Vacation is over - time to go to work.

It's Saturday afternoon here and all morning folks have been coming into our apartment to hook up our internet. First our host, Mr. Chen (the Director of Foreign Affairs), escorted the local school network administrator to help hook us up but they didn't have everything they needed so they had to call the local provider, China Telecom.

It's very much like in the states, the first person comes and they can't do it so they have to call the cable guy.

In our case, a rep from China Telecom said he would be here sometime (just like the states - no appointments!) but he actually did show up (looked nothing like Jim Carrey), along with two more reps from my school, and eventually they all hooked us up not just with internet - but they ordered a router from a neighboring city, Nanjing (an hour and a half away by train), just for us so we could have wireless! Unbelievable!

So we are back to convenient online access, the bathroom doesn't leak anymore thanks to Jenn's amazing caulking abilities, we are getting used to the five flights of stairs we hit at least four times everyday (80 stairs!) and last night we made our first meal at home (Chinese of course!) and our stir-fry turned out to be delicious!

I dare say we are getting quite comfortable in our new surroundings, except last night I couldn't even find black pepper in a grocery store even with my Mandarin book in hand, so I'm not getting too cocky yet. I did learn the word for salt (yan) though, so the hike to the market wasn't a total write-off.

We both begin teaching our classes on Monday, although the kids came back from Spring Festival last week (they also go to school on Saturdays here too), so now we are busy scrambling trying to get ready to meet our first classes. Jenn is teaching at the #2 Middle School that is located about ten minutes from my school, I'm here at #1 Middle School where our apartment is located. We each have the same amount of kids though - 2,000 students, about 240 per day, four different classes per day per week...these kids go to school from 7am until 10pm at night...they even give them 5 and 10 minutes breaks during the day just so they can rub their eyes (they call them eye relaxation breaks).

And our two schools are not typical high schools like in the states either - these students pay good money to come to these schools because of their difficult curriculum and to increase their chances of being accepted into university later.

They are expecting a lot from us, and I've seen the College Entrance Exams they have to pass and they are tough (harder than I expected). We are excited about helping these kids speak better English, and also about helping them get into college too.

Cheers!

Another wall, this one we could ride on...

From Xian_CityWall009

Jenn and I are back from our Beijing trip but while we were there we took a train over to Xi'an, which is considered the capital of modern China. Called the eternal city, Xi'an is one of the birthplaces of the ancient civilization in the Yellow River Basin of China. Thirteen dynasties placed their capitals here and Xi'an is as equally famous as Athens, Cairo, and Rome as one of the four major ancient civilization capitals.

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Our favorite part of the city, other than the really cool hotel we stayed at, HQ Guesthouse, (Thanks so much, Mai and Todd!) was exploring the 40 ft. high wall that completely surrounds the city. It is about 60 ft. wide, seems to be made from the same sort of everlasting stones as the Great Wall, and Jenn did some research and found out that you can rent a bicycle and bike the whole nine miles around the city - so that's what we did!

The bikes were classic Chinese - they rattled and squeaked but the tires were in good shape although it would have been better if they had more than one gear. It was cold so we had to stay bundled up but once we got warm it was comfortable. We took a video of it, just click on the pic above. It took a total of about two hours and the scenery was fantastic.

It was one of the best tourist attractions we've experienced since we left the states, almost as good as the cable car going over the Yangtze river where Jenn was scared out of her mind...hahaha

Click here for pics from our bike ride on the wall of Xi'an

Reality is seeping in...

Hello, again! This is Jenn and we are back from all of our travels and are settling into our apartment here at the High School in Dan Yang. It is time to get down to business and get ready to start teaching oral English to 2000 students a week. When I say it like that it scares me to death but I know that all will be fine. Sean and I have been doing a great deal of research and together I think that we will put together a great curriculum for our students. At this point we still do not know our students skill level so our first week will really be an assessment and then we will have to plan from there. The school does not provide any books or materials so we will have to improvise as we go along. From what we have read it is actually better to be able to plan your own curriculum versus having some outdated book to follow. Time will tell.

