Victoria!

Well, we had quite an epic showdown with the rival bilingual school on wednesday in soccer. Our team took the field at around 9:30 am. The field is located adjacent to the school, so it's a short 2 minute walk to get there. Cofradia Bilingual (CBS) was already on the field warming up. They had 4 or 5 boys on the team who were pretty big boys. So, Tim and I had just gotten our team in a huddle when we hear yelling coming down the street. The rest of our school is stampeding down dirt road to the field, first graders, sixth graders, all. It was awesome.

The first half didn't go so well. CBS scored 2 goals in the first half and put us behind. I could tell our players were feeling pretty dejected at half. But what happened next was nothing short of a miracle. If we had solid film of the game I'd submit it for sportscenter and possibly one of the greatest comebacks of all time. To be honest, CBS whipped us pretty good in the first half. We were having some trouble moving the ball downfield and clearing it from in front of our goal. lOn top of that we were having some trouble keeping the rest of the school kids off the field. So at half, gave the team a little pep talk and put them back out there.

We caught a break something like 5 or 6 minutes in. One of their players passed the ball back to their goalie and he picked it up with his hands, which isn't allowed. Penalty Kick! We put Clint in there and he pulled the trigger and put one through. SJBS (our school) went nuts. Game resumed (score now 1-2, CBS). Then, Glenin was rushing down the field as another kid was catching up to him. At the last moment he stretched out his foot and put another one into the tall grass behind the goal (the phrase "in the back of the net" doesn't work, perhaps in Cofradia the phrase could be "hit the loitering cow" as there is more likely to be a cow behind the goal than a net).

We went to penalty kicks. To make it even more intense all the kids gathered around the goalie box as every kid stepped up. I can't express the emotion that was in the kids. Some of our players were obviously really nervous as they prepared to kick. We ended up winning 3-2 in penalty kicks. When CBS's last player missed his shot, the kids went absolutely nuts and dog piled. Quite possibly one of the more exciting sports moments of the last couple years... in the world.

Two weeks and then home.

Tim and I have quit working for BECA.

Frankly, we got a better offer.

Someone asked me

recently what was something that I've learned thus far in my time in Cofradia. One thing stands out. One thing stands out above everything else that I have supposedly learned. Do not bring/buy body wash with exfoliating beads. If there is one thing I've learned during my time here, this is it. The showers here are cold, and you will regret the extra time you are forced to spend beneath the water trying to get those stupid little specks off your skin. Oh sure, the excess skin has been removed from my body and my arms are lush and smooth, but it's not worth it. Trust me. Body Wash with Exfoliating Beads + Cofradia = bad.

My Students' Blog

www.Comingoutoftheclouds.blogspot.com Go There! It's my 9th Grade Students' blog. Write them some comments so they know people are reading them and it will encourage them to write more in the future.

Please do not make any mention to my blog or anything of that sort (meaning any other mention of me). That'd be dank.

Disaster Strikes.

Sketch Ball has been terminated from his position. Puchika!

November

Well, it´s november. It´s kinda hard to believe, but it´here. I´m sitting in an internet cafe, typing on a keyboard that is constantly sticking. The man to my right is wagging his finger playfully at a web cam at who i assume to be his girlfriend. It´s a little chilly here. The last few nights Tim and I have been sleeping in sweat pants. I just got a whiff of something that smelled like BBQ. I´ve been a nostalgic this past week with the change in temperature.

We´ve had a lot of people coming and going over the past few weeks. And by a lot I mean Marilyn and Laurence. Marilyn was a former volunteer here few years back and was here making a documentary/promotional video. She lives in DC now. I do love the idea that when I leave here I´ll be apart of an Alumni. I think I´ll be proud to join such a group of people. Laurence is our soon to be director. He was here bribing us with licuados (and doing an excellent job of it). Every time I say goodbye to someone down here ¨Dust in the wind¨ by Kansas plays. No joke. It´s nice to spend a few days or so meeting other people who have done the same thing we have and are also invested in what we´re doing here.

Tim and I have been keeping track of the number of Licuados and Baleadas we have consumed (started in October). I would have assumed Licuados to be ahead at this point but Baleadas have a commanding lead of over 20. I credit it to the temperature change. A small note, strawberry licuados were had this past weekend and they once again showed why I them to be the best (only competition is banana with oatmeal).

I´m home in like a month and a half. I´m excited to get home and sit and drink coffee and chill and see everyone and use an internet connection where it is possible to watch a youtube video or load a video online etc. I am confident I will miss Cofradia and its saggy nipple dogs while I´m away though.

A couple weeks ago someone posted a message in my comments, inquiring about the organization with whom I am serving. Could not access their email. If you read this, this is the website of the organization: http://www.becaschools.org/

That´s Our Guy (to be said while removing a top hat and oscillating your wrist)

I´m not sure if I have mentioned the man before, but Tim and I have a vigilante who guards our streets (or watches them as he would put it, with two fingers pointing at his eyes and then surveying ´´his road´´). We call him Sketch Ball. At first i was a little apprehensive of sketch ball, but it didn´t take long for him to grow on me. He started, something like 2 months ago. He´s not a very large man, but what he lacks in stature he makes up for in his strategically placed cardboard boxes to rest his rumpus. He was so dogmatic (yes i know it is in the past tense and you will soon understand why I chose the tense) in his tireless effort to watch our street.

I would now like to tell a story about sketch ball, unless there are any objections. Tim and I were sitting in the town center late one night at what I would not estimate to be something after 10 but before 12. We were sitting on a bench watching the goings on. Aside- I think this is a part of Cofradian life that few volunteers in the past have really experienced, the town center at night, but Tim and I are avid observers from our apartment as well as from the center itself. We spotted a man making his way across the town center in a path which we would intercept. From behind him comes mighty sketch ball, perhaps holding his machete, i can´t remember. Sketch ball grabs the guy´s shoulder and the man turned to him. They argued about something and then the man just walked away. Here´s the kicker. Sketch ball looks directly at Tim and me and then turns and walks away. Sketch ball, there are 8 people that live on the street on which you watch. Two of them just saw you get shrugged off by a homeless man. Don´t you have anything to say to us? Why are we to fear you?

