Kunming

The first step of my planned vacation to Viet Nam was to travel to Kunming in order to meet up with Debra. The trip to Kunming was pretty uneventful.

I had arranged with the hostel in advance and went straight there when I arrived. I then checked my email and saw that Debra was due to arrive on the second. I planed to meet her at the train station due to it being a bit hard to find the bus to the hostel. Checking my watch, I confirmed that it was the first and I went to the deck to read.

A few hours I looked up and there was a most unexpected person; Debra, who was scowling at me. It turned out that I had forgotten to advance my watch at the end of the month. We then worked out our plan and Debra explained to me that she was short on expected funds.

We then set out for the Viet Namese Consulate. The fact that Kunming had a consulate was the main reason that we had chosen this city for our meeting. The consulate went smoothly; however, we did have to go get pictures and to surrender our passports for three days.

The next day we rented bicycles and went to the bus station in order to get our tickets to Hekou, on the border with Viet Nam. We also rode around and, other than a slight, previously mentioned, mishap had a good time.

We went to a street that caters to foreigners and found some pants I was looking for. I had come with only shorts and wanted some pants with zip off legs. Yes, they look silly; but, that makes it so I do not have to pack as much.

We went by wal-mart for some shirts (keep in mind, by Chinese standards, wal-mart stuff is high quality). Debra noticed that the wal-mart had no parking lot. Customers either arrived by bicycle or taxi. We also went to a Thai restaurant and had a very reasonably priced dinner. After this we returned to the hostel and returned the bikes.

The next day, after my visit to the hospital, I spent following the doctor's orders and resting. That evening we walked to an Indian food restaurant; it was a bit expensive, by Chinese standards, but very good. Debra purchased a couple of DVDs to watch.

We returned and Debra, again, noticed that there seem to be a disproportionate number of apple computes being used by travelers and we ruminated on this observed phenomena for a while.

The next day it was time to pack our bags to continue the trip to

Viet Nam. We went to the consulate to pick up our passports, complete with the new entrance visas, and went to the bus station.

Another visit to Xian

Seeing as I did not have to prepare for my exams, I had decided to reuse my preparation material; I had a weekend free and arranged to spend it in Xian with Debra. I made reservations, purchased train tickets and off I went.

Having gone to sleep, on the train, early I awoke at 05:00 ready for the day. My train arrived in Xian at 05:30 and, as has become my habit, the first thing I did was to purchase a return ticket. The Chinese tend to wait until they are ready to go before purchasing a ticket. I like to get one as soon as possible in order to reduce the amount of time I spend in the train station and to be sure I will get the ticket I want.

I got to the hostel and stowed my pack but Debra was still in bed so I went and played on my computer for a while. When she got up and we went walking through the Moslem quarter looking for breakfast. We actually found something that was a lot like a doughnut bar. We snacked a bit and went to a Mosque but it was not open that early so we continued on the Giant shop. I wanted to look at the model I had purchased and check the price. I had purchased mine in Xinyang for just under 2000RMB and in Xian I discovered that they were asking over 2600RMB, I had suspected that the Giant shop in Xian was over priced. Now I have verification.

We then returned to the Hostel and contacted one of my students, who was also in Xian but not staying with us, to go shopping with us, as we had previously arranged. There was some confusion as to where we would meet but we finally did meet up in front of the Xian China Post building.

We went to some shops that were nearby, including the large mall that is next to the Bell tower. There were three problems with those shops. First, they didn't have anything that Debra liked (she was looking for some skirts), second, they did not fit her and third, I consider those mall shops to be over priced. I finally convinced my student and her friend that we were not going to find what we were looking for at these shops and that we needed to try the Bazaars.

They finally understood and took us to the places that typical Chinese shop for clothing. Truth be told, there was a much greater selection than in the tourist area, but the prices were also a lot lower.

We finally got one skirt for her ant the first shopping building we went to. As you have seen in the past, these are large multi-story buildings (often seven to ten floors) filled with small ten by ten or twenty meter shops and all of the shops are independent of each other. One thing that never ceases to amaze us is that most of the shops close up for lunch and the staff stretch out on the floor for their siesta. We almost got a second skirt, at the second building, but the shop keeper saw westerners and raised the price beyond what we felt was reasonable. Then Debra was getting tired (I had not realized that we had been out on the shopping trip for over five hours until we returned to the hostel) so we started heading back.

