I Fell in Love

...with a two year old Chinese boy at Zhongshan Square in Dalian. It started over pigeons. A couple who was leaving the park gave me their bag of pigeon food. Seconds later, I was attacked by pigeons. They were standing on my head, my shoulders, my back. I was screaming and laughing all at the same time. I think that's what hooked him. Along with the 20 or so other Chinese who gathered around to laugh at Anna-Lina and I, the boy started giggling uncontrollably as he watched me try to escape the attack of the pigeons. He followed me around the park for at least an hour, and he blushed when I gave him the pigeon food because I had had enough pigeon scalp massages for the day. Single friends, write this down: the quickest way to a two year old man's heart is to scream and laugh while being attacked by pigeons and give him pigeon food. He'll be yours forever.

We went to another famous park in Dalian, Laodong Park. Here, we saw a Chinese woman walking a cockatoo on a leash...only in China! There was a small ski park within the park, so we took the opportunity to go snow tubing and ice sledding. It was a great way to spend Christmas Eve day! Ski parks in the US would be heavily staffed with protective nets and pads everywhere. Not in China! We were left to ourselves at the snow tubing area, and until Anna-Lina crashed into an unprotected tree, we had a blast! We were clearly the first customers to try out the ice sledding 'ride' (see picture). The ride was basically blocks of ice that had been stacked in such as way as to form a slide. Anna-Lina got stuck in one of the lanes because it was too narrow for our western bottoms. I took the other one and slowly meandered my way down. Definitely not fast enough for me and it was way too cold!

Dalian is famous for its seafood, so we went to a highly recommended seafood restaurant for Christmas Eve dinner. Anna-Lina is standing in front of the restaurant's menu in the picture. Outside of Mom and I's sushi experience in Kyoto, Japan several years ago, I have never had such fresh, delicious and cheap seafood! We had mussels, shrimp and massive prawn/rock shrimp-type animals that were all fantastic, even though we had to deal with the psychological side of seeing our food swimming minutes before we were eating them!

We spent Christmas day mostly sleeping, reading and hibernating in our room. It snowed all Christmas morning, so we didn't want to be out and about in the weather! Also, we were tired because we didn't go to bed until 6 AM. We met some other westerners and decided together to party away our depression on being away from our families and friends on Christmas.

Our last excursion in Dalian was a 4 hour hike along the coast in the freezing cold! There were a few parks along the way and beautiful views of the coast and sea. We entertained the locals with our mock rock show along with some sculptures in Xinghai Park. We also were the subject of many stares as we took off our socks and shoes, rolled up our jeans and drank a beer while standing in the FREEZING Yellow Sea. It took a solid 30 minutes for my feet to warm up again, and I was only in the water for about 45 seconds! It was great to see water again, sit on the beach and watch the world go by. It would have been much better had I not been wearing thermals, jeans, 3 sweaters/jackets, gloves, scarf and a ski hat. Also, it would have been awesome if there hadn't been snow still on the sand!

All in all, it was a great trip and a nice way to survive Christmas away from home. I know that I won't miss another Christmas with my family again. At the end of the day, though, it appears that I'll have to come back home at least by next August so that I can coach the Gators unless Urban decides to come back! No solid plans for New Year's Eve yet, although there are several large parties going on around Beijing.

I hope that 2010 brings you the opportunity to realize your dreams, laugh with a stranger and experience something new. Happy New Year! Talk to you in 2010!

Merry Christmas and Fire Cupping!

Our class held a holiday luncheon and exchanged secret Santa gifts this week. I drew my favorite guy in the class, Michael, a hilarious Dane, as my secret Santa. I was really proud of myself for the gift I put together for him: a bucket (where I wrote "Michael's throw up bucket" in Chinese because Michael loves to drink) full of beer, candy, etc.- the perfect gift for any man. I also purchased a small fish container and a goldfish. I was saddened when I awoke the day of the luncheon to find the fish dead. So, Michael also got fish food, an empty fish container and a picture of his goldfish in my toilet.

After a long night of a Texas hold'em tournament at Michael's Friday night (I finished 2nd at my table!), I spent Saturday with Anna-Lina and a friend of her family who was in town on business. He lived in Beijing for 12 years, from 1982 to 1994, when the city was rapidly transforming itself to a modern city. He knew great restaurants, bars and a lot about the history of the development in Beijing. It was a fascinating private tour, and he paid for all of it! We went to one of his favorite Chinese restaurants located in a hutong (old Chinese community). The food was superb. Afterwards, we walked through the hutong on our way to his favorite night club in town for an after dinner cocktail.

I suddenly had to use the restroom, and the only ones available were public toilets which are located throughout the hutong. In a hutong, the community shares public toilets because the houses do not have their own.

As this was my first time in a hutong restroom, I was surprised to see two things: no doors on the stalls and a lady actually cleaning the holes in the ground. I hesitated a moment to see if the lady would stop cleaning. She did not. So, I stepped outside to ask Anna-Lina which way I was supposed to use the doorless stall. Behind out or in? (fair question, I thought). After her and her family friend had thoroughly laughed at my question, it was determined that I should go behind in. In I went. The lady immediately switched from scrubbing the hole next to me to mopping. I had to laugh because the mop actually brushed my shoes as I was going about my business. Mom, pack some Depends because you do not want to have to go through that when you are here!

At the night club, I was again struck by how quickly and drastically you can go from horrible to wonderful in China. I later used the restroom there, and it was by far the nicest restroom I have ever been in. There was only one toilet in a room easily 9x10, with mirrors all the way around, a lounge chair, dim lighting, excellent sculptures, and a western toilet with toilet paper!

I saw a sign several weeks ago over a western toilet (a rarity in itself here) that read, "please do not stand on the toilet" in Chinese and English. I laughed to myself thinking how ridiculous it would be for someone to actually think that standing on it was the proper way to use a western toilet. However, Tuesday night, I was having a beer with Michael and went to the toilet. Sure enough, there were foot prints on the western toilet seat. I couldn't believe it. Okay, enough about toilets for this week's blog!

Saturday night, I went to a 24 hour massage parlor with my friends Mike and William. For $14.78, I received a one hour foot massage, one hour body massage and 15 minutes of fire cupping. The picture is of the fire cupping on my back. Fire cupping has been in use in China since around 1,000 B.C. It's a technique where fire is lit into the glass cups, which are then immediately placed on your body, typically your back, for the purpose of helping to increase circulation and remove 'bad blood'. The cups create a very strong suction. It was quite painful, but after about 3 minutes, I had an uncontrollable urge to laugh. Mike was in the room with me and he warned me that it was dangerous to move a lot, which made me laugh even harder. They say that the darker the circles, the poorer your circulation. At any rate, I now have pink/red circles all over my back (17 to be exact). I can't really tell if my circulation is any better, but I think the uncontrollable laughter, as well as 2 hours of great massage, was worth it alone!

I hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas! Anna-Lina and I will be flying to Dalian on Thursday morning and will be there through the weekend. I hope that North Korea doesn't get any crazy ideas because we will be very near the border! It's going to be weird to be away from home for Christmas, so I am excited to at least have a new city to explore!

Merry Christmas Everyone! Miss you!

Tai Shan

Despite the fact that I only have class 20 hours a week, I remain remarkably busy. I went to a networking event on Tuesday night with some classmates. The networking was not so great as they were recruiting mainly teachers and systems engineers, but the Thai food we had beforehand was fantastic! Near the Thai restaurant is the only Hooters in Beijing. I snuck in to check it out. Based on my research, I feel that the Hooters Girls in China are way more conservative than those in the States! I also said goodbye to my friend Chloe, who finished her semester and is now comfortably back at home in Kansas.

I had originally planned for Mom and I to take an overnight train once when she visits in February so that she could have that experience in China. There's no way in the world I would expose Mom to anything close to that after experiencing it for myself! Thursday, Mei Xian, Masami (Mei Xian's best friend from Japan) and I boarded an overnight train headed south for Tai Shan (Mt. Tai), about 6 hours south of Beijing. First, the train compartments reek of smoke, and it is too cold here to open the windows. I HATE CIGARETTES and almost everyone in China smokes! There are 6 beds, three on each side in a space just slightly larger than a handicapped bathroom stall. Masami and I were on the middle and top bunk (picture), and Mei Xian was across from Masami. There were three Chinese men in the other three beds in our section. They all snored. Loudly. The 'soft sleeper' that we paid for was a bit of a joke, as it was not soft at all. Plus, the bed was just slightly wider than I am. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep that night! On top of that, the restroom on the train was absolutely foul. I will do my best to avoid taking an overnight train again in China.

Not getting any sleep was not the best way to begin our hike up Mt. Tai, the highest mountain in east China. We started climbing at 7 AM. Six hours, 7 km or 6,660 stone steps later, we reached the peak of the mountain at 1,545 m or 5,068 feet above sea level. It was a gruelling climb nearly straight up at times. The weather was terrible, very foggy and very cold, with limited visibility. We got to the top completely exhausted. After lunch, there was a white out. Snow and ice covered the top of the mountain. I went straight to bed.

Luckily, the bad weather on Friday cleared overnight and we watched the sun rise with perfectly clear, albeit cold, weather. Mt. Tai is known in China as the place where Heaven meets Earth. After watching the sunrise over the clouds, I don't think the Chinese are too far off. It was breathtaking. Past Emperors of China would annually hike to the top of Mt. Tai to make offerings on behalf of their people. I did my first offering of incense in a temple on the top of the mountain for peace. At Dai Temple, I did a Chinese ritual and offering that is supposed to ensure that I have a happy and prosperous life for 100 years! Here's hoping those offerings work! It was great to get out of the hustle and bustle of Beijing and to actually see trees and smell fresh air again! If you ever visit China, I'd highly recommend visiting Tai Shan, but you may want to consider the cable car option!

We took a high speed train home, where I spent the day nurturing my sore knees and calves! I also wrote an essay for a competition that our school is sponsoring. My topic: Chinese men versus American men. Let's hope they understand my sarcasm!

Four S's

I checked off a lot of things off of my 'to do and see in Beijing' list this weekend. On Friday afternoon, our school sponsored a field trip for us to see the Beijing Opera. I have tried to think of something positive to say about it and all I could come up with is that they have very colorful costumes. I'm glad that I got to see it in order to form my own opinion, but I will never sit through something so painful to listen to again!

Friday night I finally made it to two of the most famous weird food streets in Beijing. I lined my stomach with a few Jameson's and pepto-bismals before arriving. Before trying any food, I needed a beer in hand to wash the foods down because the foods for sale in the market were crazy! I didn't realize that the vendor had already opened my beer, and I accidentally knocked it down, spilling it all over the skewered sheep's penis just to the right of the picture. That will definitely go down as something I never thought I would do!

I ate snake first. It was very chewy and didn't taste like anything in particular, but overall not horrible. The silk worm came next. It was crunchy on the outside and gooey on the inside. The picture is not a good one of me, but it accurately captures my reaction to my first and only bite! As soon as I bit through the crunchy shell, I started to gag. I chugged my beer to try and wash it down but couldn't do it. I threw up just a little bit near the food stand, and then once again at the edge of the street. I was teary eyed and had hard bits of silk worm shell stuck in my teeth. It was absolutely disgusting! Please, do not ever eat silk worm. I don't know how anyone could actually enjoy it!

We proceeded to another food stand where we tried sea horses and scorpions. The scorpions were still alive on the skewer before they were fried. They were actually pretty tasty. I'm not sure if you're supposed to eat the stingers, but I did. Ashley, Chloe and I were sharing the sea horse and I was the lucky one who got to eat the head. It brought back terrible memories of the salt water aquarium and sea horses that I had as a child. It was not that pleasant, but no where near as difficult to swallow as the silk worm! There was no rabbit tongue for sale at the market. Apparently you have to travel farther south to get that. So, when Mom comes to visit in February, she's in for a treat! I think we'll order the whole rabbit head to share!

On Saturday, Chloe and I ventured to Zhoukoudian, about two hours southwest of Beijing by bus, to see the Peking Man museum and dig sites. It was a very modern museum and had great information on all of the archaeological finds in China. The former dig sites were mostly in caves that are now open to the public. It was so cool to be able to walk through and picture our ancestors of up to 700,000 years ago living there. At the Peking Man site, the first evidence of man-made fire was found. I decided to try and do my own archaeological dig outside of one of the caves just in case they might have missed a tooth, skull cap or something. I didn't find anything.

I was at a nearby 24 hour cafe at 5 AM this morning to watch the Florida game on our laptops. I recruited people from Korea, Austria, Brazil, Denmark and England to watch the game with me and two other American guys. It was a lot of fun for us to explain the game to them. Unfortunately, once it was clear that Florida was not going to win, I was too frustrated to talk to them! I spent the rest of today hibernating and mourning the loss in my room.

I can't believe it's already December the 6th! How time flies when you're having fun!

Acupuncture & Twigs

My listening exam turned out to be an epic failure. I honestly felt like I understood everything they were saying...how wrong I was! I guess it's similar to the many times when my roommate for the 2+ years before leaving for this trip and one of my best friends, Chris, would tell me his plans for the weekend and what he was making for dinner. I would ask him what his plans were for the weekend and what he was making for dinner an hour after he told me. I guess I'm not a good listener...even in English!

I went to a Chinese doctor over the weekend to try out traditional Chinese medicine. The hospital that Ashley and I went to was just as hectic and crowded as the regular hospitals I visited a couple of months ago. In the pictures, you'll see the 'pharmacy' where the nurses are filling herbal prescriptions. I got in trouble for taking the picture - I suppose they don't want people sharing the crazy things they give you!

