It’s late on Thursday evening and I am sitting in a nice house in San Fransisco. Thanks to my friend in Boston who hooked me up with his friend here…I was able to bunk here for 2 days. What a day today!!! I took the train very early this morning from San Jose,
California. I flew to San Jose from Boston on Wednesday and stayed there with family friends. I was able to see redwood trees and then they brought me to Monterey Bay….it was absolutely beautiful!!! We drove along the bay where some of the cliffs were eroding away into the sea…the signs were really funny… they read, “Hazardous Cliff” I wish I had a sign like that!!!
Ok…back to San Fransisco. WHAT A CITY!!! I got here very early and I was at my friend’s house by 9AM.
My friend had some time on his hands and he took me to downtown. Then he had to go pick his parents up at the airport so I went to the Cartoon Art Museum on Mission Street.
http://www.cartoonart.org
Then I found a Peet’s Coffee and Tea…had a cup of coffee and decided where to go next. I walked and walked and then found Chinatown. Here I am at the historic gate of San Fransisco Chinatown!!!

I walked up and over Telegraph Hill which was really beautiful. There I saw my first glimpse of the GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE. Unbelievable. I was able to see the the Palace of Fine Arts which was really beautiful. The next picture is me in front of the Palace. So nice!

Finally…my favorite. My friend picked me up and we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge to the other side. That was one of the most amazing things I have every seen. I love this shot!!! ENJOY IT!!!

What am I thankful for…

1. I want to say that I am thankful to all of you for reading the words that I put here.

2. I am thankful for the school, Sanda University, for giving me a day off today, Thanksgiving Day and making my time at this school a really good experience.

3. I am thankful for the mail system since I just got a package from my parents today on Thanksgiving day which was sent over a week ago. Perfect timing.

4. I am thankful for the wonderful Chinese food that I enjoy everyday!

5. I am thankful for the cup of coffee that I had this morning at the Coffee Beanery…a place near where I live that has OK coffee…not like Peet’s but it is ok for now.

6. I am thankful for students who are eager to learn and are just plain a lot of fun. I really am enjoying their presence in the class and watching them improve!

7. I am thankful for friends and family who think of me often and post comments on the website and send e-mails and regular mail to me. Thank you so much and I hope and trust you will all have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day and Holiday Season!

While many of you were possibly sitting down for a big Thanksgiving meal in America I was getting out of bed to catch the bus, then subway and then a train by 9:00 AM on Friday morning to go to ZHENJIANG, Jiangsu Province.

Thanksgiving day of course was not so hectic. We had a day off which was really nice for the school to do that. The students were really disappointed that we didn’t have class but I told them that it wasn’t “the end of the world” and they stared blankly at me. Oh well. Another American idiom that didn’t work. Anyway, way back at the October Halloween party we had a costume contest. Whoever dressed up the best would win a cool prize. That prize was to have Pizza Hut with the 4 foreign teachers. So we decided to do it Thanksgiving evening. So we hopped on the bus and took off to Carrefour (a French supermarket which has a SUBWAY, PIZZA HUT and HAGAN DAZ). The picture is of the four of us teachers with the four girls who dressed up the best. We had a good time eating pizza and avoiding the “OSTRICH PIZZA” (I kid you not, it was on the menu as a special pizza!) and we talked and talked and talked about life in America and life in China.

After Pizza Hut we went downstairs to Hagan Daz and had a great ice cream treat to finish the night off!!

Back to the story of going to Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province… other ESEC teachers invited us to go and we went there while you were digesting your turkey. We ate so much and the next day explored the city. It was so much fun. Zhenjiang is famous for a couple of things: vinegar, which I bought a bunch for gifts and because they were so cheap, and the home of the famous American writer PEARL BUCK. She wrote many books that perhaps you have read about China and what China was really like. We also took a tour of some of the nice quiet roads in town and we were followed by these cute boys. They spoke almost no English but with my limited Chinese and cartoons…we were able to communicate well!