(To get to these shopping centers one would go north [toward the train station] from the Bell Tower on "The North Street" until arriving at the last major intersection before passing under the wall, "Xi Wu Lu" on this street you will turn right, or east. You will know that you are on the right street as you pass under the circular pedestrian walkway as you cross the next major street heading to the train station in the north. Continue East on this same road. You will leave the walls and in about three kilometers you will reach the shopping buildings.)

Later, after naps, Debra and I had lunch, where we were pleasantly surprised that the Pizza at the Bell Tower was really pretty good, better than the only other Pizza place available to us, Pizza Hut, and also cost a lot less. We then went looking at iPods and pricing them and visited some other computer stores. This is the first time I have actually seen Red Flag Linux (the Chinese version of Linux) on a computer in China. There is a popular myth in the west that computers are cheap in China. We have not found this to be true. After currency conversion they seem to cost the same, and often more, for similar units. We checked the price online and determined that the iPods here cost slightly more than they do in the US and decided to think about it.

That evening we went out to watch the street carnival, which is common the Xian. However, the weather put them off and there was not as much happening. So, mostly we sat around.

Wandering at night in Xian

The next day Debra and I went and she did get her iPod. We checked several dealers and determined that the authorized Apple Dealer was the cheapest. It did sort of surprise them that she had a Chinese bank card; but the transaction went smoothly.

Debra getting a new toy

They included a number of extras but the one thing that they did not include, because they were out of them, was a screen protector. Debra does not want her iPod to end up looking like mine (in my defense, mine is about three years old and she has used it more than I have). We then went to another shop, which had the screen protectors, and tried to purchase one. For whatever reason, this caused them an incredible amount of consternation. We just wanted the screen protector, nothing else. It was in the locked case so I was not able to pick it up and wave it in their faces; instead I was reduced to pointing and saying "that" in Chinese. I finally gave up and phoned another Student, Gao Jing and had her talk to them (I knew she was awake because she has sent me a "Fathers day" note on my phone). It just seemed that the transaction was much more complicated than it needed to have been.

We then walked over to the artists' corner of the city and I purchased some drawings to put up in my flat. This particular shop had about the lowest prices I have seen on the Chinese scroll prints. They add a bit of color to the walls (well, the map adds color to the walls, but it looks a bit overly functional).

We then went back to the book store where some Chinese students were asking what they should read to work on their English over the summer and I would up back in "teacher mode." From there Debra retrieved her bag and headed to the train station and I sat in the lounge and waited until about seven in the evening, when it was time for me to go.

This time the VIP lounge was full and because I did not have a soft seat ticket (it is not a straight charge, it is a percentage of seat, so for Debra's trip to Ankang it is only a 20RMB upgrade, for me it is almost a 200 RMB upgrade) I had to wait in the general lobby, the cattle pen. And, as usual, it was filled with rude people who, with hundreds of people standing, had their luggage piled on the few seats and others lounged across several seats napping. The degree of public rudeness in China, from people of all ages, is something that is often shocking.

Upon return I took a cab back and then rode up to class.

Shopping in Wuhan

06 Jan 07

As many of you know, I ended up working this weekend. The reason really made no sense to me, or the other westerners; however, it seemed to make perfect sense to the Chinese.

We worked Saturday and Sunday so that we could take Tuesday and Wednesday off, following the holiday on Monday. The thought, on the minds of all of us westerners, was, why not just take Saturday and Sunday off? Instead, this goofy approach messed up all of our schedules, their schedules, and, undoubtedly, the schedules of millions of people across the country. I really think that the reason was just to do something different; whatever the reason, I worked Saturday.

I would have also had to have worked on Sunday, except that I traded classes with another teacher. Julia has several of the same classes that I have.

Remember, the students are assigned to a class group at the beginning of their college life and that class group is given a number (easy enough, I have classes one through five). They then attend all of their classes, and many out of class activities, as a group.

