XiNing & LanZhou

Sorry Georgia - Lanzhou had the best peaches I have ever tasted. We only bought 2 - wish it had been more.

The boat ride on the Yellow River was made from blown-up pig skin. We passed on this adventure.

Overnight Train

This was my first time on an overnight train. We upgraded and got a "soft bed" which really means that 4 people are in the cabin- not 6 as in a "hard bed".  But as you can see from the picture many more people were in the cabin most of the time. Also they don't count children under 12 as a body so 2 people may be sleeping in one bed. This leg of our trip was 23 hours.  It was not too bad - we were in a car with a grandma and grandpa of a big family, also on the train, so she ended up taking care of us as well as her family - I was stuffed with all her food and snacks she brought by the time we left. No one snored too loud. Bathrooms were sort of gross but still useable. I got the bottom bunk which was pretty comfortable except that it was the community sofa during the day. I tried but I could NOT get up on the top bunk - you have to really really stretch those legs and have strong arms. I gotta work out more!

After the train we were taken to a hotel - it was HORRIBLE. I went downstairs to get a hairdryer and the receptionist was putting on her makeup and refused to turn around to help me. No hot water until they turned it on at a specific time. The rooms were occupied with lots of men playing Mahjong (they gamble on the game).  

The next morning we hopped in a car and did a tour of this area - temples, lakes, and the Yellow River. Then another 12 hour overnight train. It was drizzling a little and I fell on my BUTT on a slippery sidewalk outside of the temple, butt no permanent damage just sore and purple in some unmentionable places.

Tibet & Military Presence

Arriving in the city center the first thing I noticed was the heavy military present. Soldiers were stationed on top of the buildings with cameras and telescopes. There was a soldier stationed at the corner of our hotel's street and we saw many more during our 4 days. It is rare to see a gun in China. Even at NUDT there were few guns visible. China always made me feel a little paranoid but this cranked up my paranoia a couple of notches. American Tourists were scarce- mostly European or Asian.

Our Lhasa Arrival

After my visa had been carefully checked at least 7 times we finally arrived at the Tibetan airport and could not find our guide. We waited about 30 minutes and finally figured out that quides are not allowed to come into the building. They are required to stay across the street (which the view of them was blocked by the city buses) during one of our trips outside to take pictures of the beautiful blue sky, mountain and clouds, I spotted lots of people across the street with Chinese signs. Cynthia went across the street to read them and found our guide and driver. The guide gave us both silk scarfs as a welcoming gift. It was a 40 minute ride into Lhasa and the scenery looked a lot like New Mexico - outcrop rocks and dry. The barley fields and blue blue sky were picture worthy.

Back in Changsha

I am back in Changsha - I had a great time at home, ate all my favorite American foods and saw most of the important people in my life. So with a jet lagged brain I am now getting ready for our big trip.

We accomplished a lot of our "trip chores" today. Cynthia helped me move my extra luggage over to my old apartment and up the 4 flights of stairs (rumor has it – that we will move to the new apartment sometime before the 15^th) (NUDT told us when we left that they would have already moved us BEFORE we got back- obviously not the case) I repacked my carryon for our 2 week adventure and then to the bank. That was the interesting part...

I needed to exchange dollars to Yuan so we actually did it with an illegal street deal with a 'Huang Niu Dang' person (word to word translation is Yellow Cow party - sort of like ticket scalpers) - We got a slightly better rate than what the bank was offering (12 Yuan - about 2 dollars extra for a 4000 dollar transaction) but the best part being that we didn't have to wait in a very long line, show lots of ID, fill out forms or pay any fee. The only negative was having to walk about 4 blocks to Cynthia's bank so that her bank could check out the Yuan in their fancy counter machines to make sure they were not counterfeit. It is strange how some things work here and even though the businesses are illegal they are fairly safe and widely used (The Huang Niu Dong people were boldly sitting on a ledge right in front of the bank with no one stopping them ) This same day we also encouraged another illegal activity. We used a Hei Che today - Hei Che translates to black car- which is an unlicensed cab. You agree on a price before hand and they take you where you need to go. If I am alone I can't use the "hei che" due to lack of language abilities. Of course there are many more – the DVD stores, knock off markets, and of course the well publicized “Apple Stores”.

