While travel planning for this year's spring holiday (ie looking up 7 flights at one time) I encountered this helpful remark: "If you can accept the way turn in other airports,The following is the Hangzhou that we recommend for you to fly to the Lijiang of in turn(onward flight) the flight path.Please choose you feel quite the cheese in turn the city, we will search the service for you "

Since cheese is rare in China we are looking forward to this flight......I think..........

Someone pinch me. Worlds colliding....my Bob (my Chinese friend) just told me yesterday that the Newsboys (a Christian band from my golden high school years) performed at the largest university in Hangzhou. Well slap me and call me Franklin.
In other news......my new bike is completely safe. Too safe...so safe I can't even ride it. After being convinced by my classmates that the only way to keep my bike was to use two locks, I bought a second one. One bike ride later, the second lock refused to open. It won't even budge. I need to find a strongman to pick it up and take it somewhere to have the jaws of life clamp the lock off, but I've almost decided to roll over and call "uncle". I am quite sure my hypothetical fortune cookie proclaims: "A wise man say: stay the heck away from bicycles."

I take the 90 minute bus ride home from our other campus ever Tuesday afternoon. I usually entertain myself with my ipod, making up possible dialogues between Chinese people on the bus and sleeping. Last week, however as we got closer to the city, I passed a familiar university, but it had a new bright red banner stretched across the main gate proclaiming in yellow Chinese and English letters "Welcome to the 16th annual conference of alternative reality and teleexistance." If only I had a camera. After being in Hangzhou for a year and a half, someone finally let me in on the secret and welcomed me to an alternate reality........it explains so much....it's all clear now.

I am like a horse that needs to be put down, for her own good and the good of the others. I have impressed myself. I lost bike number 5 in less than a week. How can I even show my face at the bike shop? I swear they should just give me one out of pity. Speaking of horses, maybe I should just buy a horse instead. A horse would be a lot harder to lose than a bike......maybe....i guess horses can run away.

On the way to work, I lost one glove on the bus. (I bought them Sat.)

On the way home from work I tripped with my hands full of 90 Christmas boxes that my students made in front of a guy I am actually working to impress not earn his scorn.

On the upside, however, I have a new cell phone. Same number. Fiasco of course. The phone was registered in Ann's name and passport number because last fall my office took my passport to work on my visa. I hoped they wouldn't realize that my passport and my phone papers were different.....I mean, all foreigners look alike, right? Ann was just in Hangzhou with her passport until the day I lost the phone. A few days later she had the chance to send me an email attachment of the passport. I took it to China mobile. The girl pondered the paper for awhile and announced "Its too big". "Excuse me?" "The copy isn't the right size, it needs to be the size of a passport." "But look, here is Ann's name, her picture, her number the United States seal.....its all here." "It's the wrong size." "Why?" "It's the rules." "Can't you just skip the rules this time?" I asked getting close to tears of frustration. "No." "So, if I walk down the street to a copy place and get it resized, I can bring it back and it will be fine." "Yes." I leave and walk 4 blocks to the copy place, accomplish the goal and then return. Upon my return, the lady finds my copy satisfactory; she gets up and proceeds to make a copy of the copy at the machine behind her desk. My mouth just dropped open. Now why couldn't she have just resized it herself! i put my head on the table and answered in monosyllables until i got my phone reactivated. Honestly, I think sometimes the Chinese think of THE MOST DIFFICULT way to do something and then proceed accordingly.....mainly to keep everyone employed. Someone shoot me.

Notice: In case anyone was thinking of calling me, my phone has be absendated from my possession so I have no mobile phone access until further notice. Don't take it personally. You can always email :)

The phone was the last in a long line of possessions gone awry this month. I declared November to be a money saving month, but so far I have lost my keys (twice), lost my bike (I am now on my fifth one), broke my camera, broke my phone (got it fixed the same day I lost it), broke my toilet, had my atm card eaten and finally the phone the other day. So much for saving money....

Jackie makes me laugh. She is a fabulous writer and I am lazy so, please enjoy her blog:

"Who was I to question the guidebook? I had never expected to find monkeys in Tokyo-but there it was "Nikko National Park, 2 hours outside of Tokyo, filled with wild monkeys." Naturally, following the short description of the park's shrines, temples, and hiking trails was a list of cautionary guidelines: Don't touch the monkeys. Don't feed the monkeys. Don't approach the monkeys. Don't provoke the monkeys. Mrs. Kimura (the mother of the family we were staying with) was quick to agree, noting that "monkeys can be very dangerous" and rattling off a long list of monkey-instigated destruction stories. "They break into stores!" she exclaimed; "they'll jump right into your car-and they Bite!" Absorbed in paper-crane folding, we disregarded her warnings. Though an excellent cook and wonderful hostess, she's probably just not good with monkeys, I thought. Before heading to bed, I grabbed a bunch of bananas off the kitchen table...We rose bright and early the next morning, folding our Japanese-style beds and stashing them in the closet. After a quick breakfast of salmon, soup, bread, and salad with eggs, we set off for the train station.

Though I have (semi-successfully) navigated metro systems in Buenos Aires, DC, and New York, among other places, I was perpetually lost during our week in Tokyo. While most cities are content with 8 or 10 rainbow-colored metro lines, Tokyo has at least 25. Since there are not really 25 distinct colors, some of the lines are "dark red", while others are sort of a "fire-engine red", and others more of a "reddish-pink." Our conversations frequently included in-depth discussion of the nuances of color-Cammie: "I think we should take the light green to the medium blue, and then dark gray."Me: "You mean medium green. Isn't that light gray?" We did meet some interesting characters on the metro...a man from Egypt worked up the nerve to approach us during rush hour, after silently observing us from the corner of the car for awhile. "I am Ahamed! I am an engineer!" he announced. Surrounding passengers, politely Japanese, tried to maneuver away from the loud foreigners in the middle of the car. "I am from Egypt!" he stated at an even higher volume. "Have you boyfriend?" His face came closer to mine. The car was now packed full, making it impossible to back up any further. "Maybe you will come to Egypt," he pondered. "Then, you stay at my house." It was a statement, not a question. He looked pointedly at both of us. "Where go you now? I am free tomorrow." "But don't you have to work?" I reminded him."It's Saturday!" he roared, gleeful. "Where go you now?"Fortunately, our stop was just ahead. Cammie, who had taken a sudden interest in the floor and walls of the metro car, was leaving me to repel the Egyptian single-handedly. We waited until the doors were just about to close, than darted out onto our station platform. We turned to look back through the train windows, smiling goodbye.