Because she, Julia, also has classes one through four, we were able to make a trade in the classes. This left us both with classes on only one day, I did Saturday and she did Sunday. (And no, Julia is not her real name. However, her family name sounds a bit like Julia, it is a name that I can pronounce, and the students know who I am talking about when I say, "Julia." [Even if they do laugh when I say it]).

An example of the, out of class, activities, that are attended as a group include the Friday that immediately preceded this weekend, in which I had to work. The student classes reserved large rooms at the college and held various parties. As a teacher I moved between the groups that were, generally about two classes, or about a hundred students. Some of the parties focused on, student produced, skits and dances. There were a lot of song and musical instrument recitals. Some of the classes got together and watched movies on the large, projection screens (there is a… um… "Free" web site there in China that allows a person to watch any of hundreds of movies, there is a reason that this site is unusable for my classes; however, it allows anyone with web access to watch them. So, the students start the projector and the movie, and then they enjoy free theater.).

On Saturday I then showed Titanic. I used some discs that were purchased here in ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />China. So, to no surprise, they did not work well. They are copies and are not good ones. Toward the end of the movie the disc froze. The good part was that it really was the last scene, I still was irritated. One part of the movie was sort of funny. I have mentioned the disregard for heat in the classrooms; as it happened, there has been a bit of a cold snap and the classrooms never got above 40f all day. So, at the end of the movie, when everyone is in the water and freezing, I looked around the room and observed that everyone watching the movie was freezing, right along with the actors on the screen.

I ended up showing the film twice, this allowed me to show it to four of my classes; like I said, I was doubling up my classes. I first showed it at 10am and a second time at 2:30pm. It really felt like I was running a theater.

On Sunday, because I had made the arrangement, I had no classes. Instead I went to the usual meeting with some of the westerners, which we hold on Sundays and then returned to my flat in order to do some writing; I also did quite a bit of lounging around and reading. (Wow, it is hard to type this, my fingers are cold; thus I am producing a lot of typos. Therefore, my usual, very slow, typing, is slowed even more by the number of corrections I am making.)

Monday was a rather normal shopping trip. Ellen, a female student of Michelle's, went with us and provided quite of bit of help. It is always funny when you ask for help finding something. All I wanted was some spices and vinegar. I ended up being brought vegetables, soup mix, and other things that I can not remember or identify (they seem to be food), in the pile were my spices and vinegar; so, I did not complain.

It was at that time that Michelle and I discussed the possibility of an upcoming trip to Wuhan. We are both considering purchasing backpacks for our, upcoming, winter break. We were initially planning to purchase them when we arrive in Xian, while we are on vacation, and still may do that. However, there is some logic in purchasing them ahead of time so that we are not left carrying two pieces of luggage. I would also like to visit the museum in Wuhan. One thing that has disappointed me, in China, is the lack of museums. According to the travel guide that I borrowed from Debra, there is one there.

That night I went to dinner with He Zhi Qing and some of her dorm mates (There, a real name for those of you who complain that I do not include real names. She tends to ask me to call her HZQ because I often mangle her name so badly.). Even though her roommates are not English majors, instead they are majoring in Chinese, they speak English well enough to communicate.

We did not go where we had planned because the place was full. Instead, we went to another nearby restaurant. From her I am learning to identify restaurants (not always as easy as it sounds) and going to more "authentic" places. She is the same student that took Debra, for several hours, and showed her what the student dorms look like.

We (He Zhi Qing, her roommates, and I) made plans to go on Tuesday and walk around the city; however, it was snowing so we called it off. In all, the vacation was too cold to enjoy.

That night, I had a slight problem. The house phone rang, I differentiate that from my cell phone, which is used for almost all communication. The house phone is primarily used for calling people on campus, and in the dark, while stumbling to answer it; I stepped on the power supply for my computer. Not only was it a wrong number, as most of my house phone calls are, but I broke the power supply. Breaking the power supply prompted me to write this letter to my good friend from High School; and all around Mac Genius, Mike.

Last night when getting up to answer the phone, it was a wrong number, I broke the connector on my Macally power supply, I long since replaced my Apple supplied one.

