Cookout

Some Swiss friends invited us to cookout with them for dinner. Our apartment complex is located on the edge of town, and we walked less than five minutes down by the river before reaching a suitable site to build a fire. Sausages, homemade bread, potato chips, and french fries were served. So close to our city home, yet surrounded by trees we felt like we were really out in the woods on an adventure. We had just enough time to eat, chat, and enjoy before a storm started blowing in, signaling the end of our cookout. We quickly packed up and ran home, just in time before the rain started. A lovely evening.

Train Trip - Part#2

Next stop was another 24 hour train ride to Kashgar. This town was like stepping back in time, as it had the feel of an old city seen only in movies. Old style houses, small alley ways, vendors pushing carts of food along streets, men barbecuing mutton kabobs along the sidewalks, and women in colorful scarf head coverings...were all sights from this town. The people were mainly Uygur Muslim, speaking a form of Turkish. Such an amazing place.

Pomegranates were plentiful in this town and many local vendors sold small cups of freshly squeezed juice. Later we realized that these small cups were rarely washed. As we walked through the alleys of the old part of the city, many kids begged us to take their picture, not sure why, but it was a quick way to make a small friend. Visited a local Muslim cemetery still in use today. It seemed that each family owned one plot and underground there were many chambers to bury many bodies. The bazaar was a world of its own - a sea of people filled the street selling and buying just about everything. This guy was selling sliced pieces of melon. The other guy on the left was making fresh noodles. I sat and watched as he was cooking a bowl of homemade spinach tortellini for me.

Train Trip - Part#1

Before school started we caught a train up north to check out some of the sights that we long heard about but never had the opportunity to see. Our first stop was Urumqi. It was a 24 hour, non-stop, train ride to this city. It was my first experience with sleeping on bunk beds three rows high. Time passed quickly and we eventually made it. Urumqi is a much bigger and more diverse city then where I currently live. There is a lot of color and history close by. Here are a few of the sights that we saw by order of the pictures to the left: Pic#1: We first ventured to a park located high up on a hill... Pic#2: ...where we could see the whole city. Pic#3: The park had all sorts of cultural items... Pic#4: ...and cultural scenery. Pic#5: The next day we took a bus just outside the city to a small town known for their grape vines and Uygur people. It's supposed to be a fairy tale city in the summer time, but things were sort of dead and cold during the winter. Pic#6: There were plenty of grape / raisin drying houses located around the city. Pic#7: We checked out a UNESCO old city site... Pic#8: ...and posed for a group shot. Pic#9: It was the remains of a civilization a long time ago. Since it was off season, we were the only people looking at the site. Pic#10: On the drive back to Urumqi we passed by these wind turbines located in the middle of dessert.

Hot and Cold

The best and worst part of being here is you really never know what's going to happen next. This morning it was our hot water. Water runs hot for 5 seconds, then cools off, and runs cold for 5 seconds, before heating back up and repeating the cycle. So taking a shower looks like: Wet hair, stand back and count to 5, lather, rinse hair, stand back and count to 5, wet hair again, stand back and count to 5....etc. Turns out it's happening to our neighbors too. Maybe it will start working again? I don't know, but such is life.

I'm Back

It was about a 40 hour trip, door-to-door. The trip was uneventful, which is usually the best kind. It was a 3 hr flight, 2 hr layover, 15 hr flight, 17 hr layover, 2.5 hr flight, 0.5 hr ride back to our apartment. We spent one night in a hotel during the 16 hour layover. The set up of the room was like any standard hotel, BUT the shower had ALL glass walls (with pull down shades when actually taking a shower). So from the toilet, you could see straight through the shower to the bed and outside window. Such a pretty room. It was nice to be back in Asia, and in the morning when we went to the airport at 6am to catch our last leg flight- we found many restaurants open and serving hot dishes and soups. There is nothing as satisfying as a big bowl of noodles for breakfast! We arrived back at our apartment, finding it just as we left it. This week has been filled with cleaning, re-arranging our apartment, registering, signing up for classes, and reconnecting with friends. It's been good to be back.

Going Home

So I'm going home for a few months. This will be my last post until I return. I'm looking forward to seeing friends and family. Especially to get away from this cold weather and thaw out a bit. Drop me an email if you would like to get together and hear more stories in person!

Bus Ride Home

Another part of normal life is taking the bus around the city. Most of the time it goes well and routine.

