A trip to Guizhou...

A while back I left Xiamen with the group and flew to one of the poorest provinces in China. We went to Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou province, and then a little further out to spend about four days at a beef cattle ranch way up in the mountains.

It was considered a service opportunity for us in China, as we helped a family at one of the only beef farms in Guizhou. This trip, although comprised of solely manual labor, was one of my favorite parts of my experience abroad in China!

Not only did I get to see the beauty of rural China, but I was also inspired in a way I never had before.

Being above the tree line in the mountains was stunning. The air was REFRESHING, especially in contrast to city life.

The government gave all of this land to the family for free since the soil is highly acidic. They decided to use it for cattle much to the disapproval of others. The Chinese tend to coddle their livestock, leading them to be unable to handle the intense cold being on a mountain. But, after interbreeding Australian cattle with the Chinese cattle, they made a breed that has the best of both kinds! They now profitably produce beef in a country that tends to overproduce pork. Also, with blueberries very uncommon, they’ve decided to make use of the acidic land for blueberry fields since the soil is perfect for their growth.

Kevin lost in China.

Now I mostly dug up fence posts, put them in another field that will be used for the blueberries and made/laid cement for their bases. This was physically taxing, especially in the freezing wet, fog-ridden weather, dodging cow pies every which way. But I also found it very satisfying as I began to see a finished product throughout the four straight days.

Some may see this is as a strange result, but for some reason this rural experience has given me a genuine desire to grow something. Be it vegetables in a small plot outside of my future apartment or house, or a strange acquirement of a dairy farm amidst a city-job in my future. Sure, the latter is seemingly impossible to upkeep, seeing as how the farm and city-job can’t be in the same location, but I can dream. I never would have imagined myself as someone who would glorify farm life, but seeing this family who had no previous knowledge of farming achieve such a great deal through production of food inspired me. I’m a nerd.

- Kev

I'm still here!

Click for a bigger picture!

Taste of DOWNTOWN.

Xiamen University is about a 6-minute bus ride away from downtown Xiamen. Downtown Xiamen is one of my favorite places in the city. Here’s a short video of downtown at night using the wonderfully low quality Blogspot video.

Why downtown is great:

1. My favorite Taiwanese food vendor is found in a back alley. A local had to show me.

2. There are tons of people. After studying at a coffee shop downtown named Deep Coffee, I met two Thai sisters who own the place and I’m helping them learn English while they teach me and a friend Chinese. (They deserve a separate blog post which is soon to come)

3. Shops are everywhere. From super high end with Mustangs inside to the hole-in-the-wall restaurant or knock-off brand clothing lines.

4. Downtown at night is BRIGHT.

5. Exploring random streets makes me feel adventurous.

6. Xidi Coffee Street – high-class/socialite Chinese! (It also deserves a separate blog post)

The ease of getting to and from downtown makes the experience all the more satisfying. To get around town (and even to class sometimes), I bought a Xiamen bus card.

This baby is the traveler’s bread & butter. And that super awesome salmon-colored 100 yuan bill?! Not worth much actually.

So yeah, a quick scan is all it takes because it functions as a debit card. It’s cheaper for bus cardholders (0.80 yuan instead of 1.00 yuan)! The amount I use the thing, though, I’ll have to add some money soon for sure.

I’ve learned to read some of the bus destinations on the front of the buses so as to make sure I’m going to the right place. I look for Xiada, the shorthand for Xiamen University, and specifically the Chinese character for "da" because it looks like a man stretching his arms out. It has a falling tone and means "big". In this case, "da" is short for "daxue", or "big study", or "university". Yep, something just clicked, eh. Chinese is beautifully practical.

PUBLIC TRANSITTING LIKE A BEAST IN CHINA,

Kev

Zhōngshān (JOE-NG-SHAWN) Park (PARK)

A quick video of Zhōngshān Park:

One Saturday, I encountered an elderly man. I never caught his name. I never saw him again. But, he gave me the true welcome to China that I think I’d needed.

