It's actually a firework festival, not a lantern festival

As I sit down to write an entry, the sounds of fireworks are blasting throughout Anqing since today is the Lantern Festival that officially ends the Spring Festival (or Chinese New Year). Sadly, we’ve seen more fireworks than lanterns or any other form of celebration. Though it’s been a busy day for our ears, this Thursday was relaxing otherwise.


Yesterday was quite busy. I texted a teaching colleague to ask when he thought school would start. (I had already asked someone else, but the person didn’t give me much of answer, so I thought I might try another source.) He responded that there was a staff meeting in about an hour and he would find out then. I asked if I should attend, and he replied that it was my decision. I thought it would be a good idea for me to go and show my face for a little while. I haven’t done much with the teachers here, so I wanted to support the school. (As it turned out, I didn’t end up staying at the entire time...)


There was a slight hullabaloo about us going to Hefei next week. Directly before the staff meeting, I was informed by a man I barely recognized that Jean-Jacques and I would be traveling to Hefei for a Model United Nations conference next Thursday and Friday. We hadn’t been asked if we were interested in participating in the event and Jean-Jacques will be holding class for the first time with his new students during that time, so it’s not possible for us to attend. Also, since there aren’t any substitute teachers in China, I would have to switch teaching times, which would be difficult. Although we were willing to help on Saturday and Sunday (if our assistance was truly needed and we weren’t expected to stand around while acting like “dancing poodles” ), the administrators decided our presence wasn’t necessary. 


In the evening, we ate Chinese BBQ with some friends in a restaurant close to their house. At the meal we discovered that the wife is pregnant and they are thrilled about the news. They’ve been trying to have a child for a little while, so I’m extremely happy for them. In China, parents aren’t allowed to know the sex of their baby before the birth because many couples will abort a female baby if given the choice.


After dinner, we walked to their apartment and watched the movie Green Zone. I throughly enjoyed the film, but it might have made our friends a bit uncomfortable. I think they learned a lot from it, though, and we did have an interesting conversation afterward.


Today has been short since we slept in so late this morning. I think we’re catching up on sleep from our trip. I spent a few hours learning more about Adobe Photoshop Elements and I’m pleased with the progress I made. The picture for today’s post was one I took during the day in Edinburgh, but I had fun fiddling with it (as you can tell).


This semester I’ve set some goals for myself: 1) Learn how to be a better photographer and photo processor, 2) Work harder at learning Chinese (I was happy to successfully use my newly learned phrase “good evening” tonight), 3) Read some history books, and 4) Continue writing a journal and posting blog entries. So far, I've been able to work on all of my projects and I'm enjoying it.   


I suppose I should sign off to start the process of falling asleep despite the ruckus outside.  

Back "home"

Hefei, capital of Anhui province

I’m extremely content to be back in our apartment in Anqing. Our two and a half week absence has been a turning point for us and I’m thrilled to start the final semester of our year here. 


We spent the past four days in Hefei visiting some friends and attending a National Committee on U.S.-China Relations conference. During the meeting, we discussed a whole range of topics, from teaching techniques to reverse culture shock and it was fun to reconnect with everyone in our group. I enjoyed exchanging teaching strategies, swapping stories, and learning about how the others are adjusting to life as ex-pats in China. 


After the meeting, when we returned to the hotel to check out and depart, we discovered that the power was out. We had to climb ten floors in the DARK (none of the “emergency” lights were functioning ) to retrieve our luggage. Fortunately, Jean-Jacques had his cellphone with him, so we used the light to illuminate the way as we trudged up and down the stairs. 


A friend helped us get to the bus station in Hefei. Jean-Jacques was brave and bought tickets for us to Anqing while I guarded the luggage. We weren’t entirely sure when the bus would leave, but we were directed to an area where we waited for a few minutes before boarding a large bus. The ride took about two hours and we almost disembarked a bit early (we couldn’t understand the loudspeaker announcement, so it was a bit confusing), but we made it to the tiny bus station in Anqing. 

