Weekend in the Country

Not the city!

I'm back from lovely Yangshuo, and it was just as relaxing and refreshing as last time, although about a thousand times rainier. I should have expected this, of course, considering the current rainy season in Guangzhou and the fact that Yangshuo isn't that far away. But, first, before I attempt to amuse you with various anecdotes of my trip, a quiz!

On a boat?

Where was Hannah at 6am on Saturday morning? Was she...
A. on a bus
B. in a bed
C. in a bar
D. on a boat

On a bus? In a bed?

If you had trouble deciding, you're forgiven, as in fact, I was in all of those places on Saturday. However, the correct answer is C. At six in the morning on Saturday, I was sitting in a bar, drinking a beer, being told how to be a good teacher by an actuarial student from Leeds.

one misty moisty morning, when cloudy was the weather...

No, really. Could I make something like that up? Let me tell you the whole story. The 8:30p sleeper bus from Guangzhou to Yangshuo got in a tad earlier than I had remembered, and so we were deposited onto a silent, rainy street at about 4:45am. We made it to our hostel, but we hadn't actually been able to book a room for that night. The rooftop bar, however, was still open, so we headed up there. It was remarkably crowded still, with about seven people (counting the two who passed out on the couch shortly after we arrived) and we decided to chill there for a few hours. Well, what do you do if you're in a bar for an hour and a half? You drink beer and talk to your fellow patrons. They mostly seemed to be British, and I got to chatting with the aforementioned actuarial student from Leeds (we never did exchange names), who is in China for a few weeks visiting his friend who's been doing a study abroad semester (he was one of the ones passed out on the couch). We talked about math, the relative merits of financial math versus engineering math, and teaching.  He then proceeded to give me his views on how to be a good teacher, based on his understanding as a student. I listened and agreed to most of what he said, but I also spent a large time worried about how old he thought I must be, if I seem that disconnected from the student perspective. Ah, well. We'll give him the benefit of the doubt, as he had clearly been in a bar for at least six hours and I was looking rather travel-weary at the time. The bar closed about 6:30, and we were told there would be a room for us at 8am. So, we wandered up the street to the 24-hour KFC and spent an hour and a half drinking coffee and poking at youtiao (it's like a not-too-sweet Chinese doughnut? KFC in China is the king of localized menu items). Finally, it was 8, so we returned to our hostel and fell into bed for a couple of hours.

Safety first.

It was still raining when we re-awoke. We went to have a lingering real breakfast/brunch, and then spent some time checking out the souvenir shopping opportunities on West Street and getting whacked in the face by everyone else's umbrellas. By the time we made it down to edge of the Li River, the rain had actually stopped a bit, so we jumped on the opportunity to check off one of our vacation activities and hopped on a PVC bamboo boat for a hour's cruising about. I now have about forty more pictures of karst mountains. My apologizes in advance to whoever has to sit through my post-trip slideshow.

It's raining, it's pouring, but no one is snoring...

Sunday and Monday followed the same weather pattern. It would rain all morning and taper off around noon or one o'clock. Then, it would be mostly dry until about dinner time, when it would begin raining again. Our pattern became: sleep late, have a leisurely brunch, go for a stroll, have tea/coffee if it was still raining, and then, as soon as it stopped, do the day's outdoor activity (most of the fun things to do in Yangshuo are outdoors). On Sunday we went for a bike ride (our guide tells me that it always rains during Dragon Boat Festival, by the way) and on Monday we took a walk through Yangshuo Park and loaded up on souvenirs. Souvenir shopping is hard for me. I see lots of things I would like, because I am the type of person who appreciates Cultural Revolution-era propaganda posters. As for all of my friends and family -- this is my third trip to China. There are only so many silk scarves and fans I can give you guys. And let's not get started on shopping for the male members of my souvenir circle. I wish you were the type of people who wore bathrobes or man-jewelry. Well, not really, but it would make this easier.

Modern propaganda posters.

