Da da da da da da da da!

I so wish I could do music clips on my blog...because if I could, the title would make more sense.

During my time in Mengzi, the most convenient mode of transportation is by bicycle. It is quite a ride from the university where my friends live and work; however, it is beautiful and a nice way to get some exercise. Well, every time I would get on the bike with the huge comfy seat all I could think about is the music from Wizard of Oz when Ms. Gulch is riding her bike in her pompous posture in the tornado. That would have been the theme music to my riding the bike if my life had a soundtrack.

Anyway, I just wanted to post a few more pictures. I mentioned before that Mengzi has this beautiful lake in the middle of the city. We stopped and took some pictures.

Jack - Two Thousand EIGHT - Thanksgiving

So as I continue rambling about my trip to Mengzi over the holidays, I just wanted to make sure you got to see some of what Thanksgiving was like for me this year.

It began waking up to this incredibly beautiful city, which I had only seen at night so far. The sky was blue. The air was clear. The temperature was comfortable. It was perfect! An incredible break from the big city. About lunch time, we headed over to the Kim and Katie's friends' house before we headed off to lunch. I got to meet the Rice's. Such neat people. Their 2 children went with all of us to eat at the Brother's Jiang. It is apparently some very famourse noodle place they eat at every Sunday. It was good but I am not a big fan of noodles. It was however, very enjoyable to be riding bikes everywhere. When we got back to the house after lunch, we started gearing up for the Thanksgiving feast. I played games while everyone else helped do something useful for the feast - my normal role. At home in America, it is mom who cooks all the dishes. It is dad and mike who wake up around 5 am to smoke the turkey. It is mine and Kris's job to relax and be entertainment...or is that be entertained? Well, whatever it is and whatever I was doing at the RIce's was not much different from what I would be doing at home. It was so familiar. They had a piano too. I got to play. Unfortunately, I have never sucked so bad at the piano. Maybe I am not that good after all. Still, it is fun to tickle those fake ivory keys. We also played Chinese Checkers. You know, the Chinese checkers we play in America with the star shaped game board. I am pretty sure it isn't Chinese at all.

Well, eventually it was time to eat. I was so excited. There was everything you could imagine to eat: deviled eggs, strawberries dipped in chocolate, carrot cake squares, turkey, gravy, jello, desserts, sweet potato pie, and vegetable sticks. Amazing. We even had football going in the background...never mind that it was 3 years old. I wonder if it will continue to be played if only as a tradition from now on. I kind of like that. I never watched the games anyway. It was just always nice to be around my family while they were screaming about plays and tackles and whatever other football things they know about. I really missed being with my family for the holidays but it was nice to be around people that reminded me of my family back home and how blessed I am.

Journey to the center of Nowhere: 3D

As some of you know, I had the blessing of spending Thanksgiving with 2 of my old friends for Yichang where I used to live. No they are not Chinese. They are Kim and Katie. They have been in China for maybe 6 years now - several years in Yichang and they just moved to Mengzi in Yunnan Province. It was a great vacation from Shanghai but it started out as expected.

I left my apartment on a Wednesday morning. Apparently, I have never been up that early because the whole area I live in is pitch black before the sunrise. I mean all lights were off. Even the 24 hour convenient store had turned off its outside lights. Its early and the only way to the airport that is 20 mins away is by taxi. Of course, in their normal fashion, the taxi drivers speeding by in packs of 20 or 30 would just look at me as I was waving one of them towards me and they would wave back. Maybe I have the signal down wrong because often they just wave back they don't stop to pick me up. After walking for 35 mins in the dark and frigid Shanghai air, I finally got one to pick me up. My flight leaves in an hour and a half.

As I walk into the airport, my heart begins to race. 1 hour and 10 mins to go and all 171 ticket counters are lines at them. (Oh and I am not kidding about 171.) I find one that is moving quick at get checked in. No problems. Phew, I am at ease...until I see the security line. 50 something or so counters of people have to go through a security check point that is made up of only 3 lines. My heart begins to race more. I think this time things start to go black but I fight the anxiety. I get in line. I wait. My plane now leaves in 45 mins. Somehow I made it through the check point with 20 mins to spare and less 1 anti-bacterial hand sanitizer bottle. I suppose I could have caused some real damage on the flight: Die you bacteria scum!

