Shenyang Botanical Garden

 

If I were in charge, these bed swings would be installed on every university campus.

 

 

While not as beautiful, the back of a peacock is really fascinating.

 

 

Sure, it's pretty, but take a closer look. Follow the stem. One may never understand China.

 

 

My new friend, S-- and I.

 

 

A lake full of 'May Snow.'

 

 

TULIPS!!

 

 

 

 

A working clock made of flowers.

 

 

J-- and M-- of our group take pictures of each other.

 

 

More of our group.

 

 

MORE TULIPS!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Changchun in ancient script.

 

 

Possible profile pic?

 

 

What's the Merlion doing in northeast China?! It was like running into an old friend unexpectedly.

 

 

Bridge course that just keeps going and going. Performance anxiety overcame me and I couldn't bring myself to cross ANY of the bridges, not even the easy ones.

 

 

I did, however, try to work a paddle wheel, although not very successfully at first.

 

 

 

I finally got it going!

Never in Yanji

I arrive in Yanji at 6:52 am, just as my train ticket says I will. My friend Cui is waiting to pick me up. We drive to her house where homemade kimchi and a soup of homegrown pumpkins waits for breakfast. Right away, Cui and I begin a string of conversation that won't really end until I leave. We regail each other with happenings from the last few months, letting our hands do the necessary morning routine activities automatically. By nine, Cui, her dad, her brother, and I reach the office. Although it's Sunday, Cui has two meetings. I tag along because I'm tired of eating and sleeping, which I've been doing all week in Changchun during China's "Golden Week." 

Our conversation continues well into the time when my stomach starts to rumble. Cui's biggest question for me: What can we do so you won't get bored? I answer with another question. What haven't I done in Yanji?

Since I lived in this small town for a year in 2010-2011, and have visited many times since, there's not a lot I haven't done. Cui suddenly gets the idea to see a movie. When I lived here there was only one theater that I never patroned for reasons beyond me. Now there are two or three cinemas and I'm finally going to go see a movie! We decide to see Out of the Inferno, a Park Brothers film starring Gu Tianle and Liu Qingyun. The movie is about a skyscraper in Guangzhou that catches fire and the brother firefighters (Gu and Liu) who rescue a lot of people. I'll save my review for another post, but sufficient to say, I quite enjoyed its 3D, action-packed, heart-wrenching story.

I decide to use the restroom before leaving the theater. All six stalls are occupied so I wait. The first stall that opens a young woman comes out and I pass her to go in. "Whaaaaaaat!" We both say as we pass. As we each get a good look we realize that we know each other! It's my former student Tian Hwa! We had a one-on-one class when I lived in Yanji, at which time she was preparing to go to New York to study. Up until now, all my Facebook statuses told me she was still there. She thought I was in Changchun, so the bathroom stall of the movie theater where we had just watched the same movie was the last place we expected to see each other.

Cui and I went back to her house where Cui's mom was already busy preparing a Korean BBQ dinner. Everything is so fresh and perfectly spiced. The pictures may not do it justice but they will just have to do.

 

 

 

 

 

Cui the cook

 

The next morning, Tian Hwa and I meet up for brunch at a newer bakery-slash-coffee shop. We end up chatting for over four hours. She has a lot of interesting insights into life as a foreigner in the U.S., especially as a Chinese citizen. Unfortunately, we got so caught up in our conversation we forget to take a picture together. Hopefully we'll get to meet up in the U.S. sometime, though!

In the afternoon I do some shopping. This is NOT something new for me in Yanji, but I happen upon some good deals. Later, another friend and I have decided to get a group together to go bowling. I've never done that in Yanji either! Cui, who has never bowled before, luckily gets off work just in time to meet us for a few games. It takes me ten sets just to get warmed up (putting me in last place for the first round), but I step up my game and end up winning the next round by one point. In the end, however, my fingers gave out on me before my spirit does, and I finish the last round at third place. It's pretty good considering that by this time none of the other girls are playing. After bowling we go out for more Korean food. Most of those students are medical majors, so conversations with them can take a gory turn, but mostly we all just goof-off and get to know each other. The next morning Cui and I are up early to get me on a bus to Changchun.