I went to go see a concert at the park downtown. A stage and plastic chairs were all set up in a small plaza. I found a single empty seat on the left side of the audience, right next to a small, old man with beady and aged eyes. He was wearing traditional Chinese garb, and when I sat down, he had to double take. Upon seeing me, he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a cigarette for him, but also for me. He offered it and I beamed, but I rejected it with a “xiè xiè”, or “thank you.” He wasn’t offended; more for him I suppose. He then began trying to converse with me in his broken English. He attempted telling me about the music, and how it was a traditional Chinese song. We sat there, enjoying the strums of an ancient instrument. I left with a thankful “zài jiàn”, or “see you at another time.”

Being white and blue-eyed, I’m always just a foreigner. I’m tragically conspicuous. Today I wore my hood up, not just because of window-rattling wind speeds, but it made me feel less… Lithuanian. The idea of never being able to truly fit in, even after someone has had decades of language and culture studies, is disheartening.

My attempted glass-half-full mindset certainly doesn’t ignore benefits, however. The “you’re one of us” welcome was actually due to the fact I was a foreigner when I sat next to him. Strange that the feelings of acceptance were a result of what I try to hide from.

- Kev

I can see Taiwan from here.

I live by a beach. Although it’s been rather cool every day, people still love the beach, and so do I.

On the way to the beach, there are random vendors selling fresh food, coconuts, Xiamen maps for Chinese tourists, and sugary-fruit kebabs (I om-nomed a seed and hurt myself but I made sure no one could tell so as not to lose face). They also sell hats with wings on them, and when I asked my Chinese friend, Shelly, about the significance of them, she said, “Can’t you tell they’re just cool?!” I’ll probably end up buying one.

Once at the beach, plastic shovels are sold for the young families that bring their children to the beach to play. Single bikes with one to four seats are available for rent, which I have to dodge while I make my way to the bus to head around town.

The people at the end of this video may have been warning me they were BOOKIN' IT BEHIND ME.

On a side note, I had this for lunch today:

- Kev

China Life

It’s been a different experience. I hope that in these next few weeks I can give you a glimpse of the life I’m living here in the east. I’m thoroughly enjoying it. With that said, I’m still working on a balance between schoolwork, exploring Xiamen, chatting and adventuring with new friends and following routines.

Here's an aspect of my life in China that I’ve appreciated recently.

Chinese New Year was on January 23, and with it came incredible excitement throughout Xiamen and the rest of China. EVERYONE is on vacation, so it’s crazy. I watched the New Year’s gala, a 4 or 5 hour TV special that nearly a billion people tune in to with the coming of the Year of the Dragon. There were musical performances and dance routines, but I especially appreciated the comic stand-up that apparently was really funny. We went and saw the fireworks, and let me just say, China’s fireworks displays surpass America’s. Here’s a little shot of the 45-minute fireworks show. We got dangerously close but it was WORTH IT.

Now, I’m going to steal an idea from my friend Adrienne (SHOUT OUT) who’s living in Ireland for two years. Instead of “You know you’re in Ireland when…” I bring you…

You know you’re in China when…
- any building, elevator or restaurant usually has someone smoking in it
- people belch to show that the meal was satisfactory
- anyone on a bus will instantly give up a seat for a child or elderly person

- Kev

Blocked in China!

It looks like blogspot has been blocked in China, similar to Facebook, Youtube and Twitter. I'll have something figured out by next week in order to keep updating. I'm using my friend's computer in order to update... he has a special way of accessing these websites. As a quick update, I'm settled into Xiamen University and will have plenty of pictures to show once I get the blogspot ordeal figured out.

In the meantime, I give you this:




When visiting Walmart in downtown Xiamen, we stumbled upon this gem. In case you didn't know, "squatty's", as we've endeared them, are the norm here in China.

Updates coming soon!

Kev