I climbed a mountain today!! Ohhhhhhhhhh did I climb a mountain today! An 8,000 stair mountain that, for Jonny and I, turned out to be 12,000 stairs because, true to our nature, we got extremely lost. But don't let me jump the gun…I'll start from the beginning. :)
Peace Corps decided to give us a field trip today as a chance to break away from training and to meet up with all of the other 63 volunteers (one girl decided to resign and go home this week), let alone actually get to see a bit of Sichuan that doesn't involve our campus neighborhood. :) It was such a blast! They took us to Qingchengshan (Green City Mountain), which is a magnificent mountain that has, for thousands of years, been believed to be the cradle/center of Taoism. Anyways, there are Taoist temples all over the mountain, and the mountain itself has been lined with stairs leading to the top (8,000 to be exact). We had the choice of riding cable cars to the top of the mountain, or of hiking. That was all Peace Corps told us, they failed to go into specifics, so we said, "Hey! Let's hike!", not realizing that there were areas of this mountain where the stairs were only 2 inches wide, slippery, and the staircase was, without exaggeration, straight up. Sooo I started off the hike in a big group, catching up with old friends, having a great time, enjoying the feel of our sweat and our first real physical exertion in over 1 month, and then Jonny and I lingered behind to take some photographs, which was, we should have known, a terrible idea because Jonny and I have a history of getting lost. True to our nature, once we made it about halfway up the mountain, drenched in sweat, tired, hungry, and ready to make it to the top, we discovered a cave temple that looked (and was!!) very cool, so naturally we stopped. :) After exploring this cave temple, we were pleased to discover that the mountain began declining and that we didn't have to exert ourselves; just walk downstairs for a long, long, long time …. And then Jonny said "Wait—I've seen this before" and then we realized what we did….and of course you already realize what we did, because let's be honest, not many people are dumb enough to not make the connection that a hike UP a mountain does not include walking DOWN the mountain. That's right…we walked almost alllll the way back down the mountain. But did we give up? Of course not! My backpack broke (in 3 places, meaning I had to carry it by hand, meaning when I was walking up the 2 inch, slippery, steep stairs, I was holding onto rock with one hand, grasping my bag for dear life with the other, and praying to every god in the China sky to help us make it up alive), we ran out of water, we were lost, and we STILL hiked that mountain! What should have been 8,000 stairs (a ridiculous hike in-and-of-itself) turned out to be more like 12,000 stairs.
When we got to the top, all we could think about was cold beer and conversation with our friends. Incidentally enough, they had all been there for a great amount of time and were, as soon as we saw them, on their way back down the mountain. We didn't let that deter us. We bought cold, overpriced beer and half melted ice cream cones and that was our lunch. And it was amazing. I took gulps of both simultaneously. :)
We decided, after less than 1 minute of thinking things through, that perhaps it was a better idea to take the cable cars down. This was a great idea, because it felt OUTSTANDING on our feet, we saw some great views, and we even got to take a ferry when we got to the bottom. All in all, it was a great day! Now, at 8:30 pm, I am showered and ready to climb into bed. I think I'll watch some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and fall asleep to that. :)
This week I'm wrapping up teaching, which will be bittersweet, and on Monday I have my interview with Peace Corps to help them decide where they want to send me for my permanent site. Next Tuesday I'll find out where I'm going to live for the next 2 years. :) It's definitely what's always on my mind!! Keep your fingers crossed that it's a good place!
Oh! I should say….ha, true to my nature yet again, not only do I get lost, but I also lose things. For those that know me well, you know I am notorious for losing my cell phone. China is no exception. Yes, yes it is true. I haven't even had my phone for 3 weeks and I've already lost it. Don't bother calling it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that karma will lend a hand and it will miraculously find its way back to me, but let's not hold our breath for too long.
Bed time!! Wan an and I love you!
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| From PreService Tr... |
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