Good Times and Being Content

So, it's been a while since I posted something, and a lot has happened in the past few days. I'll do a post tomorrow or the day after about the other stuff.

One thing that has been the highlight of my recent life was my trip to Bai Ta Shan, or White Pagoda (Tower) Mountain Park in Lanzhou.

It's located just north of Zhongshan Bridge near downtown Lanzhou.

Along with the bridge itself, it is a central landmark of the city. If you say, "Oh, it's by Bai Ta Shan," people will know exactly where you mean. 

Yeah, you can see from the pictures here, it's a pretty cool place - there's a lot of trees and shade, and it's pretty "new." 

Last year, it was being remodeled, so I didn't get to go to the park itself. I just got to go to another peak of the mountain range. 

I went with a bunch of Chinese friends and another foreign teacher. It was a great afternoon - a lot of laughs and a lot of new sights.  

The part is facing directly south. If you look at the picture here, you can see the gate to the park is directly across the street from the north-south running Zhongshan Bridge. Pretty much every important building, historical site, park, etc. has a gate somewhere, if not the main gate, facing north or south. 

That makes living in a city like Lanzhou easy. The river runs east-west, so you always can figure out where you are.

I had seen this exact picture so many times on the internet, but the pictures just aren't the same as actually being there. You just think to yourself, "Wow, I can't believe that I live here. This is such a crazy, amazing, polluted, wonderful, dirty, loud, and unique city. How did I end up here?" I did another post about "Seeing The Elephant," which talked about how it's impossible to understand these kind of feelings without actually being there. I hope someday you can come here and experience these things for yourself. It's great here.

You know, I came from a very small city of about 100,000 people, and to be in a city like this is a very interesting and wonderful experience.

It's so different from my hometown - Lanzhou has a long history and has a lot of special food and culture. I'm not saying that my hometown doesn't have these things, it's just a different kind of special.

Just look at this place - do you live in a place like this?? If you do, that's great! If you don't, try it! If you live in a big city, try going out to the countryside for a little while - find something different. It's been great for me, and I can't wait to try even more new things. It gives you this little rush - a little endorphin buzz every time you do something. It's something that can't be replicated.

Going to Bai Ta Shan may have just been a fun afternoon for my friends, but for me, it was a time to just be in the moment and reflect about where I'm at in my life right now.

I remember, just before I left for China, I was at church, and the preacher did a sermon about being content and not being restless in your life. For some people, they can find it in their job, some people can find it in religion, some people can find it with their friends, or any number of places.

For me, I am truly content in being here and continually learning new stuff and learning new things. I really wish I was my sister sometimes so I could pull out some crazy word from the Oxford English Dictionary to express myself, but I'm not, so I can't. I definitely miss home sometimes - my family, my friends, and the food, but I'm having a good time right now being a teacher and doing my China thing.

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Well, that's all I have for tonight - I'll put up another post about some other stuff  this weekend!

Two New Videos! Mountains and Laundry!

Got two new videos for you today! The first is from my visit with Benjamin Xi to Lanzhou's Bai Ta Shan, or White Tower Mountain.



That was a very good day and it was nice just to get off campus with a couple of buddies and do something fun. By that time in my trip (May), I was really itching to get out of the classroom and out of the campus and try new things. This was one of many trips to that area and I always thoroughly enjoyed myself around the Yellow River.

The area around the Yellow River in Lanzhou is very nice. There are a lot of very small places to eat along the sidewalk and lots of places to buy drinks and just chill. The weather in Lanzhou is simply perfect during pretty much the entire summer, so there are always a lot of people just kind of lounging about and hanging with their friends, skipping rocks on the river or playing with their dogs or flying kites - it really is a great time. Being a foreigner, every time I went down there by myself, I always got involved in a long conversation (in Chinese, of course) with the locals. They'd always be fairly lengthy, maybe an hour or so, but by the time I left, my brain was exhausted, yet very gratified by my progress.

This next video is somewhat less exciting, but it was a big part of my life in China.


Yep, I made a video about washing clothes and buying stuff at the market. The whole time I was in China, I washed my clothes by hand. Hot or cold water, adding my detergent, washing, rinsing, all of it in a little tub/basin, I washed my clothes every week. Laundry day really was laundry DAY.  After I got coat-hangers and was able to wash and hang up more clothes, laundry day became a dreaded day. At the beginning it was new and refreshing to have to work for my clean clothes, but after two or three months, the refreshment gave way to that everyday drag. Life goes on.


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Dragon Boat and Bai Ta Shan

6/5 Today, me, Benjamin Xi, and another guy named Stan (one of Benjamin's roommates) climbed up Bai Ta Shan, which means White Tower Mountain. It was a pretty fun, but exhausting climb - the view was amazing. (video below) Tomorrow's the Dragon Boat Festival - I'll be interested to see what kind of stuff the city's going to be doing for the holiday. I think I'll go down to the Yellow River and see if there will be any boat races. The Dragon Boat remembers Qu Yuan, who was a high ranking official during the Warring States Period in ancient China. He was living in the state of Chu, and during that time, there were Seven Kingdoms, including the kingdom of Qin, who wanted to conquer the other kingdoms and unite China. Qu Yuan wanted the other kingdoms to unite against Qin, who was the strongest kingdom.  His king and the king's son didn't agree with Qu Yuan's idea and demoted him and he was forced to leave the city. Qu Yuan was very depressed and often worried about the future of his kingdom, so one day he threw himself into the Yangtze River (I believe that's the right river) and drowned himself as a protest against his king. Qu Yuan was a very beloved figure, so many people got in their boats and raced to save him, but it was too late.  While they were trying to find Qu Yuan's body, they threw what's called Zong Zi, or Zhong Zi, depending on where your accent is from....it's a type of food which is sort of a pyramid shaped rice ball made from rice powder, into the river so the fish wouldn't nibble on his body. Now, people hold boat races in order to remember the speed that people employed in order to save Qu Yuan, and eat Zong Zi to also remember him. The boats all have dragon heads mounted on the front (I don't know the word for it), so the festival eventually got the name Dragon Boat festival.  PS - for some reason, my proxy is no longer working, so I cannot check Facebook or put up more videos on YouTube P.P.S - Here's the video!