Chengxin Mansion Zhuozhou

... time to spend there because the vibe that I got while there for one day was one that shook all of my being. Hong Kong had many amenities: it had the big city feel but you could also feel the richness of the entire country in the city itself. It was like America's NYC. Being that I only had a day there I was forced to evaluate what I wanted to do and see, and to execute it fast! No kicking around for me. So I spent my day at the Space Museum, ate at Outback Steakhouse ...

Hier visite éclair à Shanghaï pour rencontre les profs du lycée Français, tout me parait gigantesque, le terrain de sport est digne de celui d'une ville de 10 000habitants avec piscine olympique, le hall d'entrée peut contenir sans problème plus de mille personnes les salles de musique ou je vais donner mes ateliers ont des parquets cirés des équipements audio meilleur que le théâtre de Viviers. Bref grandiose... Comme les pancartes publicitaires nos 4X3 ...

... must be a powerful woman. Nate: Hmmm. Why is that? Student: mutters something that can't be deciphered. Nate: I'm not sure that we would say she is a "powerful woman" - I think we would say that she has a "strong personality" Thanks, Nate. It made me wonder what my students are saying about me to their classmates.

... sequence.... I toasted in my birthday with a magnum of Champagne bought by some of my -many- admiring fans who stayed to see me into my 33rd year- which equates to (sung in 12 days of xmas stylee) 5 Bei-(ay)-jings, 4 French hens, 3 Ger-mans, 2 Australians, & a supporter of Coventry FC . I had been planning to head out to the Lama temple on my actual birthday day for a little culture followed up with a film at the Vineyard. But as I had been up ...

Today Kait and I ventured to the neighboring town of Tongli. Instead of visiting the pagoda's, temples, and myriad giftshops... we hopped in a sanliuche and headed out of town - bound for the wilderness. Mr. Zhang (Zhang Xiansheng) escorted us on a wildly bumpy back road route toward a Bamboo Forest. We drove ~40 minutes through farm land. Mr. Zhang, about 15 minutes into the ride, turned around and offered both of us a cigarette. Ha. While still in the car, he offered to be our ...

... describe the texture of the sand beneath my toes (butter and clouds), and I've wrestled with my friends among the dunes. Lastly, I peacefully rode back to our hotel with friends both old and new (we were accompanied by friends from the Mongolian Performing Arts College). Here, I find a sense of inner peace and happiness that until my month in China, I had never experienced. -- Farrin Sofield all good things must come to an end

... there are no doors, so if people are talking outside your compartment you can hear everything being said. But, our car had all people from the school in them, so it wasn't as bad. On the ride over there 12 of us sat in one tiny compartment playing mafia, which, it turns out is also a Chinese game, played almost the same way. It was pretty interesting playing and trying to communicate seeing as most people were the Chinese roommates or some of the more fluent ...

We took the train to Souzhou. It was only about 2-3 hours, and we got to see some countryside. The farm houses generally indicate an affluence I did not anticipate. Then, periodically, there would be a clump of 15 or so high rise apartments buildings amidst the fields. I'm not really sure what those are about. I think that factories are being built out there, and the housing for workers is being contructed at the same time.

... place to ourselves which added to the ambience. Our guide Puskar found a monk who spoke english to chat to us, had been there since the age of six for 15 years. Walked up hill (sand, dust and granite) to small chapel with prayer flags. Slept in old monks accomodation - one of the warmest and cleanest places we have stayed. Trips out to the loo with head light torches (thanks Tom) and ...

... waking up a guy who had moved into my bed in the process, but once again, it all worked out. The 10-bed dorm is actually a 9-bed with only 1 other bed free. There is 1 American man, 2 Czech men, 2 girls from Denmark, us and 1 guy that I didn't talk to. We read and journalled and talk to our new roommates for a while before heading to bed. Tomorrow we are going to try finding the Old and New Summer Palaces using only public transportation!