This power supply has a plug in the end that connects to the supply; so, the cord that plugs into the computer also unplugs from the supply. It uses a non standard plug. However, I am first going to look for the plug, if I can not find it I will solder the cord directly into the supply.

My question is this; the cord that connects to the Mac has one strand and a shield (thus, two conductors). I am assuming that the shield is negative and the core is +24VDC@2A. Looking at the tip I see it as having three elements, a shield, as is found on an RCA audio connector and a plug in the center that is similar to a stereo headphone connector, just smaller. This very small plug has three elements. What should the voltage be at these various points? (Yes, I checked the apple site, it has no real useful information on this that I was able to find)<>

I got a response from him that advised that, seeing as the part is made in China, that I should replace it in China. He also included some helpful information. However, by the time that I received his response (remember, the time is almost opposite here [gmt +8]) I had already gone into town and gotten it, sort of, repaired; prompting this letter.

The really funny thing is that a lot of the stuff made here is not available. When it is, it costs more than it does, after conversion, in America. As an example, I saw an iPod Nano (4gb); after conversion (of course, it is priced in RMBs [aka, CNY]) it would have cost $280USD. What I was told is that the stuff is first shipped to the states and then shipped back to china, where it becomes an import and is subject to very steep taxes.

I did manage to get it fixed. There is no "do it yourself" culture and near all tools are only sold to licensed repairmen. As such, I took it to a computer repair shop and HE ZHI QING (my student, I can not pronounce or spell her name) was having trouble telling them what I wanted done because the idea of fixing something was totally unknown to her.

Finally I walked behind his counter (with permission, if he understood what I was asking) and picked up his solder sucker, soldering iron and Multimeter and started working on it myself. After I had it all positioned I let him solder the parts together (and he did a terrible job of it). She was laughing the whole time; it seems that this is not the way things are done here

I suspect that I will hear about this in class... However, it is now working.

That Wednesday, after we had canceled our plans to wader about the town on Tuesday due to the snow; He Zhi Qing, more of her roommates, and I went to go and get this done. To go into town she first tried to hire a three wheel cab; however, the driver would not budge on the price so we took the bus. We then went to get the repair done, which was the, afore mentioned, ordeal.

After we did that she insisted that I go and eat lunch. While I had not eaten lunch I could have done very well to miss that meal (I have lost about seven Kilos since I got here, then I pretty much stopped loosing weight). However she was very uncomfortable with my having not eaten (she, and her friends had eaten before we met) so I had some soup that she ordered for me at a lunch counter.

[Then people ask why I hate using windows. Here I was typing along and I get a message that the windows OS had encountered yet another error and has closed word. I only lost a little because I save often; however, this does not happen on my UNIX, a real OS, based Mac …oh where was I…]

After we did some shopping, I decided that I needed more long johns, we went for a walk. The only problem with wearing the long johns is that it tends to reduce my level of empathy with my students. After all, I am not freezing, there is no reason that they should be acting like they are (other, possibly, than that the room really is freezing).

The walk we took led through one of the larger city parks and a small bamboo forest that had several footpaths leading through it. It was, obviously, a popular place for young people to stroll.

We then walked along the river; stopping at a playground to enjoy the exercise equipment (me v. them on the teeter totter was funny, if not a bit embarrassing). I took some pictures of the old city wall and we also did a bit of other shopping (I needed some eggs, which are not sold in cartons as they are in the west) and I returned to my flat.

We had walked quite a bit, including the entire return trip, however, it was fun. Even better, when I plugged in my, newly repaired, power supply it worked!

This week was obviously a short one for classes, consisting of only two days. We talked about many of the terms used in Titanic. I discussed the, upcoming, exam in my class. However, I was not able to use the material that I normally use in the second half of my class. I normally use a podcast from a pair of Doctors in Linguistics in Los Angeles.

I use the audio skit in their program and then build more lesson material around that. I was not able to do this for one of the very reasons that you have not received these blogs in some time. The internet connection to China has been very slow as a result of a damaged cable in Taiwan. This is making the access to may websites, the sending, and receiving of both audio and pictures nearly impossible.

