Winter Break and Family Time

As much as I enjoyed China’s surprises, I can’t say it was all too unbearable to leave. Compared to the other nations we visited, I can’t help but remember feeling in China like I was witnessing a big machine whirling and chugging along around me. It made me feel on edge, like I had to be aware and accountable for everything I was doing at all times. Almost like I was being watched, which is admittedly unavoidable for a white person in Asia. In any case, I was ready to get out of the spotlight I felt I was under at Hwa Nan University and get a little anonymity back. Hong Kong was the answer.

We arrived on December 23^rd at the YMCA on Kowloon Peninsula.

Hong Kong is situated on the southeast coast of China…facing the South China Sea. Covering an area of 1,104 square kilometres (425 square miles), the territory is made up of Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon Peninsula and the New Territories. At the core is Victoria Harbour, which separates Hong Kong Island from Kowloon and beyond that, the New Territories that runs up to the boundary with Mainland China. (Source)

As I’m sure you’ve heard, Hong Kong very recently (July 1, 1997) returned to Chinese sovereignty, and is now considered to be a “Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China,” governed under a policy of “One Country, Two Systems.” This arrangement allows Hong Kong to enjoy a high degree of autonomy, retaining its capitalist system, independent rule of law, free trade and freedom of speech, while appeasing China’s desire for control.

Hong Kong immediately felt familiar, despite the aggressive Asian advertising and marketing from which we never seemed to escape. The city is spotless. I’m not kidding. And it is SO well run. The infrastructure is unbelievable. Infrastructure is something I’ve thought and talked a lot about on the trip, just because it has started to stand out as the element that seems to make or break a nation’s development and economic success. The roads were well marked; sidewalks were clean; there were garbage AND RECYCLING bins on the streets; signage was incredibly impressive, always appearing in at least three languages; public transportation is a dream – clean, efficient and timely. Whoever designed this city knew how to shuffle people around, at least as efficiently as is possible in a space so densely populated.

It was also the first time I had seen western advertisements in about four months. Seeing Gwyneth Paltrow’s giant face on the side of a building was more comforting than I’d like to admit. As was the opportunity to shop! I would have left with a whole new wardrobe if the prices had been half of what they were. And if I didn’t have to look forward to carrying my purchases on my back for the next 5 months.

On top of that, we only had about 36 hours before our big Christmas Eve Party (a PacRim tradition in which our friends and family are invited to celebrate with us in Asia!), and the media group and I were hard at work completing our first semester memory video for its Christmas Eve debut. If any of you have ever worked with Final Cut, you know that compiling and editing footage is intense. And in true college fashion, we left it to the last minute. But we are more than proud of the outcome, and it ended up being completed on time! We got to show it off, and all our guests got a much better idea of what we’d been up to for so many weeks.

Girls in their qipaos (traditional Chinese dress), and Jessica in her ao dai (traditional Vietnamese dress), each of which we had tailor made in China and Vietnam!

Boys in their suits, which were also custom made in Vietnam.

The part was a blast. But unfortunately, due to a plane ticket timing snafu (i.e. my dad got confused with the time difference on the overseas flight) my family wasn’t able to make it L. I was pretty crushed about that. But it only made their arrival more special. Believe me, I was counting down the minutes. Since we didn’t have cell phones, I’d agreed to keep Skype turned on all night and await their call once they reached the hotel.

At about 11pm on the night of the party, my family and I were officially in the same country! I can’t tell you how excited I was to see their faces [virtually]. On Christmas morning, my good friend Anna and I packed up as fast as we could and made the journey out of the city and onto Hong Kong Island where their hotel was located. With all our luggage it tow! We could have shelled out for a taxi, which would have cost at least $35, but we opted to take the city bus to the airport (only a few minutes from my parents’ hotel) and then hop on the free shuttle to the hotel. We were so proud to have made it all by ourselves.

Speaking of how great Hong Kong’s public transportation is, our bus to the airport had an unexpected flat tire about 30 minutes into the trip. We had to pull over and all the passengers had to get out on the side of the highway, along with all their luggage. There was some momentary confusion, but Anna and I could hardly begin to worry because within moments (LITERALLY) another bus swooped in, loaded us on and proceeded to the airport. It was jaw-droppingly efficient, the likes of which I doubt you would see in America.