I had to make up a reason to see the doctor because I'm thankfully not sick right now. So, I used my standard allergy problems, my lower back pain (try sleeping on hard wood for 3 months!) and my right knee joint as my 'ailments' to get in to see the doctor.

My doctor was easily in her early 70's (people work a lot longer here than in the States because there's no such thing as Social Security. In China, typically your child is your retirement plan). After Ashley and I told her what was 'wrong' with me, she took my pulse on both wrists and looked at my tongue. She asked me if I'd been sleeping and if I was digesting foods 'regularly'. I told her she sounded like my Mother! (I love you Mom!) After this line of questioning, she said, "you have a bad stomach". That was it. Nothing to address my allergies, back or right knee.

My prescription: acupuncture and some herbal liquid medicine. She put about 20 needles in my wrists, stomach, shins and feet. It wasn't the most comfortable thing I've ever done, but I managed to sit still for a solid 20 minutes. Imagine this: you're walking through a forest. You pick up dried twigs, weeds, grass, dead flowers and whatever else you can find on the ground. Now, grind those up, boil them and put them in little bags. I'm pretty sure that's what my herbal medicine is made of (or at least how it tastes!). Needless to stay, my stomach isn't getting what it supposedly needs because it's too disgusting to drink!

This weekend I'm finally going to the crazy food street to try out all the interesting things they have to offer. Also, I'm having a party in my room at 5 AM on Sunday morning to watch the Gators beat Alabama! Go Gators!

Zai jian!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! It felt a bit strange today to be eating Japanese food in China. No tryptophan-induced naps for me this year! Anna-Lina, Chloe, Ashley and I went to an $8 all you can eat/drink sushi restaurant. We ate more sashimi than I thought would be possible for four girls to consume! It was fantastic!

More good news: I found out that I passed two sections of my mid-terms, speaking and grammar/writing. I find out my listening score tomorrow, but feel pretty confident that I passed that too! Thank goodness for cramming and short-term memories!

Don't have much to write about in the way of adventures in China due to the fact that I was a 'hao xuesheng' (good student) last week! So, I'll spend a few minutes listing what I'm thankful for on this week's blog!

I'm thankful for my family for their constant love and encouragement. I'm thankful for my friends for the laughter we've shared, the memories we've made and for putting up with me! I'm thankful for the opportunities I have had over the last year - to dive with sharks in South Africa, to see lions hunt gazelles in the Serengeti, to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef and to watch the sunrise on the Great Wall. Words cannot express how much this trip has meant to me, and I'm thankful to all of you for believing in me. Keeping in touch with you has helped me still feel connected to the things I love and miss the most from home. (I also miss my mattress, Mexican food, western toilets, June's chocolate cake and Sunday night dinners but telling them just wouldn't be the same!) Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm a Horse, not a Sheep!

I have always thought that because I was born in 1979, it meant that I was a Sheep. I was shocked to learn today in class that I'm actually a Horse because I was born in January, prior to the Chinese New Year. All these years, I've been thinking that, according to Chinese zodiac horoscope, I was creative, intelligent, dependable and calm. Wrong! It turns out that we Horses are strong, energetic, outgoing and are extremely animated. The ironic thing is that I decided in Malawi this year that I hate horses. Cruel twist of fate! (Read previous blog for the background story on why I don't like horses anymore!)

There's a picture of my classmates, along with Dexter, outside of class one day. The countries represented in the picture are Australia, Germany, Sierra Leone, Yemen and two from Sudan. Dexter's the one in red with the cute little basket! There's also a picture to try and illustrate the amount of snow that recently fell in one night here! Anna-Lina, Chloe, Ashley and I had a lot of fun in the snow that afternoon, despite the fact that I couldn't feel my toes.

Anna-Lina and I traveled to Tianjin last weekend to escape the 'big city' life of Beijing. Turns out that going from a city with 16 million people to a city with 10 million isn't all that different! The trip to Tianjin took only 28 minutes by fast train...we got up to 330 km/h (205 mph)! I have never seen so many cranes and construction sites in my life. Tianjin will not look the same 12 months from now. There's some great architecture in Tianjin, influenced by French, Italian, Austrian, English, etc.

Tianjin also has their own local cuisine. We tried all of their specialties. Tianjin is famous for gouboli baozi (steamed dumplings) - they were fantastic. The tea soup, which the guy in the picture is making for us (the one with the dragon pot pouring the hot water) consists of rice flour, hot water, sugar, sesame seeds, peanuts and a whole bunch of other sprinkles (no idea what!). It had a consistency like pudding, although very hot and the color of dirty water. My description is not doing it justice because it was actually very tasty, and after shopping in crowded markets in the freezing weather, it warmed us up! Finally, we had mian tiao (noodles). The guy in the picture is hand making the noodles that I eventually ate!

Speaking of food, I'm not looking forward to eating rabbit tongue. Thanks to those of you who voted for the one thing I was looking forward to eating the least! ;) You have to crack the jaw open and pull the tongue out before you can eat it, so there is labor involved. I'm planning to go after I get through mid-term exams. I don't want to eat anything this week that would make me have to miss my exams due to violent stomach issues! I have 5 hours of exams this Friday, next Monday and Tuesday. I'll be tested on listening, speaking and grammar/writing. I've never failed a test before, so I look forward to this being my first F!

For those of you who are curious, no, Obama did not stop by to say hello while he was in Beijing. I didn't even get a phone call! I could have participated in a choir to sing for him at a 'Chinese' show that he and Michelle went to during their time here. However, I figured I would save myself and our country the embarrassment of hearing my voice outside of the shower! Back to the books....zai jian!

Picture Albums!

It has already snowed in Beijing 3 times; the earliest snowfall in 22 years. How lucky I am to have picked this winter, of all winters, to move to Beijing! The snow has forced me to hibernate and work on my photo albums. I've posted Africa, Australia and Thailand albums on Picasa. To view them, go to the following web address and enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.com/jamie1209

The Forbidden City, Duck and a Farm

 

The highlight of the last week or so was a visit from Truman, a friend I grew up with in Titusville, who was in town on business. Together, we visited several excellent restaurants in HouHai and Olympic Village and sampled Chinese beers in Sanlitun. We also toured the Forbidden City. The Palace Museum, as it is known today, is over 8 km long, running through the heart of modern Beijing. There are 9,999 palaces and halls totaling over 150K covered square meters. We didn't hit all of the rooms, but I'm pretty sure we went into at least a solid 1% of them. Truman, Mao and I took a picture together in Tian'anmen Square. We had the opportunity to watch the flag lowering ceremony in the Square. The precision of the soldiers was remarkable. And, as they were trying to prepare for the ceremony, they took their jobs of clearing the area quite seriously...we almost got yelled at. In fact, we might have but I didn't understand them!

