Extended Stay

This week is my twelfth week to be in China. Which means I'm nearly halfway through my contract and that much closer to it all being over. It honestly seems as though I just arrived here last week, February 2nd doesn't seem that long ago at all, and August 9th seems to be extremely too close. I love Yangshuo, I love China, my job, my students, my lifestyle, everything. I'm not ready to leave this place. China is a huge and beautiful country, I don't want to return to America only to have experienced the tiniest piece of this place. I want to see what it has to offer. I obviously can't see it all, but I want to see more than just Yangshuo. I want to see The Great Wall, Tiger Leaping Gorge, Shangri-La, Three Gorges, Tibet, Xi'an, Haikou, Sichuan, and so, so much more.

I have already told a few people, but I figured my blog would be the best place to officially announce it. I have decided to stay in China for a few more months than originally intended. Not indefinitely, but maybe until the end of the year. This will give me time to travel, time to work more, and get more out of my experience here. I'd really hate to look back on my time here and regret things, regret not making the most of the opportunities I have available. This isn't just another one of my crazy ideas, I've thought for a really long time about my decision and did not, by any means, jump the gun on this. It's something I feel I must do, and I hope I can receive some support. If not, I completely understand. I thought about everyone, not just myself in this decision, and as a result I hope no one is affected negatively. One day, I know I'll look back and see this as the best possible decision I could've made.

I plan on returning to Tech in January of 2010 for my final semester. Then, who knows from there.

In the meantime, I must keep making travel plans for Ryan's trip here next month. We may go to Vietnam and Laos, it all depends on the visa situation.

After all, I believe it was Chili Davis that said 'growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional.' So for now, I'd like to keep young as long as I can...

alive and well in China, more to come...

Update

Last Thursday's social night was graduation for a couple good friends of mine. Atam, a level 6 student that speaks near fluent English, has left a gone back to Shenzhen to work. A few of us went to dinner for his and Cindy's farewell meal. Here's a picture of us at social night...

Last week was also Neko's final week at Omeida. His first day at Omeida was also my first day to teach, and he was my student in level 1D and 2A for the next 10 weeks. So, I knew him pretty well, it was sad to see him go. Here are some pics...

Me and Neko, from his camera

Class 2A, class dinner at Chongqing

Me and Jon, my 2A student

Me and Neko

Libby, me, and Angie

On Saturday a few of us went out to Wine Bottle to climb. Our original intention was to deep water solo, as I explained in my e-mail, but the weather wasn't very cooperative. I got in several climbs, including my first lead climb on a 5.7 and I learned to clean the rope at the top. I belayed Jon on a 2 pitch route, so he was about 40 meters up the rock, or about 130 feet. I took my camera but forgot my camera card, so I unfortunately have no pictures. It was a little scary, but definitely more exciting to lead. Hopefully I can keep doing in more and more.

On Sunday we wanted to rent motorbikes and cruise around the countryside, but a storm started moving in about the time we were going to rent them. So, instead, me, Justin, Marty, and Esteban ended up taking a bike ride out to the Yu Long. We ended up taking a different route back, I haggled for a bamboo lift across the river, and we rode by Moon Hill to make it probably a 20K trip altogether.

Low Mountain - April 5th

Me, Erin, Joe, Fran, and Mark took a taxi van out to Low Mtn on Sunday. Our original intention was to head to Chicken Cave since it was raining, but our driver got a little off course and we ended up at Low Mtn instead. But, thankfully it was really dry, and we ended up getting in some good climbs for the afternoon. If I ever use terminology referring to climbing that you don't know, just check out this website and it should help. http://www.abc-of-rockclimbing.com/climbingdictionary.asp I completed a 5.10A and a 5.10B, both with a little help from my belayer, and I also completely a 5.8 cleanly. Here are a few pics...The first one to the right is Mark.