We also got to see some old buildings there in Zhenjiang which were occupied by many old people. Here we met a really nice old man and we couldn’t help but get a picture with him. I think he was a bit clueless…

On the way back to Shanghai I was reminded of the commuter rail in Boston. We took a two floor train back to Shanghai and there were many extra seats. We got tickets that were far apart but we were able to sit together. And of course what do you do on the train for such long periods of time? SLEEP!

I wanted to show you where all your Christmas decorations are coming from!! Can you believe that the decorations that you can find in America are being sold here too!? OF COURSE! Christmas is pretty popular here…of course my students say that the KARA-OK bars are full Christmas day so they celebrate it a bit differently…but anyway!

So these pictures were actually taken a couple of weeks ago, yes in November, actually before Thanksgiving! But I decided to keep these from you until now. Here is a familiar tree in the foreground with a more Chinese background! COOL!

Here is a nice view of the massive amounts of stuff you can buy WICKED CHEAP here. Bells, santas, angels and wreaths…you name it (cheesy junk too) you can get it!

There is more…I was near the Shanghai Stadium a couple of weeks ago and I checked out the LARGEST IKEA in ASIA! You know those good old Swedes have invaded China too with their cheap yet nice furniture! That place was amazing. It took me almost two hours to see it all! Complete with SWEDISH MEATBALLS at the end…which I didn’t try…that is for my second trip with the girls in my group! But they also have hotdogs at the end…The place was sooooo cool…too bad I am here for such a short time…I can’t bring desks and lamps and dressers with me all over CHINA you know!!!

Here are some of the classic PROMOTIONS at some of the shopping places here in China. At the local CARREFOUR, which is a French chain, I found a couple classics.

LETTER A is a bag of chips, (tomato flavor! ugh!) and what do you crave after eating chips? A bottle of water! Well, good ’cause it is strapped on to the bag!!
LETTER B is another classic with “pringle style” can of chips with a race car toy shrink wrapped on! Cool! While you enjoy the chips you can zoom your new race car along the table! I’ll bring it home for my nephew!!

Here is some more fun for you all to have!

1.) The first picture is the container of a famous Fast Food sandwich…can you guess? POST YOUR GUESSES!?!?!?!

Answer: You guessed it… the BIG MAC!

As you probably know, I do a lot of sight-seeing. I go pretty much every weekend to go down to the city. I go and see something new every time. I really enjoy it and love to take the pictures to show all of you! Here are a few of the fun things that I have done in the last couple of months that i have forgotten to post here.

Here is a cool view of the skyline of Pudong. I am about to walk over the bridge of Suzhou Creek heading into Puxi. I love how the river flows into the HuangPu and the skyline rises in the mist and almost looks like a painting. I really like it and I hope you enjoy it too! Can you imagine seeing this stuff!?! You could if you came to see me! HA HA HA!

Next, I took a trip to a big commerical area of Shanghai called XU JIA HUI. It is a really cool place but always busy and kind of hard to navigate. I went specifically to find the Xujiahui Cathedral which is pretty popular and one of the big Catholic Churches here in Shanghai. I went in and took a look and saw the beautiful insides. For a moment I thought I was in Europe. COOL!! I asked about a Christmas eve Midnight service…but the guy told me it was at 8pm to 10pm. Hmmmm…

Here is what I think of Santa Claus here in my office. There is a stuffed Santa here that I drop kicked all over the office. With my really cool camera I was able to take the slow motion photo with the sound effect. COOL RIGHT?

Here is the local pizza delivery man. He must have been going to deliver for a big party. I wish I was going to that party. IT IS JUST A JOKE. duh.

Back a couple of weeks ago now, we had our wonderful Christmas Party for our students. There was a miscommunication between us and our Foreign Affairs Officer and the gym that we requested for the party was filled with cheering fans watching a big basketball game. But we improvised and went to another room and basically sang songs that we rehearsed and played games. The games were all planned by one of my teammates who has game-planning skills that she brought from America and they went over pretty well. I was in charge of the game PLANE CRASH where the students experience a horrific crash and are given each a different problem, ie. broken leg, broken arm, 2 broken arms, blind, broken legs and broken arms… stuff like that. They have to work as a team to go from one side of the room to the other where the hospital is located. All the students can read english but most of them pretended they couldn’t, especially when I see one girl who is limping to the hospital and she has 2 broken legs. Anyway it was a lot of fun and we finished by singing Silent night and after that we threw candy at them, I mean to them.