By far the best meal we had was Peking Duck, a specialty here in Beijing. It may not be clear in the picture, but I'm holding half of a duck's head with my chopsticks. I proceeded to eat the duck's brain because it is considered a delicacy in China. Truman wouldn't look at me when I ate it, and I had to immediately wash it down with beer. I've never had brain before, so I had no frame of reference as to what brain should taste like. Strangely, it tasted like brain. I don't know how to explain that one without breaking off into a tangent on evolution and primal instincts. Let me conclude my thoughts on eating brain by stating that I have no idea what Hannibal Lecter was thinking...brain is gross.

Sunday I took a trip with 10 other tourists to an eco-village just outside of Beijing. The village houses over 800 people and is self-sustaining, producing a wide variety of organic fruits and vegetables. The ladies working the fields and greenhouses put us to work. A picture of my first time on a real farm doing manual labor is attached. Hold onto that one because I'll likely never do it again! It was muddy, it was cold and it smelled like manure! Speaking of organic fertilizer, I was shocked to learn that human waste is included in the fertilizer they use on the farm. I was very surprised to learn this, so I immediately asked who they export vegetables to. I'll never eat vegetables from Wal-Mart again without triple washing them, and I suggest you do the same!

China only allows 20 foreign films to be shown in theaters across the country each year. There was some serious lobbying over the summer to allow Michael Jackson's 'This Is It' to be shown as the 21st film for the year. I saw it tonight. Thank you Chinese government! For those of you who like Michael, I would highly recommend seeing it...what an amazing singer, dancer and entertainer he was!

Keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't snow anymore in Beijing tonight!

Halloween in Beijing!

Halloween turned out to be a lot of fun in Beijing! There were quite a few people dressed up and out and about in bars and clubs around the University (Haidian) District. I dressed as a guy magnet, which was quite fun to say the least. The Jihad guy in the picture was the funniest-dressed that I 'attracted'!

Leaving the club at 4 AM, imagine my surprise to find that it was SNOWING! I can thank the government for seeding the clouds to make it snow to combat a lingering drought in Northern China. The temperature dropped below 32, so they again shot chemicals into the air to produce some precipitation. I'm all for trying to protect the crops in order to feed the 1.3 billion people here, but it was freezing! It wasn't 100% terrible because the snow made Beijing look clean and the air was the purest that it has been since I've arrived.

I went to the infamous Silk Market on Saturday to finish Christmas shopping (had to get it done early so that it would make it home in time!). It was a crazy experience! About 8 floors packed with vendors selling everything from toilet brushes to fake Louis Vuitton bags. They grab you, talk to you and follow you just to get you to come to their booth and buy something. I vowed to only shop at booths where the vendors did not touch me or shout at me - it was my way of rewarding what I consider sane behavior!

I went to a nearby street market today to pick up some warmer socks and a long-sleeved t-shirt(2 socks and a t-shirt cost me $3.50...stuff is really cheap on the street!). The lady who managed the t-shirt booth looked at me and said, "this one will fit...it will stretch around your fat". I almost fell over I was laughing so hard. The lady laughed too and I bought the t-shirt. She was right! One of my most favorite experiences while traveling is connecting with someone from another culture through genuine laughter.

Mei Xian, my roommate, is being introduced to Western culture on a daily basis. Christian, you'll be pleased to learn that she is now a big fan of Prince. Also, I taught her the Gator Chomp and she does it anytime I mention the Gators. It's fantastic!

Learning Disability

Finally! I can write in my pajamas! After my notorious package spent over a month in customs, I finally received my laptop, winter clothes and some stale Junior Mints (not your fault Mom!). I also have subscribed to a fantastic VPN that all the Westerners use so that I can rejoin the online social networking revolution. We now have the internet in our room and it's a surprisingly fast connection. It's great to be able to reconnect with with the world!

A couple of pretty cool and not so cool things have already occurred this week. Pretty cool: I got my stuff. I found a very rare shoe store and am now the proud owner of winter boots that actually fit me! I went to Super Wal-Mart (two story, very different than what you'd find in the States) for the sole purpose of buying wine and cheese. The cheese and wine on the shelves in Chinese grocery stores just doesn't resemble anything close to real wine or cheese!

During my trip to Wal-Mart, I saw something I never thought I'd see...a wedding taking place in the meat department! The happy couple both chopped meat on the butcher's block as they were photographed and applauded by the crowd that had congregated around the ribs, filet's and other meat parts. Apparently the couple met while working there and wanted to share their special day with the meats and their co-workers. Only in China! They were particularly impressed when I approached them after the 'ceremony' to congratulate them (in Chinese of course!). If only I had my camera with me!

The 'not so cool' thing that happened is that I had to give a five minute speech in class this week. I had to introduce the families of three of my classmates - their names, ages, jobs, likes/dislikes. Of course, my group had the LARGEST FAMILIES EVER, one with 8 and two with 6 family members! After struggling through what turned into ten minutes of half Chinese/half Chinglish, most of my classmates, and definitely our teacher, must have thought that I had some sort of learning disability. It was awful!

The pictures are of Anna-Lina and I touring a hutong in a rickshaw earlier today (Maybe I should attend class as opposed to doing things in Beijing in order to overcome my learning disability?!?). We also visited the Lama Temple, home to amazing architecture and a lot of gold Buddhas. Not a bad way to spend a Thursday!

I hope everyone has a Happy Halloween! The Chinese don't really celebrate it, but a lot of my friends are going out in costume Saturday night anyway. Should be interesting to see their reaction to my costume...more on that next week! Go Gators, beat the Dawgs! (Teal, that's just for you!) ;)

再见的北京!

Frogger

I'm finally back to feeling like a human being again, as opposed to a coughing machine! Thanks to all for your concern and well wishes! It is great to hear from friends and family from home, especially when you're half way around the world and not feeling well!

I've ventured out on Dexter, my 'new to me' bike, this week quite a bit. I should have taken out a larger AD&D policy before purchasing a bike. Riding a bike or driving a car here is like flirting with suicide every time you get behind the wheel! The best way to describe it is like a cross between chicken and a really advanced level of Frogger that I could never get to in the arcades as a child. Basically, it's each man for himself and the larger the vehicle, the better chance you have of going somewhere. Although there are traffic lights, signs and rules, no one follows them. It's utter chaos.

There was a report on International CNN this week on traffic in Beijing. They are adding over 2,000 cars A DAY to the roads here in Beijing alone! I'm sure you've read that China recently surpassed the US in annual auto sales per year. You can believe it when you walk out on to any street here. What's scary, though, is that the people don't really know how to drive and they don't have 'driving schools' just yet. Needless to say, I'm getting pretty good with using my little bell to warn everyone I'm coming, and I'm just biding my time before I get into a wreck with another bike, car or pedestrian!