One last amusing story. On Sunday, my flatmate bought a tee shirt from one of the many vendors of amusing Chinese tee shirts that said ‘听不懂’ (ting bu dong) or ‘I don’t understand (what you’re saying)’. It’s personally amusing because it’s what our students are always saying to us, and because she doesn’t really speak Chinese except for the most bare-bones survival basics. She wore it on Monday, while we were shopping, and a good half dozen vendors decided to call it out to her like it was her name, trying to get her attention, which cracked us up beyond all belief.

Awkward bike pose!

We had planned to take the 9:30 sleeper bus back to Guangzhou, but it was overbooked (meaning we'd have been the lucky people whose 'beds' were actually the floor of the aisle) and so we hung around the hot, humid, sticky bus station until the 10:30 bus. It goes directly to GZ without making any stops, and we arrived  back in the city at around 5:15. That's too early for the subway and most of the buses (and the only ones that were running from the coach station stop don't go near our apartment) so we hopped in a cab. Guangzhou feels very different in the early hours when there's no traffic and you can actually cruise around at a normal driving speed. We made it to our apartment, took quick showers (all day in rainy/hot Yangshuo+1.5 hours in disgustingly hot bus station + 7 hours on bus = feeling kinda gross) and went back to bed. Alas, I had to be up again after a short nap to get to Chinese class. Good thing I had today to chill out and do laundry. Although you know what? It's raining again.

the Yulong River

It's a Bus-age Wonder

Yesterday morning, I was a little worried I had absolutely nothing to write about today. Now, I feel like I have to pick and choose which parts of my weekend to talk about. 

Yesterday began with a trip to the fabric market, or as I like to think of it, the Achilles heel of my shopping willpower. I had one last piece of nice fabric that I'd picked up on my last trip that I wanted to have made up into a jacket. Of course, while I was there, I bought three more pieces of fabric. But they're just remnants! They're tiny! I can stuff them into my shoes to bring them home! I don't need to bring home my socks...

After my narrow escape from the fabric market, I headed out with my flatmate and another coworker for a little pampering. We got facials. I say facial, but in addition to all the attention paid to my face, I also got my back, arms, neck, and scalp massaged. It was decadent and extremely relaxing. I will not tell you what I paid for it, because it will make you cry. Sorry.

Just as we were coming out of the spa, I got a call from another friend asking if I wanted to see Men in Black 3 later that evening. I weighed it against my other option: going home to watch BBC mysteries and surf the net in bed. So, we made a plan to meet for the movie. It gave us a little over an hour to get dinner, so we walked up Tianhe Beilu to a Bavarian German restaurant whose name is eluding me at the moment. I had German potato salad and a mango smoothie. Then it was down and over to the Grandview where I watched Will Smith take out some alien baddies with his usual summer blockbuster energy (sidenote: man, the summer of 1969 is a really busy time for time travelers). The movie let out just as the very last buses were running, so I ran and caught one home and fell into bed. That was yesterday.

Today I got up and paid the rent, cleaned my apartment a bit so our real estate agent can show it to some prospective renters (even though we're not leaving until late July?), then met another friend for lunch at the cheap Italian place (again, the name eludes me). It really isn't half bad for the price point, which is way, way cheaper than any other foreign food place in town (including McDonald's). We had basil pasta, garlic bread, seaweed salad (yes, you read that right), a 9-inch Hawaiian pizza, and chocolate mousse cake all for a little under 10 USD. Seaweed salad, by the way, is regular garden salad with dressing, with a scoop of Japanese sushi-restaurant style seaweed on top. It actually wasn't half bad. After lunch, we decided to swing by Starbucks, as my friend had a buy-one-get-one card. The nearest Starbucks was packed, so we walked a block to the next one, which was also packed, so we crossed the intersection to the bigger one, which wasn't so bad. We both had the mango hibiscus juice tea. It was good.

