And we have water, hooray!

During the past 1 1/2 months, on random days, our water supply has been cut off. Not to worry, its usually only for a day; we get advanced notice, either from our American buddy, Fr. Jim or from the front desk staff which undoubtedly leads to confused looks on both of our parts and repeated explanations. Its actually quite amusing as the dates and times always are in flux. It's always a pleasant surprise when you go to wash your hands and poof!, water flows out of the faucet in jetting spurts.

I've become accustomed to these water blackouts and the night before, I fill up my small tub of water and hope that the water comes back on. We've even named the first flush of the day a freebie since there's water stored in the square thing (I forget what it's called, or did I even know the name before).

Over the weekend, I learned how to play Chinese Chess (xiang qi) and Ma Jiang, both fun games and challenging. Chinese Chess involves tanks, cannons, elephants, rivers and more! The game is analogous to Western chess in terms of specific pieces having special moves and whatnot; but, I feel its a bit more complex and tricky.

Also, I have discovered that I am replacing Spanish brain cells with Chinese brain cells. For the life of me, I could not remember how to say "there!" in Spanish (Ahi) and all that kept popping in my head was a resounding 'NA!' Ugh! I'm not sure what to make of my waning Spanish ability and my growing Chinese. Nevertheless, I think if I immersed myself in a Spanish-speaking community again, I'd rejuvenate mi espanol!

Final Part: Chang Bai Shan (White Mountain)

On Tuesday, the seven of us took a bus to Baihe, which is the town closest to the Northern entrance of Chang Bai Mountain, which is located in China's largest nature preserve. This mountain also holds a great deal of importance for Koreans and which 1/2 of it is located in N. Korea.

We got off the bus in what we thought was Bai He and began a search for a cheap hostel. We were immediately bombarded by several people offering lodgings and tours of Chang Bai Shan, but we broke free, except for one persistent gentleman. He hounded us for about 1/2 an hour but in the end, helped us find a family guesthouse for 15 yuan a night (2 dollars).

During lunch, we discovered that we were NOT in Bai He, but Tudou! D'oh! Nevertheless, the two towns are practically one city, so we were not that far off.

We ended up meeting the nicest man in China, who drove us around in his mini-van. We gave him an English name, Chuckles, because he was extremely jolly and pleasant mannered.

He drove us to Chang Bai Shan early in the morning and we began our journey up the mountain, which in 2000 won the record for a volcanic lake at the highest elevation. The pictures I've seen of Heaven Lake are spectacular and I was excited to see it in person. When we arrived at the peak, however, we were disappointed as we were greeted by a lake enshrouded in fog. Good thing we waited around because as the minutes passed, the fog began to dissipate and we had some gorgeous views of the lake.

(That's me!)

The rest of the day was filled with walking to different sites in the park: a Waterfall from Heaven Lake, small Heaven Lake, hot springs (where they boil eggs, corn, and funny pork sticks) and the Underground Forest. Pictures of all of it are in this sentence!

The following day was filled with a visit to a random sculpture park and this amazing card game that Jenny and Sherry taught us called: Red Tens! I think in total we spent over 15 hours on the trip playing this card game. It was like crack; we couldn't stop.

Now, I'm back in Jilin, ready to continue teaching medical English and start teaching my legal English class in a few weeks. I'm going to show 'Legally Blond' and leave it at that! (Just kidding) Its going to be an interesting class, as I do not know much about law, but will be well informed for my class!

Part 2: Tumen, China/N. Korean Border

Matt, Kevin, and I were debating on whether or not to stay in Yanji on Sunday because we also had Monday in Yanji with our friends who were coming in that evening. We trekked to the bus station to see about a trip to Tumen. With our broken Chinese, we were able to figure out that the next bus left in 40 minutes, but we couldn't buy the return ticket there. On top of that we weren't even sure if there was a return bus. D'oh! We said, "what the heck, we'll go and if we get back great, if not, there are places to stay there, probably."

Tumen is a border town between China and N. Korea and was pretty amazing to witness. I think after hearing all about or rather not hearing much about this country, to actually visualize N. Korea was surreal.