Me struggling on the 5.11B

Random Climber, really cool pic

Mark getting acrobatic

The View

Joe climbing

A few of us also went and climbed Wine Bottle Wednesday after class. I took my camera but forgot my camera card. I did complete a 5.9, two 5.10A's and a 5.10B. Joe says I'm a natural, progressing quickly, and should start leading climbs as soon as possible. It's more dangerous to lead instead of top roping, which is what I'm doing now, but I think there's a lot more self reward involved because of the difficulty. If the rain holds off, we should go out a couple times this weekend.

Pay day is today at 4:30! So, I'm thinking about heading down and buying my own harness and chalk bag so that I won't have to keep bumming from everyone and being a freeloader. I'm still doing good with money, even though this past month was an expensive one from leisure activities, I still made it through and only on 2/3 of a month's pay.

Things are still going great here in Yangshuo. Last night was social night, which I'm not a big fan of, and each table played different games. Our table played spin the chopstick truth or dare. By the end of the night I had kissed 2 or 3 hands, a couple of cheeks, danced with a student, and did my own "sexy" dance in front of everyone. It's Friday, so that usually means KTV night, which is always an experience.

I'm sure everyone is still pretty high on excitement from the news of our newest family member! Hopefully I can skype Avery soon so that she'll get to meet her uncle Tony.

For now, that's all I have from China...

More to Come

The Egg - April 4th

Me, Francisco, Eiki, and Joe all went out to climb at the egg on Saturday. We also met Erin, Jon, and Mark out there. I completed a 5.8 and 5.9. Here are a few pictures...

Why it's called the egg

Fran on the 5.9

Different view of the egg

Farmer plowing

Me, leaving my feet

The View

Storm rolling in

Merryland and Bungee Jumping

Saturday, a group of 10 took a trip to Xinan, about a 2.5 hour private shuttle van ride from Yangshuo to Merryland, an amusement park. I mainly just wanted to go for bungee jumping. It was only at a height of 50 m (164 feet) and you were hooked at the waist, but it was still pretty fun. Most people just jumped off waist up...but not me. I decided I needed to get my money's worth, so I dove off head first and did a front flip. Much more exciting in my opinion. This was a also a celebration for Mark's leaving. He's also another good friend of mine, and I'll miss him as well. Here are some pictures...The first one on the right is of the entire group- from left to right: Esteban, Cher, Mark, Joey, Justin, Linda, Me, Rabbit, Fran, and Tina...


Justin before going up...





Linda jumping...















Me and Justin on the tower...





On the van headed home...
















Me after jumping...

Mark giving the thumbs up...














Mark jumping...

Mark, me, and Esteban...






So, that's it. You're completely caught up. I'm just laying here on the computer, hanging out in my apartment, and glad to be finished updating. We finally got some cooking supplies from the school, so maybe I'll whip up some dishes before too long. Eiki's birthday is tomorrow, so I'm sure I'll have plenty more stories for you in no time. Hope you enjoyed the posts!







More to come...

Darcy

If there is one downfall in this job of mine, it's having to see some of your best friends walk out of your life and leave you wondering if you'll ever see them again.

Darcy's last day in town was last Wednesday. So, for about 5 straight nights we had "Darcy going away" celebrations. Darcy is from Guilin, but works in Shenzhen. He's 31, and say he's my older brother, or ge ge, and I'm his di di, or younger brother. Over the past 5 weeks or so we became really good friends and are part of a tight nit group of friends that spent everyday together. Since he's the oldest, he usually makes most of the decisions, same as it is in America. He always pays for meals, picks up beer tabs, etc. One night at the alley bar we refused to let him pay for any of the beer. He sneaked off just before we were leaving, saying he had to use the bathroom, then when we went to pay for the beer they informed us that it had already been paid for. This is the type of guy he is, and the more time I spent around him the more I liked him and the better friends we became.

So, on Wednesday night, the final night of the celebrations, we all had dinner at City and City. Of course, Darcy picked up the check, but this is Chinese tradition as well. Much MUCH different than that of America. When it's someone's birthday here, or someone is leaving, that person pays for everyone, instead of the other way around like we are accustomed to. Here's a picture of all of us, from left to right- Esteban, Fran, Eiki, Darcy, Tina, Rabbit, Justin, and Me.