Finally, I got around to the real task I needed to accomplish this weekend, which was to head to the coach station and buy bus tickets for my weekend trip. My flatmate and I are going on a three day trip to Yangshuo (you may recall, I was there in October, but my flatmate hasn't been). Last time, a coworker who had been before arranged everything, so all I had to do then was give her some cash and show up at the appointed time. This time, I am the designated ticket-buyer, so I had to brave the fun of a major transit station. 

The Tianhe Coach Station is at least easy to find, as it is right outside of the identically-named subway station (last stop on Line 3). It's two storeys tall, and there are helpful bilingual signs that direct you to the ticket windows on the first and second floors. That's where the bilingualism ends, though, as all of the bus information is in Chinese. No matter, I thought, I can read this. This is basic stuff! I can even read the sign about which ticket windows accept bank cards (about 4 out of 40 windows, so bring cash). 

First, I direct my eyes to the scrolling red text of the giant electronic signboards and locate the "out of province" buses. I patiently wait for the whole cycle to run through twice. Hmm. I don't see my bus listed. Well, maybe I misread the sign downstairs and I need to use the first-floor ticket windows. So down I go. Nope, those are definitely not right. Back up the escalator, and another scan of the signs. Still no dice. I wander over to a large poster of bus numbers sorted by province. Yangshuo is in Guangxi, and isn't listed as a destination. Huh. Wait a tick! I say to myself. I bet Yangshuo isn't the terminus of the bus. It probably goes all the way to Guilin. So really, I should be looking for the bus to Guilin. I don't see that one on the big signboard, but I do see it listed on the poster. 

Finally, now that I've been wandering around the bus station for about fifteen minutes, I get in a ticket window line. It's not actually a peak travel time, so my line is only five people deep and moves quickly. When it's my turn, I bust out my best Chinese (what? full sentences? ha. Only silly foreigners use full sentences) and ask for the Friday night sleeper bus to Yangshuo. Turns out there's a really late one, but I know there's an 8:30 one, so I ask and ahah, there it is (at the ticket window, there's a computer screen facing you, which shows you all the ticket information: destination, bus type, ticket type, departure time, and price). I ask for two tickets, hand over some cash, and ticket victory is mine. 

Oddly enough, I feel as though my trip to the coach station would have been faster if I didn't speak any Chinese. I probably would have just hopped in a line and blundered through. On the other hand, my confidence level was high, and it all went quite smoothly, so I'm calling it a win. I even handled the unexpected "is the second passenger a child" question.

So that was my weekend. I'm a bit tired, and I've got homework to do before class tomorrow (Ahem. All of my former students will laugh at me, but I actually forgot how annoying it is to have to dedicate some homework time. But! The teacher in me knows the benefit of doing it). One last thing, though, before I go. This Saturday is the Dragon Boat Festival, which honors the noble suicide of Qu Yuan, a Warring States-era poet. I suggest celebrating with a boat ride and some zongzi. 

To the Nines

I feel like complaining about the weather again would be repetitive, so let’s consider my moaning and groaning about the continued heat and humidity, and my impeding electric bill, said and done. Onwards!

In other news, I learned how to peel a dragonfruit.

It’s been a good week in eating. First, I enjoyed a delicious red dragonfruit. I love summer, just for the fruit. All along the street I can buy little peaches, plums, bananas, green oranges, lychee, and mangosteens.

Round lasagna. You eat it like pie.

Then yesterday, I made lasagna. It was delicious. If you’ve never gone to the effort of making your own béchamel sauce for your lasagna, I highly recommend it. It came out so velvety and flavorful (want a funny mental image? Okay, imagine me, making white sauce in a wok, stirring it with chopsticks). On the side, we had some sour ginger carrots. I made this recipe up, guys, and it’s delicious. You should try it. Just shred a carrot or two on a box grater, then in a lidded container mix 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 tablespoon salt, a quarter cup of white vinegar, a cup of warm-hot water, and the juice and pulp of a piece of fresh ginger the size of your thumb down to the first knuckle. Swirl until everything is dissolved and toss in the carrots. The liquid should cover them. If they’re not, adjust proportionally. Leave them in the fridge overnight. Drain them and eat within a week. Zingy zesty yum.