Here is a picture of me and a bunch of students!! We all had a good time!

December 11th the school invited us to go to a wonderful 1000 year old village about 2 hours from Shanghai in the next province. Well, it isn’t very often that I get to go to a 1000 year old village so I decided to go and it was a fun day… except of course for the massive traffic jam that turned our 2 hour trip into a 4 hour trip. But who cares! I made the most of it by getting off the bus and walking around with our extra water bottles and trying to sell them at grossly exorbitant prices.

The little village was called XiTang and it was really nice. Unfortunately the Chinese teachers from our school got a tour guide who could speak their language, but we didn’t. So we just walked around and looked and took pictures. Now the best part of this little town is that it is kind of on a river…or it’s major by-ways are rivers…so there are many people who are going around in paddle boats and there are many bridges and stuff like that.

Here is a shot of a nice old man zooming down the river. No, he was going really slow so I had a chance to get a couple good shots. Even though the town is really old, there are many signs of modernity, you can see the air conditioner on the house across the river. But most of the town and their inhabitants are pretty old.

Like this next picture. Here is a classic shot of an ancient woman who is selling the classic Shanghai delicacy. CHOU DOFU…or Smelly Tofu. I am not kidding and those streets wreaked to high heaven they smelled so bad! I have tried the smelly dofu and I can tell you that is one Chinese food I can do without. Here she is roasting it up for you!!! YUCK!

The last one is my in one of the typical really narrow old roads of the town. But oh no! Look out behind me! The police were after me for saying all the bad stuff about the Chou DoFU lady…I hope I can finish my updatekrae;lkaj;efd dl; ad help. help……they are coming to take me away!!! D;flidjf;a fldj

Merry Christmas to all of you far and wide. Shanghai is really fun now especially with all the Christmas decorations all around. Here is our team after a filling Christmas Banquet that our school Sanda University gave to all of us Foreigners at a really nice restaurant. The drinks were a bit strange, a yogurt/milk drink and orange juice…but anyway…that was ok!

Here we are! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Here is my prediction of our team on Christmas Day morning as we open our gifts. Richard, the tall guy in the back, will be eating his breakfast morning bars and taking off soon after brunch to meet with students. Lucy, the girl on the left, is a tree hugger. Just kidding! She is so happy that it is Christmas day but perhaps it is really because her mother and friend are coming soon! Ruth, the girl sitting on the couch, is reading a good book, perhaps the book that I gave her for a gift and or one of the million books that she has already read four times. Then I am on the right side of the couch, enjoying the RED SOX WORLD SERIES DVD that I just got in the mail from my mom and dad. THANK YOU!

Happy New Year! Actually I mean happy 2005, we have a Chinese new year coming soon. But anyway… HAPPY 2005. I trust your 2004 was a good year and you made many good memories and not too many bad ones.

It has been so cold this week in Shanghai. I was told by my students that it would be…but heck I am from Boston right? So I can take the cold. WRONG. It is sooooo cold. I don’t know what it is. Perhaps it is the buildings that have no insulation. Perhaps it is my air conditioner that doesn’t work. (you might think, Good, you want heat not air conditioner…that is what they call the cool breeze and the heat, both air conditioners…makes sense right?) Anyway, so I have three blankets on my bed…and I am thinking of getting a couple more. UGH!!

This time around I wanted to show you some pictures of the food that you can buy here in Shanghai. Cool food. First picture is a couple who are walking down the street hauling fruit to the next customer.

Next one is a cool shot of this feverish blur of making this kind of food. I didn’t try it because there was a huge line…but it looked oh so good!!

This next one is my favorite place right outside our school. This guy will make fried rice for you with an egg. I have had it a couple times and never gotten sick! It is really good and filling and only 3 Yuan. ($.37!!!!!) crazy.