Tears were shed and hugs were exchanged when we greeted my parents in the lobby where they were anxiously awaiting our arrival. Then we went upstairs to open presents (!!) because it was Christmas morning after all. My family had packed a few gifts from home, along with a present for Anna from her parents so that we all had something to open.

But even though it was Christmas, we couldn’t forget that we were in Hong Kong and on vacation! We decided to make the most of our day by visiting the Tian Tan Buddha, one of the must-see destinations in Hong Kong.

From inside the gondola.

The ascent.

As is customary in Buddhist tradition, this sacred site is located high above the surrounding buildings and residences, requiring visitors to climb (or take a gondola, which we did) to reach it and thereby increasing its significance. To be honest, compared to the [buttload of] Buddhas/stupas/monasteries we’d seen by then, this one was pretty sterile. By that I just mean un-spiritual. It was built in 1993 and was clearly intended for tourism. I mean, there was a fricken SUBWAY restaurant (among many other souvenir and eating joints) just below the steps to the statue. Nevertheless, it was a fun way to spend the day and a cool thing for my family to see.

Anna caught a flight to Germany later that night, and the next day my family and I set out to explore the city. Unfortunately, the location of our hotel ended up kind of sucking - all the action of Hong Kong takes place on Hong Kong Island or Kowloon, requiring us to take an initial 20 min. train ride from Lantau Island. The trains were a breeze though. Very Minority Report-like.

Finally on my own with my family, it felt weird for me to all of a sudden be the leader of the group. I became the resident travel expert (at least in my own mind), which lead to some mildly awkward battles of supremacy. Our study abroad group had fallen into such a nice groove after so many weeks together. We knew the drill - how to bargain, how best to plan our days, what to pack, how to be prepared, how to handle unexpected changes. But seeing my family in such an unfamiliar environment and immediately having to interact with them in “survival travel mode” took some getting used to. For me, travelling sort of chisels you down to the basics of living. It's primitive in a lot of ways. How do I find food? Where can I go to the bathroom? How do I stay clean? How will I get from point A to point B? Where am I? There are certain parts of you that aren't necessarily revealed in day to day middle class life. But working together and compromising as a family in an unfamiliar environment certainly leaves nothing to hide. That was hard for me to face at first. 

Now that I think about it, embarking on this trip with a group of strangers was actually ideal. No baggage. No one to disappoint (at least at first). No expectations. No lingering drama. We were all free to fall into a pattern with each other, to learn and grow together and find our place. I miss that atmosphere terribly. I hope I have the chance to be a part of something like it again in my life. It’s incredibly liberating. 

Back to my family. I’m going to pretend they wont be reading this. I was super impressed with Elliott. He takes things like a champ and always goes with the flow. As long as he has eaten fairly recently. My family has problems admitting to their hanger (in case you missed it, hanger is a term coined by my fellow Pacrimmer, Jeremy to describe the state of irritable bitchiness resulting from low blood sugar; hunger + anger = hanger). I also had issues being told what I could and could not do when my parents were around. But then again, I've always had issues with that.

Of course, although things took some getting used to, I was more than ecstatic to have my family with me to share this wonderful part of my life. It absolutely wouldn’t have felt complete had they not joined me.

Over the next few days, we took advantage of a very tourist-y but ultimately super convenient transportation service called Big Bus Tours, which allowed us to cruise around the city in a double decker bus, hop on and off at designated stops whenever we wanted, and listen to a Jude Law doppelganger give us a guided tour all along the way! We got to cover way more ground than we would have otherwise.

Here are some views from the tour:

Antique market stall on our stocking-stuffer shopping trip.

Tom Heerman-style souvenirs.

Dad and Elliott. And John.

View from the top of the Big Bus. This is the "other side" of the island.
Insanely expensive beachfront properties.  Reminded us of the OC.

As seen in The Dark Knight.

Of course, our trip wouldn’t have been complete without a view of the famous Symphony of Lights across Victoria Harbor, “a spectacular light and laser show synchronized to music and staged every night at 8:00PM. This is the world's largest permanent light and sound show as recognized by the Guinness World Records” (Source). It was especially cool at that time because of the special holiday themed lighting designs.

All in all, Hong Kong was a blast. The perfect place to ease first-time foreigners into travel abroad. Super easy to get around; tons of great food, both gourmet and blue collar; lots of stuff to see and places to shop. Not to mention world-class people watching. It didn’t steal my heart in any unique way, but I’d love to go back.

