Things

This weekend we went to visit the Zhaozhou (Jaow-joe) bridge build around 600 AD. It’s the oldest bridge in the world of its type and it’s the oldest bridge in China. Pictures: http://nwcollege.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2003466&l=4f6aa&id=167100581. To illustrate the importance of this bridge to the Chinese: In the history book I am reading, there is a picture of it; many of the participants in one of my classes could name the man who made it; every Chinese I’ve talked to know exactly what the bridge is. It pretty much rocked. More information is included within some of the photos, so don’t skip too many!

That evening we took two of our Chinese friends, both students at this university, to Pizza Hut. They’d never had pizza. They really liked it! Of course, so did we. The first thing I thought when I took my first bite was, “God Bless America.” There are two Pizza Huts, a few McDonalds, and even more KFC. KFC is huge over here. The Pizza Hut was fancy: you sat down and ordered, the food was great, and they served fancy things like escargot. One of the McDonalds we went to actually sat us down and took our orders.

I love this country.

This week is more teaching. I think tomorrow a few of us have the morning off and are going to run into town to shop. Who knows what we’ll find. Yesterday, I was delayed and missed the rest of the team when they left. We were in another part of town. I really wanted to go to the store, so I hoped a taxi (the main mode of transportation) and went by myself. I wasn’t worried, because at this point it’s old hat. Nonetheless, it was fun. Observations: I’m better with remembering places than I thought. Thankfully. The taxi driver dropped me off somewhere I was only vaguely familiar with, but I found my landmarks. The school is about 20km north of the main areas of the city.

I have a bruise on my arm from playing volleyball. It was a blast, but obviously I have bad form. Highlight: Right when I started trash talking, I totally missed a shot. Teach me!

This will be short. Things have been relatively quiet, at least as far as what can be said. I’ll write again soon. Things are never quiet for long.