But we love the guy. He´s our sketch ball. He´s provided hours of conversation for Tim and me. We´ve watched him fall asleep at his post and then fall out of his seat onto the ground. Tim and I have bathed in the rain in the streets when we didn´t have water and been embraced by sketch ball´s flashlight and his boyish exuberance and giggling. We have been hit up, countless time for money so sketch ball could go buy a licuado. But as of late we have seen a new sketch ball, and this one is less satisfactory. Lately sketch ball´s lady has been joining him more and more as of late. Oh at first it was nice. We were able to hear snoring in the night from our balcony. We ´startled´ them when they were in a dark hallway on the second floor.

But the honeymoon is over. Now the only thing we find is sketch ball and his lady on the steps of the apartment. Sitting lazily. He doesn´t have the vigor for patrolling the streets he once did. I want the old sketch ball back. The sketch ball who would sit at the end of the street and grunt a response when we called to him. The sketch ball who would take his machete to an empty bucket for a period, just to pass the time. The sketch ball who built a fire on the side of the street, even though it was 85 degrees that night. Someone may look at sketch ball and say ¨what´s the big deal?¨ Sure, sketch ball might not have been much to anyone else. But he was our sketch ball. And I miss him.

Well this thing keeps moving on.

This past week was an up and down week. I've introduced a system in my class where I have these circles cut out of this foam paper and a Pepsi bottle (which weren't difficult to find) and I put the circle in the empty bottle (1 for each class) when they're on task or speaking in english etc. and take one out when they're off task or whatever. It's starting to work better. The older system of reward was mediocre at best. It was handing the students fake money things... Whatever. I think it would work well for some teachers but it was too meticulous for me, having to keep up with each students... This one is working better so far. The reward is a free day in my class and a party. I figure I make up the time of the party and the free day. We start soccer practice on monday. Atleast we're supposed to. Supposedly we have a game next saturday against another school? I don't know.

Can I just say how much I love Oliver Purnell. Seriously, best college basketball coach in America. It does help that he's held in contrast to Tommy "Parity, Parity, Parity" Bowden. But homedog had his press conference last week and i read the transcript off http://clemson.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=860105 . Thankyou OP for saying that we have the goal of winning the ACC and National Championship. Thankyou for not making excuses. Thankyou for continually improving our team every year. Thankyou for developing our players every year. Thankyou for creating a team that the country respects. These are all things that Tommy Bowden does not do. For anyone who is not a Clemson fan and is still reading this, I'm sorry. But Clemson is frustrated right now... cause we suck when we should be a top 10 team. Fire Bowden. Hire Bugs Bunny. Atleast he's sort of funny sometimes.

Belize, well mostly.

This is going to be horribly written and all scrambled but stick with me.

Well, every 90 days we have to leave the 5 countries that make up CAFTA or however it's spelled. They're the 5 countries that make up the unified central american states. So we head up to Belize. Our trip began last thursday at 4:45 in the morning an the path went something like this. Basically we took a bus up to the honduran-guatemalan border. From there we took a cab to Porto Barrios. Then a boat ride to Punta Gorda, Belize. Then a bus ride up to Mango Creek. Then a water taxi over to Placencia. Rebecca had been feeling badly during the trip (and the day before) so she and Tyler and Jessica stayed in Punta Gorda, planning to come the next day.

While we were on the boat we met two guys who were traveling together for a short while. One was a German guy named Alton and the other was a New Zealand Kiwi named Allister. Turned out they were going to Placencia as well. Placencia is a big traveler's spot in the area. It's an island with beautiful water most of the year. I think someone said they saw a sign somewhere about pieces of land being sold for 1.7 million dollars American. Come to find out while we were on the island, this guy named Fonto (a local) told us that part of "Flavor of Love" had been filmed on the island and that he had met the Flav himself. He pointed to a house where he had stayed. He kind of played it off at first but you could tell he was really proud of it.

It was cool hanging out for a few days with Alton and Allister. They had just met recently and were just traveling together for a few days. Some of the time they sat around and bashed the US, which was fine. It was honestly pretty funny. Other times we just talked about different stuff. Tim and I left the island a little later than the others on Saturday, and I told Chrissy that night that it was a miracle that I didn't head north with Alton and Allister.

So it turned out that Rebecca had Dengue (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dengue_fever). And then Jenna showed up with a rash all over her and she had been complaining of headaches, so... you guessed it, when we got back to Cofradia she went to a hospital and they confirmed dengue. Yippeee! So, it's Sunday night and here's where we all are (as far as I know):

Drew- Cofradia

Alison- Cofradia (in bed with headache and says she's really tired)

Anne- Cofradia (really tired in bed)

Jenna- San Pedro Sula (going back to the hospital in the morning for more tests)

Chrissy- San Pedro Sula (with Jenna)

Paxton- Cofradia

Rebecca- Porto Barrios, Guatemala (in a hospital)

Jessica, Athena, Tyler- Porto Barrios, Guatemala (with Rebecca)

Tim- Punta Gorda, Belize

I'm not one to run to update this thing, but today was too weird of a day to pass up.

Okay, so it was buisness as usual during the day at school. Afterward at 3 we were going to have a party for one of the Honduran teachers, Ms. Linda, who, as we understood it, was recently engaged. So we have all this food for what we thought was going to be an engagement party (small tidbit of information, i openly have a crush on this woman).

False.

She got married today at 12 o'clock and it was her wedding reception (heart broken). What! We seriously found this out 10 minutes before her arrival. So we all sat in the computer lab with with the food and of course Pepsi.

*Small note on the Pepsi in Honduras. I'm not sure Honduras would continue without it. Whenever you visit a home, for the family not to serve you Pepsi is unthinkable. If you're walking in the front door, a child is running out the side to the pulperia to buy Pepsi.

As I was walking in the gate earlier today the vigilante/gate attendant, Don Francisco, gave me a tug on my shirt and kinda... raised his eyebrows at me with his eyes wide. Didn't really know how to handle the situation.

I was told a soccer game was happening in the field next to the school at 4 so I had taken my cleats. I was keeping an eye out. At around 5 I saw some guys playing so I grabbed my stuff and headed over. Turned out I didn't know any of the guys playing but they let me play. There were a few guys who were just sick, but I didn't just embarrass myself. They said they play everyday at 5 so I'm going to start playing with them. After we had finished they asked me if I would buy the Pepsi for today, so I obliged.

