Category Archives: Uncategorized

Still retroactively posting. Trying to get updated.

1. Day 19 July 23rd

2. Day 20 July 24^th

3. Point outs

4. Friends portraits, meet everybody!

5. Best Pics

1. Day 19 July 23^rd

-Got up at 6:50, showered, Cici and I ate my bananas for breakfast and then headed to get the bus to gucheng at the village entrance.

-got the bus at 7:30ish and got to my bus stop at about 9:15. Along the way, Cici, learned I was going over to teach, versus just for fun.. “You have to teach?! Who? For how long?” I told it was just for two hours, so she ended up just heading with me after we got off the bus.

-We asked a local where “caicun” “cai village” was and they pointed us down the road, so we made our way.

-Then when turned onto the road and headed to the restaurant where I was supposed to meet “Ms. Xiaojie”

-After about fifteen minutes of walking, we finally came across “野猪林饭店”“The wild pig forest restaurant” and turned in. Originally, I thought the parent might drive me to their house to teach, but seeing no houses around, I figured I would end up teaching the child at the restaurant for two hours.

-We were right on time, 9:50 We asked the first restaurant worker we saw if there was a “Ms. Xiaojie”, they didn’t know. As we sat down on the bench, a blue bus full of kids pulled up. I joked around with Cici-“Hey Chris, here are fifty kids to teach, thanks!”-she laughed. A lady ran out of the bus and ran up to the same worker we spoke with, two seconds later she hurried over to me and asked “Are you Jiaming’s friend?!”

-Yes. That school bus of kids was my class for the next two hours.

-Cici looked at me and cracked a huge smile. My thoughts were just so much for my lesson plan..

-The two teachers gave me a packet of pictures to teach the kids. The pictures were things we would come across on the restaurants property.

-pond

-tree

-river

-water

-pig

-panda(just a statue)

-onion

-tomatoe

-raddish

-lettuce

-I checked out the list of words, turned on the microphone given to me and headed over to the group of kids.

-They lined up, and I started to teach them the English words, moving each picture down the line of kids so they could see. I shouted with excitement, acted goofy, and joked around; they seemed to like it. I threw in some other words like the first plants I saw and colors as well

-After teaching them the list of words, we walked through the property and when we saw the items I taught, we repeated their names

-After touring through the property we sat down and the kids formed groups at each table, brought out their snacks and blabbered away.

-I spent a lot of time on that board game, so I pulled it out with the thought of playing it. I set it on the table, explained that each color is a set of words and whoever gets to the end first wins. Two students volunteered and one took the first role. As an onlooker reached across the table, he knocked over his bottle of water, spilling all over the board game. The ink ran, the board was obscured and the paper was sopping wet. Classic.

-The teachers then had me sit down at each table and practice simple English questions with them.

-what is your name

-how old are you

-how are you (their programmed response was “I’m fine thank you, how are           you?”, I told them that good/bad/busy/and sad all are perfectly fine answers, as    well)

-how many people are in your family

-what is your favorite drink (the drinks they knew were water, coffee, cola, tea       and juice. Needless to say, I was surprised when some of the kids answered             coffee)

-what is your favorite thing to eat

-what is your favorite fruit

-what is your favorite sport

-Some kids could answer my questions, and some just stared at me blankly.. even when I asked them in Chinese.

Can you tell what I’m thinking here?

-After, the longest english lesson of my life (about an hour) We ate lunch for about thirty minutes and the kids trickled outside, ran around and acted like kids.
picture: This is the face the kids would give me when they had nothing to say, in case you couldn’t picture it. Cici and her new boyfriend.

-Shout out to Shannon Rieger. If you’re reading my blog, I totally understand your sentiment towards kids now.

-At about 12:15, Cici and I headed out to walk to the Old City. Surprisingly, the teacher gave me 100 kuai for the English lesson, which is a decent chunk of change in China. I was definitely appreciative.

-We made out way through Gucheng. It was so crowded, so many people, so many stores, so many noises; much more lively than Shuanglang. We came across XiaoYun #2 from Sky Sea and walked a bit.

-At about 2, we made a reservation at the four seasons hostel.

picture: four seasons hostel. room price, 60 yuan, 30 per person, 5 us dollars a night. China is cheap

-Right after we set down our things in the room, Hancheng called Cici asking for me; coincidentally, he and Tristen were eating together down the street.

-Cici and I headed out and met up with them. After finding them, Tristen led Cici and I to the Dali Hump to register for their BBQ, and then down to the house he was renting for the next six months. We drank tea and chatted for a couple hours. His house is so comfortable, the best floor plan I’ve come across in China thus far.

-At about 6 We headed over to the Dali Hump to fill up on BBQ.

-We ran into Adam from Climb Dali, and the same group of high school kids, he is one of their group leaders.

-After eating, we walked into some shops and then to the city wall.

-we walked down “Pyscho street” as Tristen calls it. The crowds are unbelievable, only rivaled only by those of Disneyland.

-We then ate some dessert and ventured back to the Dali Hump where a Rave was taking place in the basement. We heard about it as we signed up for the barbeque.

-Rave might not be the right word.. maybe lameattemptatadanceparty-withdjjustlearninghowtospin-andpeoplecrowdedaroundabeerpongtable is the better word. We hung around there for a bit, ran into Jack and Paul, chatted and then went to see what was happening at the Bad Monkey, we didn’t not find a happening, out of this world amazing party there either. Tristen headed home and Cici dragged me back to the Dali Hump, by then the Rave was over, thank god. We chatted with Jack and Paul and then went back to the hostel.

-We chatted till 2ish, Cici encouraged me to hit the road, if I want to travel then just travel she suggested. After actually getting out of Shaunglang I realized that I really really want to get out of Shuanglang. China here I come.

2. Day 20 July 24

-got up at 9:20, ate breakfast at Café 88, a great German bakery/cafe in gucheng. Cici tried started to order for me, then I stopped her saying “Hey, I want to order myself” I successfully order a the hearty breakfast, asked for a fried egg and chose my bread, which was inevitably wheat because it’s the only bread I know. Success. I got my meal and damnit, I missed the part about frying both sides. I’ll get there, one day.

-At 12ish I made my way down the highway to get the bus back to Shuanglang.

-My next Chinese confusion was one someone on the bus asked if I wanted to buy something, I thought he was selling me pictures. I said no thank you, it turned out to be the person who sells tickets. I thought he said “zhaopian” picture versus “chepiao” bus ticket. Jeese my Chinese was lacking this day.

-I got back to Sky Sea at 2 and started to wash dishes in the Book bar, there were so many jokes about having sex with Cici I couldn’t count. Then everyone made fun of me for saying “yi fangjian liang zhang chuang” “one room, two beds!” That became the popular quote from that moment on.

-After washing dishes I was requested to take some six guests out kayaking with Guage, an investor and Sange. On our way back we ran into an incredible squall, huge rain drops, hail and wind at about 25 knots. I was expected to see a water spout just ahead, luckily, there was none. We made it back and ate dinner.

