DAY ???

Riding trains in China is (in our opinion) convenient, simple, relatively cheap, and a great way to travel.  We try to book overnight trains for our journeys making it a slightly cheaper trip by not requiring us to purchase a hotel/hostel room and travel.  China has one of the largest and busiest train systems in the world.  We have found that we can make it to almost every city in China by way of the train.  We feel they are safe, comfortable for us, and a pretty bang up way to travel.  There are a couple different classes: hard seat, soft seat, hard sleeper, and soft sleeper.  Price is also affected by whether you have chosen something soft or hard, seat or sleeper.  You can also buy a standing ticket.  Some students prefer to buy those because they are very cheap.

A soft sleeper cabin has four beds and a door to close your cabin to keep out any noise and give some privacy.  Most common for us is hard sleeper.  Hard sleepers have bunks in open-plan dormitory cars, usually arranged 6 to a berth.  Beds are designated as upper, middle or lower.  The lower the bunk the pricier it is. 

We took a picture, added some red boxes and labeled some things in blue on a ticket so that you could could have an idea what we give the ticket lady.

We have learned a couple things about trains in the years that we have lived here.  Two of those things:
*Avoid trains that only have a 4 number designation – these are peasant trains and unbearably slow.
*Trains designated by listing a letter first are good; the later the letter in the alphabet, the classier the train.

We have been on 3 trains this trip.  We anticipate we will have at least one more and possibly up to four train rides before making it back to our home in Yinchuan.

Another post is on its way.

DAY 3

We left our apartment in Yinchuan on Sunday afternoon to take an overnight train to Xi'an where we went immediately to the airport and caught a plane to Kunming, Yunnan.  Yunnan is a province in southwest China just above the Burma/Myanmar border.  We are MUCH warmer here than we have been so far this winter.  Kunming is called the city of perpetual spring (or something like that).  We buy it.  You would too. 

We got to have dinner last night with Mr. and Mrs. S.  K went to highschool with Mrs. S (before she was Mrs. S) and for those of you that remember, she was the gal who sang at our wedding.  It was great to finally meet her husband.  They are finishing up a stint studying language here in the city of spring.  It was a fun reunion.

This afternoon when we got tired of prepping for grad classes (which start on Monday) we went out in search of some culture.  The place we are staying has character but as for culture it is a hippie backpacker hang out on the roof kinda place. We like it....it's cheap and it's in the center of town.  Our cultural outing was to a tea shop where a professional tea guy prepared sample pots of tea for us to sniff and sip.  We bought some of our favorites.  N thinks one is reminiscent of alfalfa and something a cow might deposit in the alfalfa field.  Sound appetizing?  K heartily disagrees.  It's "earthy."

Tonight we're taking a train north (still in Yunnan) to a little town called Dali known for its scenic vistas and historic architecture.  Supposedly there is a lake shaped like an ear.  Who doesn't want to see that?

So we are three days into a trip we expect to take about 44.   Stay tuned every now and then to find out where we are and what we're doing.  Happy trails to us.

N: We'll Always Go On

For New Year’s Eve, our teammates had a small party at their house. It was pretty fun to be together for the New Year. I don’t think K and I have made it to midnight since we’ve been married. Usually we konk out in the 11th hour and end up going to bed. At our teammates home we talked, played games, had fresh vegetable & ranch dip, sweet fried peanuts, Chinese Tea Eggs, Apples with Caramel Dipping Sauce, and Spinach Dip. It was mighty tasty. We also watched a little Chinese TV. Nothing special happened as the New Year clock was ticking down. There was a group of Chinese Celebs counting down when the clock had only 10 seconds left, but when compared to the States, there wasn’t nearly as much grandeur. That comes out for Chinese New Year on February 7.

Earlier in the day we went to the eye doctor to get our prescription checked out and to buy some glasses. We had previously thought that we would get that done during the last summer holiday, but decided at some point that we could get a better deal in China. I think 80% of all my students wear glasses. The checking of the eyes couldn’t be that different right? To be honest, it was very similar when you got down to what they were testing for. It was their method that was slightly off. When explaining to our Chinese friend that came along with us our experience in how doctors figure out the correct strength of your prescription he responded with “you have a machine that does all this?” It then took a minute to explain that the doctor operates the machine and that the doctor is of some importance to the process. The machine that our Dr. uses in the states just simplifies and makes the process a little more convenient for the Dr. Everything the Chinese Dr. did was done by hand, changing out disks of glass, turning and twisting the sample, measuring width of the eyes etc etc.   A number of students have some pretty interesting styles for their glasses.  K decided to get something with more "funk" for her frames.

Thanks to everyone who sent us Christmas cards and New Years cards. They are a real treasure to get here.

In just a few days, we’ll be packing up and starting our journey south for the annual conference we go to each winter holiday. We leave our city on Sunday night, taking an overnight train to Xi’an. From there we have a flight to Kunming, where we will spend a few days with friends before we continue south to Thailand. But before all this takes place, we have to write a couple a papers, give a couple makeup exams to students (we were told about that just yesterday), take down Christmas decorations and a couple other things.

The staff of the English department had a banquet in celebration of the New Year and for completion of another semester.  We went to a nice restaurant, enjoyed some great food, and then went to KTV.  For those of you that don't know, KTV is karaoke.  There is probably a karaoke establishment on every corner we have been on in China.  Many foreign teachers truly dislike the experience.  I however, find it thrilling.   One reason I think many foreigners don't like it is because they don't know any Chinese songs.  Now, I only know 2 songs in Chinese, but I have a goal:  learn 10 new songs by the end of next semester.

A colleague and I did a duet of a popular Celine Dion song.  Enjoy the music!