I hope that this is repaired soon and I will be able to send pictures of Wohan.

This afternoon, this being Saturday, I got a call from He Zhi Qing asking if I wanted to go on a bike ride with them. They are, of course, her and a couple of her roommates. One of her roommates did not want to ride and, apparently, claimed that she did not know how to ride a bike. So, she rode on the rack on the back of the bike. It is amazing, to me, to see how often people ride on the cargo racks on the backs of the bicycles. They are clearly labeled that they are not capable of holding people; however, many of them are padded and there are often handles and footrests on them. We are not talking of carrying small children, we are talking of full sized (well, fill-sized means something a little different when talking of Asian women) adults.

They generally ride on these racks by riding side saddle and mount after the bicycle is moving slowly. I have a cargo basket on my rear rack so I have not carried any passengers.

So, we rode the three bicycles, with one passenger, to the local lake. However, none of us wanted to pay the entrance charge so we then headed back on the other side of the river to see the construction on the Pagoda that has been in many of our pictures. When finished, it will be a temple.

While riding we noticed that He Zhi Qing's bicycle had a flat tire; so, as I rod off in search of a WC she went and borrowed an air pump from a repairman. I was under the impression that she had the tire repaired until we had ridden several blocks; only to discover that her tire was flat again. At that point we went looking for a repairman and were unable to find one and ended up back at the same person that had loaned her a air pump earlier.

By the time we returned, it was too dark for the repairman to see well enough to find the flat, he was completing the work he was doing by the light of nearby cook fires. I quickly dismounted the tire form the rim, it is normal here to leave the wheel on the bike while going the here, and located the hole by wetting my hands with water he provided me. I than roughed the area of the hole and he put the patch on for her. This was all done by the light of my torch (silly Brits' insist on calling a flashlight a torch). Instead of using the patches we are familiar with, he used a section of tube that one of the girls cut to the shape that we needed, he then poured some cement on the tube and used the cut portion for a patch. All I can say is that it worked.

While we were doing this it was getting darker rapidly. In addition, I received a phone call from Ilwn, a graduate student, reminding me that I had planned for him and Merry, one of my students, to have them over for dinner. So, once repairs were completed, we rode back, rather quickly, in the dark. I will point out that I do not recall seeing a single bicycle light in the country. Other bikers, in the dark, are the real scare when riding this way.

At that point He Zhi Qing and one of her friends joined us for dinner. They cooked, which made it a very easy night for me. However, I was getting a bit tired, and I expect that I was looking it. We also looked at the on-line train schedule and determined what train we wanted for the trip to Wohan.

Today, Sunday, I went to our Sunday meeting. After that, the Browns and I watched a movie, "The Bodyguard." I then went for a bike ride with Walik. I prefer to take my bike to the store and on local trips, instead of relying on the bus service. It just leaves me with a bit more freedom to do what I want.

After returning to my apartment and watching another movie, "timeline," Walik and I went to dinner. It was pretty much a slow day. Most of my Sundays are slow, which is just fine.

Back to Xian, and away

[I am still having trouble to get the pictures to post, I will work on that later]

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Debra and I, having obtained tickets, packed our bags and, with out great fanfare, departed for the train station. The tickets that we had were, again, soft seat. It seems that while Debra generally travels soft seat between Ankang and Xian she had never located the soft seat waiting room in Ankang. I think that I have just learned what to look for, as I walked straight to it.

It was rather funny, the baggage x-ray machine was simply too small to facilitate the packs that we had so the operator did not look at us and we did not look at him as we ignored his machine. As it was, we were in a bit of a hurry as our train was arriving on the platform when we entered the waiting lounge.

The security procedures are very funny; they have these high tech machines, but no clear procedures. I am sure that the operators are will trained, it is not a matter of not knowing the equipment; it is a matter of not knowing security principles. Bags, such as suitcases and packages are to be placed on the scanner. However, bags containing only food are not to be scanned because it just further crowds the, already crowded, conveyor through the machine. Most shockingly, hand bags, or in my case a camera bag, are also not scanned. This is for different security reasons; they do not want a problem with hand and camera bags being stolen off the conveyor. The final result is that with all of this expensive equipment, a large amount of stuff is not checked at all.

