My dislike of sitting in front of my computer has heightened recently when I realized my apparent lack of productivity is caused in part by my propensity to become quickly and utterly distracted by internet blogs, facebook and checking my email several times over the course of successive five minute periods. As such I have made a conscious effort to significantly reduce amount of time wasted on said...um, wastes of time.

However, I will make time for the occasional post as there is actually something interesting to post this time around. Seeing as it's 3am and I just returned from some mellow karaoke with friends, I'm not quite ready to go to sleep yet so I'll type as long as I last about my adventures over the last few days.

The department took all of the foreign teachers on an excursion on Friday and Saturday. We left early Friday morning and bussed south towards Beijing. We stopped in a city called 盘锦 Panjin (if you're looking at a map of China and Liaoning Province, Panjin is in the little "armpit" between the rest of the continent and the little peninsula that separates the north part of Bohai bay from the Yellow Sea.) In Panjin, we visited a wetlands area. It was a huge field of reeds and some sort of a really tall grass and it was relaxing to walk through on the raised wooden plank platforms and to be able to look across as far as you could see and just watch the reeds blowing in the wind. They also had a collection of "recreational bridges" which were kind of like an obstacle course. We were entertained.





In Panjin we also stopped to see 红海滩Honghaitan, or red beach. The red color comes from the native grass that is naturally red and turns purpleish in September. Quite impressive and several of us made the comment that it's not the image we think of when we think of China. Along the shore were many of these little black or blue pincher crabs. They had poles you could use to try and catch some. The poles were long stalks of bamboo with a string and a nail tied to the end. The trick is to place the nail close to the crab but not so close that you actually touch it cause otherwise they'll run away. You then manuever the string so that it wraps around a couple of the crab legs so it can't get away when you pull it up. I had a great time with this (it's actually pretty tricky and harder than it sounds) and I even caught one! Crikey!

After Panjin we headed further south to a town called 兴城 Xingcheng. The Chinese, you see, really love their walls and in the dynasty days, large cities often constructed walls around their territories. In Xingcheng, the buildings within the walls have all been very well preserved--very ancient, traditional looking, you know, cobblestone roads, old architecture, etc. ironically however (although not all that surprising) these buildings now contain a wide variety of touristy type shops, trendy clothing and shoe stores and even a flatscreen television store. The contrasts in this place never cease to amaze me.





Check out the hair on the little girl...


Hans, in his natural state.


David (Britain), Kurt (Minnesota), me, Hans (Minnesota), Jill (Minnesota), Yang Lu (China -- one of the folks we work for)


The university has relations all over the place and so we were able to get cheap lodging for the night in Xingcheng at a health care/rehabilitation facility. It was clean and comfortable and although a little weird checking into a "hospital" at first, the staff were trained to give massages (I'm becoming a bit of an addict) and so I was content. Oddly enough, we were all awoken at 3:30am by fireworks outside. The Chinese also really like their fireworks and for whatever reason, decided it was a fine time for a show...yeah, I don't know, I don't try to explain it, I just go with it.

The next morning we were back on our way heading south again to 山海关 (Shanhaiguan) or Sea Mountain Pass. Shanhaiguan is actually in Hebei province, the province just to the south of Liaoning on the coast. This is the beginning of the Great Wall, where the wall meets the sea. Even though I've seen the wall before near Beijing, it's still incredibly impressive to see the massiveness and begin to comprehend the millions of people and the billions of bricks that went into creating it. It is truly something to reckon with and I still can't quite wrap my head around it.



Darren and I have been talking about organizing a backpacking trip from Shanhaiguan to Beijing maybe sometime next summer. It might be fun even to do it on motorbikes, not sure yet though. TBD

Other photos from Shanhaiguan:
Statues "rock" my world.


I think I see my house!

We were wandering around and found a Korean war era mig just sitting in the middle of this park. Seeing as there were no guards, fences or signs telling us to keep our grubby yankee hands off, we did what any adventurous gang of foreigners would do when faced with a relic of enemy warfare of the past: recite the quintessential Top Gun quotes, hop in and pose! We figured it was a once in a lifetime opportunity as these things are usually only accessible from a distance behind velvet ropes in airplane museums. It even had the controls and seats still intact! Way cool!


Finally, we stopped at the First Gate Under Heaven (the first main access point through the wall) and took some pictures and then were headed back on our way to Shenyang. If you look closely, you can just see the wall snaking up through the hillside.


Good trip, ate lots, got some great pictures, laughed and talked a lot with new friends and just had a really fabulous time.

This morning I was feeling the effects of having eaten so much and made my way out to the basketball courts for some pickup basketball. Ended up meeting and playing for two and a half hours with some recently graduated students here. I did alright, held my own and just had the best time. Hooray for new Chinese friends! Team sports SO beat running solo.

A friend called later in the afternoon inviting me to come play volleyball and not being one to miss out on a little competition, I agreed. I'm going to sleep well for sure...if I ever get there that is seeing as it's already 4:30...

One last thing and then I'm hitting the hay...I'm thinking of making two major purchases. One: a moped. They're dirt cheap, super efficient, loads of fun and cheaper and more convenient than taking a taxi or bus within the city. I probably won't buy until the spring because I'm not keen on riding on ice but I'll let you know how things go. Two: not really a purchase so much a diversion of funds...Next semester I'm planning on living off campus in one of the apartments nearby. Reasoning: no 11pm curfew (they lock the doors and everything!), no front desk registration for guests and friends (so annoying, all my Chinese friends have to sign in and they get the third degree whenever they come visit a foreigner), 24 hour hot water (right now, it's only available 6:30-8:30 and 19:30-22:30 which makes working out during the day a real drag afterwards), close to campus but far enough off that you can't hear the techno music blaring from student dorms, highly affordable particularly if I find a roommate and even better if that roommate is Chinese or Korean with whom I'll have to use Chinese. The pros are definitely outweighing the cons on this one and it might even be sooner than next semester depending on how long I want to hold out. We shall see.

Phew--this has been a long post...to bed I go! 晚安！Wan an!