unique exhibits and pieces of art). Also a trip to "Shangrila" a few kilometers outside of Guilin (a rather small tourist attraction that highlighted the sights, crafts and lifestyles of some of the Chinese minorities). In Shanghai we had a drink at on the 36th floor of the Shangrila Hotel. A very awesome view of the river, the Bund, Pudong and we were treated to a fireworks display (below eye level) and a large lightning storm. This high-class event was hosted by our friend Steve Neufer. A special evening very different from most of our trip.

After Beijing, an unexpected treat was our decision to fly to south to Guilin, take a 4 1/2 hour boat cruise on the gorgeous Li River and spend a night in the small river city of Yangshuo - Thanks to Rob and Joy for the recommendation. While there we took a most interesting trip to the countryside and saw the lifestyle of a small village, rice growing and being harvested, had a chance to see, feed and pet water buffalo and watch Cormorant birds fishing while navigating the river on a bamboo boat.


The view of the gorgeous Li River from our 4 hour boat tour	Joe feeding water buffalo in a rural area of Yangshuo

We have shopped along busy streets and in malls, at tourist shops and even in Wal-Mart but the best and most interesting shopping experiences have come in the wheeling and dealing bargaining of the Pearl Market in Beijing and the small alleys and streets of Xi'An. There seems to be no price too low and the term "Best Price" only becomes apparent after you have said "No" and begin to walk away. While it sometimes seems rather silly to be haggling over a yuan or two (less than a quarter) it becomes a challenge to find that lowest price. Brad's experience has helped immensely in this regard. I, of course, think I am pretty good at it and Sally doesn't like the process at all.


One of our stops in the giant Pearl Market in Beijing	Brad and some new shoes bought in the Muslim Quarters of Xi'an

During all of these adventures I must admit the weather has been less than ideal. It could best be described as hot, muggy and hazy (I hate to use the word smoggy, although I think it might be appropriate in some cases). The last couple of days we have had some rain (as we left Xi'An and again now in Shanghai) but it has not affected our travels at all, in fact in some cases felt kind of nice and cooled the air a little bit.

I planned to take care of this blogging stuff in one shot, but there is just too much. I am sure you will look forward to our next posting where I will mention a little more about the people we have met, the places we have stayed and the food we have eaten.

Thanks for listening ... If you have made it this far!!

PS- this is Brad... coutdown until landing in USA: LESS THAN 1 WEEK!

HAPPY 4th of JULY!

2009-07-04T18:57:00.000-07:00

(So much for not posting again until I'm back in the USA...)

Although I've missed many holidays this year, none have made me miss United States of America more (I've obviously missed family and friends much earlier in the trip)! And so close to the end of my trip- I can't wait to come home!

How does one Celebrate the 4th in Beijing, China?

I started my day on the computer as I have the last couple days. After my rounds of social networking, it was off to do the most American thing I could think of- go to the BEACH!

Granted, this was a fake beach, but it had sand- that's all that mattered to me. After splashing around in the water a little and laying in the sun, I retreated by to the hostel to shower and plan my evening.

Lacking the energy or desire to find some other US Expats who would most-likely be celebrating in a bar, I decided to do the two most American things I could; go to Starbucks and read some F. Scott Fitzgerald (McDonald's was a close second on location). A rather relaxing fourth... strange not smelling barbecue or shooting off fireworks, but oh well- ONLY 24 DAYS LEFT IN CHINA (Mom and Dad arrive in 3)!!!

Thanks for reading and HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

Summer Travels Part 1: T MATT!

2009-07-02T02:51:00.000-07:00

I just finished an amazing 1 and 1/2 weeks with my friend T Matt from High School! It was a whirl-wind of traveling and having as much fun as possible. Since my Picasa Account is nearing its capacity and we took about 1,500 pictures, you'll have to settle with a quick look at what our trip was like:

First Stop: BEIJING
June 21st-23rd
After packing my apartment and leaving it for the last time, I made a trip out Beijing to meet up with T Matt! We made plans to do all of Beijing in three days. It was a wild time, but I think we did pretty good with getting the important spots!

	Our first picture together in China! I met T at the Beijing International Airport.
The couch/floor we stayed at. We used a website named CouchSurfing.org to find some lovely people in China who let us stay for free!
	Trip to the Forbidden City!
Trip to Temple of Heaven!
	Trip To Summer Palace!
Trip to Great Wall at Mutianyu
	Visiting Olympic Grounds

Second Stop: XI'AN
June 24th-25th
On our third night in Beijing, we boarded an overnight train to Xi'an- my hometown here in China! I was excited to show T around and introduce him to my friends!

	Visiting the Big Goose Pagoda
Trips to Downtown and around the City
	Visiting Tang Paradise
And, of course, the Terracotta Warriors!

Amongst the chaos of T and my crazy travels, I had to bid "bon voyage" to Cari as she would leave for America before I returned to Xi'an with my parents. She is currently in Alabama with her family and she'll be back to Xi'an for the next school year.

Thanks for all the help in my first year teaching and joining me on so many adventures this year Cari- have an awesome and restful summer!

Third Stop: SHANGHAI
June 26th- July 1st
Leaving by overnight train again and barely making it (running through the station with 5 minutes until departure) T and I were off to Shanghai! I was excited to get to a new area and city- my first unfamiliar territory since Thailand. We were planning to head to Macau and Hong Kong but discovered that T's passport was single entry. We ended up spending the remaining time in Shanghai and exploring it's surrounding areas.

	Crusing the "Bund" (famous riverfront area) and going to the top of the Pearl Tower
On "The Bund Sightseeing Tunnel..." Words can't describe but our tourist book tried; saying, "it goes beyond the 'so-good-it's-bad' stage to 'mind-bendingly awful" A must see for all travelers to Shanghai!
	A wet day in the Yu Gardens
A day trip to Hangzhou, nearby city with the famous West Lake
	Running around "Shanghai Action Park," a low budget amusement park with the worlds largest rip-off of the Disney ride "Small World"- awesome!
A day trip to Green Haven, a huge park/recreation center. We rode a tandem bike, visited a submarine and "barbecued."

Departure: BEIJING
July 1st-July 2nd
We left Shanghai in a hurry (much like leaving Xi'an). I was an idiot and booked a flight for the wrong night. Once we finally worked things out, we had to sprint through the nearly empty airport to our terminal. Finally in the plane and sweating, we made our way back to Beijing of one last night. In the morning, we visited the Lama Temple that is about 50 meters from the hostel we were in.

That one is for you, Eric ;)
After our final subway trip together, we made our way to the Airport (early this time...) and parted ways. We left each other with some minor sun burns, literally thousands of pictures (and more memories) and a plethora of inside jokes that one can only obtain from an adventures such as this ("Peeeeach? Icy Peeeeach?", Demons!, Visits from Mr. B.U., Dekunut Tree, "Ship? You want Ship?", Frogs stuck in unregistered cabs with cross-dressing hippos... and many, many more! Feel free to jot some down if you remember any T).

I miss you already DVD USB Drive, but I can't wait for our next rendezvous- wherever it might be! Thank you so much for making the trip out here to see me (...well, and China, I guess)!

Ma-guais For Life!

Next?

I have about 6 days before my mom and dad arrive in Shanghai! After landing, they will fly to Beijing to meet me here. I can't wait to do it all over again with my parents! In the meantime, I'll be resting and spending a lot of time in the hostel's restaurant using the free Wi-fi to keep in touch.

Thanks for reading! See you soon Mom and Dad!

Another Beijing Story!

2009-06-21T15:50:00.000-07:00

I wasn't sure if I would be blogging much but, since I brought my laptop to Beijing, I decided to send out this gem of a story. I was concerned about inappropriate content, but my father insisted it be posted... and it is father's day! Enjoy!
Yesterday I had a ton of time to kill since I arrived a day before T.Matt was getting to Beijing (minor mistake during all the excitement). I was going to meet with my principal and his wife (who are still in Beijing waiting to have their baby) but I had about an hour to kill. I decided to just walk randomly. I ended up walking through this nice little park that ran along the side of the highway. There were people about, sitting or playing. It was very pleasant.

One Chinese man (probably in his late-30s, early-40s) waved, saying "Hello!"- which is very common- and asked me to come sit. I walked over to him and sat down. We started to chat, all in Chinese, and I was quite thrilled with how much I was understanding. Of course there were areas where I wouldn't understand, but he would often act it out.

It was a pretty standard conversation to start with; him asking "Where are you from?" "How old are you?" "Where do you work?" "Do you have a girlfriend" "What do you do?". I told him how I was going to do some traveling with my friend after he arrived tomorrow. He said something I didn't understand, but then gripped my arm to show me he was talking about massages- I assume he was offering T.Matt and me to visit his massage parlor- those are very popular in Beijing.

Then, he asked me about "gei." I had heard this Chinese word before, but never with the tone he was using... After some serious confusion, I discovered he wasn't saying "gei" in Chinese but rather "gay" in English. I asked (in Chinese) to clarify, "One man liking another man?" He confirmed my suspicions: This guy was telling me he was gay and asking me if I was!

Finding the conversation rather interesting and knowing I had time to kill- I decided to see where he was going with this. He started to ask me about gay people in America and it seemed like we were going to have a somewhat serious, interesting conversation. I struggled to answer with my limited Chinese and keep the discussion moving towards an exchange of cultural information... but it went down hill fast.

He kept telling me how handsome I was and that he REALLY liked me. And the arm gripping that happened earlier kept happening... without talking about massages. He told me several times that his house was nearby. Then, the best part!

He kept saying something I couldn't understand but I noticed him looking around at the other people nearby before saying it. Then, he motioned to his crotch and said "小弟弟。。。小鸡鸡" ("Small Brother... Small Chicken"). Only then did I remember that these were slang words for penis! He was asking me how big my penis is! He said something about really liking foreigners because they were all really big. He even asked me some numbers; "8 inches? 10 inches?" That's when I decided the conversation was beyond recovery. As I got up to leave, he attempted another arm grab or two.

Well, there is my exciting story from my first day back in Beijing. I hope this haircut isn't too sexy or I'll have to keep fighting off gay Chinese men in their early 40's. Below is a dramatization of the traumatic event.

Other News

IT'S FATHER'S DAY!!! Happy Father's Day Daddy!!! I love you very much and you are the best dad ever! Thanks for everything and I can't wait to see you here in China!

Graduation... there's no way that would have happened without dad!

Dad and Doug enjoying the San Diego highway. Those two lookers would be stopping traffic... if there was any.

Maybe my favorite picture of Daddy-O... artistically moving and incredibly creepy at the same time. T.Matt summed it up best as "The image that haunts my dreams."

Thanks for reading and I guess I have a couple more blogs left in me!

Summer time and the living is... 'easy'

2009-06-17T22:00:00.000-07:00

Although class with students ended last Friday, this week on Wednesday marked my official last day of school. On Monday and Tuesday, all the teachers of the school worked extra hard to pack everything into boxes so that it could be moved to the new school. As soon as that was finished, we had to finish completing our curriculum maps for the year. The thought of being finished early was enough motivation to get all our responsibilities done Wednesday instead of Friday!

It was a good thing too because in my "free" time, I've been packing my own apartment, planning for T.Matt's arrival in Beijing and trying to savor every last China experience.

The Cut

The only real "big news" from this week (and for some, it is big news) was my hair cut! For the last week or so, I've been waking up with my pillow and hair being wet from sweat. If that's not an indication to get a haircut, I don't know what is! This Thursday, Ty, Cari, Joy, Faith and I had a hair-cutting PARTY!

We went to a salon and I received the nicest hair treatment of my life! It started with a shampoo/massage, followed by a great haircut from a guy who really knew what he was doing, then back the the shampoo/longer massage, then back to get my hair dried/styled. It was awesome (and all for under $6.00)! Here are the results:

*Before*	*After*

Next Month

To my loyal followers, I'm not sure how much I will be blogging over the next month. Things are going to be crazy to say the least! Here's a peak of my extremely tentative schedule:

JUNE

SUN	MON	TUES	WED	THURS	FRI	SAT
14	15	16	17: School Ended!	18: (Today)	19: I Leave For Beijing	20: T.Matt Arrives
21: In Beijing	22: In Beijing	23: In Beijing!	24: In Beijing	25: In Xi'an	26: In Xi'an	27: In ?
28: In ?	29: In ?	30: In Hong Kong	JULY 1: In Shanghai	2: T.Matt Leaves :(	3: In Beijing	4: In Beijing
5: In Beijing	6: In Beijing	7: In Beijing	8: Parents Arrive!	9: In Beijing	10: In Beijing	11: In Beijing!
12: In Beijing!	13: In Beijing!	14: In Xi'an	15: In Xi'an	16: In Xi'an	17: In Xi'an	18: In Xi'an
19: In Xi'an	20: In Xi'an	21: In Shanghai	22: In Shanghai	23: In Shanghai	24: In Shanghai	25: In Shanghai
26: In Shanghai	27: In Shanghai	28: In Hong Kong	29: Leave for USA!	30	31	AUGUST 1

Countdown...?

The list has grown short- my time in China is almost over!

I leave for Beijing: 22 Hours
T.Matt's Arrival in Beijing: 40 Hours

T.Matt and me meeting for our last visit together- Boston! (Winter of 2007)
Parents Arrival in China: 19 Days... wait, WHAT?! When did that happen!!! Can't wait to see you two!
My Return Flight to USA: 38 Days

A whole year- wow! To all my readers who have been following my adventures- I can't thank you enough. It means a lot to know that people actually read this!

Thanks again for reading and my next post might be from USA!

School's OUT!

2009-06-12T16:32:00.000-07:00

It's official; yesterday was my LAST DAY OF TEACHING STUDENTS for this year. Next week will be a work week for staff to pack their rooms and prepare for our move. And, with the work that has been done already, its very likely that we will be done early next week!

It has been an amazing year and I've learned so much about teaching and myself from this experience. Although I am not certain of my career path when I return to the United States of America, I will always consider teaching a fun, challenging and rewarding occupation and this experience has help prepare me if teaching is in my future.

Here are some of the highlights of the year; although there would be too many to list!

Culture Day! One of the largest school events with decorated classroom food and student projects

Hanging out with my awesome students and awesome staff everyday!
It's been an incredible year and I've made some amazing friends! I'll never forget this experience and the great times had...

TIME TO CELEBRATE!

How did I celebrate my last day?! Why, karaoke of course! After making an appearance at the graduation party of our school's class of 2009... Chase; Ty, Cari, the Craigs and I went to meet our Chinese friends for a birthday dinner followed by karaoke.

That's right, Chase graduated in a class of 1; Himself! Congrats Chase!
After going to Hot Pot- the birthday girl's favorite meal- we began the journey to find a good karaoke place. I had heard earlier in the day that the plan was to eat dinner and then go "Karaoke all night"... I thought that was 'metaphorically' speaking.

Making sure to find a good place, we tried 3 locations before arriving at our final destination. The fun and music began right away. There were 11 of us total but the room was a comfortable size. At some point in the night, the Criaigs and Ty headed home but I was determined to last a little longer and so was Cari. After a trip to the restroom, I noticed that an all-nighter in a karaoke room was not uncommon in China- I walked pass several rooms with two people awake and singing and the rest sleeping in their chairs.

At 4:00 am, I decided that I had to go the distance. There was no way I would be able to stay awake (since I had been up since 5:00 am that morning), but I could at least spend the night in the karaoke room- I couldn't pass up this opportunity! I tried to participate as much as possible; I was searching the database and adding a couple English songs to the list. But, the list was so long that by the time my songs started, I had fallen asleep. After attempting this twice, I decided to just try and be as comfortable as possible in my chair (half the room was already asleep at this point) and get some shut-eye.

I was impressed that every time I woke up, I would see the birthday girl and the two other guys with us singing! Not only is it difficult to stay up all night, but to sing non-stop?! Obviously seasoned veterans at the karaoke scene. It was another fun and unique Chinese adventure.

Countdown!

T.Matt Arrives: 8 DAYS- Can't wait!
My Parents Arrive: 25 Days- less than a month!
Back to USA: 43 Days

Thanks for Reading!

Mr. Brad on the first day of class.

Mr. Brad on the last day of class

My wildest night yet....

2009-06-02T17:46:00.000-07:00

May went super, super fast. Last week was the last of my "catch-up" blogs but that still leaves 3 weeks that were not talked about! So, in a couple sentences, I'll finish May:

First, there was a field trip on May 8th so the class got to go play in a near by park. Second, we had our Spirit Week during school! Monday was Crazy Hair day (class contest pictured below), Tuesday was Pajama Day, Wednesday was Matching Day, Thursday was Fictional character day (I was Mr. Duck... again, also picture below) and Friday was XIS Spirit Day (wear blue and yellow). Last, May 22nd was Science day. The students set up our class room with science projects- it was fun.

Now that we are all caught up, here's the latest and greatest from China. Normally, I try to keep these posts somewhat short. This story deserves all the details, enjoy!

