A Night on The Town

I haven't been able to update my blog, so if you know of anyone who would want an update, please have them send me their email. thanks. :) Thursday night Omo the English Dean Assistant took us 4 foreign teachers to get cell phones down town. Since we are at the tail end of the rainy season, the rain slowly started to fall down as we waited for our bus. By the time an emptyish bus came and we got on the rain started to pour. There are several bus stops behind the school in a small village. Villages are usually small crowded and busy. A small road is made and the area quickly grows up around it. Carts, sedans (like taxi's) dump trucks, motorcycles, bikes everywhere! Watch your step and don't second guess yourself. As we were riding through the village the sites can be heartbreaking especailly with small children unattended playing>in or near the busy streets. The scenes quickly flash to new buildings and then an old dump that is falling apart. back and forth they change, finally as we reach down town. The kaleidascope of people, ethnicities, colors, Chines symbols swirl around ever so quickly. We got of near one of the Walmarts (yup-- they're pretty much everywhere!) and outside was an open market. We looked at the different items- each offering the "best price"... we went to about 4 phone shops within about 1 mile of each other. The last stop we found the best deal for a phone 280 yuan. You have to buy a phone here, you can't get them free with a plan.. so then we pay another 100 yuan to activate the phone and get the number. It has been about 2 hours now and we are all so hungry!!! Omo takes us to an authentic Yunnan restraunt. The place is so crowded, we sit at a dirty table and wait for them to clear the dishes (in China they don't normally wipe off the table, so everything is dirty outside of your bowl). We are then served an orange semi-jello that looks like it has melted with beans at the bottom. I slurped the gelatin and left the beans kind of too weird for me. Then we all brought huge serving bowls. That are piping hot! We are then brought pieces of raw meat, tofu,spices, vegitables, raw egg, etc... You then place whatever you would like into the liquid substance and it cooks the food it is so hot. Then semi-cooked noodles are brought and we dump that in as well... You have to wait a few minutes because it is still scalding, then you eat everything in your bowl. It was rather interesting and so incredibly good. Because Omo lives in a different area of town, she just pointed us to the right bus and we hoped that we would make it back, The rain started up again very hard and some of the roads looked like they had been hit with flash flooding. We finally make it back! safe and sound with the rain subsiding. Friday the English dept. had an orientation meeting which lasted most of the day. I finished my syllibis last night.. and my classes don't start until 2:30 on Monday. I feel somewhat apprehensive of this huge responsibility! Thank you for your thoughts and letters! :)Sarah);