Me and Darcy....

We proceeded to have a long night at various places, Alley Bar, Kaya Bar, dancing bars etc.

So, at the end of the night we all said goodbye, and you could tell that it was pretty hard for Darcy to leave. In fact, he's been studying here at Omeida for 6 months now. It's obvious that the students can also get emotionally attached to their friends here just as we do. I hope he makes it back to Yangshuo someday to visit, or maybe I can make my way down to Shenzhen. I already miss hanging out with the guy.

More to come...

St. Patty's Day

We celebrated St. Patrick's day at the Alley Bar, our usual hangout. Since I've been in Yangshuo, I haven't seen as many tourists in one place as there were in the bar that night. We were really confused as to why. But then my friend Yogev came over telling me how he'd walked down West Street yelling to every foreigner and passing our flyers. Here are some pics. This is Darcy, Adva and Yogev from Israel, and Esteban....

Here's Eiki and Cici...

Me, Joanna, and Eiki...

and Darcy mingling with the tourists as always...

Xingping

So it's been awhile since I've done an update, and I apologize about the delay. I've received hoards of E-mails and complaints from everyone, telling me how life doesn't exactly have that kick and flow to it without being able to read my blog. Maybe I should start a suggestion box. I've been pretty busy lately, and have, regrettably, not gotten much sleep over this past week and a half. Everyday is the same but always with something new. Wake up early, stay out late. So the next few blogs should catch you up to now...


Last Saturday a large group of students took a trip to Xingping, an ancient village outside of Yangshuo with beautiful karst and river scenery. So much so that the Chinese government decided to have it put on the back of the 20 RMB note.

I nearly missed the bus that took us all to Yangdi. After a long night of the weekly Friday KTV karaoke, it was hard to wake up for the 9 a.m. appointment at the bus station. But, I made it just in time, probably with a little baijou still on my breath. There were two different groups from Omeida heading to Xingping: our group had around 20 students and teachers, along with Uncle, and we would take the bus to Yangdi, bamboo raft down river, then hike the rest of the way to Xingping. The other group would cycle a differnt route, and take a short bamboo raft to Xingping.

The bus trip to Yangdi was just short of 2 hours, stopping and picking up people every chance there was. It was another old village with yet more breath taking surroundings. We all got on the bamboo rafts and headed down river a ways to start our hike.

About half-way through the hike we ran into someone of a road block, or trail block. There were some people sitting in the middle of the trail, claiming that we should pay 15 kuai per person to pass. This really created a stir amongst Uncle and some of the students. I heard a few Chinese cuss words and thought I might actually see the first scuffle since I've been the country. But, unfortunately, nothing came of it. We decided not to pay the 15 kuai, backtrack a little ways, and take a bamboo raft a couple hundred yards around the people.

The following are a few photos I took along the hike...

Here's me and Jon, one of my 2A students, and Justin.

This is me, Mark, and Justin.

This is me and Darcy...

We had lunch outside at a small restaurant on the bank of the Li River. Because of lack of time, we ended up taking a bamboo raft the rest of the way to Xingping to make it before dark. The trip along the river was amazing. But, a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and the first sunshine we'd seen in a few weeks brought out tons of Chinese tourists. It comes along with the territory though. A spot along the river inspired the idea for the cover of this cigarette box...

When we got to Xingping I spotted a few students from the other group, here they are in their bamboo raft.

We took a quick look around town, snapped a few photos of the area of the 20 RMB, and headed towards the climb. The view wasn't as good as I'd hoped for, the sun was behind the scene making everything pretty bright and hazy. Next time I'll try and make it there before noon for better pictures. Compare this picture to the one at the top of the 20.

So, we proceeded to take a hike to the top of a karst in Xingping that provided excellent views of the surrounding area. Check out the sign...

This picture is what we were greeted with at the top...















I definitely recommend this trip. I think it would be easier if you were a faster hiker, and not in a group of 20 mostly casual walkers. We're thinking about going back pretty soon for an overnight trip- camping, swimming, etc.



More to Come