In any case, we survived all of our metro experiences, including the ride to the Nikko-bound train. As we neared Nikko, the landscape changed-from ritzy Starbucks-filled neighborhoods and edgy shopping and nightlife districts to small farms, dirt roads, and fall leaves, pine-covered mountains in the distance. The air (though cleaner than China even in the heart of Tokyo) smelled different, fresher. I pressed my face to the train window, scanning the trees for...monkeys.After attempting to buy tickets to any and all of the shrines and temples in the park, which by this point in the day were all closing, (we were sent from one ticket window to the next-"No, you must buy these down the hill. No, you should exchange your tickets at the top of the hill," etc.etc. until everything was pretty much closed) we decided to pick a hiking trail and get down to business-monkey hunting. (Fortunately-we did get to see the original monkey-themed "See no evil/hear no evil/speak no evil" carving.) As we began our ascent up the mountain, I carefully removed a banana from the backpack, peeled it, and waved it around. We passed the Vegas Buddha. "Monkeeeyyyyss!" we called. We even tried making monkey noises. I was waiting to be approached, mauled, attacked even. Where were these aggressive, vicious creatures that the guidebook had warned us about? Not even a movement in the trees. Since it was now growing dark, we reluctantly returned to the main road and set off to find a place for dinner. As we boarded the train for home (refreshingly engineer-free) I swear I could hear monkeys laughing in the distance...."

Thanksgiving just came late to Hangzhou. Friday I had a wonderful video conference party with Anne, Sarah, Katie, Chris, John and Matt in Chi-town, and today Thanksgiving arrived in the form of Ann Wilson who brought with her an amazing cornucopia of AMERICAN FOOD. Mmmmmmm, mac and cheese, gummies, pumpkin bread, cereal, cereal bars, twizzlers, popcorn, basil, velveta cheese, sunkist orange soda, kiwis, cheezits and cheesy goldfish (notice the cheese theme....). I got to spend a lot of time with Si Jie and Bob, my Chinese friends, this weekend too. Now to study and prepare for class. At some point I will tell about Japan....suffice it to say for now, that in true Cammie-travel-fashion, we missed our flight and were shanghaied in shanghai, hunted for monkeys, visited the Buddha, and extended our trip two days!

Things that make me laugh

Well, Erin (an English teacher here) heard my plea for baking soda and hooked me up with a tiny shop in her neighborhood that sells "Hammer Noodles". Check it, that's not a hammer, that's an AXE!















Sometimes, my cat likes to kick back with Bob Marley .......

Good friends, being that you all know sometimes it takes about two months for mail to get to China, I know you must be getting anxious about what you are going to send me for Christmas. Don't worry guys, you can just ask.....and I can just tell you so you can stop banging your head against the wall and singing "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child."
*baking soda (it makes the smells in my drains "lay down")
*Macaroni and Cheese
*Cheez-its
*Chlorox/Lysol-ish wipes for cleaning
*music

My students are writing Beth Fullbright Black's students as pen pals. The following is a compilation example letter of my students' first letters to their American pen pals:
Have you ever some interesting things when you say "trick or treat"? Have you ever meet a mean person? Well, I have once dressed up just for fun. Er, I acted a tree. Is that funny? I am a flashman in university. I wish I were an Englishman. It is a joke. I believe you are a lively boy. I want to have a look at you. Please tell me the colorful life of you. I am not interested in hunting, in other words, I have never hunt. In China we have no hunting seasons. I think animals are our best friends so we human beings shouldn't be so rude as to kill them. But there are still many people catching frogs and kill them to eat. Its so terrible. You should really improve your handwriting. I doubt I can hardly recognize it. Happy Christmas, we have Spring Festival, it likes your Christmas day. Auld Lang Syne.

Ah. Jackie and I went to Nanjing (about 4-5 hours away) this weekend. We stayed with a friend I made over facebook, and I just trusted that he wasn't a rapist or murderer. Luckily, he was neither and we had a great place to stay for free! The sole reason I wanted to go to Nanjing was in order to see the memorial museum to the victims of the Japanese massacre in Nanjing. I've read a lot about it and have heard what a necessary experience the memorial is from friends. Jackie and I waited until the last day to visit. We took a taxi and found a crowd of Chinese waiting outside closed gates. I went and pressed my face against the fence to see the sign announcing in Chinese that memorial is closed until Dec 2007 for renovation. *Gasp* I turned to the Chinese crowd and began pleading my case. I told a small lie that I had come all the way from America just to see this museum, and I was ready to offer the workers there any amount of money to let Jackie and I come in and have a look. Inspired, a Chinese woman climbed the fence and ran to find a worker. She explained the plight of the two Americans and the worker opened the gate a crack, letting Jackie and I in. The conversation was going too fast in Chinese for me to understand. But, a new woman appeared, and suddenly everyone's mood changed. She kept insisting that view the memorial was not possible. Jackie and I both had out stacks of 100 kuai bills (the highest bill) I told her we would give them to her if she just let us have a look, we had come all the way from America. No such luck, she was like a stone. We were shown back to the gate. I cried. Now, I am just angry.
We had a good time otherwise though. We went to the center of Confucian study for over 1500 years. We visited the Purple and Gold Mountains to see Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's tomb and some Ming tombs.
On the way back from the Ming tombs, we were in the middle of these deserted mountains. It was only 6 but it was pitch dark. Jackie and I hurried to join the mass of 20 Chinese waiting for the last bus out of the mountains. When it finally pulled up, people were already packed against the windows and doors. There was no way 20 more people could fit. The driver had other ideas though and began herding us in the side door. The thing is that the Chinese are very pushy to get in line, and Jackie and I aren't. We were the last people to get on the bus. It was sincerely impossible but the driver just kept pushing my back telling me to hurry up, in a deadpan voice. The doors wouldn't close, my body was in the way. There was only one solution. I wrapped my arms around the neck of the Chinese man standing on the step above me, stood one one toe and sucked in. "Ni hao" (hello) I said to his face less than an inch from mine. And there I clung for the 20 minute ride every time the doors opened or closed. I thought I had been in a crowded bus before.....I will never complain about Hangzhou buses again!
We saw the Ming dynasty city walls, made famous by pictures taken of the Japanese celebrating on top of them when they invaded Nanjing.
This week is busy with an international dinner (arranged by Jackie and myself) for our classmates, tonight (I am making grilled cheese!) Halloween part on Tuesday (also arranged by Jackie and myself, we've voted ourselves social chairs of class 1A), Chinese wedding on Wednesday, and fajita night on Friday with some foreign friends. Keeping busy!