I walked back to my apartment then over the main house. Upon arrival I found one of the student's parents pulling up with a truck full of grapefruit, all for us.

By request from Todd

Next week we're heading to Belize. We have to leave the countries that formerly comprised the united central american states... or whatever it is called, for 3 days every 90 days for visa renewal. So next thursday we're headed to Belize. Saturday I'm heading to the mall in San Pedro Sula. Papa send me an amazing message earlier in the week that said that he would pay for a good meal in San Pedro Sula every once in a while. It may be hard for you to grasp how excited I am about eating at Tony Roma's. I will drink a soft drink, with refills and watch Florida play the Vols on CBS.

3 weeks in.

Well, we're three weeks into the school year. Last week we peaced out of Cofradia and went up to Tela in northern Honduras. It's a beautiful coastal town. We hung out on the beach for two days, building fires and swimming in the water. On Wednesday we had Dia del Nino. I don't understand the concept of this day as there are 364 days a year that celebrate children. The day was all about the kids running wild around the school. There was a parade today through the streets as it is their independence day. For the last few days we have been practicing at the school with the kids, having them march. So today we marched through the streets with the kids. Yesterday Tim and I went into the mountains with a local family who owns a farm up there. We picked wild lemons, tangerines, sugar cane, bananas and coffee. We roasted some coffee and grounded it.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school. I think it went pretty well. I only saw 7th and 8th grade today but the kids did alright. The class period flew by. I have each of the classes for an hour and a half. The lunch we were given at the school was good too. I think I can eat it for a year. I'm teaching P.E. to the 4th grade tomorrow in the first period, should be a good time. I didn't take this picture today, but I wore that same shirt today... so there you go. If I had taken a picture of me today, it would have looked a lot like this.

Chilling on the Big Friendly Bed

So this past weekend we headed down to the lake for some relaxation. We caught a bus to the bus terminal outside of San Pedro and then down to the lake. We stayed at a hostel called D & D Brewery. We got there Friday and spent the night just kinda hanging out. We pushed our beds together in our room (Me, Tim, Jenna, Tyler and Alison) and formed the Big Friendly Bed, equipped especially for some great late night pillow talk. Saturday was an awesome day. We woke up and caught a bus down to a waterfall. For 100 Lemps we go a guide who led us down into the waterfall. We jumped rocks and into a pool. The guide took us in two groups. The water was pounding so hard it was difficult to see at times. We climbed rocks behind the water once under it, and then proceeded to climb into a small cave. I honestly couldn't keep from smiling the entire time it was going on. It was an incredible experience. We spent the rest of the day swimming. The next day we walked down to the lake. We ended up swimming in a section of the lake that had this old bridge that Tim and I jumped off of. It was a great day. We came back monday. If you follow this link you'll see a video we put together of us having some fun on the Big Friendly Bed: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=567124585748

Es posible que me cagé hoy.

Summer school started monday. We started the class out with 'getting to know you' activities. It lasts from 1-4 pm. The first day went well, I feel like. The upper school is teaching the rising 6th grade students. The students were somewhat responsive to what we were trying to communicate. I taught a lesson on personification and the children understood the term at the end of the class (each section is about 50 mins for summer school). Today was not so great. Chrissy taught long division, Athena taught about the scientific method, and I taught about folklore. It felt like (i want to say at times, but it was basically the entire time) we were fighting the class and working against them. We were talking about it after the class and it just seems like we have not authority to assert since this isn't our class, there's not graded activity, etc. One girl told me that she didn't have to call me Mr. because I wasn't her teacher. A lot of them sat there apathetically. I don't think they feel motivated to do any of the summer school work. I do'nt think the year will be like this. It's just the lack of control in the summer school situation. Hmm. I'm back in Charlotte on Thursday night for my sister's wedding saturday. Pretty stoked to get back. I'm going to have to watch what I eat however, because my body is starting to get used to the food here and I don't want to completely throw it for a loop (but i'll be darned if I don't eat BBQ in the best state for it, NC). Despite today being kinda rough, I'm still really excited to get into the classroom. Julie is our teacher and I feel like, given the time, she has done an incredible job of preparing us and fattening us up with chinese food and licuados. I say fattening us up, but i'm pretty sure I've lost weight since I've been here.

Help needed.

Here is part of an email I sent to my mom. It's all about things we need to read down here. If you have any of these things and can donate them give them to my mom. terrip@carmelbaptist.org . It would be a tremendous help. Since I'm teaching 7th, 8th, and 9th grade there needs to be independent reading. It's really important to find things the kids want to read, so variety is good. I'd like to have some stuff in my room and in the end expand the library of the school which at this point is a few shelves in a room. It's difficult though since I"m not in the States.

Magazines: For independent reading time. It doesn't really matter what they're about (i.e. Time, Sports Illustrated, Popular Science, whatever). The point is for the kids to be reading. So if people have old magazines sitting around we could use them.

Random Books: Books between a 5th and 9th grade reading level. These are also for independent reading time. I'm going to keep these and the magazines in my room for independent reading time and then at the end of the year give them to the library here. So if people have old children's books that would be awesome.

Three more copies of The Great Gilly Hopkins. I'm starting out the year in 8th grade with this and I'm 3 copies short of a full class set.

Four copies of The Giver. I don't have any copies of this but I'd really like to try and start out the year in 9th grade with this book.

If anyone has a book about Central American History or something, that would be awesome. This obviously is a long shot but I'd really like to be able to tie all this stuff to something they can relate to as much as I possibly can. For example, with Sounder, try and talk about how the slave trade related to them, etc. It's also important for me to have a better undestanding of their culture so I can present material with a culturally sensitive perspective as well as one with an intent to challenge critical thinking.

These books can all be used, that's not really important. Just let people know that I'm not asking for money, i'm asking for used books that once the year is finished will be donated to the school's library.


Thanks!