Settling into our apartment has been an adventure in itself. We have cleaned until our fingers are raw and it is finally coming together. We discovered that both the shower and the toilet leak. An easy fix for me in the U.S. but trying to find caulk in China was difficult to say the least. Our hot water is heated by a propane tank that sits under the kitchen sink so in order to take a shower there is a process. First you have to turn on the propane, then run the kitchen sink hot water which ignites the propane and then turn on the shower in the bathroom. If that was it, I would not be mentioning it but then once you get into the shower… the adventure begins. There is no sweet spot to keep the water from scolding you or freezing you. My first shower ended with 3rd degree burns, frostbite and shampoo still left in my hair. We also just found out that we do not have running water. Twice, we thought, they had “turned off” our water. After calling about it, we were told that they had to pump some water into our tank. Again, I had no idea how great I had it back home. We still do not have internet capability in the apartment but we have found some cafés that offer wireless if you are willing to pay the 40RMB for the cup of coffee. We only get the one English channel CCTV9, but the box is broken so now we don’t even get that anymore. We do have a washer machine in the apartment. I think I have finally figured out how to work it from the symbols (no English). Only problem is that one load, a very small load, takes about 2 hours. But hey, 2 weeks ago I was washing everything in the sink so I am golden with this.

If it seems as though I am complaining, I am not. I am just letting you know of some of the obstacles that we face. For the most part, I think Sean and I are really doing great. We went yesterday to this “flea market” type store to buy rugs for our cold floors and plastic to wrap our drafty windows. Sean haggled with the sales lady (a skill I need to work on) and as we walked through town carrying our supplies, I thought to myself that we are really living in China! To think that we just came over here, found ourselves jobs and an apartment and then did all of the traveling that we just did… I think that is pretty daring and can’t believe we are actually doing it!

"Great" is an understatement...

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Although the Great Wall stretches across Northern China for over 4,000 miles (from the Northeast Yellow Sea westward across the entire country to Gansu province) there are only a handful of select locations that have been fully restored and offer breathtaking views, fewer tourists, and give you a chance to be alone with your thoughts while literally walking on what some consider one of the Seven Wonders of the World (it depends on whose list you like). One of these spots happens to be about an hour outside of Beijing, called Badaling. We left early in the morning for the bus stop, hopped on the 919, and planned to spend the whole day fulfilling one of our (and mine especially) dreams; trekking on the Great Wall of China.

The bus ride was not especially interesting but the scenery was an improvement over the barren, ramshackle countryside we were used to seeing on the trains. The ride began on flat land and then opened up after awhile giving us hills and eventually turning into impressive mountain vistas. You can't see the wall until the last ten minutes or so in the ride but once you get a glimpse you can see it is magnificent. We got tickets (40rmb = $5.75) and tried to ignore the constant barrage of vendors hawking everything from imitation bronze medals to raccoon hats with a red star in the middle, although Jenn did break down and get a t-shirt to commemorate the occasion.

We had been reading about the Wall for over a year now and knew to be prepared with layers of clothes, plenty of liquids, and be ready for steep climbs and dangerous steps - and they weren't kidding! We also knew that we could go either East or West for a few minutes and the crowds would thin out and we could see the wall without the throngs of tourists we wanted desperately to be away from for at least a little while. The book that Jack (Jenn's stepfather in Bonita Springs, Florida), Eyewitness Travel Guide's: China, could not have been more right about both of these tips and I highly recommend this book to anyone with a passion for traveling. Thanks for the great book, Jack!

Instead of starting out tackling the 1200 meter hike almost straight up the mountain, we opted

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to ride the cable car and save our energy for walking the wall itself. This too was a good decision and the cable car turned out to be quick and in less than ten minutes our boots were shuffling along the Great Wall of China. We were shuffling because you simply could not walk - it was too crowded! We pushed, and shoved, and flattened ourselves when necessary, but all we could see were coats, scarves, black shoes, and many, many little heads also scrambling for space. It was like a bad Disney ride! We managed to pop our heads up at a small peak, looked around exasperated, then decided to head East. With our heads down now, we began climbing. After 15 - 25 minutes the crowds had indeed thinned out and although we were gasping for breath, we started to relax and enjoy ourselves and appreciate the experience. We stopped for a drink and gazed out at the wall as it snaked up and down hills and valleys for as far as we could see. The color never changes, it's a lighter shade of stone slabs and bricks and we chatted about how soldiers used smoke, flares, drums, and bells to communicate along what seemed like it's infinite length. We eyed the ramparts, over the watchtowers spaced two arrow shots apart to leave no section unprotected, up the carriageways and eventually spotted the highest tower we could see - several miles out into the countryside. That's where we wanted to be.

The wall is in remarkable shape considering the amount of people trampling over it everyday, along with constant exposure to the elements, but our chuckles faded into grimaces as we navigated up hills so steep you could bend forward and crawl on all fours easily, and then braced for drops so steep the steps were literally on top of each other. The wall is about 26ft. high and about 21 ft. wide and we joked as we looked over the side that you don't walk the Great Wall of China - you Climb it!