 

 

 

Winner with a score of 124!

 

 

Cui and I after her first bowling adventure

 

 

An hour outside of Yanji the land bursts into a yellows canvas ranging from dandelion white to mustard. Every now and then it bursts into hot pink and crimson. Any leftover green is all the more stringent for not having succumbed to autumn's inevitable demise. A thought crosses my mind for the first time ever. What if we looked at old people the same way we looked at trees in the fall? With every new wrinkle we would "ooh" and "aah." When black or blonde hair silvered with age we'd all rush to take pictures and gather it in our hands. If only we looked at our own selves growing old with the same awe with which we view the change from summer to autumn. Soon my thoughts become memories, the landscape drifts past in rolling gold, lulling me into a pleasant, deep sleep.

 

 

 

 

Fortunately

Sometimes things just don't go your way. Sometimes it's not just a one day thing. But whether it's by the minute or by the year, things always turn around. Inspired by one of my favorite books growing up, Fortunately by Remy Charlip, here is what's been happening with me since we last met.

Unfortunately, someone was not very nice to me.

Fortunately, I found a new place to exercise. I had to pay a little money, but now everything I want to do is all in one spot not too far from home. I go five or six times a week for an hour or more each time. I figure with every workout I burn at least 500 calories. In the last three weeks, I've lost almost three kilograms, about five pounds. My goal is to lose six more kilos before I go home in November. Six more weeks!

Unfortunately my neck and shoulder are on the fritz again. 

Fortunately the doctor is still seeing me. Adding stretches and yoga is helping. Also, I've learned that it might be a symptom of gallbladder issues, which may seem like an "unfortunate," but I'm actually happy to know the connection. As I've experimented with some suggestions on what to eat, I believe I'm feeling a difference. The biggest help so far? Fresh ginger juice! Mmm, spicy!

Unfortunately, I didn't do my yearly tradition of buying a nice, fancy box of mooncakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival. 

Fortunately, for once I was given a box of fancy-shmancy mooncakes! Giving and receiving the tasty treats is typically done in Chinese society. I look at the fact that I received some as achieving some sort of clout among my local friends.

Unfortunately, tutoring has been canceled a lot lately, which means my funds are considerably lower than I would like.

Fortunately, this has given me the time I needed to do more in-depth research for my thesis. I'm feeling good about the direction it's heading. 

Unfortunately, it took DA3 two months to get his new passport.

Fortunately, with its arrival we could get his U.S. visa application started! Wish him luck for his interview!

Unfortunately, due to a dumb mistake on my part, I'm unable to listen in on a particular writing class for Chinese.

Fortunately, I have been writing anyway. Just this week I started writing a short story in Chinese. Hopefully that can get finished in the next 10 years. I'm only slightly joking. There's no deadline and I am notoriously inept at keeping my own. However, I had a breakthrough while brainstorming for it and the more I write, the more excited the story makes me. On a side note, I usually read and write while riding the bus, and although I ride the bus often enough, it is still a contributing factor to why this might take a while to get finished. 

Unfortunately, in the last couple of weeks I had a few bad days. I lost some sleep and felt bodily pain. 

Fortunately, things are looking up. Why, at this very moment I am making whole wheat, tuna-olive bread. Later, I'm making Borsch. Life is fine.

What do you think? After reading my list, do you think it might all be connected somehow? Also, did you run into some bad luck this week? How have you seen it start to turn around?  

Exploring China Competition: Round 3, Qingdao (Nationals!)

After a three day break, Northeast Normal University's Exploring China team was off to their next destination: Qingdao--Nationals. Qingdao is in Shandong province, a few provinces south of Jilin, which meant we got to fly! After some delay, and a long bus ride from the airport, we arrived in our hotel only to find our rivals, Yanbian University, had arrived at the same time. They, however, had started out one day before us and had taken a boat from Dalian to Qingdao!

 

 

 

 

Practicing for our entrance at the following morning's Opening Ceremony

 

 

Let the games (and the tanning) begin! Qingdao's weather gets us off to a great start. Our basketball team persevered through to the top eight.