Masami (Japanese), Ashley (Michigan), Mei Xian (my Korean roommate) and I went to a fantastic Korean BBQ place for dinner this week (see picture). We cooked our own meat on the coals right at our seat! Korean food is fantastic, but they use a whole lot of plates. I would not want to be a dishwasher at a Korean restaurant!

We had a class field trip to another section of the Great Wall on Friday. The weather was a typical "cloudy" Beijing day where the pollution hangs over the city, so the visibility wasn't great. There were also a lot of tourists in this particular section. Since I am still not 100% health-wise, I took the easy way onto the Wall via cable car! I'm sure the Chinese who built the Wall would flip in their graves if they knew that there were cable cars to lift lazy tourists up to the top! I ran into the only other Gator fan I know in Beijing, Jonathan, so of course we had to do the Gator Chomp on the Wall! I also really wanted to drink a beer on the Great Wall, so I did that with a South African friend, Ruan. It's really surreal to be taking field trips to something as incredible as the Great Wall!

School is getting better...my vocabulary and pronunciation improves each week. I can finally order food at a restaurant and hail a cab without having to pretend like I'm a mime. I did, however, realize that I was pronouncing my own name wrong. It's spelled Jia Li. I thought it was pronounced like "Jolie" but that's wrong! It's actually pronounced Jolly, as in Jolly old St. Nick! Oops! ;)

To my BB&T friends, I still have not received my package (it's been almost a month!) that has the hat you all signed and gave me during my going away party. I will most certainly wear it and post a picture as soon as I actually get it! I haven't forgotten!

Off to prepare my resume and business cards for a CCIM networking event and to get my Halloween costume ready for next weekend! Zai Jian from Beijing!

Two Firsts

The Beijing winds have kicked up in the last four or five days, and the temperature has started to drop. With winds up to 40 mph and gusts up to 55, it feels like a tropical storm blowing through...except there's no rain! I am really not looking forward to winter in Beijing. I have heard a lot of horror stories about how cold it will get, and the wind will just make it worse! I am eternally grateful to whomever invented thermal underwear!

As long as I have traveled, I've always had a strange desire to visit a hospital in another country. Likewise, I've always felt that if I had my own mode of transportation in another country, then it would really feel like I lived there. Both of my desires became a reality this week.

I finally broke down and went to the University Hospital on Monday of this week. The cold I had for over two weeks was getting worse, and I couldn't fight it with over-the-counter Chinese medicine anymore. The local University hospital was clean, bright, not too crowded and efficient. No one spoke great English, but we both knew enough to communicate. Two hours later, I saw a doctor twice, had chest x-rays and blood work completed with results in hand and received an IV drip of antibiotics. I understood that I had some kind of infection. Friday morning, after visiting the transfusion room twice a day for antibiotic drips for 3 days, I woke up feeling worse than I did on Monday. So, I skipped class and went back to the doctor. She sent me to another hospital.

Hospitals in China are very different than at home (shocker!). As I've learned is typical of hospitals here, the doctors wait inside the rooms and patients queue up outside the room waiting their turn, or in some cases, inside the room while the other patient is being examined. Since I am not native and more interesting, I suppose, there was at least one-two other people in the room waiting his/her turn and watching my examination. No such thing as doctor/patient confidentiality here!

The other hospital was public and it was chaotic....there were people everywhere. It was dark and felt dirty. Some were smoking indoors (they smoke indoors everywhere here...but in a hospital?!?!). The doctor, however, was very knowledgeable and his English was really good. He told me that I have acute bronchitis and loaded me up with 3 much stronger medicines. After having a fever for over 24 hours over the weekend, it finally broke and I am starting to feel a little better.

In between visits to the hospital, I finally decided to join the other millions of Chinese and buy a bicycle! I am now the proud owner of a used red bicycle I've named Dexter (Dexter~HBO show~blood~red). Since I haven't felt good, it hasn't gotten much use yet!

That's about all that happened this week in China, besides a lot of sleeping, coughing and blowing my nose. Since you don't want to see pictures of all that, I didn't post any this week! Zai jian from Beijing!

The Great Wall

The holiday week here in Beijing has been fascinating. I've explored several different areas of the city and tried a lot of new foods (the most interesting so far is pigeon eggs...I haven't worked up to scorpions just yet!!). I slept in a hutong, a traditional Chinese community nestled in between the new skyscrapers all over Beijing. With friends, we spent an afternoon in Beihai Park watching old Chinese couples waltzing and children writing Hanzi (Chinese characters) on the sidewalk with water and calligraphy brushes. Couple those images with some of the Beijing Opera singers practicing their music by shouting over the lake, and you have an idea of how cool parks in China can be!

I spent an afternoon with my friend Anna-Lina, from Austria, in Tian'anmen Square. There were tens of thousands of Chinese from all over the country who had come to visit and see the sights from the parade and 60th anniversary decorations in the Square. I felt like a minor celebrity after having at least 15 different groups of people ask to take their picture with us! Anna-Lina blames my blonde hair for all the attention!

The absolute highlight of my time in China so far, and certainly something that I will remember for the rest of my life, was the 10km walk from Jinshanling to Simatai on the Great Wall. The weather could not have been more perfect - it was clear, cool and visibility was great! Anna-Lina, Chloe (from Kansas) and I departed Beijing early on Sunday morning. The hike took us 4.5 hours. It was a very difficult hike, but still not as bad as the Inca Trail en route to Machu Picchu! The wall is about 6-10' wide and has a tower about every 100 yards or so. The parts we walked have not been well maintained (aka not a lot of tourists!) and so the walk was rocky with bits falling off every now and then!

Despite the challenging climb, the views were absolutely worth my legs feeling like lead weights at the end! The landscape was breathtaking...mountains with the Wall stretching as far as the eye can see in either direction. Truly a remarkable man-made barrier and even though it didn't really work for the intended purpose, I'm sure glad the Chinese spent over 1000 years building it!

We didn't have a place arranged to sleep, so we were lucky to find a place at the Simatai Guesthouse...a small place with only three rooms just down from the Wall run by a nice Chinese couple. The Tsingtao beer that I am drinking in this picture with Chloe and Anna-Lina was the best, most well-deserved beer I have had in a long time! We got up at 4:30 the next morning to watch the sun rise over the Wall. I wanted to hike a little faster than the others, so I walked alone for over an hour with the Wall lit only by moon light. We were the only people on the wall at that early hour. I got to a perfect sun rise viewing spot about 10 minutes before the sun came. Sitting alone on the Great Wall and watching the sun rise was one of the most moving, peaceful and spiritual moments of my life. It still gives me chills just thinking about it.

