Friday Afternoon with Katie, Wendy, and Cherry!

Xi'an City Wall & Musings.

A little while ago, Tom and I went for a stroll down the famous Xi'an City Wall. In my opinion, besides the food and the people, the wall is the coolest thing about my beloved Chinese city. It makes the city feel protected, ancient, and more managable. What makes the wall even COOLER (shout out to my Medival Times fans) is that it has an all-encompassing moat. That's right, in 2012 I live in a city that is surrounded by a moat AND a wall. No biggie. 

Anyway, we couldn't have picked a better spring day and the Chinese Gods of Weather blessed us with clear skies and hot temperatures. We decided against hiring bikes and casually wandered from South Gate to North Gate... passing some tourists, runners, locals out for a walk, and even some split bottom babies. Perfect!

It's an awesome feeling to be a tourist in the city that you live in. I don't know whether it's the location, language barrier, or what - but Xi'an above any other city that I've lived in has a vastness about it that doesn't seem obtainable. In Melbourne I loved giving various people impromptu tours around small alleyways, cafes, hidden bars, and side streets. Here, I get lost easily and am still piecing together where my favorite places are. It's definitely frustrating sometimes, but keeps things interesting to say the least.

Seeing the city from the wall was a view that I definitely hadn't taken in before. To think that for thousands of years this wall has been standing sturdy and strong is incredible. Back in the States we consider old to be a cannon ball stuck in the side of a house from the Revolutionary War (1775 - 1783). We're babies compared to this.

There were a couple of reasons why I decided to sign a contract to live in a country that I admit, I knew practically nothing about. Besides Disney's 'Mulan', the Beijing Olympics, and scatterings of history lessons from High School my knoweldge of China was minimal to say the least. But wasn't that the biggest draw? Isn't that the point to travel? To learn about another country, to experience a different language, to be overwhelmed and out of your comfort zone. Isn't that the most important part... to be able to override the judgements that you may have and open your mind? To keep learning...

It's easy to sit back at home and relish in the differences that supposively make the US - or wherever you are from - 'better' than 'the others'. It's also easy to be arrogant about a country that has been a dominate power for the majority of time since it's creation. But that's not saying too much compared to some civilizations and countries that have been around for ages and ages.

I'm not trying to send any political remarks or deeper meanings or whatnot. I'm just saying that after being here 9 months I can say that my decision to come to China has opened my eyes more than any other choice I've ever made.  There are some things that I'm definitely going to take away with me (the closeness and loyalty of friends & family as well as the fact that hot water cures everything) and some I'll probably leave to the Chinese (the spitting. everywhere). I've learned a lot, I'm still pretty bad at the language, but overall I've gained a lot of knowledge that I would have otherwise never had. And I'm super proud of myself for it.

This might be a slight reason I've talked my boss into extending my contract for an additional 3 months and my visa for another year. :) I'll be back for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year though everyone! So get excited! 6 more months to go here in the Land of Holidays (Tomb Cleaning Day) and Confusing Hellos!

xoxo

Em

ps - a BIG shout out to some of my best friends ::: Christa Rossell, Ali Frank, and Paul McDonald who all turn the big 2-5 and 2-6 today! YOU ARE SO OLD!

Christa and I at Byron Bay, Australia 2011

Ali and I in Centre Harbor, New Hampshire 2003

Paul and I in Danbury, Connecticut 2008

Day Off Anthem!

for all you lazy bums out there...

How long have you been in China?

It has recently occured to me that I have just sailed by my 2/3 mark in my contract, and year-long stay in China. It hit me last week when I woke up and realized that, crap - IT'S MAY?! 8 months down! When did that happen?!

Last year at this time my friends and I were finally getting settled down in Fremantle, WA, Australia. We were living in a ghetto/creepy side town called Hilton with an American couple in the house, and Mexican, German, and Dutch couples living in our driveway (well in their vans to be more specific). It was amazing. Super broke, still cleaning the cobwebs from our rooms, deciding to leave the massive spiders in the kitchen to catch the flies, and entertaining ourselves with international scrabble games and learning the 'soldiar boy' dance. Some of the best memories to date.

