Pengzu Shan or Bust

This weekend James, one of the other foreign teachers, helped to organize a trip to a nearby local landmark, Pengzu Shan. This mountain is where Pengzu, supposedly one of the oldest men in all of China, was buried. Pengshan, where I am living, was his hometown, and is subsequently famous for longevity.

On Saturday after eating lunch, we all grabbed our bikes and hit the road, ready to get out of the town and see some of the surrounding area. The road getting to the mountain was an adventure, to say the least. The street itself was very narrow and had so many cracks and potholes in it that a dirt path would almost have been better. Along with a fairly steady stream of traffic, the bike ride was more than a little nerve-wracking. But the scenery on the way was well worth it. We biked along the Jinjiang river and went through a tiny old ghost village that was full of run down buildings, as well as finally got to see some of the beautiful forests enclosing our town. 

Devin is ecstatic that he hasn't been hit by a car yet.

When we got to the mountain itself, we discovered that our cardio for the day was far from over:

So. Many. Stairs.

Luckily, I love to hike and it felt fabulous to get out and do some real exercise outside of the gym. Breathing in the fresh air and walking among the unfamiliar trees was soothing in a way that's difficult to find outside of nature. All along the path, there were places to turn off and stop to see different landmarks or temples. The first one we came across was a shrine to give homage to Pengzu. Except on all of the English signs, they refer to him as "Methuselah", I guess because that's the oldest person a Westerner could relate to. Pengzu, it is said, was around 700 or 800 years old.

In the first little shrine, you could pay a donation to get a prayer ribbon. You are supposed to write down the names of the people that you never want to die, and then tie the ribbon to the shrine. We all bought one for 5 yuan, and the caretakers of the shrine were very excited as they watched us write down the names in English before tying the ribbons up. Pengzu, they said, would recognize any name, whether it's in English or Chinese.

Some other highlights were seeing the famous double Buddha and visiting the grave of the Fairy Queen.

I also feel like I should mention this...fruit? Root? Vegetable? The question marks are because I'm not totally sure what it was. Some of the Chinese students that came with us bought it from a vendor on the side of the path, it was very unique. It had the texture of an apple, but the flavor of an uncooked potato, and before we peeled it, it looked like a white turnip. Since none of us had any clue what it was called in English, we dubbed it a "papple".

Mmm...Papple.

At the very top of the mountain was a beautiful, massive temple complex dedicated to the grave of the Fairy Queen and to Pengzu. I'm not totally sure who or what the Fairy Queen was because none of the Chinese students could effectively explain it. But apparently during January, people bring her clothes, and she died when she was around 13 years old. The temple itself was tucked away in the trees, and was one of the most beautiful, colorful places that I've been to yet in China.

After spending some time wandering around the temple complex, we made our way back down the mountain. We stopped at the bottom to drink some tea at a local tea house before hitting the road, which turned out to be a mistake because as soon as we got on our bikes it began to sprinkle. The sprinkle turned into quite the downpour about halfway back to the school. But biking through a rainstorm isn't the worst thing in the world, and being from Oregon, the rain just made me feel right at home. Nothing that a warm shower, a blanket, and a cup of hot chocolate couldn't fix!

Home

Here they are: the long awaited apartment photos! It's a really nice place, with lots of high ceilings and windows, but best of all is, of course, the Western style toilet! I would have just posted pictures of the toilet because that's how much I appreciate it, but I can see how that might be a little weird. So instead, I've just included pictures of the two main rooms.

All in all, it's a very sweet set-up, and I have no complaints...well, except for the cockroach I found wandering around the kitchen on the second night. When I first spotted him, I tried politely shooing him out the door with a broom. But he's a big sucker (about the size of my thumb), and instead of moseying out the door like I had hoped, he only buzzed angrily at me and scuttled angrily away into the drapes. Then he spent the whole next night dive bombing my head from high places as I tried to skype with people. I'm convinced that cockroaches are a whole lot smarter than people think. Or at least hold grudges for longer. Anyway, I've named the sullen little bugger Walter and have been reduced to leaving out roach poison and muttering passive aggressively at him whenever I do things in the kitchen. Since I haven't seen ol' Walt for the past four days, I'm hoping he's vacated the premise or has gone for the poison and died somewhere.

Okay, enough of that thrilling play-by-play. On to the much more exciting apartment tour! Don't worry though, Dear Reader, I'll be sure to keep you updated on my battle with the bug.

This is the living room/kitchen area, with a view of the front door. As you can see, it's a sizable apartment, especially a studio apartment, and came furnished with a good amount of furniture!

Here's the view from the front door. I've got a full sized refrigerator, a stove, a dishwasher, and a microwave.

On to the bed room! The bed, as is common in China, is very, very firm. The other American teachers liken it so sleeping on "soft wood". From what I hear, it's great for your back, so there's that. But in all seriousness, I never have trouble sleeping on it and its size more than makes up for its lack of cushiness.

My desk and TV. I have yet to get the TV working, but supposedly there's a repairman coming at some point to help me out with that. In the back of the picture, you might be able to make out my ten tons of closet space. Seriously, I have so much space.

And the last "room" is my little enclosed balcony. I have a washer out here, and have racks on the ceiling to hang clothes from. 

 Last but not least is the view from my window!

And that's it for the apartment. I had meant to have the video blog of the Xi'an trip up by now, but alas, it's been a busy few days getting acclimated to teaching. However, know that I am working on it, and it should hopefully be up soon!

Pengshan: More Beautiful by the Day

I feel that it's time I tell you a little bit about Pengshan, my home for the next year.

