On the way home.....
Joey in the chair we brought home from China for him!
Bri and I headed to the Cities for a wedding of my good Hamline buddy, Gentz.
Hanging with my long lost friends from college.....
Here's Bri and I pretending to be pretentious with our first ever Cosmopolitans and Martinis at a very expensive restaurant in the Adirondacks.
Bri and his buddy Collin (a.ka. Cobra) spent a bit of time rocking out with their high school band and testing out the new Nintendo Guitar Hero game.
Bri and I were able to go on a few canoe trips and an overnight, which reminded me a lot of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Minnesota.
This was the big welcome-back party, in which everyone decided to sport the cool skirts we bought for the guys and gals in Burma. This is Brian's family...his aunt Judy, me, Bri, his sister Caitlin, su madre, and paps.
I was also introduced to a favorite pastime of his buddies from high school: yard golf. Creating a course in your backyard and trying to beat each other. I managed to hit it across the fence once, but then I was struggling.
A day trip Bri, Collin, and I went to in the Adirondacks. We canoed, portaged, then hiked a smaller mountain all in a days work.
Brian loving the American brews.....and my first Yueng Ling beer.
Bri and his dad being cute.
Here's all of our friends who came to show us off at the train station. 
It started to rain at Tiananmen when we were there...stupid Beijing.
Here we are in the Forbidden City, this was probably the only building that wasn't under construction in preparation for the 2008 Olympics.
This was our last day, took a trip out to the Great Wall and then rushed off to the airport to fly out.
Our first meal back in the States! Steak Escape!
"Bye China!"
Well, a lot has happened in the past couple of weeks. Greogory had his birthday, my classes have been finishing, Lindsey had her birthday (I bought flowers and Pringles on a severely limited budget), and then we went to Lijiang (the famous ancient city about 6 hours away by cab). Also, we just bought our plane tickets home!!! So, Lindsey and I will be landing in Syracuse on Monday, July 16th and we can't wait. Our daily ritual is sitting around dreaming up the different things we can't wait to eat. The end to all of this is within site and I think these last few weeks will go by pretty quickly. One Saturdau of this week, Lindsey and I have our Chinese wedding, which will be a great way to see everyone before we go.
m don't really care about learning English. Yet, I had my last class with the sophomore group of English Business majors last week and it was actually a little hard to say thanks to them and say goodbye. I'll be seeing all of them around, but it was the last class. I just loved this class because all of them are such individual characters. They have also been really good students for the past two years, one of the only classes to get really excited and participate with some gusto. From loud-mouthed Pearl, to very flamboyant Boa, to shy and quiet Spring, I'll miss them all. I just hope that the majority of them can go on to find decent jobs somewhere in China. Leaving this school next year will be a real hard experience for the majority of them, I just pray it all works out.
risp and the pizza is hot. So, we spent the weekend there and ate a lot of western food and did some shopping. The most entering part of the weekend occurred on our last night. When Chinese tourists see three foreigners together, they see the perfect backdrop to a photo. So, sitting and eating at a restaurant by an open window can be a little annoying as tour group after tour group flow by. At first, I took my umbrella and threw it open anytime someone was about to snap a picture, which was entertaining. Then, we made a little sign that said 'Photo, 5 Kuai' (the price was later dropped to 3). The sign was just a joke to discourage photos, and it did make a lot of people laugh. Yet, as the night wore on, groups of Chinese business men and a few Chinese couples started taking us up on the offer. At the peak of the business, Lindsey was walking through the crowd drawing in the most susceptible prey with her blond hair and I was barking out the deal in Chinese (three foreigners and you, only three kuai!). We ended up making about 90 kuai in half an hour...not too bad.
Awww...
Classic Chinese Man
This last week was pretty action packed. On Thursday, the Peace Corps training officer and my site manager came down for a visit. We went out for the standard banquet with my school officials and then we went on a tour of the local steel factory, Pan Gang Steel. The steel company is the world's second largest producer of vanadium (added to steel to strengthen it I believe) and something like the worlds 4th largest producer of steel. It's a pretty big deal. The only reason that the town I live in exists, is basically because of the steel company. Panzhihua was a very small village until Mao Zi Dong himself picked the site to be the location of Pan Gang, because of its relative isolation. Oh, but I didn't get to go on the tour because I was wearing flip-flops. I understood at first, thinking they didn't want my open toes to get crushed by some misplaced steel. But, Hong Mei had high heels on, my program manager had fancy flip-flops on, and the site manager was weari
ng sandals. If a vat of boiling iron toppled over and we had to run for it, I sure wouldn't have been the last one out. At least I was allowed to wear the helmet and walk around the outside of the building.
rice that has sat in water for a while. You can add a little pumpkin or some sugar to try and cut the blandness out, but it's nearly impossible. I for one love rice, but I can't stand 稀饭 （xifan) as it's called. Lindsey actually enjoys it now and makes it whenever her stomach is off.
Eating in the dark.
The top portion of this sign is in the Yi script. All of the signs throughout the city are in both the Yi script and Chinese. The Yi language is more closely related to Tibetan than Chinese. This sign says "The Xichang City Police Station"
Here's Lindsey buying a baby carrier from the locals. There was probably a group of 50 people standing around to see what the foreigner was doing.
My continuing obsession with the Yi hand painted lacquer-ware. I bought four of these cups to add to my collection, which includes a big fruit bowl and a vase. The clothes in the back are some more of the traditional clothes.
"Here's a free lesson for ya" The twins father showing off the moves.
A couple of Chinese-American's rocking their baozi making skills.
