Southward Bound: Another Chinese Adventure

I'm about to go on another Chinese adventure. This one is to the southern province of Guangxi. After our 22 hour train ride, we'll arrive in Guilin Monday afternoon. From then on it's all fun and games. This time our school didn't even bother trying to put any museums or educational façades on the itinerary. Which is a great thing. This means it's a vacation, a break, and a time to relax from our kind of stressful lives at school. From Day 1, we're going to be visiting Yao Hill, decending by toboggan (like the time we went to the Great Wall at Mutanyu). The next night, we're staying with a local village school, where we will not only get to visit the Xiaozhai village school but we will be seeing the infamous Rice Terraced Fields. This is besides the fact that when we return from the village stay, we'll be returning to a five-star western hot-springs hotel. We then take a bus to Yangshuo, where we have two days to really have a blast. There are three options, of which we choose two activities. The first is a hiking/kayaking excursion, the second is a biking/cave mud diving experience, and the last is a cooking/rafting activity. I think I am leaning towards the biking/cave mud diving (we hear it is amazing) and the cooking/rafting. I honestly can't wait to go. There is supposedly an awesome water show that we have to see. If you thought the Silk Road trips are beautiful, check out what is in store for me when I go to Guilin.

Well, now that I'm leaving in a few hours, I need to pack. I should be packing light since the weather down there is about 80°F and the sun is shining every day. I also have some random pictures from my trip to Tian--men when Sean broke his arm and the Forbidden City when I went to some different parts. Also, last night we had a great night out. I got my eight custom tailored shirts back from the tailor and I'm pleased with all of them. We all went out to an Italian restaurant, had some wine, and then went down to Wangfujing. Unfortunately, Wangfujing closes around 10:30pm so we weren't able to try some weird things, but we're going to go sometime soon after we get back to try scorpions, bugs, and other critters.

Oh, and to completely change the subject. I had a field trip for Buddhism class on Saturday morning. It was about an hour and a half away, in the mountains just outside of Beijing. This retreat is a privately owned mountain resort for Buddhists. They can rent out the cabins and practice meditation in the quite natural environment. It was a great experience. Our class meditates for about 20 minutes every time class meets, but this time we learned different techniques and we were able to sit on actual Buddhist meditation cushions. It was really great. We practiced walking meditation and simple breathing focused meditation. It was a relaxing start to a very busy day.

After my Buddhism class, the bus was late coming back to school. I had a Marketing midterm test to take at 1:30pm and we didn't even arrive at school until nearly 2pm. Not to worry, my professor is extremely understanding for these kind of situations and I had a legitimate excuse. Since many of the students in my Buddhism class are also in my Marketing class, about half of us were late for the midterm. We had to grab a quick bite to eat too, which further delayed our arrival. The midterm went just fine, not too difficult. But I had to rush through it in order to make my 4 o'clock appointment.

I have begun tutoring with the English program Learn First as many of you know. I met with another student for the initial interview and I'm in for a treat. This family has lived in the US (Minneapolis, MN) for over 20 years. They just recently moved back to China with their two children, American by birth, and are looking for a tutor to speak with their 6 year old son. I've worked with my aunt as a kindergarten teacher aid before and I worked at PS/MS 20 in a first grade ESL classroom last year. It's a great experience and I can't wait to start when I get back from my trip.

Also, since I'm always wondering about news over in the US, here's a bit of news that is going on over here. Apparently, there was a police beating in southern China where one person was killed. The story goes that some policemen were off duty in plain clothes at a bar having a few drinks. While they were driving home, they hit a car full of college students. I am pretty sure that they hit the college students because the driver got out and began to yell at the policemen. He too had been out that night. Pretty soon, the angry college student became confrontational with the policemen and a fight ensued. The policemen had a video tape recording in their car, but somehow after the fight begins the tape is cut short. You never see the student being beaten to death because a policeman had turned the camera off. This is where the controversy comes in. First of all, the policemen. Although they were off duty and have the privilege to go out drinking, the fact that they hit another car and then severely beat the student to death and injured his friends is completely inappropriate for an authoritative figure. Also, there are some questioning the students and whether or not they were using illegal substances that may have caused the deceased one to die because of a heart attack. From the tape, it seems as though the student started the quarrel, but it is not sure what happened after since the tape was cut off. This is a huge deal right now and all the policemen are in jail. Whoever is convicted of the assault will definitely receive capital punishment. I need to go pack now, so wish me luck and I'll try and post while I'm away but don't expect much. Happy Halloween!