Falling for Fall

It's the end of summer...hopefully.  And I really want fall.  Here's why:

Fall is:

jeans and a hoodie

pumpkin bread fresh from the oven

spiced drinks

fresh wind

dried leaves

Thanksgiving

walks without sweat

cozy with a book

open arms and deep breaths

sweatpants without the sweat

picnics

open windows

family soon

Growing Zhuankou

This weekend I didn't have any masters work to complete, so decided to go explore. There is a new fancy mall a 5-minute bike ride from our apartment, so Kim and I met up with some friends for dinner and exploring the new place.  We rode our bikes.  The biggest parking area at this mall is for bikes and electric bikes.

Just so you can see how close it is to our apartment, below is a photo from our balcony.  Notice, slightly to the left, is a rounded white structure with spikes. This is a stadium.

The same stadium is seen below, in a picture taken at the entrance to the mall.

At the mall, we encountered some fun Chinglish in the Korean menu.

"Explodes the squid circle"

"The porphyra capensi boards"

And in one of the clothing stores.

We had a great time exploring and the mall really is nice.  It is completely air conditioned, open, and clean. On the way home, we bought this little guy from a street vendor.  In honor of the curious menu that night, we named him "Roasts the Scallion".

Roasts the Scallion

A Taste of Home

I know, Christmas is a long way off, but I'm already excited to be in the U.S. this year.  I've already begun to envision all the yummy things and delightful moments I will be able to experience.  Lately I've been thinking about tea quite a bit.  Kim threw me a wonderful tea and cupcake birthday party because I've been going on and on about it for so long.  There's something wonderful about sipping tea with friends and family, and somehow sipping it out of cute little china cups makes it even more pleasant.

What is is about tea time that is worth looking forward to?  Here's what I look forward to about it in Columbia:
Each morning at home, almost no matter what time I wake up, a pot of tea awaits me. Recently my parents have begun making tea in a coffee pot (obviously one that has been purged of all coffee smell and taste).  There's always a pot on along with a can of the stuff that makes it twice as enjoyable as when I make it myself: evaporated milk.  Add some sugar and the best part is still to come.

After the tea is prepared, I go and sit down on our kitchen table bench and cross my legs. There's inevitably somebody there, whether it's my parents having their morning talk or whoever else is staying at the house at the time.  This Christmas I'll miss having Sam around to ask me to play guitar with him and Lucas and Jamie looking bleary eyed from a not so rest-filled night.  If Jamie was there, I could admire her ever artful breakfast. But no matter who is there, there's always somebody there, and we drink tea together... on a bench in the kitchen, tea with evaporated milk and sugar, made in a coffee pot, begun before anyone gets up in the morning.

And that's just one thing I look forward to about going home at Christmas.  I can't wait.

Summer Travels

I finally have internet here at home, so I'm inspired to write about my travels this summer.
Kim and I originally set out to have a cheap but enjoyable vacation traveling in China and exploring the beauty it has.

The Hump hostel in Kunming (I know, strange name)

We first set out for Kunming.  This is a major city in Yunnan province and Kim and I were immediately impressed.  The sky was blue and it somehow seemed less dirty and hustle/bustle than Wuhan. We stayed in a hostel with an awesome patio and view.

But Kunming was just a stopover point.  From there we took an 8 hour train to LiJiang and met an  Indian boxer who was happy to speak English with us.

Our train buddy

We spent 3 days in LiJiang.  Our activities included exploring, shopping, and hiking the Tiger Leaping Gorge.

Garden Inn Hostel in LiJiang

Tiger Leaping Gorge

Women in LiJiang

From LiJiang we took the 8 hour train back to Kunming and spent a night in the same hostel.  Then we had a flight to Guilin.  We only took the flight because they ran out of bed train tickets, and we aren't crazy enough to get a seat for 16 hours.  We took a 2 hour bus from Guilin to Yangshuo.

In Yangshuo, we enjoyed the "karst peaks" and unique mountains by kayaking, bike riding, and wandering around the town.

Kayaking in Yangshuo

Trippers Carpe Diem Hostel just outside Yangshuo

After Yangshuo we took the bus back into Guilin where we enjoyed 3 nights in a 5 star luxury hotel. What a way to end our trip!

We thoroughly enjoyed the pool at the Shangri-La

And then we were back in Wuhan.  We love our new apartment and feel so at home.  Photos to come, but below is one taste of the joy of our new place.

View from our last apartment (no, the guy was not always hanging there)

The view from our new living room (lest you be too amazed, this kind of sky comes only a few days a year in Wuhan)

Where are we?

For my 3 weeks in Beijing, I'm living with several friends in a neighborhood in the suburbs.  I've found a couple aspects of our housing complex quite interesting.

1) Gas, water, and electricity all are charged on separate cards.  This means that, when any of these start to run low (or run out), in the house, the resident must go to a place in the center of the neighborhood with the specific card (whether gas, water, or electricity) and "charge" the card by paying money to have credit put on it.  It's like gas, water, and electricity credit.

2)  At least once a month the electricity and water for the entire neighborhood is cut off.  This is because one person did not pay their bill.  Neighbors go and yell at each other until the bill is paid and the water and electricity is restored. We were here to experience one of these days.

Oh man, it's just so NOT America.

On the bright side, "our" house has pretty grape vines and an apricot tree.

The Power of the Suburb

Maybe this post will be somewhat controversial. I had friends at Moody would scoffed at living in the suburbs like it was for the weak at heart.  Let me admit now, then: I am the weak of heart.

For these 3 weeks, as I study in Beijing, some of my Wuhan friends and I are staying at a lovely house in the suburbs.  The center where I'm taking classes is also in the suburbs.  I never knew how much the city wore down on me until I stepped away.  To wake up to the sound of birds or even weird cat howls is a great improvement to honking horns, poorly functioning ancient vehicles, construction, and people hocking loud spitballs out their windows.  On one of our rides to another part of the city, I contemplated why this is.

I think there's something one has to close off or become hard to while living in the city. If one lets it all in, it will grate and annoy.  It takes a lot of energy to close all that off.  Outside the city, especially in the country, there's a release.  You can open up because what's there is beauty and peace.

So I guess I discovered why I don't like cities.  

Changes

Some people really like change.  Honestly, I don't know if I know myself enough to know whether I like change or not.  I think I like it except for right before it happens.  Now, I haven't been all around the world, but I think China may be one place that change happens faster than anywhere else.  After three years in Wuhan, I want to document some changes in life since my first year here.

1) Suburb--city: I live in the least developed of 3 parts of Wuhan.  Up until this year, the area I live in and the school have been almost in a suburb-like area.  There hasn't been much traffic and I used to be able to look out my window at an open field where people would grow veggies.  I don't have a before and after photo, but I do have this photo of what is used to be like across from my apartment. In fact, my first year I went there to dig up soil to try to grow veggies on my deck (which was an ultimate FAIL, but the way). For the now photo, just imagine huge buildings, probably 20 floors high, in the construction phase, with waving dark green nets on them that make them look like death.
Speaking of death, as traffic increases, it gets more and more difficult to maneuver my way to school on my bike. Sometimes it feels like a video game.

2) Prices:  I know prices have changed all around the world, but for some reason the change seems more dramatic here.  Our favorite milk tea place's price has risen 50% (ok, that just means 2RMB to 3RMB, but nonetheless). Milk has risen probably 20% since my first year.  Crazy!

3) Availability: I now live no more than 20 minutes from a Subway (the restaurant).  In the next year, we will also have a Starbucks. The grocery store now has liquid detergent.

All this to say, I'm starting to feel like I actually live in a big city... Change.  Some of it I like, but some I don't.