Stupid Quarantines

Back in September, a couple of my friends were stuck in their colleges because the entire place got quarantined. They released a lot of the quarantined colleges around the beginning of October for the national holiday, but now the lockdowns are back. She was outside of her college when the quarantine started, but she had to decide between being stuck at the campus for a month (or more) or missing classes and failing exams.

We've got Skype, and we can call/message each other, but it's still annoying. I've gotta go from spending a lot of time with her, to being bored at home with little to do. I'm sure I can find something to keep me occupied, but it still sucks.

Well now. Look what we have here!

It's been months since the firewall blocked Blogger and a couple other sites I enjoy, but I finally got around to downloading a program to get around it. I've got lots to talk about, so here it goes. I'll try to keep it in chronological order.

Saffron is no longer my roommate. We had an argument shortly after I stopped updating, and rather than work it out, she moved to a different apartment and has been doing an mazing job of pretending I don't exist. I'm not going to go into any more detail than that. Living on my own is great, and it's lots of fun. So far the only downside is that I have to pay the utilities by myself. Oh well.

Dane will be leaving soon. We're having a goodbye party tonight. Since Saffrons contract also ends soon, they will be doing a bit of traveling through Russia. She has renewed her contract, though, so she'll be coming back in a month or so. I've also renewed my contract, so I'll be working for Kid Castle until next Summer.

Big news! I have a girlfriend now! We were introduced by a mutual friend at the Park Qin bar/hostel. She's studying architecture at a a (relatively) nearby university. We've only been together about a month, but things are going smoothly so far. You'd think this was something I could write about endlessly, but I'm actually at a loss for words. She's smart and fun, and we're happy.

Sad news. My grandfather died. I'm going to miss him very much. My biggest regret is that I didn't get to talk to him more. I've just gotten to the age where I want to learn about what his life was like. When you're little, you go to your grandparents house and are happy just to be with them. What they did in the past was none of your concern. But now, I want to know. And it's too late. Someone once told me that every time a person dies, a library is destroyed. That's how I feel now. Except it's not just a library. It's my grandfather. Next time I see my grandmother, I'm going to spend as much of that time as possible talking to her. Really talking to her.

More big news! I'm planning on staying in China to study Chinese at a University once my contract with Kid Castle is finished. I'll still come back to America for a little bit this Summer, but I'll be leaving for China again to start studying. After thinking about it, this seems like the best way to get my degree. I enjoy teaching English here, and I want my degree. Now I can get both. Maybe once I have my degree, I'll be able to be a Chinese teacher in the US, or work at a college teaching English here in China. Lots of possibilities.

That's about it for news. Aside from that things are still mostly the same. I've been working, hanging out with Tertius and my friends. I'm still going to the radio station, although there are occasionally schedule conflicts. I've been here a year now, and things are going great.

Tripfriend: Radio Star - Part 2

I had a great time today. I met up with Little Fish and we went to the radio station. She showed me around and I got to meet some of the people she works with. I got to talk to some of the DJs and really had a blast.

And I got to be on the radio.

It was so much fun. Because I had met Little Fish at a party, she decided parties would be a good topic for conversation on the program. We spent the first half hour discussing holidays and how the parties differed for each holiday, random parties on the weekend, and reading form a dialogue book. The second half of the hour was spent taking calls. Parties, ironically, weren't mention as much as "How can I practice my English?" and "What sort of Foods are popular in America?"

Overall I had a great time. From talking with Little fish, I get the impression that I may end up on the radio once or twice a month now. I feel so special.

Tripfriend: Radio Star - Part 1

We often have a new person or two at our parties. Last week was Little Fish. One of our friends has recently started doing something at a local radio station. She is, I'm assuming, a manger type person, and is involved with an English language radio show there. She got my number and asked if I could come by some time to be on the show. I said sure, not really expecting a call back about it.

Yesterday I got that call. This Saturday (tomorrow), my voice will be broadcast all over Xi'an and quite possibly all of the Shaanxi Province.

Further details will follow tomorrow.

Eight Leg-ed Fear Mongers

There's a spider in my room. I'm not afraid of spiders. In fact, I used to have a pet tarrantula. But there's something you should know about this spider. It's the first one I've seen in Xi'an. I've been here close to half a year now, and this is the first spider I've seen in the entire city. I know I arrived in the fall, but I've barely seen any other bugs for that matter. Where are they all? Are all cities like this? I'm used to the bugs of wild West Virginia, swarms of ladybugs in particular. Here in Xi'an, the biggest bug I've seen wasn't even as big as my thumbnail.

I put the spider in my room to help fight off any other bugs that might wander in and bother my plants. He's been in here a couple days now and I jsut saw him again. I like to think that we've come to an unspoken agreement of, "he doesn't bite me in my sleep, and I don't squish him to a pulp."

