Farewell, 2014!

A two part blog. 
Part 1: very short so here it is. 

It's that time of year again. New Years is right around the corner. Gym memberships are up and produce stands can't keep enough veggies and fruits in stock. Everyone makes themselves, or others, promises of doing better or starting over. Well, I don't make New Year's resolutions. Never have and I most likely never will. I don't need to wait for 365 days to end to realize I need to get something on track; be it my weight, my health, my job or whatever it is people make resolutions about. 
I need to write. I am a writer. Or so I say. Writers write. Period. I use writer's block as an excuse often, but no more. Even if I can't think of something "artistic" to say, I still have a million thoughts running through my head at any given time. Stephen King says you have to dedicate your time to writing. At least one hour every day. Just sit and write. So, that is what I will do from now on. It won't be the same time every day because my schedule doesn't allow that much routine, but it will be an hour, and it will be every day. Maybe it will be a blog, maybe a journal entry or hopefully, the beginnings of something worth publishing. 
I know I am to write a book before this life of mine ends and now is the time. I don't know what I will write because every time I start something I run out of flow. But, I know I have something to say. I just need to figure out how and what. And I'm going to start today on December 17. I could wait until January 1st, but how many great ideas will slip by me in two weeks time?
I went to an impromptu theatre thing last night. I'm not really an art person. I respect the creative and I am all for the arts. I just usually don't get it. However, the first performance was a girl talking about writer's block and sitting at a computer screen and type, type, typing then backspacing it all. The piece was about staying creative in whatever way you can. I understood something artsy for the first time so I guess the least I can do is apply it. 
So, whatever it is you need to do, start today. Start now. Quit using life as an excuse. We'd never accomplish anything if we ran on life's time. Life has a way of getting in the way sometimes so we need to take our own initiatives. 



Part 2: A recap of 2014
I want to recap the last year. Just to show how much can truly happen and how much 365 days can be. 
When I told my family and friends I was moving to China to teach they asked a million questions, but the biggest one was, "For how long?" At the time, one year did not seem so long. I'd just lived the best year of my life and it flew so quickly. I told everyone, "It's only a year. If I love it great. If I don't, then it's only a year." 
I'm now approaching my sixth month in China. It feels like year three some days. I was talking with a friend from home the other day and he asked what I like most about China and what I miss most about home. Answering both questions was quite difficult. Of course I miss American food, but I love Chinese food, too. I miss the calmness of small town life, but I love that I see or experience something completely new each day in Beijing. Of course I miss my family and friends at home, but I have a family here as well that I can't imagine leaving. Not to mention the 100-plus students I have grown quite attached to. 
I'm at the age of truly growing up. It's physical, emotional, and intellectual. I'm just developing in all sorts of ways. It's a strange state to be in and it's really difficult most days, but then there are the days that it all makes sense. 
No one ever said growing up would be easy and I'd give my life to have Kindergarten nap time back on most days, but this is how it works. It would be easier if we could all be Benjamin Button and start life old and get younger. Instead we have no choice but to grow up and get it together. It's different for everyone and most days I feel really behind, but then I remember how many memories I have and that beats a master's degree or a family any day. 
Last week when I thought I was dying from my kidney infection I was miserably homesick. Aside from my immediate family, I've heard from few people back home on a regular basis. I'm 14 hours ahead and they are 14 hours behind. It is not easy to schedule FaceTimes and Skypes. Distance and time is never an excuse for me, though. I try my damnedest to speak with my family at least once a week. Even messaging is hard when one is rising and the other is going to sleep. Waiting for a text message is often at least a six-hour wait. However, this is something I chose. It doesn't mean it is easy and pain free, it's just the way it is. I feel guilty for being unable to communicate and interact with the people I love regularly and for running to a life that is an ocean and several countries away. Luckily, I know several other people here who have done the same thing and my boss tells me not to feel guilty because now my family has braggin' rights and an excuse to visit China if they want. Also, that it takes a certain kind of person to do what I'm doing. Somedays it's a toss up between whether or not that certain kind of person is brave or insane. 
All that being said, start things immediately; stop procrastinating. Secondly, make memories; big and small. I have done incredible things and seen unbelievable places, but sometimes it's the small things we remember most. Lastly, and most importantly to me, in the words of Sinatra, "You can laugh when your dreams fall apart at the seems and life gets more exciting with each passing day... For as rich as you are, it's much better by far to be young at heart." : )

Happy early New Year, y'all! 
Here is my year in photos (mostly)!