Last one is the MEAT ON A STICK guys who are all over Shanghai. People say they are from the far away province in Shanghai. He was very shy and didn’t want his face in the picture…I just thought the whole thing is attached to his bike…! COOL!

This is a journal of my trip from Shanghai to the city of Hong Kong then on to my destination which was Chang Chau Island off of Hong Kong island, only accessible by ferry.

Saturday/Sunday January 16th 2005 Midnight:
I should be on my way to Guangzhou now, but I am sitting here in my apartment in Shanghai. My teammate and three others were heading out today to catch their train. They got into a traffic jam and missed their train. I headed down for my train at the appointed time and met one of the girls at the McDonald’s near the train station. They got tickets for that day only to Guangzhou not to Hong Kong. Only problem was that those tickets were STANDING TICKETS only. They did find a bed but for Sunday. So as I was heading toward the gate for my train they called me and asked if I could switch my ticket for that day with their ticket for Sunday…so I did and I went home. That was only the beginning…

Sunday January 16th noon:
after yesterday’s craziness I decided to come to the train station really early…I enjoyed a good lunch and then get on the train. Provided it exists. (I wasn’t sure if the ticket was a real ticket or not, the girl had bought the ticket from someone NOT in the train station ticket booth.) I’m still a bit skeptical.
I am at DA NIANG DUMPLING by the train station and am ready to scarf down the majority of my half a JIN veggie and chicken dumplings. I’ll take the rest for a cold snack later when I hit some no name city tonight.

Sunday January 16th 1:30pm:
We just left the station. I messaged a student that the music was really loud. I got on the train a little after 1pm and got situated and laid down for a while. A guy below me tried to help me with my luggage…it was hanging over the walkway. My nose is only 4 fists away from the ceiling, that is how claustrophobic it is!!!

Sunday January 16th 4:00pm:
People are napping, sipping loudly, eating and snoring all around me as we pull into Hangzhou’s east train station. Last time I was in this city it was October. I’ve been reading and eating and napping a bit myself.

Sunday January 16th 5:20pm:
Arrived in ZhuJi, Zhejiang province which I’ve never heard of before and my friend on board can’t remember how to write it but he did and I practiced it. They are now playing a kind of comedy radio show. More food is coming out and people are all eating or sleeping or reading. I keep reading, writing and thinking. Thinking mostly about eating.

Sunday January 16th 6:15pm:
We’ve stopped again. No clue why or where. My friend had a big covered cup of tea on the table and another guy came and was putting his jacket on and I could almost see what was going to happen…But I was too engrossed in my book. Sure enough the coat knocked the cup of tea over…hot water and tea all over the floor. Not a drop on me thankfully. Now lovely tea and water cover the floor. I’m hungry and we’re moving! They just played the Chinese version of Eidleweiss and Auld Lang Syne. Crazy. As we left I could see that we were stopped at a place called YI WU.

Sunday January 16th 6:55pm:
Just finished my dinner. Convenient Noodles and with my dumplings from lunch thrown in like wontons!! Ah yes, the little joys of life. I finished dinner off with an ORION PIE. Now they are only playing cheesy piano instrumental music and some guy behind me is singing along and gazing out the window at his country. They guy who sleeps under me has been sitting near me with explosive sneezes. Looks like we’re coming to a city. There are lights all around. This old lady near me has just got the hiccups…We were in JIN HUA XI and at 7:20pm we finally left there.

Sunday January 16th 9:40pm:
I’m bored out of my skull. I don’t want to read anymore. I don’t want to eat anymore…good grief, I never thougt I would write that!?! I just wrote a letter to my sister and her family. I also just heard from my new Guangdong friend that we will arrive in Guangzhou at 6pm tomorrow. Immediately I thought of my teammate and her travelling companions… My friend then told me that he thinks that I will arrive by 9pm. So my teammate and friends just got to Hong Kong?!?! That makes it so much worse. I will easily miss my first meeting on Monday… oh well. I was under the understanding that this trip will be a good 24 hours. Not potentially a 30 hour ordeal. UGH.