-After dinner I talked with Dong Dong about heading out of Shuanglang, she said that the managers wouldn’t agree and wouldn’t let me. This is where my American came out and I told her “Dong Dong, I don’t care, I decide when I want to leave, and I’ll leave” I was thinking the 28^th on that day. After our talk, I headed to the Book Bar and was wrapped in thought, Ashima asked if my head hurt because I was so quiet.

– I headed to bed and Dong Dong came to my room to talk more, my decision was made, in the next week, I was going to head out of Shuanglang.

3. Point outs

– This is not a generalization, the Chinese are hairless. Literally, no hair.

One of the things that is commented on a lot is my hair. “邓克思！很多毛”“Chris, so much hair!” Often people will joke around that I only get bitten by mosquitoes on my hands and feet because they don’t have hair. When everyone else thinks it’s cold and I’m in shorts and rolled up sleeves, they say it’s because my hair keeps me warm.

Like a monkey, they say.

Compared with a number of people, I really don’t have any hair(particularly my Dad, they would have a cow if they saw him)

As I’m writing this Dong Dong read over my shoulder saying “You don’t have any hair? You don’t have any hair? Are you blind? You are full, of hairs!”

I think the number of times I shaved at Sky Sea is more than all the guests combined during my stay. They have no hair! The girls don’t need to shave their legs, there are only four-twelve hairs per leg! They don’t shave their armpits, but coming from Berkeley, that’s not a weird thing. It’s not a part of the culture, because, well, they have no hair.

I, however, am like a monkey. If only they could see the dads of America..

4. Portaits

Youyong with Ashima’s son, Ajie. Youyong is 24 and graduated with a degree in accounting. Now he is serving as a manager at Sky Sea, not sure how long he plans on staying there.

Ashima, also 24, has worked at Sky Sea for 4 years, but is planning on moving to a new business in the next couple months. She manages the Book Bar as Sky Sea

DongDong, going into her last year at University in Chongqing, from Chongqing as well. Majoring in tourism. She wants to move to New Zealand and own many sheep, or ships as she would say.

XiaoYun, receptionist xiaoyun(on the right of youyong) 19, can’t remember where she’s from

XiaoYun, artist xiaoyun(this is xiaoyun #1, even though I met her second) lives in kunming, but moving to Shanghai for a few months. She paints children portraits for a living. She’s a fantastic artist.

Guage, one of the Sky Sea investors

Tristen, 26, from New Zealand but lives in B yron Bay and manages restaurants, loves tea, practicing qigong and drinking wine. Awesome awesome guy. He’s living in Dali till December in his qigong teacher’s house while they’re in Australia.

Cici, 2o, majoring in broadcasting in chengdu, will be a senior as well

Ajie, Ashima’s son, 4 years old

Polan, on the left, a friend of Jiaming’s built the house on the hill to be a new building for Sky Sea, it should be finished withink the next year.

Xiao Polan, Polan’s son, 2.5 years old.. he acts his age.

Sibaoshu, one of the managers of Sky Sea, a local of Shuanglang, lives in house 2

Sansou, the head cook at Sky Sea. She is such such such a good cook, her food has great flavor and nowhere near the amount of oil as most places I’ve come across.(which is relative, because there’s still a lot of oil)

Anyang #1 I don’t actually know her real name because you generally refer to the minority women as anyang, so we always just said anyang, she was one of cooks as well.

Anyang #2, no picture! agh, I didn’t get one, she is married to sibaoshu

Will/Yujie, 23, from Guangdong province, majoring in marketing. Will be a senior.

Bo/ Youxing, majoring in Social welfare, at the same university as Will. 21. Also from Guangdong

JiangRui on left. Shoujue on right. Jiangrui works in the Book bar as well, Shoujue works in reception. Jiangrui is 19 or 20 and from Yunnan province, I think from Dali. Shoujue is 20 and also from Yunnan, probably from Dali.

Lina, 24, from Hubei(I will have to make sure) she majored in clothing design. Is planning to volunteer at Sky Sea for the next 6 months and maybe move on to more hospitality jobs.

Lulu, awesome awesome woman. So friendly, always reading and studying. She is so good at Chinese Chess. Duncan, if you’re reading, I think you guys would have an epic battle on the chess board.

Hancheng, from Chengdu, 21, majored in directing and went back to Chengdu to find a job. He just graduated.

Xiaojie, 21, just graduated from University in Guangdong, majored in Civil Safety(police), doesn’t have plans yet, is traveling around.

Yuki, 29, from guangdong province, also loves photography so we both always had camera in hand. I’m not sure what her job is or was.. I’ll find out.

Sheng, work in the import export industry, but quit his job, he’s looking for a job in  a smaller city. Big city’s are too stressful and too fast and superficial in his opinion. Right now he’s traveling with Xiaojie. He’ll find a job after he travels around for a couple months.

Sange, married to Sansou, one of the managers at Sky Sea. Loves kayaking

Laomao, the dog of Sky Sea

Chengwei, on the right, the head manager of Sky Sea.

5. Best Pics, only one this time, too many pictures, internet is so slow, I just want to get this post up.

 

1. Day 16 July 20^th

2. Day 17 July 21^st

3. Day 18 July 22nd

4. Point outs

5. My thoughts at Sky Sea

6. Best Pics

1. Day 16 July 20th

-9:20, got up and ate breakfast, then washed dishes in the book bar

-got the most recent post up

-A rustic pathways high school group came to Sky Sea to climb and kayak. They were such high schoolers, it totally gave me a flashback. Paul and I took them half of the group kayaking while the other half climbed.

-we got back at 1:30 ish. It took a bit to convince the cooks to leat us start eating even though the other half of the group hadn’t got back. Finally they decided it was okay to appropriate half of the food to us(I really need to do a highlight on decision processes here in China, it can be painful at times)

-Yuki, a guest then wanted to go kayaking, she grabbed some life jackets and we chose a kayak. I suggested we choose our orange plastic kayak because it’s the hardest to flip, easiest to get back into, and safest. We headed out and after about 15 minutes I decided we turn around because the kayak was filling with water. We flipped it about five times on our way back, due to its weight, and I ended up swimming it back to Sky Sea. Xiao Jie and I tried to move it, but it was too heavy to move, we drained the water out of a hole in the front(it took about a full ten minutes to drain. The design is such that it should be the safest kayak, but the doors to the compartments don’t prevent water from leaking into the inside of the kayak, which is supposed to be an indestructible air cavity. So lesson learned, yes Chinese goods are incredibly cheap and fake.

-While putting away my life jacket at reception Xiao Yun chewed me out for a few reasons 1) apparently the red kayak is one of our investors, not for customers.(but it’s next to all of our kayaks) She didn’t listen when I said no one told me, how was I supposed to know? 2) Yuki didn’t sign a waiver. Which someone at reception should have had her do when she walked into reception to grab the paddles and life jackets.

Then Xiao Yun repeated next time I can’t do that, is that clear?

Needless to say I was peeved, I cooled off and went back and asked her to not talk to me like I’m a child. She apologized, air cleared.