All this being said, the return trip to Xian and the Bell Tower Hostel was rather uneventful. The Bell Tower is a rather clean and well run hostel. It does get a bit loud; but nothing that makes sleep impossible. The only other issue is that it is kept a bit warm. However, compared to the number of places that have no heating at all, this is not a serious issue. The bathrooms are on the same floor as, and near, the rooms and the showers are hot with separate shower rooms for men and women.

The next day Debra was not up yet so I took the bus to the train station to meet Michelle. It took me a while to find the correct bus as I was still having trouble reading train station, which is, "火车站."(rather obviously, My space does not support Chinese characters but blogger does) I then ended up waiting a while as Michelle's train was late. However, by the time she arrived I looked pretty competent navigating the streets and buses of Xian.

We then returned to the hostel, checked her in, and found that Debra had already left. At that point Michelle and I went to the Drum and Bell towers. These are two different land mark towers in Xian that, not surprisingly, are near the Bell Tower Hostel. AT the Drum tower, which we went to second, Debra met up with us. She had no interest in seeing the towers as she had already seen them several times; so, she waited outside of the Drum Tower. From there we went to the Fruit Bazaar near the Moslem Quarter and continued on to some of the nearby shops where both Debra and Michelle purchased simple head shawls (when in Rome…).

From there we took a bus to the Shaanxi History Museum. This Museum has a great display of many of the artifacts from the early digs and the Terra Cotta Army. I was surprised to see a chrome plated sword from the Qin Dinasty. There were a number of arrowheads and a lock work from a crossbow along with several of the support beams from the Tomb and some of the fittings that were used to tie the beams together. If a person goes to see the Terra Cotta army they really should see this museum in order to tie all the details together.

At this point we tried to go to the Foreign Book Store but found that it was closed, we were too late in the evening. So, we went to dinner. About this time Debra announced that she intended to travel in a different direction. She wanted to go north and follow the Silk Road. While I am interested in traveling that route, I am not interested in doing it in the winter.

Michelle and I then went to the train station and purchased tickets to ChengDu together, it is kind of funny, she can speak the Chinese better; however, I can write it better. Together we got the exact tickets we wanted.

The next morning Michelle and I got up early and caught our transport to the Terra Cotta Army site. On the way there we spoke to some Mid-westerners who were on their way to a nearby hot spring. There was a group of six of them, which upon retirement, have come to China together to teach and see China.

Because we had made an effort to get there early, and because this is the off season, the place was almost empty. As often happens at Chinese attractions, there are so many vendor shops set up outside that the attraction itself is hard to find. However, we met a woman who worked that the Museum and she showed us the way to the main gate. I can say that is getting worse. At nearly all of these attractions, and this one was no exception, there is a massive effort underway to increase the number of vendor shops. When they are done at the Terra Cotta Army a visitor will have to endure several blocks of shops between the parking area and the gates to the Park. Even within the park there are vendors running around trying to sell the same items that can be found in Xian for less.

At least the there are no vendors in the halls. The dig is completely covered, in order to protect it. It combined with the, afore mentioned, museum are simply a must see. It is also worth going to the round theater to see the documentary on the making, and eventual looting, of the Terra Cotta Army.

From there we braved the gauntlet of vendors and went back to the buses. The people on the bus made a quick attempt to cheat us by demanding about five times to take us back to Xian as they charged to take us out. At that point Michelle told them to stop the bus because we were on the wrong one (we were on the right bus). They quickly remembered the correct price.

After doing this we went back to the foreign book store, which was now open, and looked at some Chinese study books. When we went downstairs to the popular book section we ran into Debra and all went for lunch. After lunch Michelle and I went to the Beilin Museum. This is a library that boasts the heaviest average weight of all the libraries in the world. The books are stone tablets, and there are a lot of them. It was very interesting and we stayed there until they closed and politely chased us out.

From there we returned to the hostel and began working on finding a place in ChengDu. I used the rather simple method of writing to several hostels and going with the first one that responded. Michelle was pleased that the ones I picked offered pick-up at the train stations. The first response I got was from Sim's Guesthouse on the next day.