Brought in the New Year with snow in Central Park

Tobogganed in Times Square for the 2014 Super Bowl

I worked as an intern for my first magazine in NY!

 I blew out 24 candles on Little Debbie cakes for my birthday :)

Had a reunion with all of my girls! <3

Spent the summer with my cousin who'd been gone for some years

Watched my best friend of 12 years marry the love of his life, and my dear friend <3

Fell in love with my first kid! Somethin' about her! <3

Fished with my Daddy! :)

Spent months at home in the season of my favorite wildflowers. The South will always be my favorite place.

Spent my last night in LA with my 3 favorites! 

Met my Chinese soulmate, Jazzy! :) 

Played soccer on the shore of the Pacific Ocean :) 

Met 15 strangers on the same journey! 

made a family of co-workers 

My first class to graduate! 

Carved my 1st turkey (in China) :)

Fell in love with a South African named Jake and a Brit named Gurpreet so now we live together! :) 

Saw the Great Wall of China

Spent 9 days in the south of China with one of the most beautiful souls and friends I made in China <3

 Was held hostage by a Hani local in the rice terraces in YuanYang, Yunnan Province, China! :)

Spent Christmas in Beijing, China

Day 6 & 7: Where heaven meets earth

Day 6:

Day six began in the night bus back to Kunming from Dali. This trip of sleeping was extremely uncomfortable. I'm 5'9'' and the beds are probably 5'7'' so I slept with bent knees all night or with my legs propped against the window. Not the best, but not the worst. We both woke pretty cranky but we had to jet because we had another bus to catch at the other end of town to Dali. We managed to make it to the station and onto the next bus within our allotted time frame. Once on the next bus we uncomfortably dozed off and on for the next five hours.

We arrived in Dali around noon. We were in the new town of Dali, however, and wanted to catch, yes, another bus, bout a half hour north to the ancient town of Dali. This is the place to see.
We semi figure our way to the bus station but decide eating food is first. We have the day to make it to the old town. We eat one noodles at another hole-in-the-wall then find a bus stop. We follow, yet another, Chinese couple that speaks little English. About 2:00 we finally arrive in the right area. We make our way through the streets trying to locate the hostel. We use a man selling cotton candy to speak to the hostel and then give us directions. Surprisingly, this is the first time we manage to find our hostel within 15 minutes.
We check in, change clothes and head back to the city center to explore. We had no plans on this day so we spent a few hours wandering through the shops of handcrafted Chinese knick-knacks, scarfs and bags. We spoiled ourselves to a Western dinner and several drinks. We made it back to the hostel and crashed by 10.

 
Day7 -
8:30:
-Wakeup.
-Drowsily shower.
-Dress.
8:50: Western breakfast and coffee at the hostel, The Jade Emu, which I highly reccommend.
9:30: Walk toward the center of the old town to rent bikes to ride around Erhai Lake. The lake is 96km around so we decided we'd just go halfway and turn around since we couldn't make it around in one day.
The weather app predicted rain, but it was a sunny, clear blue sky kind of day from start to finish. We actualy got sunburnt. It was a perfect 70 degrees.
We rode through about 20 small villages as we followed West Erhai Ring Road; the main road that circles the lake.

 

Along the lake we nearly wrecked multiple times while staring at the scenery. The mountains sketched the background and the clouds cast shadows on them and the whole view was reflected onto the blue of the lakes surface. Flowing directly from the mountains above, I was certain this was the cleanest water to be found in China.
Hand-carved wooden boats, up to eight feet long, filled with fishermen, scattered the waters. Lilypads lined the coves near the banks.
The lake sat directly along West Erhai Ring Road. I don't exaggerate. If someone took their eyes off the road for a moment, they'd be in Erhai Lake.
To our right was the lake and the mountains in the background with all of it's beauty. To our left were more mountains. We're in a valley, afterall. But below the mountains, on the left, were countless villages accompanied by fields of crops that were full of farmers. The ethnic group here are the Baizu people. Similar to the Hani we'd seen in Yuanyang, these farmers were all aged by the sun and hard labor they've endured.
The women carry baskets of harvested goods through the fields and streets and the men hoe and till the gardens.