-I showered till 6:30 and ate dinner, Youyong told me about a special request from Jiaming, the owner. I was requested to go over, on Saturday July 23, to Caicun, a village next to the old city of Dali(across the lake from Shuanlang, to teach Jiaming’s friends child English(this is a terribly constructed sentence, whoops, sorry y’all). I asked the level of the child and if they could read so I could make an appropriate lesson plan. Jiaming told me that simple things should be fine “how are you” “what is your name” etc, should do. The goal is for me to incite interest in learning English. Honestly, I can’t stand teaching English, but of course I’m going to do the best job I can do.

-Washed dished in the Book Bar and then helped Lina prepare Hot pots(a Sichuan specialty dish of very spicy food). It’s a bowl of spices which you dip a variety of items into and then pull out to eat. During preparation, Lina added a spoonful of white powder to each bowl of spices. Curious, but near sure, I asked Lina what it was. Yeah it was MSG. Maybe that’s why the food is so damn good..

Luckily, Lina they only used it in a few dishes at Sky Sea.

-I hung out in the Book bar and then Xiaojie, Yuki, Sheng and I headed into Shuanglang. Amigo’s was closed so I joined the crew for bbq food.

-at 11:30 we made our way back. From the end of an ally way, a group of dogs started barking at us. I turned off my headlamp and we kept walking past the ally way and the barking continued.

Xiaojie said “不要跑” “don’t run”. About ten yards past the alley, we heard the dogs come out from the ally way. I know Xiaojie said don’t run, my thoughts were how about sprinting? As long as I’m faster than the slowest runner, right? This was the most scared I’ve been in China. The barking continued to get closer, and just as I was thinking about sprinting, the dogs turned around.

-Got back at 12 and went to bed.

2. Day 17 July 21^st

-got up, ate breakfast.

-10 Was requested to go out and get some bike locks, requested to go help out in the Book Bar. After about twenty minutes of deliberation between Youyong and Shoujun over getting 5 bikes locks, I finally went out to get them. (seriously I need to do a highlight on decision making and management in China.) After getting the locks I stopped at Amigo and checked out their internet, was treated a smoothie by the owner, and made my way back to Sky Sea at 12.

-I set up my computer and by the grace of God I managed to upload 35 photos

-After lunch, Xiao Yun requested me to go to a police meeting with her. Jiaming and I thought it wasn’t the best idea, to the Chinese government I’m just a guest that is staying in Shuanglang for a long time, not a worker. Instead, I went to get trash bags while Xiao Yun went to the meeting. I was supposed to get “liang zhang lajidai” “two sets of trash bags” (I din’t know that dai were bags, I just knew it had to do with trash)

-At the store where I bought the locks, I said exactly what XiaoYun told me “liang zhang lajidai”, the clerk went over to the bike locks. Then I repeated it, “liang zhang lajidai”, he then headed over to the trash bins. I wasn’t sure, but it did look like what Xiao yun described so I bought two.

-I went to wait for Xiao yun at the ATM machine. While waiting I saw Ashima on her way to the meeting as well and told her I’d be at Amigo waiting. I talked with Max, the owner of Amigo and got good tips on anecdotes on his Chinese  business experience from running Amigo. Basically, you have to really really really trust someone of you want to make a business partnership.

picture: Amigo’s Cafe

-Xiaoyun and Ashima came back to Amigo, then Sansao, the head chef came was right outside, so we all sat down to eat street vendor food with Max and his wife. We called Lina over as she rode by.

picture: the street food we ate outside of Amigo’s

-After eating Lina and I went to return the bins and get bags and then bought some vegetables. I had returned the trash bins I totally would have bought the wrong item again. Xiaoyun’s explanation + my vocab=misunderstanding.

-went back to Sky Sea and ate dinner. Washed dishes in the Book bar and then was called over by the guests to join their bbq. I hung out and three guys sang and played music.

-At 12ish, I helped clean up the bbq and Ashima told the group be quiet or find a new spot because her son Ajie couldn’t sleep. They weren’t up to moving to the lake shore, as a guest told Ashima she was disgusting, Cici, xiaojie and I decided it was time for bed.

-It started raining about five minutes later, so they wouldn’t have been out for much longer, anyway

3. Day 18 July 22^nd

-got up and ate breakfast, Youyong remind me, for the sixth time that today I was going to weed outside of the first house.

-I washed dishes in the kitchen and then asked Youyong where to weed, he said he would show me soon so I waited in the Book bar. Hancheng and I drank tea and then Polan, and investor asked me to helped him out. We ended up moving a ton of heavy pieces of furniture to the top of the hill behind Sky Sea. The hilltop of the location of one of the new buildings for Sky Sea lodge. Then we moved a mattress up to the top of the hill. But instead of going around the back where the houses and paths are. We climbed up the hill along a foot wide path my mom totally would have killed me. We survived, but it was certainly dumb.

-After moving the mattress, as I was walking to help move more things, Sibaoshu called me to take a kid out kayaking. We kayaked for about 1.5 hours and I got back at 1:40 ish

-I ate what was leftover from lunch for twenty minutes and then talk Sansao’s child English for an hour. Honestly, I still hate teaching English.

-After teaching English, Lina and I went to the market to buy torches for “火把节huobajie” “torch festival”.

-when we got back to Sky Sea, Shoujun, shouted “ahhhh you bought the wrong things. Lina bought straw brooms, instead of the torches. I totally gave her a hard time, the day before she teased me for buying the wrong item.

-We ate dinner and at the end of dinner I was requested to go in seven different directions –to take guests to their rooms, take guests out kayaking, change the water container out in the book bar, wash dishes in book bar and then to watch of the book bar. It was at the point that I had officially gotten sick of Sky Sea. I went to the Book Bar and watched over it so Cici and Ashima could eat. Lina watched over as well. As I started putting the dishes away, Lina continued to read her book.

-More and more I’d become the go to person for pretty much everything around Sky Sea, as other volunteers are able hang around, I was requested to help with everything. I was getting a little bit tired and frustrated.

-Thankfully, the next day I was headed out of Sky Sea to do the English teaching gig from 10-12 and then hang around the Old city. I decided I would ask Youyong if I could stay the night as a break.

-That night I prepared a lesson plan for a couple hours and had Dong Dong help me make a board game, each color corresponds to simple things to translate. I figured I would leave the game with the parents and the kid and they could make the vocab harder as the child learns more.

-at 11ish Youyong told me how to get to the place to meet miss xiaojie. I was instructed to walk to caicun from the bus stop and meet miss xiaojie at “the wild pig forest restaurant” I figured I would teach their or end up going to her house to teach. Without asking, Youyong said I could come back the Sky Sea the next day, thank god. Cici decided to head to gu cheng as well.

-I tried to get into the kitchen to eat some peanut butter with my bananas, but it was locked. I was terribly disappointed. I love peanut butter.

-I talked with my new roommate, Will till 1 ish. He is a senior in marketing from Guangzhou and he and Yuxie came to volunteer together. Went to bed so I’d have energy for teaching this kid.