This evening, Jean-Jacques was generous and snagged us dinner while I hung up a load of laundry to dry; we have a number of dirty clothes from the trip, so it will take some time to run all the necessary loads of laundry.


I feel refreshed by our trip(s) and am thrilled to be back in Anqing. At this point, it feels like a "home away from home" and I'm so thankful that we're able to spend our year in this city. It's the perfect size for us -- small enough to easily walk many places, but large enough so that we’re able to locate some western amenities. It feels manageable, whereas Beijing, Shanghai, or even Hefei feel overwhelming to us. (I'd better stop writing because I'm starting to sound like Goldilocks!)


Hugs to all!

Photos from Edinburgh

St. Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile

Scary graveyard

The partially-completed National Monument

Parliament and Palace of Holyroodhouse

Palace of Holyroodhouse

A tower at the Palace of Holyroodhouse

Edinburgh Castle

The Royal Yacht Britannia

View from Arthur's Seat

A house in a valley

Planes, trains, and automobiles

A very sleepy me

After taking two busses, flying in two airplanes, riding the subway, taking a bullet train, riding in a taxi, and traveling for approximately twenty-six hours straight, I've safely made it from Edinburgh, Scotland to Hefei, China. Jean-Jacques and I are rather pleased that we successfully navigated the trip, even though there were a few mistakes along the way (we accidentally got of a bus at the wrong railroad station).


We've eaten a big Chinese dinner (it was delicious!), taken showers, and are about to crash into bed. Fortunately, we don't have anything scheduled tomorrow until dinner -- that should give us an opportunity to sleep in and adjust to the new time zone. 

Edinburgh, Day 11 & 12

Sadly, our time in Scotland is ending. We’re heading back to China tomorrow at around 12:00 PM local time in Edinburgh. It will be another long journey, but I imagine that we’ll be able to sleep on the plane. My feelings are mixed about returning to Anqing; I’ll be sad to leave the familiarity of western culture (and the ability to communicate with people), but I’ll be happy to finish out our year in China and continue learning what we can from the experience. 


Yesterday the weather was so poor that we ran some last-minute errands in the morning and then returned to the hotel room after lunch to wait for the rainy/snowy weather to stop. We ate dinner in a cute and delicious French restaurant and had a beer in a famous pub (the Oxford from the Inspector Rebus series). It was a fun night out on the town, but I was uncomfortably stuffed after the outing.


Today we left the hotel at around nine this morning, ate breakfast at a tasty sandwich shop, saw the movie Black Swan (it was a terrific film), rode a double-decker bus around the city, drank two cups of tea while reading in a Starbucks, ate pizza for dinner, packed, and watched some trashy British television.


I'll let you all know when we've safely arrived in Hefei!

Edinburgh, Day 9 & 10

Saturday, February 5, 2011
What a long, but fun day. We left the hotel at around 7:30 AM and didn’t return until around 8:00 PM.

We visited the Highlands, saw some amazing sites, and learned a considerable amount of history from our tour guide (who talked non-stop).

Here were some fascinating facts that I learned while on the trip:

Kilts are made with yards of fabric.

Most of the land in the Highlands is owned privately by about 2% of the population. Also, there isn’t any public land at all. People can own their own homes, but have to take a ninety-nine-year lease from a landowner (most of the land has been passed down families lines for hundreds of years). Once a person dies, the lease expires and the family member who inherits the house needs to renegotiate the contract.

The tour guide thought that there were two positive things about the landowner system: 1) The people cared for the land and didn’t pollute it, so nature was essentially being kept the same (he felt that the government wouldn't do a good job of preserving the land) and 2) There’s an informal rule in the Highlands that allows people to trespass without consequences.

People pay thousands of pounds for the opportunity to fish on rivers and hunt deer.

Only about 2% of people supported signing the treaty of union in 1707.