Follow the yellow brick road! 

This week’s day-off outing was to Up Down Nine Street (上下九路步行街), a pedestrian shopping street near the Changshoulu metro stop on Line 1. It’s the usual chaos of clothing stores, shoe stores, shouting salespeople, aggressive flyer distributors, foreigners, and visitors. It’s not quite up to the level of Beijing’s Silk Market (then again, what place is? What Hilter was to despotic dictators, the Silk Market is to tourist shopping opportunities), but it is good fun, nonetheless. I didn’t buy anything, but I did get a pedicure and take pictures of the interesting older architecture of the area, as well each of the statutes of traditional life dotting the road.



I thought about continuing on to the jade market area, since it is at the same stop, but I wanted to get back so I could eat leftover lasagna and write this post and get cracking on my real task for tonight. My homework. Yes, you heard me. I have homework to do. Say what you will about my tendency to procrastinate, but I finally got around to signing up for a Chinese class in my free time. Yes, I’m aware that I’m leaving China in less than a month and a half. At least I am doing it, right? Actually, I feel like I’ve done surprisingly well achieving some of my goals for my time here. But, that’s a topic for another post.

A Pizza Hut, a Pizza Hut, Kentucky Friend Chicken and a Pizza Hut.
McDonalds! McDonalds! Kentucky Fried Chicken
and a Pizza Hut.

This Week in History

Oh what a week! We had the anniversaries of the opening of the first drive-in movie theater, the Queen's sixty years on the throne, D-Day, and the Tiananmen Square incident. Good thing so much is going on in history, because I've done nothing.

This did nothing, either, because it never happened. Got that?

Well, ok, not nothing. I don't really know why I have the idea in my head that I need to do something "big" in order to make my week exciting. This week was a good example of what my day-to-day life in Guangzhou has been. On Thursday I taught four year olds about shapes, on Friday I went to a Teacher Workshop about teaching functional language, on Saturday and Sunday I taught the bulk of my classes and tried out a cheap and delicious Vietnamese restaurant in the Yangji area, on Monday I did administration and prep work, and Tuesday I had a picnic in Yuexiu Park. Today I did laundry, walked to the fruit market selling avocados for 12 kuai each, and wiped the entire kitchen down with bleach (days like this make me wish I had an ayi). I also finally noticed that we hadn't flipped our living room calendar page since March. Oops.

Laziness is its own reward.

Admittedly, part of why I try to do something notable each week is so that I have something interesting to write about here. I feel a bit narcissistic when all I have to write is complaints and boring recitations of my normal and rather uninteresting life. But, the only people who read this are my family, right? So you're used to it. On with the drivel!

It's summer in Guangzhou.

Yesterday's picnic was a chance to reconnect with some of the other teachers who arrived last July. There were eight of us who trained together, and three of them work at the same center as me, but the other four are scattered through the city. We've done some things together throughout the year, but we wanted to make sure we had one last get-together before our contracts are up in July. So, we managed to find a time six of us could make, and we met for a picnic in the park. It was quite fun. We found a spot in the "woods" part of the park and shared bread, cheese, grapes, chips, quick pickles, garlic peas, cookies, and banana chips. Then we walked around the park a bit and moaned about the heat and humidity. I am so looking forward to Maine summer. I've got Castlebay's Looking Home stuck in my head every time I think about it.

Now I'm thinking of Schooner Fare's Roots and Wings.

That's all I'm going to torture you with this week. Before I go, though, the answer to last week's photo challenge! Did you figure out what these are?

Sweet Dreams

They're ceramic pillows! The children's area had one you could try out. You know? They're surprisingly comfortable. Maybe that's what I'll bring you all for souvenirs.