Party!

(Lizzy)

While not as bad as Boston, Hangzhou has certainly been chilly the past couple days. The school (Hanggao) has the odd tendency to revel in the cold, however. Rather than shun it with heating and insulation, they embrace it by opening windows and doors as much as possible. This does help explain why the drinking water is preferred hot. To say the least, the inescapable cold (including constantly wearing winter jackets and being able to see our breath in class) is taking some getting used to among the DS group ...

Dumpling Monsters and the Curse of UNO

(Ryan)

It has been more than a week since we arrived in Hangzhou, and I am loving my stay here.  The city is beautiful!  Everywhere you look there is something nice to see, whether it be trees, parks, water ways, old architecture, stone carvings, statues, or the modern buildings.  After our hectic train journey into the city, it was nice to finally get some rest and relaxation ...

A Ray of Light

(Colin)

After an 18 hour train ride, during which I slept like a baby and saw 5 nuclear power plants, a new chapter of my Chinese experience (not to be confused with my upcoming novel about a Chinese space pilot named Hangzhou-lo, who flies the Millenium Dragon), began ...

Mucho gusto, Potato Tiger.

(Chris)

It is the beginning of our second week here in Hangzhou. I’m sitting here reflecting on what we’ve done so far and it’s hard to believe that it’s only been one week. There is so much to talk about that it’s going to be hard to condense it all into a few paragraphs - I’ll do my best to make my observations descriptive, yet brief ...

First Week at Hanggao (Hangzhou High School)

(Lizzy)

Our first week in Hangzhou has been quite eventful. Immediately upon arriving in the city after an exhausting 18 hour train ride from Luoyang, we were greeted by our respective host families at Hanggao, our new school. My host sister’s English name is Apple, and she and her family have all be extremely hospitable and kind to me; especially since my first week here has not been the smoothest.

My first day; however, seemed to indicate good things ahead. I got my first glimpses of the beautiful city, including West Lake, which the residents of Hangzhou are most proud of, and for good reason. Everything is green and fairly warm here; a drastic and welcome change from the bleak coldness we have become used to. Though the lake is technically to the West of the city, it is very part of the city center, and the parks surrounding it are often quite crowded with people out enjoying the day.

After enjoying the sights around the lake with my host family, I began to feel sick back at the apartment ...

You can call me Thunder.

(Chris)

It is Tuesday morning here and I am sitting in my cubicle in the Foreign Language Teachers’ Office at Hangzhou High School! They gave me my own little space with a computer, cappuccino mix, tea and a file cabinet. It’s perfect!

Let me start out by saying how fantastic the staff and administration here have been since we arrived! There was a welcoming committee of about 6 teachers at the train station waiting for us. With big smiles and an excited look on their faces, they gave each of us a bouquet of flowers as we got off the train on Sunday morning. They helped us get through the mob that was departing the train station and then threw us into some vans to bring us to the school ...

Last stop before Hangzhou: Luoyang

(Chris)

Well, the 4 of us are almost at the end of our tour of southern/central China before we settle down for 5 weeks in Hangzhou.  Our last stop: Luoyang.

We spent the day yesterday in the beautiful town of Pingyao.  With a well-preserved city wall and beautiful pagodas and temples, it was a delight to spend the day wandering through the streets.  We had some trouble understanding our tour guide, Wang, but he was a very pleasant man.  

We said adiós to Mr. Wang at 1:00 a.m. this morning to catch the overnight train to Luoyang.  The 4 of us had a great night’s sleep!  We had ‘soft sleepers’ - as they call them here - and we slept for almost the entire 10 hour train ride.  I think we’re all starting to run out of steam ...  

On (Window) Display in Pingyao

(Lizzy)

We woke up on the train this morning, groggy and confused about when our stop would come. Unable to find anyone who could clear up our confusion in English, and no less puzzled by the train conductors hand gestures in response to our questions, we decided to wait it out. Ryan suddenly realized; however, that the captain was using Chinese finger counting, and the sign he made with his pinky and thumb meant we would arrive at 6:00 AM.

