Now that I’ve moved in reality has decided to pay me a visit. As I lived between apartments I was able to keep reality at bay as I deluded myself with the notion that something big and different was just around the corner. Settling into yet another apartment I realize that I’m looking at just another semester much the same as the last two. Did I make the right decision to stay another year?

Living in China was suppose to be this grand adventure but now it seems rather normal and unexciting.

I have a nasty habit of complaining to people in hopes that they might provide me with a magical solution that will eliminate my dissatisfaction and map out the rest of my life in a nice perfect timetable. Yeah we all dream and then one day we finally wake up and realize the only person who can do that is ourselves.

In all my conversations I’m confronted with the same advice, find your passion and follow it. Okay simple enough but what in the world is my passion or better yet how on earth do I find it?

So here’s my lofty goal this semester, find my passion.  I’ll leave following it for another semester. Baby steps.

If anyone is up for sharing…what’s your passion and how did you find it?

Katie and Thomas have left. I really don’t know what else to say but that my whole world is crashing down around me.

Often when I talk to people from back home they say I’m brave for moving to China but here’s the secret. Its not bravery I’ve always had Katie, she’s my backbone and courage all wrapped up in a beautiful friend. Originally when I was debating whether or not to stay another year it was Katie’s encouragement that they would be staying that put my objections to rest. When their plans changed I don’t think I really took the time to reconsider my own decision. To be honest I didn’t contemplate a year in China without Katie and Thomas as it was just unimaginable.

Now that they have gone the reality has hit. When I move to the new school I’ll be 45min from Kelly and once again on my own. I’ll be at a new school and once again dealing with the unknown.

Yes its the same city and I’ve heard a lot from Katie and Thomas about Weifang University but that does not put to rest all my fears of a new year. I hope that someday, preferably soon I can look at this as a new opportunity to grow and learn but for now I’m still struggling to get over the initial fear.

Katie and Thomas have been and will continue to be great friends. They are the kind of people who make you better through their constant example and never ending encouragement. They are the kind of people you want on your wagon train!

Thank you, you two for always being there for me this year. Best wishes in all your future endeavours. And for the record Nan is still looking for two more English teachers, its not too late to come back in the fall.

For those of you who think I have half a brain in my head please don’t read any further I would love that lie to live on for as long as possible. As a child I had this notion that what ever the weather was in Tulare, that was the weather for the world. Yes I now realize how ridiculous that notion was but hey I’ve never claimed to be the sharpest crayon in the box. Nor did I ever stop to contemplate how the snow in the mountains worked when Tulare never saw snow.

Anyway I guess that misguided notion still lingers as I’m troubled by and rather annoyed with embracing my new climate. When I look outside and see clouds I scoff and insist that they will pass with no effect on my day. Oh little do I know about monsoon season! I’m coming to realize that the definition of monsoon means that 20 hours a day some form of precipitation WILL fall.

These forms vary from downpours to sheets of mist that envelope you making an umbrella pointless and cumbersome. I have often wondered while in flight what it would be like to stand within a cloud. Now I know the feeling and wish I’d never wondered. Weifang has been enveloped by one giant cloud. The humidity on a good day hangs around 74%. Other days you just pray it will rain so at least you will have the satisfaction of being soaked by a liquid other than your own sweat.

For all my gripping I must admit the vibrant foliage around town almost makes it bearable. For as much as I love a good dry heat the color brown does not register as appealing to me,thus Tulare in the summer has little appeal. So beautiful scenery or dry heat? The jury is still out on this one. So for all those enjoying the Tulare heat, pull out a lawn chair and sun tan for me for one hour. With this cloud coverage there is just no point here.

We are continuing to have toilet issues here although they have changed. The latest issue consists of a high pitch whine that follows every flush. The whine starts about 1 min after flushing and lasts for at least 3.5 min no exaggeration. I swear everyone in the building is informed when we use the restroom, it doesn’t exactly allow for discrete visits at night either!

Well the other day I just couldn’t take it anymore. I was half dressed and decided it was going to be fixed then and there! So I opened the tank and started tinkering. I soon discovered if I pushed the pump thingy to the side far enough the whining stopped. Did I bother to figure out if that was a wise move? Of course not, the whining stopped that was all I cared about.

If I had had chewing gum you better bet that would have been part of the solution.

