Jiari Kuai Le (Happy Holiday)

Have you ever been so happy you’re ready to burst? That’s how I’m feeling right this moment. It’s currently 12:30 in the afternoon and I’m sitting at my dining room table, looking out to the lovely farm below me, drinking a can of stout beer (that I paid far too much for in my excitement of finding stout), eating western-style noodles doused in butter (that I also paid far too much for), with my phone off the hook and music blaring loudly. The sun is shining brightly, the sky is blue (I love Guiyang! I didn’t see the sky or the sun the entire time I was in Chengdu), and the most exciting part about this is that I am online! And I’m on holiday vacation! So much happens here that it’s difficult for me to remember all that I do, but I’ll try my hardest while sitting here, in an overly-relaxed state of mind. :)

Two weekends ago I joined a few Peace Corps friends, our friend Lulu (who was our language teacher in Chengdu but is actually a native of Guiyang so she’s become one of our best friends and is introducing us to so many great people), and 3 of her friends and we went camping in the most beautiful, remote mountainside. We started the weekend off by hiking up a mountain (and this one wasn’t paved or commercial, like most mountains in China) that was absolutely beautiful. While hiking, I convinced myself that it was the most beautiful place I’d ever seen. When we weren’t in forest areas, we were in farmland, hiking through rice paddies. Along the way, I chatted with a farmer and they showed me how to till rice, which I ended up ruining (how embarrassing!), thus creating more work for them. Afterwards we met up with another farm family who welcomed us to relax in their home. They then killed us two chickens and made us a lovely chicken stew.

Camping itself was great. We camped next to a beautiful waterfall so I heard the sound of rushing water all night long. Our friends taught us Guiyang slang and curse words, and I discovered that, aside from the fact that they aren’t very resourceful in making fires (I kept trying to fix it to no avail), Chinese people camp the same way westerners (who like the outdoors and don’t go to designated camping grounds) do. It was lovely! :)

Staring up at the waterfall (not pictured)

Jess and Todd: My Guiyang Family

Right now it is holiday season in China. Last Wednesday was Mid-Autumn Day festival, which is a day where Chinese celebrate the moon, give each other mooncakes (very rich round cakes filled with fruit, meat, or other such edible things), and gather with families to play cards, mahjong, watch TV (TV is the most common form of any and all holiday celebrations) and eat. As planned, my Chinese friend and I celebrated the holiday together. He came over and made me a traditional Chinese meal, we exchanged mooncakes, listened to traditional Chinese music, and just enjoyed the evening. The biggest surprise to me, though, was that, aside from glancing out the window, no one ever really looks at the moon. In order to remedy this, and in order to make the holiday cross-cultural, I convinced my friend to go outside, lay in the grass, and stare at the moon. He had never laid in the grass in his life (Chinese people don’t usually sit on the ground, they squat to relax, so it was very strange for him to actually feel the ground on his back), so it was a fun way to end our celebration: staring at the moon and discovering what pictures we could draw with the few stars in the sky.

Monday was Chinese National Day, which is a celebration of The People’s Republic of China being formed (much like our Independence Day). Because of the upcoming holiday, last week the Guizhou government invited Guiyang foreign teachers to a huge banquet at the Sheraton Hotel (the nicest hotel in southern China). This was quite an event; I had caviar (amongst other delicious foods…too many to mention), met with the governor, was on TV, drank wine, and wore a fancy evening dress (thank the lord I brought one with me). I found it amusing that my first experience with caviar was while serving in the Peace Corps, but I’m not complaining. :)

The strangest part of holiday season in China is that, because National Day lies on a Monday, we have Monday-Wednesday off of school. However, China likes to take a 7 day vacation, so our school had us teach last Saturday and Sunday in exchange for this coming Thursday and Friday. It was weird to teach on a weekend, but because I did it, I now I have this Monday-Sunday to relax. Glorious!

National Day was great. My school took me and the other foreign teachers to Qingyan, an ancient city just outside of Guiyang. It was a lot of fun, a beautiful place, and then afterwards we went to Huaxi park (the most beautiful park in Guiyang) to relax.

All the foreign teachers at my school: Me, Miah, Frank (not actually a teacher but is married to Marilyn), Marilyn, Mark, Stephanie

Yesterday I joined some boys I met in the city for another day of fun. They are all graduate/doctorate students at other universities in Guiyang, and they were so excited to meet a foreigner (have I mentioned that foreigners just don’t come to Guizhou?) that they decided to splurge me all day. We went to a mountain park in the middle of the city, climbed the mountain, visited some Buddhist temples (they showed me how to meditate and explained many Buddhist traditions that were unclear to me before this), had dinner together, and then walked around the city. It was so much fun, they were all so helpful and welcoming, and it’s great to know I have more Chinese friends in Guiyang.

My new friends and I outside a temple

Li Chun and I at a lake at the top of the mountain

Today, as mentioned, I am relaxing and I am taking the afternoon to spend some time by myself. My noodles and stout are currently finished, so maybe now I’ll rearrange some furniture or watch a movie. Or just keep playing online. ;) The rest of the week is unplanned (there's talk of traveling to other cities in Guizhou), but I heard about an orphanage nearby that I plan to visit one of these days. I'm going to try and build relations with them and see if I can get some of my students to join me and volunteer to tutor English there. In my English classes I'm really working on inspiring students to help others and I think this would be such a great way to put it into action. Please keep your fingers crossed and prayers high that this will work...the more I talk about it the more I hear how difficult it may be to get approved, but I have high hopes and so any prayers/meditations/luck you can send my way would be greatly appreciated. :)

As always, I send my love across the globe! I hope nothing but the best for all of you. :)

XO