Feb. 19 posted by Huang on behalf of Mallory

Hello everyone! I hope you enjoyed my last journal entry, though I apologize for its brevity and generalization (as I only had a short amount of time to write). However, this time I have all the time in the world...I’ll set the stage for you: I am sitting on a nice comfortable chair, sipping my hot milk tea and eating my “skinny” blueberry muffin, listening to some barely audible music- all enjoyed in the fabulous coffee shop we know as Starbucks. I am able to connect to the wireless internet capabilities Starbucks has to offer, and I believe I will be ever grateful to this chain of expensive pastries, teas, and coffees!

It took me about thirty minutes to get to Starbucks. I walked from my apartment to the metro, navigated through the metro, and then arrived at this glorious site (all on my own, I might add). I believe I am finally getting used to the surroundings and feel comfortable in adventuring out in them solo. Furthermore, I must add that I am very careful and take all safety precautions (okay, Mom?). While it is interesting coming from the fields and back roads of Sinking Spring to the hustle and bustle of a city populated with 100,000,000 people (more than I originally thought), I have enjoyed it and am slowly becoming a “big city girl” ;).

Now, I would like to rewind a bit. I would like to describe many of my experiences in detail, so brace yourself for information overload!

2-5-08: We arrived in the Guangzhou airport at 10:15 pm. I had been awake for about 30 hours at that point. So, I probably don’t need to project too much detail about my feelings at that point, I’m sure you can get the picture. Believe it or not, it was pretty easy navigating through the airport. We were picked up by LiWenge and her friend. They took us to our home for the next week or so- apartments located on the campus of my school, Guangdong Teacher’s College of Foreign Language and Arts. While the conditions were a bit rough, we were all glad to get a shower and finally sleep! Jess and I didn’t go to bed until about 2:15 am...33 hours awake and counting.

2-6-08: My birthday! I almost forgot about it! My mom sent a couple of presents with me, so Jess and I had a mini birthday party. We (the SSU clan) were met by Han and Evan (graduate students at South China Normal University), Mary (LiWenge’s 12 year old niece), and Andrew (Prof. Qiang’s 20 year old nephew, who is an undergrad in Shanghai). They all were eager to “practice their English” with us, “the experts”. They took us to a traditional Chinese breakfast and then to the New Year Flower Festival. The festival was very busy and very beautiful. There were so many different kinds of flowers and plants.

Knowing that we would need the necessities in our apartments, our Chinese friends took us to the supermarket to buy the staples for survival. Okay, talk about shock...Black Friday in America has nothing on a Chinese supermarket any day of the week! It was so chaotic! I felt dumbfounded at times, but we made it through with all of our needs in hand. We ended the evening with a New Year dinner at LiWenge’s home. The food definitely takes getting used to!

2-7-08: We met our new Chinese friends again, with the addition of Zhu (a graduate student at South China Normal University). They took us to Baiyun Mountain. It is tradition and considered good luck to climb the mountain. They Chinese say climbing the mountain will provide success as well. So you better believe I’ll have a great year ;). Altogether, it took us about 3 hours to go up and then back down the mountain. There were so many people on the mountain, but then again, there are so many people EVERYWHERE! We had dinner at LiWenge’s again. She is such a gracious host and is very kind. During dinner our Chinese friends decided it was easier to call me Mal, which sounds like Meow, which became my new nickname! Ha ha ha! Everyone now calls me Meow...It could be worse, I suppose.

2-8-08: Today our Chinese friends took us to a place I only know as “a famous garden in Guangzhou” (sorry about that!) It was very beautiful with ornate structures and flowers. Jess and I agreed that it was “when we think of China, this is what we think of” (if you can follow that!) We also ate a wonderful lunch! Next we went to the riverfront in Guangzhou. It was very lovely and would be a good place to go on a date! We bought sugarcane from a street vendor, which was actually very tasty. You take a bite, suck the sugar out, and then spit the roughage out. It wasn’t a very lady-like thing to do, I assure you. We spent the evening at LiWenge’s and ate supper. I taught Mary and Andrew the card game called Spoons. They really enjoyed it!

2-9-08: We got off to a bad start - no electricity! That means no shower, no miniature heater :(. We met Sharon, another graduate student today. She took us to an ancestral temple from the 1800s. It was very ornate and beautiful, of course. We had lunch at the house of a former student of Prof. Qiang’s. She then took us to her workplace, a kindergarten. At this particular kindergarten, 3-6 year olds live on the campus Monday-Friday! Can you believe that! It is reserved for government officials’ children only. The campus was incredible. I would have loved to go to kindergarten there (all except for having to live on campus). In the afternoon we went to the “biggest park in Guangzhou” where we saw the famous Five Goat Statue. It was a very nice park. I will enjoy going there when the weather is warmers. We went to LiWenge’s again for supper and we finally washed our clothes! On this night Mary wanted me to help her read a selection fro her school book, she is a very sweet child.

2-10-08: BAD DAY!! My debit card was eaten by the ATM machine! Talk about an internal freak out! Thankfully I was able to act swiftly by calling my mom and asking her to take the precautions needed to put the card on hold. THANKS TO MOM AND DANDAN FOR FIGURING EVERYTHING OUT! To be completely frank, I can’t remember much from this day other than losing my card, so sorry about that!

Okay, so my fingers are tired! Look forward to an additional post in the near future describing the rest of my days. I shall enjoy the comforts of Starbucks for a bit longer...