Viernes

We've been here about a week and things are going well (how do you summarize a week of living in a new culture?). It turns out one of the members backed out yesterday so BECA is scrambling to figure out how they will replace her. She, Nora, was scheduled to teach 3rd grade. Tim may end up teaching 3rd grade or we may have to bring in someone new (so if you read this and you're interested don't be afraid to apply). All this week we've been doing training with two teachers who are trained in ESL teaching. We split into upper (5-9) and lower (kinder-4) school in the afternoon and talk about different things such as theory and direct lesson planning ideas and activities. It's been really helpful for all of us and I think we're all feeling more adequately prepared to take on the task. This is the first year BECA has done this I believe. In the morning I have private spanish tutoring sessions with Ms. Sandra for 2 hrs. The time really flies by and I'm starting to pick up on the language. Ms. Sandra doesn't speak a lot of english, but this is good for me. The only time we really speak english is when we're going over vocab and she can't communicate what the word is. Yesterday we went to the supermarket and walked around and she'd point to stuff and hold it up and say it's name in spanish. The hands on learning is really helpful. We had a party the other night at Don Will's house. Don Will is part of the administracion/ the board of people who help make decisions for the school. He's a really nice guy who does a lot for the school. The administracion is throwing a party for us tonight at school that should be fun. Hopefully i'll be able to puut pictures up of the school at some point, cause describing it would be difficult.

Well hola hola.

Well we're here in Cofradia. The two flights were a mere 2 hours each. The seat I was on the second flight seemed to have been constructed for someone whose height was 5'5". We were picked up from the airport and were driven with two other girls, Allison and Tyler. There are currently two houses. A main one and a lower one. I'm in the lower one for now but that's temporary as many of the members of the team will be heading out to stay in homestays for the next little while (not sure how long that is). A chorus of roosters awaited me last night as I lay my head down on my pillow. Today we went into san pedro, a nearby city. It was like a 30 minute bus ride for 18 L. The people here are real nice, you can just tell with the ones arriving that they're a little more tentative than Chrissy and I are. I think you can attribute it to the fact that while Chrissy and I are coming down here, there is that sense of comfort since we know each other, these others are coming down here knowing nothing. They're all really nice though. More people are going to be arriving through the rest of the night.

Brian Rogers' Birthday.

Well, this will probably be the last post before we peace out of this hizzouse as my flight leave tomorrow morning and everyone else leaves the day after. Nathan and I are sitting in the lounge enjoying espresso compliments of the J.W. Marriott. We haven't really done much the last few days as compared to the rest of the trip. It's been a lot of sitting around, going for short walks, doing a little shopping, watching some DVD's... we're all pretty beat and enjoying our newfound ability to not feel like we're constantly on the move. I'm sure we'll make a visit will be made to the hot tub this evening as well.

Oh yeah, we had meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans for supper... the countdown to cajun filet biscuits begins

Well it's been a few days since the last update but I'll catch you up. After we got back from the Tiger Leaping Gorge we were hanging out in Lijiang, the town kinda slows down at 11:30 when all the dance music cuts off. There were some guys in one of the discos setting up a guitar, microphone, and djembe; we asked them if we could play and they gave Layne the guitar and we (Glitter and Gold with drum accompanists) played "Where the Streets Have No Name" in front of a bunch of people. The DJ of the club and I had been chilling earlier in the night (he had let me mix a little while people were dancing), he loved the sounds of Glitter and Gold. While we were in Lijiang, Brian fell in love with the inn keeper. He spent the afternoon working on Chinese characters to ask her to go dancing with him and later gave her a rose (that a businessman had given Nathan). We took a bus from Lijiang to Kunming overnight. Much to my disappointment, the movie was once again not "Cool Runnings." This bus ride was a different than the last. We left at around 6 in the afternoon and were able to see the country side due to the day light. We sped around the edges. There apparently wasn't a "no-smoking" sign and our co-passengers took full advantage. Now back in Shanghai Mr. Madden commented that 1/3 of the world's tobacco is smoked here and 1/2 the population smokes, these numbers seem completely reasonable after being in the country. Anywho, everyone around us smoked the entire ride, and being in a bus there was nowhere for the smoke to go. I woke up at around 3 as we sat stagnant in a line to get gas. Graham was talking to Brian, unable to sleep. Layne pleaded, " Don't wake them up, they'll start smoking!" Graham got quiet immediately. We pulled into Kunming at around 4 in the morning. It was still dark outside but I'm sure our bus was bright to the outside as 30 lighters were lit in an instant, then settling to a dull glow. We caught a mini-bus for 40 yuans intending to go to a hostel. We wanted to try a different hostle than the one we had stayed in previously. We drove around for a while when finally our driver pulled into an alley, he was extremely diligent in looking for this exact alleyway. Still dark outside, we unloaded our stuff outside a gate. Our driver looked at us confused but we waved cheerfully as he drove off (how I wish I could have been in his head as he drove away, wondering what we were doing). We turned and rang the doorbell to the hostel for someone to come let us in. Nothing happened. We peered into the building, but it stood black. We surmised the hostel to be closed. The buses started running at around 6 am and we headed to the other hostel. We spent some time there, went and ate some meals through the day and retired last night. This morning we woke up to catch our plane at around 6:30. We flew to Wuhan and then on to Shanghai. To get back to the Marriott we caught the Maglev into the city. I've read about them before but I had never ridden one. Top speed was about 430 km/h. We got to the Marriott where Mr. Madden was waiting for us with Tuna salad, fritos and lay's. We're going to eat supper here in a bit. We're all in pretty cheery moods and we plan on heading to the hot tub later. We're home in a few days.