Its Friday morning now - 4 am -- wide awake as per my usual "jet lag" symptoms- so that is why I am answering and writing emails at this time of the day. Today we are finishing packing and recharging all our electronic stuff. We need to head to town to shop in Watsons - sort of a version of a drug store without the drugs - mostly shampoos, facial masks, soaps, etc - I need to purchase some of my favorite travel size Japanese shampoo and conditioner- then we will lunch at Cynthia's parents house. We leave Changsha at 8 this evening. Sometime today when non-jet lagged Cynthia wakes up at a normal time - I will get her to translate our itinerary into English so I can send it to you - We stayed in an airport hotel before our flight to Tibet. We had to ration the toilet paper.

Side note I did get a great massage yesterday after a great lunch. Both were in a 5 star hotel. The lunch was what they called buffet style - but to me it was more 'cafeteria style' --you walked around looking at the sample displays of food and gave them your card with your table number on it - You picked what you wanted - they recorded it on the card, cooked it and then brought it to the table. There were four of us Cynthia and Cynthia's dad along with one of his PHd students (who treated us all) and myself. We ate most of 15 different dishes they brought ( How come they are all so thin and small...not fair...). Anyway we had fish, crab, beef, pork, 2 types of tofu, a mushroom salad, green beans, a really big white bean (looked like a lima bean on steroids), another vegatable dish, spicy noodles, one of my favorite pumpkin things, a "vegetable rollup", pear soup-like dish, a pineapple flavored pastry and of course they brought fruit for dessert. I feel full just listing it all - we both skipped dinner.

Typical China

Lack of proper prior planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine" Old English Proverb

Unfortunately China seems to be under the assumption that it DOES…. I got a phone call this morning (July 8^th the day before I depart for the US) from my boss. She asked me to stay another month because there was more of the web page stuff to do.

My apartment is all packed in boxes because they are moving us sometime this month and I am all packed for my trip home TOMORROW.

The call shocked me because I had FINISHED all the 200 plus pages of web page editing they had given me by the end of April. Since then I have been inventing jobs to do to make sure I didn’t go crazy. I helped tutor some of Andrew’s and Marian’s students, I taught the second half of some of Amy’s classes, and helped Cynthia with editing some students’ (really technical) papers that were going to be published. It filled maybe 2-3 hours a day. Not enough to really keep me busy but enough to get me out of bed and keep me semi-productive. The FAO had sent me a few other documents to edit and revise as well as weekly speeches to evaluate but generally I have been duty free for 2 months.

About an hour after the first phone call I got another call saying that I would be terminated if I did not stay for the month of July. Being almost 63 and never having been fired – it sort of shocked me. I started by having a few tears, then frantic worrying about having to repack (because I was leaving a lot of my stuff here for the summer). I finally calmed down, talked/SKYPED with the other foreign teachers (here and home) and decided that whatever decision they made I would deal. I sat down at the computer and emailed them 3 options to pick from

1. I go home and they terminate me
2. I go home and they pay me for July and they email the documents for me to revise
3. I go home and then come back in August as planned

They said they would settle for number 2

Last minute changes are VERY typical of China. The first year I taught in China it really frustrated and bothered me, but I have grown accustomed to it by now and will usually adjust my schedule accordingly. BUT NOT TODAY! I will be home on the island and in MY SOFT bed (if all goes according to plan) Sunday night- the 10^th.

Exciting Seven Hours

I am still not sure if I will be paid for this extra month of work – but I am happy that I am coming home and not having to repack. Oh and I still have to leave a note with the guards saying that I am gone and will be responsible for my own actions while away from NUDT

Side Note: As of July 31st - I still haven't gotten any pay or documents sent to me ... go figure (and never did)

Mosquito Tennis

This is a “tennis” racket that I bought at the Hypermart. You plug it in, charge it, unplug it, then push a couple of buttons and swing. Mosquitoes are really bad here right now. Yes I am keeping the windows and doors closed but they are so small they can squeeze thru the screens. I’m sure I look ridiculous swinging the racket around in the air but when it finally makes contact it makes a really nice satisfying crzzpp sound. Good exercise too! Notice I couldn’t resist the 1 yuan Panda Flyswatter either.