The Main Event

We had a 3-Day weekend last weekend (May 29th-31st) to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival. Myself and Cari planned a last-minute trip to Beijing to visit with Zack and Carrie (my principal and his wife) who are living in Beijing for the next month or two in order to have their baby. Since the hospitals are much nicer in Beijing, many foreigners will leave Xi'an to have a baby in Beijing. We left Thursday after noon and arrived late on Thursday night.

Cari was going to stay with Zack and Carrie and I had planned on finding a hotel or hostel nearby. Since I didn't know where Zack and Carrie's apartment was, I decided not to book a room anywhere until after I arrived in Beijing. Being very over-confident of my knowledge of Beijing, I started my search for a room at about 11:30 pm. To make matters worse, I had been struggling with 拉肚子 (literally: pulled-stomach... diarrhea) for the last 24 hours and my ankle was still sore from being sprained on May 19th.

After about an hour of searching around the apartment, I decided to go to a hostel I had researched earlier on the internet. I hailed a taxi, which didn't have a map, and struggled to explain to him where I needed to go. We ended up driving to the wrong place and having to double back, making the trip almost 200 kuai ($30.00) which is a lot when the cab fare starts at 10 kuai. At this point though, my stomach was very unsettled and the money made little difference; I was just happy to be at the hostel.

The Clerk at the hostel told me there were no rooms available and when I asked her what I should do, she said "There is a KFC and McDonald's down the street." Determined not to spend the night in a McDonald's, I bought a map and continued my journey. There were many hotels and hostels in the area so I thought I would find a new place soon. Then, it happened.

It was about 1 am while I was walking down the street and my head under my hat started to itch. I itched it. Then my arm started to itch. I itched it. Then my hand... then my legs... then EVERYTHING! Trying to be positive, I thought to myself "Well, at least this is keeping my mind off of my sore ankle and upset stomach!" Before I knew what was happening, I began to break out in hives. Everyplace on my body that created friction was covered in small red bumps; under my watchband, between my fingers, my "elbow pit," behind my ears... everywhere! I found myself itching not just because it felt good (and wow- did it feel good!) but because it was the only relief to the tingly and stinging sensation that was covering my body as if invisible insects were crawling and biting me everywhere. In addition, I could feel my face beginning to swell.

It was in this state that I continued to search for a room. I was turned down a couple times due to "no vacancy" but, part of me wonders if the Clerks were just denying me because I looked like a drug addict; all red and itchy asking for a room at one in the morning. As I walked the street, I felt like my body was falling apart.

I finally found a place with a room and when I arrived, there was a black man with a thick accent (it sounded like a language from an African country) bartering with the Chinese Clerk (the African had great Chinese). I walked in exhausted and in a haze. The Clerk showed me a room and I nodded at her- just hoping to get a room and end this crazed wandering and itching. I sat back in the lobby and became glued to my chair; half dizzy, half asleep and 100% uncomfortable. I waited as the Clerk and black man argued for what seemed like an hour. Then the Clerk got my key and motioned for me to follow her to the room. I stood up, still wearing my backpack and man purse, and the sudden movement was more than my fragile state could handle.

I blacked out.

_{(Dramatic Break...)}

When I woke up, I was on my backpack like a turtle on his shell. My arms were extended in front of me; one arm was being held by the African man, the other by the Chinese Clerk. I felt as if I had just woken up from a long sleep and all I could say was "Where am I? Where am I?" As the two struggled to help me to my feet, I could tell from their slipping grips that my entire body was covered in sweat. I was drenched. As I came to my feet, it was not long before I muttered "我需要你的厕所" ("I need your toilet"). I stumbled around the corner and found a large sink where I began to vomit everything I had ate in the last 24 hours. The whole time, I was attempting to tell the clerk I wasn't drunk... although I'm not sure if she believed me.

For anyone who has had the 拉肚子 (pulled-stomach), you know that a good vomit normally does the trick and this was no different. Making my way back to the chair in the lobby, I felt 100 times better. My head was clear and I felt much more cool. Somewhere in the Chaos, I noticed the black man had disappeared- either to his room or away from the crazy "sick" white guy. In the chair, the Clerk handed me the paper towel I only now noticed she had been holding up to my chin. The towel was covered in blood and there was some spots on my shirt as well.

I sat in the chair embarrassed and discouraged as the Clerk told me I could not stay there. Whether she thought I was a crazy drunk or just seriously ill, she felt it was best for me to go to the hospital nearby. Feeling I had already out-stayed my welcome, I didn't argue and returned to the street rather defeated.

Thankfully, my body was feeling much, much better and there was another hotel within half a block. Once I heard from the new Clerk that there was a room available, I stopped listening and nodded "yes please!"; price didn't matter, size didn't matter, it's 2:30 am, JUST GIVE ME A BED! I arrived in my room to find it was a double with two beds and had its own shower! I was thrilled to run some cold water the areas of my body that had been hit the worse from the hives and I managed to get a good look at my chin.

Although the cut only ran about an inch and a half long, it was very deep and any movement of my jaw would open the flesh several centimeters. At that point, I was very thankful that I carried a man purse with some alcohol cleaning wipes and band aids inside. As I played doctor in the mirror, I kid-you-not, I was thinking about how this night would make such a great scar story! After some quick repairs and making sure to change all my clothes (the thought of invisible insects all over my body made me play it safe), I finally fell asleep some time before 3 am.

The Rest of the Weekend

The next morning, my left shoulder was stiff and sore along with my jaw. For fear of reopening the wound on my chin, I had to make sure not to smile to big or make any sudden moments. I think dehydration was a likely cause for the how my body was self destructing. I retold the story for Zack, Carrie and Cari. Cari was very upset that I had made such a foolish and dangerous journey on my own but agreed it made a good scar story.

Since Carrie is over 8 months pregnant, our weekend plans were very relaxed. This was my 3rd trip to Beijing and I will be visiting the city another 2 times this summer (I estimate I will have visited the Forbidden City 5 times before I leave China), so I was thrilled to spend a weekend in Beijing enjoying something other than sightseeing. It was possibly the most Western/American weekend I've had since coming to China- even more than Bangkok!

First, the food: we ate at a tex-mex restaurant, Papa Johns Pizza, T.G.I.Fridays, a burger restaurant (with the tag line "We'll give you your American fuzzies"... whatever that means!) and Coldstone Creamery; AMAZING! We also watched two movies in English: Night at the Museum 2 and Star Trek. Both were very entertaining! And to top-off the weekend, a trip to IKEA. Apparently Alabama does not have an IKEA so Cari had to travel half-way around the world for her first trip to an IKEA (and, of course, she loved it!).

It was a great weekend of awesome food, great friends and some valuable lessons.

Other News

Summer is finally here. Ever day this week, the forecast has read mid-80's to mid-90's, and its climbing! Not to mention, SCHOOL IS ALMOST OVER! Here's the newest countdown:

Last Day of School: 9 Days... only 6.5 days of class, 52 hours- AHHHH!!!
T.Matt Arrives: 16 Days?!? I got to get planning so we both don't end up wander the streets at night... covered in hives!
My Parents Arrive: 34 Days
I return to the US of A: 53 Days

Things are going to get crazy very quick. I'll be sure to post next week and most-likely the week after. But, once my travels with T.Matt begin, I have no idea how often I will be able to write in my blogging! Thanks for keeping up with me this long! My year in China has almost come to an end... but I know I have some good stories still left in me (I just hope not too many scar stories!)

Thanks for reading!

2009-05-25T07:31:00.000-07:00

The strange weather continued- I actually saw fog for the first time in almost a year! We’ve had a very tame summer so far and the rain has made the skies very clear. Things have been super busy, but more on that later- I got to finish this catching-up!

The Race is On!!!

A couple months ago, I heard about something our team was hosting called “Maniac Kids Weekend.” Since this was on my first 3-day weekend, I was going to do everything in my power to avoid working with a bunch of “maniac” kids. Well, one way or another, I ended up volunteering. To my surprise, I wasn’t going to be spending the weekend with a bunch of children climbing all over me. Instead, I was going to be helping in an Amazing Race-type competition between some of the older kids!

Not totally sure what I was getting into, I arrived at the Sofitel, the hotel where the weekend events were taking place, at about 8 am on Saturday. The Sofitel is by far the nicest hotel in Xi’an and quite possibly the nicest Hotel I’ve ever been to! At the Sofitel, I was given my official “Race Around Xi’an” shirt and I made my way to the lobby to meet with my teammates Chase (the only senior at our school with a hilarious sense of humor) and Keera (a tough sixth grader who second oldest out of four children).

Left to right: Tori, member of Cari's team, Chase and Keera

Due to Ty’s injury, Jake, one of the people responsible for planning the race, was a leader of a team (and he said he wouldn’t cheat… more on that later). The other team was lead by Cari. All together there were 3 teams with a total of nine people. As a facilitator, Cari, Jake and I were there to keep the students safe and take pictures… and give as much moral support as possible. After a short talk about the rules and some pre-race pictures, the race officially started!

Below is a map of the race we took around Xi’an. There were 10 challenges in all and I’ll explain each as we go.

Click on Image for larger view.

Challenge 1

Because my team had won a Wii tournament from the previous night, we were allowed a 10 minute head start. After finding a cab, we headed to the directions on the clue; the historical downtown area of Xi’an called the Muslim Quarters. Once there, we found the restaurant that was pictured in our clue. Making our way to the back of the restaurant (running the whole time of course), we found the official hosts standing near tables and were instructed how to make dumplings.

While we were making, the other two teams arrived and started making their dumplings as well. After we had made 20 dumpling that could stand up-right, we were giving our second challenge. We raced out the door only moment ahead of another team.

Challenge 2

We were given our second clue which lead us deeper into the Muslim Quarters. As we frantically searched for the house on our clue, we began to see the other teams running all around the street. I saw Jake, who was claiming not to cheat, loudly cleared his throat to his teammates and gave a little head nod as the passed the entrance to an old historical home. After that point, I vowed to do everything I could to help my team in gaining victory!

Following Jake’s team, we made our way into the house and searched for the carving that was in our clue. We found it and removed some charcoal and paper that was in the backpacks our team was giving. We began tracing over the etching by the time the next team arrived. In our excitement, we raced to the officials and showed them our etching- which they said was not good enough. Meanwhile, another team stole our carving!!! We were force to wait as the other team finish. Receiving our clue, we left, felling rather defeated on that challenge.

Challenge 3

We were told by some store owners that the next location was at the end of the street and to the right. After running for about ¾ of a mile and being passed by another team, we decided to grab a Beng-beng Che to get us there. As we arrived at our destination, we saw Jake’s team leaving the temple! Frantically, we found another team inside listing to a monk for a clue. After the clue, we searched for a sculpture. After finding it, both teams received the clue and raced out of the temple, neck-n-neck.

Our team cut through a side street in order to find a taxi and made up huge time! We saw one team in cab next us and the others scrambling around on the sidewalk- we felt good being back in first!

Challenge 4

At a park, both teammates had to enter large inflated balls and sand up-right for 10 seconds. It was not easy work. The final solution came when Chase, attempting to keep his balance began running in place like a hamster. He managed to make it the whole 10 seconds so our team was given the next clue… the other two teams still inside the balls!

Challenge 5 & 6

Next, our clue lead us to the Small Goose Pagoda. Loyal followers of my blog might remember the “Big” Goose Pagoda. This one is very similar, except… smaller. I don’t have many pictures because of the rush we were in and that other people were taking pictures when we arrived to each challenge. The Small Goose Pagoda is not only small, but missing the top. For Challenge 6 we had o talk to someone to find out how the top of the pagoda was destroyed. Chase had recently studied this in his Chinese class, so we were able to answer immediately (I think it was lightening… or an earthquake. I can’t remember).

After we finished Challenge 6, we had a 30 minute, timed lunch break. We were at lunch 5 minutes before the next team arrived.

Challenge 7

Next, we were off to XIS, the school where I work and my teammates have class! Once there, our team had to move 30 bricks using a yoke and some bags. Chase attempted taking 20 his first trip, but the wooden yoke splintered. He ended up taking a few less, but impressive none the less. After 3 trips, the brick had all been moved and the broken yoke was quite defensive since one team had to watch and wait until we were finished.

Challenge 8 & 9

Our next clue took us to Xingqing Park. Being May Day Holiday, the park was flooded with people (人山人海)! We made our way to the paddle boats. We were giving the challenge to paddle out and around an island. Once there, the students would have to take part in an eating challenge. On the first trip, my team missed the eating challenge! They had to paddle back a second time and attempt eating an 1,000 Year Old Egg, the name of a Chinese delicacy. They tried it but could not finish it. Either way, we were given our last challenge and left the park ahead of the other two teams.

Challenge 10

The last Challenge lead us to the Xi’an City Wall. We were instructed to get on some rented bikes and to ride the wall. Riding as fast and safe as we could (the wall is old and the bricks are far from even…), we made the 1-2 mile bike ride in great time. As we hurried to the finish line, we didn’t notice any other teams in sight. After standing on a mat (just like in the Amazing Race) our team was informed that we were FIRST!!! It was another 10-15 minutes before Jake's team arrived followed by Cari’s team only 5 minutes after. It was such a close finish for a morning of racing around the city.

I had my GPS the whole morning tracking our path. With all the cab rides, running, searching and the final bike ride, the race totaled 24.6 miles around the city. It was such an incredible way to spend a Saturday and I’m so glad I was able to be a part of it. For coming in first, the students each received an I-pod Nano!

In Other News

I am SOOOO busy!!! This month has been a blur of exciting events and hard work. The fact that I am only now finishing my blog for the first of May should be evidence of that. And on top of all the business, I sprained my ankle! I was playing basketball and rolled my ankle… there was definitely a ‘popping’ sound. Being inexperienced in ankle injuries, I failed to act immediately so there is still a bit of swelling and bruising now (5 days after the injury). None-the-less, I feel much better and I’m planning on making a quick recovery… since I don’t really have an option with my upcoming schedule!

Also, today was Teacher Appreciation Day at school! I was given cards and gifts from my students and for dinner, all the teachers were treated to a buffet at the Sofitel- it was incredible and I stuffed myself!

The Countdown!

With all this excitement, the days are slipping way rather quickly! Here’s the updated countdown!

Last Day of School: 17 Days! (That's only 12.5 days of class- WOW!)
T.Matt Arrives: 25 Days - Less than a Month!
My Parents Arrive: 43 Days
I return to the US of A: 64 Days

In the business of catching up...

Well, almost 2 months late, here it is TJ- your Birthday Greeting from my class!!! It was recorded on your birthday and was supposed to be posted that week but due to some complications (China shutting down YouTube... and my laziness), it's only now ready for your viewing. Better late than never! Happy Birthday TJ!

Thanks for Reading!

A Broken Roommate and a Holiday!

2009-05-13T20:48:00.000-07:00

Right now, I'm nearing the end Spirit Week here at school. Today is Fictional Character day and I'm dressed as Mr. Duck... again! In an effort to get all 'caught up,' here's the excitement from two weeks ago:

Ty's Accident

Late one warm spring evening (April 28th to be exact), Ty, Lester (another teacher at my school) and I decided to go on a little bike trip. As we have done before, we decided to play "Rock, Paper, Scissors" at every intersection to let fate decide our destination. In an effort to make it to Lotus (a large grocery store) before it closed, we began biking especially aggressive.

We made it to an exceptionally smooth piece of road and flew under an overpass. That's when it happened. Under the overpass, the light that previously lit the roads was completely block and we could only see the road that exited on the other side. Being in the back of the group- I saw it all take place.

As Ty came into the light, his bike was wobbling a great deal. There came a moment where he almost seemed to have it under control. After that, things went into slow motion. His handle bars jolted perpendicular with the road and he went flying forward. True to instincts, his hands shot forward to brace himself for the fall. As he bounce off the road at high speeds, the bike became tangled in his long legs (Ty stands at a tower 6'4") and his body acted as a catapult, hurling the bike forward as he went into a role.

Ty, covered in dirt, laid on the ground and cradled his right arm. Hidden in the dark was a pile of dirt and a huge tree branch that Ty hit. He was worried that he had broke his wrist and his knees were skinned pretty bad. Lester and I got him to his feet and flagged down a cab. I called Cari and she met him at the apartment. Meanwhile, Lester and I walked back the three bikes. Once we got there, the plans had already been made for Ty's trip to the hospital. Jon, a veteran foreigner here in China, accompanied Ty, Cari and I to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital at about midnight. Although the facilities were slightly below American standards, we didn't have to wait all night just to see the doctor! After about 20 minutes, Ty was already getting an x-ray! At one point in the evening, Ty was being asked questions by the nurse and a man walked in off the street with a bloody hand and shirt splattered with blood. He stood right in front of Ty and held the hand in front of the nurse, as if waiting for a hand shake. The nurse rolled her eyes and began to bandage the hand. Then, the man left. Moments later, a police car arrived and started asking question. During the interruptions, Ty waited patiently holding his arm.