Aside from all of the tourist spots I visited, I also tried to go shopping for a winter coat and boots. A word of advice to anyone who wears a size 9 (or 41 for my European readers!) shoe or higher: don't expect to find shoes that fit you in China! Even at H&M, they didn't have my size! I honestly don't know what I'm going to do to get through this winter season, but I'll figure something out. My quest for a coat was also a fun experience. I feel like a giant when shopping for any type of clothing here. I finally found one that fit, but it looks like I should be trying out to be a dancer in a Jay-Z video! (fair warning for future blog pictures. I recognize the jacket is silly, but it fits!).

Another experience that every female should have once in their life is to get a haircut in a country where no one in the salon speaks English. Also, since you haven't covered the all-so-important 'hair cut' chapter in Chinese class, you're terrified at what you're asking for. Once we finally understood that I didn't want a perm or to color my hair, my hairdresser set out to wash, cut and blow dry my hair. It actually turned out to be a pretty decent hair cut (no hair cut experience will ever be as good as Arthur & Tamara Isard in Winston-Salem, NC though!) and it only cost me $4.40 USD, so no complaints! I'm just glad I still have hair and not the all so popular bob that all the Chinese girls are sporting right now! I couldn't pull it off like they can!

Erica - congrats on the Wedding! Gators - hope you beat LSU! Lindsey - I can't wait to catch up and tell you my latest story about this beautiful butterfly I saw in Sanlitun!! ;)

Zai Jain from Beijing!

Happy 60th China!

The last week hasn't been too eventful due to the fact that I have been fighting a cold. I went to a pharmacy in my neighborhood where I quickly realized that taking any sort of medication here will be a risk in and of itself....nothing is in English (and I'm allergic to way too many medications to take a chance!). So until I learn more Chinese, I am going to fight colds the good old fashioned way with no medicine at all!

One thing that I have neglected to write about in my last two posts is the precautions the Chinese take with the swine flu. EVERY morning for the last two+ weeks that I have been here, they come into my dorm room between 6:40 AM and 8:00 AM to take my temperature. Most mornings, I am still fast asleep with ear plugs in and sleeping mask on. They tap me on the shoulder, I roll over and take my face mask off. Then, they stick a gun-looking thing up to my forehead to make sure that I'm at or under the 'safe' temperature of 36.5 C. Luckily, I haven't had a fever yet because if I do, I'll immediately be quarantined. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I won't have to endure that while in China!

School is getting a little bit better. I've learned about 100+ vocabulary words and can now write/read at least 30 characters. I can have basic conversations like, "My name is Jamie. I am from America. One beer please. Where is the toilet?!" Learning Chinese fluently is definitely not a goal that I have, but it is exciting to be able to have conversations with the locals now. Granted, I sound like I've got the mentality of a preschooler being able to only peak simple sentences (one verb, one noun, etc.!) but it's better than pointing and nodding all the time! The one thing that scares me is the word chicken. It's spelled the exact same as the word prostitute. The only difference is the tone used. I'm terrified that I'm going to sit down in a restaurant and order a prostitute with noodles. I'll stick to veggies until I master that pronunciation! ;)

My trip to Chengdu isn't going to happen....we could not get the train tickets worked out to travel anywhere outside of Beijing. So, 5 of us have planned a 'backpacking in Beijing' trip. We are leaving today and will be touring the greater Beijing area, sleeping in hostels each night so that we can really explore the city. I'm excited to visit the Simitai section of the Great Wall. It's a 10K hike on the wall which is supposed to be very challenging!

Yesterday I celebrated China's 60th anniversary by visiting the Summer Palace, picture attached. It is a beautiful, huge palace surrounded by a man-made lake where the emperors used to vacation and get away from the chaos of Beijing. I applaud the Chinese for the quick and thorough effort they went through to ensure that the National Day was a pleasant day. For example, they placed flowers, lanterns, banners, etc. all over the place in order to beautify the city. Wednesday night, they shot a chemical off in the sky to chase off any clouds and pollution to make sure it was a beautiful day (this occured during the Olympics too). I happened to be out late on Wednesday night to see this for myself...there was a heavy, damp, unnatural mist all over the city. It worked though because the weather was beautiful on National Day!

My roommate, Mei Xian (pronounced 'may shin'), and I celebrated her 27th birthday on Tuesday (picture attached). She is from South Korea and we get along great, to the extent that we can communicate. She doesn't speak a lot of English and I don't know any Korean and very little Chinese, but we get by. She giggles at me all the time when I say something she doesn't understand and then I write down in English what I've said and try to explain what it means. Things like "how's it going" and "gotcha" are actually really challenging to explain to people!!

Tim Tebow, if you're reading this, my heart broke when I read about your hit and resulting concussion. I trust that you are recovering quickly. We need you back at 100% to take on LSU on the 10th. If there is anything that I can do, including flying home to massage your head, please let me know! Out of the 14 million people in Beijing, I finally found one other Florida Gator who happens to also be going to school at BLCU. Jonathan is my new best friend on campus. He'll be my Gator game-watching partner for the remainder of the season!

Erica, this is your last week as a single woman...enjoy it! I'll be thinking of you and Tony on the 10th and wish you a lifetime of love and happiness together! Also, I'll miss everyone who'll be at your wedding that I haven't seen or talked to in way too long!

Several of you have emailed asking for my address and/or cell phone number. Please do not send explosives, knives or guns. The Chinese wouldn't like it and I don't really need them!

Jamie Barden
Room 315, No. 17 Building
Beijing Language and Culture University
15 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District
Beijing, China 100083

We have been instructed to advise people to put return addresses on the back of the envelope instead of the front when sending mail to China. My cell phone number is: +0086 134 393 44157. Zai jian!

Chinese is Hard

Ni hao! Since my last post, I've explored some of Beijing, gotten to know my community in Wudakou and realized that I am way over my head here at the Beijing Language and Culture University! I checked out the night club scene with some new friends from school, and it appears that a club in Beijing is just like a club at home - loud music, smoke and lines at the bar. The main difference is the 'long drop' toilet (i.e it's an Eastern toilet...a ceramic hole in the ground and no toilet paper provided. Anywhere.).

Saturday night I experienced my first Chinese neighborhood restaurant. We picked vegetables and meats on skewers (no idea what kind, mind you!), then a few types of noodles and sauces. Not knowing what to expect, we ended up several minutes later with two pretty delicious noodle soups with peanut sauce. The meat was questionable...I couldn't stomach it! I might consider becoming a vegetarian while here because I have had at least three meals where I just couldn't handle the "meat"! The best part about the food here, ignoring the fact that you don't know what you're eating, is that it is crazy cheap. Three of us ate two large bowls of noodles, vegetables and meats for less than $4 total! After dinner, we went to a battle of the bands rock show, highlighting some of Beijing and China's most popular rock bands. Nirvana has definitely influenced the rock music scene here. It was pretty decent music even though I couldn't understand a word of what they were singing! It's exciting to see the transformation that the rock culture is going through here because only 5+ years ago, rock music was banned. It's like stepping back into the 60's in the States!