Some parts invited slips and falls that would break bones easily and in other areas a slip could cause much worse. The stones were so smooth they were like walking on wet pavement and the builders only used steps when absolutely necessary, so the backside of a particularly steep pass presented only a smooth sidewalk of sorts to shuffle down as carefully as you could. We saw people without hiking boots sliding down on their butts to maintain control in some areas. We realized after a while that they make it easy for everyone to enjoy it around the first tower area but if you want to really climb the wall as it was designed - you need to be in good shape, have hiking boots on, and you do so at your own risk. There were very few kids or older people near the areas we were climbing.

It was no surprise then, when we walked inside one of the towers far away from the crowds and saw a small phone booth with SOS painted on it. They aren't kidding. It was a surprise however, that in one of the towers we met our first watchman. He was an old man (at least 75), wearing a green camouflage outfit with skin so leathered

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he looked like a football with a few teeth for seams. As we whispered to ourselves in amazement that he was able to get up here every morning and walk home via Great Wall every night, he smiled at us, then laughed with us, and offered to take our pictures. Although we could not understand anything each of us was saying, he made our short visit memorable with his laughter and friendliness and as we left he stood in a stone window and waved at us for several minutes. This happened regularly as we walked, what few people we encountered would say hello and ask if they could take a picture with us (we are trying to get used to this as it happens almost everywhere we go now).

We eventually made it up to the tower we had seen over two hours before and once we could go no further, we sat in the cold sun and tried to take it all in - to relax. We took more pictures of each other, talked about how cool it is that we are actually here realizing a dream we've talked about for as long as we've known each other, and then we silently walked away from each other so we could each enjoy the wall by ourselves. I tried to slow my heart down a bit and enjoy the

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moment and ended up thinking of my daughters and how they would enjoy it here too. I thought about my family and wished my brothers could see what I was seeing and how I would do my best to write about it later. I thought about this country and these people and their struggles and how I am visiting in the middle of a massive progression and transformation. I tried to relate to the millions of Chinese who worked on building this stone creature for hundreds and hundreds of lifetimes, much longer than my own country has even existed, and that's where the understanding begins to break down. How much of the wall did they build in the amount of time the USA has been on a map? The time lines began to blur and comparisons between people's and republics and countries and continents became nugatory.

Yes, I'm a stranger here, a foreigner, just another tourist dropping in on history but anyone who knows me knows that I consider myself lucky to be able to live here if only for a year. The Great Wall is just a wall after all, and it wasn't even effective really, it was breached by the Mongols in 13th century and the Manchu in the 17th century - but it will take your breath away in more ways than one. It is not just an everyday artifact in a civilization that has over 4,500 years of treasures and culture to explore and appreciate, and I try to understand working on and off on anything for 1,400 years! It did make me feel small, although not insignificant, much like gazing into a sky full of stars and just appreciating the fact that you are alive and breathing and living everyday as much as possible. It's only when I stop trying to understand it all that I will become insignificant. I contemplated on the effort and determination it took to build this beast a little longer, and the million men serving on the wall at one time, and then the cold began biting again and I felt it was time to go.

Sitting on the Great Wall of China was like dropping in, not just on history, but humanity itself. That realization, combined with the desire to try to understand and appreciate the experience, confirmed why I was traveling and living in China in the first place. It truly is one of the great wonders of the world.

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No access yet...

Hello! it's pouring rain here in the middle of the afternoon on Monday, and I've been running around all morning in our new city trying to find necessities for our new apartment...the only thing I haven't been able to find yet is caulk - because our toilet is leaking from the floor (if you can imagine that) and we have to fix it fast. Me and Jenn can handle it with no problem but there is not even a word for caulk in our mandarin book..hahahaha...

Anyway, we also don't have internet hooked up yet in our apartment so I am also scrambling to find somewhere in the city to sit and use internet access while I have some coffee, etc...I found a place finally and I'm outside in the lobby, standing on cardboard because if I step right or left I will slip on the wet porcelain tile, and I love this coffee house already because they burn incense all throughout so even the lobby smells like a Temple...delicious, as I steal some of their wireless...I will go up and buy a coffee just to say thanks...

So, as soon as I can manage, there will be some great pics and text for our trip to the Great Wall, along with the Terra Cotta Warriors we saw while in Xi'an, and we are getting settled into our apartment and trying to get everything up and running before we start classes on the 9th...

I heard the Super Bowl is today?? jeez...will have to hit ESPN to find out about that one!!

Cheers!!