Past the Wall

I am free! Thanks to a fellow English teacher we met at our last hostel, I have successfully navigated my way around the Great Firewall of China. I don't think you guys get the gravity of the situtation! I mean, google is considering shutting down google.cn (cn for China), its wild.

Freedom of speech.... don't take that for granted my friends.

Ah, it makes happy to me that I can be again writing in this little posting box on blogger. And facebook is once again accessible. I can even watch some youtube movies through a different site.

Basically, life is good.

The English Menu

We are definately not in Hunan anymore.

 

Why I ever complained about our food at home before, I have no idea.

 

Some Chinese food is gross, gross, gross (and very bland tasting now compared to Dong'an).

 

*please, please click on this picture to blow it up and read the menu items!*

Oh, we're halfway there...

Yep, thats basically all. We have been here five months, and we have five months left. 

You can stand not seeing our pretty faces until then right? I know all you guys do is dream about our return. 

Beach Bound

Ahh yes, to finally escape the freezing cold. 

It wouldn't be so unbearable if anywhere in China they believed in heat. Like classrooms for a start. 'Not that bad' of weather turns ugly when you have to lecture for four hours in it. 

But Matt and I are free. Chinese New Year is approaching (get ready for year of the Tiger) and the students get all of February off for Spring Festival. Since mine and Matt's classes aren't very important (we don't even teach English class, ours is spoken English) we are free until March while the students get ready for and take their exams. And that means....

We are hitting the beach!!! 

There is a little island on the south of China called Hainan, where we will be soaking up as much sun and humanly possible. 

The Chinese are starting to get extremely jealous of my pasty white skin. I gotta get some brown on it pronto. 

China...

You are really beautiful sometimes. 

Starfish?

Look closely in that bag. You may be able to spot a seahorse. We are not quite sure what you are supposed to do with these dehydrated sea dwellers, but I am thinking since we found them in the food isle, they were intended for human consumption.

Bon appetit! 

The Zoo

Ya, this place was basically asking for an animal rights protest. Seriously, the saddest place I have ever been. The last picture is the bears cage, that guy literally could not turn around. Matt did however manage to evade the zoo employs attention long enough to get his hand through the bars to pet the lion, so that was pretty cool. But the rest wasn't bueno. The cages were small, dirty and made of cement. It was cool to be really close to the animals, but really, really sad. 

Monkeys

Here's some more pictures of those poor monkeys

Lightroom

I love photoshop, but right now I am pretty much obsessed with lightroom. I've just been playing around with it and learning how to use it, and so far, I'm impressed with all it can do. (being edited: previously unseen pictures from a crazy photo shoot with Ann)

I really miss taking pictures of people. The Chinese tend to shy away from my camera. One day I will live in America again, and I will take pictures to my hearts content. Right now, I'm just re-editing tons of pictures.

The Motos

I just found this picture I took the other day. That is a DOG on the back of that man's scooter. It never ceases to amaze me the things that people can fit on their motorcycles or scooters. Matt and I both take one motorcycle taxi when we got to the bus station, and yes that means three adults (two large Americans) on a motorcycle. Fun eh? I think the most we have seen on a single scooter is five, three adults and two kids. No joke. When our group came to Dong'an a few months ago, one eager 'moto' (motorcycle taxi) driver managed to fit two of our friends, and their suitcase on his taxi. The driver held the suitcase in front of him and peeked up over the top while he drove. I regret everyday that I didn't have my camera handy. It was just about the scariest thing I have ever seen. 

Where's the Waiguoren?

(Chinese for foreigner, or, my personal favorite: outside country person)

We took a weekend trip down to Guilin to celebrate the New Year (Happy 2010!). We also learned that New Years Day in China = Black Friday in America. It was crazy down there! There were so many people everywhere, I think I saw the entire Chinese population this weekend. 

I love how much we stand out. Especially since tourist season is over, and all the whiteys have left Guilin.