Jackie and I have been busy traveling lately. Last weekend, we went to Suzhou, this weekend, we planned to go to the little water village, Xitang, the place where the end of mission impossible three was filmed. I went there last year with Stephen and Sarah so I was pretty confident in my ability to lead Jackie there. First we had to take a bus to Jiashan then a minibus to Xitang. A friend wrote it in characters for me, but I've gotten a little cocky lately and didn't bring it. So, Sat. morning we headed to the long lines at the east bus station. I got up to the fiberglass window with the ticket lady on the other side, and the little microphone. "Two to Jiashan" I said. *static static mumble* shan?" she asked. "Yes". She gave us the tickets and we got on the next bus to Jiashan. I had remembered the ride only being 1.5 or two hours. An hour and a half passed, two hours passed at the three hour mark I got nervous. I was sweaty b/c there was no air and I had to pee too. I called my friend Bob and passed the phone off to a bewildered passenger who obviously wanted nothing to do with two foreign girls. The phone circled back. Bob:"Um, you are going to Xiaoshan in Ningbo." me:"but I don't want to go there! How far is it from Hangzhou?" Bob: "about 5.5 hours" me: "shoot a monkey."
There was nothing to be done. We couldn't get off the bus. around 3 we arrived in this Xiaoshan. We were optimistic (well, Jackie was) that there would be at least something interesting to look at. We wandered the unfamiliar streets and harassed the locals to tell us a place that had "lots of meaning". The people there spoke their local language and our Chinese is pretty bad anyway. We ended up at a noodle house and took the next bus back 5.5 hours to Hangzhou.

Sunday, however, we were determined to get it right. We headed off early again, this time armed with the characters for Jiashan. One hour and a friendly conversation with a Chinese grandmother later, we made it to Jiashan and then to Xitang. It was beautiful of course, and completely worth even the mistaken trip the day before. Watch out for those tricky shans.

In Korea!!

If I haven't made it clear that China is insane.......thanks to Erin and Amana, the following:
Man bites panda
Man joins ancient army
Take the time to read them, it will be worth your while....

Xiao Fu got neutered this week. I swore I wasn't going to cry, but as soon as I got to the vet and they gave him the shot to put him to sleep and he screamed like a human, I burst in to tears. I swear the attendants at that vet's office have seen me cry more in this past year than my mother has in my whole life. Anyway, all is good....despite a small misunderstanding between another teacher and myself, when he thought I was having the cat neutered at the local supermarket.....I woke up several times the first night to check if Xiao Fu was still breathing but he is kickin it just fine now, even though he is half the man he used to be. In memory of Xiao Mao, I found this picture from last year on my hard drive yesterday. I think I will keep it forever, when I look at it, I realize that things always really could be worse!!

All right, this post is dedicated to Ashley, who is, apparently, a visual learner. Today was my first day of work. Despite a few first-day butterflies, it was a blast. I am obsessed with my kids already. Here are a few pics of around my house...the campus library...







... the quad..







....the canal...







Jackie is my new friend here. Her passport was stolen her first day in China. We went to Shanghai to pick up her brand-new one this week. We welcomed the new passport into the family with the best Mexican food this side of the Yangtze river.







Saturday night, Jackie and I went out in search of some new friends and good times. It is the first sunny day in Hangzhou since I arrived. I think I'll go out and enjoy!

I eat in/on/at my bed a lot because I don't have a table. It causes a rather serious crumb problem. I used to eat in bed in college too. Sus always said in a knowing tone "you know what they say about people who eat in bed......" but she never did tell me, and I never did know.

For the loyal followers of my blog, you now that I'm on my third bike after various encounters with thieves. I had my doubts about coming back after 2 months and finding my bike. Loe and behold, there is was. Elated I ran over to greet "Aunt Jamima" as we all lovingly call her. Only to find that my bike seat had been stolen. All that was left was two spring (talk about uncomfortable). The basket had also rotted out. The whole way to the bike repair shop, Chinese stopped, pointed and laughed. Luckily I was with my new great friend Jackie and we both found the whole thing hysterical as well. When I took the bike in, the repair men got really big eyes.
After replacing the seat and a basket, they informed me that I also need work on my chain, my lock and that I had no brake pads left and a new bell would actually function if I bought it, and air in the tires would definitely improve...well bicycling. Near the cost of a new bike later, Aunt Jamima was kickin it once again.
Jackie and I spent the rest of the day shopping and strolling. I tried to capture the mayhem of the supermarket on a sunday, but this photo hardly does it justice. Just think, people packed in like this throughout a whole super Walmart (or Target, if you prefer).
Finally, I love old people playing mah jong. I mean, it is soooooo Chinese. You can't get any more Chinese than old folks playing mahjong outside.
Tomorrow is my first day of TAKING classes in over a year. I am scared as hell, but I met a new Thai friend tonight, and I think if we stick together we will make it.....first day of school picture to come later......

Finally, I love old people playing mah jong. I mean, it is soooooo Chinese. You can't get any more Chinese than old folks playing mahjong outside.
Tomorrow is my first day of TAKING classes in over a year. I am scared as all g, but I met a new Thai friend tonight, and I think if we stick together we will make it.....first day of school picture to come later......
ps i can see blogspot now, for no reason at all, so feel free to leave comments, I can actually communicate back.

I can't help myself.......

I can't sleep. Jet lag....or jet leg as Si Si Jie calls it. Happy to be here, but missing home....My cat got fat while I was away.....Someone tell me a story.....Chicago....I miss thee

Home!!!

Sorry it has been so long!!:
Summer has finally hit--pummeled, rather--our fair city. Going outside between hours of 10am and 4 pm is not even a question. For a city that is supposed to be the paradise and leisure center of China, the weather could really use some improvement......amazingly cold in the winter and unbearably hot in the summer.....not that I am complaining....ok, actually I am complaining, I just don't get it.
This week is a terrible combination of good-byes, closings, and excitement. It is so strange to me that my first year of teaching is over. There was a point this autumn at which I really didn't plan on living through it. I'm not sure I've ever had to rely so much on other's since I was an infant. My friends and family at home for emotional support and encouragement, and my friends and family here for getting through the day--supermarket, busses, phone calls, doctors, vets etc. We've ("we" meaning you, my blogspot-reading audience and me) already had the discussion about how switching cultures/countries turns one into a child if not an infant....I can't seem to get the analogy out of my head though. All this to say, thank you to envenomed who has been so so so good to me this year. I can't wait to see you.........3 days!!!!....*gasp/sob/laugh/cheer/sleep/pull out my hair*.......I'm having trouble sticking to one emotion these days.....