We couldn't glean much about N. Korea from Tumen, but Matt and Kevin paid 2 yuan each to look at the opposing border town through telescopes and binoculars. From their reports, the buildings looked monochrome and during the night, it was pretty much pitch black.

Along the river, there were alot of touristy gimmicks, so we did them! We paid 20 yuan to cross 1/2 way across the bridge between China and N. Korea; and rode a 3 person tandem bike, which was in shabby condition; but we were able to pull of a 360 turn without falling over.

The rest of the pictures from Yanji and Tumen are here: click me!

We were able to get a train back to Yanji to meet up with our friends at midnight and continue our travels to Bai He, which is right next to Chang Bai Shan, China's largest nature reserve.

National Holiday Triology: Part 1: Yanji

I've returned to Jilin after a week of travel to Yanji, Tumen, and Chang Bai Shan. Its been a great, but tiring week; as soon as I stepped out of the Jilin Train Station, it felt good to be back 'home.'

I last reported that on the beginning of our journey that I was going to stand for 7 hours. This turned out to be a rumor and all three of us ended up finding a seat amongst the passengers. So sadly, I didn't build any character, but I was well rested and pleasant upon arrival.

We arrived in Yanji and started the short trek to our lodgings. As we passed the buildings, dodging cars in the streets, I definitely was reminded that we were in China, but also it felt quite different from Jilin. Since Yanji is the capital of the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, all of the signs are in Chinese and Korean. Furthermore, there is a huge Korean population in the city, which contributes to the mix of Korean/Chinese food everywhere.

The afternoon was spent exploring the city. We found a park which sadly had animals in minuscule cages. There was a tiger and a cheetah, right next to each other, with barely enough room to walk around. The cheetah was pacing back and forth, which Matt and Kevin said was probably due to the poor animal's suffocating space causing him/her to go crazy. I was quite disturbed by this maltreatment, so I suggested to come back later in the night for Mission: Liberation. I was reminded that these carnivores are probably famished and would eat their liberators; Mission: Liberation, aborted.

Dinner was spent at a Korean BBQ place which was fun because we got to grill our own food. It was analogous to roasting smores over a campfire, but instead with meat on a stick and in my case garlic cloves and fishballs, which I tried to order more of after the first batch. However, each time I tried to say, in Chinese, 'fish,' then 'white fish' while motioning my hands into a ball formation; and then I gave up because instead of a frozen, half spherical fishball, I got donkey and then some funky fish skin thing.

In my typical clumsy fashion, I was jumping up on to a step and proceeded to trip and gouge my knee on the corner of the step. That pretty much ended our night on the town and I tended to my gushing wound which I think looked alot worse than it really was and I'm glad to report that I'm healing well with no signs of infection.

I swear...

By the moon and the stars in the skies
I'll be there
I swear like the shadow that's by your side
I'll be there
For better or worse, 'till death do us part
I'll love you with every beat of my heart
And I swear...

These wonderful lyrics touched our Chinese hosts, our fellow Japanese and Korean teachers, as we, Kevin, Matt, Jim and I represented America, bellowing out "I swear" by Boyz II Men. It was quite the scene, especially since the song was sung to a backdrop of 5 Asian sisters running through a gambit of emotions.

Tonight, our hosts took us out to dinner to officially welcome us and to promote good relations between the foreign teacher and Chinese teachers. The meal was filled with great food, most of it vegetarian friendly (yay for me), and many toasts, followed by gan bei's (bottoms up). Its a rather early night for us, but that's because we have a 7:30AM train to catch.

Unlike my pack for the Machu Picchu Trail, this trip will only consist of a small backpack and my merse. I think its the lightest I've ever packed for a week long trip. Anyhoo, I'll try to update during my trip, but I might not be able to until my return the following weekend.

Train Station

Today, Kevin and I met up with our friend Eric to buy train tickets for upcoming holiday. Originally, National Day was a day off, but now its gradually developed into a week long vacation for the country. We're heading to Yanji and then to Chang Bai Shan near the North Korean border. Since its a national holiday, needless to say, the station was flooded with people, waiting in orderly lines.