20 mins to spare and on the plane. I am happy and ready to be leaving Shanghai for the first time since I came back. Well, turns out there was more waiting to do. We sat on the tarmac for 1 hour and a half before take off. They served us part of our breakfast while we waited for Air Traffic Control. In a lapse of judgement, I turned to my neighbor and said, "What is the deal with this waiting? The weather is beautiful and the airport just opened. How can we be backed up? Was there a plane crash?" She wasn't the same after that.

We landed in Kunming after 40 mins of circling the airport with the plane banked at what had to have made us nearly perpendicular with the ground. By the way, I loved it, my neighbor...terrified we might crash. I flew out of the airport on to make next stop: a drive through McDonald's. I have never seen on in China until that day. Very cool. But nobody was using. "If you build it, you will probably lose money." I hopped on a bus to Mengzi and enjoyed the ride down. It was good to be in the countryside away from buildings, smog, and traffic. One thing I want to mention about the trip down: Kim and Katie both said there is construction and so it will take longer. It took about 4.5 hours. No big deal. What they didn't tell me was that by construction they meant the whole road was missing for near 1 hour of the trip. I lost my cookies. And by lost my cookies I mean they fell out of my cookie bag and onto the floor to be crunched by all the passengers who found out why they believe all Americans are fat.

Anyway, around 8:30 or so I finally made it out to Mengzi - the center of nowhere. Kim and Katie met me at the bus stop and quickly whisked me through town on a whirlwind introduction of Mengzi which included massive government buildings, a beautiful lake, a hotel that reminder me of that pink hotel in Florida, shanti town, and my personal favorite the golden calf. It is the largest steel sculpture I have seen in China yet. At night with the lights on it, it is golden. It is just ridiculous. (Sorry no picture of it. We were too busy stuffing our faces with Thanksgiving and leftovers.)

Here are some pics. My arrival in Kunming.

The drive through McDonald's. It would be better if you could read Chinese.

The floating heads. Picture fun.

Saved by the Bell? Anyone?

And the highlight of my day (besides seeing K&K): A desk full of my favorite snacks: Little Bear Cookies!

Katera's Coming to Town...

Well, the truth is that Santa is coming to town and Katera has already graced Shanghai with her presence.

Katera came to see me near the beginning of November. It was so good to finally catch up with her in another country. I didn't know what to do at first. I mean, how to be a good host. Turns out things worked out really wow. I have seen a lot of the touristy stuff in Shanghai and because I had to work 2 of the days she was here, she got to do that. Unfortunately for her, she got to see the Shanghai that people come to hate - rainy Shanghai. To be honest, I have loved Shanghai's weather until the last 2 days. Starting Oct 1 or so the weather was perfect - sunny and comfortable. The last 2 days it has been hovering around freezing. If I am not in the office, I am basically a popsicle. Anyway, it hadn't rained very much until she came, then it poured for a few days straight. After work, I was forced to meet her beat down look for dinner. Actually, she was surprisingly relaxed even after 2 days of rain.

While she was here, we discovered an area near my house - Hong Mei Road. This road is basically heaven for me. It has a walking street with restaurants of every fare - Greek, Mexican, Indian, French, and many others. There is even an Iranian restaurant. I might try that soon. Another cool thing I discovered (other China friends don't hate me, please) is that all these restaurants deliver. So now, I live next to a hospital, my office, an incredible mall with DQ, Starbucks, Papa John's, McD's, KFC AND there are western restaurants galore and a store that is better than Carrefour which carries everything I could ever need if I was living in America. Unfortunately, my salary can't keep up with my wants...but can anybodies? Oh, have I mentioned that KFC and McD's delivers too? Come to think of it, Starbucks delivered too for a while but only after morning rush. So, Katera and I indulged in our favorite foods.

The Sat and Sun she was here, we walked around different shopping areas, looked for French chocolate for her friends...which I don't think we found so I am missing that here in Shanghai. One of the nights we wanted to go see an acrobatic show. I thought we left with enough time but since it was raining no taxi wanted to pick us up. So we walked towards the acrobatic theater for 2 hours and never got there. We gave up and went back to watch episodes of some of our favorite shows. I know her trip to Shanghai wasn't as incredible as it could have been but it was good to have a friend to just watch TV with for a little while. Hopefully she will come back in the spring and I will give her a better tour of Shanghai.

Anyway, enjoy some of the pictures that I have included. Thanksgiving pics are coming soon! Tomorrow?