Sunday I braved the bus system all by myself and went to tour the Olympic Park. Tourists are able to walk through the Water Cube and the Bird's Nest. I got chills looking at the pool where Phelps dominated and at the track where Bolt set world records that might not be broken in my lifetime - very cool! The entire park is massive...very impressive architecture. I can see why the Chinese were so proud to host the Olympics!

I started school this week. Trying to learn the Chinese language will absolutely be the most difficult thing I ever do. Not only are we learning to read and write Chinese characters, we are simultaneously having to learn the pin yin, or English pronunciation of the Chinese characters. Basically, I'm learning two languages at once...it's been very challenging so far! There are 18 students in my class from all over the world...Sudan, Sierra Leone, Mongolia, Russia...it's a very diverse group. Luckily, we're all struggling together to understand what we've gotten ourselves into! In addition to school, I started Tai Chi classes this week. It is very relaxing and meditative. Our instructor is an older Chinese man. He uses the most hilarious examples in English to explain the form or position we should be in. One of my favorites, "pretend you hold 3 babies in your arms. don't make babies upset!" (I think he means to pretend like you're holding a bowl in your arms, but don't squeeze too hard!?!?)

My typical week will look something like this: 8-12 class, lunch, nap, study, gym, dinner, study, sleep. It's like I'm back in college again, except this is WAY HARDER than any class I ever took at UNF or UF! On the way to class each morning, I see older people in the community practicing Tai Chi or sword fighting in the park. In the afternoons, there are tons of people of all races and ethnicities out on the basketball courts, volleyball courts and soccer fields. I love being part of a multi-cultural community!

I'll have class for 8 days, then will be off for 8 days from October 1st through 9th for the Chinese National Day. It's their 60th anniversary as the People's Republic of China. There will be a lot of celebrations going on all over the country. I'll be leaving Beijing to head to Chengdu for the break. It's about a 4 hour train ride away - a smaller village with beautiful landscapes. It will be nice to get away with some friends for a week or so and explore another part of China!

That's all for now..time to get back to the books! Thanks, Gerad, for posting once more. A box with my name on it is on its way from the States (thanks Mom!) with my computer and winter clothes inside. I should be able to write my blogs in my pajamas by this time next week, assuming the box arrives safely! Zai jian! (good bye!)

I made it to China!!!!!

After 20+ hours in airports and a particularly nice time at the doctor's office in the Kuala Lumpur airport in Malaysia, I made it to Beijing (I thought I was having heart/lung problems, turns out I pulled a muscle in my chest lifting my ridiculously heavy backpack!). I took a taxi to the Beijing Language and Culture University. Riding a taxi in China will go down as one of the scariest experiences of my life. There are CRAZY drivers here! Even though the lanes are marked, the lines are completely ignored. I stopped counting after at least 5 near collisions where I gasped and gripped the door until my knuckles turned white!

I went through the registration 'lines' if you can call it that, the Chinese don't believe in queuing..they just all push to the front, each man for himself. I quickly learned how to push too, otherwise I'd still be waiting politely behind someone else! It was in the registration line that I learned that my Chinese name is Jolie (as in Angelina Jolie). They don't have the equivalent for Jamie. I tried to get them to give me James, but the lady laughed at me and said I was a girl and was not allowed to have a boy's name!

After a little bit of a hiccup with housing, I finally secured a dorm room which will be my home through January. There's a picture of my building, a picture of my room & bathroom and the entrance to the University that I will use attached. Notice that I could basically sit on the toilet while taking a shower - talk about killing two birds with one stone! ha ha! The other fascinating part of my room is the mattress, or lack there of. In China, they believe in sleeping on HARD beds. By hard, I mean a piece of wood with about a two inch thick mattress filled with cotton. I am so glad that I kept my sleeping mat and bag...they are now serving as extra cushion! There's a TV that gets two English channels - CNN International and a movie channel which plays the stupidest movies ever. Once I learn enough Chinese to be dangerous, I'll try to figure out what's going on on all the crazy TV shows that they have!

I have joined the gym on campus. They have your standard gym classes: aerobics, ballet, spinning. I went to the 'R&B' class (hip hop dance) on Tuesday night. It was hilarious! It was easy to tell who the other 3 westerners were in the class because we were the only ones who could move our hips in a circle without looking like a board was attached from our neck to our bottom! I have also signed up to take Tai Chi lessons for three hours a week. Classes start on Monday, and I am looking forward to learning some meditation techniques along the way! Finally, I am joining an International Women's Soccer Team at another University nearby. One of the westerners from the hip hop class asked me to play on their team!

I have met people very easily, especially those who do not yet speak any Chinese. I am very surprised at how many Chinese do not know any English. I naively thought that they would know very basics at least. It's made EVERYTHING challenging. Just figuring out how to ask for a 'to go' box using my Chinese-English dictionary and actually getting my leftover food packaged to take away was a huge accomplishment! I went shopping today for basic dorm room stuff (a real towel (as opposed to the tiny camping towel I've used for the last 2+ months, a bowl, a plate, etc.) and had a blast playing charades with one of the ladies who worked at the grocery store. I needed a small lock for my gym locker and a foot file (my feet are still in treacherous condition, compliments of Africa). It took over 20 minutes of acting out and pointing in my dictionary for what I needed. When I left, I had a foot file and a lock in my bag and felt like I had conquered the world!

I bought a Chinese cell phone last night, with the help of a new Taiwanese friend. Only about 6 people on campus have my number, so I'll share it with my blog readers in case you find yourself in Beijing and want to hang out: +0086 134 3934 4157. Feel free to call me, but remember that I'm 12 hours ahead of most of you!

My thoughts on China so far: the air quality is horrible...yesterday I could only see about two blocks away. You can look directly into the sun and don't need sunscreen during the highest point of the day because of it. It's terrible, but I hear that it is much better than it has been, so that is somewhat encouraging. You can read the statistics about the population and density here, but it isn't real until you see it firsthand. There are people, bikes, cars, etc. everywhere. I get the feeling that Beijing, in particular, is in the middle of a huge transition. The two huge malls that are both within a 15 minute walk of the University are very modern. Right next door is a huge open market that is filthy and crowded. You'll pass a train, subway and bus system along with tons of cars, and then you'll see a bike pulling a cart stacked high and wide with enough furniture to furnish a home. It's crazy, it's exciting and I'm happy to be on the brink of learning about a culture that is and will continue to be a driving force in the world economy during my lifetime.

I start class on Monday morning. Tomorrow, I'm going to the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing for a conference on the difference in business cultures between China and the US. I met an older lady in the grocery store this morning who invited me. I've learned to always say yes when someone invites you to do something, especially when you're trying to figure out a new city! I meet with my Chinese partner on Tuesday for the first time. Sunny is going to help me with Mandarin and I'm going to help her with her English. Our first project: teaching me how to haggle in Chinese!