On the next day we also walked the city wall of Xian. It was a rather long walk and I was having trouble with my boot. The boot problem became such an issue that the next day I purchased new boots and left the boots that I had been wearing, that were developing a non-repairable hole, behind. The walk around the city wall is along the top of the wall, because it was off season there were not many people on the wall. It is about a 17Km walk that provides an overlook of many parts of the central city (the wall only encircles the core of the city, it does not, in any way circle the new city) that a person would not otherwise see. There were both temples and churches that I did not even know existed before this walk. The wall was built between 600-1300 CE and is intact and very well preserved, even if it has been rebuilt in spots.

This walk was followed by a nap and then Michelle and I went for a walk to some other bookstores that evening. At this point we were looking for some travel guides of the, "Lonely Planet," or, "Rough Guide," series. The other reason for the walk was just to insure that we did not get sore from the long walk earlier in the day.

The next day was our last day in Xian. We went to the Flying Goose Pagoda. This is a large Pagoda and temple within Xian. We were both very impressed by the large carved stone and wood relief's on the walls ( I am often impressed by the work and planning that goes into large 3d stone wall relief carvings[Yes, I realize that all carvings are, by definition, 3d. What I mean is the relief's that have the backs of the items in the relief carved out and things behind items in the foreground, all in one large relief]). One of the monks (who, in general, was busy talking on his cell phone) showed us some of the best places to get pictures. In general, it was a great place to visit. This site helped make this one of the best days of the trip, the only bad part is that this is the last time I saw Debra on the trip. She did not go into the temple with us but left for her own trip instead.

From here Michelle and I returned to the Moslem quarter. We both purchased North-Face jackets while we were here (about $22 USD each). This allowed us to mail some of our winter clothing back to our office. The post office was kind of funny. There is no need to package the items before arriving because they insist on doing their own packing in their own boxes. So, I got to the packing counter and the guy saw me and pulled a whit box out (at this point I did not know that certain colors of boxes mean certain things) and packs my stuff that I am returning: books, clothing, and the broken iPod. I then get to the shipping counter and discover that white boxes are international. It had not occurred to anyone that I would be shipping anything internally. So, I had to go back to the packing counter and get it all taken out of the white box and put into a brown box.

In all, the China Post experience was very useful. At this point I have a good idea of what is involved in shipping things back to the states.

From here we returned to the hostel. While we had already checked out, they were still holding our bags. We both took a quick shower and got to the process of medicating ourselves for a long and boring train ride. I was sitting in the lounge chatting wit a young woman named Nina who I forgot to photograph ad, I expect, I will never see again, from Germany, when it was time to stagger to the train station. When we got to the train station I used my ignorant foreigner act to get into the VIP waiting room (that we were not supposed to use at this station because we were traveling hard [second class] sleeper). After a couple of hours of sitting and reading, it was time to step on to the train to the next major city of our journey.

Two dinners in two days

Wednesday I ended up using Zeneta's bicycle to get to work. I will say it; I do not like her bicycle as much as mine. There are little differences and make the one I got a better choice for me. As it happens, the last time that her bicycle was ridden was by Suzanne, when the bicycle was purchased and brought home. There were two large, adjustable, issues. First, the seat was too low; the second has to do with something that seems to be a Chinese preference in bicycles. They seem to run with lower air pressure in the tires than I am used to. As I have stated, in general, they do not ride very fast. So, the tire pressure was, what I would consider to be, low when adjusted for 100Lb Suzanne, then it sat for a couple of weeks, then I got on it. I can assure you that the tires were very low.

I ended up going out and switching the chain from her bicycle, which she does not seem to use (the reason that she wanted it was so that if the rest of us decide to go somewhere by bicycle, she will not be left out), to mine. So, I am up and running again.

Wednesday evening, instead of going to class, I went to an office meeting of the English department. Zeneta, Collin and Bronee were also present; however, because they teach in a different college of the University, Michelle and Ken were not. Remember, a typical University, as in the United States, contains many colleges.

