Yangshuo, China

I find myself with the Internet and the opportunity, so why not share a few photos from my travels?  My roommate and I started in Yangshuo, a town in southern China known for the unique karst scenery.

It was a little cold and gray, but still worth the visit.  Travel in China is always an adventure!

Yangshuo

Produce market

Check out that chicken

There were lots of weavers and handicrafts on the touristy West Street

Farmland scenery on one of our long bike rides

Cute kiddo on the way out of town

We took a float on a bamboo raft.:

Bamboo rafting scenery!

Ancient Street in Xinping, a village we visited just north of Yangshuo

 

More karsts, this time by Xinping

With a vendor we liked in Xinping old town

Guilin Train Station - Getting ready to crowd in for the 18-hour train ride to our next destination.

Where I've Been and What I've Been Doing

Where I've been:

• Guilin, China
• Yangshuo, China
• Dali, China
• Lijiang, China
• Kunming, China
• Phuket, Thailand

What I've been doing:

• Riding on buses and trains
• Bargaining
• Biking
• Hiking
• Beaching
• Reading
• Practicing Chinese
• Eating stuff
• Seeing old and new friends

Did you know that I can't see my own blog in China?  I use a special software on my computer that helps me get around the Great Firewall, but when I travel without my computer, I'm back to Chinese Internet (which blocks blogs, social networking sites, video sharing sites, and photo sites, among many other things). That's one reason you haven't heard from me in awhile. 

But now I'm in Thailand, with its beautiful beaches, friendly people, and open Internet.  Southern China was good, and now I'm looking forward to a few days of relaxation before heading to northern Thailand for our annual conference.  I send my greetings to you all!

Pre-Travel Random

The washing machine is rumbling away, cleaning my summer clothes.

Semester grades are turned in.

I have half a dozen tabs open on my computer as I try to piece together a travel itinerary.

We'll clean out some leftovers for lunch.

It's Winter Holiday!  The students go home for Spring Festival, the biggest holiday of the year.  I always go to Chiang Mai, Thailand, for my organization's annual teachers' conference, and usually try to hit a few other destinations on the way there and back.  This year, I am excited for:

Finally seeing Guilin, home of some of the best-known scenery in China.
Re-visiting Yunnan province with my roommate and hiking through the beautiful mountains there.
Exploring some new places in Thailand -- including (for the first time) beaches.
Traveling through Laos.

I hope I hope I hope I can get everything done before tomorrow!

Get 'er Done... Sometimes

I just got back from the train station.  Yesterday I went to the train station.  This afternoon I will go to the train station.  I am trying to buy a train ticket for my winter travels.  I still don't have the train ticket.

What I need is a ticket that will take me between two southern cities, Guilin and Kunming, next week.   Let's review the relevant roadblocks:

1)  First I contacted my hostel in Guilin to buy the ticket directly and have it waiting when I arrived.  They agreed.  Sweet.

2)  Yesterday, the hostel called.  They tried to buy my ticket and were told that the government is implementing real-name ticketing for all trains starting on January 8.  I will travel on the 12th.  I need to buy the ticket in person with my passport.

3)  A friend helped me call the train station here to see if I could purchase the ticket from here.  They said yes, as long as it was within 10 days (the usual window to buy a train ticket).  My friend said she'd go with me.  Sweet.

4)  We arrived at the station, waited in line, and got to the front.  Then they said they would not sell tickets for the 12th until the next day.  We went home.

5)  This morning I decided to go by myself to the station and buy the ticket.  I wrote the date, the train number, and the price to hopefully avoid any language barriers.  I got to the station and the lines weren't too long.  Sweet.

6)  Two people in front of me got turned away with no tickets.  Why?  They won't start selling tickets for the 12th until 3pm today.

I realize this is a long and boring story, but it does illustrate a few things about life in China.

• Things take longer.
• Sometimes it's hard to get the right information, like when we called the station and they said 10 days in advance was no problem, or when we went to the station and they said "tomorrow" instead of "3 p.m. tomorrow."
• The rules are always changing.  Here, two rules changed unexpectedly: the real-name ticketing requirement for slow trains, and the fact that they wouldn't sell me a ticket until a mysterious 6.5 days in advance.
• Persistence and flexibility go a long way.  One way or another, we'll get what we need.

Examinating

Here are some of my students taking my finals last week (juniors and then sophomores).  These rows of bowed heads are my usual view when I'm giving an exam... or when I ask a question in class no one wants to answer.

I'll finish entering grades tonight, show the students their final exams and essays tomorrow, and then be done for the semester.

The old has gone; The new has come

The year 2011 is over.  Our team had a meal, set off some fireworks, and watched a movie.

 

Let's take a look back at 2011.

I started the year with my family in Albuquerque, where my brother had just gotten married.  Then I continued on to Beijing, India, Thailand, and Indonesia over my winter holiday.  I returned to my town of Qufu and had a busy semester teaching, hosting my parents, working with students, packing up my apartment, and saying goodbye.  Then I took a trip to visit a student in southern China and headed for the USA.

In the USA, I did the usual summer rounds of seeing friends and family, this time extending as far as Alaska and Texas.  I ate lots of sweet corn, went to my cousin's wedding, drove around in a borrowed Oldsmobile, and attended a rodeo.

I will always remember 2011 as the Year of Travel.

Returning to China in August, I started the new semester in my new seaside city of Rizhao, with a new team but a very similar job.  I spent the semester getting to know my new students (more slowly than I would like), learning about my new city and campus, and continuing to enjoy my life in China. 

In 2011, I got in my first fender bender (Albuquerque), saw my first glacier (Alaska), went to my first Chinese wedding, ate my first cicadas, and saw the Great Wall of China for the fifth time.  I graduated my first class of students, had my first former student pass away, and taught a total of about 400 students over the course of the year.

Some of God's biggest blessings in 2011 were allowing me to deepen a few key Qufu friendships and see those students grow in Him, allowing me to visit people and places all over the world, and bringing me to a city where my community is much bigger than in Qufu.

The year 2012 promises to be a Year of Change.  This summer I will leave China and go back to find a job in the US.  Which job?  Which city?  Who knows?  I feel at peace with the decision to leave China this year but there are certainly many unknowns ahead.

Welcome, 2012!

My roommate I celebrated the first day of 2012 at one of our new favorite places: Yummy Bakery

Wish I was in Iowa...

... so I could caucus for this guy:

How I Spent My Third China Christmas

This was my third (and best) Christmas in China.  It's great to be surrounded by a larger community instead of just a tiny team of 3 or 4 people, as I was when I lived in Qufu.  Here's how I celebrated the holiday.

Pre-Christmas:  Shopping and preparing

Free Santa hat with juice purchase.  Sara and I couldn't resist.

Can you see the stuffed dragons hanging in the tree?

Stuffing small stockings to give to freshmen and other Chinese friends:

Christmas parties with students:

Christmas Eve Celebrations:

Making my mom's sweet-and-sour meatballs

Meal and gift exchange with friends from around town

What could it be?

My gift to the Burchams:  Angry Birds face warmers

Christmas Eve service in our apartment

Can you see my roommate playing the erhu back there?  Beautiful 2-stringed Chinese instrument.

Christmas Day:  Fun with family and team

Christmas brunch with Sara and Cathy

Opening presents "with" my family.  I opened my package from home while they did their Christmas Eve gift exchange.

Christmas afternoon bike ride to the beach:

Christmas Dinner with my team:  My teammate's homemade lasagna