Mountain Pictures From the Rest of the Trip

Food prep for dinner, things found around and within the forest.


Chickens being prepped.


A man working in his field.


Rice Paddies.


We almost tipped our boat.

Mountain Scenery Pictures

The forest, not as dense as ours.


The waterfall from high on the trail.


Lots of people at the bottom.


Misty :)


Less people as you go on.... the more beauty uncovered :)

Mountain Path Pictures

The narrow mountain road.


The wooden trail


The stone steps carved into the rock


A path leading to the trails


Me on steps across the river :)

Wedding Photo's

Welcome Home


This is actually a green dress.


The white dress


The red dress, and cheers to guests :)


The wedding party waiting for the fireworks to finish going off before entering

Pretty Yellow Flowers

For weeks I kept hearing about these FIELDS of pretty yellow flowers that I just had to see before they stopped blooming, so finally I agreed to go with my friends. “so the fields go for as far as the eye can see” they reminded me as we drove there, “there are so many of them that they cover the ground!” “so many people come to see them every year”… we pass a few wilted yellow flowers in a ditch on our way to lunch and I wonder if they are the ones my friends have been raving about.

It was a wonderful lunch with all local dishes and most very delicious. We headed out of the restaurant to go see the flowers and pass some more of the scraggly looking things in the ditch…at this point I’m kind of tentative about believing them that these flowers are going to be beautiful; especially after confirming that those were the same flowers we were going to see. Something though, looked oddly familiar about those flowers…

We got to this field which was not as far as the eye could see, it was maybe a quarter section filled with really tall yellow flowers and lots of people walking through them. “Wait… I think I know what these are” I tell one of my friends. “ha ha ha ha ha…this is Canola!” I exclaimed. They were a little disappointed that I had seen them before but I couldn’t help laughing at how many people came to trek through these fields of pretty yellow flowers every year while I grew up driving past REAL “fields as far as the eye could see” every day.

PJ Party at La Luna Bar

This was a PJ party at La Luna Bar. All the foreigners dressed up in pajamas and all the Chinese people thought we were crazy; it was a lot of fun! I got to dress up in those puffy PJ’s that I saw all the lady’s walking around in for so long. Craig and I practiced our “relaxing” (squatting) positions; as you can see we weren’t very good at them.

The first picture is of Win and Colin, then there's one of the whole group, and also one of Anna and I.

May 1-18, 2010

May 1-18

It looks like I will be doing blog entries twice a month. I was assuming you guys were getting sick of reading them, but it sounds like you're still interested. ^_^ which is nice to hear.

Ok, so since I last left off…let’s start with weather:

Weather’s been good (for me anyways) it’s been cloudy and rainy averaging about 20 – 22. It was really warm today and very muggy which wasn’t very pleasant.

School is still going ok. I have a routine in my lessons now which is reassuring and I have no more crying kids either, almost all my lessons are at main school and I have even had a fairly consistent schedule for the last few weeks. ^_^ ha ha ha.

Chinese…as usual, is coming along slowly but I am learning more and more. I have even decided I will try to learn the local language; which is going to be tricky, it has sounds that are really hard to wrap my tongue around.

May has been really busy! I went to a mountain the first week of May for a hike. The whole trip there was foothills with lush forest or rice patties; I tried to take some pictures to show it, but not all of them turned out. The trail we hiked was really nice with a very pretty river and waterfalls at the bottom. The trail itself was man made using logs in the forest area and rebar in the rock along the river. The forest was different to walk through because it wasn’t as dense as ours; there was lots of bamboo and then some variation of a normal tree…my apologies for the vague description, my tree knowledge is very limited. The river at the bottom was very clear and PACKED with people; luckily the farther you walked up stream, the fewer people you saw. About two thirds of the way through the trail it started to pour rain and we all were drenched by the time we got back to our hotel. For dinner we had a meal that was made entirely of things that could be collected from the surrounding forest; it was fantastic. On that note when we originally got to the hotel to drop our stuff off before our hike I saw some chickens locked in cages, assuming this was going to be out dinner tonight I tried not to feel too bad for them. Sure enough when we got back from our hike there lying in buckets of water were the chickens…killed, plucked, and ready to be chopped up for dinner. I got one ok picture of this. Well that pretty much sums up my mountaineering adventure, it was nice and I want to go back. ^_^

Next event I was lucky enough to partake in was a Chinese wedding. This couple was catholic though so it started in a church like any of our weddings would and then moved to the grooms house (his parents house really). We arrived before they did so when they got there I got to see the fireworks go off, they were showered in confetti and they dowsed in silly string before even getting into the apartment. Once they were “home” they went to the bedroom to see their new bedding and I think to take a breather but I’m not really sure. The new bedding was all red with matching pillows; I think it’s supposed to bring them good fortune in their marriage. Once they collect themselves the new bride will hand out tea and snacks to the guests in the house. The guests, which, at this stage are neighbors as well as family members, get to snoop around the house to see how wealthy they are. Family and friend leave to go to the hotel for the festivities. The bride and groom are greeted with more fireworks and a dragon. I missed this part because I was with the grooms mother who insisted on sweeping the apartment before leaving. Once we were at the hotel you give your red envelope to the bride and groom along with your best wishes and find the table you’ve been assigned to. Anna and I sang LOVE by Nat King Cole and my knees were shaking; it was very embarrassing but I’m glad we did it. The Bride changed out of her white dress into a beautiful red one and the couple started their rounds. They go to each table and do a cheers with the guests. The couple’s parents or best friends are there to refill their shot glasses as they go, but they had to go to every table to do this…there were about 30 tables at this dinner. Halfway through the bride changed from her red dress into a green one. I’m not sure on the custom behind this but I know that changing into a green dress is a Wenzhou thing. The dress changes are something to do with good fortune with babies I think. Anyways, the wedding was very cool and when dinner was finished and the couple had made it to the last table (the groom’s best friends) pretty much everyone got up at once to leave. It was very strange to see so many people leave at once. At this point the bride and groom, or in this case just the groom since the bride doesn’t drink, will play drinking games with his friends until he cannot stand up anymore.

Well, I think that pretty much brings me to present day. ^_^ I am having lots of fun and have been especially grateful to be able to have this experience.

Finished Dumplings

And the finished product.... it wouldn't fit on the last page.
MMMMMMMMMMM Yummy!

Making Dumplings

Picture 1. Cooking the Dumplings
Picture 2. Rachel aka head chef
Picture 3. My first uncooked dumpling that is beautifully made
Picture 4. Making dumpling ingredients
Picture 5. Home made dumplings and Fried eggs and tomatoes

April 21-30, 2010

April 21-30

Ok, so not much new. I have a trip planned with some of my Chinese friends at the beginning of may; it's to a "mountain with a huge forest" we'll see what their definition of huge is when I come back.

Summer is definitely on it's way; I had to buy a fan for my room because it's getting warmer now and more bugs are coming out too. At the grocery stores they have these mesh tents that you put on top of your bed; there's all sorts of different kinds. I got one that zips up all the way around including the bottom so no bugs can attack me while I sleep. Other types are the mesh fabric made into curtains that just hang over your bed from the ceiling, mesh tents (like mine) or mesh curtains hanging from a frame that sit on your bed. Once the summer heat officially moves in I will get a bamboo sleeping mat to go into my tent; it's supposed to help keep you cool during the night.

Aside from that there's really nothing new…but I do have pictures this time. They are meant to catch up on the past few months. :-)