Solution found but how to make the solution stick, I went to the office and rummaged through my arts and crafts drawer. I returned to the bathroom with a ball of yarn, packing tape and safety scissors.

I’m so proud of my fix-it skills! Now lets just pray it holds and doesn’t make the problem worse seeing as I know I’m pulling something that probablly shouldn’t be pulled but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

So for now that annoying whining is gone and I can once again pee discreetly.

For the record I love my wig! All growing up my mother would get on my case about my hair, it was messy, tangled and her favorite its greasy. In my defense I can’t go 20 hours before my hair goes horribly greasy. I wash it in the morning and my the time I want to go out that evening its like I’ve not washed it in two days. I’ve found the solution, a wig!

A cute style in under 2 min. Come on you can't beat that.

Bad hairday? No problem. Pull up the hair and pull on a wig. and in the winter its a double bonus as a wig is much warmer than a beani. Unfortunatly that means no wig during the summer.

Beth and I out for the evening.

I love short hair and miss it terribly.

By now I’ve figured most people have seen me with my wig but still confuse a few. The initial response is always shocked approval with the drastic style change and color. The reaction to it being a wig is always good though.

No photos will accompany this post as only roommates and immediate family are tortuously subjected to described scenes.

At 22 there are certain things one would assume to have mastered yet I am constantly surprising myself. For example, more than a few of the people mentioned above have commented on how messy my face is when I brush my teeth. What! Teeth are an important part of a well kept image.

My new roommate once again brought it to my attention and grabbed a camera hoping to capture before mentioned incriminating spectacle. To be perfectly honest I never understood how anyone could keep all the toothpaste in their mouth and prevent the foam from enveloping ones lips. 

As I protested I soon realized the key to keeping the foam in ones mouth is to keep it open while brushing. It was like a light bulb went on for the first time. I’d always clamped my lips closed while brushing in an attempt to keep the foam  in while in reality I’d only made a bigger mess. Huh well that takes half the fun out of brushing.

And since I’m on an embarrassing lessons learned at an unusual age kick, yes its true I didn’t know eggs weren’t considered dairy until my final year in college. What! they are white and yellow and sold next to the milk and butter.  What products are white and yellow that aren’t dairy?

My mother will probably shoot me for saying this but my new collage is really her fault. I’ve grown up with a fear of blank walls. Our home was always well decorated and inviting, large walls were always covered with pictures.

When I moved into this apartment I was overwhelmed with the large blank walls that stared back at you in each room. This semester I decided to do something with the one behind my desk.

Last year while visiting the SanFransico Art Institute with a friend I pickup a large art brochure filled with Student art. Nick had suggested it as cheap pictures. This semester I brought it back, tore it apart and made a collage. I used the quotes to break up the pages.

Don't judge, I know I was an art major but Art History is far from Interior Design.

After taking Art-Readings I’ve enjoyed collecting definitions of art. Unfortunately the largest definition in this brochure is not one for my usual collection.

“If it disturbs you, it’s art.”

I forgot I wasn’t in America when I posted it up but when that was the first thing James read when he came over I was reminded quickly.

My favorite on the wall is on the upper right, “If it lifts you up in some sort of emotional epiphany or throws your preconceptions to the ground it’s art.”

For now this is my view at the computer, it beats a blank wall.

Oh and the “Attitude is Everything” is a new addition this semester as well, I’m hoping to finally learn this lesson for good!

Let me begin by stating I’ve never claimed to be the sharpest crayon in the box or have the patience of an angel!

Cooking on a hotplate has been a life’s lesson at best, I feel confident I won’t starve to death if now left alone with just that to survive. I missed good baked food, so opted to purchase a toaster oven this semester.

Last night Kelly, Katie, Thomas and I headed to the Tai Hua to purchase one. We’d compared prices in a few stores and settled on the Y270 medium size one at Fresco. Between the three of us we are getting great at charades, mad-gab and correct assumptions when it comes to deciphering Chinese. We purchased the oven then completed the grocery shopping.

Isn't she a beauty? I can just smell the brownies and bread already!

Kelly and I headed home with great anticipation! I was set on toast, my first real slice of toast since arriving in China. We got home and set it up. It looks beautiful in our kitchen by the way but then again I’m bias. I put in two slices and set the time with the temp at 100*. I went to the living room to put in a movie and after 2mins returned to disappointment. The oven wasn’t even warm and the toast was still white!

