typhoon?

Student dorms, near my flat


At West Lake in Hangzhou. Notice starring Chinese man on moped. This, alas, was not the first time locals seemed to notice the blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl.


The tower above Lin'an!


The tower on the hill, overlooking Lin'an

I love that I've know for the past week that hurricane Ike was going towards America, but last night over dinner I was very confused when suddenly I was told I needed to go home because there was a typhoon hitting Lin'an. Typhoon "Sinlaku" has been tearing up Taiwan pretty good and we've been having rain on and off for the past few days. Really, its nothing that different from when I arrived.. so when I was taken back to the apartment, Morten and I decided to turn around and hit the town.


First to some "posh" club downtown where they played Western pop music from about 7 years ago (Will Smith, an N*Sync video playing casually on a big-screen in the back). But then, suddenly, 9:00 rolled around and a bunch of girls came out and started dancing with fans. Then the techno music began and they took turns dancing on either side of the DJ. No clothes were shed, but it was quite racy. Then we moved on to another place where there was this constant strobe light and men everywhere dancing without shirts. No, trust me, probably not what you're thinking. It was around this point that I began to wonder if this was just so odd dream I was having. Why were there no toilets you could sit on? Why did they sell beer that was 1.9% alcohol? How come the only thing they had for a mixer was iced tea? How could Chinese people be so lean and yet eat mooncakes constantly for this festival which are about 800 calories each? What is the bell that sounds like a fire alarm / ice cream truck sound/ hellicopter sound outside my apartment?

The next day we went to the sweet tower on the hill above the city. The cab driver didn't know how to get there and after talking to an 8 year-old boy and following a gentleman with a camera we got to the top (after the man asked if he could take our picture). We walked back and had dinner at this tiny restaurant downtown. At the end of the meal we saw a woman take a chicken, shove it into a bucket of boiling water (in the sidewalk, directly in front of the restaurant) stir it around a bit, and then pluck all its feathers. Well, at least I know the chicken in my chou mian was fresh...


You know I am so glad I am here as long as I am, otherwise I don't know if I would ever believe that what I was seeing was actually real. Check out these and other photos from my last few adventures on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2152130&l=eeb9e&id=59501215





Today I actually did some painting- slowly I think I'll make this place more homey. Painted over the weird brown stains, pulled the brown gob of hair and other blackness out of the drain (gag!!) threw away the random drawers that were in the corner of my room. I also borrowed Morten's bleach... I think that will help most. The paint was also oil-based, so I have no way of cleaning the brush- or even really my hands. But the paint is slowly wearing off. Graded some quizzes. Very productive day. I'm also trying to discover some Chinese artists.. here's the catchiest thing I've found so far (other than the "wo ai Beijing" olympic theme song) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlUIa4u8-oI

Alright, take care, stay in touch!

PS- Chinese music videos tend to have lyrics at the bottom so you can sing along at KTV's. I had my first experience at one a few days ago. When we do karaoke, we just kind of yell and usually are pretty drunk (memories of "sexy hott girl" singing Britney Spears in Cave Junction). Here- people are actually- like good at singing. Its kind of intimidating.