The story of the resurrection......according to Cammie

Exactly one week after Xiao Mao's death, I was on my way to a Saturday afternoon of coffee and a traditional shadow puppet play, when I was distracted from my concentrated crutch-walking by something moving......it was something with a tail....the women who work the reception desk for the foreigners' apartment building were playing with a kitten. A tiny, tiny kitten. A gray, tiny tiny kitten. Jane instinctively covered my eyes (my hands were full of crutches) and Wang Jie (one of the receptionists) scooped up the kitten to hide it in the shed (to protect the sensitive and emotionally-frazzled foreigner). Before she had a chance, I called out to her to stop. I wanted to see the little cat. I figured someone was visiting with it, or it was one of the other tenant's.
"Whose is she?" I asked, holding her fuzzy little body close. "No one's," she replied, "She doesn't have a mother."
"Where did you find her?" I asked. "The dumpster," Wang replied, pointing toward the back of the building.
I knew in a moment that there was no question. I had planned especially NOT to get a new cat, especially not a kitten, especially before I decided if I was staying in China or not, but this little cat had been found in the very dumpster I had left Xiao Mao in one week before. AND it is Easter. There was really no choice. Xiao Mao has been resurrected. (the real question, my sister says, is whether or not the dumpster lid was opened or closed......) I never took the whole "9 lives" thing literally.....but.......

Funny how you can look at something and know it is not going to be a big deal in 5 years, even 1 year or a few months, but you still can't convince your heart of anything different. We were supposed to bury Xiao Mao last night in the Bamboo Forest, Si Si was taking me there. But plans didn't work out. We planned for this morning but it has been raining cats and dogs (*sarcastic laugh*) all day. So, traveling any where on crutches was out. Plus, neither of us had a shovel. So, there Xiao Mao sat, in an apple box in my living room. Realizing that a two-day old cat can't be any good as a house decoration, I made the only decision I could.....the dumpster behind my apartment. It is cleaned out everyday, so at least she won't make anyone/thing sick.

I've had a lot of time in my house lately, I watch the bird man from my front window and the trash man from my bedroom window. Every afternoon he comes by and hand picks all the garbage out of the dumpster, carefully feeling each bag for signs of recyclable items (you get money for recycling here), pulling out the prizes he finds. It always makes me sick. No one should have to dig through trash to make money, plus I always give my recycling to Yang Aiyi so she can make money. I feel like I am cheating him, he takes my trash but doesn't get any benefits. Anyway, the apple box is something that would be a nice find. I didn't want him opening it and finding a dead cat. I wrote on it, saying dead cat inside please don't open it....Si Si says he will open it anyway.....if you need money you need money.

I couldn't stop thinking about the rain all day. I know she is just a cat, and I know she is dead now but I had to keep trying to convince myself that she wasn't suffering, cold and wet in box in that dumpster with the rain pouring down. It reminded me of how I used to try to talk myself into understanding that my stuffed animals were just fuzz and cotton and that they didn't have feelings or emotions so it was ok if I left him/her in the closet. I never fully convinced myself.

Xiao Mao died this morning of an internal infection from her spaying operation.

Preamble: this is not to make fun of the Chinese, it's just the way I get my laughs sometimes.
Behold.......some of my students' (past, present and friends') English names:
*Goris (f) *Yoyo (f)
*Keamo (sabe?) (f) *Yojo (f)
*Neaco (f) *Beryl (is this a name I am unaware of? f)
*Kinky (f) *Shirely (subtley different from Shirley)
*Melons (m) *Gills (f)
*Crow (m) *Hebe (f)
*Resin (m) *Coco (m)
*Yane (f) (I think of Stephen F's Anchorman impressions everytime I say her name) * 2 Fanny's
*Jupiter *Snowball (m)
*Swig (f, she wanted her name to be Swallow, but she it was too long )
*Rainia (f) *Volcano (m)
*Jingle (m)
-courtsey of other teachers
*Grean (m)
*Uranus (m)
*Venus
*Anject (f)
*Snower (f)
Getting through roll without cracking a smile is generally seen as an accomplishment

know I complain a lot about China, so this blog is going to be 100%, totally and unequivocally dedicated to the things I love about living here::
*taxi drivers who continue to talk to you long after it has been established that you have no idea what they are saying
*the bird-man outside my apartment
*Chinese dumplings
*Chinese babies
*my students
*the gardens (especially the bamboo forest)
*people speaking at screaming volume level but just having regular conversations
*creative modes of transportation--especially regular bicycle riders holding on to the back someone else's moped (in order to arrive much more speedily) and homemade tractors
*tea houses
*public transportation
*recorded bird sounds playing on people's apartment balconies
*laundry hanging anywhere possible (phone wires, trees, tennis nets etc.)
*an addictive simplicity
*Lanzhou noodles
*West Lake in all of its newness blooming
*hiking in the mountains (hills?)
*canals
*merchants who smile when we are bargining
*the chaotic and overwhelming environment of the fruit and vegetable market
*ancient Chinese couples holding hands by the canal in front of my apartment or West Lake
*Engrish

Being that the majority of my week has occured on my bed, I will substitute requested pictures for boring stories:

My Elizabethian cat::


Me and my wheelchair. On the way home from the vet, Seth told everyone we passed that we'd been a car accident in Chinese. If it looks like I had had a bad day, I had:


My birthday cake(s), so yummy!

Happy Birthday Chris!!!!

I took my cat to get fixed this weekend and to be declawed. It didn't prove to be as blogable a story as I thought it would be. I took a student with me, and there were almost no understandings. Well, there was one initial misunderstanding when the vet thought I had come to be fixed.....but after that got cleared up..... And, I am sure that my student now thinks I am a psycho because I cried when I had to hold her and they put the shunt in and because I just dropped a whole month's Chinese's salary on a cat. But, I did some research and found out, apart from simply wanted to decrease the pet surplus population, that her yowling would go in cycles until WINTER unless I fixed or bred her. I love sleep too much for that and kittens are the last thing I need now. And though Seth said, "oh I'll fix 'er" I figured the money might be worth it.

I also got to take the motorized pedicab for handicap people home! Pedicabs are outlawed in my town except the kind that assist the handicapped. I've wanted to ride in one since September! YESSSSS. Saturday some of the teachers from Wenling came up and we enjoyed West Lake and the botanical gardens on a simply divine day, had an Indian supper and then went to karaoke to rock out. We joked the whole time because all of us felt like we were in some sort of Make-A-Wish-Foundation outing with my wheel chair and such a beautiful place. (not that we think Make-A-Wish-Foundation is funny....)

Today, my closest friends came to cook me a Chinese lunch for my birthday. It was so good. Sometimes I forget how wonderful they are and when everyone is in the same room it is almost too overwhelming. We laughed a lot and ate a lot of such good food. We are doing a cooking exchange. Once a month we take turns cooking Chinese/western. Its my turn next so toss out some ideas for some dishes that do not require baking, cheese, olives, tomato sauce, bread or meat. (please) I haven't enjoyed an afternoon that much in a long time.