Me looking pretty while the work gets done. The girls English names are Daisy (left) and Betty (right), they just turned 17 this last weekend but still look roughly 12. They attend the best High School in the city and their English is amazing.
The twins mother getting ready to steam the baozi.
The woman of the hour. While we could stand around joking, making a few at a time, Auntie here was making all the wrappers and then started the real work after we sat down and started eating the 30 or so we made.
All that easy work paying off, baozi! The best way to eat baozi and jiaozi is by dipping them into some vinegar. You can find large selections of both foods pre-frozen in the grocery store, but the homemade ones are a lot better...but I'd still take lasagna, pizza, cheeseburgers, tacos, salad, cheese, or pasta over them any day.
Last week, starting on May 1st was the Chinese May 1st holiday, or Chinese Labor Day, as I just recently found out. The holiday was created in the 1980's as an antecedent to the week long holiday that occurs in October. "If we give the whole country a week off work in October to increase consumer spending, doing the same thing in May will probably cause the same economic results". And so it has. Most people travel around China or return home during this time. My students primarily stayed at school to play video games or they found part-time jobs to earn roughly $3 a day trying to convince people to purchase cell phones or computers.
e to attend with the Peace Corps. Officially, the conference is called COS (close of service). All the volunteers still left in our group (44 out of 57) came into Chengdu and we watched a slide show of pictures we submitted, talked about adjusting to life back in The States, discussed jobs, and enjoyed each others company for the last time that we would be meeting as a group. All in all, it was fun to see everybody, but I certainly haven't formed any lasting bonds with the majority of the group. There were some great people, but the fact that we are stretched so far across China, have no money, and seldom meet up, meant that my vision didn't cloud up with tears of nostalgia during the slide show.
ut 6 people who are staying in China, 3 of them with the Peace Corps. Otherwise, people are either going to spend the next couple of months circumnavigating the globe discovering lost civilizations and then posting pictures of it on their blogs, going to school to get a Masters degree in International Relations with a concentration in Law or Human Rights, or finding a job. Lindsey and I will be finding work.
h, subsequently got sick and then I got some gross infection thing on my leg, which I originally believed was a pimple, Lindsey made me call the Doctor, which in turn led to my laying down with a heat pack on the thing, taking antibiotics, and then writing the few remaining Chinese characters we can actually remember on my stomach. So, the week wasn't a lot of fun, but we were able to rest and relax a bit. We spent a lot of the time looking for jobs and I even had a phone interview for a Computer Technician job in California. Right now, the future possibilities are Alaska, California, Maine, Alabama, Florida, and South Carolina, all of the places Lindsey has applied to. I've been looking for teaching jobs, but what I'd really like is a GIS (Geographic Information Systems) job, working with a small town. Then, in the fall I'll begin applying to schools to start a Masters degree in either Geography or International Relations the following year, and then who knows where we'll be.
This past weekend Lindsey and I were the judges for an English speech competition. The winners of the competition will go on to Chengdu, and then possibly Beijing to compete in the National competition on CCTV9 (the only English language station). The speech competition theme deals with the upcoming 2008 Olympics...as it seems everything in China does now.
es. I just can't imagine assembling a room full of primary students in Syracuse who could converse at an Advanced level in Chinese. The competition went well but it was hard to eliminate some of the students. It was hard to see 'cute 8-year old buzz cut boy with glasses' and 'hyper active yellow shirt girl who I gave a fake phone number to' get knocked out of the running with a flick of our pens, but it had to be done. It was also a pain because there were three other judges, one of whom Lindsey and I assumed didn't even understand English. So, when she weighed in her choices, we had to give her the smack down to get the kids we picked declared winners. All in all it was pretty painless but it was sad to see some of the kids shed tears after they lost.
ool age students with no concept of what they needed or what I should do. This has happened to any teacher that doesn't methodically write out all their lesson plans prior to class, so walking into class and winging it was nothing new for either Lindsey or I.
ak and I went to teach the primary school kids. The best word to describe a class of primary school kids forced to attend a full Saturday of English classes would be 'movement'. I wasn't bothered by the sheer energy that a room full of 8-10 year olds possessed, I just thought it was hysterical watching this 'sea of squirming'. Yet, after 20 minutes of trying to talk or teach them anything, I just divided the class into teams and started the greatest answer to filling 20 minutes of English lesson time, Hangman. The kids ended up loving it as much as my 20-year old students. It might not have taught them anything, but I made it to lunch and didn't have to try and hold any kids still in their seats.
think of something to write, but bombed on ideas. So, I guess I'll just inform all you avid readers that I'll be arriving back in the U.S. on July 13th. Lindsey and I are counting down the days (99) until we leave. We really can't wait to get back to New England clam chowder, good beer, people that speak a language we always understand, family and friends, and of course, the pool at my family's new house. I think I'll be a little sad about leaving, but I sure won't be balling as the train pulls away from Panzhihua. I do love this place for all it's idiosyncrasies, but we're just looking forward to the future.
ion...let me tell you. It takes roughly seven years to achieve fluency in Chinese and truthfully I'm just bored of the Chinese language. While it looks great on the resume, I'm never going to speak Chinese fluently, nor do I want to or need to. The level I'm already at will be perfect in the States as a secret language with Lindsey, impressing Chinese restaurant workers, and making fun of my friends. Truthfully, what else do you need? So, I figured I'd fill up some spare time by working through an online Italian course. My Mother suggested Spanish because it would be more useful, but Italian actually interests me and it bring me closer to fulfilling my second g
rade goal of becoming Italian.