alive&kicking

Hmph. Haven't been online alot (duh) but looking to change that. These past four days I've been on a giant road trip, I went to a bunch of places and took a bunch of pictures that I can't upload (which is so frustrating)- but if you're really interested in seeing where I was, you can google "the longmen grottos" and "shaolin temple" in china (duh) and see basically some pictures. I really do hate having internet. There has been so much happening that I just want to update everybody on, but you guys know how crappy my memory is, so I just have to do my best to carry all these stories in my brain until I can reach an internet cafe, spit out a few yuan, plop down between two World-of-Warcraft enthusiasts, and dump my stories onto the e-world.

So, big things lately.

Well, yesterday we were going to the Shaolin Temple (from Luoyang) and as we were merging onto a big highway, a motorist crashed into the back of our van. I was in the backseat facing the window and all of a sudden, out of my sleepy nap, i see this old woman on a Vespa-ish motorbike come merging into our lane going SO FAST and she slams into the side/back area of the van. My mouth dropped open in horror as I turned around and saw her limp body roll off the motor bike almost into oncoming traffic. Our van stops and literally everybody is frozen. Her body isn't moving. I seriously thought she was dead. I felt so sick to my stomach. She slowly got up after like 15 seconds, screaming and clutching her arm. Our driver rushes out an see what happened, and a small crowd starts building around us. This is pretty common in China (both the driving accidents and the nosy crowds). I wanted to jump out and help but it wouldn't have been the best idea. The last thing an accident needs is a van full of white (and two asian) foreigners to jump out and complicate the situation. Our van driver ended up dealing with the accident basically all day. As they say in China, "hen ma fan"- very bothersome. After getting most of the preliminary paperwork done (it took two hours!) we were back on the road to visit the shaolin temple, and after we were done, we called him and he picked us up, and we drove the 1.5 hours back to Kaifeng.

I'll be in Kaifeng for just a few more days, then it's off to Jinan and Shandong University. It's a city of about 2 million people, and needless to say, I am glad to get away from this place. I'm getting kind of sick of it. I feel kind of hopeless in this area. Not hopeless like my chinese can't get better, or whatever, but just like, walking around and seeing all the impoverished people, lots of beggars, unclean drinking water, shitty living conditions, getting sick a few times because of unclean food, it's... just a real trip.

I need to upload some photos... you'll have to wait a few days. Aside from all the little nitty gritties, China is truly beautiful. The countryside and the mountains, and Buddhist temples in Luoyang are really breathtaking. The stairs to climb the mountains are doing a number on my legs and bum, but it's good for me. Pollution is pretty prevalent and I've been careful to always carry tissue paper on me (since the bathrooms are made for squatting, not sitting- and they don't have TP) and hand sanitizer. I feel like a tourist. :(

People are very very very curious as to how an asian looking girl speaks English so well. I'm usually targeted in the group as a "chinese person" so whenever a curious native approaches our travelling group, they always ask "Are your friends foreigners?"

Imagine their face when I say, "Yes, but I'm a foreigner too. We're from America."

I gotta run. I swear up and down, I MISS EVERYBODY WHO READS THIS BLOG. ALOT.

Talk to you guys soon. <3