On our way to the exit, the man who had given Ty his x-ray ran up to me and waved me to follow him. We went pass the x-ray machine and to the room where it was controlled. He began to pull something up on his computer and I couldn't help but laugh out loud. To my surprise, he opened a folder labeled "Knight Rider" and smiled as he first seconds of the show began to play (it was the new "Knight Rider"- no Hasselhof!). He was clearly excited to have the opportunity to share his knowledge of American Culture and it was a humorous and strangely appropriate way to wrap-up our interesting evening in a Chinese Hospital.

Ty Update: The doctors said there was no break but placed his arm in a cast and gave him a bunch of medicine, mostly herbal, telling him to return after several days. After a week of rest and painkillers, a foreign doctor who is learning Chinese at the same school as Ty offered to look at the x-rays. He said that the the bone was most-like compacted and that Ty should try to get his arm out of the cast and begin stretching it. Ty has painfully worked through some stretching and is almost back to 100% in less than 3 weeks! Nothing less than a miracle after the fall he took!

May Day

May Day, my first holiday since February, was greatly anticipated throughout the long months of March and April. Ty and I spent our May Day with a couple of good Chinese friends, Joy and Faith. Our first order of business was food. We went to a restaurant named Golden Hans, it was AMAZING! It was an all-you-can-eat buffet with a German theme and it, maybe most important, SALAD BAR. Fresh vegetables are really hard to find here in restaurants in China. It was really good and felt very American (which is a plus at this point in the game). We enjoyed it so much, we've even gone back since to share it with Cari!

After lunch, I experienced another Chinese "first." The four of us went to Chinese movie, in Chinese! I've been to the theaters in Xi'an, but only to watch movies in English. We watched a brand new movie here in China named 南京！南京！:City of Life and Death. It was an intense dramatization of massacre/rape of the city of Nanjing (南京) during the Japanese occupation of China during 1937. Although I understood little of what was said, the acting and directing did a wonderful job telling the story and showing the seriousness and historical importance of this bloody time in Chinese history.

After May Day, the weekened got even more exciting... but that's for the next blog; AMAZING RACE Xi'an! I'll try and get that up this weekend.

Thanks for reading!

Yan'an: Mao's Stomping Grounds

2009-05-04T05:29:00.000-07:00

I have fallen two weeks behind- and this time its not because of a lack of interesting things to write about! So, I'm going to be posting several times this week to get you caught up. I hope its not too overwhelming but there is a lot of cool stuff that has been happening!

Roadtrip!

Ever since my trip to Thailand that ended in the beginning of February, school has been a constant with no breaks. Being here in the big city day after day, week after week, month after month- the gray of the sky and the tall buildings became all too familiar. My world was a viewed through a gray filter. Needless-to-say, when the opportunity came to get out of the city and visit some fellow 外国人 (foreigners) in the city of Yan'an, I gladly excepted!

I was packed Thursday night and left right after school on Friday. Ty, Cari, myself and four other familiar faces loaded onto the bus and headed North. It was a 5 hour ride and from the view I immediately noticed the fresh air and green colors I had been missing. Most of my bus ride was spent reading the novel "Marley and Me."

After several rest stops, we arrived in Yan'an at night. We were trying to get there by 7:00 pm for an English Corner at the University, but did not make it in time. Ty and I were sharing "unique" hotel room for the weekend. It was on the fourth floor of the hotel and the third floor had a karaoke bar... I was very thankful to be a heavy sleeper.

Saturday was an eventful day full of excitement! We started bright and early heading to one of the many mountains in the nearby areas. After a sixty minute bumpy ride, we arrived to the base of a mountain and began climbing. The scenery was breath-taking! The air was so clear I could see for miles! The rolling mountains (actually just large hills)reminded me of leaving the Cascade Mountains and driving to East Washington. We spent the morning and into the afternoon breathing fresh air and taking in the beautiful scenery.

After our climb, we visited the nearby 'tomb' of Mulan- the legendary heroine of Ancient China who joined an all-male army; a sort of Joan of Arc of Asia. This popular story was made into a Disney cartoon. You can be the judge on Disney's job recreating Mulan:

After hiking the mountain, we spent the evening at English Corner. Much like the English corner I am a part of here in Xi'an, we spent time talking with students from the university in Yan'an about everything and anything- helping them practice their English. One major difference was the Yan'an English Corner had their own cafe with chairs and tables- it was nice to be able to sit!

The students loved the opportunity to practice their English with so many native English speakers. There were nine foreigners there and each one had at least 10 students talking with them. We finished the evening singing some of the same songs that are a hit at the Xi'an English Corner; Hey Jude, My Heart Will Go On and Can You Feel the Love Tonight? just to name a few!

It was an incredible weekend in a unique city of China. You can feel the slow pace of Yan'an's history as a farming city yet development in Yan'an, like anywhere in China, is growing and a break-neck pace. The landscape is so earthy and you can sense the history of this place as you see the cave homes lining the slopes. As we visited the sites of the city, I reflect upon the significance this area played during second half of the twentieth century as Chinese Communism started to grow from the very ground I walked on, it was enough to give me goosebumps!

Other News

Since I'm two weeks behind, I'll be updating again soon with some of these stories:

My First Trip to a Chinese Hospital (AKA Ty's Accident)
May Day Holiday
Amazing Race: Xi'an

And now, the COUNTDOWN!

Ty and My Move: 15 Days? (I recently heard this date might be pushed back)
Last Day of Class: 35- Wow!
Trevor's Arrival: 42 Days
Mom and Dad's Arrival: 60 Days
Departure for the United States: 79 Days!

Last but not least: HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MOMMY! I LOVE YOU VERY, VERY, VERY MUCH! You are the best Mommy ever! TJ and Dad- take very good care of mom on her special day. You'll have to be giving 150% in my absence!

Love this picture- although I have no idea what was going on!

Mommy giving me some much needed support during the last bit of the marathon!

Aunty Gayle and Aunty Karen, another pair of great mothers, have a great Mothers day!

Also, a very Happy Mothers Day to you, Grandma/Great Grandma Jo and Grandma SaLeal! You two did soooooooooo good raising my parents!

Three mothers (two are grandmothers, one a great grandmother), two sons
And all the newest mothers of the family; Leah, Dana and soon-to-be, AMANDA! (sorry cousins, no picture on my computer!)

Thanks for Reading!

Found this wild horse on the mountains of Yan'an... oh yeah, I tamed it!

That SUCKED!

2009-04-18T20:23:00.000-07:00

Today, I will spend my blog telling a story. This is one I won't soon forget and definitely captures the spirit of living in China.

My First Experience with Chinese Therapy

Saturday was an eventful day. I spent the morning busy with the normal weekend duties- working on some laundry, chatting with friends on the internet, staying in my boxer briefs for as long as possible- a very average start to the day and weekend.

After a lunch from some nearby street vendors (Pineapple and these yummy vegetable sandwiches), Ty and I took off on our bikes to meet two of our Chinese friends at their university. They wanted to take us to a famous restaurant outside of the city that specializes in cold rice noodles. When we arrived at the university, we boarded a bus and rode for an hour to this very rural farm area on the edge of Xi'an City limits.

It was great to get out of the city, even though it had began to rain (and would continue to rain for the rest of the day). Ty bought an umbrella, I bought a hat that I saw a lot of the farmers wearing (I didn't want to look like a goofy tourist after all...). At the bus stop, we crossed a bridge and arrived at our destination. The noodles were GREAT and I definitely want to return to that restaurant again. After the meal, we got back on the bus for an hour.

During the day, we were invited to visit another Chinese friends house for dinner and we accepted (hoping our bikes would still be at the university the next day). At the house, we were met by Cari who just finished a baby shower for one of the teachers at my school. We enjoyed dinner and the company of our three Chinese friends and one hilarious, in-your-face Chinese mother. The mother works at the university that Ty and I were at earlier, teaching Japanese. This makes her fluent in Chinese and Japanese but she knows almost no English, which is difficult for us because there is rarely a moment of silence with her! She is very friendly though and excited to host foreign guests. This was our second time seeing her and first time to visit her home.

The dinner was very good and we received the traditional Chinese hospitality; your plate or cup would never be empty because the mother would be coming at you with a spoonful of something as soon as she noticed it was. Since the tea cups were so small, she would be there to refilled after almost every sip. After dinner there was a moment of silence as we all leaned back from the dinner. Adjusting my posture, I straightened up and pushed on my back to relieve some pressure. There were several thuds that came from the popping of cartilage in my back that everyone heard, but nothing out of the ordinary... or so I thought.

Upon hearing the seemingly normal sound of a back popping, the mother jumped from her chair as if I had just given a cry for help. She went to a nearby shelf opening a box and grabbing some tubes and equipment I didn't quite understand. Before I really knew what was happening, she had already rounded the table and proceeded to place a plastic suction cup on my back. What followed was a pumping that pulled my skin into that suction cup. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was about to receive my first experience of a traditional Chinese Cupping massage.

Although the events that took place were sudden, the mother made sure I knew (through some translation help of our friends) that I could quit at any time if I wanted. I figured, since the first one was already on, I should just go the distance! She continued to place suction cups on my back. I was trying to relax and see if I could find the desire of the suction massage but the sensation was very strange (exactly what you would imagine it feeling like- a Hover vacuum stuck on your back) and it was hard to relax with all your friends laughing at every flinch in your facial expressions! By the time I was finish, I had six suction cups on my back and two on either side of my neck. I felt like Frankenstein's monster or Keanu Reeves in the Matrix when he wakes up in the goo.

After all the cups had been applied. I sat with them on my back for several minutes. During this time, I was thrilled to see that Cari was also getting to experience this unique form of massage. End the end, I received a more 'traditional' style back massage, which was a nice change of pace... but still a little awkward. As strange as the Cupping Massage was, I considered myself fortunate not to take part in the Chinese therapy that took place after. Several of our Chinese friends and the mother herself received the Chinese practice called Gua Sha. This make the cupping massage seem like a walk in the park!

My conclusion:


Immediately following my Cupping Massage- I know, GROSS!	The day after my Cupping Massage

Hmmmm. I didn't notice anything but bruises.... and a lot of explaining the of the strange hickey-like marks on my neck (yes, even to my 5th graders). Maybe it did help with my toxins but a good diet will do that trick too with out as much discomfort. I will not be in a hurry to try again and I strongly advise anyone considering paying money for this procedure to do some more research before diving in. After reviewing the pictures taken that night, I'm confident I would have opted out of the procedure- yuck! I have added an album... if you really want to see- very strange.

Other News

Because of the outrageous-ness of the Cupping Massage, I wanted to clearly paint a picture for you. Other things that have been happen include a lot of bike riding by Ty and I. The weather continues to be a comfortable mid-60s to high 70s. We've been biking like its no body's business! I also finished my last Parent-Teacher Conferences at school, CRAZY! Time is running out! Here's the countdown:

Ty and My Move: 31 Days (not sure where we are moving to, we just got to vacate!)
Last Day of Class: 51 Days (only 37 days of class!)
Trevor's Arrival: 59 Days
Mom and Dad's Arrival: 87 Days
Departure for the United States: 96 Days!?! DOUBLE DIGITS! I can't believe it!!

Yeah, I'm still here!

2009-04-13T19:31:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone! It's been a long time since my last update- sorry about that. I am still alive and I am still here in China. Here is some of the latest!

The Grooters Update

The Good News: It official- Sarah and Tracy have saved enough money to send Sappy back to the United States! Thank you all for your support in this effort. Sarah and Tracy are very excited to have been able to help save this dog from Thailand.

The Bad News: Sarah was in a moped accident while her and Tracy were volunteering at the Gibbons Rehabilitation Center in Phuket Thailand. The sisters spent a stressful, sleepless weekend in a Thai hospital where Sarah had to have surgery on her jaw. A couple days later, their father flew out to meet them. Sarah is much better now but her jaw has been wired shut. Also, the sisters flew home last week and are now back in California.

It was an unfortunate end to their trip and they wished they could have stayed a little longer but they both and a great time traveling Southeast Asia. Check out their website for the last updates.

My life?!

Recently, Ty, Cari and I have been spending a lot of time with our friends we've met here in China. They are all so much fun and we've really enjoyed getting to know them. Some of our latest adventures have included visiting the most prestigious university here in Xi'an (and one of the top 20 in all of China) to see the beautiful signs of springs. There were cherry blossoms everywhere- It was beautiful! Our friends also treated Ty, Cari and I to hot pot and this weekend played some games in one of the many loud arcades here in Xi'an.

2 weeks ago, I was invited to attend lunch with one of my students and their parents. I went with my principal, his wife and one of the other teachers. It was wonderful! My student's family is Korean so we enjoyed a delicious lunch with all the Kimbap and Kimchi you could eat- yummy! After the meal, we had the opportunity to watch this incredibly talented family perform for us! Jenny, my student, played the cello. Her brother played the violin while her mother played the piano and her father sang. It was a very unique and fun experience. One of those perks of being a teacher in China!

Another "big" update; me, Ty and some of the other teachers have recently been obsessed with a game named Ticket To Ride. Its an incredible board game where you try to connect train routes across Europe. I would strongly suggest this game to anyone who enjoys a good board game or is a fan of the game Settlers of Catan (Monica, Andrew and Doug- I'm talking to you. If one of you don't own it by the time I get home, I'm buying a copy!). Apparently there is an American version too, but I am yet to play it.

I had my first half-day at school this week since my vacation to Thailand. 45 uninterrupted school days... and it seemed only like a couple weeks! I can't believe how fast everything is coming to an end! Parent-Teacher conferences next week and after that, wow- its almost over!

HAPPY EASTER!

Definitely a holiday not observed here in China. Maybe less visible than Thanksgiving! I hope all my friends and family are having/had a great Easter back home. Although I didn't get to be a part of an Easter Egg hunt this year, I helped hide eggs for the small kids on our team- I felt so grown up! I had a great Easter with my close friends here in China!

Well, that's about it; here's the countdown again!

Last Day of Class: 60 Days
Trevor's Arrival: 68 Days
Mom and Dad's Arrival: 86 Days
Departure for the United States: 105 Days!?! Ahhh!!

Thanks for Reading!

Spring!

2009-03-25T00:12:00.000-07:00

Save Our Sappy Progress

Last week I reported on a project my friends Tracy and Sarah have started to save a dog from Thailand. I'm thrilled to report that there has already been $900.00 raised! Thank you to everyone who helped in this effort.

Although, the works not done yet! There is still $800.00 that needs to be raised by April 17th (only 22 days!). If you have not heard about Sappy or would like to help, please visit Tracy and Sarah's Save Our Sappy site.

Return of the Flies

A strange thing happened last week, I saw a fly in my bathroom. After that, I began to notice how everything around me was coming to life. I also noticed how a light coat was enough for going outside and how not only was our air conditioner off in our apartment, but our windows were opened!

I know I've said it before, but this time I'm sure- It's officially spring time in Xi'an! I've already gone out on a bike ride and I'm loving the incredible weather of 65-75 degrees Fahrenheit each day. I've heard that spring time in Xi'an will only last a couple weeks. After that, the weather will jump up to an uncomfortable heat. Although its hard for me to imagine "uncomfortable heat" after the long and gray winter, I'm trying to get the most out of this beautiful Spring time weather!

New School

The school I work at has been under a lot of pressure for many years to move. Our current location is in directly in the way of a new road that will be built. Although I've heard of this in the past, the evidence from my window has never been more clear. Our time is running short!

After years of searching (literally), our administration has finally found a new building and last week many of the staff went to see the new site. I was absolutely blown away! Below is a comparison of the improvements at our new school:

CURRENT SCHOOL	NEW SCHOOL
Small, crammed two story building	Huge 3 story building with room to grow

Small 'cozy' classrooms	Very large classrooms able to accommodate large classes

Small sports court and large concrete court shared by Chinese boarding school	Our own field with field turf and a covered sports court area

I have posted some pictures and although they may not look like much to you, for all the teachers here, we are very excited for the potential that this building holds. I'm so glad that the school has found this new location and I can't wait to visit in the coming years to see how the school has grown.

On a related note... if you've ever wanted to teach at a private international school in China, let me know- I could pull some strings for you!

KTV

Finally, after 6 months, I experienced something that I thought would have happened long ago. For those of you who don't know, Karaoke in Asian countries (or 'KTV' as it is called in China) is a little different than in the states. First, instead of visiting the local bar and performing in front of a crowd like in the states, you rent a private room with your friends. These rooms often have very nice furniture and are rather comfortable. Second, the attitude of karaoke is a little different. One of the largest differences of Asian karaoke is that these lounges can sometimes be a place where business people meet after work.

My first time at KTV was a blast! Our private room had a touch screen where you could search through thousands of songs both in English and Chinese. You could pick several songs at a time and it would save the list for you. There was a group of 10 of us and we spent the evening singing and having a great time! I will definitely return to KTV.

My Second Visitor

Its official- as of June 20th, my second visitor will be arriving here in China: Trevor Matthew Arneberg! He will be visiting China for 2 weeks and we plan to visit Beijing, Xi'an and some areas of Southern China (Hong Kong, Shang Hai, etc.). I am super excited! And not far behind Trevor, my parents will be visiting!

