More Fuzhou

So many things to blog about. Honestly, SOJ readers, I have thousands of photos to see. Photobucket has been a pain in my arse this second leg, so getting things online has been difficult, and the spotty internet connection hasn't helped. So you may just have to borrow the photo DVDs when i get them done and get home.

So a bit more about Fuzhou...

The construction has gotten worse, I swear it. It's louder, starts earlier, ends later... I don't get it. I'm not sure why we couldn't move hotels because this one is ridiculously loud. I'm not sure that the other option would have been better, but it would have reduced the noise by one entire construction site. So I know I haven't been sleeping, and many of us are exhausted because we aren't sleeping. And it doesn't help that the hotel staff comes banging on doors and screaming in Chinese at 9am in the hallway, waking everyone up. Ugh...

we are sharing a floor with the kids. basically, it's adults on one side, kids on the other. it's like in chengdu where we all left our doors open all the time. so i've visited with the kids a lot. we went to an awesome japanese place, quite expensive (i just got a cucumber roll and shrimp roll, but that cost about $7US, more than in the US), but it was traditional japanese. no shoes, sitting on cushions on the floor... the soy sauce i got didn't taste like soy sauce and it took TONS of wasabi to make it taste like something that wasn't sugar.

the other day, some of the girls came into my room and we watched "princess diaries 2" on my bed.

but lest we forget that i accidentally started a monster. so i'm in elitas room, talking with her friend about NYC. but then kids start piling in, and somehow, we end up in a big wrestling match, with jen on the bottom. a couple of the kids left, so it was me and 3. but still, i ended up squished.



so in the end, i'm onthe bottom. when they all finally get off, someone has the brilliant idea that i deserve a massage for playing with them in such a "demanding" way. so i'm told to lay down on my stomach. a soft eye mask is found and put on me. E sits at my head, Z is karate choping my back, and C is told to massage my feet. i was "washed" with freezing cold water than covered in equally cold "massage lotion" (lotion from the nice JW Marriott hotel, but certainly ain't massage lotion! hehe). but thats just not enough. apaprently, i need relaxing music. but S's choice for music was not good enough for the kids, so outdoor sounds were put on, while i was "massaged" for a good 10 minutes or so.

and the monster was born. the girls created a massage company, and has been massing everyone they can get to sign up for a massage, for 3Y! hehe they have business cards and have raised nearly 30Y from what i hear! hehe but i hear it's gotten much better since my experience.

A days ago, a few of us went to visit the White Pagoda here in town. While there, we ran into some Bostonians.. We wer ehoping they'd make it to the show, but tickets are quite expensive to see us, so they won't be able to make it. But they were quite nice. Unfortunately, the pagoda itself is closed, but there were some nice things to see around the area anyway.



The next day, we took a trip to a monestary. It was beautiful. Right as we entered, though, a group of about 10 chinese teens came over and asked for pictures. But not just one or two, they wanted whole combinations of pictures with us. Solos, groups, switching pairs... took a while to get them all taken. We saw baby turtles and some gigantic fish, maybe catfish I dont know. We saw Buddhas and statues. All kinds of things. I have tons of photos.



And today a much larger group trekked across town to visit Gushan Hill, a gigantic mountain that we thought you could only access by cable car (apparently you can walk- who would do THAT though? - and drive). it was fun! the longest cable ride ever, and the views were amazing! i hear the structures were built about 1,000 years ago, which is amazing when you see how far and wooded the mountain was.

it took us forever to get out. we were waiting on late people, and it poured making getting cabs difficult... but we finally got there and began the trek.

we got to the top after about 25 minutes or so, and began to walk around. we were going to find the temple's vegetarian restaurant. on the way, we passed a couple of gates of things to see, but apparently, once you pay for the cable car, you have to pay to see the sights individually as well. so we ended up skipping some things. but we paid to get into the temple area and found the restaurant.

it ended up being family style only, and very expensive. it came out to about 85Y a person, or about $12. Not only was I just not hungry enough to justify $12US of Chinese food, but i just couldn't afford that. my budget for the day was only 100Y and that was already allotted to entrance fees and cab rides.