Next time, off to Thailand!

I Have Returned!

As you probably could have guessed, I have successfully made my return to the States and am working on getting back into my “normal” routine in MN, as I process and reflect on the incredible nine month journey I’ve just completed. Coming home was weird…to say the least…but I’ve been surprised by how quickly and easily I’ve re-acclimated to my old habits and customs. That’s not to say I haven’t been changed. On the contrary, I think I’ve come back with a much different outlook, set of expectations for myself and my living environment and a better sense of my own life purpose. But I’ll explain my profound revelations in a later post.

For now, I want to first apologize for failing to keep you updated about my final four months abroad. After winter break, I started to get bogged down with my independent research project (required of each PacRimmer) and to be honest, my enthusiasm and intrigue with the travel process started to fade. Nevertheless, there was no shortage of amazing adventures in those final months, and now that I have (way too much) free time, I want to share them with you. By the end of the summer, I hope to have you completely filled in.

I also want to thank you all for showing interest in my life and for giving me an outlet to share my experiences without truly being connected to home. It wasn’t until I returned that I was told how many of my family and friends have enjoyed my writing, and I am so grateful for your loyalty. Without you, I’d have no reason to write, and much less motivation to reflect on what I’ve been doing. Thank you, and  enjoy the rest of the journey!

Semester 1, Check.

To all my faithful readers,


I apologize that I haven't been updating you as often as I would like. As I'm sure you have guessed, a lot has happened between Thanksgiving in China and now. Here's a sneak preview: I am currently in Mysore, India studying Hindu architecture and comparing it to Angkor Wat and the other temples in Siem Reap, Cambodia, which we toured a few weeks ago.


I promise to fill you in soon, but in the mean time, please enjoy this video that I, and four other PacRimmers put together at the end of first semester.


http://player.vimeo.com/video/35865991?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0


Hope you like it!

So Many Things to Try!

Overall, I found the food in China to be hearty and comforting compared to the light, bright flavors of Vietnam. It was also considerably colder in Fuzhou (usually in the 40s or 50s), so I craved warm comfort food a lot.

The first meal I had on campus, which I ended up having nearly once a day, was a bowl of soup from the cafeteria’s made-to-order soup station. It was so awesome.

It worked like this: first, you pick up an orange basket and choose your soup ingredients from the refrigerators. There were tons of options: cauliflower, taro, seaweed, lots of mushrooms, fungus, eggs (hard boiled or fresh), tofu, bean sprouts, greens, tomato, fish balls, crab, sausages and much more. There were a few different noodle options too.

Next, you give your basket to the cook in the window, who places all your ingredients in one of the individual boiling baskets in a huge pot of broth to cook. It takes 5 or 10 minutes, but it is so worth it. Outside the window are bowls of garlic paste, chili sauce (I’m officially addicted), scallions, ground pepper and vinegar to mix in.

Eating it is kind of a process, and it takes a while. By now I’ve become pretty good with chopsticks I’m proud to say, and I actually prefer them for noodle soup. Chopstick natives eat soup with two hands by scooping up a little broth with a flat ceramic spoon in their left hand and plopping a few noodles on top using their chopsticks in the right hand. The perfect bite. Eventually I figured it out, but it was awkward for a while.

Almost all the food at the cafeteria was made-to-order. One station even offered fresh, hand-pulled noodles, and you could watch them being pulled all day long. I don’t think anyone was quite as excited about that as I was. The Hwa Nan cafeteria wasn’t unique either. Hardly any ingredients are actually packaged or processed in China no matter where you get a meal, except probably the flour, sauces and spices. Otherwise it’s all fresh. And it’s incredibly cheap, at least by my standards. A bowl of soup at the soup station was between 6 and 9 Yuan, which is about $1.00-$1.50. But Sophie told me she didn’t like eating at the cafeteria because it was so expensive. It’s all relative.

Apart from noodle soup, most of what I ate was some sort of vegetable stir-fry with white rice. The vegetables in China were awesome. So many mushrooms! Bean sprouts, bok choy, kale, cabbage, tomatoes, eggplant, and so much more. Tofu is really common too.