 Humph I’ll fix that, I crank up the oven to 250*C and turn the timer to 20min. I know, I know, well I know now that was a little extreme. I went to watch the episode and planned on checking it in a few mins. What can I say a great TV show? I soon smelt the toast, thanks to Mom’s excellent cooking lessons I knew if you could smell it it was done. I guess I should rethink that strategy for meals cooked in a closed kitchen and you smelling it in a closed living room.

The washing machine was in use which meant the tap was occupied, luckily there were some water filled bowls in the sink to dowse the smoking toast.

I jumped off the couch and ran to the kitchen to find smoke BILLOWING from the oven. No joke. Can I just say how grateful I am there are no smoke detectors in China. That would have been embarrassing and since it was night when I opened the kitchen window the smoke exiting wasn’t that noticeable.

After assessing the situation I unplug the oven, cracked the door and opened the window, a few mins later I turned on the stove vent. Yes I realized there was a more effective order but eventually the smoke decreased enough for me to stick a fork in a get the lumps of coal, that were originally slices of bread, and toss them in the sink. The smoke was so thick my eyes were stinging which did not help the process at all. Kelly was closed up in the office an oblivious to all the proceedings.

This was after about 10min

It took about 20min for all the smoke to finally clear and the smell to somewhat subside. For the few, Katie and Thomas to be exact, who know the funky smell* my apartment usually has, at least burnt toast is a welcome respite. See, there is always a positive side to be found.

 I think I can safely add yet another means to get my self killed in China, Toaster Oven. As if my poor street crossing skills weren’t sure enough.

*The smell is not of my doing, it was here before I moved in, goodness knows how I’ve tried to dispel it.

After we were thawed out and rested up we bundled up once again and headed out for the evening. As directions to the Ice Festival were rather hard to come by and even more difficult to decipher we opted to just take a taxi. Of the entire trip this was our only real hiccup but a large hiccup it was. The festival is an International event that was covered in the London Times, Boston Globe as well as many other national newspapers that we had looked at online, but no where in Harbin could you get a straight answer on how to get there, when it opened or how much it cost! Welcome to China!!

After trying for 45min (no joke) to flag down a cab one finally picked us up as a double fare. Double fares are ALWAYS a rip-off but when you are desperate and freezing who cares. I had a basic idea of the direction we needed to go but I soon realized that was not the direction we were headed. Thanks to Bonnie’s level head we remained calmed and sat back to enjoy the rather lengthy confused tour through Harbin.

When we finally approached the Festival I was overwhelmed with the sheer size of the sculptures or should I correctly say, ice buildings. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

11th AnnualHarbin Snow and Ice World

Buddhist temple

The lights just made everything magical

After a 20 min I couldn’t keep quiet about my freezing condition. I admitted my hands were about to fall off, Bonnie agreed and suggested sticking my hands in my mouth. I asked her to repeat the instructions, she laughed and promised it would work. Sure enough, I was a sight to see with double gloved hands crammed in my mouth but soon they didn’t feel like Popsicles about to snap in two.

Looking into the park was just fantastic.

Hindu God

Hindu Goddess

St. Basil's and the Great Wall

The Sphinx - those are ice slides descending from his shoulders

Chinese Pagoda

I've no idea how she got this icy but it was probably one of my favorite pics!

A steaming cup of hot chocolate!

We decided to warm up in one of the class boxes they had strategically placed around the park. My Camera fogged over when I pulled in out after freezing in the outside weather! As we were warming up we both admitted how cold we both were although we’d been afraid to admit it to the other. Haha. Some how our bodies did adjust to the cold and we stuck it out to the end.

Another Cathedral facade

Skyscrapers a must in China

No matter how many sculptures we went to the size never ceased to amaze me.

Bonnie got her picture with an arctic fox!

Bonnie’s mom had shared an article withher about the Harbin Ice Festival, in which a prominent picture was of visitors posing with an arctic fox. Bonnie was determined to get her picture and we were thrilled when we found the booth.

 

 

Looking out over the Park

It wouldn't be a Chinese Party without back up dancers!

In the center of the park was a large ice rink.

A Northern European Church

Nothing like walking on ice!

Angkor Wat

The Colosseum

A view from the top.

Can you recognize the bundle?