But today I got on a bus going in the wrong direction. It's a common mistake. After a few minutes of riding a crowded bus, I realized my mistake, and confirmed it with the lady standing next to me. So I got off the bus, crossed the street and got on the right bus, going in the right direction.

Almost home, the bus broke down. The driver told us all to get off and wait for the next bus. Fifteen minutes later, still no bus, but the bus driver fixed the bus and we all got back on and were on our way home.

Just another day in the city.

Tastes Like Candy

Have you ever made a big glass of Tang, put in more mix than directed, and it tasted so sweet, yet so good?!? That's how these oranges taste!

A group of locals were hoovered around a cart filled with little oranges. They were eagerly buying BIG bags. One customer said to me, with a huge smile on her face, "tian da!" (tastes sweet!). I asked how much and she said, "liang kuai yi jin!" (40 cents per pound). The salesman confirmed what she was telling me, so I dug out 40 cents from my pocket. They are so sweet that I can't stop eating them!

I never agreed with using the expression "it tastes like candy" when describing fruit....until now!

Ice Skating

Some neighbors were taking their kids to the park today.
All they had to say was 'ice skating' and I was in.

It was the first time I skated on open water, instead of an inside rink.

It was a big park with a large frozen lake in the middle.

The lake was sparse, just a few speed skaters practicing around a track.

The ice was clear and smooth. I could see down through it. It was such a nice day to skate.

OOO

At random times either the water, electricity, or gas is cut off at my apartment complex. It's pretty amazing how it's still possible to be almost fully functional during the outages. It's just a normal part of life.

Sublimation

I'm at such a high altitude and it's so dry here that snow rarely sticks - it just sublimates (goes straight from a solid to a gas). Check out the USGS site for more about sublimation. <http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercyclesublimation.html>

Progress

Recently I've been tired of school and feeling like I haven't made much progress. Until today when I went shopping and the shop keeper insisted that I sit down and have a conversation. Four months ago I wouldn't have even known that he wanted me to sit down, now I can actually chit chat for a few minutes. I think that's progress!

Relationships

It's all about relationships here. Relationships are the key to survival in a country with so many people. Whether you want cheaper deals on vegetables, the last seat on the train, or a respectable job. But building relationships takes so much time.....

Tree

I came home from class around noon to find that the electricity was out. A friend told me that it would be out until 10:30pm. While Ben cooked lunch, I poked around in the hall closet that contained many miscellaneous items that were left from the previous tenants. To my delight I found a Christmas tree along with a complete set of decorations! I pulled it all out and decorated. It is such a cute, five foot, skinny, artificial tree.

Freebies

Grocery shopping can sometimes be a little overwhelming here. Try going into the supermarket and buying toothpaste without reading any of the words on the boxes and not knowing any of the brands. Do you get the one with Jackie Chan or the smiling baby on it? What do Jackie Chan or babies know about frozen dumplings anyways? The other day I wanted yogurt, but there had to be about 20 different types. I couldn't tell them apart, so I made the logical choice. Since they were all about the same price, I picked the one that came with a free item! In this case a free cloth grocery bag. So far we have gotten two cups, a spoon, and a bag for free!

Road Trip

Since it was the week of Thanksgiving, I decided to take a little break from school and go on a road trip! I've been keeping so busy since I arrived here that I haven't had the opportunity to get out of the city and sight see. So when a friend invited me to go out of town with her, I just couldn't say no. We traveled roughly 240 km to a village. It was close enough that we only had to spend one night there and we could return the next day. We left the city in the morning by car. The previous day we purchased bus tickets, but at the last minute we were offered a ride by an expat who had a car and was heading that way. This was great because the bus would take four hours, while the car only would take 2.5 hours. It was a very comfortable 2.5 hour ride with plenty of great scenery and conversation. Arrived at the village around noon. Over a simple lunch, my friend introduced me to one of her friends. Afterwards, my friend had to run off to her meeting and attend to her business for the rest of the day. I was in luck because my new friend had lived in this village for many years and spoke English, as well as the local languages. She gave me the grand tour of the town, complete with a history lesson and insider information. Then, took me to a local family's house to see their lifestyle and culture. Afterwards, we learned that this day was an auspicious day and there was to be a festival in the monastery within the center of town- which meant to me that I was able to freely walk around the monastery (versus buying a ticket to enter and having a tour guide show me around, which westerners usually have to do). I was also able to watch the traditional dances that only occur annually. After I got over the beauty of the art work and how the town was situated within the mountains, my next impression was for being such a poor village, the monastery was very rich. I just couldn't seem to understand why the people would offer so much food to be burned while so many people across the street were starving- it just didn't seem right. Then we went back to the house where my friend and I were going to spend the night. It was a beautiful house with most of the comforts of home, excluding running water. The heating was a coal burning stove. The bathroom was a carefully constructed Asian style outhouse. The water was carried in from outside and stored in a pitcher. My bed was comfortable with a huge stack of blankets to keep me warm. Caught the 9am bus the next morning. The bus took four hours to get back into town, as it had to stop very often to pick up passengers waiting alongside the road. It felt like the longest bus ride ever, but we eventually got home in time for lunch. Over all it was a great and relaxing trip!