In fact, my greatest food-related discoveries in China often weren’t actual dishes, but just individual ingredients. Here are some of the best:

Taro

Some of my Asian classmates were familiar with taro prior to our trip, but I had never seen it before. Oh my god, it changed my life. Taro is a root vegetable similar to a potato in texture, but not in flavor. It is much sweeter and more smooth, but not quite like a sweet potato. They have a slight lavender color to them too. I’ve now had it fried, baked, boiled, freeze-dried and frozen in ice cream. But by far my favorite incarnation was when I had mashed taro with sesame seeds at Sophie’s house.

It was amazing: creamy, starchy and unctuous (not exactly sure what ‘unctuous’ means, but I heard Padma Lakshmi say it once, so hopefully I’m in the clear). I hope to god I can find it at home. I don’t know if I can live without it anymore.

Dried Sweet Potato

Speaking of potatoes, one of the literally THOUSANDS of weird packaged Chinese snacks was dried sweet potato. Dried fruit has become my staple snack on the trip, so I was down to try it. It took some getting used to though. I still don’t quite understand how such a naturally dry food can become chewy as it is dehydrated, but apparently it can.

It is very mild tasting and not very sweet. And it’s bright orange. I actually mistook it for mango at first because most Chinese packaging doesn’t have English translations.

It wasn’t anything mind-blowing, but I decided to throw it in because I ate it so often in China.

Chestnuts

Though a bit tough to peel, chestnuts became one of my favorite snacks in China. You can find them steamed and roasted at little shops and restaurants all over the place. Chestnuts are sweet and nutty tasting, but much more starchy than a regular nut. They are kind of like a cross between a walnut and a potato in flavor. They are delicious little surprises in stir-fry dishes, but they must be a huge bummer to prepare. Their shells are pretty tough, and you can’t really peel them without a knife.

Pamelo

These guys are a lot like giant grapefruits, but with a much milder flavor. You peel the skin and eat them in slices like an orange, but they are like four times the size. Our school convenience store sold them and peeled them for free! They are SUPER filling though, and it is hard to stop eating them once you’ve started.

I only had the yellow pomelos, but the insides look pretty much the same to matter the color. They are surprisingly easy to peel. Once the outer rind is gone, you just have to work around the pith. Also kind of labor intensive, but very rewarding.

This is not my cat.

Fungus

Similar to mushrooms but with a much different texture, fungus like this was everywhere in China. They feel kind of like a human ear when you touch them (sorry if that’s gross) and they have a little bit of a rubbery crunch. They are awesome in soup and in egg stir-fry.

I know they don't look like much, but just wait until you've tried them. The texture is really unique.

Chili sauce

There are SO many different kinds, but by the end of my visit, I poured some type of spicy sauce on to practically everything I ate. The most common was the dried chili oil that I put in my soup everyday. A word to the wise: the oil is much spicier than the actual chili pieces.

My absolute favorite was a smooth, vinegar-y sauce that I ate with these incredible mushroom dumplings on my last day in Fuzhou. It wasn’t sweet at all, and it wasn’t too spicy to be used as a dipping sauce. That was probably my second favorite meal in China, right behind the homemade lunch at Sophie’s house.

Food in Fuzhou was much different than any Chinese food I’ve had in America, probably because of the huge selection of ingredients. But I have to say, it was just as oily if not oilier than American Chinese food. A few of my friends had to stop eating at the cafeteria because the oil made them sick. It was pretty heavy, but I like to think the vegetables cancelled out the greasiness a little bit J.

But wait! I can’t go without a word on the weirdo Chinese street food snacks. They were definitely out-of-this-world, and not necessarily yummy. I think pictures are the only way to go here:

The Chinese love kitschy little treats in small packages, and I swear, 90% of them had some kind of stuffing or filling. They were very colorful and creative, and I certainly won't find them anywhere else in the world.

College Culture

As much as it was comforting and familiar to live on a college campus again, life for Hwa Nan students is much different than life for American students, at least at Puget Sound. As I mentioned before, the Pacrimmers were much bigger spectacles in China than in any other country, and our celebrity and limited timeframe definitely prohibited us from really getting accustomed to Chinese college life. Nevertheless, I think it is interesting to compare the attitude and outlook of Hwa Nan students to those of my peers.

