I learned all of these things during our weekend in Guiyang. Yes, I am tired. Yes, my body aches. And yes, it was one of the funniest experiences I think I've ever had.
The weekend began after Liz and I finished teaching at 10:00 Friday morning. We caught the bus with Kris into Guiyang, a two hour ride, and then we ate lunch before going to Walmart. Walmart has a few things that we cannot get in Anshun such as cheese, American spaghetti, spaghetti sauce, tuna, baked beans, butter, ham, bread, sunscreen, cream cheese, ketchup, mayonnaise, and canned soup. Since it takes two hours and 25 yuan to get to Guiyang, we only go every couple of months, which means that we need to stock up at Walmart. You find yourself evaluating whether or not you want something badly enough to carry it. Even if you take a taxi to Susie and Kara's school where we were staying, you have a 20-minute walk up a pretty steep hill. This explains several of my aches and pains.
At the end of the Walmart extravaganza, the little kid behind me started throwing up. It appeared to be all beans. I have no idea how a child of that size ate so many beans, but they closed the line so I moved to another line. We finally got out of Walmart and decided that we should go to the cheese street (not its actual name). I sat on the cement with our three backpacks and seven grocery bags while Liz and Kris went on a quest for the medium-grade mozzerella. It's not all that great, but we couldn't justify paying 400 yuan ($50) for high quality cheddar. Anyway, the natives apparently really think it's thrilling to see a foreign girl with a ridiculous amount of stuff sitting on the sidewalk, and I started to attract a crowd. Pretty soon, I had a crowd of 20 people all just kind of looking at me. But hey, I just gave two dozen people a story to tell at parties for the next five years.
Thankfully, Liz and Kris returned soon and we took a taxi to Susie and Kara's school. Their campus is much bigger than ours, so when we called to tell them where to meet us, they didn't know where to go. We walked in what we thought must be the right direction. We walked around the track, by the basketball courts with the male military training (where we got a chorus of 50 "hello's"), through the basketball courts with the female military training (where we got a few more "hello's"), and stopped at the sidewalk. After speaking to Susie and Kara, who still had no idea where we were, we decided to find the pond because there is only one pond on campus. The pond was the opposite direction from the way we went and up several hills. After an hour of wandering around, we made it to Kara's apartment and collapsed. Then we had to go to Rebecca's for dinner, so we dropped our stuff and flew out the door. We had a really great curry dinner, and then we waited for the bus until we figured out that it had stopped running. Another bus ran half an hour later, so we hurried to the next bus stop a few blocks away and made the very last bus. We then had to run up the hill so that we could get into the school before the gate closed at 11:30. Once the gate closes, you have to climb the fence, and the fences are dang high so we were really happy that we made it.
Saturday morning was overcast and in the mid-50's, so we decided to do the only logical thing and go swimming in the lake. It was absolutely the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. The water was close to 80 degrees. We rented a boat and paddled out into the middle and jumped off. We swam for half an hour or so and then decided to head back because we were meeting some other teammates for dinner. It was too cold to paddle back, so we grabbed the rope and swam the whole way back pulling the boat. It wasn't as difficult as it sounds, but it was a long swim--15 or 20 laps. Oh yeah, I almost forgot--while we were swimming around (before we started pulling the boat), a motorboat full of Chinese people drove by us and videotaped us.
After we got dressed, I had the privilege of using a squatty potty. This might be easy if you are a boy, but since I've never been a boy, it was kind of an art form. You have to make sure to keep your balance because, well, it's just gross down there, and you have to make sure you lean forward enough. I know you don't want all the gory details, but you will need to know this in the event that you, too, must use a squatty potty. Things were going well until my chapstick fell out of my pocket onto the ground. I couldn't bring myself to pick it up. That stuff goes on your mouth! I decided to sacrifice it to the squatty potty gods. It lived a good life.
Saturday night, we ate dinner and had a ULS meeting. Today (Sunday), we went to fellowship and then ate lunch at Pizza Hut (!) before heading back home. It is so good to be home in our quiet little town. We took a taxi after we got off the bus, and as Kris said, "You know you are in Anshun when you drive on whichever side of the road you want." Thank goodness I don't have to teach tomorrow! We are heading to town after Liz is done teaching at noon to go to the market and pay our phone bills. I promise more on the roach problem (which may be conquered), the bike ride, and the lake at Anshun. Right now, I am going to hit the sack. 'Night!
Oh yeah, one more thing...when we were taking the taxi from Walmart to the school, we were stopped at a light next to a bus. A little boy who was probably 10 was hanging out the window staring at us, and when the light turned green, he yelled "I love you!" Maybe you had to be there...it was funny.
posted by Sara @ 4:55 AM
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