I was a bit surprised because prior to coming here, I was informed that its pretty much everyone for themselves. Just try to imagine 1.3 billion people trying to travel and then throw us non-Mandarin speakers in the mix for a good comedy show. Luckily, our friend, Alec is a native speaker, who speaks English very very well. Kevin mentioned that there was some sort of national campaign to deter people from shoving and to respect the LINE. (something that Americans are surprisingly good at)

Nevertheless, as we got closer to the ticket booth and the cashier made an announcement that he was going on lunch break in 3 minutes, a small pocket of chaos ensued at our line. A random guy came up to me and started asking me questions and of course my level of Chinese is still pretty basic so I passed him to my friend, Alec. He was asking us to him a favor of buying his ticket with his money for him.

Plus, there was this woman was trying to shove her money under the ticket window, in front of us, as we're getting standing there, trying to acquire tickets. Thankfully, the ticket man shooed her away and we were the last customers before his respite. There were tickets available only for the standing section, but they were so cheap, only 45 kuai ($5.50). So, Kevin, Matt, and I will be on our feet for about 7 hours. Its going to be an adventure and build character!

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! (Zhong Qiu Jie Kuai Le!)

The past few weeks, Jilin, as well as the rest of the country has been inundated with delicious treats called "Moon Cakes," in preparation of today. In the lunar calender, today is the 15th day of the 8th month which coincides with the Full Moon! Oddly enough, it also has coincided with the weather turning quite chilly. *tear* There have been a plethora of moon cake stands all over the city and we're posing with, I presume, a traditional family strolling down the streets of Jilin with some moon cakes.Families gather tonight and share a meal together, taking in the glorious full moon. They munch on moon cakes. I think most are pretty good, but there are some that warrant being thrown in the trash.

We've been invited to Jenny's apartment for a pot-luck dinner to celebrate the day. We've done a pretty good job of cooking up an international menu. Matt whipped up some garlic mashed potatoes, Kevin made some Mediterranean Salad, and I made some Thai vegetable curry.

Today in class, my students taught me a famous Mid-Autumn Festival Poem by Li Bai that everyone memorizes.

静夜思

床前明月光，
疑是地上霜。
举头望明月，
低头思故乡。
by 李白

While I am not a certified translator, I'll give it a shot:

Thoughts in a Silent Night
Bright moon light falls in front of my bed,
frosting the ground beneath my feet.
I tilt my head towards the bright moon,
then I lower my head and think of my homeland.

*tear* (place your finger near your eye and imitate a tear drop falling) Many of you know that I do this as a comedic action, so don't worry about me!

But seriously, all of you are in my thoughts and I hope that you have a fabulous Mid-Autumn Festival Day.

Dragon Pool Mountain (Long tan shan)

On Saturday, I went on my first hiking adventure with the guys, Joo, Jenny, Michelle, and her two dogs: Peng You (Friend) and Xin-xin. I was excited to get out of the city and get some fresh air. I soon discovered that the trail was a hybrid of nature, religious experience and amusement park. The hike first passed some Buddhist temples and then made its way into a mini-theme park. They had everything from "riding the bull" to archery. Matt picked up the bow and arrow and shot as if he had years of experience hunting buffalo on the range. He got a bulls eye on his second try!

The trail passed by a reflecting pool, which legend says that a White-tailed dragon flew out of and thus the mountain is named Dragon Pool.


(L-R: Joo, Jenny, Matt, I'm holding Xin-Xin, Michelle, Peng You, and Kevin)

Joo mentioned, after seeing a sunflower on the roof of a temple, that in Korea, giving a sunflower to your significant other means that "you only have eyes for them."



Last night, I was by the Song Hua River and the trees are decorated with Icicle Lights, awaiting for the real thing in a few months. Anyhoo, its not super clear, but at least you can hear me narrating!



On Sunday, I asked Jenny if I could sit in on her English Class for her 5/6 year olds. There were 7 students and quite adorable. I thought it was interesting that when she was teaching the youngsters how to write A, B, and so on, she was doing it based on how many strokes are in each letter. This totally makes sense as Chinese Characters revolves around strokes.

Well, Tuesday, is the Moon Festival, so you better run out and get some Moon Cakes for the Full Moon!