Happy birthday week to: Jane (n/a), Rachel(n/a?), Chris (25), Beth FB (24), Sabrina (24), Kristin N (24)!

In honor of Amanda.....

(and all the rest who have been pestering me to update this)
This week's news:
*I was in bed more than I was out of it.
*Did some tricking.
*All most all 150 of my students signed the cast (with much wonderment, apparently that's just an American custom)
*Had (and still have) the suspicion my cat is going into heat.
*Did a one-legged anti-rain dance for Cyprus' forecast.
*Realized that the inside of bag I take everywhere smells like my mother's purse did when I
was a child (and still does) and started wondering what Freud would say about that. (smell==minty gum, tissue fluff, things that have been wet and then dry et. nauseam)
*Had a sandwich party
*Been an unusually ardent Chinese language student
*Missed home
*Played the nose trumpet
*Made too many promises to keep
*Practiced poetry with my students

(are you happy now A??)

Please open your.......

The hits keep coming.....I woke up today with the "getting-things-done" mind set. I started with checking my email (always a bad first choice). The American doc had emailed me to let me know the panel of obligatory blood tests he ran when I was in with my foot had come back and he was worried about some stuff and wanted to run a few more. So, instead of my to-do list, I went to the hospital for a little chat. He had noticed some things were up with my heart and liver function (weird, never been a problem ever before) and wanted to run some more blood tests, an EKG and a heart and liver ultrasound (I think everything is actually fine, that is not the point of the post).

Everything was going smoothly as we headed into the heart ultrasound. The Chinese doctor who was performing the tests couldn't speak English, so a Chinese nurse with less English than my students was translating for her. After the liver ultrasound, the doctor said "somethingsomethingsomething" and the nurse said, "lay on your side," so I did. And then the doctor said "somethingsomethingsomething" and the nurse said, "Now please open your Bible." "My what?" I asked surprised." "Your Bible, open your Bible." I was suddenly confused as to if I was at church or the hospital....or if the nurse was about to give me the last rites.......the bafflement on my face must have been a clue to her wrong vocabulary. "Your Bible," she said again, resorting to pantomiming and reaching behind to the middle of her back." "Oh!" the truth was dawning, "My bra! You want me to undo my bra!" I practically shouted, cracking up already. "Oh, bra......b..r...a...bbbuuurrr...aaaaaa.....aaaaa...bra......" she repeated. "Yes, bra." I confirmed. I continued to crack up for the rest of the examination, giving the oblivious doctor fits............open my bible......ha!

In my isolation, I have taken to stealing from others' blogs....today's winner is: Fellow English teacher, Erin in Wen Ling::

"Instructions on the back of the vegetable peeler I purchased (spelling errors included):
-Wash it with edible scour before using.
-Don't use it except vegitables aand fruits.
-Take care while using it.
-Don't use it when some dirty things on the holder.
-While use if on the small one,pleaase taake care of youfinger.
-Child can't use it himself, if use it, please under your
-If it is transformative, please don't use it.
-Don't use it unduly in order to prevent distortion.
-Don't use to cut hart things,it's easy to be bad.
-Don't put it near fire.
-After using it, please wash it and dry.
-Don't wash it with metal brush and hard clothes
.-parents reference."

The past two days, my second family here, has taken me out on the town in my wheelchair. Yesterday to dinner, today to buy some DVDs. Once again, if not already the center of attention as a foreigner when I walk down the street, I certainly am wheeling down the street. It doesn't help that Seth is general busting-a-gut laughing at the whole situation. Today, the caramelized-fruit-on-a-stick-seller even gave Jane and I free caramelized strawberries. As much as I get frustrated with Chinese sometimes, they really are so kind and concerned.

In retrospect, I realized I have NEVER seen an every-day Chinese person in a wheelchair, maybe once or twice someone begging, but never just someone going on with their daily life--never even an elderly person. And, I have only seen one person on crutches. It is all very weird beard. What do they do with all of the injured and feeble?

newly obsessed with Trespassers William....they are sort of like HEM meets Imogen Heap meets Sia. Love it!

Funny thing happened today. My ankle was still sort of killing whenever I......moved.....and I also needed to get some prescriptions renewed (which loyal readers will remember was an fiasco at the Chinese hospital back in the fall) so I decided to pay the only American doctor in Zhejiang province a visit. I wanted to hug him as soon as I saw him (though, he was missing almost all of his teeth and its not that I am prejudice against those with no teeth, it just made me a little nervous!). He was just so.....American...in a good way. He is also I psychologist (his main job here is to draw attention to mental health and modern resources to help) so we sat an talked for awhile about China, moving, adjusting, loneliness blah blah. When he finally got to looking at my ankle he said "G*dd*mn girl, you really bruised the hell out of it."

Upon examination of THE SAME x-rays from the Chinese hospital (where they told me no breaks, only injury to the soft tissue) he realized that I had fractured my foot in two places and torn a ligament and ripped the Achilles tendon. Well, shoot a monkey.
So, here I am.....cast.......crutches....and wheelchair for long distances. No weight may be applied for 3-4 weeks!!! BU HAO!

In line with misdiagnoses, two American friends from a wee city down south came up the past weekend because their hospital there had said they probably needed appendectomies, so they wanted a second opinion at a mildly more modern facility before going under the knife. In Hangzhou, they were told that they did not have appendicitis only severe constipation (excuse me for publicizing this girls). The only problem is that they went to the same Chinese hospital that misdiagnosed me....hmmmm...tricky.......Kristin, Brian and Audrey we need you HERE!!

(this was apparently saved as a "draft" instead of being right published..........)
I fell again today. I must be hitting a growth spurt (believe it or not). I fell off a curb at city center in the rain today. I was up, then I was definitely down and off the curb watching Seth (still talking to me) walk into the distance while forgetting the language to call him to help and Chinese people swarmed around, concerned. I was so embarrassed, first falling, then sitting in the rain in a puddle until we could hail a taxi in rush hour. Chinese people were staring at me like I had two heads. I am not the kind of person (I hope) that falls often and makes a large deal out of the attention, but it is really is pain like I haven't felt in a long long time, and hopping not walking, is the order of the day....or week/month etc.

Luckily, Seth realized I wasn't participating in the conversation and turned around to see me on the pavement, hailed a taxi and then took me to the hospital (no broken bones was the word) and then home. Most of all, it scared me--scared/scares me to think if I had been alone. I couldn't remember English, much less Chinese--and I don't even know "I've hurt my ankle!" I was/am so helpless.