We found out three things, one was the correct name for the college that I am teaching at, Xinyang Normal University, Haurui College. The second was that we are going to be moved. It seems that the college has finished renovating a set of flats, that they own, and we will be moved into there. It appears that we are currently using flats that are owned by a different college. The third thing that I discovered was the Collin, Bronee, and I, are expected to, each, address the incoming freshmen class at a full college assembly on Sunday. If anyone can think of anything interesting or useful to say, I would be interested in hearing it.

We were also talking to one of the junior teachers in order to develop a better understanding of the local prices and wages. As a college graduate and teacher, she makes about 1100 Yuan per month with about a 5000 Yuan bonus per year (Sort of made me feel bad for having counted my salary in front of her a week before; however, she was the one that insisted that I count it after being paid). Rent typically runs from 85 to 200 Yuan. After hearing those numbers, Bronee than asked about how much our flats would rent for. We were told that they would rent for about 250 Yuan per month. Our flats are clearly considered premium accommodations.

After the meeting, where the Chinese English teachers translated for us, we went for a walk around the college. As I said, there is a library under construction; there is also another class building under construction. The other class building is scheduled to be completed in late October. When it is completed, I am under the impression that, we are to move in to it. We have been told that it will have full Internet, audio video, and projectors in every classroom. I have chosen to stick with my, usual, "I will wait and see," attitude; of course, visibly, I remain very optimistic. I did find it to be a bit funny; I asked how the buildings are heated. In response, I got a totally blank look from the teacher I was talking to, Leah. I asked her if that silence meant that the buildings are not heated. She smiled and nodded.

Ventilation in the classroom comes from two sources. The first is the time-honored method of opening the windows. The second is the overhead fans.

To describe the class buildings in a bit more detail, they are four to five floors tall. Each of the upper floors has about twelve classrooms. The lower floor is, almost, entirely administration and teachers rooms. There are no elevators. All movement is by stairs. There is a bell (and a loud one at that) on each floor. The typical classroom has about fifty to sixty chairs, which are attached to the floor, arranged behind a long desk that runs the length of the row. In the front is a raised area with a lectern and a chalkboard.

After our walk through the college campus, where we were shown where we were to speak, we began walking to dinner. The same driver, as had driven us to the meeting, found us and drove us to the restaurant. This was another very nice place on the university grounds. The university is a very large place and has several very nice restaurants. They are the type of places that, unless you know that they are there, you would never find.

The dinner itself was excellent. It was served on another of the tables with a rotation center. The rotating center is a great way of allowing everyone to get what they want without having to reach, or asking others to serve for them. Many of the young women, who work at the college, were invited and, of course, the Chinese had another of their rice wine (Sake) challenges through the constant toasting.

I was put in a bit of a situation when the president of the college came over and began talking to me about pollution and industrialization. My concern was that my words, when they made it through the interpreter, who was drunk, would still be as polite as I intended to be.

Shortly after that, Zeneta insisted on leaving. So, we ended up leaving the dinner early and walking back to our flat. I felt a bit awkward about the, obvious, social error of being the first to leave and leaving early. So, the next day I went and told several that were there that we had a very good time and that Zeneta had just not been feeling well, which she had also stated as she insisted on leaving.

The next day was a usual full schedule day with six sessions to teach. Zeneta went to the office and ordered some water along with doing some shopping. While at the office, Zeneta took pictures of several of the people in the foreign exchange department.

That afternoon I went to the Diagon Alley for lunch. The dumpling guy was there. So, I got dumplings and a pita sandwich and headed back to the flat.

My last class of the day had very few in it. And, only about four of them had seen the movie. However, I was able to get some volunteers to show the movies at lunchtime. This may make it possible for each movie to get two showings. This would allow all of the students to make it to at least one.

I ended up just summarizing the movie. Then we did a nursery rhyme; they seemed to like it. I ended the class with showing some of the pictures that I had on my iBook.

When I got back to the flat I discovered that the other teachers were planning a dinner out. I quickly stated that Zeneta and I would also be interested in going, after working a full day; I was not in the mood to cook. We went to a very nice, upstairs, place. The food was great and there was a lot of it.