I'm Baaack!

In China, there are no ovens or clothes dryers. A severe lack of cheese and don't get me started on the state of Mexican food there. And also there is no blogspot. More specifically, there IS the Great Firewall of China, which hates porn, Gmail and blogs. While I knew this beforehand, and attempted to prepare myself for it by setting up my blog specifically for that.... no, I didn't e-mail in my infrequent musings. When it's hard to go from your house to the store, things like blogs don't stand a chance in the face of bug repellent, detergent and granola bars. But that's okay, because I can update you now. Plus, I'm going back to the Land of No Driers, a.k.a China, for a whole 10 months more.

I got back from my 5 month stint in Beijing, China about a week ago. There, I taught some of the cutest first graders I know, and I have known some cute ones. We all called a large, nicely groomed campus about 30 miles outside Beijing proper home for the last few months, me full-time and them Monday-Friday. Immediately upon arriving, I took a TEFL class in downtown, just a frisbee throw from the Olympic stadium and grounds. I held my breath while I waited for Culture Shock to hit. Oddly, I waited a long time. A long, long time. While I, OF COURSE, noticed things that were different... nothing knocked the wind out of me until 3 days before I left China on vacation. (If you must know, it was the live toads being sold in the meat section of Walmart...)

China is a developing nation and as such, it has its graceful and not so graceful movements. On the one hand, Beijing's public transportation isn't something to sneeze at. It's awesome. But on the other hand, the sewer system could be slightly upgraded to allow the occasional air quality problem to go from 'my ears are bleeding it smells so bad' to 'cabbage farts'.


I was there through the bitter winter of Beijing, with its manmade weather patterns and air so dry my face cried:

Through the day long spring season
to the cloying summer and the joy of subways in a country with no deodorant.

And, as you can see, despite my commentary, it was beautiful and strange and sometimes frustrating, but all of the time entertaining. I was rarely bored.

Overall, I enjoyed Beijing very, VERY much, and if I ever live in the North of China again, that will be my go to city. I loved the school I was at because the children were so cute, and because my fellow teachers were so funny, nice, interesting and often odd. If I ever do go back to Beijing, it won't be the same without the people I met there. I miss them now, and I'll miss them next year too, because though I couldn't have asked for a better introduction to China or better people to hang out with in Beijing, the Blonde Man and I decided to get a change of scenery. This time to we'll be in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Home of the panda and the spiciest food in China. I'm home in Oregon for one month, but then it's back to the P.R.C.