 

 

The victory wasn't without some side effects, however. These boys are beat!

 

 

I'm just here for the soft floor

 

 

Tavj and Kate also came to play!

 

 

 

 

But the next day....

 

 

 

After being led to the wrong courts by our "guide," Day 2 of the basketball tournament was off to a bad start. By the end of this particular game, both Liaoning (who we had met back in Yanji the week before) and us decided to virtually stop the game and just do trick shots. We saw some good slam dunks and perfectly aligned 3-pointers, but in the end, Liaoning stayed one point ahead, leaving us in last place.

 

 

Stopping traffic with their Loser Faces. We still love you guys!

 

 

Our "guide," who Chew Laoshi ( wearing visor) made cry for taking us to the wrong place for basketball.

 

 

Part encouragement and part condolence dinner in a Qing-style banquet hall hosted by our university's leaders who had come to watch us compete.

 

 

Finally, the ocean!

 

 

Auzz-Rook, me, and Dashka (her first time seeing the sea)

 

 

Speedboat ride in the bay

 

 

I saw the Samoans from another university jump in and I just couldn't resist!

 

 

My first Chinese celebrity sighting! Ji Xiaojun, from CCTV English

 

 

The whole CCTV crew!

 

 

We finished in Qingdao 20th place or so out of 28 teams. For my own part, I got 6th place in the individual performances. I considered it a personal victory, and it encouraged me even more that the two girls from the top four also stopped to chat with me. Unfortunately, the points from the performances did not amount to much compared to the basketball and orienteering scores. All in all, though, it was great meeting other foreign students (fellow countrymen and others alike) studying in other parts of China. It was also great fun getting to know my own teammates!

 



Exploring China: Round 2, Yanji Again



Here goes part 2 of the "Exploring China" series. We went back to Yanji just three weeks after the first round. The first time we went, we took two teams (and were the only school to do so). True to fashion, the powers-that-be decided to cut the second team, although they had rightfully made it into the second round. We also got a new addition, our star basketball player, Auzz-Rook.

 

 

 

Power to Auzz!

 

 

The boys, minus our Chinese teammate, Jason

 

 

The girls, minus our American teammate, Me

 

 

My roommate, Dashka (Mongolia), and I trying to point to each other's flags

 

 

3-3 Basketball match...a little behind in our first game, but we caught up!

 

 

Dongbei and Liaoning--If only we had been able to play these during the basketball tournament!

 

 

Number 1 team. Look at how smug they are!

 

 

What they forgot to mention above was how much pain they were all in. The top three teams all sustained pretty serious injuries. The American from Yanbian's team even broke his knee.

 

 

 

Meanwhile...

 

 

I went to visit my old school and found my little buddies all grown up!

 

 

They still remembered me! The girl on my left gasped when I came in the room. Jenny probably never thought she'd see Lehyla Teacher again, nor did Lehyla Teacher think she'd ever be happy to see Jenny again haha! *sigh* It's a good thing people grow up, teachers included.

 

 

My old classroom has been turned into the storage room, which made me a little disappointed until I saw...

 

They haven't taken a thing down from the walls since I was there! There's the American map and all of my student contracts!

 

 

These kids are just as big as me!

 

 

 

 

Finally, however, the last day of the competition arrived.

 

 

Zhuan Li and Lena getting ready for the Orienteering. The mood was somber since the night before (and I don't care that I'm sharing this pubicly, China) the top three teams were given the map of the course by their coaches, who got it from the hosts. How would you feel, knowing that without these points you'd probably lose, but that to get the points you needed to cheat? Now let me put it in context. How would you feel after being shown the course without knowing it was for the purpose of cheating until it was too late? That is China.

 

 

Since everyone else was getting all "patri-mental," I decided to do my part, too.

 

 

After it all, it's time for some fun! Suri-Nico, me, and Auzz-Rook. They're so tall!

 

 

Ol' stone Josun and I

 

I should have been born a cartoon

 



So we passed Round 2 as cheaters by world standards, as strategists by China's standards, and as opportunists by all. Three days later we were on to the national competition in Qingdao, Shandong province.