The Final Countdown

In thinking about Trevor's visit, my summer is starting to feel very crowed. Here is a countdown to what's ahead!

Last Day of Class: 77 Days
Trevor's Arrival: 85 Days
Parents Arrival: 103 Days
Departure for the United States: 122 Days!?! So soon!

I can't believe this year is already coming to a close!

Thanks for reading!

In case you didn't know, my Chinese Zodiac Animal is the Rat- RATS REPRESENT!

S.O.S.

2009-03-17T19:06:00.000-07:00

As I have mentioned before, I have two good friends, Sarah and Tracy Grooters, who are traveling through South East Asia and being what they call "professional volunteers." Their most recent work was on the tropical island of Thailand named Ko Samui where Sarah and Tracy helped work at a cat and dog rescue center. At their website, there is a great deal of information about their experiences but to summarize; there were over 300 dogs there, not nearly enough workers, they spent their days washing dogs, scooping poop and caring for animals, many of which have serious injuries or disease.

From their time on Ko Samui, the Grooters sisters have started an exciting project to increase the impact of their time overseas before they return to the United States from "professional volunteering" (which will unfortunately be soon since there is not a great deal of money in professional volunteering!): Sarah and Tracy are trying to save a dog! Below, I've posted some information from their web page. Read to see how you can help or visit Save Our Sappy!! at their website!

SAVE OUR SAPPY!

During our stay on the island of Koh Samui, Thailand, we met an unexpected friend in the market. What we first noticed about Sappy, short for Sapparot (สับปะรด; meaning “pineapple” in Thai), was that he was very skinny. We could see his ribs clearly outlined in his chest and his stomach caved in. Like thousands of dogs here, Sappy has been living as a starving stray, relying on the mercy of tourists. We offered him our dinner, and he slowly ate all our food. We think he hasn’t eaten in a while.

Despite of his sad state, he has the happiest personality of any dog we’ve met! His tail wags when he sees us, and he loves a good petting. After several nights of feeding and hanging out with Sappy, we brought him to the Koh Samui Dog and Cat rescue where he is living with 300 dogs and trying to get bigger and stronger.

Although the workers at the Koh Samui Dog and Cat Rescue are working hard with these unfortunate animals, the overcrowded state means Sappy will be dropped back off at the market within the week to fend for himself.

We can’t let this happen for Happy Sappy! The only way to give Sappy a future is to bring him to the U.S. and we need your help to do it. Purchasing his freedom and plane ticket will total about $1700 USD. The plane ticket alone costs $1200 USD and the rest goes to fees, permits and kennel equipment. Unfortunately we cannot pay this amount on our own… If you would like to help by giving a cash donation for Sappy, you can donate anything at our paypal account email account: saveoursappy@gmail.com or visit http://www.halfwayroundtheworld.com/save-our-sappy to donate.

Thank you!

If you are able to donate, Sappy will be sure to send you a picture, update, and a paw-print thank you card after he arrives in the US.

..what about Brad?

I've dedicated this blog to Sarah and Tracy's efforts in Thailand. I'll working on another blog for later this week to catch you up on life in China. Meanwhile, keep an eye on the thermometer on the right side to see updates on Sappy's progress!

Thanks for reading!

Same 'ol, Same 'ol

2009-03-09T06:36:00.000-07:00

Honestly, there has not been a lot of exciting things going on here. I have hit a rhythm. It's not a bad routine- I'm not bored, but there is just not a lot of exciting things to update you on. I work. I play with friends. I have English corner. I read. I eat meals. I go downtown. I sleep. Short of the weather getting nicer (I taught P.E. in a short sleeved shirt today!), it's just work as normal.

Out of a loyalty to my weekly writing, I'm including this post. Instead of creating the same post again and and again each week (or not even posting at all), I'm going to try and find something entertain and/or educational about China on weeks that seem less than blog-worthy. If nothing exciting happens this week, I'll try to find something interesting to update you on next week!

Thanks for reading!

Signs of Spring... ?

2009-02-28T03:56:00.000-08:00

Before I start, I want to give another plug for Tracy and Sarah's Website. Although my adventure in South East Asia has long ended, they are still taveling on an incredible adventure through Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam! If you want to see some great pictures, videos or their amazing stories, check it out!

Since the last update, I have been keeping busy, but nothing seems quite as exciting as updating from tropical Thailand- but I'll try!

After returning to Xi'an, I was excited about the increase in the temperature- but that was not the only sign of spring! In addition to the Chinese New Year being called 春节 (Spring Festival), things been changing in the city. For instance, you can now buy pineapples from the street vendors (which reminded me of warm, beautiful Thailand). Possibly the most exciting and nostalgic moment of the emerging spring came to while shopping at Metro, a German store that is very similar to Costco or Sam's Club in the states. While walking through the produce isle, I came across something that was beautiful to my eye and warming to my heart- WASHINGTON STATE APPLES! I had to buy them... and they were delicious!

Buddhist Temple

After being here in Xi'an for six months, I had lost my tourist edge. With Ty around, he has helped re-introduce the adventurous attitude! Last week, Ty, Zach, Carrie, Cari and I made a trip to a large Buddhist Temple here in the middle of Xi'an. It was an incredible sight to see the high rise buildings surrounding the ancient architecture and carefully planned gardens.

I would love everyone to check out the album of my pictures from the Buddhist temple but I must warn you- this temple held two rooms with some of the most graphic depictions of hell I've ever seen in an eastern religion. I found it very fascinating how similar the concept of hell is in both western religions and eastern religion. So, for the faint of heart, avoid the Xi'an Buddhist Temple photo album. For the rest of you, enjoy... if you can.

Snow?!

Right when I was turning off the heater in my room and ready to put some shorts on, the weather decided to remind me it's only February. Over the last week, I saw my first snow in China! It was only around for a day or two, but it was great to see the white around the city and any type of precipitation is welcome when you are living in the desert.

In addition to the changing weather, I recently made some bittersweet plans. As of last weekend, I have officially purchased my return ticket to the USA! I will be flying back on the same flight as parents in the end of July. Although it's still 5 months away, if it's anything like the first 6 months here- it won't last long. I am excited to live each opportunity here in China to the fullest while I'm still here (...but I'm also excited to see all my family and friends this summer!).

Shocking Update?

After returning from Thailand, one of the highest priorities I had was buying a new pair of jeans. Now, to most this might sound like a very normal errand but (a little known fact about myself), I have never purchased a pair of long pants for myself in my life. I know, weird, huh? When I was young, mother was kind enough to dress me and in my adolescents, I would either rely on pants that I borrowed (more like stole) from my dad's closet or something from TJ.

For the last 4 years, I've been wearing pair of jeans from a good friend in college. They didn't fit him well, so he gave them to me. They are so thin now that holes are spreading in them faster than a motorcycle taxi running from the police (regional humor, sorry). New jeans was high priority because I had to have some good jeans for Casual Friday!

Well, long story short (you can tell from the length, this was an important moment for me), I followed a very stereotypical male pattern. I walked from my apartment to the closest clothing store and bought the first pair of jeans I looked at. Pretty anti climatic, I know. Get this though- the jeans only cost me 42 Kuai ($6.00)!

So, not the most exciting month, but full of "firsts" none the less; Thanks for reading!

Me in my new jeans... there's nothing to smile about- all business.

The Thailand Update!

2009-02-10T04:43:00.000-08:00

I was able to make a few quick updates while I was traveling but I never sat down and gave this special trip justice. So I'll resume my update after my post from Ao Luk, Thailand on January 18th:

Ao Luk, Thailand

After my adventurous arrival in Thailand and first impressions of Ao Luk, I joined Sarah and Tracy in helping teach English to the elementary school there. The school was very large with many students and the classes were out of control! We would show up and not know what students we would be meeting with and how long we would be there. The first couple days we taught some vocabulary on clothing and body parts. Also, we used as many opportunities as possible to play my ukulele and sing songs with the children. Some of our hits included "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes," "The Hooky-Poky" and a very special "Build Me Up Buttercup" performance.

Our final adventure with the students was an event called "Scouts' Day." We were part of a journey into the jungle where we watched children do all kinds of challenges and also crossed a river on a pair of ropes. At the end of the day we were invited to be at their "camp fire." The camp fire ended up being a pile of wood with florescent lights on the logs. We watched the children dance and sing and then after, we enjoyed our favorite snack in all of Thailand: ROTI! Tracy and Sarah have posted this videos from their volunteering in Ao Luk, Thailand; take a look: Teaching Video and Thailand Foods.

Other highlights from Ao Luk was the incredible National Park, my amazing hotel (where I stayed 7 nights for less than $60) and the exciting Market located at the city center.

Tourist Thailand

After our time in rural Thailand, Sarah, Tracy and I began the next leg of our journey: Tourist Thailand! Below is a map to help you follow our exciting trip.

View Larger Map

We started our journey on a longtail boat from Krabi, Thailand (the Blue Pin). After about a 40 minute boat ride, we arrived to Railay Beach (the Red Pin) where we had to get out of the boat in knee deep water! Railay beach was a beautiful location and a rock climber's heaven! There were climbers everywhere and limestone cliffs with beautiful views of the green waters and tropical vegetation. It was a little strange going from a town full of native Thai people to a tourist area with so many white faces.

Our next stop was the incredibly small and tropical island of Phi Phi Island (the Green Pen). This island was a tropical playground for tourist. Every word on the island was in English and every business was either a restaurant, a bar, a hotel or some tourist adventure (scuba diving was huge!). There were a couple areas that were very local but you had to make some serious effort to find them. One night on the island, you could hear the music at the bars going until 4:30 am. All this said- it was a lot of fun and a very wild place to visit!

After Phi Phi Island, we made our way to Phuket (the Yellow Pin). Phuket, like Railay Beach, was a on a peninsula. We stayed in a hostel and, as my first hostel experience, I was really impressed. Although I was only in Phuket for one night, Sarah, Tray and I rented mopeds. This allowed us to travel all around the peninsula and see some of the beautiful beaches like Putong (the Yellow Loop). Check out this video for some clips from our travels in Tourist Thailand: Tourist Thailand Video.

The Retreat

As much as I hated leaving Tracy and Sarah, I had a retreat with my friends and co-workers to attend in Thailand (...plus, Sarah and Tracy had to leave Thailand the next day to renew their visas...). Be sure to check out Tray and Sarah's blog for more pictures, movies and some crazy stories from Cambodia: Halfway Round the World.

I flew from Phuket Airport to Bangkok, boarded a bus and rode for 3 hours to the resort where we would be staying. It was a beautiful resort that was located on the beach, but after my two weeks in southern Thailand, the beach wasn't that impressive. It was the hard sand that you would see at the ocean at the Pacific Northwest beaches. The beach did stay surprisingly shallow for a long, long time (literally about three-fourths of a mile!). I enjoyed reuniting with the familiar faces from China for a couple days.

Bangkok

After our retreat, it was back to see the city of Bangkok! Because of my great experience in Phuket, I decided to stay in another hostel in Bangkok and it did not disappoint! It was an incredible place with a great location. I noticed that Bangkok, much like the tourist locations we visited, was very western- there was English everywhere and a good number of large malls. Although I enjoy the balance of Chinese culture and western modernization of Xi'an, I was excited to be able to see movies in English (I watched two while in Bangkok- The Day the Earth Stood Still and Madagascar 2, both on the IMAX screen)!

Also, Cari and I spent a day being tourist and visiting the Grand Palace. To get there, we rode river boats along the main river that runs through Bangkok. This river was the busiest, most-populated river I have ever been on (...and they call the Mississippi the working river!). The Grand Palace was a very colorful and interesting site with an architecture that shared many similarities with eastern culture yet was very unique. Due to the strict clothing policy, I had to borrow pants and Cari had to borrow a skirt. It made the site seeing a little more humorous... and hot.

After several days, I felt like I had seen a lot of Bangkok. I wasn't quite ready to head back to the cold weather of Xi'an and 40 hour work weeks, but I did miss the city where I knew how to get around. My flight from Bangkok left the Bangkok International Airport at 2 AM. Talk about a red eye flight...

Back in China

So I've been back now for several days. Already, we are back into the "rhythm" at school and it seems like months ago that I left Thailand. With Chinese New Year being our big vacation at school, my next break will be the end of the school year in June (with the exception of several 3-day weekends). I'm trying to enjoy every minute I'm here, but it's tough not to be counting down the days until the school year is over.

Thankfully the weather here in Xi'an is starting to get a little warmer. It makes the 40 degree temperature change a more bearable. Plus, it's starting to get brighter in the mornings. If the change from winter to spring is anything like the change from summer to fall- I have a feeling we will be turning off the heaters and on the air conditioners over course of a couple days spring does come. I'll keep you updated on my life in Xi'an (even if it's not as exciting as traveling the tropical locations of Thailand...).

Thanks for reading.

Quick Update

2009-01-26T20:53:00.000-08:00

Hello all! I'm alive and living it up in Thailand. Since I'm vacationing, I'm not spending too much time behind a computer. I'm having a great time! We (Tracy, Sarah and I) have left the rural location of Ao Luk and are now seeing all the travel destinations of Thailand (Railey Beach, Phi Phi Island and Phuket).

Anyways, just wanted to let you know I'm alive! Check out Sarah and Tracy's site for more information:

Halfway Around the World

Thanks for reading!

In THAILAND!

2009-01-18T17:22:00.000-08:00

Before we dive into Thailand, here is my quick China update: Ty is awesome, I got my wallet stolen (Cari had to rescue me in downtown Xi’an) and the city is being covered with Chinese New Year Decorations: Year of the OX! Now, on to the main event:

Amazing Race: Thailand Style!

That's right, it's official! I am in Thailand! I was a long a crazy trip to get here. Originally, I was to leave my apartment at 5:20 am to catch my flight, but it was delayed 2 hours. Then, when I arrived at the airport- delayed another hour! And finally, after getting on the plane, we sat on the run way for- yep, you guessed it- another hour. Finally I left Xi'an, China for Bangkok, Thailand 4 hours behind schedule.

This wouldn't have been a problem except I was foolish and booked my second flight with a different company. So I missed my flight from Bangkok to Krabi (I feel like the more excited you are to travel, the more problems you are likely to have) and I had to buy another ticket. Thankfully, another plan was leaving in only 40 minutes- great timing! I was relieved to finally be on a plane, but the last leg of my journey to the rural city of Ao Luk was still uncertain.

I was warned about overpriced taxis at the airport in Krabi, so I walked to the main road (point "A" below). Using the Google map of the area and my GPS system, I started walking down the Highway 4 towards Krabi... at dusk (sorry mom!). As I walked a large man on a moped approached me (point "B" below). I said "Krabi" and he motioned for me to jump on the back. How could I refuse? He took me to a booth on the side of the road where an older man who knew a little English was sitting. I think it was a moped rental shop, but I showed him my map and told him I wanted to go to Ao Luk. Then he said "big bus" and I smiled and nodded.

I was back on the moped with the large man who reminded me of a Hawaiian local. Side note: both I and the large man on the moped were wearing blue Hawaiian shirts, just to give you a visual. We arrived at one bus stop, but we literally saw the last bus for Ao Luk pulling away. Thankfully, there was a bus heading to Phuket (point "C" below) and I was able to ride that bus and get off early.

View Larger Map

Now dark and in the city of Ao Luk (point "D" below), I used a picture Tracy had sent me to navigate to my hotel. On the way, I found an internet cafe full of little children. I might have been closed, but they let me come in. I was able to contact Tracy by Instant Messaging. After all the children introduced themselves and taught me how to count to ten (although I've already forgotten their names and the numbers), I headed down the dark rural road to the Ao Luk "Bangalows" (that's right- bungalows spelt wrong!). After checking in buy pointing at a sheet of paper I had with Thai words on it, I dropped off my luggage and went to meet Tracy and Sarah.

I had finally arrived after a 12 hour day of traveling (which should have taken only about 7). Aren't travel stories fun?!

First Impressions/Day

Ao Luk, Thailand is the exact opposite of Xi'an China. Here are some of the differences:

Xi'an, China...	Ao Luk, Thailand
... is HUGE (pop. ~9 million)	... is not (pop. ~45,000, and that's the whole district!)
... is a dry-as-a-bone desert city with a concret jungle	... a lush rural town and has literal jungles
... is cold (today's temperature in Xi'an: 0 C/32 F)	...is hot (today's temperature in Ao luk: ~27 C/80 F)

On second thought, Xi'an and Ao Luk are not totally opposite; rice and spice is just as important (if not more) in the food, people love to ride mopeds and motorbikes and everyone is very friendly- just like in Xi'an.

Like any good foreigner, I spent most of the first day in Ao Luk getting way too much sun at the pool with Sarah and Tracy- I am a lovely shade of red right now!

I love it here; it is absolutely beautiful and the people have the relaxed islander feel of Hawaii. Also, since Ao Luk is so rural- there are not many foreigners or tourist spots, so that's nice!

Well, it's about time for me to go! I've been typing from an internet cafe in the big part of Ao Luk (there's a cute little kitten who sleeps on top of the computer screens and chases the mice... pun intended!). I'll be trying to update again from Thailand and hopefully I'll be able to upload my pictures by then!