Monday January 17th 9:10am:
Wow…what a night. I have to say that that was the best night on a train ever. I went to bed shortly after my last entry and I turned my music on and went to bed. It stopped shortly after that because of a low battery and I thought OK…I’ll change the battery when the snoring picks up…but it never did!! The guy who was sleeping across from me who went to bed as soon as we left Shanghai yesterday was in bed the whole time until now…he finally just came down the ladder.
I just opened my only coffee drink for the trip. A can of coffee and cream mixed called “FIRE”. I’m about to sink my teeth into some MR. DONUTs that I bought before I left Shanghai. I have no clue where we are and when I got down to the window I had the distinct feeling that we changed directions. I feel like we’re going back… but I can’t tell. Lots of farm land and people working the fields. Lots of ramshackle houses then beautiful highways and random clothes hanging up everywhere.

Monday January 17th 9:25am:
Arrived and departed from ZhuZhou, Hunan Province.

Monday January 17th 10:50am:
Listened to music and a speech from a friend as I watched the scenery pass by. The leveled fields are pretty…the hills are manicured and stuff. There was a guy, a train employee, who came around and did a sales pitch for socks. Since when has the train become a salesmen’s heaven? A ton of people with no where to go…I guess it makes sense. The socks were really strong. He chose a helper and tried to break the sock. Who cares… so I bought four pair. JUST KIDDING!

Monday January 17th 1:10pm:
I’m now using a blue pen because I am bored of using a black one. Need a bit of variety. I am approaching the 24 hour mark already. It doesn’t feel like it…but then again it does. I think everyone is bored. Just look at all their faces. Everyone is about to cry they are so bored. A while back I was listening to the music that they pump into the train car and it sounded like a person whistling to a sound track and the whistler wasn’t that great. I guess the choices of music are even running out because this trip is so long. I think I might actually finish all my food that I brought on this trip. Which is a first and crazy because it was a lot of food!
At least what I see out the window is changing and beautiful. But you have to find if beautiful…because most of it really isn’t. There are a lot of sludge lakes and trash heaps and the occasional burning trash pile with no one around. Then you’ll see some chickens roaming around some one’s house that looks like it was literally constructed out of bricks and a piece of plywood on the top, with a ton of junk on that plywood. Lately I’ve seen what might be water buffalo or just huge cows with interesting head ornaments that look like horns. Now there is the guy under me who sounds like he is snoring under water…NASTY GROSS!!

Monday January 17th 2:15pm:
We just arrived at PING SHI, Guangdong province. Bored to tears but at least we are finally in the province that we are destined for. I am continuing reading a lot and the scenery now is really nice. The mountains remind me of the pictures that I have seen from the city of Guilin China. These places might be kind of cool. I only have one convenient noodle bowl left and a snickers…Crazy.

Monday January 17th 3:00pm:
Cruising through the countryside, sometimes you think, will I ever see these places again? I’ve been reading and thinking. One of my teammates flew to Hong Kong and left a few hours ago and should be arriving around this time… I left 24 hours before her and she will beat me… Technology is a wonderful thing right? We’ve gone through countless tunnels and some of them have been 5-6 minutes long! Lots of old grass covered bridges and bizarrely colored rivers and streams.

Monday January 17th 4:50pm:
Back to writing in black ink. I just met a nice girl who boarded at ChenZhou, Hunan province. She works in Guangzhou and she said she will direct me to the subway when we get there! NICE! We talked about everything from her university in Hunan to my teaching in Shanghai. She is now sleeping in my bunk as I am on the ground floor writing this. She gets a free ticket because she works for the Guangzhou Signal and Rail Department of the train Station. This was a pleasant diversion from my utter misery and boredom.

Monday January 17th 5:40pm:
We are stopped at Da Lang, right before Guangzhou station. I noticed about 10 minutes ago we passed the Guangzhou North station so I know we’re here. We’re moving again and I am standing…waiting…

Monday January 17th 7:03pm:
I arrived exactly at 6pm and followed my new friend out of the station. I said goodbye and got in line to purchase tickets. I asked the police man that I want to buy tickets for the 22nd. He said you have to go to the Marriott… a subway stop away and so I did. He must have assumed I meant to Hong Kong because that is all they sold there at the hotel. I went back to the train station and hoped to just wait in line and get tickets there…or perhaps in the city of ShenZhen on the border with Hong Kong.