4. Point outs

-the way the Chinese say delicious is effing cute. that’s it

-Chinese culture is loud. How might one ask? Well, in most aspects of life, the Chinese are louder than westerners. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just different. When dinner is ready, Shoujun goes around Sky Sea yelling “吃饭了！吃饭了！””EAT! EAT!” When Xiao Yun needs to find Youyong, does she go around and politely ask guests “have you seen Youyong”, no need when you can just scream “YOUYONG!!” and hope that he can here you from wherever you are.

Conversations often reach a loud chatter between friends, including some shouting. Whether it be in the courtyard, at the reception, or in a room. In the same situation, back home, I can imagine myself giving a soft “shh” to settle things down.

In restaurants, when the time to pay arrives. Does one quietly raise their finger and hope that worker catches the signal? Of course not, shouting “老板！买单！”“Owner!Pay!” is so much more direct, and ten times quicker.

Those are the first examples that come to mind. One must understand that neither the Western or Eastern way is better. What one must understanding is simply that they are different. It’ll help when you make it over here.

5. My thoughts at Sky Sea

So recently I’ve been pretty frustrated at Sky Sea. For two reasons:

-One is that I am working very hard and getting exhausted. It gets pretty tiring being pulled every which way. As I’m walking to do one things, someone else calls out my name. I wish they knew the phrase “I only have two hands” It’s getting tiring, and frustrating seeing others hang around.

-The other reason is probably the more important reason. I want to get out of Shuanglang and see China. At Sky Sea I’m getting one aspect taken care of, Chinese practice. But really, I’m not traveling. Before I left, Professor Varsano, my ancient Chinese professor asked if I was going to travel, at my response of “no”, she highly encouraged me to get out and see China. It was at the point that I was “incepted” with the idea. At first my thought was that I would stay at Sky Sea for seven weeks and really get to know the town, but Leo was right, an idea is like a virus. I’ve been thinking about it more and more, I want need to get out of Dali, it’d be shame to travel halfway across the world and only know a radius of five miles. Luckily I’m going across the lake to Dali old city, it’ll be nice to get out.

6. Best Pics

The internet is back, oh my god. Sorry for the delay. I’ll post day 15-21 as soon as possible

1.Day 11 July 15th

2. Day 12 July 16th

3. Day 13 July 17th

4. Day 13 July 17th

5. Day 14 July 18^th

6. Sky sea

7. Highlights

8. Things I miss

8. Best picks

1.Day 11 July 15^th

-Got up at 8:10, exercised for about an hour and got close to yakking. Yup, altitude is still high.

-Ate breakfast  at 9 ish, the classic rice porridge and pancake. Solid poop, without the help of a z pack antibiotic; bacteria defeated.

-10 ish cleared out tons of stuff from a room in the second house. Built two bunk beds. Hello new room. My previous room is the girl volunteers’ room.

-Before lunch set up for an American tour group or about 30 arriving that day. Everyone kept joking that my friends were coming. I was not stoked, I’m supposed to practice Chinese! The Americans coming was totally throwing off my groove. My coworkers and I devised to tell them I was French. I was honing my French accent before they came practicing the line “I’m so sorry, come again? I don’t speak zat much English.”

Turns out it was a language program with a language pledge (you sign a contract to only speak Chinese) about 10 Americans and 20 Chinese. Thus groove not ruined.

They arrived at about 1ish, and started eating lunch. I was the recruited photographer for the event. At this point I didn’t know they were a language program yet, so I was surprised when all the Americans were just speaking Chinese.

After lunch they went all went kayaking together

-Then I swam for 30 minutes, showered and put away all the kayaks.

-The power went out at 3 ish, apparently it goes out a couple times a month, common in the life of a small village. It then came on after dinner. Not sure what the problem was or who fixed it.

-6:00 set up for dinner, ate, washed dishes and then headed to the Book bar.

-Starting journaling at 8ish in the Book bar while the Mona Lisa Smile played. During my journaling I turned around and saw the Americans playing Beer pong with the Chinese. Quite the cultural exchange right?

-At 10sih I headed to  reception to upload the previous days blog and chatted with the programs teacher, an American alumni of the language School, who runs the Yunnan University program.

-at 11ish I went to the balcony with YangchuMeng and Wangqilin to partake in a BBQ of fish they bought in town. My coworkers, lulu YangchuMeng and Wangqilin and I all stayed up, ate, drank, chatted, and laughed. Headed to bed at 1ish, made it into my building.

2.Day 12 July 16^th

-9ish got up and ate breakfast, they Americans headed out at 10ish.

Anecdote: One of the Americans fell ill the night before, and was still ill in the morning. Their bus was about a 10-15 minute walk away, so I was recruited to take her back using  bike. The three wheeled cart bike wasn’t around, leaving us with just the tandem bike. After about 5 feet of peddling she said “stop. Stop. Stop. I don’t feel good.” She got off and her friends decided to walk her back.

Generally speaking, I try to be nice and help people out when they need it. But when she got off the bike, I thanked the lord that I didn’t have to bike her back. If you’re wondering why, well, think about it: a sick girl, a wobbly tandem bike, a seat directly behind me. Let’s just say if she got sick, I would know.

-After the Americans left, Sky Sea was quiet and completely empty. Having nothing to do, we made out way into town for the market day. Market day is a day where all the shops  open up, street vendors set up and the town folk flood into town to buy everything from clothes and jewelry to produce and sweets. The main street was so filled with shoppers, cars and buses honking, and squeezing through the crowd of people. It was awesome. It’s every 5 days and I am dying to go back. I bought some Chinese bread sweets, mangoes and grapes. I’m a fruit fiend. Not to mention my trigger finger is itching fire away, again.

photo:from left to right, Jiangrui, myself and Cessy

-Lina, Cessy, Jiang Rui and I made our way back to Sky Sea. Every five minutes they would call out to me “邓克思！走！” (Chris! Come on!)  I couldn’t help it, if my camera is with me, a 30 minutes walk turns into and all day mosey.

-Got back at 3 ish and hung out with YangChumeng and WangqiLin in the Book bar. I said goodbye to two of my best friends. We always chatted, shared pictures and ate fruit. At times, we both didn’t have enough vocab to convey our message, but this was not a problem, we just resorted to drawing. Wangqi likes to camp and backpack, so I’m sure we’ll explore the mountains of China together one day. Before that, I’m going to visit them in Chengdu while traveling in China

photo: YangchuMeng(wife)

photo: WangqiLin(husband)

-That evening I chatted with Cessy, Cessy wanted to watch Eat Pray Love, but someone chose Big Daddy instead. After the movie started, Cessy told me she just wanted to eat, and love. I thought she was confiding in me and was a tad bit confused. She actually said she wants “Eat Pray Love”, the movie. We both got a good laugh

-After the movie I chatted with Yuki, Xiao Jie, Cessy and Sheng, headed to bed at 12.

2.Day 13 July 17^th 

-got up at 9:10 and started playing around with the filming function on my Mark 2. I want to make a couple clips before I leave here. I’d love to show y’all, but uploading a minute of footage would require more time than I actually have in China.

