China

I’m not exactly sure about what shape or form I should write about an experience such as this. Too late for a diary. An essay would be to formal. Instead I think I will just go from start to finish, maybe hop around a bit when I get distracted.

Flying isn't ever fun, but I found the perfect way to make it just that much worse. Through the 12 hour flight I decided to stay awake. First four hours were fine as I made my way through Star Wars a New Hope and the first half of Empire Strikes Back. Then my computer died. Sitting in the window seat and suffering from a cold I was constantly draining liquid out of my nose, pouring water into my water and along the way filling my bladder. The window is nice for somewhere to lean against but when you need to pee and the two people sitting next to you are knocked out sleeping it doesn't help much. I made It though.

Arriving after 24 hours of travel is amazing. It is also nice to recognize someone when you reach a final destination, which I of course wasn't expecting, but when we walked out of baggage claim standing there was the teddy bear man Steven, who I had hosted and even though I had only known him for one week about a year ago seeing him waiting there for me made me feel like I was somewhere familiar.

My host for the first two week, Tony, is a very kind and very awkward boy with a bottomless stomach. He is a stick very much like myself and I consider myself to be quite the eater but I am but a fly in comparison to the beast he is when in comes to inhaling all that shows up on the table. I had my first meal right before bed the night we arrived and it was spicy as expected, delicious as expected, and too much as expected.

I probably slept for 18 of the next 24 hours after arriving. This of course was Christmas day that I slept through. In the few hours of consciousness I ate good food, spicy food, and too much food.

First day of school was the first day of the experience that I came across the world for and it certainly was an experience. First thing we noticed when entering our classroom, it was very cold, about exactly as cold as it was outside. It was also a huge class room with only a few desks a few chairs and us. Our classes ranged from dull to humorous to entertaining.

The first week of class seemed very long. We had classes usually from 8-12 in the morning then had until 7:30 to do what we found to do. We read books mostly for this first week (wednesday-saturday). I got through The Chronology of Star Wars, a incredibly abridged version of Robin Hood, and Fortress Besieged a Chinese Epic of some sort. I love reading, but being cold and sitting in uncomfortable chairs and being sick along the way wasn't great, so we fixed it.

After a weekend with my host where I was taken to a nearby town (Leshan) where I visited a bathhouse, ate a lot, was cold some more, and was lucky enough to go to the day before party for a wedding, Ivy and I started to explore. First we just walked around nearby the school, which seemed to be in the hardware district. Later that week we went out to eat and shop with Samson, who was also back in Chengdu for his holiday break from Michigan State.

The third week we switched hosts. My new host, Hans, was richer and had a western style toilet, but was not as kind and caring as Tony had been. His mother also spoke 0 English so I used my meager Chinese skills along with gesticulations to communicate while Hans stayed at school until 11 most nights. This was the week that we discovered Starbucks. It was comfortable, it was warm, there was coffee, and sometimes there were even westerners to speak to. We lived here many afternoons, and one time even experienced the upscale restaurant next door that is Pizza Hut?

During the third and fourth weeks we were busy almost all of the time as our teachers took us out almost every afternoon. During this time the weather also made a few sharp turns. During the third week it actually was decently warm. Then for the last few days we were there is started to freeze. Coldest weather in 50 years, snow that isn't supposed to fall in this region, and the cause of many deaths as the temperatures dropped further after we left.

This is mostly narrative and rather boring in my opinion, but I just don't feel I can quite put down in words the amazing affect I believe this experience had on me. I have told the story behind the story a few times already so if you want to hear the way my outlook on life (especially my own) has changed just ask and I guess I can handle talking about myself again.