"Why did the butterfly go to the counter? He wanted some butter." -Brian

Well it's been a while since the last update but needless to say we've been busy. We've spent the last couple days at Tiger Leaping Gorge. It was the 3 of the top 5 days we've had in China thus far. I'll recount the trip to the best of my ability. We left Lijiang around 10 am on sunday and took a mini bus 2 hrs through the mountains. The bus seated 6 plus the driver so we were crammed in with our luggage but the trip was fun. We wound through the mountains dodging the cars in the opposite lane while we played The Bends (Radiohead) through the speakers (nathan purchased a copy here for something like 15 yuans). We arrived at one end of the gorge and at lunch and left a lot of our things (for a small fee) at Jane's Guest House. To be quite honest, Jane's true gender was in great debate over the course of Sunday. Most of us agreed that she was in fact a he, dressing and acting like a woman. So we headed out from Jane's and headed up the trail. The trip was a lot more than we expected in many ways. 1) It was far more beautiful than we expected. 2) It was far more difficult than we expected. I will touch on the latter first. The first day involved us climbing something like 1000 m (this is me guessing at this point). To make the trip more difficult at the top of the mountain we climbed we came to realize that we were something like 12,000 feet above sea level (different maps were saying different things, different websites have said different things so we're just putting it together as best as we can). It was difficult to catch your breath at points. The beginning of the trail was highlighted by heavy rain and lightning (thunder which fantastically echoed through the gorge) and a section called "The 28 Bends." When we reached the top we looked across the river to the other side and gazed at humongous snow capped mountains. It wasn't like anything we have on the east coast and I don't know if there's anything (that I've seen) on the west coast that stand as tall. We descended down the other side and spent the night at a place called Tea-Horse Trade Guest House. Layne got sick on Sunday night (he suspects something Jane(Jon) cooked at lunch). The next day Graham, Brian, Nathan and I decided to hike down to the road and then we made our way down to the river that carved the gorge. To the river we're guessing we climbed 800 m. This is another example of where words can't do the image justice. The gorge is monstrous in size. You would look down at the water and believe yourself to be almost there and then be astounded at how much further you had left to descend. In all it took us about 4 or so hours on Monday. Tuesday (today) Layne was feeling better but not up for finishing the hike so he and Katie descended down to the road to catch a cab where they would meet us back at Jane's (Jon's). The rest of us hiked on to the end of the gorge which ended up taking between 3.5 and 4 hrs. It was another amazing day of hiking. We passed through huge waterfalls, breezed by goats feeding on the side of cliffs, all the while with the gorge to our right. We caught a mini bus from Tina's back to Jane's (Jon's) where we met up with Katie and Layne. The ride back to Lijiang was fun as Jane (Jon) offered us 2 buses for the price of one because she had too many drivers at her house and they needed to go back. So we split up (Brian and Nathan with me) and we headed back Lijiang. It was a great trip. We got the same driver with whom we had driven up. I rode shotgun and we played Beatles and then a little Dylan (which he seemed to enjoy). We picked up a woman with fruit along the way and we suspect it to have been his wife. She gave us plums, which we peeled before we ate. We're back in Lijiang now at a Youth Hostel. We have our overnight bus tickets from here to Kunming for Thursday night. We arrive in Kunming Friday at 4:30 am so as you're gettin off work think of us as we're getting up the next day after an 8 hour drive. Saturday morning we're flying from Kunming to Shanghai. Then back to the U.S.A. And oh yes, Layne is doing better now and is pretty much back at 100% as it appears to have been a combination of quick altitude change and perhaps something Jane (Jon) cooked him.

Happy Birthday Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen from the Chinese Colonial Williamsburg

The guys on the trip agree that today might have been the best day of the journey thus far (it's only rival being the day we saw the Great Wall). Katie stayed back for a relaxing day around the city while the guys rented bikes and headed out past the city. Once we got out into the country the landscape was beautiful. Fields in every direction, set against the backdrop of a mountain that would tower anything we have in the Appalachians (called Windy Mountain, we do believe). I write this blog now because the day was so exhausting that we don't have the energy for much else. While we were biking (possibly a little under an hour into our bike) we ran into a Chinese couple. The proceeded to show us to Windy Mountain Lake. The water was extremely tranquil. We separated ways with our friends and kept biking. We found our way to a village. At first we just stopped for a bit of water. To our right was a full basketball court and the guy at the store threw us a basketball. We were shooting around when people started walking up. We started out playing 3 on 3 with a gentleman (perhaps in his 40's or 50's). Quickly word spread in the village of the westerners who were there playing basketball. People started to show up (probably 25- 30 in all). A bunch of men in the village came out wearing matching jerseys (the man we were playing with would eventually go back to get his). Before we knew it we were playing a 5 on 5 full court game against the village team. We were kinda just playing around but one of the guys went and got a whistle and started reffing. We ended up playing something like 4 20-30 minute quarters and played for something like 2-3 hrs in total. It was absolutely amazing. We loved that their team came out in uniform to play us. Sadly we didn't demolish them or even beat them. We left the village in the afternoon and began to make our way back Lijiang. We were worn out from the basketball and we struggled a good bit (cutting through open fields). When we were finally back in the city most of us were pretty dehydrated (most of us were dizzy with headaches). Nathan and I hadn't really eaten all day and it had been something like 8 hrs since the others had eaten. Nathan made his way back to the hostel to lay down while the rest of us grabbed some KFC. We all agreed that it's been a while since we were this tired and the trip to the gorge tomorrow will probably be moved back. Still, one of the best days here so far. We took pictures with the villagers and we're going to print off copies of them to take as gifts for their hospitality and friendliness.

The first few days in Lijiang

We're in Lijiang. We got here by bus from Kunming Thursday morning. It was a sleeper bus that got us here. Right before we had gotten on we got a bit of a bad review of it from some British people we met in a restaurant in Kunming. The trip turned out not to be all that bad. At times one had to hold on as we sped through the mountains, gripping the rails on your bed. Much to my dissappointment the movie on the bus was not "Cool Runnings." This town is intestesting. There are far more Chinese tourists here than foreign tourists. The people that are in the town are called the Naxi people. There are two sections of the town the new and old town. I haven't really been to the new town that much, it seems to be another city for the most part. The old town is where we're staying. The streets are all stone and all transportation is walking. Canals flow round the streets and are filled with goldfish. Bridges arch over the canals, both stone and wooden planks. It makes for a very peaceful setting. Graham and Brian bought a DVD player yesterday and have been working their way through the fourth season of the Lost series. Layne and Katie went for a bike ride yesterday (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle). I think Nathan, Graham, Brian and I are going to do the same today. We're planning on hiking Tiger Leaping Gorge tomorrow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Leaping_Gorge). It should take us about 2 days but who knows. We're hoping that we can leave some of our stuff at the first hostel along the path.