I don’t know whether it was due to the all-female dynamic, Chinese family structure, government influence or some other cultural difference, but the students at Hwa Nan stuck me as being a bit less mature and certainly less personally driven than most of the college students I know. The campus had a high school-like atmosphere, the girls seemed naïve to me, frequently shrieking and giggling, walking in small, tight groups, dressed to the nines for class each day, and seemingly much more concerned about social life than their studies. I felt guilty and misunderstood when I insisted that I had to finish writing my final paper, which was due the next day (25% of my grade!) instead of getting my nails painted with a girl I met one night. Excelling in academics wasn’t a priority for most girls, and when asked why they chose Hwa Nan, most answered that it was simply one of the few universities that accepted them – they reacted as if it were a no brainer. The grueling college entrance exams in China certainly make or break futures.

When I told my mom about Hwa Nan being a school for girls, she immediately assumed that it had a feminist, female-empowerment mission, which I never found to be true. Girls just go there to get a degree and a “ticket to the middle class” as one of the English professors put it. Many of the girls I met didn’t necessarily seem happy or motivated to be proactive about their futures at all, and female solidarity as not a priority for anyone.

The girls seemed to have very superficial relationships with their professors, and according to Marjie, a UPS graduate who is now teaching English at Hwa Nan, they are used to being lectured at rather than participating in class discussion. It is common to see girls speaking to each other, not even discreetly, during lectures and even during their classmates’ presentations. Education is a stepping stone and not a pursuit in itself it seems. This definitely may not be true about other Chinese universities and students. But at the very least, I think I can say that generally speaking, education in China isn’t the luxury that it is in the United States.

The more I thought about the Fuzhou university district atmosphere, and the more I talked about it with other Pacrimmers, the more it began to strike me as being incredibly mechanized, rigid and almost repressive for the students. As I’ve said, the only contact with life outside campus is a 30-60 minute bus ride downtown, as there is literally nothing within walking distance but other campuses. Pretty much the only people on that bus are college kids. Each campus is gated, even the biggest ones, with security guards on duty 24/7. Students need to flash their school IDs before being allowed in. Hwa Nan is even surrounded by a mote. It may have something to do with irrigation or plumbing, but still, not exactly welcoming.

Anyway, I could be totally off base with all of this, but a lot of what I observed gave me the feeling that freedom and individual prerogative are not only less of a priority for Chinese people, but less of a possibility. Many of the people I met seem to have bought into their role in the big China “machine,” and they seem to trust that if they do what they are “supposed” to do, they will achieve a comfortable life. No one seemed to have exceptionally lofty aspirations.

I know I’m making judgments based on very little evidence here, but this is just me thinking out loud. No offense.

Qi and Cheese in China

Land o' Lakes is in China! You go Minnesota.
This has nothing to do with my blog post...

China brought a lot of anticipation and a lot of stress. It happened to be the final country before our Christmas extravaganza in Hong Kong and the arrival of many of our families and loved ones for winter vacation. So our time in China was often spent making travel plans, attempting to muster up Christmas cheer and make the arrival of the holidays as special as possible. Oddly, one of the places I found comfort was in one of the three Starbucks in Fuzhou, which happened to have its grand opening while we were visiting. I’m not a coffee drinker or a café-goer at home, and if I ever did decide to spend an afternoon in a café, it certainly wouldn’t be a Starbucks. It would be a Caribou J. But the moment I stepped into this place, I felt a little pang of comfort and American pride. The soothing smell, the cleanliness, the holiday cups, the photos of Seattle on the walls and the cheezy Christmas slogans. And the BATHROOMS! China is great for many reasons, but the public facilities are not one of them. I won’t go into the details but suffice it to say that they are pretty awful. So when I stepped into Starbucks’ brand new, chicly lit bathroom complete with a seated toilet, air freshener, toilet paper, soap AND paper towels, I took an extra minute or two to wipe.

The holiday music was such a nice surprise too. Harry Conick Jr., Joss Stone, Paul McCartney, and my favorite: “Mistletoe and Holly” by Frank Sinatra. It made studying for our two classes (taking more than one class at a time seems so impossible now) significantly more enjoyable.

Let me take a step back for a second to explain the whole China situation. As I mentioned in my Thanksgiving post, the group was stationed in dorms at Hwa Nan Women’s college in the outskirts of Fuzhou, a fairly large city in Fujian Province. Many of the Chinese students spoke English, but it wasn’t uncommon for them to nervously avoid speaking to us on account of the celebrity status we achieved the moment we arrived. We were definitely the entertainment of the year for these girls and I felt like I was being watched wherever I went.