-After filming and breakfast, I did the usual. Can you guess? Need time to think? There yet? Yeah I washed dishes in the third house. I showed my pictures guests and coworkers (seriously while traveling sharing pictures is the best way to connect, nothing surpasses it)

-After I filled the inside of our new kayak paddles with foam so they won’t sink if the guests flip over (which they will)

-Then I got out a kayak, taught the guests how to kayak and sent them on their way.

-The Chinese are not very good at two things, no, I’m not talking  about brushing teeth or being , I’m talking about now are kayaking and swimming. Seeing the guests meander their way away from shore, with their kayak tipping and paddles hitting, scares me every time. “Can you swim”-“nope.” Great.

-I then fixed our tandem bike and discussed my travel plans with Dong Dong. Right now I’m thinking two weeks, August 6^th-August 20^th, and 8 cities, ending in Guangzhou and catching my flight home to the US. Considering extending my trip by half a week or so.. which will most likely not happen so I should have written “considered”. Well maybe.

-I chatted in the Book Bar till 5:15 and then swam till 6. Cessy hopped in the water will all her clothes, I told her the story about us breaking Loth’s record by fitting 17ish skinny dippers in our hot tub, she wasn’t as shocked as I would have expected.

-After dinner and washing dishes, I took my first Black and White photos with my 5d. Prior to switching to digital, 50% of everything I shot was black and white, and hours of mine were spent perfecting my prints. A room with no lights, noxious fumes that will probably add a third arm to one’s children and tedious print work probably doesn’t sound appealing to the most of everyone. But, the Dark room is one of my favorite places.

I’m still skeptical of shooting black and white on a digital camera, but I’ve made the leap and am going to practice. Here are my first shots

-That evening Tristen, Dong Dong and I headed out on a mission to find some mangoes, and wondering through 双廊 Shuang Lang. The sun had just set and I was able to do a bit of night photography

photo: a house near to Sky Sea, this could very well be my favorite shot I’ve taken in China thus far

photo: yujidao island, a famous island(really a tiny peninsula) in shuanglang, but I don’t know why it’s so famous

While wondering about, I saw the night side of 双廊 Shuang Lang; It was really weird. After passing Yujin dao we heard the shouts of a (probably drunk) man.. sinking karaoke in a KTV bar(my understanding is that this is a karaoke chain, or at least KTV means Karaoke television. Then we passed by a couple bars with zero people in them and then some eateries with well, nobody.

It was weird to say the least, I’m planning on heading out again and finding out more of what the deal is. If the bar scene isn’t your thing, you can go for a little shopping spree, because most of the shops are still open till 12. Reason being is that the owners home is behind the shop, so might as well stay open for as long as you can to sell more items

-We finally found mangoes after a roundabout adventure and ate 3 a piece in Book bar, went to bed at 12.

3. Day 14 July 18^th

-9 am, got up and ate breakfast

-Youyong Ashima and ShouJue headed out to Lijiang(a beautiful city nearby) with Jiaming(the owner) for a two day break. They are the main workers, so it Jiaming was treating them to the trip.

-Jack and Paul were let go from working at Haidi. The were climb Dali workers that stayed at Sky Sea to take any guests climbing if they desired. I have never seen a guest request to use their service, which is probably the reason why they Jiaming sent them on there way. Unexpected, but not surprising.

-In the same day Tristen headed out to the house he will stay at for the next 5 months.

There all cool people and I’m sad they’re leaving, but not the percentage of English in every day conversation will drop dramatically. It’s bitter sweet. For the few days prior I had been thinking I’ve been using English too much. Maybe my thoughts were manifested in them leaving.

-After lunch, Paul and I went for one last kayak excursion

-Paul’s story: He set out from the Ukraine in February, went to Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, flew to Malaysia, then hit Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos. From Laos he headed north into China and stopped in Dali and has been here for a month. He spent the last of 1000 dollars in Dali, talk about cheap travel. Clearly, a tent and hitchhiking are the cheapest form of travel. Paul will head north soon and back to Ukraine, he expects it to take a month and a half to get home.

-I hung out with the guests till dinner, no more English, this is good. I shared my pictures with them.

-Wrote my blog while Eat Pray Love played(that movie sucked), stopped writing/watching and drank tea with Yuki Xiaojie and Sheng. Went to bed at 12ish

4. Day 15 July 19^th

-got up late and ate breakfast, it finally stopped raining, so nice to have a sunny day again.

-washed dishes in the book bar

-went into town to repair a bike, ran into Xiaojie and Sheng just outside of Sky Sea, they bet that I didn’t know how to get to the bike shop and went with me. I told them I’d walk in front because I could remember. I got us there: win. I bought a cable stop for a bike and then headed back to Sky Sea.

-I repaired a bike for a guest and then kayaked with Sheng and Xiaojie for fourty minutes or so

-After putting the kayaks away I went swimming. Xiaojie, Xiaoyun, Lina and Dong Dong hopped in the water as well. My swim was cut down to 20 minutes when Xiaoyun suggested I teach Lina how to swim and called her over. I didn’t want to be that asshole that said no.. Well actually yeah I did want to be that asshole, but I didn’t want to be that asshole. I’m a softy and it’s hard for me to say no. Obviously, I tried to teach Lina how to tread water for about twenty minutes. At about the time it became unbearable to watch her flail in the water I suggested it was dinner-time and we all headed in.

-I think my patience was being put to the test this evening, I had to wait about 25 minutes for Xiao Yun to get out of the shower. Before I hopped in a guest ran to the bathroom saying “Wait! Please I have to go!” She didn’t even close the door, went in and peed. She really had to go.. After, I hopped in, took a quick shower.

– I ate dinner, helped washed dishes and then met Chengwei, the manager who first replied to my inquiry before Youyong and I corresponded. He had been on vacation in Beijing and just got back.

– I hung out in the Book bar and continued my blog. A guest, Donggua requested that I teach him how to make mashed potatoes, but boiled them and then gave them to me first, versus having me prepare them. We agreed that the next day I would teach him how ot prepare them from the beginning. The Chinese really don’t know how to make mashed potatoes, I’m going to have a whole highlight on just mashed potatoes

-After telling informing them the mashed  potatoes need word. They had me try the cheesecake, which tasted like crème brulee. And then the apple pie, which tasted genuine. I’m going to teach them some more American dishes, and perhaps perfect(correct) their current dishes. I’m thinking I’ll teach them how to make chocolate cookies, banana bread and pancakes.

-I wrote a bit of my blog while watching Yuki, Dong Gua and Chengwei play a chinese gabling card game. I went to bed early because my stomach was a bit upset.

5. Sky Sea

So here is a visual tour of where I am

photo: the 2nd house where my room is located

-I’ve been told that Haidi is the best hostel in Yunnan province, which could very well be true. I’ll determine that once I travel. The atmosphere is very relaxed and family style. Everyone hangs out with everyone and there is no separation between workers and guests. People are coming through all the time and we are booked full literally every night. I’ve met tons of friends, thus, now I have free places to stay all over China. Totally a bonus of working at a hostel.