That's all for now...Thanks to Gerad, my brother, for posting this blog for me. Blogspot, along with Facebook and many other websites, are blocked in China. I have learned of a work around, but it will take another week or so to get it in place.

Hello folks this is Gerad, for some reason Jamie's picture did not make it in the email she sent me. I will find out what is going on and try to post some soon!! I hope everyone is doing well!! Hello Sejal!!!!

Fraser Island & Byron Bay

The last week has been amazing. Fraser Island was one of the coolest places I have ever seen - massive rain forests and trees with over a 10' diameter, lakes perfectly clear and sand everywhere! Lake McKenzie is in the picture above, crystal clear deep blue water. Also, I walked through a creek that was perfectly clear...the water is almost up to my knees in the picture! I saw lots of dingo footprints and the back of one as it ran into the bush, but didn't actually see one. Next time! We did see tiger sharks, manta rays and humpback whales from Indian Head, one of the largest cliffs on the eastern side. I also took a short flight above the island to gain a perspective of just how large it is...we took off and landed from the sand...tires in the water. Very cool! The pictures I took are amazing...too many to post!

Byron Bay is one of the most laid back, hippie places I've visited...similar to Christiana in Denmark except on the Pacific! I made fast friends with several people from the backpackers lodge where I stayed. I drank, danced, laughed and hung out on the beach with people from all over Europe, Japan, Israel and Australia. I love meeting people with different backgrounds who come from different cultures! There are a surprising number who have quit their jobs to travel. I met a nice Canadian guy...we hung out on the beach until 4 one morning talking, laughing and watching brilliant shooting stars and the Cape Byron lighthouse light flash every 30 seconds or so. I sat in a park one afternoon and listened to two guys play the bongo drum and guitar. I considered very seriously becoming a hippie, growing dreads, not showering ever and sitting in the park all day long just existing. I've decided to keep on the path I'm on for now, but the lifestyle they have is so relaxed!

Animal watch: on my hike up to the lighthouse and the eastern most point of Australia, a red-bellied black snake was about 2 feet from the trail. Luckily, an Aussie couple was walking with me and they informed me that the snake was one of the deadliest in Australia. No need to worry because I stay as far away from snakes as possible whenever I see one! Also, this morning I went on a 4 hour whale watch to observe the humpback whales in their annual migration back to Antarctica after mating in the warmer waters north of Byron Bay. It was incredible. We saw probably 15 whales. Three marine researchers were on board our tiny boat, and they brought a hydrophone so that we could listen to the male whale's mating song. It was magical to hear. I was one of the few on the boat lucky enough to see a massive (20'-25') whale fully breach the water. There was at least 4' of air underneath him. It was incredible!! The picture above is what I tried to capture of the end of the breach. Definitely worth the trip to see that in person...just like on National Geographic!

On a personal note, it turns out that I should probably not self-diagnose anymore. I finally went to a chemist (pharmacist) who told me I was having a bad reaction to sand flies and not bed bugs. Makes me feel much better, and they have all but cleared up. I am glad that I am very comfortable laughing at myself because after a day at the beach, I decided to walk the mile plus back to the hostel instead of taking the shuttle. I wore a sundress over my bathing suit and had my day pack on my back. When I got back to the hostel, I realized that the sundress was tucked under my day pack in the back. I am really glad I didn't go commando from the beach! Very embarrassing because I have no idea how long my dress was hiked up in the back, possibly from the beach, through city center and up the stairs to my room at the hostel!! ;) Oh well!

This will be my last post from Australia. I am in Brisbane tonight and fly back to Sydney tomorrow morning. I am staying with Kath's (my tour leader from Africa) older brother Dave. He has a house on the beach in Manly, just outside of Sydney. He's taking me out on his boat to tour the Sydney Harbour on Saturday before we meet out with another couple I met in Africa, Kate and Eddie, for dinner. I can't think of a better way to end my time in Australia!

Get ready China, here I come!

I Found Nemo!

Crayola must have visited the Great Barrier Reef to come up with all of the colors for the crayons. I never imagined there could be so many shades of green and blue...truly paradise on earth! Spending two nights on the water is a great way to experience the Reef. We saw dolphins and turtles surfacing for air from the boat. The snorkeling was unreal - huge reefs with all kinds and colors of coral and fish. We saw three green turtles, three white tip reef sharks, two sting ray and a ton of sea slugs. I saw squid for the first time...I tried to get close and scare them so they'd squirt ink, but sadly was not successful! I saw a lot of clown fish (Nemo!) cleaning themselves in the sea anemone. The largest fish that I saw was a double humped parrot fish. It was at least 3' wide and 1 1/2' tall. Crazy to see something that big so closely! I was no more than 8' away from one of the sharks...needless to say my adrenaline was pumping, even though it is not dangerous to humans (thankfully!).

In the evenings on the boat, we would have sundowners (what they call happy hour in Australia!) while watching the sun go down! The sunsets were incredible over the Coral Sea...beautiful pinks and oranges reflecting over the bright blue water! I met some awesome people on the boat. It's fascinating to learn about the different paths that travelers take...where they're going, where they're coming from. It just makes me want to keep going! For example, I met a nice woman who works in HR and manages the temporary staffing for Raytheon in Denver. She's just returned from a 6 month contract position in Antarctica. I was fascinated by the work she and others do to support the research center at the National Science Foundation down there. I will not lose her business card!

When I wrote previously about spider bites, I misdiagnosed myself. I actually have picked up a nice amount of bed bug bites. It totally grosses me out to think about when and how I got them, but needless to say, I'm covered with them. Mendy, there are many more now than you saw when you left on Tuesday! I suppose there has to be a downside to a life of leisure in the Sunshine Coast of Australia!

A funny thing happened at the airport this morning on my way to Cairns to Brisbane. I was waiting to board and got up for my standard bathroom stop before getting on a plane. I stuck to the seat...apparently a huge wad of gum was there that I did not notice. I did my best to get rid of it, but it was smack in the middle of my bottom and I had no clothes to change in to! I sat on a postcard size piece of paper once I got on the plane to avoid getting gum on the leather seats (it was a very new plane). I totally forgot about the whole thing until we were all standing to deboard the plane. An old lady two rows back yelled so that everyone around me could hear, "You have a piece of paper stuck to your bottom!" I laughed so hard that I was crying.

In Rainbow Beach tonight, a cozy little beach town just south of Fraser Island. There are no traffic lights, one main road and only about 4 shops/cafes, all of which closed at 5 PM. It's nice to be away from the chaos of big cities for a while...I need to soak this up because Beijing is only 10 days away now!

Cheers from Aussie! Don't let the bed bugs bite...ha ha! ;)