Thanks for reading!

That guy Ty

2009-01-13T09:03:00.000-08:00

I've been a little late on updating my blog. Why? Because my 室友 (shiyou, roommate) has arrive!

New Roomy

Ty arrived last Monday and has spent a week getting to know our lovely city of Xi'an. He's visited downtown several times, ate many exciting meals and began his Chinese schooling. Here's some info on my new roommate:

Ty was born and raised in Northern California. After, his family moved to Wisconsin. He has been living there and going to college. Now, at 22 years old, Ty has come to China as part of an internship. He will be here in Xi'an learning Chinese and working on several correspondent classes for the next 5 months to complete a minor in East Asian Studies. After that, his studying abroad will take him to other locations in China and more adventures! Ty has a great sense of humor (see photo on left for a more 'dramatic' Ty). He also loves to jam on the guitar and speaks the best Pig Latin I've ever heard; he's fluent. It-ya is-ya a-ya ittle-lay ary-scay.

I couldn't be more excited about Ty! We've already shared some good adventures and there are still many are to be had. My only concern is a lack of sleep from too much fun (currently watching Planet Earth: Great Plains while blogging... way past my bedtime)!

Makin' 饺子　(Jiaozi)!

This week, Ty and I (that has a nice ring) had some Chinese friends over. We made Jaozi (dumplings)! It was a lot of fun and a very uniquely Chinese experience! To Make a jiaozi, you must first make the dough, then cut it into small pieces, then roll it, then stuff it (probably the hardest part for me) then boil them. It was a great time and some delicious food! I'm thankful our friends were there to help... my Jiaozi didn't look so good!

US Holidays End/Chinese Begin!

It's official, I just celebrated what will probably be my last Christmas until next year. Cari Cook was home for Christmas and not able to enjoy Christmas here in China. Today, Cari and I opened presents! Nothing wrong with one more Christmas! For those of you who were worried about me being overseas during the holidays, here is a recap of my holiday season:

Christmas Celebrations: 5 (including one conducted over a webcam!)
Thanksgiving Celebrations: 3 (3 Turkey Meals!)
New Years: Only one... but Chinese New Year is quickly arriving!

Thailand Countdown

That's right, less than a WEEK! I am soooooo excited (and still need to pack!). It is going to be a great time visiting a new (warm) country as well as seeing my friends Tracy and Sarah!

Below is a sneak peek of the area I will be visiting Tracy and Sarah. For more information, check out my last blog or their web site at Halfway Around the World.

A preview of one of the places I will be visiting!

Since I will not be traveling with my computer and I am uncertain of how available the internet will be, this could be my last post for several weeks! I hope I'll be able to send out a couple quick updates. If not, keep posted in February for a HUGE update.

Thanks for reading!

Two 很酷

Party like it's 2009!

2009-01-04T08:58:00.000-08:00

It's 2009- HAPPY NEW YEAR! I had a very restful first weekend of the new year, so not a ton to report. Here's what did happen:

New Years Eve!

Like Christmas Eve, I worked on New Year's Eve. After school, I had my first class of Chinese with my new professor- should be a great quarter! Then, I ate dinner and had to get ready for our New Year's Eve Costume Party that was happening at our school. For my costume, I went as bread. Why? I'm glad you asked! My name, Brad, as pronounced by many of my Chinese friends sounds like "bread." After telling several of this mistake, they began to call me 面包 (mianbao; bread in Chinese). Since I knew there would be both the Chinese teachers as well as other people from the states, I thought this would be a great costume! We spent New Year's Eve eating snacks and playing games.

New Years Day I spent some time on the computer with the parents, wishing them a Happy New Year. It was definitely a different New Year than I am used to!

Thailand Update

If you missed last week, I now have an official countdown for my vacation to Thailand:

In other Thailand related news, I will have the awesome opportunity to meet up with my good friends Tracy and Sarah while I'm in Thailand! It's official; Tracy and Sarah are flying out of San Francisco today (Jan. 4th ) at noon! They will be living in Thailand and teaching English. They have set up their very own website to keep people posted on their adventures. Check it out at the link below:

Halfway Round The World: Tracy and Sarah's Website

www.halfwayroundtheworld.com

My next ~~visitor~~ roommate?!

As of tomorrow (Jan. 5th), I will have a ROOMMATE! All I know is that his name is Ty and he is a 20 year old college student who has studied some Chinese. He will be living here in Xi'an for 5 months working on an internship. I'm super excited to meet him! Next week I'll be informing you what life with a roommate is like (can't be worse than Jake... just kidding)!

And...

Final update, See video below:

祝你生日快乐，
祝你生日快乐，
祝你生日，生日快乐，
祝你生日快乐!

Thanks For Reading!

Christmas in China!

2008-12-28T05:12:00.000-08:00

I officially celebrated my first Christmas away from family; very, very far away. Here was the excitement of my Christmas while here in China!

Christmas Eve

Since we had school on Christmas Eve, the whole day was dedicated to fun and games. Movies were watched and each class had a party. I spent the day before searching for gifts for all my students. Each student ended up getting a bunch of candy, a yo-yo, a little book, pencil, etc- just a grab bag of fun stuff. I ended up getting some nice gifts from my students as well! At the end of the day, we opened our presents, recorded the video in my last blog and then played some games. For working on Christmas Eve, it was not bad at all!

After school, I went to Carrie Jones and Vicki's house (the same house I celebrated Thanksgiving at). There, Carrie had been working very hard all day with a gourmet feast prepared for the three of us. It was a delicious meal and a very relaxing Christmas Eve. We watched some movies, played some games and called it a night.

Christmas Day

Christmas morning in China was Christmas Eve back in the states. This made for an interesting morning- I spent the morning jumping back and forth between Skyping with my family back home and celebrating here in Xi'an. My Christmas celebration here consisted of a brunch and gift exchange. Later in the day, we played more games and had some dinner. It was a great Christmas celebration and very fun.

Meanwhile, during breaks in my Christmas day festivities, I was running to my computer to Skype with my family while they were celebrating Christmas Eve- confusing, I know! I was able to talk with all my relatives, open my gift for that gift exchange (which TJ had delivered during his visit), watch my gift being open and play in a family game of poker! It was hilarious; my brother's laptop was placed on the table and people would hold cards up to me and I would place bets, just like a normal game! The funny thing is, I did really well (third, I think- right mom and dad?). It was a lot of fun and a great opportunity to visit with family. Technology is incredible. I really felt like I was right there in the room!

The Day After Christmas

The morning after Christmas in China was Christmas Day in the states. So, I celebrated again! This time, it was just dad, mom, TJ and Grandma SaLeal. I was able to open the rest of my presents with them over Skype and watch them open their presents. Again, I was amazed at technologies ability to help me fell as if I were in the same room as my family! I am so thankful I was able to spend so much time with my family. Although using the webcam is no substitute for spending Christmas with my actual family, it made this Christmas away much easier. It was a fun and new experience!

A Year in Review

2008 was grrrrrrreat (and it rhymes)! It's hard to imagine a one year ago I was a student at Western Washington University and living with Brad, Eric, Blake and Katie- it seems like a lifetime ago! Big moments from this year: I continued to make incredible friends in college while having way too much fun with the one's I already had, I ran my first Marathon, I graduated from college at WWU, I was at the Olympics in Beijing with my family, and I traveled farther from home than I ever had to teach for a year. In honor of this time of reflection, here is a note that I found that I wrote during my flight to China over 4 months ago:

08/09/08 (6:11 PM/5:11 PM?)
I just passed over Anchorage, Alaska. I really feel that the magnitude of this trip has only just struck me. I was watching "Bee Movie" (fair at best. I'd rather watch 3 episodes of Seinfeld back-to-back) and I started thinking about the movies on my return flight. Then it hit me; I don't have a return ticket. In fact, the only ticket I have is sending me farther into China! Well, no turning back now. It will be a whole YEAR before I cross this ocean again. Here goes nothing! (P.S. I think the guy next to me has restless leg syndrome!)

Thank you to everyone who has supported me over the last year. For my parents putting me through college and always encouraging me in everything I do. For my amazing friends who still talk to me even though I left them for a year. For my family who is so awesome. And to you! All the people who continue to read my blog and follow my journeys, it makes it much easier to write! Thank you for you updates to- I love hearing about life in the states. I love all of you very much!

Looking Ahead...

Only 4 days until 2009?!?!?! WOW! I can't believe it! Here are some exciting things coming up soon:

A new roommate! I will be having a roommate living with me here in Xi'an. I've been reorganizing my apartment in order to make room for him (TJ, you wouldn't even recognize it). He is a college student who is coming to Xi'an to do an internship. I'm very, very excited to meet him and share some adventures!

My Vacation! Because I'm in China, our school did not give us the traditional break that schools in the states receive for Christmas during the winter. Instead, I received a 4-day weekend. Although Christmas is not a huge deal here in China, the Chinese New Year is! So, starting January 16th, I will have a vacation until February 9th! Not only do I have 3 weeks off, I will be spending these weeks in THAILAND! I'm a little sad to miss the Chinese New Year, but I can't wait to travel in Thailand (and to feel some warm weather)! I'm so excited, I've included this countdown:

Engagements! There have been so many engagements lately! I just wanted to say congratulations to all my friends and loved ones and that I will do my best to be back for your weddings!

Amanda and Sasha
Treavor and Heather
Blake and Christie
Cody and Al
Alex and Tyler

Congratulations all!

Finally, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANA!!! I know this may come a little late, but I hope you had a great Birthday and thanks for sending my Christmas gift with TJ. I know Catch Phrase will be a huge hit!

Thanks for reading and Happy New Year!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

2008-12-23T09:20:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone- It’s me, Brad, again! It’s been a very exciting couple weeks. If you missed out, T.J. visited a couple weeks ago. While he was here, he posted 2 blogs: One for Dec. 2nd to Dec. 9th and one for Dec. 10th to Dec. 16th Check them out if you haven’t already!

While visiting, T.J. took a TON of pictures! Here are the new albums that you can see T.J.'s adventures in:

Around Xian (TJ Visit)	Tienanmen Square (TJ Visit)	Forbidden City (TJ Visit)
My Birthday (TJ Visit)	Temple of Heaven (TJ Visit)	Lama Temple (TJ Visit)
At School (TJ Visit)	Summer Palace (TJ Visit)	Around Beijing (TJ Visit)
Christgiving (TJ Visit)	Olympics (TJ Visit)	Great Wall (TJ Visit)
Terracotta Soldiers (TJ Visit)	Ming Tombs (TJ Visit)	Tang Paradise (TJ Visit)

I'm going to highlight some of our adventures during his stay:

Xi'an... When Brad's not at school!

Although I was working a 40 hour week for TJ's first week in China, we got to do some great stuff. You better believe I took him to my favorite park in Xi'an: TANG PARADISE! And in case you thought this blog couldn't get any cooler, now, for the first time, introducing VIDEO!

Filmed by T.J. ThomasFilmed by T.J. Thomas

Familiar Territory

It was so strange going back to Beijing with T.J. First, it was the farthest I've traveled since I've arrived in Xi'an. Second, it was familiar, but not home... very strange. On good example was my second trip to the Summer Palace and getting to walk on the ice where 4 months ago I was paddle boating! Plus, I have now been to the Forbidden City 3 time! I was thrilled to find that each place I went to offered new experiences.


Summer Palace in Winter	Summer Palace in Summer

Great Wall during the Summer	Great Wall during the Winter (and a different location)

We are NERDS!

As suggested by our father, T.J. and I took several pics at the tourist hot spots in China holding up our local newspapers, the News Tribune and the Gateway... I hope one of those makes it!


@ The Great Wall	@ Terracotta Soldiers	@ Forbidden City

Thanks for visiting T.J.! I had tons of fun (and I got to miss 2 days of class)! Now that we’re all caught up, it’s time for…

CHRISTMAS!

Christmas in China has been very different. Unlike Thanksgiving, you can see Christmas decorations in a lot of areas around China. McDonalds’ goes all out (which, I don’t think they can even do that in the states because of all the “politically correct” issues!). Unlike in the states, I will only be receiving a four day weekend for my Christmas break. But, this does not bother me in the least bit since I have a 3 week-long break in January for Chinese New Year where I will be traveling to THAILAND!!!

I’ve already had the Christgiving (see T.J.’s blog) celebration and I also have a Christmas Eve and Christmas day party to attend this week, so don’t worry about me! Also, T.J. brought over a bunch of gifts that I hope to open with the family over Skype!

This will have to be part one of Christmas. Next week, I’ll catch you up on the rest of the happenings!

Thanks for Reading!

Watch the video below for some Season Greetings from Xi’an China!

T.J. in China Part 2

2008-12-18T15:53:00.000-08:00

Hello again from T.J. I am writing one more blog from my trip to China. I am currently back in Gig Harbor, Washington and it is snowing like crazy outside. A lot of these stories go with my pictures so be sure to check them out here.

Tuesday

On Tuesday, we went to the Tang Paradise in Xi’an. It is a big park that has performances from the Chinese culture. While we were there, we saw a dog dance performance that had two people dressed up in a dog costume that jumped from poles to poles. They were very good. Another show that we saw had a group of people on stilts doing dance moves. The third show was a drum show and was very loud. After the shows and some walking in the park we headed to a restaurant and had Beijing duck. It was very good. When we left the restaurant the fountain by the Wild Goose Pagoda had a performance going so we watched it.

Wednesday

Today, I headed to the Wild Goose Pagoda and Brad meet up with me after school. The pagoda is seven stories high and a tough stair climb inside. When Brad met up with me we walked around for awhile and then went back to his place to get ready for English corner. English corner was on a college campus and was a group of Chinese students learning English. During this session Brad and his group decided to sing Christmas songs. It was funny to watch the student sing and do some hand gestures to the 12 Days of Christmas.

Thursday

After school, Brad and I headed downtown to do a little shopping. We also stopped by a Pizza Hut for some dinner. It was a pretty uneventful night.

Friday

I made one more visit to Brad’s very energetic classroom. The students were sad to see me leaving. After school, Brad made up some lesson plans and I headed to his apartment to pack. Went Brad came back we went to his favorite restaurant next to his place. The Chinese restaurant had good food and knew Brad and Cari very well. Went we finished the food it was time to finish packing and head to the train station for an all night trip to Beijing.

Saturday

After a 10 hour train ride in a sleeper car, with three beds on each side, we made it to Beijing. A taxi ride later we made it to the hotel that Brad and everyone else stayed at during the Olympics. It was a cool spot kind of back in an ally. The day had just begun and we started by heading to the Tiananmen Square where we went to the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City is where emperors use to live and have their day to day life. After the Forbidden City, we crossed the street to Tiananmen Square where we met a lady that was practicing her English and gave us a tour of the square and the area. The lady took us to a tea shop for some drinks, I think the drink cost us our tour fees. After we left that lady, we headed to the temple of Heaven where the emperors sacrificed cows to the gods. After this long day we wanted some food and bed. Brad heard of a Mexican place in Beijing so we went to find it. The Tex Mex restaurant was just like being in Texas and had great Mexican food.

Sunday

Another long day in Beijing that started at the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace was huge area and it was beautiful. I took a lot of pictures here and we even walked on water! Or the lake there that was frozen over. After a few hours at the palace we took the subway to the Olympic Pavilion. The Olympic area is still pretty much a tourist area. We walked around and decided to go into the birds nest. They were playing the opening ceremonies on the big screens. Another subway trip put us in a Hutton area, or ally courtyard, where we got dinner. On the ride back home we found a place to get back massages. It was a great way to finish a long day.

Monday

In the morning we met up with a lady for a Gray line tour. The tour included the Ming Tombs, A Jade factory and a visit to the Great Wall. The tour was a lot of fun but of course the Great Wall was amazing. We climbed about a quarter mile up the wall and then back down. It was tons of fun and you bet I took a ton of pictures. After the tour we got dropped off at the Buddhist temple. Lots of people were praying and lighting incense. After the temple we went for our last dinner at a hot pot restaurant. The restaurant gives you a pot of bowling water and you cook your own food in it.

Tuesday

Tuesday was another early morning, but this time we were heading to the airport. Brad was heading back to Xi’an and I was heading home to the states. I had a lot of fun in China and for those of you that are thinking about visiting Brad, be ready for a different culture and be ready to try some new things. Brad thanks for the fun time and I will talk to you soon.

From T.J. in China 2

T.J. In China

2008-12-08T19:30:00.000-08:00

Please enjoy our guest author for this week- T.J. is in China!

Hello Everyone, This time it is T.J. writing from China! I got into China on the 2 of December, China time, and I will be here until the 16th of December. So far, I have seen a lot and experienced a very different culture then back home in the States. Anyways, this is my first blog and I am going to try to give you all the details of my first week here. Well, here it goes.