I am definitely ok. Alive. But I might be in bed for the next year so please call/email me for my own entertainment. I am drunk on rum and filled with painkillers, so I will sleep now, but call if you have extra time!..........

toilet humor

I fell in my toilet today. It all happened so fast...I am not sure if I can accurately describe what went on. Anyone who has been to my apartment (I realize that this is a small portion of the reading audience, but still a significant percentage) may have noticed that when any amount of pressure is applied to my toilet seat, it becomes a volatile flying saucer which has more than once sent "users" sailing across the restroom (the sadistic side of me loves the sounds of surprise that emanate from the bathroom when new visitors experience flight). All things come full circle though. Over time, I have learned how to perch delicately enough to remain on the stool.....but my time away must have muddied my memory. The only electrical socket in my bathroom is about 5 inches down from the ceiling above the toilet. When I want to plug in my small heater to dry my clothes in the bathroom, I have to stand on tiptoe on the toilet seat to plug it in. Unfortunately, the day before I left, there was a small electrical fire involving the socket and the said heater which mangled the rubber and metal of the plug on the heater. Though the socket was replaced, I was having trouble fitting the mangled prongs in to the socket. While in the middle of this, I shifted my weight, and the toilet seat went airborne, cruising across the bathroom striking first the kitty litter and then the cat food---sending litter, food and water flying. Somehow, I must have jumped off the seat to avoid flight, throwing the heater into the living room to avoid electrocution, but then landed, two-footed, into the toilet bowl......jamming the toes of my left foot in the crook-part of the bowl and soaking myself silly.

I do so many ridiculous things while I am alone. Its a good things no one knows about them!

Up for a swim?

We found this sign on a beach in Hong Kong, I don't think I am alone when I say a shark bite is more than an inconvenience.....but thanks for the apology.....

I accidentally wore my pajama pants to teach class on Monday. It was my day of regretting the slimming tea. I had changed into black pants in the morning, but as I got sicker and sicker, I switched to my pajama pants to increase my comfort. I was on my way to class when I realized I forgot to change, and there was no time to go back. It is like those nightmares when you go to school naked....only not quite so bad. Anyway, let's hope that is not an indication of the rest of the school year!

Thanks for all the support and encouragement. It means so much to both me and Zheng Si Si. Thank you, really.

I am not sure how to approach this, but I just found out my dearest friend here, Zheng Si Si's father is dying from a stroke. She is a single mother, unemployed, looking after both her parents who are living with her and her 8 year-old daughter. In her free time, she basically looks out for the poor and underprivileged of this entire nation (mainly Tibet and Southern China, as well as local folks). She is completely reeling. I've never actually dealt with a crisis situation in China before. I never know what to say in America, much less when someone is hurting here. "Comforting" words hold even less meaning.
All this to say, I have to do something. Si Si is my entire lifeline here. /She helps me survive everyday though she has so many worries. I hate to ask this, but can anyone contribute any money? I have some to give, but it won't even come close to covering the cost. Among foreigners here, it is discouraged to just come to the rescue with cash......as it is dangerous to the social structure, personal development and responsibility, and international relations(mainly, westerns have the money, so let's just let them do it). But I don't have time ethical squabbles right now. If anyone reading this could just send 5 dollars to my parents home, they can deposit it in my account and I will withdraw it in kuai and give it to Si Si as a gift of love from my dear community. It is so little for us but so much for the Chinese (average employed wage is about 5 dollars a day) All I can do is give you my word that I will do with the money what I have promised and hope you will trust me.
And, if you are a praying person, please do that. Si Si has been a Christian for about 2 years and I am afraid I see rocky times ahead for her. If you are a praying person with a great phone plan (tel3advantage for example...specifically kt and chris, jane, kristin etc. etc. etc.) you could call her at 8613958014443 and pray for her in person (her English is great, but speak slowly with no special Christian language). She really gains strength through prayers spoken to her and I am unable to do that right now. Or, if you want, email her with a word of encouragement <sissy_zheng@hotmail.com> and just let her know you are a friend of mine and wanted her to know you were thinking/praying for her. I know it might be awkward, but all I can do is ask for some help. Please.
Thanks for listening and helping if you can. LOVE!
email me for my parents address if you need it cammiebrennan@gmail.com . i don't want to exploit their home on the internet.
ps the pic is of Si Si at my halloween party as a mummified chicken.......don't ask.....

confessions of a veggo

At heart I am a vegetarian. In theory too (I've been reading for Buddhist theories and Gandhi's take on the subject lately) but I had a break-down in Bangkok. I am not really sure what happened, and I was so nervous to tell the truth. I started feeling really bad...just lethargic and irritable. In the 7-Eleven, I passed the tuna. After I passed it, I couldn't stop thinking about it, it just sounded SO good . Two days later, I gave in and bought some. After that, there was no stopping me. I was out of control. Tuna everyday. I am done now. My holiday is over, and I must return to being an honest vegetarian. I just had to let you know.

I'm slowly transitioning into real China life....first Singapore (which was clean-out-of-control) and now Hong Kong. I could do without Singapore, nothing to fabulous there but a lot of laws...oh, but the merlions were great........and Hong Kong is wonderfully entertaining. I am also with 5 other aimless lower-twenties people and that is encouraging :) It feels strangely wonderful to be back in a smoke-choked net bar listening to the manufactured sounds of violence from the PC gaming and the blaring Chinese rap.

I am coming to the end of my rapidly fraying rope, mentally, physically, spiritually and ecumenically. (can anyone name the two movies I just quoted in that one sentence????) Cambodia makes me tired. I gave blood at a children's hospital today (which was another horror show of its own inside.....remind me never to get sick outside the united states). There is a Dengue Fever Epidemic and sort of a blood crisis. A Greek girl came in shortly after me and we were chatting it up as we reclined with needles in our arms (I must say, I have never started a friendship in a blood bank before, and on top of that, when it was all over, we found out we had the same blood type......fate.......). She told me she loved Cambodia to the point of obsession; the energy of the place she said. I almost fell off the blood donating table in disbelief. Maybe it is because I am tired of traveling, or maybe I just can't deal with the country, but I will be glad to get out of here on Tuesday. Glad I came, but glad to leave.

At some point this week I told Jane, ":I have to get out of here!" The oppression, pain and poverty are suffocating, every time you go out, people are literally pulling you in a million different directions at once. I mean, I have been to Third World countries before, I currently reside in one for that matter, but I have never seen such desperation. People pleading with you to separate with your money. I felt so trapped.

Jane reminded me that that is exactly the point, poverty is trapping. And how lucky are we to be able to escape it. I just can't take it.

Furthermore, every time I open up my email box I am driven to tears by either good news or awful news from my community. I loathe being away from it. How I ever managed to find such amazing amazing people is beyond me and I hate hearing of their hard times that I can't help them with. It also hurts to miss their celebrations as well.

