Jiubujiang National Park

So, today Joan and I decided to visit some of the local landmarks. Trip one: the bus station. I walked to the counter and asked for 2 tickets to Jiu Bu Jiang, a town about an hour from Youxian. A Youxianian (if that is what they are called) recommended the place to us. She said there was a huge lake and natural caves, etc. The ticket woman said a bunch of things which I didn’t understand, but amounted to go outside and catch the bus across the street. Somehow we actually managed to find the rickety little bus she spoke of and match up the characters. And we were off, Joan watching Firefly as I was engrossed in reading Pride and Prejudice. Oh, Darcy how I love thy. Trip 2: When we got to Jiu Bu Jiang I asked for the lake and was subsequently directed down the road. Well, apparently we are the only two people stupid enough to walk to the lake because it was about a 2 mile trek uphill. But alas, we arrived. It was absolutely breathtaking (see my pictures on Picasa). We approached a group of Chinese and asked (in broken Chinese) how much it cost for a boat tour. 80 Yuan (about 15 dollars) for a 2 hour tour on the river. For some crazy reason, we assumed there was a scheduled time that the boat departed, but as I am quickly learning schedules are simply inexistent in China. Joan and I took a romantic, private tour of the lake for 2 hours. When we returned to the dock we asked how to get to the waterfall and natural bridge. I’m still not sure what they told us, but we just kept emphasizing that we did not want to walk. After 10 minutes, we decided to give up and take our chances walking. Luck for us, they saw our distress and a man was kind enough to offer us a ride on his motorcycle. Trip 3: Now, apparently foreigners simply do not visit this town. As we crawled onto his motorcycle his friends started flashing their camera phones and treating us like we were famous. When we got back into town the man pulled over and ushered us into a small (and quite shady) shop. He then paid for a photographer to take his picture with us! And thus, our day ended.
Tomorrow another adventure when Joan and I head to the metropolis of Changsha to buy bootlegged dvds, real milk and enjoy a meal at Pizza Hut.

THE BIG F*CKING SPIDER IN MY APARTMENT

No time for typing a clever message here...and if there are grammatical mistakes or something doesn't make sense, there are a couple of reasons: 1). My hands are shaking because I have a freaking fear of freaking eight-legged freaks (aka SPIDERS). 2). I just sprayed bug spray for about 5 minutes without stopping...and it was in an enclosed space. Thus, if I get sick in the next couple of days its poisioning. OH MY GOD! I freaking hate spiders. Look how big that one is. It would not die! Its still sitting in on my floor albeit it's dead. I'm still scared to death to get near it. And where the hell did it come from? Where the hell is the whole the size of a tennis ball in my apartment that would allow such creatures to make a home with me???? I need answers! Perhaps i'm being dramatic. If you think so, F you! Spiders freak me the hell out. And this one is hairy! Do you see??? Seriously. I cannot handle this. If this is the future of my time in China, my ass is moving back to Georgia. No...New York City. In my three years in the city never once did I see a spider even close to the size of this one. Someone please check on my tomorrow...or as soon as you read this. I might be dead...For now, i'm leaving my poison filled apartment in search of a few much needed 600ml beers.

Service Project

The volunteer before me began an English library in the extra bedroom of the apartment. I have taken over this duty and would like to start a book drive in Thomasville. Currently, I have about 500 books of varying level. I’d like to get more books for the average 4th – 7th grader. The kids here love Harry Potter and other teenage series books (I think the Marked series would be good). Anything about sports would also be good. I also think it would be nice to get some English posters and/or maps for the library. If you have any ideas or would like to help me get this started in Thomasville, let me know!