On the tour we stopped for coffee at the foot of the Highlands to see some Highland cattle, visited a  castle while it was pouring down rain, ate fish and chips in a seaside village, took a break in a town that was owned by a noble, and stopped for a short time at a mall on the edge of a loch.

(Oh yeah, We were on the tour with about thirteen other people; we didn’t talk to one another much, but everyone seemed pleasant enough. There were four people from Spain, two from Greece, one from Switzerland, one from Australia, two from Canada, and three from Brazil.)

Here are some photos from our adventure:

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Thank goodness for lazy Sundays! We decided to sleep in this morning for two reasons: 1) we are a bit tired from our busy touring schedule and needed a bit of rest and 2) nothing is over very early here on 

Saturdays and Sundays, so there’s really no point in leaving the hotel before 10 AM. 

We went to church, had tea, walked around the city, visited a music store, went into a mall, bought some souvenirs for friends in China, and had a burger for lunch. It was enjoyable to have a bit of a slower day.

I'm not quite sure what's on the schedule for tomorrow, but I think we're going to visit the site where golf was invented so we can take pictures for Richard.

Edinburgh, Day 7 & 8

Thursday, February 3, 2011
Briefly visited two modern art museums, went to a bookstore, ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant (I had fajitas), walked down some fun streets, went to a CD shop, stopped by the tourist bureau and bought tickets for a guided tour on Saturday and a Scottish flag, had tea at Eateaket, walked in the rain to an Oxfam bookstore (and chatted with the workers), watched Girl Who Played with Fire, and ate a frozen pizza for dinner. And now I’m off to bed. It was a fun and productive day.



Friday, February 4, 2011

Though the weather was rainy and blustery, Jean-Jacques and I had an excellent trip to the zoo. Yes, I know, it’s terrible to visit zoos since the animals are kept in captivity. However, in the case of the Edinburgh zoo, the organization tries hard to make a realistic habitat for the “residents” and keep them physically and emotionally stimulated. Many of the inhabitants are unable to survive in the wild. Also, the zoo is working hard to ensure that some animals don’t become extinct. Maybe it’s not the most ethical solution to the problem of keeping “wild” (many were born in captivity) animals caged for our amusement, but it’s the best zoo I’ve visited. 


We saw all sorts of interesting creatures -- rhinos, monkeys, zebras, penguins (they were fun to watch as they swam around and dove out of the water), birds, lions, wildcats, porcupines, etc. The weather was horrible and by the end of the visit, Jean-Jacques and I were both drenched. We kept trying to leave, but as we were on our way out, we continually found interesting animals or exhibits to explore. Our visit ended up lasting about three and a half hours.


Following the trip to the zoo, we took the bus and walked a short distance to a restaurant called Oink, which serves pork sandwiches. As it turned out, we were some of the last customers of the day. The owner of the establishment is a pig farmer who lives out in The Borders, so I imagine he needed to close up shop in time for him to get home for dinner. 


We then visited a tea shop and bought two cups as souvenirs. I haven’t gotten many things here to take home for a couple of reasons: 1) I haven’t seen anything I liked and 2) I don’t want to have to carry unnecessary things back to China and then to France once we’re finished teaching. However, I did want to buy a teacup here and Jean-Jacques and I found a couple of perfect ones that we decided to purchase. The shopkeeper was extremely helpful and took a long time packaging up the cups so we could send them to the States. Hopefully, they’ll arrive in once piece...


A trip to the Elephant House for afternoon tea was our final stop of the day. The English have one tradition that I would like to incorporate into my life and that is the custom of having afternoon tea. I think it is a perfect opportunity to take a breather for a few minutes, regroup, and prepare oneself for the rest of the day. During our time here, I’ve found that a cup (or two) of tea in the late afternoon helps me tackle the rest of the day.


This evening we cooked dinner, watched a bit of a rugby game, and saw The Men Who Stare at Goats. 


Tomorrow we’re heading out on a guided tour of some castles outside of Edinburgh. It will be fun to visit the Highlands!