Monday January 17th 8:00pm:
I just boarded the train to Shenzhen with no ticket back to Shanghai. Now granted there is no rush back… but I would like to get back at a reasonable time. So I leave Guangzhou…hoping that in a couple hours I can arrive in ShenZhen and find a ticket to Shanghai. If all else fails I can at least buy the ticket in Hong Kong…but it will be expensive. I am glad I’m by myself because this would be hard with a whiner or an annoying person. I’m hungry and tired and I’ve been on the road or track I guess since yesterday afternoon! But enough of that complaining! I’m also afraid I won’t be able to find the ferry in time to get to the Island… Oh well. at least I will see them tomorrow morning.

Monday January 17th 10:00pm:
I just crossed the border and I am zipping toward Hong Kong itself. The border was annoying and I never did find where to buy tickets. But that was at like 9pm…
I am still famished and starved and would love for the last ferry across to be at a certain time like 11:30pm or something…But who knows. All I now is that now I’m in Hong Kong and with no ticket to get back to Shanghai at the moment. But I think I can take care of that as soon as I have a free afternoon. I think I got two new stamps in my passport…COOL! Although you could see the guy looking at me twice to make sure the hairy beast in the photo really was me!!
I am tired and worn out… thinking what the others did last night…seeing if they had as much trouble as I did… let’s hope not. I also exchanged 1000 Chinese yuan into Hong Kong Dollars. The money is so colorful and I can’t wait to see it and check it out and examine it. I paid for this ticket and it costed me $36, Hong Kong dollars that is…so I had to get rid of my HK$50…oh well. (The official exchange rate is one US dollar is equal to 7.79 Hong Kong Dollar. and 1 Hong Kong dollar is 1.06 Chinese yuan.) I got a bunch of the coins back…those I remember from my last time here in Hong Kong!

Monday January 17th 11:00pm:
it is 11pm by my watch…but according to the STAR FERRY it is 10:50pm. I just made it as they were literally pulling away. This was of course after I found that Chang Zhou Island (Cheong Chau) ferries only go on Sundays and Saturdays and holidays at that location. THAT WOULD BE GOOD INFO TO KNOW. But it was my fault since I was looking at a Chinese map and I recognized the characters for Chang Chau and I couldn’t read the rest and so I went with that idea and didn’t follow that directions that were sent in the mail from my organization. Oh well. The sea breeze is blowing and if I don’t make it I don’t make it. I don’t really know what I will do but I guess I am just hoping that I will make it.

Tuesday January 18th 1:25am:
Long after I gave up on ever finding the ferry to any outlying islands, I sit here at the waiting area for the Chang Chau ferry. HK$21 and I’m there in 35 minutes. What a trip! It’s taken me up to 3 days total and who knows about this place that I’m going to on the island. That will be another story of how I find it. I was seriously going to sleep on the street somewhere…then I found a jungle gym that seemed promising but I just wanted to get there and find this dumb pier first…I did see a bunch of people sleeping on the street and I was going to join them but NOT TONIGHT!!!

Tuesday January 18th 3:00am:
I crossed on the ferry and it arrived on Chang Chau soil at 2:15am. There were a bunch of people selling food and since I was starved beyond belief I got a bowl of noodles and fish balls and some wings and veggies which the lady cooked and then snipped them up in my bowl. I strapped my wheelie suitcase on to my waist strap of my back pack and walked with my wheelie suitcase wheeling behind me and then I had two free hands to scarf down my food. One to hold the bowl and one to shovel the food into my mouth. I wandered through the dark and narrow streets totally lost. But content with the food filling my gullet. Finally I found the right road and followed it to my destination. I got to the location and had no clue what room I was supposed to be in…so I asked a bunch of students. One guy BRUCE helped me find my room and as of 3am I will crawl into bed and sleep. Ugh… of course this is how I got here…I do have to go back too!