Some certain people (who shall remain nameless) have brought to my attention that I'm failing to keep my blog updated adequately. So, here is my effort to fix that :)
Since I posted last quite a few things have happened. My roomie and I sat beside a university student on the bus one day, and we decided to talk to her. She was able to speak English pretty well, although she said she was bad at it. It seems that so many of the students think that their English isn't very good, when it actually is. I try to make them understand that I find them really impressive. I mean, I only have one language. Even if they can't communicate in English flawlessly, they can still communicate! Anyway, she told us that she had never spoken to a foreigner before and that we had made her really happy by talking to her. If she only knew how happy we were to talk to her! She gave us her phone number and told us to call her if we needed any help. So, the next week we got in touch with her and planned to spend an afternoon with her and a friend. We met up with her and two friends and spent a few hours walking around in this big park with carnival rides, inflatables, and games. After eating some street food (some sort of chicken sandwich-esque thing) and some zip-lining, we decided to check out the zoo at the back of the park. Since I had been to a Chinese zoo before I was pretty prepared for what was there. With the exception of a lion, a panther, a bear, and some monkeys, most of the exhibits were what would be in a petting zoo in America: ducks, chickens, goats....plus a dog. Ha. By the time our zoo fun was over we were freezing, so we sought shelter from good ole KFC. Our friends ordered hot orange juice. We got ice cream which disturbed them greatly because just a few minutes earlier we were talking about how cold we were. We spent a while there talking about Chinese and American culture, asking each other questions, and practicing some Chinese. Finally, we decided to go have some dinner, and because our friends wanted to eat Chinese we walked a good distance and found a little restaurant. Allison and I had already mentioned that she likes dumplings and I like tang cu li ji (sweet and sour pork) so our friends ordered those along with some other things unknown to us. When the dumplings were brought in Allison asked what kind they were. "Beef and garbage", was the matter-of-fact reply. "Beef and what?" "Beef and garbage." "Garbage?" "Yes, garbage." "Garbage?!" I was sitting there listening to this conversation, trying with everything in me not to laugh. Finally our friend realized her mistake and said laughing, "Oh no! No, I mean to say 'cabbage'!"
Well, after that a plate was brought in on which was a pile of bones and meat, from which animal I would've just had to guess. Our friend informed us it was chicken (chainsaw chicken I believe it's called), so Allison, brave soul that she is, dug in. After two successful bites, she went for another piece and realized about the time it made it to her plate that it was the chicken's head. She stared at it for a bit, then finally said, "Um..is this a chicken head?" "Yes it is." More staring at the offensive head. "Do you want it? I don't think I can eat a chicken head." Thankfully they said that they don't eat it either so it was left on the plate :)
We went out to the open market today, and since it's Valentine's Day, there were flowers for sell on the streets. Two young girls were carrying a bucket of single roses to sell. They walked up to us, said hello, and tried to sell us a flower. We told them we didn't speak Chinese, so they just said "bye!" and left. In a few minutes they came back and asked to take a picture with us. We took the picture, and as they were turning to go, they handed each of us a rose and said "thank you." They were so happy and smiling and just so sweet. It made my day. After that, we went to McDonald's for supper and I ordered a happy meal, feeling pretty excited that the toys were Hello Kitty. I got my meal and looked in my bag and in it was, not a Hello Kitty toy, but a monkey! Do you know how disappointing it is to expect an awesome Hello Kitty toy and get a stinkin monkey? But, later I realized that the monkey talks. In Chinese. So, I decided it was a pretty okay toy after all. :)
Here's some random things I wanted to tell y'all about too. The fireworks are still going sporatically. In the past week or so I've also learned how to say some important things like "no spicy" and "toilet". I paid for the bus with a five and had to jump up and get my change from people getting on the bus after me, which is intimidating. I went to a nearby city and ate Pizza Hut which was SO good! We took a 3 1/2 hour bus ride which didn't involve the highway, but did involve an older gentelman who thought it was okay to rid his body of mucus by spitting it on the floor of the bus. I watched a guy make some awesomely huge cotton candy & ate a ton of it. And I was able to give a new friend a copy of my favorite book, which she was really excited about. The lantern festival is coming up later this week, so we'll see what that's all about! Well, I guess that's all for now. Zai-jian! :)

happy new year!! (again)

So, we think that we know all about celebrating with firecrackers because we've got the Fourth of July, New Year's, and Christmas, right? Well, I am here to report that our intensity pales in comparison to that of our Chinese friends. I just experienced my first Spring Festival, the Chinese New Year holiday. Now, I'm not sure about in bigger cities, but in this city there was no parade (which I must admit was really disappointing because I really wanted to see one of those awesome dragon floats). There was, however, plenty of fireworks. The day we moved into our apartment we noticed the leftovers of where someone had shot some in the stairwell!! So, a couple days before the actual holiday we began hearing them go off randomly. Then, on new year's eve, they brought out the big guns. These were the most intense firecrackers I've ever heard in my life. Apparantly, here it's not about how pretty they are, it's about how loud they are. And how constant. For hours, all you could hear was this booming. At about midnight Allison & I decided that we should take our opportunity to celebrate, because we may never be here for this again! So, we bundled up & ran outside. The air was full of smoke & that firecracker smell. An apartment building was in our way of seeing the few pretty ones that were actually shot, but the sky behind the building was lighting up like crazy. It felt like we were under some sort of attack, and that planes were heading our way to bomb us or something! We watched and listened for a while and finally went back inside. I layed down in my bed with my mp3 player on to try and sleep. But then, I took my headphones off and just listened. And as I listened, I thought about the people here, and their customs and culture and beliefs. The lack of knowledge about a certain subject which is of the utmost importance to me is unreal. How privileged we are to have grown up knowing. How privileged we are to have the opportunity to pass it on.
Some funny things have happened to Allison and me since I wrote last. One is that while we were exploring some market areas downtown, a young couple approached us and asked if we would take a picture with them. We said ok, so the girl got in the picture with us and put up her peace sign. Then the guy, who was the only one that could speak English, thanked us, and as he turned to leave he said, "Happy Birthday!". We just smiled and said thanks. I'm impressed by the courage of so many of these people to try their English on us. I'm still too embarassed to try much of my limited Chinese! Another day, when we were in line at McDonald's, a little boy turned around and noticed us standing there. His face broke out into this huge smile and he began tugging on his mom's arm saying, "Mei guo rens! Mei guo rens!" which means, "Americans! Americans!" It was so cute. Most of the people here are very curious about us, but it's a sweet curiosity. And I am quite curious in return. I'm excited to make friends with some of these beautiful people!