1:30:
We stopped to check the map and see how far we'd gone. We wanted to reach the village of XiZhou because it was supposedly larger with restaurants and such. According to the map, we had long passed XiZhou and ended up in TaoYuan Port. This place was ultra touristic and had ferrys to take people to and from each side. We turned around for the three-hour journey back toward the hostel. We needed to be back by six for showers and catching the last bus to the new town of Dali by 7:00.
2:00:
We stopped for lunch in a small village called SanCun where we ate some fried rice with greens and eggs. I also took paparazzi pictures of these two adorable old women. 

 

 
2:30:
We put our headphones in and rode in peace most of the journey back. Although we took the same route, there was so much more we hadn't seen. I really struggled to find the right words to describe anything I saw on this trip.  This was another day. I especially tried to just take in everything I was seeing; near and far. I was in a really mellow place this day. I remember feeling homesick and wanting to be on the lake fishing. Even the temperature was accurate to home. It's amazing how no matter where we are in the world, and no matter what we're doing, a part of home can always be felt. 

 

  

"Look Ma, no hands!" 

I was dead on my feet by sunset. My bum is not accustomed to biking for eight hours. We made it to the train station around nine and tried to locate somewhere to eat for dinner. For whatever reason, in China, they don't have restaurants surrounding bus, plane or train stations like Westerners are accustomed to. We settled for some bread in a bakery inside the station. I was too tired to eat anyway.
A quarter past 11, it was finally time to board the sleeper train. Being 5'9" in China is not always easy. Many Chinese are no more than 5'6" and small in build, therefore, most things are designed for a smaller population. There was about two feet between my bunk and the roof of the train. Getting situated with all my belongings was quite a chore. Finally settled, and too tired to notice the uncomfortableness of the bunk, I fell asleep to wake in Kunming train station at 6:45 a.m.

Day 5: Part II: The Hostage Situation

Day 5:  A story of its own.

At one of our terrace stops we began wandering down the paths. This path wasn't too easy to navigate which meant it wasn't screaming, "welcome tourists." Tober and I were making our way well down and we came to one point where there was a vegetable garden below and we needed to jump down and back up. Well, I jumped down just fine and when climbing up the other side my foot slipped. As I began to fall, I grabbed the first thing in sight which turned out to be a very unsturdy pvc pipe. Said pipe led water from one of the paddies past the garden and in to the next paddy. The pvc pipe clearly wasn't meant to hold me. It snapped and I slid into the vegetable garden about three feet down. I'm ok, just now filthy with mud. Lucky me, there was a lovely Hani woman working in the vegetable garden below. To say she was displeased is an understatement.
I climb back up as best I can, and Tober, from the other side, grabs the other end of the pipe and we piece it back together. However, the clasp is broken so it isn't staying well and is still leaking quite a bit into the garden below. 
Meanwhile, madame Hani is yelling a stream of what I assume to be profanities in Mandarin, but a dialect I can gather no words from. Of course I don't speak Chinese yet, but being in a country where it's the language I can understand bits and pieces occassionally.
Alicia and Elin were only moments behind us and saw the whole accident. Alicia said, "I heard you yell 'I'm ok,' then see you look up, point to the pipe and say, 'I broke this shit, though.'" 
I feel terrible because I've just caused this chaos. 
The Hani woman follows me up the side I originally came down, and the only thing I can grasp from her anger is she wants 50 yuan. This is competely understandable given I've not only trespassed, but wreaked havoic in her garden. 
I point to my pockets and keep saying "meio." I point up and try to mock going to get money and coming back down using my index and middle fingers as legs on the palm of my hand. She, of course, isn't following. She has a death grip on my sweater and if I move hard enough to free myself of her, she A, falls backward into a rice paddy, or B, falls forward into a rice paddy. Either result leaves her more pissed at me and me becoming an even bigger ass. 
Meanwhile, Elin has gone to get Belinda and I'm just dying laughing at this point and the entire situation. As I'm standing there, Hani woman is screaming, at what I assume to be her husband, in the paddies across the way about what has happened. This man is ridiculously enough called something like "ah su ro," which with her accent, and my ears, sounds like "asshole." 
I just look to Alicia and said, "and this woman's husband's name is asshole." Alicia and I die laughing.
So there we are, she and I, standing on the levee. She continues speaking to me in Chinese and I continue saying, "dui bu qi (sorry)." 
Belinda arrives and I tell her the woman wants me to pay 50 yuan, but I need to get my money. Belinda says she wants it fixed and I point to the now, barely leaking pipe and say I've already fixed it as much as I can with no clasp or duct tape.
Belinda goes back with me and together we place the two pieces of pipe together more. The wishbone stick that holds it in place, however, is not stable because of the now muddy soil underneath that used to keep it in place. I find some rocks and place it around the stick, and like magic the pipe remains together and leak free. For now, anyway. 
Madame Hani still insists on 20 yuan, we pay her and bug off. I feel so terrible for A, potentially ruining this woman's livelihood. B, for dragging Melinda down to the terraces. Belinda thinks it is hilarious and we continued laughing about it for the remainder of the day. The rest of the group warns me every time we're climbing down that if I slip not to grab anything and just fall. So, I'm still terribly sorry for causing chaos in the rice fields, but I can now say I've worked in the rice fields in China. Not to mention, I've got one helluva story to tell, too. 