-My only complaint is that is that sometimes I wish I were in a city versus a village. Haidi can feel like a bubble at times. And I think I have at most two weeks left taking in Haidi. I’m thinking I’ll start my travels as early as August 1^st.

6. Highlights

-Lost in translation.

So Dong Dong’s English is damn good, she’s fluent, but things still get lost in translation. These moments make for great stories.

Story 1. On Tristen, Dong Dong and my journey, Dong Dong instructed me to walk in the front and lead us around town. She kept joking that I would get us lost. I told her to lead us to Amigo, and she admitted she couldn’t remember. She didn’t even how to get to main road. She proposed “ I am terrible at finding my way. Sometimes I worry that I’m direction blind.”

Story 2. While searching for mangoes, Dong Dong insisted she knew where they were, even at 10 pm. Right as we were walking by the police station, she asked “Chris, do you know the police?”-“The police?”-“Yeah the police! Where you get off the bus.”-“Yeah, I know the police…”(we were near the police station and where I got off the bus, yes was a logical answer) “The police, they have mangoes!”(this is where I was completely lost)-“Where?”-“Right by the stone with the name of the neighborhood”(here’s where it clicked)”Ohhhh, you mean ‘the place’”

Turns out she was saying place, after clearing out that confusion, we made it to the store and got our mangoes.

Story 3. About 5 girl guests rented our bikes and went out riding on a rainy day. When they got back, they had a fair amount of mud on the bikes and themselves. Jokingly, Tristen said “Hey Chris, look, dirty girls” and then turned to Dong Dong and said “Dong Dong, Chris and I like dirty girls.” About five minutes later, looking puzzled, Dong Dong asked “Chris, why do you like dirty girls? They are so dirty, they need to shower!”

Tristen and I got a good laugh.

7. Things I miss

-my family

-my friends

-Santa Barbara-but really I always miss Santa Barbara, if you lived there, you would understand

-ocean air-lake air doesn’t cut it

-the beach-lake beaches don’t cut it either

-walking on the beach

-MOUTHWASH-if you know me, you know I’m beyond anal about my teeth. I thought I could buy some here..Shouldn’t I have known? Oh listerine, your cool refreshing cleansing feeling.. I miss you so

-hiking

-western women-seriously, I think living in California has completely immunized me against yellow fever

-surfing-surfline.com can only get you so far

-Berkeley-my inner hippy longs for its mecca

-my bike

-putting toilet paper into the toilet-not a big deal, but I still miss it

-the gym

-swimming in a lane

-207

-an abundance of fruit

-naked pizza Fridays

-a full set of bike tools

-Dish washing machines

-Berkeley Bowl

-sweets

– a shower loofa

-reading the news every morning-sure I have the nytimes account for CZ, but no internet renders that useless

-did I mention my bike?

-views of the Bay

-loth’s roof

-ATO’s roof

-clearly spoken words

-my short blue cotton shorts with no pockets-if you have hung out with me on more than 4 separate occasions, you have seen these shorts

-peanut butter

-almond butter

-peanut/almond butter and jelly sandwiches-these are my specialty

-understanding everything

that’s what I can think of right now

8. Best picks

Hey y’all,

It’s taken about forever and a half for me get this first post up(this post is spread across about five days) I trying my best fulfill my promise of keeping a travel blog. I indeed made it to my destination, Sky Sea Lodge, skysealodge.org, the hostel I’ll work at for the next 7(or maybe just 5 weeks). For those of you that don’t know, well, surprise! I’m in Dali, China， http://ditu.google.cn/maps?hl=zh-CN&q=dali%20china&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=8737l10799l0l10l6l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0&biw=1430&bih=697&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

After about two months of anticipation, 27 hours of travel, four cities, two planes, a taxi, a public bus, and a short walk, I can officially say: I’ve made it.

For a bit of a background on this trip: When planning my summer, I had fit in a trip to China, considering last summer my China study abroad plans were poofed away by a decision to get that last day on the ski slopes; I tore my ACL on April 17th, Spring 2010,  requiring surgery, and thus no China. I seriously considered taking my finals early, having surgery soon after giving me enough time to be able to fly(I actually considered taking a ship to China to circumvent the plane barrier) and then finding physical therapists in China. Logic helped me realize this wasn’t the best idea. A poorly rehabilitated ACL can cause problems throughout one’s life. China wasn’t going anywhere.

This summer, I had to make sure I made it to China. My options were 1. study abroad 2. work 3. intern and my thoughts were as such: 1. From the experiences I heard, studying abroad involves hanging out with Americans, taking generally useless classes and an endless search for american food. 2. Finding a place to live and paying for food to eat would be a total hassle and hole in my wallet if I wanted to work 3. The need to get some classes out the way only leaves only seven weeks  between the end of summer session and beginning of fall semester, not long enough for the standard minimum of eight weeks for an internship.

If I wanted to go to China, I needed to find a place to stay, food to eat, and myriad opportunities to practice the language. After recalling previous travels, working at a hostel was certainly the best way to go. A bed, food, and constant turnover of new travelers makes for a great way to experience a country.

Over spring break I perused the web and found this site: http://www.yhachina.com/index.php?hostID=2, a China youth hostel booking site, and emailed every single hostel with a description of my self, request for a job, and offer to send over my translated resume. I got offers from about 25 hostels in cities all over, Chongqing, Yangshuo, Guilin, Kunming, Sanya, Dali, and a few others. Asking my chinese friends and teachers helped me narrow my choice to Dali or Guilin. Both are smaller cities in beautiful landscapes. There’s a good cahnce research and work will eventually bring me to the bigger cities of Beijing, Shanghai, or Chongqing etc.

What sealed the deal was Sky Sea lodges response to my inquiry. The manager from Sky Sea Lodge responded with enthusiasm and encouragement saying that it will be a great exchange, Dali is a great place, and many domestic travelers come through, and that I was very welcome to come. My decision was nearly made, what solidified it was the fact that my emails back and forth were only in Chinese. No english? Better Chinese, here I come.

So what is the purpose of this blog? I have my own ideas, but I want to cater to what family and friends want to hear. My current idea is to have three aspects: 1. update the blog with my daily activities and interesting things I saw that day(cultural, structural, societal, governmental etc) 2. Write about a different topic every one or two days (the development here, culture, food, health) 3. Provide dank photos.

But I need your help! Send me an email with the things to you want to see and read about. I’ll keep a list of the requests and make sure to get through them.

So, now time to discuss actually going to China.

2. Packing list

Firstly, my packing list. I debated between really caring about weight and.. not. I ended up somewhere in between in my packing. Weight only matters for moving around, so it won’t be a problem until I leave to travel. Here it is:

Bags.

(1)Quechua 70 liter backpacking backpack. I found it on the street. So much for the 65 liter gregory I bought at REI, I figured an old backpack wouldn’t draw as much attention. It hasn’t mattered so far.

(1)45 liter Kelty. for day trekking.

(1) money belt, only useful when actually walking around

Electronics.

