Enshi

About a week ago China celebrated their National Holiday. This means that every business and school closes for 7 days so people can go home and/or go traveling. It's one of the worse, if not the worst weeks to travel. However, it does give us an opportunity to see a new area of China. Last year I went up north to ride on the camels, this year I went to Enshi.

I know, it's like I'm always on vacation, but this is the last one until Christmas for me :) Enshi is in the same province as I live, but quite a ways west. It's surrounded by mountains so the best way to get there is by train. After an 8 hour train ride we were met by a friend at the train station. He took us to our hotel and treated us to dinner.

The trip was awesome! I got to meet another friend and have dinner with him, see his family and his home, and even try some special Enshi breakfast food- dog meat! The first day we hiked around the "Grand Canyon" and the second day we went deep into the country-side and saw the real country life of some people. Country life in China is much different than America!!

The final meal was the most interesting meal I've ever had. We were given a stack of shallow, clay bowls. These bowls were meant for drinking alcohol (although sprite is also ok :) ). After you finished your drink you would smash the bowl on the floor. So during the meal you would hear bowls shattering all around. It was pretty neat!

Enough with my words... enjoy some pictures!

people

people

everwhere!!! These pictures show the number of people hiking on this 4-hr long trail...

After narrowing the people down to one lane, we had more space to walk... beautiful views!

My friend, John Wayne, with his family in their kitchen

to the left is the kitchen, to the right is a walkway to another kitchen and a bathroom

a path in the country-side

country-side... notice the lack of roads?

corn field and path

Great Wall of Enshi

We got to hang out with this girl as her parents (Linda's cousin) drove us around.

Linda

The bowl

You drink from it....

... and smash it!

Our table

The bowls after we were finished with them :)

delicious!!!

I got even closer to Linda on this trip. She's a blessing!

A bridge near our hotel.

3D Photos

I have a lot of things I could tell you about. For example, I traveled to Enshi for a few days last week. It was amazing! The whole trip cost me just a little over $100! I’ll tell you more details about that later. I could also tell you about the street near my home and how it’s like a Walmart but just mini stores along a long street. I’ll show you pictures about that later to explain. 

Instead, I’m going to tell you about the 3D pictures place we went. Literally, there were pictures coming out of the walls!

We didn’t know what you expect, but that’s what often happens in China. We decided to give it a shot and see what kind of shots we could make. It was sooo cool! Here are some optical allusion photos. These were all taken in front of flat canvases. Some of them included a canvas on the ground, but overall they were flat against the wall. It was so much fun to move our bodies to help create the trick photography that unfolded! Enjoy!

This is my favorite photo.

Money, money, money, money, MONEY!

A mirror?

No!!! She got us! Help!!!!

Be careful!

Stairway to heaven???

Stairway to another place???

I also love this one!

She got in my way, so I kicked her.

Camping

My life the past month has sort of been like camping. The city is fixing the main water pipe running through the city, so they have had to turn off the water supply to my area. Sometimes it's a short time (8pm-10am), but at times it's been a much longer time (8pm Monday- 2pm Thursday). It sure makes life interesting when you don't have any water in your home. I went to Andy and David's place to shower. I went to the bathroom in the subway (about a 3 minute bike ride away), and I never cooked so I didn't have to do dishes.

Once, the city even brought a fire truck to my complex so we could fill up buckets of water and use it in our homes. It's like I'm camping...

Then, this morning I woke up and had no electricity! Yikes! Good thing I'm adjusted to life in China. If this was my first year, I would have a hard time with this no water, no electricity thing.

Since it's like I'm camping anways, I decided to do it for real (ok, not really, but I did sleep in a tent the other night) A friend from study is a student at Wuhan University. It's technically my school, but I don't often teach there. He invited a group of us to sleep on top of the old old library in celebration of Mid-autumn festival. It's a time where people celebrate something (to be honest, I'm not sure what) and look at the moon and eat mooncakes.

So, we rented some tents and made our way to the roof. Once we were set up, we played some games, at some snacks, and chatted. I was about to go to bed around 2am, but then some people wanted to dance. I joined a little, but soon crawled into my tent. At about 4am, everyone else decided to go to bed. I fell asleep soon after and woke up 2 hours later from old people doing their morning exercises... It was a short night, an odd night, but an interesting night!

Our "campground"

It's actually on the roof of a current dorm

My tent on the left

The other tents. Altogether about 30 people or so camped out

Year 4

One of my former FoCers asked me how year 4 was going... I didn't say much, just "year four is crazy. So comfortable and so much to do." Let me expand on that.

What is year 4 like? I'm still in a foreign country and things are different and hard at times, but year 4 makes them easier. I "lost" a few good American friends this year. It was hard coming back to Wuhan without them. However, losing them has forced me to find support in other places. When I first came to China, I never thought I'd have a close Chinese friend. I didn't know if I ever wanted to. I didn't want to have to deal with the issues that are difficult to talk about, especially with a different cultural background. That has changed. I now have a number of good Chinese friends. We talk about a lot of things and help each other in life. So, year 4... it's growing closer to those friends.

Year 4 is also so comfortable. I've been told many times that I'm like a Wuhan native. I know the city better than some Chinese who have lived here their whole life. I've had many opportunities to explore this city, so I'm thankful that I know it so well. It makes me feel like I belong, like I can go places I need to when I need to. So, year 4 is... comfort in the city.

I think the biggest thing I've noticed the difference though, is comfort with others. I've met so many different people, had so many conversations, been in so many situations, that working this year will be very productive. I'm not fighting nerves, I'm able to do things naturally.

I can't believe I've lived here 3 years already and a fourth one has already started. There will be lots of great opportunities this year. Thanks to HIM for keeping me safe and sane in this crazy would of millions of people!

Menus

Ordering food in China is a little different than America. When you sit down at the table the waitress follows you, hands you one menu, and stands there. She is waiting to take your order. You pick your dishes and tell her immediately. The whole table eats the same thing, which can be nice because you get a variety, but also not, if you don't like the same foods.

Sometimes the menu is hanging on the wall. You just walk up and tell the lady standing nearby what you want to eat. Those are harder for me because it's almost guaranteed not to have English. However, most menus don't have English so us Americans just start yelling out foods that we know and see if they have them there. :) I love eating out in China, it's relatively cheap, mostly good, and a great time to chat with others. Sometimes you accidentally order some strange foods and it makes it an unforgettable meal!

on the left: wood ear with mountain medicine (the white stuff- not sure of the English name, but this is the direct translation) it's a delicious dish! on the right: Duck... very hard to eat since it was mostly bone and skin, but still good tasting.

Here is the menu on the wall.

Walk to School

I moved from one of the busiest places in Wuhan to another one of the busiest places in Wuhan. This means lots of people and LOTS of buses! Here are some pictures of my typical walk to and from school. I no longer have quite as many options for transportation, but I still have the subway which is by far the most convenient. It's been raining, so I haven't been able to bike, but once it's nice, I'll do that again too!

The buses are lined solidly on my road every morning.

Traffic is at a constant stand-still. I therefore, take my bike or subway!

These cars are also at a stand-still and since the sidewalk is under construction, this is where we must walk.

Sadly, I didn't get any people walking with me. There were others!

Once off the subway, everyone tries to exit. You get used to gliding around to avoid all the people.