Pengshan is not a beautiful city. It is quite small (by China standards) and dirty. As it is one of the top producers of cell phones in China, it is full of boxy industrial buildings that come in shades of gray. When I first arrived, I found it to be a glum place, and the little annoyances of China grated on my nerves instead of rolling off my back like they usually do: the spitting, the staring, the honking...

But after almost a week here, I find that I am enjoying this city more and more each day I spend here. While the area I live in is somewhat dour, downtown Pengshan is only a very short bus ride away, and has a lot of hidden beauty to offer. There's a sleepy river that runs right along the edge of downtown, and beyond its other edge is a sudden wall of humid jungle and mountains. Small, intricate tea houses hide behind willow trees, and quaint clothing markets can be found in the maze-like alleyways connecting main streets. Everywhere, there are side streets packed with delicious restaurants, and there are little parks filled with ancient mahjong players, the clicking of their tiles filling the liquid air.

My favorite place that we've found in Pengshan has been the main town square. It is also right off of the river, and is absolutely barren during the day due to the stifling heat. However, as soon as the sun goes down, the people begin to creep out of the woodworks and the square quickly fills to a crowded bustle, alive with festivities. Music plays as groups of people do synchronized dancing (kind of a mix between ballroom, zumba, and line dancing), little children zoom around in little battery powered cars, and people mill around, chatting and hanging out. Some nights, they will light floating lanterns, and they bob away over the city, or out past the river. It's a fantastic, cheerful time of the day, and a great place to go chat to people in Chinese or to sit and people-watch. 

All in all, I've been settling in just fine here in Pengshan. Besides the town itself, the campus I'll be teaching on is first rate. Within 500 feet of my new apartment I have access to a gym, a laundromat, a post office, a whole slew of restaurants, a coffee shop, my new classroom, and an on-campus bar. And best of all, my apartment has a western-style bathroom! What a place! What a life that I live!

Song of Storms

If you are going to steal a car in Penghan, you should do it during a thunderstorm.

I've been in China for almost a week, and already there have been two spectacular thunderstorms. The weather here in August is very hot and humid, but the storms break through the heat with surprising suddenness and ferocity.

First comes the wind, blowing debris across the roads and bending treas within its path. Like a grim pall bearer, the wind carries on its tail a sheet of boiling, dark clods. They sweep in suddenly, a dark hue overtaking an already gray sky. And as the sky continues to darken and the wind is whipped into a frenzy, the thunder and lightning begin, which brings about a whole new cacophony: the car alarms.

Each crack of thunder is so loud that it triggers the car alarm of almost every automobile in the city, sending up a demonic howling of wails, beeps, and screeches that echo through the streets and bounce off the solemn industrial buildings. After about ten seconds the cars stumble into an embarrassed silence...until the next shuddering boom, when they are startled into song once again. A car thief would have no worries about tripping an alarm, for it would be only one voice in the chorus of hundreds.

In fact, a thief would have a good twenty minutes of relative safety provided by the chaos...until the rain starts, and any rascal would have a hard-pressed time breaking into a car with buckets of water streaming into their eyes. When the rain finally comes, it is a downpour so thick and complete that you can hardly see across the street, and in a matter of minutes there is a layer of several inches of water blanketing the roads. When the wind slices through the torrents, the falling water twists into serpents of glittering silver. All the while, lightning blazes across the sky, thunder cracks, and the car alarms continue their plaintive wailing.

Getting the Ball Rolling

Here in Pengshan, it was my second day in training as an American teacher. Each day, four of the American teachers team up to create a two hour long lesson for some volunteer students at the university, and are afterwards critiqued by our director, Tim. In the afternoon, we have an hour of Chinese class, and then the rest of our free time is spent making lesson plans, exploring the town, and generally bumming around wherever there is air conditioning (it is as hot and humid as I was warned it would be). The Chinese students are hardworking and cheerful, and creating a lesson plan and teaching is not nearly as nerve wracking as I feared it would be, for they are all very forgiving and supportive of their American teacher.

China itself is just as I remember it: confusing, fascinating, quirky, and delicious. The "delicious" aspect speaks for itself. I have never had food I enjoy more than actual Chinese food (don't get me started on American Chinese food), and the food here in Sichuan, the 'land of flavor', is no exception. I will freely admit that I've been positively gorging myself on Ma Po Doufu, Huo Guo (aka Hot Pot), Gongbao Jiding, or so many other of my favorite dishes. As for the "quirkiness" of China, that's a little more difficult to explain.

The reason I keep coming back to China, time after time, is that there is always something new to see or learn. Its history is so rich and vibrant, and its civilization has developed for so long separate from the Western world, it has a completely singular culture. Now, I'm not talking about the distinctive architecture or jade carvings or haunting music. Those, of course, are all part of the makeup of China, but it is certainly not everything. By 'completely singular culture', I mean that there is a nagging twist on everything you see and do. Everything, from people's body language, to the smells on the street, to the coca cola bottles in the store, is familiar, and yet slightly different from what your brain is expecting. The insects in the trees sound kind of like cicadas, but not the ones I know. The street signs are a different size and shape. The buses, the flowers, the leaves on the trees, the skyscrapers, the elevator music. Of course there are huge differences, such as the language and the people, but it is the little differences that sneak up on me. Add to that crowds of people staring at me, and it quickly creates an eerie sense of disorientation wherever go.

However, while this feeling of vertigo is not always altogether pleasant, it is definitely the reason I keep returning to China. It is fascinating and alluring, and forces me to look at my own country through a different lens. Always with something new awaiting me outside my front door, I have the opportunity to explore every time I leave--explore new territory, explore new tastes and smells, explore the trivialities of China that make it something all its own. Staying away from this country for long is simply not an option.

Also, the food.