Happy Thanksgiving

I had a great thanksgiving holiday. An American family invited about ten Americans to celebrate the holiday together, including Ben and I. A 10 lb turkey (imported from America) was served along with all of the proper fixings: green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, rolls, mashed potatoes, gravy, pumpkin pie, and a bunch of other dishes. Dinner was served early and the rest of the evening was spent playing games and hanging out. It almost felt like I was back in America!

Morning Exercises

yi, er, san, si, wu, liu, qi, ba......

On my way to class, I often hear large groups of people counting out loud and see them all doing group morning exercises. Everyone from small elementary school kids to grandmas and grandpas are out in the squares doing thai chi or other sorts of aerobics to start off their day.

But this morning was special. As the construction crew was busy preparing to start their day of work and surveying the large canal that was being dug, the backhoe was sitting still on the side of the road getting it's digging arm all warmed up and ready for the day. Like a hand, it was stretching, then curling, in a nice smooth motion, similar to what I often see the people doing in the square. It was the first time that I ever saw a backhoe doing morning exercises!

It's Cold

It's a weird feeling to have winter come so early in the year. It's only November and I already have my big down jacket and thick gloves on. It's already snowed here a few times. It all melted pretty quick in the city, as the pavement is pretty warm from the intense sunlight. But looking out to the hillsides, the peaks of the mountains are covered with snow. I've heard stories from travelers that the roads are icy and snowy, which caused long traffic backups. I also read a news story of nomads and their yak being stuck out in the grassland because the snow was so high; it was up to 130 cm. The common chit chat around town has been informing me that this is nothing yet, compared to how cold it will get in a few months. Thank goodness for good heaters!

Random Thoughts

It's been a while since I last posted, as I've been without internet for the past two weeks.

Some random thoughts:

1. Moved into a new apartment, that I will be able to stay in for as long as I want. The apartment is fully furnished too with really nice stuff! Very comfortable!

2. There was a 6.5 earthquake in a town northwest of me. It was far away enough that I didn't feel anything. But some friends who live on the 11th floor said their building swayed and dishes rattled. I don't think anybody was hurt by it.

3. My language class was too big, so it got split up into two classes. My new teacher is very good and makes us work very hard. I have learned more in one week than I have learned in one month in the other class.

4. Was invited to see a 'variety show' last weekend. It featured all sorts of traditional and modern music, dances, and fashion. Gave me such a good overview of the culture. I even got suckered into trying to dance the traditional dance on stage! Very fun!

5. My neighbor makes shortening (for pies) from scratch. I didn't quite understand the whole process, but she turns pork fat into shortening. I guess my theory about shortening growing from a can was incorrect.

6. I've been wondering how to cook a turkey for thanksgiving in my tiny toaster oven. Do turkeys come that small???

7. Even after all the eating that I'm doing, I seemed to have have lost 15 pounds in two months. I guess it's from all of the walking that I've been doing. I think I need to eat more so I won't have to get new clothes. Too bad the girls here are super duper skinny and I still wear XL in the size scale here!

8. When asking for the price, if you see somebody hold up eight fingers that means it costs 5 bucks and 3 cents...not 8 dollars. I tried paying 8 bucks but I only got laughed at and given my proper change. Number gestures. Very embarrassed.

9. My new apartment is the last building, located on the very edge of town. Very good view of the river and of trees and mountains. But the city is planning on expanding, so in a few years my apartment will be part of the really nice and trendy area. Much construction of roads and underground work is going on outside. One day it will be very convenient.

10. There is a nation wide contest for the cleanest city going on. The city I'm in is aggressively seeking to win this award. Many of the little street vendors have been closed down and moved into permanent shops. It's starting to look very clean!