so while everyone ate, i walked around the temples, which quite frankly, are beginning to all look the same. i'm sure they aren't, but they really all blend together. finally caught up with everyone, but we all got separated again almost right away.

i hung out with a small group, and we went wandering looking for what we were told was the bigger temple and for the waterfall.

so we found a nice looking path and went walking. it was steamy because it had been raining all day. and everything was wet, and covered in mold. we went walking for a while down some skinny paths, and began to get nervous because we weren't getting any closer to anything that resembled a waterfall or a temple, we were just getting swarmed by mosquitos. oh yea, there were really no people anywhere either. but we couldn't see anything except trees and moss-covered paths.

so one group member went ahead to see if we were getting anywhere, otherwise we were going to turn around and go back. he took off, but then we were yelling his name and heard nothing.

it was the start of a movie, a bad horror movie. it was getting late, we were lost, we lost a member of our group... so two more members went ahead to look for the first. now, the 3 boys were gone, and the 3 girls left behind.

we keep calling their names, thinking "geez, we clearly shouldn't go that way. people go that way and don't come back!" but we are getting eaten alive by mosquitos. we have to either go the forbidden way, or turn around and go all the way back (and it was far, too). so we try one last time as we start walking back, and finally hear a "come this way!"

yea, apparently just around the corner was the begining of the long path we'd taken, back by the temple. it was rght there. yup... dorks :) but everyone was safe, so thats all that matters.

we hiked the rest of the way back to the cable cars and took them back down the mountain, hopped in a cab (which i kept nodding off in), and arrived at the hotel, safe and sound. as this was just today, i haven't uploaded photos yet. they'll come soon.

i also learned something new. in this city, i've noticed in every temple we've been to, that there are swastikas everywhere. it's very jolting at first. to see a swastika carved into the chest of a buddha, and carved in jade as a bracelet, or etched in the candles for burning outside the temple doors.

but here is what i learned. the traditional swastika symbol actually represented peace and philanthropy. then, around WW2, the germans "stole" the symbol, rotated it, and it became what we know it to mean today. it's sad that something that meant peace and charity was turned into something so awful. we hadn't realized at first that the symbol was just barely different between the two forms, the buddhist form and the nazi form (which is rotated). http://www.theosophy-nw.org/theosnw/ctg/swas.htm

doesn't make it any less alarming to see it. we wondered what would happen if we bought a piece of jewelry with it on, but it would be REALLY awkward trying to explain the symbol as actually meaning peace and hope and charity. i know i couldn't wear it, even knowing that. it's just too weird.

the shows went well. again, in my infinate dresser luck, i ended up with another friendly but forceful lady (and sort of bossy towards the other dressers). the first show, she wouldn't believe me when i told her which costumes were next, pointing to her sheet and looking quizzically at me. i'm sorry, but i'm the one who's been doing this show for 4 months, it's your first day. you trust me because it's my job to know what i do in the show and when. i was almost late on stage twice because i had to argue with her and force costumes our of her manly grip so i could put them on for my scene. the second night she followed quite nicely. the third night, she helped with my first two changes, then, i rarely saw her again. the rare times i DID see her, i was already dressed, and she started fiddling and doing things and i'd have to run away because she would actually try to undress me! crazyness. but she was very friendly, so i could still appreciate her.

this city also had advertisements with our cast on it! very exciting for us.

i also wanted to share a couple of other photos while i'm here.


This woman, if you can see, is carrying two live birds in a plastic bag. yes, live birds, in a plastic bag, walking down the street. odd.


but this man, as typical of many young chinese men attached to a woman, is not only carrying her purse without shame, he is also carrying her parasol and tending to the child so she can walk freely. if we could only teach the value of these simple acts to american men.


one of our show ads.


so at the beginning, i brought you photos of a chinese squat pot. dating back to pre-squat pot, you had troughs. yes, troughs. where you do your business in a slot in the ground that passes through several slots of the stalls on either sides and out to wherever waste goes. well, here are some chinese troughs. it was an old building, but the bathrooms were made fairly new, like recent renovations. and yet, when they renovated, they forgot modern toilets, and doors.