(1) Droid 2 cellphone. It has absolutely no service. So now it serves as a very expensive alarm clock.

+charger, case

(1) Canon 5d Mark 2. My baby, the light of my life. Will get some pictures up tonight.

+charger (3) batteries (2) 8g memory cards (1) camera bag (1) lens cloth (1) memory card reader

(1) 1 terabyte portable WD external harddrive

+case, chord

(1) very tiny sandisk 4g mp3 player, haven’t used it yet (6th day) but will probably will use it while exercising in the mornings

+ear phones

(1) macbook pro, very useful as a phtographer

+charger

(3) outlet converters

Books.

(2) Composition books, one is my exercise training log, the other is my travel log. I need to buy a tiny pocket book so I can write down new words right away, versus trying to recall them later in the evening

(3) travel books, (1) yunnan province book, haven’t read yet (1) lonely planet book, too broad to be useful if staying in one place (1)phrase book, not useful if you know the language

()recreational reading, made a huge dent in my john muir book on the plane, haven’t read since. Wondering how much reading I’ll get done, and what I’ll do with them when I travel.

-Into the Wild, My First Summer in the Sierra, Kite Runner, Life of Pi, No Impact man, and     The Alchemist

(1) lead pencil

(1) thing of lead+ eraser

(1) eraser(went missing today, Aokao (a coworkers son, Ashima) found my travel log, thus turning it into a drawing book, eraser is nowhere to be found.

Toiletries/health stuff

(1) CVS first aid kit, haven’t used it yet and its relatively big,

(1)travel case

(1) deodorant, maybe useless

(1) toothbrush in travel case

(1)fresh tube of “arm and hammer”(hell yes) toothpaste

(2) floss..es(what the hell is the plural for floss?)

(1) bar of soap+case

(1) retainer+case

(a ton) water purifying tablets, bottled water everywhere, so no need

(2) pack of condoms, China has enough people already

(1) extra box of bandaids

(2) 48 tablet pepto bismal chewables. Haven’t used, yet.

(1)anti diarrheal, a foul subject but relevant to traveling

(1)z-pack, antibiotic, this stuff will seriously kill any stomach bug, but eat some probiotic after.

-from what people have told me, the three prior items could potentially be the most important items I have in China

(1) razor but shaving cream, I’m not staying clean shaven, this is foreign to me.

(1) small shampoo bar

(1) bar of poison oak soap, there are relatives of poison oak in china. fuck.

(60+/-) Malarone pills, I think catching malaria might be cheaper than how much these pills cost.. I’m seriously considering saving these, planning a trip to Africa and trekking through stagnant water to justify the cost; It costs about $8 dollars a pill

-relevant side note, there are barely any mosquitoes here and they aren’t biting me

(2) bottles of “Off”, haven’t been bitten yet, could probably go without this

(a ton) of water purifying tablets, haven’t used yet. They have clean water here

Recreation

(1) speedo, swimming in open water is not as convenient without lanes and walls, but hey, swimming is swimming

-googles

(1) small board travel set, two sides, chess, checkers, and backgammon, so glad I brought this, but teaching backgammon in another language is a lil difficult

(1) Harmonica, played a little bit for my coworkers

Shoes

(1) Reef Sandals, I definitely could have only brought these

(1) topsiders, in case I want to look a bit more formal, haven’t used yet

(1) pair of hiking shoes, hiking is a bit farther than I’d like, and time is a bit harder to come by, maybe I’ll find time before work starts

(1) Tevas

(1) fresh pair of climbing shoes, workers get to climb for free(dank) so I’m going to make time this week for a lesson

Clothes and Apparel

-didn’t pack too much, can wash clothes here,

(2) t-shirts

(1) long sleeve shirts

(5) button up shirts, best shirts ever, can hike in them, look nice if you want, roll up the sleeves and make a short sleeve shirts, unbutton and cool off, roll down sleeves and you have a jacket

(1) pair of pants, only wore on the plane over, climate is very temperate here

(1) pair of exercise shorts

(1) pair of shorts

(1) full brimmed hat, haven’t used yet

(7) pairs of socks

(7) pairs of boxers

(1) pair of swim trucks

Random

(1) 34 fluid oz Kleen Kanteen

(2) 2 liter camel backs, haven’t used yet

(1) head lamp, so useful, there aren’t street lights in this town, I shouldn’t be surprised

(1) pack of AAA batteries

(1) cheap travel alarm clock, forgot a AA battery for it, useless

(1) tiny travel towel

(8) travel locks, which I didn’t bother putting on. I’ll use them when I travel about, I hope

Documents/paper

(2) wallets, one which I wanted to leave at home but was thrown in my backpack,

the other wallet has

-about 50 american dollars

-100 dollars in chinese yuan

-my id

-debit card, completely useless,

-visa credit card(it’s not everywhere you want to be)

(1)passport, visa for 60 days

(2) copies of my passport

(700+-) american dollars in money belts

(100) chinese dollars in money belt

Thats it, from what I can recall..

3. My questions/goals for this trip, some of these already have answers considering this is my 6th day

-Will I be a giant in China?

answer: surprisingly no, I was way more of a giant walking through the streets of Lima and Cusco, but their bowls, tea cups and benches are doll sized. I am a decent bit bigger just not a huge amount taller.

-How much Chinese do I actually know?

answer: none.

just kidding.

but seriously.

but really, I’m just kidding, I’m getting by. There are a lot of words I still have to learn, and Chinese has so many words for the same exact thing. Some people mumble, and some people speak so quickly, it can get hard.

-How will the food be?

answer: so far, fantastic, different meals all the time, lots of spice and flavor, and different ingredients all the time, more meat then I’m used to. I’ll expand on the food in another blog post.

-Will my stomach survive?

answer: after 6 days my iron stomach prevails, street vendor food, here I come

-Is China really the rapidly growing country with development everywhere?

answer: I’ll expand on this more, I have a lot to say, but right now, its a yes and no

-Will I be able to use chopsticks?

answer: mastered. all the Chinese are surprised, on my first day they kept asking if I wanted a fork instead.

-Does the hostel look like it does in the pictures or was I recruited to work at some hole in the wall family inn with no guests?

answer: it is bigger and better than the website, skysealodge.org

-Will I get yellow fever?

-Will I be able to restrain myself to swim in the lake despite the potential risk of blood flukes?

answer: I didn’t last more than 2 hours. I have no self control. But, while traveling, I would never do things the locals wouldn’t, all the locals swim, guests and coworkers. So it was a bit of a calculated decision when my cute coworker suggested to go swimming on the first day. Seriously, did I actually think I wouldn’t go swimming?

-Is it true that Chinese women are all over white men, especially those that speak Chinese?

answer: No, I felt much more like a ticket to America in Peru, when my friends and I walked into a very local restaurant, the waitresses took pictures with us and gave us their emails immediately.

-Will I suffer massive culture shock?

answer: Seeing my chicken dinner tied to a tree in the courtyard, holes for toilets, not understanding anything, people looking at me while I walk in the streets. Still none, I guess I go with the flow, I know I’m in China and things are different, how surprised can I be?