Je ne sais pas

So, last night Joan and I decided to go to a bar for a few celebratory drinks. After walking around for 2 hours we realized there simply isn't a bar in Youxian. I even asked a group of Chinese men "Jiu ba zi na li? BU KTV! Wo yao pi jiu." (Translation - "Where is a bar. No karaoke. I want beer.") Apparently, to the chinese a bar means ktv because that's where they sent us. After my small nervous breakdown we decided to buy a beer on the street and get foot massages. Got the beer and went to the foot massage place, which was full. So, instead we opted to sit on the side of the road drinking our ice-cold pi jiu. Next thing we know a car of guys stops to talk to us and from the little I was able to understand, invite us to dinner. We freaked out (they actually spoke a little English!) and decided to pretend that we were French! Now, I have no idea why two French girls who only speak a little English (part of our lie) would be in Youxian, China, but we went with it. Joan and I both studied French, but neither of us could remember anything besides je parle un peu anglais and je ne sais pas.

Seeing Youxian

Originally I was to begin teaching on Monday (the 31st). As with most things Chinese, the schedule was completely unorganized so I did not begin until Wednesday (not that I am complaining about the extra days off). I got to see much of Youxian during that free time. On Monday, two friends took me to lunch and showed me the Buddhist temple in our town. It’s simply breathtaking. Only a handful of Westerners (most with WT) have seen this place, which makes it all the more majestic. Time you walk through the large wooden doors a sense of peace and easiness falls upon you. The temple is located directly above the river, which adds to its serenity.

After the temple, I was invited to lunch with one of the girls and her family. The family spoke no English but they were extremely kind and generous. Lunch was amazing and they communicated through translation how excited they were to have me in their home. I was still very tired from traveling so after lunch I returned home for a little afternoon nap. At 6:00 I met up with Joan and the same girls and we went to dinner with the other girl’s family. They too were filled with kindness. After dinner we joined the girls’ friends for KTV (karaoke). Apparently, my liaison is good friends with this family because he showed up and we sang a duet together – Edelweiss from the Sound of Music. I sang an English song with German words with my Chinese liaison.

Attack of the mei guo rens

Clearly I’ve been MIA for a while. Super sorry! Internet failure / VPN failure are a commonality in China., especially in rural Youxian. Google Youxian…you will not find much (if anything.) I suppose I should start where I left off: The last days of August & MY BIRTHDAY!!! I was worried my birthday would be depressing since I wasn’t at home with the fam and friends. However, it turned out to be one of the best birthdays I’ve ever had. Joan and I went to Zhuzhou, one of the tri-cities in Hunan. Zhuzhou is home to 11ish WTers. Somehow Joan and I managed to not only find the bus station, but to actually buy 2 tickets to Zhuzhou! I was amazed since we both lack the proper Mandarin skills. So, we were off…following the metaphorical yellow brick road. The 3 hours bus ride was very relaxing as I slept the entire time. Our first stop in Zhuzhou was McDonald’s. Ahhhhhh!!!! As we were devouring our double cheeseburgers and fries, we glanced up to see…A WESTERNER (not with WT)!!! Maybe this doesn’t sound too exciting to you, but believe me, for us it was the most exciting moment of the day. The man, Sal, was a teacher of teachers who had been living in China for 4 years. After speaking with us for a few moments, Joan told the man why we were in Zhuzhou: my birthday. Well, he made everyone in McDonald’s sing me Happy Birthday in Chinese (I actually have a video). I was mortified.
After McDonald’s we met up with some other WTers living in Zhuzhou. As it turned out there were about 15 people currently in Zhuzhou and another 15 people coming from other cities to the Birthday Bash (there were 3 birthdays that weekend). It was decided that we would go to dinner, then go bowling (yes…there is actually bowling in China), and then go to a bar or club. Dinner was amazing (dumplings and sweet and sour pork). Bowling was hysterical. Beers were too expensive so a few of us went outside to buy some beer and drink it before returning to the game. Imagine this: 6 Americans sitting at a bus stop drinking beers attempting to communicate with the locals. Yeah…
Moving on: After bowling we found a decent dance club and danced the night away…After an amazing night, Joan and I returned to beautiful Youxian to prepare for our classes.