They didn't even see us Kunming (it had to be done)

A really quick blog because I've paid for 30 minutes and I have 10 minutes left. We're in Kunming and we leave for Lijiang tonight at 9 on an overnight sleeper bus. We're not planning on getting a lot of sleep on it as it winds through the mountains but we saved 50 yuans by not taking the day one (plus a night at the hostel). We ate at a kind of Western coffee shop called Salvador's yesterday for lunch that was really good. I had a burrito, others had quesidilla, burger, chicken sandwich, etc. It was good. We went to a nearby park and played some basketball. The others then went and played cards while I played Badmitton with some locals. Graham and Nathan payed the small price of 50 yuans for what might have been the best massage of their lives. Last night we ate at restaurant called Mamafu's which was awesome. Turns out there's two and the original is in Lijiang.

-Austin, I was thinking about you yesterday and was thinking about how I'm not going to be able to see you guys for a full year, which is miserable. I thought I'd be back out there by now but my plans have changed. James could fill you in but i'll talk to you when I get back.

The Couple of the trip suffers a humiliating blow to their ego

We spent the day in Chongqing. The city is built in the mountains so everywhere you go is up and down stairs. This place is known as the hot pot(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_pot) capital so we went off looking for the best. What we found was really good but Layne, Graham, Nathan and I agreed it was the hottest thing we had ever sat and ate an entire meal of (it was too hot for Brian and Katie). Come to find out, Nathan, Layne and I agreed it was just as fiery coming out as it was going in... I'll leave it at that. We walked around the city a bit. Katie lost to Brian in speed (card game) one day after he had learned the game and after she had talked about how good she was. Tonight we were all wanting a meal that we felt would fill us up so Graham and Brian went to Pizza Hut (which is a sit down restaurant here). Nathan, Katie and I went to McDonald's, which by the way has a Hostess in China. Layne came prancing into the restaurant with a bowl of noodles he had bought on the street talking about how he had seen everyone else in the street eating it, as he looked down on us and our McDonald's. 15 mins later Layne was up getting a double cheese burger because he said the noodles were too hot for him. Nathan and I made fun of him as Katie picked up the noodles and went to throw them away, telling him it was okay cause he was still cute; Layne hung his head in shame. Now we're at John's Cozy Nest, the hostel at which we're staying is this guy's apartment. There's about 3 rooms here and his entire family lives in here (about 15 of us here in total). We were just happy not to find John's Cozy Nest to be a prison.

In Chongqing

We're in Chongqing. The train ride last night was about 15 hours of unairconditioned ecstasy. Someone came along in the middle of the night and closed all the windows as well and shut off the fan we had blowing. It wasn't an express train so we stopped every 30 or 45 minutes. At points it seemed like we sat a stops as long as we were actually moving (time wise). We met some people on the train who spoke english. The girl was a student in Xi'an at Northwest and the guy was a big NBA fan, his favorite team: you guessed it, the Rockets. Chongqing is a city of about 5 million. Second to Shanghai thus far in the amount of smog; someone said they read it was smoking something like 30 cigarettes a day. The Yangtze River runs through it, which we can see from the balcony of the mini-hostel where we're staying. We're only spending one night here. We leave tomorrow at around 1:30 pm (while y'all sleep soundly) to head down to Kumming. It's an express train so it should be a bit smoother ride. Paper Rock Scissors update: Drew 29 Brian 19. Sorry there haven't been more pictures, we'll put some up when we get the chance, but trust me, we've been taking them. We just haven't had an ability to put them up yet.

New on the list of things to do when I get back: watch "Who Am I?" It's been far too long since I've seen that movie.

As the old saying goes: "Don't marry a bald woman"

Still in Xi'an. We leave for Chongqing tomorrow around 4 pm. Last night Graham and I went to a club near our hostel so I feel up to describing the chinese club. It honestly is like you would imagine it. The music is centered around a steady thumping beat. Above it is mostly remixed song in english.; The thumpingwill stop every few minutes for a few seconds for an effect when it starts back. There were a lot of lights going. This particular club had a screen that was displaying various weird images. Three DJ's were on a platform, their heads boucing with the beat. Once or twice when the beat would stop, bubbles would fall from the ceiling. Every so often dancers would emerge on the stage behind the DJ's; one dance was a guy and a girl dressed like angels moving slowly. The basic dance step everyone did was a smooth twist with their upper bodies. I tried to cut loose when I got there and got weird looks. Dancing with girls was more difficult than I thought it would be. When I would ask girls to dance they looked at me funny then would shake their heads. I figured out the way it had to be done was just dancing on the floor and slowly establishing eye contact. I ran into some trouble at one point when I was dancing with four girls and I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to meet a short chinese guy and his posse. "This isn't english, he said (I didn't point out the irony in his statement). "This is China," he continued as he pushed me. His body language and the girls' seemed to indicate that he wasn't one of their boyfriend. I turned back around to find another behind me (fourn in total). I felt it best not to escalate the situation and walked off. Nathan was out last night with some guys from the hostel and saw two chinese guys smashing beer bottles over each other's head. Today we took a bus to see the Terra cotta warriors (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_Army). They were interesting. There are thousands of those guys. WE jolked about the emperor pitching the idea to the guys who were to build them. The bus ride back was crazy as the bus driver straddled the broken line and honked his horn at everyone we passed. Brian's had McDonald's the last 3 meals. The buy guy loves the chicken nuggets. We are currently having a Paper Rock Scissors battle. Each match is best out of 3. I'm beating Brian 21-12 and Graham 8-5. Brian is beating Graham 8-6. Brian and I are going for the first to 100. A note from an earlier blog, Milton is at this hostel now.