-What will I miss?

-Does jet lag exist?

Answer: no, it doesn’t, but seriously not knowing if two hours or 4 weeks passed between your departure point and destination, exists.

-Will I desperately miss American food?

answer: after six days, no. although, I do miss cereal a little bit..

Goals

-speak Chinese so much that I dream in Chinese

-be able to answer the phone for the hostel

I’m going to do my best to recall the past 7 days(someone closed the window I was writing in, ugh)

Day 1 July 5th

*Landed in Guangzhou at about 5:40 AM, met someone going to Dali as well, Shireen, a grad student in Public Health at UC Irvine, doing research with a UC Irvine professor, studying the abnormally high rates of Cardio vascular disease in the Dali area. Went to change planes, a piece of advice, if the Chinese airlines tell you your bags will be transferred, just go to the bag carousel anyway, sure enough, Shireens and my bag were circling around, thank god, thank god we had doubts. Later we met Whisper, a Dali local from Washington state, and Sarah, a Duke student doing research with the same professor.

*Made it to Kunming, at about 10, waited for about fourty minutes and then flew to Dali. Landed at 12 ish. I took a taxi into town with Whisper and another Dali local, Monica, from Austria. I got dropped off at the bus station, 18 yuan, and then they helped me get a taxi so I could get some money, when I left then, it definitely felt like I lost my crutch. But, I made to the bank, exchanged money, and made it back the bus station without dying or being robbed. Success.

picture: flying into dali, the lake in the picture is erhai 耳海

picture: taking the taxi with Whisper and Monica into the main town

*Was able to read the list of bus lines, paid 17 yuan (in 7 days I have only spent 6 dollars), and got on the right bus, success, again. Horns are used a lot in China, and the other side of the road as well.

picture: out the side of my bus to 双廊

*Made it to Shuanglang, 双廊, after about an hour. It was a bit unsettling, getting of a bus in country you’ve never been to, with noone that speaks your native tongue, looking for a place you’ve never seen, after about 5 minutes I was pointed in the right direction.

*Made it to Sky Sea lodge in about 20 minutes. At about 3pm-ish Approached the front desk and just said “I’ve finally arrived! I’m 邓克思（deng4ke4si1, my name）” Thus I met Lina and ShouJun. Lina showed me around the hostel, introduced me to everyone and made sure I promised to teach her English. She suggested we go swimming; I couldn’t resist, blood flukes? They can’t be too bad right? But honestly, it was a calculated decision, I would never do something the locals don’t do, and well, everyone was swimming. After the swim sesh I met Youyong, the hostel manager who I’d been emailing back and forth with. Interesting to finally meet someone you’ve only connected with through a screen. The funny thing is, he worked at a different hostel at the same time when I sent my emails, and he was the one to write back. He suggested that we were destined to meet. I don’t disagree.

Day 2 July 6

-got up at about 7 am and took some pictures of the hostel. Ate breakfast at 9, milk, porridge, and eggs.

-went to go get a delivery of new kayaks, then tried them out. I tried out a two person kayak with a Chinese guy Jack, about half my size and only broken English. We could only go in circle going left, even if we only paddled on the left. We couldn’t manage to paddle with the same rythym and every time we almost tipped, he said “control!” I think riding a tandem bike with a one legged person and an inner ear problem might have been easier.

*Lina showed DongDong, a fellow volunteer and myself around town, other restaurants, the post office, the bank(literally the only bank in town, and only ATM) and then the best view in town.

picture: looking down onto Shuanglang, looking north west

-That night I brought some guests to the bank, made my way back by myself. Then I realized how useful that headlamp could be. Made it back without getting lost, thank god.

Day 3 July 7th

-Got up at 7, worked on the computer until breakfast at 9, milk, a sweet biscuit and porridge

-Started my first day of real work. And this is when I realized I was actually in China. Not when every sign was written in Chinese, not when I saw my toilet was just a hole, not even when I saw my chicken dinner tied to a tree in the courtyard. It was when I raised my pick axe and swung it into the ground, breaking up the dirt and pulling out the weeds. Gardening at a hostel across the globe, I couldn’t help but laugh to myself

-I went to a café in town, Amigo and played backgammon with Nicolas, a French Sky Sea lodge guest, so glad I brought the board.

Day 4 July 8^th

-7 am, got up and organized my room, my anal organized self couldn’t stand searching for my items between two backpacks.

-Cleaned up the first courtyard, organized the kayaks

-3pm, taught some English. This was hard, some people have a base, but others don’t even know numbers or how to read. So I taught them how to read(started to teach, I should say) Thinking of where to begin with a language is so, so tough.

-Swam and Kayaked, I’ve been looking for anything that resembles a pull up bar and realized that kayaking is a great substitute, soon enough two-a-days will start again.

-That evening I met a couple who worked at Price Waterhouse Coopers,  in Guangzhou, I got their email and they said I can go to Guangzhou and stay with them, definitely going to take up all these offers for free stay.

Day 5 July 9^TH, Saturday

-7am got up and exercised by the lake, an elderly(64 years old he said) man then challenged me to an arm wrestle. Am I douche for not letting him win?

-9am, ate breakfast and then plowed a plot in the first courtyard till noon

-Tristen, a kiwi who lives in Australia arrived at Sky Sea Lodge, I helped him check in. He’s now my roommate, cool dude.

-Prepared our buffet 自助餐 in the evening. And then joined in the meal. Talked with some guests for about an hour and a half. Drank some plum hard alcohol, but was instructed to sip it, not to use it as a shot.

-Stayed up till about 3 with Ashima, DongDong and guests, drank tea and chatted

picture

Day 6 July 10^th, Sunday

-got up at about 8:30am at breakfast at 9 and started my work in our book bar(basically our café with western food, drinks, snacks etc) It’s great work, being able to chat with guests and coworkers. Did a lot of washing dishes this day.

-Chatted with Lulu, a guest and taught some English

Day 6 July 11^th

I didn’t journal for yesterday so It’s honestly hard to remember. I washed dishes, taught English to Xiao Yun, Swam, went to repair a bike, but the bike store was closed and went to make a sign to put up at Amigo café. And swam

picture: You yong cutting a board for our sign

Day 7 July 12^th

-Got up at 7, did some core workouts, ate breakfast, washed dishes in the Book bar, and then fixed bikes. As of today, I’m changing my ranking of managing bikes to just relatively dank from very dank. A couple guest wanted to use the bikes today, but they all needed work, after about an hour of working on them, they didn’t go. Ugh.

-Worked in the Book bar, and chatted with a Chinese teacher at a private school in Beijing

-Taught Lina English for an hour had dinner, then went to the Book Bar and chatted with a guest a Chinese tv anchor and then sat down to finish this long ass first post. It’s now 1:35 am on July 13^th.

Starting now I can post once a day. I’ll post more precise, more interesting recollections of my day, things I want to highlight, a requested topic and dank pictures.

If you have suggestions let me know. But who knows if you read this far.

Until next time.