All of us on Josh's Birthday! Fremantle, WA - Australia

 Fast foward a year and after a brutally cold winter, I'm learning to come to terms with the 86 degree days and summertime in Xi'an. I'm still living with Alex (London, UK) but he will soon be going to start on his 'real life' after traveling around Asia for a bit. Replacing him will be one of my good friends from my travels through Oz, none other than Jess MacDonald! We're still waiting on the Chinese-Canadian consulate to accept her visa based on stupid-idiotic-unnecessary-ridiculous medical forms. Honestly, who has the Bubonic Plague these days? Nobody from Fredericton, NB I don't think?! But again, who knows with those Canadians up there... I kid. Anyway, we're crossing our fingers that she gets here by the end of May armed with her amazing accent and wealth of Canadian knowledge. Being outnumbered now 5-2 by Brits, Scott and I definitely need another North American in our corner. However, as pointed out by one of those smarty pants British boys, apparently Canadians and UK folk agree on important things such as the spelling of 'favourite' and 'colour'. Guess I'll continue to lose arguments on the spelling font. Lame.

Jess and I in St. Kilda, Victoria - Australia. Clearly, teacher material.

Adam is back in the UK at the moment catching up on everything that isn't sleep. Friends, partying, eating (specifically - SANDWICHES), moving house, and seeing family. Jealous. He'll be back around the same time Jess will get here and will either continue working at Kid Castle or move onto another job in the city. Charlie (short for Charlotte) just arrived a couple of weeks ago and is living with Adele in the 'nice apartment'. That makes FOUR from our group that calls the magical place of Milton Keynes home. Monopoly.

Adam and I at his going away party at Fantasy! Cigars and champagne!

Charlie and I at Fantasy for her first time! Welcome to Chinese clubs!

We've had TONS of visitors since the New Year has hit us (the Chinese one, that is). Matt Englander, Leo Siddle, and Rich Legasse have graced us with their precense at various points and provided with ample opportunities to 'live it up' and show them the nightlife, and in our defense - a bit of the day life, that Xi'an has to offer. All great guys who have known the Milton Keynes group for years... It was definitely refreshing to have new faces around. Rich is currently living in Hong Kong, Leo is London, and Matt is now in Australia! Crazy.

Hahah... Me, Tom, and Leo at Fantasy! Happiness.

Matt and Leo getting down with a regular.

Rich, Adele, and Adam at German Beer Bar!

What else has happened? Well Tom and I took a quick trip to Nanjing (see previous blog) to visit Zack Ober and to see the Nanjing Massacre Museum. Nanjing made my Chinese city count go up to SIX cities which I'm pretty excited about. Hong Kong, Xi'an, Beijing, Kunming, Jinghong, and Nanjing! Phew, so many N's and J's in those names! Anyway, I'll post a better blog about that trip with pictures next! It was amazing and so good to pack up a bag and get out of Xi'an for a couple of days.

Top 5 things I've done in the last 8 months (not in order) :::

1) Ate yummy foods like scorpians (big and small), cockroaches, and centipedes on sticks.
2) Did a 4 day trek through the boarder of China and Myanmar (Burma) with Tom Jamieson. We stayed in tiny villages where they didn't have running water and only minimal electricity. The older women's teeth were dyed brown for health purposes and beauty. It was amazing.
3) Nanjing / Nanking Massacre Museum. If you don't know about this, google it. It'll blow your mind that we weren't taught this growing up when learning about WW2. So unbelievably sad.
4) Made and ate my own dumplings. Kung pow!
5) Had an afternoon / evening BBQ on the side of a lake with most of my best friends here. Complete with lotus root, sausages, chicken wings, beer, and beijiou. It was absolutely beautiful and reminded me of camping, traveling, and living out of a van. I miss being near the water!

Okay, that's all for today! Still have to finish prepping for my open house I have today! Hopefully the parents will chalk the fact that I'll be sweating like mad up to me being just another silly foreigner. 'They are so strange, aren't they?'

Happy May ladies and gents! And to the ENORMOUS amount of people I know born in this hot month - HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I'm in China, so I'm sorry if you don't get anything besides a facebook post. I'll make it up next year, promise!

Love & miss you all. Every day!
xoxo
Em

Me at our Chinese BBQ!