Of course I have photos for proof. Thanks, Alicia :) 

Day 5: A loss for words

Day 5: A loss for words

The day began at 5:30 a.m. in a van full of strangers: three Israelis, two Swedes, a Venezuelan and an American. By some wonder, the woman who runs the hostel we're staying in, Belinda, speaks incredible English. She has arranged for the seven foreigners staying in her hostel to have a tour of the rice terraces. However, at 5:30 a.m. her brother meets us at the hostel, and in pitch black, we drive through villages over dirt road in off road speed and it ends with him dropping us off in front of a path. We assume the path leads to the rice terraces. We follow it, with only the light of the moon as guidance. It's now 6:15 a.m. and we walk upon a balcony.  Below us, we can only assume there are rice fields. We wait an hour in the dark for the the sun to rise. The moon and stars shine brightly in the pitch black sky and to the east, the sun is slowly emerging from behind the clouds. The sky slowly turns oranges and yellows behind the mound of clouds. The view is like looking at a painting. Aside from the cold temperature, I felt I could've been in a museum staring at a mural. It was so surreal.

When the sun rises as high as it will go, the rice terraces are still barely visible beneath the blanket of fog that covers our immediate vision.
We hang around for 30 minutes or so as the fog slowly creeps away and rice terraces begin to emerge to our right.

After taking a few pictures, the man who drove us emerges and asks if we're ready to go and that he'll take us to his sister now (the woman running the hostel.) The seven of us load up in the van and ride for about 20 minutes toward another area full of hostels and hotels. We arrive at Belinda's second hostel where she prepares a Chinese breakfast for us: noodles. We eat and she tells us to head down the village and we can see some more of the terraces up close.
It is still pretty foggy, but the sun is beaming down and the day is beautiful. We make our way through the village past Hani people working hard, Hani children playing games in the streets and pigs in pins in yards.
The fields are foggy and we can only see three to four directly in front of us. I have spent the entire day spouting out adjectives with Aicia to try and find the words to describe this place, but we come up empty in every language each time. The only way to grasp even a quarter of what we saw is to show pictures. To fully obtain the worth of its beauty, you need to book a trip to Yuanyang and see it for yourself! 

View from Belinda's Hostel

 

Below the village

The fog comes and goes all day, but the sun is trying to shine! :)

 

 

 

We walk around the terraces and enjoy the view, even through the mist. Once we reach the top, back at the hostel, Belinda loads us in the van for the grand tour. Belinda's daughter, Eilene joins for the ride. She is quite the character for a four-year-old. She knows little English, Belinda has Just begun teaching her two months ago. Eilene is an instant hit with everyone. We all quickly adopt her and spend the day entertaining and admiring her.