Our final stop was a larger than life Chess board.

We stuck it out to the end and both felt the fight with the coldwas worth it. We found a taxi driver at the exit who was looking for passengers and bargained our way down to 40 kuai for a return trip. It wasn’t until we got to the taxi that we realized yet again we were a double cab.

Once in town we stopped by a local resturant for a little piece of home.

We'd spotted this restaurant during the day.

Well if anyone asks where the Ice Queen lives, it’s Harbin, China. Somehow I got in my mind  I was up for going to the coldest place in China.

Bonnie was more than happy for a travel buddy so we began planning. Harbin is in the northern most province of China and is known for its Russian influence and its World Renown Ice Festival. Some how I managed to block out the weather warning on all the travel websites, winters annually reach 40* below zero which is were the Fahrenheit and Celsius scale’s meet by the way!

As we are both English teachers with a limit salary we decided to take the cheap route and call it an adventure. We got prices for the Hard Sleeper Trains, ¥620 round trip – what’s 26 hours on a train? Everyone has to do a long distance train trip at least once in China right?

To keep from rambling, purchasing our tickets turned into a fiasco! You can purchase tickets 10 days prior to departure, we waited to long. 6 days before, the hard sleepers to Harbin were sold out and we had to purchase soft sleepers which were about double the cost. Thanks to Wendy we got the whole mess worked out and tickets bought. We would have been in deep trouble if Bonnie and I had tried to figure all that out on our own.

So Sunday night we set out. I had a backpack, Purse, and Bag of food! We met up at the Train station and joined the masses waiting in the hall, we of course were the only foreigners and got all the stares.

And the Adventure Begins.

With found our compartment and to our surprise were the only ones in it at the Weifang Station. We figured we’d be joined at the coming station. Well we could easily tell why the tickets went from ¥300 for a hard sleeper to ¥600 for the Soft Sleeper. The Compartments are amazing.

Home-sweet-home for the next 26 hours!

There are four to a room. The bottom bunk is the communal bench during the day for two. The Compartment is closed to the hall which makes the room warm and private (Later on this was not an upside to the soft sleeper. )

I had the top bunk and Bonnie the bottom. I was surprised at the storage room too. The beds were your average Chinese bunk, and the duvets were to die for.

We stayed up and chatted until about 11pm then hit the sack. I was a little restless wondering at each stop if someone would come in at the next stop. I was quite relieved in the morning to find the other two bunks still empty.

okay so after 20 hours in a cramped cabin what were you expecting, prom night?

We spread out in the morning as it didn’t seem like anyone would be joining us! We settled in for a long day. I decided to go comfy rather than flattering, wrong choice it would turn out.

Around lunch time we had gotten too warm and had opened the hall door. Soon a stranger wandered in wanting to talk to the foreigners. We soon realized our Chinese was better than his English. Most Chinese will give it an honest shot but give up as soon as they realize the pointlessness of trying to converse with Foreigners who don’t speak Chinese. This guy only seemed encouraged by the lack of communication and before we knew it he had invited his friend to come join us for lunch.

Before we could say ‘不要 we had two Chinese Guys drinking Baijiu and eating Chicken Feet in our compartment, not the most appealing situation. There are those situations in life which make you eternally grateful for choosing an Alcohol-free life, this was one of them. As true Chinese, they were not picking up on the hints we were throwing at them by the time 3 hours had passed, that we would prefer lunch to be over. So we fell back on the Chinese love of nap taking and said we would like to sleep.

One of them seemed rather keen on Bonnie which was not reciprocated! We had a good laugh at that thought once they left and decided to take naps to kill time. Half way through my nap I heard Bonnie calling my name, when I turned over in my bunk one of the Chinese guys was back and standing right next to my head. Turns out he was really keen on Bonnie and had come back for a chat. Not what anyone wants to wake up to. After a rather interesting 15mins we got him to leave and decided to look the door rather than just close it.

Front of the Train station, this is kids stuff compared to the Festival.

As we stepped off the train in Harbin it was like hitting an ice wall. Warm lungs don’t like icy air! My lungs ached at first as they adjusted to cold. Instead of jumping straight into a cab we walked around the front of the station where small ice sculptures were arranged. The ground was complete ICE. I had opted for warmth rather than traction but soon began to question my footwear choice.

Lights are frozen inside and the color illuminates the entire block.