Said I loved you but I lied... cause this is more than love I feel inside

This is a couple of day slate but here's the run down of The Great Wall. We woke up and caught the tour bus at around 6 am. It was a 3. 5 hour treck to the mountains. When we arrived we were all a little cold and we looked around to see everyone else had worn pants and/or jackets while we all had on shorts and tee shirts. The hike in total was 10 km. We walked up a path to the Great Wall. I'd try to describe the wall but I think it'd be pointless. In short though, the mountains are pretty steep at some parts and really steep in others. I couldn't imagine being responsible for carrying the stones to the top of the mountain to construct the wall. The wall sits along the ridge and goes up and down the mountains with the peaks. If you look off in the distance you can see the wall gliding over the mountain tops. It was fantastic. There were people on the wall who wanted to try and be our tour guides. They would walk with us and try and help our walk. We had to just ignore them. My guy, it turned out, grew baby corn. I wanted to ask him how he ate it but it was too much of a language barrier. When Graham (or Johnny G as we have come to call him) went up a tower, his "tour guide" turned his back and Graham ran by him to lose him. For most, the walk was a great stroll/hike. For me it was confrontation with my greates foe, heights. We have pictures of me on all fours scaling the stairs. Graham said I was the first person he'd met who had a true fear of heights. In my defense there were points where we were at the peaks of mountains walking stair cases 5 feet wide with no walls. I don't see how everyone did it. James, I was a warrior; you would have been proud. I thought of you several times, thinking if you were there I would have someone with I could turn around. There were several points where I had to look at the floor and keep moving If I had stopped or looked out, I don't know that I would have been able to continue. It was a great walk in all though. Graham took good pictures and they do the hike greater justice. At the end of the walk there was a lake. To get to the end we could zip line to the other side. The zip line was between 150 and 200 feet above the water. Graham lost his hat when he went down (he's now temporarily wearing a Beijing 2008 hat). Layne video taped as he went down. Even I went down. I guess I could do it because I knew it'd only take on step. I did however scream o nthe way down. Everyone went down the zip line. I was sick but that night the other 5 went with the British friends to a chinese dance club complete with bubbles, lights and a floor that moved to the beat. We're in Xi'an now. We took an overnight train last night to get here. We're here til saturday. Layne, Katie and I are having trouble gettin gmoney out of the bank, so we're about to go to the counter of Bank of China. After this is Chingqing then Kumming then Lijian thn Shanghai then back home. Most of our time is go;ing to be spent in Lijian where we're planning on hiking. The south of China is known for the countryside.

Heading out

I don't have a great deal of time to post right now but I'll just say that we went to the Great Wall today. It was awesome but it deserves more time than I have. I'll write it up and post it when I get the chance. We head out for Xi'an tomorrow at around 9 pm. We're going out tonight for Layne's birthday with our British friends.

Canadians and British

Last night we stayed up late hanging out at the hostel. The other 5 played card games while I sat and read a book. Our British friends Andrew and Sarah joined us and we sat around chatting for a while. There was a Canadian couple at a table near by that chimed into the conversation. The man was in his early 30's and she was about 28. James, you would have loved the conversation that followed. The Canadian ocuple had been traveling for about 5 months. We started out talking about politics but it moved more into a conversation about culture of sorts. The Canadian woman commented on how she found it, for lack of a better word, curious how the chinese women would be dresed so prim and propper and then go into a bathroom and crap in a trough. The canadian man talked for a while how his patience with certain things done here had slowly worn, like the spitting. He also said that half of the world's smokers liv in China (regardless of the fact that one sixth of the world lives here, that's still a lot, and believable from walking around). When things about America came up one could tell the other two couples tjip toes around saying what they thought on certain subjects. They obviously did not have a high opinion of President Bush. The couldn't understand our gun laws and why people felt they had a right to a gun It was interesting and sad to see what they thought of us. The conversation was much longer, touching on Vietnam and rasicm. Today I spent the day walking around Beijing by myself. Since I committed to Honduras for the next year I"ve been more aware of where I'm spending my money, or atleast trying to be. The others went to see the Olympic Stadium and possibly the Summer Palace. I walked the streets of Beijing. I was very careful to write the landmarks down so I didn't get lost. So many here drive scooters; I found you can buy one for 2,980 yuans. I went in this indoor marketplace. It was amazing how full of stuff it was. We think in America they are producing stuff for us here, one goes into markets like that and sees how much these 1.3 billion people are buying, that thought is put to rest. I went into a 3 story jewlery store that was probably the largest I've ever seen. I walked on a single road for hours and there was never any end in sight; this city is unbelievably large. On a said note, it's nice that I can say "the nice chinese man in the blue shirt" everyday to describe the guy who runs the hostel, as he never changes his shirt.

Nathan's Broken Ankles

Out hostel is at a central location for many of the things to see in the city. We decided to go to the Forbidden City today. Inside the first courtyard there was a fenced off area where a commie was shooting hoops on a grass terf court. Nathan was watching him and the soldier motioned for him to come in. Nathan proceeded to get his ass whooped in a game of 1 on 1. To be fair the guy was 6'2" atleast, but Nathan still embarrassed our country. There was a crowd of atleast 200 watching the event. We made our way into the city (which was the emperor's palace). The city was huge. It was just one courtyard after the next. On exhibit was of broken bowls; it sucked. But the city was fantastic. We made our way up a hill to a Vairochana Buddha temple that provides a panoramic view of the whole city of Beijing. While we were up there Brian and I convinced a commie to take a picture with us, acting like he was arresting us. Everyone else was too afraid to ask but he was really timid about it. Here are some thoughts we've had since we've been here:-There are so many people here it seems there's people sitting around doing pointless jobs. Today we saw guys making marks in stairs with a hammer.-Everything is extremely commercialized. In the Buddha temple they were selling merchandise.- We decided the moat around the Forbidden City probably had seaweed, as the greatest defense against attackers was and is 'icky toes'. We've started taking on old people hours. Awake at 7, supper at 5, in bed by 9:30 or 10. We love you guys.