I am finally out of Phnom Penh.....a place I never want to go back too....ever.......Jane and I visited a few typical tourist spots like the National Museum, the Silver Pagoda (the floor is all silver!) and the Royal palace, but we also made it too some horrific sights. With the Khmer Rouge reign in the 1970's over 2 million Cambodians (one in every 5) were executed in the name of fanatical communism. We went to an old high school that had been converted into a prison and torture center for Pol Pot's prisoners. Over 17,000 prisoners were taken to this center (called s-21 then, Toul Sleng now) and only 12 survived. The Khmer Rouge would arrest the entire family of a wanted "criminal"and then in due time, execute them all after several months of torture.

They documented every part of the process with written biographies of the prisoners, pictures of their arrival and then their deaths. The Khmer Rouge abandoned it quickly as when the regime came to an end in 1979 leaving evidence in abundance of their horrific crimes. The museum left everything almost exactly as it was.....chains, torture weapons, blood stains....and has also taken effort to display the pictures of every prisoner; man, woman and child. Pictures line room after room. Pictures of people alive, and pictures of people with their entire heads blown away, or bloated from being purposely drowned, or with bubbles coming out their nose from the acid poured down their throats.
I've never been to Germany, but I am sure the concentration camps must be like this too. We also went to a place outside of town known as the "Killing Fields"; acres of land filled with mass grave after mass grave of intellectuals, professionals, and enemies of Pol Pot where over 200,000 bodies of men, women and children where discovered. There is a stupa in the middle, filled with hundreds of thousands of skulls arranged by sex and age. In the sunken graves scattered across the field, bones and pieces of clothing still protrude from the ground.

Ironic, that these museums are made to honor the dead and to encourage the living to never let this happen again. Tourist file through and murmur their horror and shock, shaking their heads......and in a few decades, the same thing will repeat itself in areas like Sudan, Rwanda, and Bosnia....our children with file through the museums, murmur their horror and shock and shake their heads at the terrific tragedies that we are allowing in our current lifetime.
To see a better picture (and to be really depressed), rent the movie "The Killing Fields"

We left Phnom Penh by boat....roof of boat actually. We traveled up the Mekong River on the roof of a passenger boat with 50 of our closest Cambodian travel friends for 6 hours until we reached Siem Reap, the site of the largest worship complex in the world, Angkor Wat. Unfortunately, the sunburns Jane and I recieved yesterday are unforgiving and we decided to spend the day out of the sun and resting. Angkor Wat has waited for some 800 years, it can wait one more day.

I don't know what they are calling it these days. (I was going in a completely different direction, but when I typed that phrase, I thought of coming into our guesthouse last week and seeing a cluster of people around a ground floor window. They were looking at two people practicing massage on some mats and pillows..."I guess that's the activity room," said Jane....."'Activity,' eh? We call it something different these days," I replied.)

Anyway, I don't know what they are calling it these days, but Katie and Chris have decided to live their lives in way that is somewhat in communion with the poor. When they talk about it, I always think that it sounds so great, like something I want to do someday too.

I have changed my mind. I have no desire to ever live in poverty like they do. I know it is dreadful and selfish to say. If this trip has taught me anything, it is that I love my luxuries. I love my bed. I love having heat in the wintertime and a-con. in the summertime. I hate smelling myself and dirt-encrusted nails make me nervous after a few days. I like soap bubbles and I love hot water. I must floss before I go to bed and I secretly revel in getting to visit the dentist. I don't always have to have complex, expensive food......but I like organic and fresh, and sometimes I must have to have pizza or something ridiculously unhealthy and delicious and cheesy (mmmm, cheese). I long to have technology at my fingertips (with a diet coke on the desk). I am possessive of my free time, I like to have an aesthetic environment, and I think it is fun to put together weird clothing combinations. Travel makes me think, makes me smile, makes me hope; but it is such a luxury. So many of my students have never been out of their hometown, much less their province.

I am not saying that I would die without these, but I want them. I really really really want them. But maybe that is the point......that which we love becoming a distraction.

I don't know what the answer is.

Going to Cambodia tomorrow...another uplifting journey......for information on the recent reign of Pol Pot see http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/cambodia/

"the elephants got out just in time"

I am entirely toooooo sleepy for my own good. All this good weather and smiling people can make me want to nap. I miss the nap. It was such a staple in my college life. This week, we went to the rainforest to ride elephants. Our elephant was most amiable and sooooo big. I was quite surprised. I guess from afar, they seemed much smaller.

We also went to the New Life Center here in Chiang Mai. The New Life Center is a shelter for girls that are either at risk for prostitution or are ex-prostitutes that have been taken/sold from their villages into brothels and then rescued by Thailand Social Services. At the Center, the learn a trade as well as an academic education and they are also protected from brothel owners/ fathers who want to get them back to their detriment. It was a good but really really hard visit. The manager of the Center gave us a tour. We got to meet the girls and she told us their stories. The stories where unimaginable.......families abandoning or selling their girls, the conditions in which the brothel owners kept the girls----having to service 30-40 men a day combined with very little food, sleeping on the floor and being abused. It seemed unbelievable that these girls were standing in front of me, strong and smiling. I can't imagine living through that pain (physical, mental, spiritual, emotional) and not simply dissolving into little disposable pieces in some dark corner and disappearing. It gave me a passion for wanting to work with those girls in the future (I have to get an emotional grip first).
for more infomation on the new life center see: http://www.newlifethailand.org

Don't tell my mom I went to Burma........

I went to Burma this weekend. One of my life-time goals has been to go to Burma. I may have only spent about 15 minutes there--but I was definitely there. Jane and I left Phuket for Bangkok and then took a night train to Chiang Mai. Jane has friends that are church planters in Chiang Mai who have been working with Hmong (sounds like "mung") minority people about six hours southwest of Chiang Mai. After a quick shower we piled into three trucks and took the long journey through the mountains to Mae Sot. It we spent three days in the tiny village that the government has set up for Burmese refugees.

The village was having its church-opening ceremony and a Hmong wedding. I loved it because we traveled with Hmong, Thai and Laotian students from Chiang Mai to Mae Sot and once we were there, they helped us meet the villagers and tour the village. The village (called "village 9) is located about 2 kilometers from the Burma boarder and you can see the majestic Burmese mountains towering in the not-so-far distance. It is saturated with Burmese, Hmong and Karen people who have fled the terror of the "State Peace and Development Council" ruling party. On Saturday, I piled in the back of a pick-up truck with 15 other Hmong and Thai students and we headed to the amazing waterfalls in surrounding mountains. We spend the day wading through the cold water, splashing each other and climbing the falls. (Thankfully, a 12 year-old Hmong girl attached herself to me and saved me from tumbling down the rocky falls to my watery grave multiple times.) Saturday, I also went to Burma with two other Americans who needed to renew their visas by re-entering the country.