Day 1

My trip started out of Seatac at 12:30 on Sunday November 30th. I flew of Northwest air on an Airbus 330. The first flight was to Tokyo Japan and was 10 hours long. My seat in the airplane had its own TV screen and control that allowed me to pick movies, games or music to listen to. On the first flight I watched Wanted, Batman Returns, and Walli. It was a fun start to the trip. When I got to Tokyo I had one hour and forty-five minutes to wait for the next flight to Beijing. This trip again was on an Airbus 330 and was about 4 hours long. When I got to Beijing, at 10 p.m., I had 10 hours to sit around for a morning flight at 8 a.m. This is when I knew I was no longer in the U.S.A.

In Beijing I had to walk from terminal 2 to terminal 1 which was a ten minute walk. Not bad, but this walk I would have on my backpack and be pulling a fifty pound rolling bag and also another forty pound rolling bag. It was interesting. Along the way everyone asked if I needed a taxi or a hotel. I said no and found my way to the ticket counter of Hainan Airlines. Once there I found some chairs to sleep on. After an hour or so a lady with an ID badge came to me and said I must go to a hotel or upstairs to sleep. I thought awesome a place to sleep that I don’t know about. I told her no hotel but maybe upstairs. As we walked she told me it would be 300 "Kuai" or ¥. I started to point at chairs and say, “But I will stay here for free.” Anyways, we get upstairs and walk to a restaurant and she told me to wait as she talked to a man. We then walked through the restaurant to a back room that had three “beds” in it. They turned out to be massage tables, but still comfortable. I paid the lady and lay down to sleep for a few hours. It was nice to be able to sleep and not worry what was happening to my bags.

At 5:30 the next morning the man that the lady was talking to came in to get me up. I had already been awake for awhile so it was not too bad. I think he was getting ready for breakfast, haha. Then it was off for my last leg to Xi’an. I went through security that is very similar to security in the U.S.A. and then to my gate. As I boarded the Boeing 737 for the one hour thirty minute flight I notice that I was the only American on the plane. It was very strange, also knowing that I was one of the few that recognized the English announcements.

When I got to Xi’an there was a man with my name on a piece of paper! My driver to Brad’s school. When we got to the car he also had his wife and two children with him. On the drive we dropped them off at his house. The driver, Mr. Mu, knew about two English words, wife and house. Also, driving in China is very different from the states. First of all, there is a lot of swerving and no blinkers. Second, red lights mean very little except if there is a traffic camera on the corner. Third, be happy if there are traffic lights, we came up on a few four way intersections that had no light and no stop signs! Also, people just cross the street, even on a highway that has four way traffic each direction. But, all and all a few horn beeps, near misses and we made it to Brad’s!

At Brad's!

I made it to Brad’s school. It is behind a blue gate with a guard on duty. Check out the pictures on his site if you haven’t seen it. Once we were inside we waited for Brad to come out and then we took my bags and walk to the far side of the compound where his apartment was. It is on the school grounds which made it very easy to get to work. Brad came up with me and showed me around his place. The time was about 12 noon. We got settled in and then we got on Skype to call the parents to tell them that I had made it and all is well. After that Brad went back down to school and finished his class.

When Brad was done with school he came back and we both took a little nap. After that we decided to go out and walk around. We walked down an ally that they call the village because the ally had stored lined down both ends. The store looked like storage sheds that would be opened when the store was open. The stores included: Clothing, shoes, electronics, food, barber shops and others. The interesting part was that the five or so different store just repeated over and over. There were so many people that the small stores were all packed with people. A few times we saw people selling things on blankets. Brad said that if the police came they could pick up their things and move away. Also, I saw a lot of puppies for sale. As for pets, here people tie up cats and dogs are mostly strays. One cat we saw was tied to a tree!

At one of the food places, Brad and I stopped to eat. It was the first Chinese place Brad ate at and it would also be my first. The restaurant had a picture menu that you could point at and Brad was able to talk to the young girl that was waiting on us. Brad ordered eggs and tomato on rice and also a dish that was like hash browns on rice. I ordered chicken with peppers on rice. After we ordered, they took the order and made it on a grill that was on the street. When the food came it was as tasty but different. Brad said that he was sorry but chicken comes with bone and all just chopped up. Brad said it was like Sesame seeds, you have to spit the bone out. It was alright but not something I was use to.

After dinner, we continued our walk and walked by two colleges and looked into a mall. The clothing mall had stores like you would think but only clothing stores nothing else, no food, no major electronics, no furniture, only clothing. After the short mall visit, we walked back to the village café that has the hot chocolate that Brad has talked about before. It was delicious and a very nice spot. Brad didn’t like the location that much because it is mostly foreigners that go into it. After that, we walked back to the school and Brad’s apartment where we watched Kung Fu Panda and went to bed.

Wednesday the 3rd

This morning, December 3rd, I woke up to the sounds of dogs behind Brad’s apartment and the children of the school doing there morning exercises. There is a boarding school of about 350 students that get up every morning and do exercises. After that I typed this log up and took a shower. Brad’s shower is very very low pressure but it does have hot water. After that Brad joined me for lunch and then we both walked down to his class. He has five girls and one boy that have a lot of energy.

Today, they were studying for a science test, but first they wanted to interview me. The questions seemed to be the same: what is Brad’s girl friend’s name? and do you have a girl friend? A little later we went down for P.E. that was going to be kickball with some balls that I brought from the states. Kids were going everywhere but it was still fun. Now, Brad is off to a Chinese class and then we are going to go find some food.

Dinner was down the road at a Chinese restaurant. Brad ordered us some macaroni style noodles dish and also some sweet and sour chicken, this time with no bones. There was also some entertainment at the restaurant. It was a cat that was wondering around the restaurant. An older lady, with a coat hanger, was trying to catch it but it kept getting away. At one point, it jumped on a chair under one of the tables and the lady look under the table but never on the chair. The car kept meowing and it was making me and Brad laugh. Finally, the lady found the cat and took it to the back room, where the kitchen was. The cat did make another escape later after we got our food so our chicken was still chicken, I think. After that, we jumped on a bus to down town.

The bus we got on was two levels, so we got on the second and moved to the front. It is a scary ride from up there and it feels like you are going to fall on the cars in front of you because the bus goes fast and stops fast. When we got downtown, we walked by the bell tower and the drum tower. They are lighted up at night and look awesome. Then we walked through a few of the market places that have everything a tourist could need. The sellers knew just enough English to say, “Buy this T-shirt” or “Come in here.” We also stopped at a Dairy Queen; it is one of two in the city. Downtown was very cool and I think we may go back soon. We rode a taxi back to Brad’s and then headed to bed.

December 4th

On the 4th it was a very nice day out. Brad headed to school and I cleaned up his apartment. It was just a little dirty, haha. After school, we met up with Cari, a good friend of Brad's, and then we went shopping for their gift exchange that they had this weekend. We also hit another famous Chinese restaurant, Subway. Other than that it was an easy day.

Brad's Birthday

On Brad's Birthday we opened presents from home at lunch and then went down to his class. The students gave Brad some gifts and Cari also made a cookie cake that we ate and made a mess in his classroom. After school, we headed to Brad's group and had a game night with some of the people that he knows here in the area. It was a lot of fun.

This Weekend

Every year, the community that Brad knows celebrates Thanksgiving on Saturday and Christmas on Sunday. They call it Christgiving and they do it this early in case people head home for the holidays. So on Saturday we had a giant Thanksgiving dinner and on Sunday we had a brunch. There were also a lot of games and skits.

Monday

We met up with one of Brad's student's families for a dim sum breakfast. It was all you can eat with a lot of Chinese dishes. The dishes include both breakfast and lunch items. The food was very good and we got to try a lot of interesting things. Probable the most interesting of course was a plate of chicken feet. I hesitated for awhile but decided to try a little of it. It was like eating a chicken leg with very little meat on it and a very small bone in the middle. There is a picture of it that I have a link to at the bottom of this page.

After a delicious breakfast we got a taxi cab to the terracotta warriors. The eighth wonder of the world! This is a tomb that has thousands of soldiers that were made in clay to protect the emperor Qin Shi Huang. The soldiers were made in 200 B.C. and were discovered in 1974. It is amazing to see. The pictures show you a little more about it and the many soldiers that are there.

Today

Tuesday, I woke up today and looked through all of my pictures and loaded them on to Picasa. Please check them out. I also put this blog together and now I need to get out into the sun. I may post again next week with the rest of my adventure. Brad is in school now but told me to say hello to all of you. Thanks for reading my long story. Tell next time, so long from Xi'an.


From T.J. In China

Thanksgiving in China

2008-12-01T05:21:00.000-08:00

I'm sure you're all dying to know what Thanksgiving was like here in China, so here you go!

Thanksgiving

First, I had to constantly remind myself that Thanksgiving was taking place on Thursday. There were no decorations and I didn't even get a day of school off! None-the-less, it turned out to be a great day! After school on Thursday, I went to my Chinese class, business as usual. After that, I made a trip to Carrie Jones's (yes, a different Carrie- there are 3) house to have Thanksgiving dinner.

I was a little hesitant at how well one could pull off a Thanksgiving dinner with the limited supplies here in China, but it was spectacular! The food was so good and Carrie invited over all the teachers so it felt like a large family atmosphere. My favorite part- Carrie bought a bunch of 'to-go' containers so I was able to enjoy Thanksgiving the following days as well (just like at home!). I also had the honor of cutting the Turkey. Not sure why, but I gladly accepted!

My Thanksgiving meal was great- but then I had to watch my family celebrating the next morning while I was at school. I was a little bummed I missed out- you all looked like you were having a great time! Thanks for letting me call and be a part and we'll have to make up for my absence next year! It was definitely a different but wonderful experience having Turkey in China! If you ever wanted to know some of the people I work with, check out the photo album!

Amazing Race!

After growing tired of waiting for help, I decided to just dive in and get my computer fixed on my own! I used the internet to make a vocabulary sheet with some of the specific words I would need (motherboard, hard drive, drop, broken... seriously, that's what it was). Then, I embarked on a journey! Cari tagged along, so it felt like the show The Amazing Race. We started at a huge Technology Market (see "A" on map below). It has four floors packed with little stores that sell laptops, video games, cell phones, computers- All things electronic! After talking to an HP booth, I was given a number for a HP service store in Xi'an.

After a couple more stops and some broken Chinese, I managed to get an address. Then, using my Xi'an Map, I found where the HP service store was (see "B" on map below). Since it wasn't that far, Cari and I walked to the address. At the store, a man looked at my computer and ran some tests. He told me that they could fix the computer, but it would be much more inexpensive for me to go to an electronic market to have it done cheaper. He gave me 2 characters that were the name of some place. Cari and I flagged down a taxi only to have it take us back to the same block we were on earlier (see "C" on map below)! This time, we found the "Computer Doctor" (电脑医生，literally!) and I left my laptop there for the evening.

(Click on picture to zoom)

18 hours later and two phone calls I barely understood, my computer was FIXED!!!! Hurray! It was quiet an adventure!

MY FIRST VISITOR (that's not a dog...)!!!

My brother TJ is currently spending the night in the Beijing Airport as I type! He will be arriving at my school tomorrow at 10 am! I am very, very, VERY excited! Be sure to check-in next week to hear how TJ's first week in China is going!

Thanks for reading!

(This is the new scarf I talked about in my last blog that my students made me!)

Not a lot to report...

2008-11-24T02:25:00.000-08:00

It was a pretty calm week. Nothing very big to report. In addition, I came to the realization that I am not nearly as much as a tourist anymore. For instance, I visited probably the largest shopping area in Xi'an that is not a mall (if you catch my drift... market style), and I didn't even have the heart to take out my camera. I'll try and be better in the future for my friends and family back home, but it's not seeming as "wild and crazy" after 3 months; it feels much more normal now.

It's Getting COLD!

As far as big updates go, it has began to cool off here in Xi'an. We've had a couple days below freezing, but since we are a desert city, no snow yet. I hear it's pretty common to have snow here in Xi'an and I think it stays for awhile.

Just in time for the cold weather, my students made me a scarf!! They are making scarfs to raise money for a nearby orphanage. It's a really nice scarf and I love wearing it around! I also made my largest purchase in Xi'an since my washing machine- I bought a classy (or at least I think so) coat! This was a big deal for me for me, as many of you know, because I have a very difficult time buying clothing. It took several baby steps: first I bought some of those cool fingerless gloves/mittens, then a beanie and finally the coat. Anyways- like I said, not a lot going on here in Xi'an...

But, this week: Thanksgiving! Don't worry, I have plans and I will be eating an authentic Thanksgiving dinner with friends here in Xi'an (even though we don't get a day off!). And, even bigger news:

T.J. IS ARRIVING IN 7 DAYS!!!!!

Stay posted for more exciting updates- Thanks for reading!

TV, Movies and Plays- Oh my!

2008-11-15T19:01:00.000-08:00

A pretty standard week and an exciting weekend! First highlight, I'm not sick anymore! Here are the other big events of the week:

The Office

Cari and I have been watching The Office. Cari had never seen it, so I'm catching her up because every week my principal downloads the newest episode and we've been watching them off his computer. Watching episode after episode with no commercial interruptions takes me back to college and rooming with Jake. We've made it through 2 seasons in a week (although, Season 1 hardly counts... only having 6 episodes).

Parent-Teacher Conferences

This school week was the norm- nothing too exciting. I'm healthy again, so that's nice. Thursday and Friday were my first Parent-Teacher conferences! Having only 6 students, I was able to have all my conferences on Thursday, the half-day. This meant Friday I had all day to relax and plan in my classroom. That actually turned into playing cards and Blockus with other teachers who were finished.

Aida

Friday night was a night on the town. After conferences were over, I got ready to go downtown with Cari, Carrie and Vicki. We headed to a really fancy hotel in downtown Xi'an named the Sofitel. This hotel has many restaurants and a theater. It's very beautiful and you can't help but feel like a celebrity walking around inside. Our first stop was dinner. We ate at one of the restaurants that offered an incredible buffet. I was in heaven!

After dinner, we made our way to the theater in the center of the hotel to watch the Broadway production Aida. It was really fun! The play wasn't anything spectacular, but it was really nice to go see something like that. It was in English, but the voices were a little quiet- or the music was too loud, one of the two. Their were subtitles being projected on the walls for the Chinese audience to read. It was a very fun experience.

007

And, as if seeing a Broadway musical in English wasn't enough, Saturday Cari, my principal, his wife and I all went to see the new 007 movi e that was playing at a mall in Xi'an. It was so fun! I haven't been to a movie theater in a long time and this one was gorgeous! The movie was in English, so it felt like we were watching at home. And the new Bond movie was GREAT! It had everything you'd expect from Bond- fast car chases, loads of action, a tuxedo party and beautiful locations from around the world. After, to top-off the "Western"experience, we went to Dairy Queen. This mall has one of the two Dairy Queens in Xi'an.

It was a very fun weekend full of entertainment. I have a bit of a long stretch before another break, but the other big news...

MY BROTHER TJ IS COMING TO VISIT DECEMBER 2nd!!!
...yeah, I'm excited! Hope all is going well back home. This weekend reminded me a lot of life in the states, miss you all!

Thanks for reading!

(not this week, but I did eat ice cream this week!)

Happy 3-Month Anniversary!

2008-11-09T04:28:00.001-08:00

I feel that I have been doing a pretty good job of keeping everyone in the states updated on my life here in Xi'an with colorful pictures and exciting stories. Unfortunately, this blog will not contain such luxuries because our school's quarter just ended and I have a serious pile of papers to grade (and because this week was rather dull). Plus, I figure I'll reward myself by using this much easier to produce layout. What follows are the highlights of my week in bullet form; efficient and neat.

*English Corner: This is the second week I've attended English Corner. On Tuesdays, our staff takes an approximately 15 minute car ride to a nearby university to speak English with some of the students there. Because there are some many students and so few English speakers, there is normally a crowd of 15-30 students around each teacher. It is so much fun and the students are very excited to practice with us. I love the atmosphere and hope to return often.

*Sick, again: It has been 3 months since I arrived in Beijing for the Olympics and I've only been sick twice; I consider that a victory. None-the-less, I was incredibly disappointed and irritated to be sick this weekend and I spent most of it sleeping or visiting the toilet. Lovely, I know.

*Cell Phone Down: In my attempt to be productive while stuck in my apartment this weekend, I did some laundry. Unfortunately, in my ill state of mind, I threw my cell phone in the washing machine. Pretty lame. I have been having a bad run with these electronics.

Here is a great quote from one of my students about the recent elections I forgot to include last week while I was watching the coverage on my computer. We've been learning about cells in class and in response to one clip about Barak Obama my student stated: "Why do they care about black and white? They are just dead cells." Well put Tommy, well put.

Thanks for reading

(O.K., so I had to put one picture in! Cari snapped this when I fell asleep at a nearby cafe after drinking some of the best Hot Chocolate I've ever had. Let's just say if the Hot Chocolate got me sick, I'll just have to learn to live being sick.)

CONGRATULATIONS BARACK OBAMA!

2008-11-05T01:57:00.000-08:00

I spent the day watching the polls here in China while trying to teach; it was quite exciting! As much as I am sad to have missed the excitement and coverage of this historical election, now when everyone asks "Where were you when the first African American became president of the United State?" I'll be able to say "China"- how patriotic!