Ni Hao from Beijing

Well we're in Beijing. Good times have followed us the 14 hr train ride it took us to get here. Yesterday for lunch we had a fantastic meal at Wuyve Renjia (still in Shanghai). Most of the meals we eat now we order like 4 dishes and then all just eat out of them. Our meals end up costing us about 3 dollars a piece. All the girls that are good friends walk around holding hands and the guys walk around with their arms around each other. Brian and I followed suit. People spit here a lot. The tea place we went to the other day had a bucket for one's spit. Yesterday afternoon we went to Fuxing Park and watched some guys fly kites. This one old guy that could be anyone's granddad seemed especially pleased with his kite. His was WAY up in the air and he was content to spend his time just staring up at it with us looking at us every once in a while and smiling. Last night we went to catch the subway to get to the train. The subway was just as one would imagine it, crowded. Getting onto the car one had to shove their way in. Nathan had to lower his shoulder to make it in and see that he was not left behind. The people getting off were just pushing their way through. No joke, saw atleast 2 women crying. We had a room on a train, well kind of. The way it was set up was we were in a car and there were 6 bunks, 3 high on each wall. Graham and Layne's tickets were for a different room though so we tried to switch them out and were essentially successful. However, around 11 o'clock a guy came into the room and was asking for our tickets (so we figured out). I woke up and handed him my ticket then went back to sleep. I woke back up a few minutes later to see him with 5 tickets on the table yelling (Katie almost in tears). For some reason I went back to sleep. But what happened was he was saying that we only gave him 5 tickets (there are 6 of us) so someone didn't have a ticket. A girl that spoke english came in and translated for us. The situation was kind of smoothed over. The next morning we figured out that Nathan had handed him his ticket, the guy had given it back and then Nathan had slept through all the yelling and the looking for the 6th ticket (which he held). This morning we ate at McDonald's. We wanted something to eat fast. We realized how it's a hip experience for them. Everyone in there had a very stylish haircut, stylish shirt, cool sunglasses... After walking around for a while we found a hostel. I like this place. It's toward the center of the town. Our floors and walls are 150 years old. Beer here is 5 Yuans (Hey-o!). We met a cool British guy here who has been traveling around with his girl friend for a year. They've been all over the place. South America, Australia, Asia. This afternoon we went to Tienanmen Square. It was humongous. Tomorrow we're planning on going to the Forbidden City.

One last thing. Yesterday we were in the men's locker room in the Marriot Hotel in Shanghai (Katie was not). We were in the hot tub... naked... Brian, Graham and Nathan were going to go get a cool towel from the fridge and then go into the Sauna. Brian ran to the fridge and Nathan ran behind him. Brian hit the breaks, Nathan did not as quickly... Let's just say they got real close real fast.

Pictures

http://picasaweb.google.com/JGTheisen/China?authkey=h_H4_wPEr5o

Ganbei!

Our first full day in the city. We spent about 8 hrs just walking around. The area we're staying in is really nice but it doesn't take long to get into the heart of the city. Turns out a lot of children in the city have slits in their pants so that they can just squat and poop anytime they need to. Just thought I'd throw that one in. We were walking in a sort of open street/marketplace when we found a large group of old people dancing. A man came up to us and told us how these people dance every morning, so we joined them. Here's something you might not have known, they sell DVD's in China. We found this out on every corner of the city. We spent about an hour drinking tea in this little shop. Jasmine, green, and black tea. We went to this food court to eat lunch. Today's meal was a lot more succesful than yesterdays'. Each of us payed about 11 yuans (1 to 6.89 conversion rate) so we each ate for under 2 dollars. A girl next to me was holding her chopsticks funny and I tried to imitate her. She and her lover tried to correct me. Turns out the chinese love the joke when I grab a chopstick in each hand and shake them near my plate while making a noise that sounds like "rahw rahw rahw." I'm sure they thought I was a moron but I did this several times to the delight of many in the restraunt. The river that runs through the city may be the grossest water I"ve ever seen. I'll do just about anything but it would cost thousands to get me in that water. In one of the marketplaces we met a group of girls in their early 20's. One thought it was funny when she got my attention by touching my butt. I introduce Graham as "homo" which apparently means monkey in Chinese. They thought this was hilarious as they put their hands over their mouths and giggled. We went back to their loft where they showed us their art. We talked about it for a little while. We were saddened one hour later to find the same art in other shops. Our entire relationship with those girls was a lie. Brian made out with one of them (just joking, but seriously...). I spoke in the last update about crossing the street. We realized everytime you cross the street it's a lot like frogger. Toward the end of the day we walked through some really impoverished areas of the city. I don't want to point out the obvious, but it was tough to do. I'll turn down guys on the corners trying to sell me bootleg CD's but waking past those other people is too much at times. We did manage to find a McDonald's where Brian got his nuggets and Nathan and I each ate a double cheeseburger. Our train for Beijing leaves at around 7:30 PM tomorrow (Friday).

Mao says "Hello"

To our great surprise, Monday began with a gift from Anna (& co.) when she gave Graham, Brian and me a robe with Maps printed on the back. She gave Layne and Nathan fanny packs and Katie girly magazines (one of which was in Spanish). The robes are fantastic. Anna told us that we had our initials printed on our chest in Chinese. We would later find out this isn't true. The flight from Chicago to Shanghai lasted about 14 hours but as Nathan put it "I don't remember a time when I wasn't on this plane." Nathan and I landed the emergency exit row so we had room to spread but there still was no escape from our prison. Brian managed to get a seat next to a certain young lady, with whom he spoke for hours. There was a divide among the flight attendants as to whether they liked us or not. I wore my robe from the airport in Chicago til just before landing in China. One of the flight attendants told me I was "just the cutest thing." There were two Chinese flight attendants that did not share her thoughts. They pulled me aside and told me I looked ridiculous. Graham and Brian went to get their robes (which are pink, mine is blue) and the flight attendants told us we had poor fashion. She then informed us that the writing on our chest did not say our names. We don't know what it says now. We also don't know whether this was a mistake or if Anna did this as a joke and it says kick me or something (we tend to believe the latter). Nathan and I shared White Russians over Russia. We arrived in China at 2:00 pm (this area of China is 12 hours ahead for future reference, thus making it 2 am eastern time). A driver and Layne's dad picked up us from the airport and we drove somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour til we got to the city. The hotel we're staying in is really nice. We sleep on the floor in the living room of Mr. Madden's apartment. Once we got here we went out and tried a restraunt. I accidentally ordered fish head stew (no joke), but it turned out to be good besides being extremely spicey. The city is weird. If you were to look at it you could feel like you were in New York City from the buildings. Nathan and I were talking about how it was just such a different urban feel though. There don't seem to be traffic laws here. Just because you have the green walk sign doesn't mean that cars are going to stop for you. Bikes and mopeds just seem to go all over the place, whether it be the wrong way on a road or on the sidewalk. We finished off the night by lounging in the hot tubs in the men's locker room. Finally after being awake for days we passed out at 9 or so last night. We love you guys.

Here's our rough itinerary

http://people.clemson.edu/~LMADDEN/china/calendar.htm

Note: as I'm updating this thing I'm probably paying at an internet cafe at the various stops. Thus I'm going to write this blog in a notebook and copy it over really fast so I'm not on the internet for long periods of time just thinking about what to write. I say this to let you know, there's bound to be typos.