Silverwear Scrutiny

Occasionally, when eating with Chinese friends, I will watch how they hold their chopsticks. I've never had problems handling my sticks, but I still like watching to try and immitate how they use them. I've noticed that some people hold theirs a bit differently, but they all work about the same.

I was at one of my Chinese lessons at Roast King (Pretend Mcdonalds and KFC had a baby) when I noticed that two people nearby were watching how I held the spoon for my ice cream. They were too busy looking at my hands to notice that I new they were watching, so I just kept eating. And watching. Sometimes they would try holding it differently, and then switch back to holding it like I was.

All of my Chinese friends have western forks and spoons and whatnot, but I guess there are still some people here who see them the same way most foreigners view chopsticks.

Climbing Wu Tai shan

I'm tired, sore, and a little bit bloody in some places. That's how I know I had a good weekend.

I just got back from climbing Wu Tai Shan. Wu Tai is a mountain about an hour south of Xi'an. It's a popular travel spot, and it has about five Buddhist temples on its peaks. Last week one of my friends suggested that we go and climb it. the thought of being back in some mountains had me ready for anything.

Saturday night we went out and bought some stuff for the trip. Snacks mostly, but I also bought a small two person tent for 200 kuai. Normally I wouldn't drop 200 kuai very quickly, but I was thinking too much of how much fun I would have in the mountains. I still don't regret it because it packs up small, and I plan on getting some more use out of it.

On Sunday, Jean, my Chinese friend, and I set out in the morning and, after a couple long and bumpy bus rides, arrived at the bottom of the mountain just before noon. I was bouncing off the walls (or trees since we were outside) with excitement.  These mountains were MOUNTAINS! I still think that the hills of West Virginia might be taller, but these just had a mountainous aura about them. They were very steep, and had lots of rocky areas.

There were three ways to get up the mountain. You can take a small van up a twisty road, you can walk up the twisty road, or you can walk along some through the valley where the path disappears about half way up.

Guess which way we went.

That's right! Trekking through the middle of the woods!

We started up at about noon, just me and Jean. After a bit, we were joined by three other people. A married couple with their niece. A while later we were joined by two other girls. The aunt and uncle and the two girls were all in the military, though I fear for the Chinese army if the two girls have anything other than desk assignments.

The first part of out journey lasted about three hours, usually with a break every hour of the way. After that we rejoined the end of the car road, and had lunch at a small, conveniently placed noodle restaurant. From there we said out goodbyes and started the second part of our hike. he stairs.

We've all seen movies with the temples at the top of a mountain and a long straight flight of big stairs leading to the top. These weren't like this. These stairs we large stair shaped rocks that had been placed along the mountain. There wasn't a straight line any where. Everything was switchbacks and curves around the side. From the noodle place, it took us another two hours of stair climbing to reach the first temple. From there it was fairly easy to get to the other two we went to. The going was still slow since the paths were narrow and high up. We got to the last two just as they were closing, and so we got to look around without any other tourists.

The view from the temples is amazing. Even with the pollution surrounding Xi'an (happily absent in the mountains) we could still see the city lights. The small towns looked beautiful from so high up. It was breathtaking. I really can't describe what it looks like. It's something that really has to be seen.

After we left the third temple we started wandering down the road looking for a flat, rock free, place to set up our tent. We found one just a little bit farther down the mountain than the noodle place. Nice and flat, off the side of the road far enough that we won't be too close to cars driving by in the morning.

Also right next to a a bears tree.

Yup. We had apparently decided to pick a spot next to a tree that a local bear likes to sleep in. Barely 30 minutes after we set up our tent, one of the guys who works on the mountain came by and told us that we'd have to move so we didn't bother/get bothered by the bear. He took us to a place a bit farther down the road. Nice and flat, off the side of the road far enough that we won't be too close to cars driving by in the morning.

Also right next to a path used by wild pigs.

Don't worry. He gave us a couple rocks and told us to just chuck them at the pigs if they bothered us. Ha ha! You gotta love China. In the end it was a cold, but uneventful night, with nothing more than a chicken coming by our tent.

We packed up around 10:00 this morning and took a van down the road to the base. We were both too tired to walk. From there we took two buses back to town. Neither Jean nor I can decide what mountain we want to go to next. Next month. After we've recovered.

On a side note, my Chinese skills seem to have gotten another boost. I was (in horribly broken Chinese) able to convey to the taxi driver on the way back, that I had come from Wu Tai Shan, had climbed for 5 hours, had lots of fun, and was very tired. I'm not sure where that came from, but it was still a little bonus to my great weekend.

See that small building in front of the cloud? That's what we walked too.

This isn't the top. This is the noodle restaurant where the road ends and the stairs begin. The people on the road are the group we were hiking with.

We finally made it. I got this piture of two of the temples from atop the highest temple.