After finally making it off the train all together and with all of our things, we were greeted by our new guide, who talkatively led us to a large golf cart. We loaded our luggage and piled in, cold and tired. We checked into our very authentic hotel, complete with rock-hard beds, no heat, and a shower head in the middle of the bathroom. Though it is very cold here, people make no effort to avoid it or use heat. In everything from houses to restaurants to hotel rooms, it is very difficult to escape the cold. Doors are often left wide open, only sometimes shielded by a thick quilt hanging from the threshold ...

Gypsies!

(Colin)

On the morning of February 15^th, 2011 AD,  in the Julian Calendar of the west, the Sarcastic Four arose from a decent slumber.  I myself did not enjoy the softness of the mattresses, as I am more of a firm mattress person, but I’m not one to complain about mattresses, so I shall continue.  We ate at the hotel’s breakfast buffet for the third and final time, and enjoyed the music that they played, which was the exact same as they had played the two days before.  Though consuming bad noodles to bad new age jazz is not something that one would consider ideal breakfast, we got more than a kick out of the massive contemporary wingbacks that we sat in, and the plethora of watermelon.  Aching to get out of new age jazzland, we quickly went back to our rooms, and packed.

During packing, I had the interesting predicament of a gourd flute that I purchased in Lijiang, which I had dismantled the evening before in a fruitless attempt to repair it.  My bags were full, by back was already straining under the thought of my backpack, and I hated this flute with the force of a thousand suns ...

Space Invaders

(Ryan)

Today was the day we visited Pangliu village. We started out early in the morning by piling into the van and heading towards the outskirts of the city. We picked up Richard on the way. For those of you who don't know, Richard is the amazing person who has coordinated most of our fantastic trip so far. Because of him, we have been able to pack so much into the past few days. On the way to Pangliu, he told us about his life growing up in the village and how hard school was for him and his classmates. Of all the students in his class, only two, including him, went on to University. The testing process had been extremely difficult when he was in school. On the journey into the village Richard explained how the city of Xi'an was expanding and soon even Pangliu would be absorbed by the condo complexes and parks.

When we arrived in Pangliu, it reminded me of the Bai villages we had seen ...

K(C)ool and The Gang

(Chris)

Before I explain the title of this blog entry, I'd like to first just re-visit what Lizzy probably talked about in her post.  We had the opportunity to visit two small villages outside of the city of Dali a few days ago and these visits were very memorable for me.  The people of these villages are of mostly Bai descent (one of the 56 minority groups within China).  They were probably the nicest people I've ever met in my life!!  The women of the village invited us to a wedding reception and to their temple while a group prayer was in session.  In the pictures, these women are easily identifiable by their beautiful, ornate headdresses.  Our tour guide, Nancy, was also of Bai descent and is the most pleasant person you will ever meet!  (She's the one force-feeding Ryan at the temple.)  She was so happy and proud to share her culture with us and it was an honor to be invited to such special events within this community.  Please look through our pictures to get a glimpse of a culture that truly exemplifies what it means to be a good human being!!

Now, let me explain the title of this blog entry ...

“No!”

(Lizzy)

The past two days have been very busy, and, I think we would all agree, yesterday was one of our best yet. We were picked up by Nancy, a woman of Bai nationality and our enthusiastic guide, and taken to see a market in a beautiful nearby village where the local people sell their fresh produce. Nancy explained to us that the Bai minority is a matriarchal society in which the women do most of the physical labor and the men do crafts, especially carving. The Bai men are called “carving men” because throughout history they have been carvers of everything from jade to silver to wood. The Bai people were given their name, which means “white,” because of their white buildings and the women’s white costumes, which many, including our guide, choose to still wear today.

Nancy explained to us that the Bai people are all very kind. We soon experienced their generosity ourselves when we were led into a stranger’s home unannounced. The family living in the beautiful, ancient courtyard-style home was happy to have us look around ...