Crap.

Well crap. It looks like its been over a month since I've posted anything at all. While it might be clearly obvious to some...I think the three part Tibetan series is taking a little longer than expected. Its been caught up on the Editor's desk for quite some time, we're fiddling with different fonts and font sizes to see if we can get some more mileage out of the material we have, but it's an uphill battle. Anyway, a lot has happened to me since I returned from Tibet. I started my third semester (which is currently 7 weeks underway), celebrated my birthday (note the can of Guinness provided by the best GF in the world), went to Chengdu for a small Peace Corp training session, traveled to Chongqing during my one week National Day vacation, and got sick.

Firstly, Panzhihua has gained some new members. A PCV 11 relocated from his first site to take Lindsey's place at my school and we also have a newbie at Amanda's school named Nick. The first couple of weeks were a little rocky. It seemed that everyone had to recalibrate themselves to find their new role within a new group of people. Who would be the jaded China hater? The disillusioned sarcastic jokster? I still can't wait to find out. After the initial introductions, we have all become more comfortable with each other and things are going well. Yet, sadly, one guilty pleasure of mine has been hearing how Nick has been adjusting to China. I love to hear him express his excitement to learn the language and integrate into his community. He's also excited to teach, explore, meet Chinese people, and so on. My guilty pleasure is sated when I envision the reality here in China, swallowing a few of his lofty goals. I know, that's kind of terrible, but I can't help it. Recounting my first year, I can recall watching my initial intentions and goals morph and change into something else. Not that they all imploded in a vacuum of cynicycism...but that the way you look at this place, or any place for that matter, can change drastically within the span of a year and the methods you adapted to survive in that place change as well. I know volunteers who have done quite well here in China. There are those that have adapted and have grown to love or at least enjoy this place. I can still enjoy China for it's subtle and on frequent occasions, overt peculularities, but I hold no love for this place. And yes...I am counting down the months until I'm done. I guess, I just hope that Nick can adapt to this place and see it as the second home it has now become to Lindsey and I. More importantly, that he can fulfill his initial goals, or find ones that are just as lofty and fulfilling.

The 1st of October is China's National Day and directly following the day is a national week long holiday. I had a Peace Corp training in Chengdu the week before National Day, where we met up and discussed teaching things and stuff. Yet, the majority of us used the week as an excuse to blow a lot of money drinking beer and visit with people. PC put us up in a really fancy hotel outside of Chengdu, and let me tell you, the water pressure in those showers was worth the price. I played a lot of billiards, won some money at cards, and drank some more beer. All in all, two thumbs up. After that, I headed off to Chongqing to meet Lindsey for our week long vacation.

Chongqing had always been described to me as the literal City of Dis. I could only picture skies laden with coal dust, towering smokestacks, and grey buildings covering the landscape, and while this is pretty much what every Chinese city looks like, it actually was pretty nice. The city itself is home to around 30 million people (NY holds about 11 million) and is growing by leaps and bounds everyday. The city's claim to fame is that it was the capital of China while Japan was wreaking havoc on the country during the 30's and 40's. It's also a huge center for the production of every conceivable good known to man. The city is also a few hundred miles upstream from the infamous Three Gorges Dam. Overall, the city is much like every other Chinese city I have visited except for the fact that it is really big, really big. There is also a light rail system, which was really nice (I didn't know at the time that it had fallen off the track only a year ago killing a whole trains worth of people). Oh, and we could call...to get pizza...delivered. I don't know why I ever shunned this city. While in town, Lindsey and I stopped off at the local Wal-Mart (seriously) and grabbed ourselves an oven (we have made bread, muffins, oatmeal, bagels, and just bought cheese for pizza).

Hmm...well, none of that was very exciting... Alright, I'll try to have another post up before the month is out. 我的大便 是很漂亮。 Oh, I wanted to see if you can all see this Chinese or not. If you want to see what 'secret messege' I sent out, you can search for 'babel fish' and translate it from Simp. Chinese into English. Also, I'm still sick with a nagging cough, yay for pollution!