This week has been what the Chinese call Golden Week, essentially a week long holiday bookended by National Day on Oct 1 and the Mid-Autumn Festival today, Oct 6. It has been particularly Golden for me.

On Monday, I went with Darren and Hans and Kurt to visit the 9-18 Memorial Museum. The museum commemorates the 1931 railway explosion setup by the Japanese in order to frame the locals Chinese revolutionaries and begin Japanese aggression here in the NE. It was incredibly powerful and really did a lot to help me understand just why there is so much hatred towards the Japanese in these parts. The Japanese were a particularly evil military force. In America, we suffered from their attacks, but NOTHING like what the Chinese suffered. We were never colonized, never forced into military slavery, our men were never executed, our women were never raped and we never had to live in the daily constant fear that the Chinese people did. Putting this event in perspective with the rest of China's history, it's really something to grasp the resiliency and unwavering spirit of the Chinese people. They are such a proud people, proud of their history, their identity, their country, everything. Although I may not agree with everything Chinese or have complete faith in the government (to hear a Chinese tell it, there are actually not that many who do) I'm nevertheless a little envious of the national identity that all these people possess. It's exciting to be a part of it and to witness the true Chinese spirit.

More fun with military toys--this time a real live tank!



What the kid at Tiananmen must have seen...yikes!

The time away from any sorts of responsibilities has brought out the 10 year olds in all of the foreign teachers. We've been spending most of our afternoons playing sports. We usually start with a couple games of volleyball and then move to soccer or basketball (or both). All told, we've been clocking between 4-5 hours each day. Ah, feels so good to be playing team sports again. After our afternoon sports, we've been going out to eat to different restaurants...Korean bbq, spicy oil fish, even a Muslim restaurant that served homemade yogurt, naan and lamb kebobs. (Shahim, one of the foreigners, is on Ramadan and he introduced us to it) Such a contented way of living.

On Wednesday, I hopped on an early bus to Dalian, a coastal town about 4 hours south of Shenyang. I was so proud of myself, I got myself to the station, bought my ticket and got to Dalian all by myself! No English assistance necessary! Being foreign however meant I was never far from help of various locals. The kiosk where I bought my ticket was a couple of blocks from where I'd actually board the bus and as I walked along, I had no fewer than 4 people in about a 300 yard span ask to make sure I was headed in the right direction. Not sure if they had walkie talkies or phones and were relaying my position or if they were just being extra helpful. Whatever the case, I was impressed...I will never get lost in this country, that's for sure.

In Dalian, I met one of my students and he took me to get a hotel and then we went to a park by the sea. Unfortunately it was extremely foggy so we just walked around and found some interesting things in the park which was fine as I enjoyed being back in a humid climate. Afterwards, he took me to a famous roast duck restaurant and then I went back to the hotel. Seeing as it was still a little early, I decided to walk around the neighborhoods and back alleys near my hotel. It was, in some ways, a chance to see how the other half lives--the one story, one room apartments, lots of people and smells. I enjoy just exploring and it was neat to see it all in a different city. Since it was dark, people generally couldn't tell I was foreign or at least didn't seem to care which was just as well. I've found that if I walk around with a sense of purpose, or at least not looking wide-eyed and in shock, people generally pay little attention to me which is just fine with me.

Dalian reminds me A LOT of Portland. In fact there are some places where I felt as though I was going through the downtown/NE23rd/Pearl districts. Even the climate is similar. Eery, but also very homey feeling. Like returning someplace familiar after a long sojourn. It will be an easy way to give the people I meet a better sense of what type of place I'm from..."just like Dalian, minus the beach"

Thursday morning, one of my other students came to pick me up with her driver and then we went to a new amusement park that opened within the last year. Was a lot like Disneyland...I even saw some Mickey Mouse silhouettes in the interior decorating. Being as this is a national holiday week, there were a lot of lines. We all know how much I love lines. But it turned out to be ok and it was a good chance to spend time with a new friend. After the amusement park we went to this little restaurant with an amazing view of Bohai Bay. The sun was just getting ready to set on the water while we ate. Just lovely.

My bus got to Shenyang about 11pm last night and I was "greeted" by a slew of cab drivers showing me their keys and yelling hello and saying Taxi! Taxi! I was told before I came to avoid cab drivers outside of the train stations as it's not always a guaranteed that you're going to end up where you tell them you want to go. I told the drivers that were following me around that a friend was meeting me so they'd leave me alone, walked a couple of blocks and found a far less offensive driver who quickly took me back to campus. I am becoming a street saavy little foreigner.

Mom, you have nothing to fear for me in this country. Just as I said I'd never get lost, I would never actually be able to find myself in any sort of real trouble either. My hosts were/continue to be extremely doting and attentive and would never think to let me falter or have need of anything while in their care. I know the special treatment is because I'm a foreigner and you know what, so be it.

Speaking of foreigners, however, I'm coming to some sort of reconciliation as to what my role will be here in China. While at the amusement park, Athena and I saw a stunt show--you know, explosions, martial arts, people on fire, speeding cars and motorcycles, etc. The catch--all the actors were foreigners. They lipsynced their dialogue which was dubbed over the PA system in Chinese and they were basically nothing more than foreign monkeys performing tricks for the Chinese audience. After the show, the cast positioned themselves around the stage so that people could take pictures of themselves with the foreign actors in the background. It reminded me of when I was at the Sea Life park last weekend in Shanhaiguan where we saw a very old, tired and sick looking seal perform ring toss and ball acrobatics for a mildly enthused audience. I watched the female villain in particular while she posed expressionless for the crowds and couldn't help but notice the same tired, unenthusiastic and restless look on her face that I had seen in the seal the previous week. I decided right then and there that no matter what, I was not going to resign myself to being some foreign seal here. I will not do tricks, I will not "entertain". The goal: learn Chinese such that I can gain real respect for my ideas and opinions here, that I can do a real job and interact on the same level as my Chinese counterparts. It's a hard road to hoe, particularly since I'm a woman in a culture which is still about 30 years behind America in realizing gender equality, but for me, there is no other option.

That said, I am entertained at the moment by my ability to surprise the Chinese people around me when they realize that I can speak Chinese. My favorite was when I was on an escalator recently and the man standing next to me asked the man standing in front of me where he thought I was from. The second man turned and said he didn't know and I told them both that I'm from America. Oh the look on their faces when they realized I understood what they were saying! Of course they were all too happy to continue having a conversation with me for the rest of our escalator trip haha. I've had several experiences like that since that first one and it still cracks me up.

Alright, time to actually get some work done. Take care all--I'm glad so many of you are enjoying my entries. Please post a comment or shoot me an email! I'm always curious to see who's actually reading this thing.