2008-11-03T03:04:00.000-08:00

It was a pretty calm week, but a wild weekend! Here's the update:

Halloween?!

I've been getting a lot of questions from friends and family about Halloween in China. From what I observed, it is not celebrated here in China. I saw a couple western style cafes/bars/restaurants advertising Halloween functions, but you definitely did not see a bunch of Chinese children trick-or-treating in costumes. And no stores carried any special candy.

Despite the lack of celebration, I had a unique opportunity get into a costume. In honor of the elections this week, our school spent Friday afternoon (Oct. 31st) discussing elections and holding a fake election. Since the students would read the book "Duck For President," the candidates for the election were our principal, Mr. Brinegar, and a duck. For some reason, my staff thought I would enjoy being the duck (I've only been here 3 months and they already got me figured out!). The principal and I gave speeches. My speech was delivered in "duck," so I would quack and then my fellow teacher would translate. And the results: DUCK WINS by 8!! Unfortunately the children were upset to hear Mr. Duck had migrated South by Monday...

The other Halloween related event took place Friday night. Several of the teachers and I got together Friday night to watch "Arsenic and Old Lace." I was pleasantly surprised by this edgy, dark and very humorous film adapted stage-play from over 60 years ago! Check it out if you haven't! Got to love those crazy aunts...

To the Mountains!

I know I've made mention of it in the past, but Xi'an often has some poor weather conditions caused by the large amounts of pollution. There will be days went visibility may be less than 50 yards. On top of that, the weather has been getting cold. When you age several cold days that you can't see farther than 50 yards, it begins to weigh on you.

Thankfully, this city has so much to offer that the remedy for SAD is an adventure waiting just around the corner! This weekend, we took one such adventure. About an hour south of Xi'an is a large mountain range that separates North China from South China. Our entire staff took a trip to go hike the mountains! It was the PERFECT day! So beautiful and the air was so clear! I took a ton of pictures, because I knew my words would be inadequate. On returning, I found the pictures were also inadequate. In an effort to better share the beauty of the trip, I will provide the following descriptive narrative accompanied by pictures:

The sun reaches closer to the bottom of the valleys that cut deep into the mountains, brightly coloring the tree tops of green and orange. A warm gust of wind pushes through the narrow separation of rock, bringing with it hundreds of beautiful yellow leaves that shine in the sun's light and dance through the sky as if nature itself was creating a ticker-tape parade for our walk. The rushing river provides an ever constant rhythm that urges you forward. As you watch the dark but clear water racing pass and wonder what it would feel like to wade in the icy liquid, a chill runs through your body...

OK, that's about as poetic as my mind will allow me to be right now. I hope you enjoyed. It truly was the most beautiful thing I've seen here in China (that's right, better than the Summer Palace and Tang Paradise!).

As if Paintball wasn't cool enough...

On our way back from the mountains, we stopped at a place that offered Laser Tag. My previous experience with Laser Tag has been Laser Quest, or something like that: running around inside a dark room with black lights, shooting like a mad-man and screaming like a 6-year-old. This was far from that! Much like paintball, this laser tag was outdoors and performed in full camouflage. Also, like paintball, our guns were made to look like replicas of real weapons: the AK 47 and M4 (and you had to pull the chambers to reload... so cool!). You wore a vest that had sensors on it to for your opponents to shoot at and you had a small speaker that would tell you when you shot someone and when you had been hit (accompanied by vibrating).

It was so fun!!! For all of you concerned that I have joined the military from the pictures that I've had in my last couple blogs, fear not. China just knows how to make things a little more crazy!

Thanks for reading!

"I'm getting too old for this..."

2008-10-26T08:11:00.000-07:00

Another incredibly busy week here in China. This time, the business was the product of one event and one event only...

CULTURE DAY!!

Before we dive into Culture Day, I need to first clarify some things about my school because I have a feeling I have not been very clear about what I am doing here. My school is a private international school, meaning, that all the students speak English and, to the best of my knowledge, not a single student was born in China. Most students have come to China with parents that work here. The school is ran just like a western style school (except we have grades k-12 and we operate out of about 15 rooms...) and all our teacher are from the U.S. (with the exception of one brave Canadian).

Now that you know a little more about our school, we had our first big "education fair." This particular fair was called Culture Day. I've been hearing about Culture Day since the first day I've arrived in Xi'an. It's a big event where each class picks a culture, learns about that culture, decorates their rooms for that culture, brings in food from that culture and performs a presentation for that culture. Needless-to-say, it's a little overwhelming (hence, the early warning). This week, my classroom was transformed with the help of my fifth graders into an exciting experience of RUSSIA!

Although I only have a few pictures, I plan to hunt down more; it was a lot of fun but a ton of work, so I need lots of proof it happened! In our classroom, we made a huge time line from Imperial Russia to USSR to the current Russian Federation, we created a replica of Saint Basil's Cathedral in Red Square and we created a tundra and added snowflakes to the class (see below). The students even had the idea of turning the air conditioning way up to make it fell like winter (although, not quite the -34 degrees Celsius that Siberia experiences).

Each student did a project and we covered the subjects of Russian money, language, geography, architecture, art and dance (we even had the Nutcracker playing on DVD). The parents brought some amazing food: potato pancakes, apple cake, stuffed tomatoes, macaroni and some drinks. And this was only my room! We also had Thailand, Czech Republic, China (hosted by the Chinese teachers), Japan, Greece, Mexico, Canada (yep, the Canadian Teacher), Scotland and a couple others.

Then, for our performance, our class acted out the play Peter and the Wolf. Having only one Boy, Tommy was Peter. The other girls played the various animals and other characters while I was elected to be the wolf (and I gladly excepted!). There is video footage of this yet to be uploaded to the internet, so I will let you know as soon as it is!

Lethal Weapon

Due to the chaos of Culture Day, there was little time for other adventures. The other major highlight was a journey that Cari and I embarked on last Wednesday and finished just today. Due to some "flexibility" in the area of movie sales, you are able to buy DVDs in China that have up to 8 different full length movies on it. Because of this, whole box sets are sold on single disks.

Cari bought one such disk.

This disk is part of a series called "Hollywood Picture Collection" and this particular volume was titled "Bloody Fighting Man Mel Gibson." Here are some of the other volumes of the "Hollywood Picture Collection" with spelling as it appears on the DVD case:

Sexy Man Brad Pit
Bold and Passional Tom Cruise
Cafard and Wild Nicolas Cage

One evening, while I was borrowing Cari's computer (because of this), she decided to put in the film Lethal Weapon. It only took a minute of watching, and I was committed. We decide we would have to watch all 4, and we did! I think my favorite is either the second or the forth. I remember watching the fourth before, but I don't think I had ever seen any of the others. They were way better then I thought they would be. Ok, so, yes- the movies are incredibly cheesy, but that's what makes them so fun (Mel Gibson + Mullet = Awesome)! Plus- each movie carries a serious theme with it: LW1;Race Relations/Dealing with loss, LW2; International Affairs/Apartheid (don't believe me? watch it!), LW3; Gang Violence/Urban Sprawl (ok, urban sprawl was a stretch), LW4; illegal immigration... and China- what an appropriate way to end the series.

With all the stress of Culture Day, nothing could relieve the stress quite like Danny Glover and Mel Gibson taking out bad guys and muttering "I'm getting too old for this shit."

I'm not even sure if this happened in the last week, but here are some crazy pictures. The one on the left is of a dog Cari and I saw in downtown. We couldn't get a good picture of it, but yes- that is a full warm up suit for a dog! It was hilarious. It even had a hood! The picture on the right is of a man flying kites in downtown. Although it is very common to see these strings of kites as vendors try to sell them, I have never seen on this long. It was incredible!

There you go, a long blog for a pretty uneventful week.
Thanks for reading!

(old picture... too busy this week for Tang Paradise- only time for Lethal Weapon)

Long Overdue

2008-10-20T06:52:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Cari, I was able to update my blog- finally! Unfortunately, it’s been two long, exciting weeks since my last post (except that “Unfortunate Update”) so there is a lot to catch you up on!

First, Ice Peak. This is the newest staple item in my refrigerator. It is a soda that is bottled locally here in Xi’an. It tastes like a watered-down Fanta and each bottle can sometimes taste a little different. The best part about Ice Peak is not the taste, but rather the process of obtaining it. One night, I struggled through a conversation with a shop owner and finally came to the conclusion that after finishing the the six drinks, I would need to return the empty bottles so they could be used again. I made a down payment of 12 kuai and he would return 6 kuai when I returned. This makes each bottle of Ice Peak a whopping 1 kuai (approximately $0.15- can’t beat that price!). I’ve made two trips back to this shop owner now with empty bottles and the last time he was ready for me with 12 bottles of Ice Peak and straws waiting! It’s so fun!

Wild Nights of Xi’an

During our evening wanderings, Cari and I have come across some interesting sights. One such sight was a group of women doing a choreographed fan dance. They also had a band of men with drums and percussion assisting. It was quite a sight and well rehearsed. Not what you would expect when exiting a mall at 11:00 pm.

Another scene that is very common here in Xi’an is large groups of people (mostly senior women) dancing to music. In front of the Wild Goose Pagoda one night, we saw several different dancing groups: one was your swing/ball room style couples dance and another one a strange cross between line dancing and the electric slide. It’s good to know that you can head out at night and find some solid dancing in China.

Finally, one night we came across a group of performers who’s acts were outstanding! I’ve seen some crazy street shows (Venice Beach, California…), but this was by far the most amazing act I’ve ever seen. Some of the stuns would have had these performers kicked off the streets in the states or maybe even arrested. Unfortunately, not all the acts were caught on camera and most are blurry due to the dark, but you’ll get the idea!

Cari's Celebrations!

Another big part of my last week was the celebration of Cari’s birthday. Since Cari’s birthday was on Monday, we used it as an excuse to party all week. The festivities started on Saturday when Cari, Carry J., Vicki and I went to a Haggen Daaz in downtown Xi’an. Like most western food chains in Xi’an, Haggen Daaz was incredible gourmet and posh. It was a very fun experience.

Monday, we used our new Tang Paradise Passes to go visit out favorite park in Xi'an! This time, the weather was amazing! I've added some new photos to the Tang Paradise Album. Check out the difference the smog in Xi'an can make:

After Tang Paradise, we had the standard Apartment party with cake and card games for the official birth date. Then, on this last Saturday, a big group went bowling! In a hotel located on the same street as our apartments, there is an eight lane bowling alley. It felt just like the states (expect there was no greasy food available) and a trip to the lanes will be a very good remedy for homesickness.

Paintball!!!

The men of our group planed a trip to go paintballing. We had no idea what to expect and we were not disappointed. This was unlike any paintball I’ve ever played. First, the setting was a small urban arena with a ran-down jeep, brick walls and close quarters combat. Secondly, we were decked out in full camouflage gear, knee pads, elbow pads and a vest. As if dressing up like this wasn’t fun enough, the guns were replicas of an assault rifle!! SO COOL! The paint balls were much smaller than normal and each gun had a magazine with paint balls in individual casings, meaning that when you shot, a metal shell would be ejected from your gun.

We were broken up into two teams, based on our camouflage color. The matches were quick and carefully monitored by several judges from overhead. For all my fellow gamers out there, this was like really-life CS! It was so fun. My only complaint would be the goofy, bubble shield face masks that were very prone to fogging up (and not nearly as safe as the masks in the states). I will definitely be making another trip to this place!

That should catch you up for the last couple weeks. I’ve been super busy at school with something called Culture Day- I have a feeling you’ll be hearing a lot about that next week! Also, there are plans for Laser Tag- let’s hope it’s as cool as paintball!

Thanks for reading!

An unfrotunate update...

2008-10-19T09:06:00.000-07:00

1.) I've been super busy.

2.) My laptop fell off a table and won't turn on.

I still have more than enough ways to stay connected, but I just thought I ought to let you know what the holdup is all about. I have tons of new pictures and fun stories so keep posted for a new blog sometime this week (... I hope). Also, special thanks to Cari for letting me barrow her laptop.

Thanks for reading!

It is Known to Everybody

2008-10-05T06:35:00.000-07:00

(If you would like to better understand the title of this blog, please visit the "rules" link in Adventure 3 about Xingqing Park... it is some of the worst English I've seen since I arrived in China!)

As I mentioned in my last blog, I spent the last week on VACATION! It was wonderful! Originally, I was trying to find some exciting trip to do during my week break, but I decided that there is plenty still to see in Xi'an, and, with everyone in a country of over 1 billion traveling, transportation can be a little crazy!

None-the-less, a relaxing break was needed and I enjoyed every minute of it. Here were some of the highlights:

Adventure 1: Because I was so busy and a little sick two weeks ago, it had been far too long since I went on a good bike ride. For this reason I decided to take off on the bike. My motivation was to visit the Subway in Xi'an; I figured I deserved some good, old-fashion Western food after getting sick last weekend. I ended up spending 5 hours 'out-and-about' on my bike in the city of Xi'an. I managed to visit the "Subway Temple," or an old Buddhist temple located right next to Subway, the Muslim Quarters, an area where tons of vendors sell all kind of goods from food to cheap souvenirs, and I visited some of the park that surrounds the city wall.

Adventure 2: There was a birthday party on Friday so I went shopping with, guess who? That's right, Cari! Anyways, we decided to try a new place for lunch- Joe's Cafe. This place does a great job creating the feel of a sports bar in the US. Not only was the atmosphere just like being in the states, but the food wasn't bad!

Next, we browsed the mall that surrounded Joe's. There two kinds of malls in China: there are the Western-style like you would see in the US with a food court or movie theater or pretty water fountain, then there are the ones that floors packed with row after row of small stores, back-to-back and no room wasted on those other luxury items. This mall was the later of the two. It's wild and it can be little overwhelming.

On our way out, we came across a show that was taking place outside the mall. Since this was Chinese Holiday, many stores had exciting things happening and everywhere was crowed. It was a martial arts demonstration with lots of sharp spears.

After the thrilling show, we made our way to a really cool smoothie place where all the seats are hanging from the ceiling! That was fun.

Adventure 3: As I said, traveling is crazy during Chinese holidays. Carrie and I decided we would try to go see the Terracotta Army, Xi'an's largest tourist attraction. To get to the Terracotta Warriors, you must first travel to the train station, then take a bus from the station to the site. Well, we when got to the station, we saw this:

This line was just to get on the bus! It's hard to tell from this picture, but it's at least 200 long... probably more like 400. We figured that if this was the line for the bus, it would be very crowded at the actual site. We decided, instead, to wander- my favorite activity in China (second only to riding my bike!).

First, we found a great video arcade and played one game with balls that you threw at the screen, one game that you used big sticks on a drum and Mario Kart. It was really fun and we always had an audience- one of the perks of being a 外国人 (foreigner).

Next, we found a nice park. It was named Xingqing Park and it was like a mini Tang Paradise (and free!). Cari and I spent a great deal of time trying to understand the rules at this park... very funny! Although similar to Tang Paradise, this park had it's own flavor as well: a ferris wheel, bird sanctuary, sea lion show and go karts. Please enjoy the following:

Getting a feel for my new set of wheels- Hello car #2

Being told to get into a different car by Chinese man...

Getting a feel for my newer set of wheels- Hello car #1!

...I have no idea what he's saying. He better not be bad-mouthing my man purse...

Eat my dust #4!

I totally won. Although I think I got cheated out of one lap...

So there is the excitement from my week. I'm been using the trail version of Arcsoft Panoramic Maker a lot lately and I really like the results! Below are some panoramics I've made.

Thanks for reading!

Sick Strings

2008-09-28T06:13:00.000-07:00

This was my busiest week yet in China. Thankfully, I am currently enjoying a week-long vacation (a Chinese National Holiday... but I don't know what holiday... I'll try to find out for next week)! Since my last week was so busy, that unfortunately makes it a rather uninteresting week for you to read about. I'll try an fill you in on some of the good details, but this could be a short one!

My First Chinese Class!

While I teach here in Xi'an, my school gives me the opportunity to take lessons in Chinese. This week I started! I meet twice a week for an hour with two different teachers and the classes are one-on-one. It's definitely intense and it would be a little intimidating, but thanks to my two years of study at Western Washington University, I am able to spend the whole hours speaking only Chinese (I was even able to skip the first book and start in the second). I have been dieing to get these classes started and I already feel like I've learn so much after one week!

Class Party!

As a reward system (or punishment... depending on behavior...), my students receive a star rating for each day: 5 for a perfect day and 0 for the worse day EVER (I've only given out a 4 star day yet). In addition, they can gain or lose stars for they behavior during the day.

Long story short, after the class has received 150 stars, we get a party- and what better day for a party then the Friday before a week-long vacation?! It was a lot of fun. We played games, ate pizza and watched a movie. Although, there was a slight problem with the pizza- in the US, two medium pizza would probably be good for six 5th graders but there were only two pizza sizes at the place we ordered from; 9 inches and 12 inches- both tiny in comparison to American standards. We ended up with only two 9 inches, so I had to order a second and grab some junk food from a nearby convenience stand. I'll definitely be getting at least three 12 inches next time! I tried to sneak a little work in, but as you can see, I had little control on party day!