But the reactions to our group went both ways. The other 50% of the Chinese students couldn’t get enough of us. All they wanted to do was spend time with us, whether it was out of a desire to practice their English or to associate themselves with the famous foreigners I’m not sure.

Anyway, Hwa Nan was one of about a dozen colleges in the university district of Fuzhou – a vast, sprawling region at the foot of a surrounding mountain range, which I never did learn the name of. 

The campus seemed huge when we first arrived, but it turns out there are only about 2500 students – comparable to Puget Sound. There is a nice pond in the center, one of which can be found on many college and business campuses in China for the feng shui value.

The dorms were simple and cold, in temperature and atmosphere. Buildings aren’t built with heaters anywhere in the south of China, even though it can get to be between 40 and 50°F. Only the Foreign Teachers Building had portable heating units in the living spaces, which we were lucky to have been able to access. But the dorms gave us all we needed. The female Pacrimmers stayed four to a room on bunks, each room with one shower, sink and squat toilet. We had warm comforters, a water heater and a few small foam cots to place on our bunks.

It was sparse and not super comfortable for me, but I’m not complaining. We were pretty lucky actually, considering the Chinese girls live eight to a room, without laundry facilities or mattresses. That’s right, they sleep on nothing but reed mats spread over the wooden bunks. And I thought my back was sore…

We ate in the cafeteria with the other students and had class everyday in a REGULAR classroom! It’s CRAZY how normal it was. We didn’t have a whole lot of opportunities to explore the area, because there is literally nothing around Hwa Nan but other university campuses. There were various “student streets” a short walk away with fast food vendors (nothing like American fast food), clothing shops, knockoffs and lots and lots of bubble tea. The college students’ only connection with the outside world came from the 89 bus line, which ran into the heart of Fuzhou. It was right off of this line that the Starbucks was located.

I know I have been talking a lot about how I had been planning to tackle China with renewed vigor and curiosity, and tackle China I did. But thoughts of the holidays encouraged me to make room for a few non-Asian indulgences.

One of my favorite memories of my time in China was the discovery of the Anne of Green Gables series on DVD in the Foreign Teachers House library. When I say library, I mean amalgamation of English books (mostly classics) and various VHSs and DVDs that had been left behind over the years by Western English teachers during their one or two year teaching gigs at Hwa Nan. The DVD selection is limited to say the least and I was so happy to discover not only that it contained such a major part of my childhood entertainment, but also two other Pacrimmers who shared my love for the fiery redhead. Thank you to Selina and Rachael! I thoroughly enjoyed our hours spent ogling over Gilbert Blythe.

One of the biggest influences on my experience in China was my Chinese buddy, Sophie. She and 24 of her English-speaking classmates were chosen to serve as our guides to Fuzhou culture, much like the PAs in Vietnam. I was SO lucky to have been paired with Sophie, as many of my peers’ buddies didn’t care to keep in touch with them. But Sophie was awesome. She was like a firm but loving big sister to me, always steering me in the right direction in busy crowds and making sure I wore enough warm clothes on cold days. Her family lived about an hour away from campus and she frequently took the bus home, but was more than willing to make the hour-long journey back to Hwa Nan anytime to spend time with me.

I will never forget the afternoon she rode the bus all way to campus just to pick me up and bring me to her home for an incredible Chinese meal cooked by her father. It was one of the best meals of my life for sure, not only because of the incredible unique food, but because of her family's generosity. This was the first time I had really been able to observe family life and domestic culture in any of the countries we’ve been to, and it gave me a much more intimate understanding of the lifestyle of many modern Chinese people.

Apart from Sophie, my next strongest link to Chinese culture was through our Chinese Philosophy class, and the fieldtrips it entailed. It was fascinating to draw connections between the teachings of Confucius, Lao Tzu and other classical philosophers, and modern Chinese culture. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to the most relevant and interesting course material, which had to do with Mao and they way his Cultural Revolution tried to discredit the “old ways,” until the final day or two of class. But I guess that’s the nature of having classes that only last 4 weeks. Stuff goes fast.

One of our best field trips was to WuYi Shan, or WuYi Mountain, the site of the great philosopher Zhu Xi’s ancient retreat center. This place had some good qi, and in order to fully experience it, we took a (chilly) bamboo rafting trip, hiked into the mountains and observed traditional life in the countryside. Of course, in typical PacRim fashion, this was all accomplished in a mere two days.

And I haven’t even begun to talk about the FOOD! More to come.