On the day of the ceremonies, the village men slaughtered to cows for the communal lunch (I refrained), and over 400 people gathered to witness the goings-on. It was an absurdly wonderful trip, but also sickeningly difficult. It is hard for me to imagine the terror and suffering under which these people must have lived in Burma, their courage to slip over the boarder, and now the hardships which they deal with in their village (horrible water sources, rampant disease, exposure to the elements, discrimination by the Thai government...) We held a 2 hour "clinic" in the afternoon. Seeing villagers with health problems. There is a nurse from America who has also been working closely with Village 9. It just seemed so ridiculous. Malnourished children being giving 10 multivitamins. Women with wrists swollen with arthritis being given 5 Tylenol. The people here are doing everything in their power to relieve what suffering they can, but the options are so limited and temporary. Just a band-aid on a deep, festering wound. I am so overwhelmed with the futility of humanitarian efforts that I could scream....or just take a nap.

I was further frustrated by the ingrained sexism in the village. I don't know what my problem is. I consider myself an open-minded person...but when I see others' differences that I don't agree with I get so angry. So so angry. In Thailand men have a higher status, but in the village, the breach in status between women and men is extraordinary. Men get to sit while women stand. Men eat first always while women watch. Men are permitted to have multiple wives. I don't know if I feel frustrated because I am a women and therefore feel sympathetic, but if you could just see how hard these women work in these villages. Perhaps they marry at 16 or 17 and start having children right off (no birth control of course) until they have 8-10 children. They will carry one on their back, one on their front, one on their hip and have the hand of another. In this position,they will assist their husbands in the fields, be responsible for the sewing, cooking and cleaning as well as their millions of children. I am not saying the men don't work hard. I just feel frustrated that these amazingly capable, intelligent and gentle women see themselves as second-class...their value only seated in their childbearing capabilities.....I could just dig a hole and climb down in it--frustrated with people and myself; I don't know where the line is between tolerant and taking a moral stand.

check out http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107808.html for little summary-roo of Burma's government and geo-political relations

Happy Birthday Dad!!!!

Thursday, January 26, 2006
Back from the beautiful ocean. It would of course rain our first day in a resort town (when I went to Santorini, it snowed for the first time in 15 years) I suppose that is what makes my travels unconventional. Aside from the rain, I still got a sunburn, which I am loving in January and also got a lot of time to relax, read, and listen to music on the beach. I certainly can't complain!! I also learned a lot more about the destruction and terror during the tsunami. Due to my overdeveloped sense of motherness to the world's children, I spent much of the grieving for the children and families I didn't even know that must have suffered so much, I just can't imagine being responsible for a child in that situation, and being unable to hold on. I was glad to see that so much had improved in the past year (homes, business etc) but I know that in Pakistan, and even New Orleans, people are still suffering silently from natural disasters now that the media spotlight has shifted. It seems like such a hopeless situation.

The last few days in Bangkok have been wonderful! This country is nicknamed the "Land of the Smile." It is incredibly true....moving from a country where people are often kind but intimidating or avoiding to a place where the street sweeper looks up at you with a brimming smile has been a welcomed changed. Ying has taken us everywhere from night bazaars to floating markets, temples and galleries to the red light districts. We have taken ferries, tuk-tuks, taxis, motorcycles and the subway. The food is AMAZING. Tomorrow, Jane and I are going to the resort city of Phuket to see where some of the aid from her church went during the tsunami. I am excited to see a new part of the country and maybe some beach and margaritas!

I leave tomorrow to begin my Spring Festival holiday travel. I will be going with another teacher, Jane. We plan to go to Guilin/China, Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai/Thailand, Phnom Penh and Siem Reap/Cambodia, Singapore and Hong Kong. There is no chance of me being prepared before I leave, so I thought I might as well post. I hope when I come home from this journey, I have some sort of clarity about what I should do for next year.
There is a canal that runs in front of my apartment. Between the canal and my building is a small park running the length of the canal. Every money while I put together breakfast, I can see elderly men and women doing their morning exercises along the canal: tai chi, aerobics, stretching and jogging. In the afternoon there is an old man who comes everyday--bringing his birds. He carries two large black birds in separate cages. He stops at a small pavilion directly in front of my door and settles. He begins to methodically clean the birds cages; unfastening the bottom and placing the open-bottomed cages on the grass so the birds might hop about and explore through the grass. He cleans the bottom of the cage off in the canal and talks quietly to his birds while he waits for them to dry. The whole process takes about three hours. I think he must love those birds so much. It is strange, I don't even like birds, but it is one of my favorite parts of the day to see him so carefully taking care of the little creatures.
I hope to post while I am traveling, but I am not sure what sort of resources I will encounter. In the meantime, feel free to ponder and reflect on this sign we found in Suzhou:

"Today, was one of those days where I have that certain ache, where I'm full to the brim with love and anxiousness for my students-- where I try so hard to catch each particular pain, eagerness, fear, hope or grasping for connection, so I can flash recognition into their eyes. " My friend and fellow teacher,Jen Sullivan, wrote this on her "pieceofmyself" blog (hope you don't mind if I borrow it, Jen). I read it a couple of weeks ago and feel like I couldn't begin to express the way I feel about my students right now any better.

I had individual oral exams with each of my students this week. They are so wrapped in curiosity and earnestness--I would do anything to draw out any discouragement or unnecessary pain they have and fill the void with love and encouragement. I don't know what makes me think I have anything better to give them, but I want to (though I'd like to wring a couple of their necks first.........).

The rest of my family left today . Well, theoretically. We actually (keeping with the theme of the past three weeks) had a bus station mishap and missed the right airport bus---meaning they left one hour later during rush hour. The bus driver acted like it would be an act of the Buddha to get them there before their flight left, much less the suggested two hours before. Otherwise, they may be back. In fact, I selfishly wish they would miss their flight. I have surprised myself once again in being very sad by their departure. It isn't that I don't love them, just I just imagined I was an independent adult that needed her own space. My wee bit of an apartment has gone from 5 people to one person and a sleeping cat so briskly. I feel lonely. They say that is supposed to be good for you, feeling lonely......it just seems like I am coping with leaving home all over again. I know I will adapt eventually...I have so far.
Thanks for listening.
ps my students are fascinated with Christmas cards. If you still have the old ones people sent you this year or in other years, if you could send them to me, my students would love it. Thanks!
Cammie Brennan/building 11 apt. 102/Hangzhou Teachers College/no. 222 Wenyi Road/Hangzhou, Zhejiang/China 310012
cheers!