Eilene rides shotgun in my lap for the day as we ride around to the different terraces and villages.
At the first stop she brings back two tiny pieces of hay and places it abover her upper lip and does a kiss face creating a mustache with the straw. She hands me the second straw and I politely follow her lead. We repeat this for the 15-minute ride to the next stop. I am in love with her instantly. We make the next stop, and since it's too foggy for photographs, the others all make mustache, kiss faces with Eline and the sticks.
We're back in the car and she's still entertained by mustache kiss faces, but soon she begins singing "xiaoping guo," and my heart melts. (xiaoping guo is an obnoxiously catchy and famous Chinese song everyone knows, including the foreigners. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZaDQ6Yc8P8 .) I join in singing with her, of course. She realizes I only know the first few words of the chorus and slows down and waits for me to repeat her the next time I sing along.
After this and the next stop, Eline and I are in the front seat again. I pretend to fall asleep and she blows in my face and I jolt awake. She gestures for me to repeat this by pointing at the window and then me and shutting her eyes. I do as she wishes and pretend to snore and every 15 seconds she blows the hair in my face and I jolt awake completely surprised.
From here on out, she waits for me if I fall behind from taking photos. She comes to me with her hand extended. She trusts me and now we are friends.   

 

 
 

Eline picked me some wildflowers <3

When we arrive at Large Fishpond Folk Village, Eline and I dart down the stone path. Belinda has no worries she is with me. Eline and I turn to the others and say "kuai dian er," which is "quickly" in Chinese.
The others make it to the bottom and we all wander down toward more rice terraces. This place is the most beautiful place we've seen the entire day and it's noon now. The fog is finally beginning to clear and the terraces are visible in multitudes and not just three or four feet in front of you.
The stone path down the terraces is surrounded by water flowing on either side. The irrigation system these farmers have created is incredible. This entire people, landscape and lifestlye can not be put into words.
We take more photos of what we've been waiting all day to see: the clear blue sky reflected in the paddies of rice. The endless rows of paddies extending all the way into the valley.
We made our way back to the village and sat for lunch. Belinda does the ordering and the seven foreigners, Belinda and Eline enjoy a lunch of fresh cooked vegetables and purple rice.
When we finish lunch we venture to yet another famous terrace, Bada. The fog has cleared almost entirely and none of us can believe our eyes. The terraces extend for miles in all directions. We walk down the path created taking photos and admiring the majestic beauty that surrounds us and the way the sunlight hits the paddies.
We stop to video and photograph a man working with the water buffalo. The Hani use the water buffalo to wad through the paddies as they follow behind with a tiller. The paddies are mud and water so the buffalo are strong enough to pull the equipment used for tilling the soil. This type of farming has not been done in America in ages. Farming is still hard work where I'm from, but the equipment is far more advanced and industrialized. The things I saw today I find difficult to blog about because I honestly can't find the words to use.

In case you can't tell, I'm scared to death here. There is nothing stopping us from sliding and falling over this cliff! :/

The crew from left to right: Patrick & Eline. Barack, Tuber, Roi. Me and Alicia. :) 

The sun's reflection :) 

 

We made our way back to the top, passing a family's hut with clothes drapped across hay and the levees of the paddies to dry. We moved to the next and last village: Quinko.
This village was about a mile down a curved stone road. We thought we'd never reach it, but alas we stumble upon a very unique village. The Quinko Village has clearly embraced tourism, wheras many of the previous villages had not. Quinko had a museum at the end of their village for tourists. As we walked through the village, no more than a half mile from start to finish, we walked across lunchtime. The entire population of farmers were gathered around tables in numbers of six and seven eating lunch. The women sat together at one end and the men sat together on the other end. A woman grabbed my arm and extended a bowl of rice to me. I politely declined by saying, "I don't want. I'm full. Thank you," in Chinese. Many of them were saying hello; in English and in Chinese. Children roamed unattended by adults and no one cared. This place was a postcard for village life.

 

 

We hiked back up the mile-long stone path and headed back toward the hostel. Eline had fallen asleep while we were gone. I scooped her up and held her in my arms until we arrived, and then I carried her into the hostel office and placed her on the couch.
We paid 80 for the days tour and all sat around the office for a beer and a wind down. It had been a beautiful day and we'd made five new friends by the end of it. The Israeli boys would travel a month in Vietnam starting the next day and the Sweedish couple would continue through Asia for two more months. Alicia and I said goodbye, showered and caught another sleeper bus to Kunming. The next morning we'd go from one bus station to the next to reach our next destination: The Old Town of Dali.

Belinda's husband (Chinese name only)

(: The whole lot :)