Getting Sick... FINALLY

I've managed to be completely healthy this first month in China. I've continually heard about people getting sick from my coworkers and other travelers to China and i was starting to wonder if I had missed it all together!

That was arrogant of me.

Thursday, I was exhausted. It was like I had a really bad cold, but no symptoms- I didn't have a runny nose, sore throat, fever, etc.- my body was just tired. I managed to get through the day and fell asleep very early.

Friday I felt great! So, naturally, I ate nothing but pizza and sweets (thanks to party day) and stayed up way too late chatting to friends. Then, Saturday, it hit me- and hit me hard! I finally rolled out of bed at about 12:45 pm only to roll onto the couch. Then I would only move to visit the restroom where I experienced some bonafide Chinese diarrhea (or, more accurately, "the Bu" as called by my fellow Bonus Room Brothers). It was a long, difficult day. And, to top it off, I watch a very, very, very strange movie. The name of the movie was Strings and words can't quiet describe it. I'll say this: the opening scene is a puppet suicide... yeah- weird.

Another big accomplishment for the week was ordering Chinese food from a restaurant with Cari that had no pictures! Normally, I restrict my dining to places with a pictured menu so I can point and grunt at things I want, but on Friday Cari and I took a chance and we managed to orders some really good tasting food! It was a big step for me.

Well, like I said, short and not horribly interesting. This week is a vacation for me so I'll hopefully have some more exciting stories for next week. Although, no promises- it's feeling pretty nice just relaxing!

Thanks for reading!

The Best Thing About Living in China...

2008-09-21T16:38:00.000-07:00

**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!

This week was a piece of moonCAKE!

2008-09-15T07:09:00.000-07:00

***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.

Another exciting week in the city of Xi'an! School was the normal struggle of attempting to look organized and trying to keep up with my super-smart 5th graders. My weeks are becoming slightly more routine and organized. I haven't had a schedule since I graduated college in June, so it feels nice to have a little more predictability in my day-to-day life. But, if things ever feel too predictable, all I need to do is step out of my apartment and I'm back into a city of 9 million where majority do not speak English. That's always guaranteed to mix things up a bit!

For instance: Wednesday evening, Cari (my fellow teacher and first-timer to China) and I decided to adventure to a cafe for "Chinese Corner," where local college students come to speak to the foreigners trying to learn Chinese. We arrived about 5 minutes late and found a table. There were only about 3 Chinese college students there and they were already speaking with some foreigners trying to learn Chinese. Not knowing what to do, we ended up surfing the internet for 2 hours on the wireless internet offered there and enjoying some deserts. Oh well, there's always next week!

Here are some other, more successful adventures from this week:

My First Chinese Holiday!

September 14th, 2008 was the date of the Mid-Autumn Festival- China's second largest Holiday! Although there ar many different versions of the Mid-Autumn story, each story contains the following elements: Houyi (usually the archer who shoots down 9 of the 10 suns to save earth), Chang'e (the goddess who Houyi loves/marries), a pill/elixer (that cause Chang'e to fly to the moon) and the jade rabbit (Chang'e meets on the moon).

Long story short- this is the time when the moon is full and best to see. In honor of this festival, not only did XIS, the school I teach at, have Monday off (AWESOME!) but we had a Party Thursday night with the teachers' Chinese teachers... confused yet? As a teacher, I also have the opportunity to learn Chinese from a nearby language school. The party was held at XIS and hosted by the Chinese teachers. It was a great event- check out the album to see pictures of my principal and neighbors on the 5th floor of my apartment!

Another tradition of the Mid-Autumn Festival (and possibly the most popular) is the purchasing and gifting of mooncakes! Mooncakes are a baked pastry that has a thick dough cover around a paste/jelly inside. Some are delicious: strawberry, apricot, peach. Some are not: fish. It's tricky when you can't read the Chinese very well! I gave out several mooncakes to the Chinese people I work with and even received one from a student! If you have some extra time, check out this folk tale about mooncakes and their role in with the Mongols.

My First Visitor!

That's right- I've only been in China a month and I've already had a visitor to my apartment! This weekend I had the privilege of watching Bebe, one of the cutest and most well-behaved dogs (besides Norma and Suze, of course!) I have ever met. Bebe (pronounced "bay-bay," like "Hey Bay-bay, what's up?") used to live in the Hutong behind our apartments. She was then taken in by the guy who lived in my apartment last year. Recently, she has been taken in by a family who works at the school. They were out of town for the weekend and asked if I would watch Bebe. Needless-to-say, I was thrilled!

Bebe loves to be held and when you pick her up, she grabs your shoulder. She never barks, unless she is playing with you, and she gets so excited when she sees familiar people that sometimes she pees a little. Sure it can make a mess but I wish everyone was that excited to see me! I was a little sad to see Bebe go- the apartment is a little more lonely now. But that means there is plenty of room for you to visit!

Tang Paradise

On our day off, Cari and I decided to journey to the attraction known as Tang Paradise. Located relatively near our apartments, this "park" lives up to it's title! Once inside, you feel as though you are in another time and place (a long as you ignore the city skyline)! There are beautiful trees, hills of grass and a large body of water. Although the Tang Paradise is considerably smaller then the Summer Palace of Beijing, there are shows that take place throughout the park during the day, creating a unique and entertaining atmosphere.

During our short time at the Tang Paradise, Cari and I saw a performance on stilts, a strange role-play of the examination system and a LION DANCE! The lions are soooo cooool! It's the coolest thing I've experienced in China short of Amanda swimming in Beijing.

Unfortunately, we visited on a day with very poor visibility. I've been very spoiled by the number of clear days I've had lately. It was only a matter of time before the smog caught up with me! But Cari and I are both planning on purchasing a season pass that lets you go into Tang Paradise and several other tourist attractions in Xi'an. There is so much to see and do at Tang Paradise- if nothing else, I'll get some better pictures (although, I did take over 90 pictures this trip... even with the bad visibility!).

So, the Blogs are becoming more frequent, but not shorter! Oh well.
Thanks for reading!

Mr. Bad Becoming Comfortable

2008-09-08T11:10:00.000-07:00

***Note to readers***
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). If you don't want to leave this page but also want to see the other web page that the hyperlink goes to, right-click on the orange text and select "Open in a New Window." Hope that helps!

It's amazing to think that I've been in China for an entire month already! It feels like much longer, although I feel like I just got here (isn't time weird?). And I can feel things starting speed up a little. Class is becoming more of a pattern and with things like Fantasy Football, I know it will seem like no time before I'm packing-up to come home.

School has been going well. I'm still trying to figure this whole teaching thing out... but I'm getting there, slowly. It does not help that my 5th graders are smarter than me... but I guess that way I get to learn too! I've managed to get a couple additional nicknames. One of them being Mr. Bad (not shown in picture- I had to lay down the law on a couple of the girls for misbehaving).

I'm beginning to be more comfortable in the area surrounding my apartment. Besides the difficulty with language, I've done some shopping in the small shops that cover the streets. To the excitement of my parents, I cooked my first meal this weekend: Eggs!! I was a little nervous using my gas stove for the first time... I didn't want to blow up my apartment. Here are some other exciting adventures. I added a few pictures to my web album as well, so check it out!

Thai Cultural Performance

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to attend the Thai Cultural Performance in Xi'an China. One of our student's father is the Thailand Consulate and he invited the teachers of our school to attend. It took place in one of the oldest theaters in Xi'an and we were in the front row!

The performance was incredible. Nearly every dance had an element of humor and the performers looked so happy and excited. It really gave me desire to visit Thailand and see more of their culture (conveniently for me, our school takes a retreat to Thailand during the Chinese winter vacation!!).

To get the full story on the Thai Culture Performance, you should check out my web album. I added a ton of pictures and there are captions explaining the dances. Some of my favorites were the stick fighting, ant searching and the rooster fight.

The Cloth Market

This past Saturday, I went on an adventure with Carrie, one of my fellow teachers that I had the opportunity to meet over the summer before coming to China, and two others who have been here in Xi'an a little longer. Our first stop was the Xi'an cloth market. This place was incredible! It covered over 2 city blocks with store front after store front. Anything, from silk to leather to linen to cotton, could be found in these alleys. In addition, there were some hilarious bed sheets with very poorly translated English on them... I might have to buy some of that!

That's it for now. Since I'm all settled in, the blogs will most-likely be coming more frequently and shorter in length!
Thanks for reading!

Life in Xi'an

2008-09-01T12:38:00.000-07:00

The Olympics are over and I’ve flown from Beijing to my new home in Xi’an!! If you haven’t already heard, I have a photo album that you can visit to see all my pictures posted on the blog and more. I’ll be updating that often, so check it out!

Also, you can now comment on my blog postings or read other peoples comments! To comment or read other comments, read my blog (not required) and at the end, you will see a link for comments.

Here’s a brief recap of my life since Beijing:

Landing in Xi’an

For those of you who read my first entry from China about landing in Beijing, this story won’t be nearly as exciting, but I was certainly relieved I didn’t have to stand in the rain! After the short flight, I made my way to baggage, exited the terminal and was greeted by four people from my school. They helped me carry my bags to the small but luxurious bus that the school owned. In a matter of minutes, I went from being the only white person in the Xi’an airport to being on a bus with four other white people who were all talking about their favorite TV series (whether it be Lost, CSI, etc.).

After spending a week in Beijing as a tourist and having every trip be an adventure full of uncertainty, it was weird for me to pay no attention to where I was going or how I was getting there and hear people talking like everyone back in the states. During my first week, different teachers from the school would treat me to meal in order to get to know me better. Some of my first meals in Xi’an were hamburgers, Italian food, and pizza. Definitely a different experience than Beijing!

My New Apartment

My first stop was at the new apartment. I came to China with no expectation. I was thrilled to see my new apartment- it was much nicer then I was expecting! After moving in, I soon found that there was plenty of room for improvement: none of my air-conditioning units were working and I couldn’t get internet to work. This made my first couple nights in Xi’an very hot and very lonely (thankfully, that’s all worked out now).

Some of the changes I would need to get used to: no TP can be flushed, don’t drink the tap water, the beds are very hard and there is no dryer, so your clothes have to drip dry. Other than that, pretty much like any other apartment!

My New School!

After setting up my apartment (AKA unpacking) and spending a couple days in Xi’an, it was time to start school! Our school is K-12 (I think 12… not sure if we have any students that old right now) and we are located in a two-story building about 50 yards from my apartment. I could not ask for a better first year teaching experience! I am teaching a class of six 5th grade students and five of them are girls. All but one of the students is from South Korea, but they all speak English very well and are high achievers in the class. They are also a bunch of silly 5th graders. After meeting them for the first time, I had numerous nicknames (B.T., E.T., Big Happy Cheeks, Braddie Tommie, Mr. Frizzle- because I wore a tie with lizards on it and it reminded them of Mrs. Frizzle from The Magic School Bus) and they, at least the girls, are constantly trying set me up with another female teacher or find out if I have a girlfriend.

It has been a crazy first week and I have felt very unorganized and under-prepared, but from what I hear, that’s normal for a teacher for about their first three years, so I’m not too worried.

Other than school…

I managed to go out this last weekend with Carrie, a fellow teacher who just arrived, and be a real tourist for awhile. It’s nice going with Carrie because she speaks no Chinese and neither of us know anything about Xi’an so it makes everything a little more adventuresome (when I go out with other team members, they know exactly where they are and most speak Chinese really well- that’s way too easy!). We walked from our apartments to the Wild Goose Pagoda, a big tourist attraction in the city of Xi’an. It was a lot of fun and it was nice to see more of the city.

If I have encountered any culture shock yet, it’s been a little different then what you might guess. These first couple weeks, I’ve been spending all my time at the school and I haven’t gotten to experience the rest of the city much. Majority of the staff at our school seems to be from the South in the US. I’ve never been around so many Southern in my life- it’s been a real growing experience for me!

Here's a couple other adventures that you might want to check out:

The Hutong
Various trips through the City

Thanks for reading!

IN CHINA!

2008-08-20T06:37:00.000-07:00

That’s right, I’m finally posting on my blog from China!! I have a new respect for those who blog consistently. One day in a culture and a place different from home is full of so many stories and excitement- you could type forever… but I’d rather not! In an effort to catch you up, here are some stories from my week in Beijing. No Pics yet- sorry, internet is pretty shotty where I am!

Landing in Beijing:

After leaving my parent at SeaTac International airport (mother with tears streaming down her face), I went through security with my Aunt Gayle. Everything one State’s side was as normal. I boarded my plane and parted with Aunt Gayle until we would meet in Beijing.

My direct flight to Beijing was long, but uneventful. I struggled to sleep since I had little the night before, but I got hardly any. I watched “A Bee Movie” (Not bad… not great though) and a weird Chinese Kungfu movies- just to get me in the mood.

I landed in Beijing late- 5 pm? My first stop after the exiting the plane was the restrooms, where I meet two Americans, Jon and Mark, from St. Louis. We decided we would all bus to downtown then grab a cab so it would be cheaper. Unfortunately, they had to take a different bus, so our meeting was very short.

As I boarded the bus with my backpack, laptop bag, guitar and two giant suitcases- feeling excited at the challenge ahead- it began to pour outside. I watched wide-eyed as we drove into Beijing, passing poster after poster with the words “Beijing 2008” and “One World, One Dream” on either sides of the roads.

Clouded with excitement, I couldn’t quite remember which stop to get off at. I tried to communicate in broken Chinese which stop I needed by showing the bus driver, but as the stop I should have gotten off on approached, the driver merely repeated the name twice then, seeing that I did not stand up or move to the front, continued by the stop very quickly. Thinking the next stop would be soon, I prepared to depart at the next stop.

About 10 minutes later, I was driving by Tienanmen Square and the gate to the Forbidden City. As exciting as it was to see a giant picture of Chairman Mao’s head, I couldn’t help but be nervous about my lengthy detour. I departed the bus with my five pieces of luggage in the pouring rain, looking like the biggest foreigner of Beijing, and began to aimlessly wander.

Thankfully, a very kind Chinese man a little older than me asked if I needed help. I was glad to accept and in his broken English and my broken Chinese, we managed to hail me a cab.
My cousin Monica and her husband Andrew had already landed at about 5 pm in Beijing.

The cab was able to get me to a hospital that was supposed to be near the hotel. Once dropped off, more aimless wandering! This time, I only made it several steps before a young Chinese girl and an old married couple approached me, also asking if I would like help. After navigating about a block and a half of the hutong that I would be living in for the next week, my posse of locals and myself arrived at the hotel!!

I was surprised and relieved to hear incredibly well spoken English from the girls at the front desk and about 10 minutes after checking in I heard two more English speaking folks- MONICA AND ANDREW!!! (my cousin and her husband) After briefly catching up, it was back to the streets to find my first Chinese meal. We found a place close by, still open (it was about 11:00 at this point). After a lot of pointing at picture and some limited Chinese, I had a giant covered pan in front of me filled with beef and vegetables cooking on the hotpad built into our table (don’t forget the pijius- ganbei!).

Later that night, we found the Mahjong table (not us in video- more on Mahjong later...). The last of the group arrived to the hotel and Beijing Trip 2008 was officially underway!

Pre-China Post II: Test Run

2008-08-04T21:08:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog!

If you haven't already, please e-mail bradleyinchina@gmail.com to receive e-mails informing you of updates to this blog! Thanks, Brad

In an effort to make my posts more exciting and interesting, I wanted to do some more practice with this whole "blog" business. I'm going to try some color, pictures and formatting to really spice it up! Here's a quick update:

It's August 4th, 5 days until departure to China and I still...

...haven't started packing
How do you pack for a year... seriously.

...don't have my visa
In my incredible wisdom, I managed to put the wrong zip code on my resume that I sent to the school in China where I will be teaching. Due to this, my Visa paperwork is on the "scenic" route to my home.

...have a hundred people I want to see
I'm trying my best to see all my friends, family and loved ones before departure but I know I'll miss some of you :( Please forgive me if that happens to be you!

Below is a picture of Suzie: For those of you hoping to hear some delightfully disturbing story about me eating some of man's best friend, I must inform you that I made a promise to Suzie that I would not be consuming any of her Chinese cousins during my visit.

I hope my next blog will becoming from 中国 (China) or more specifically, 北京 (Beijing)!

Pre-China Post

2008-07-17T12:37:00.000-07:00

My first post on my first blog- oh the thrill.

China is quickly approaching and I am... well, I don't know what to think! There are too many feelings to pick just one. For that reason, I will combine them into one word:

excit-a-stress-ious-o-nervous-ical

As I frantically attempt to organize my life in America for it's year on hold by visiting family and friends, I thought it would be good to get a blog started so it will be easy once I land in China to keep everyone up to date. I promise my future blogs will much more interesting then this one- well, maybe not always more interesting, but much, much longer.