Shell in China

Monday, October 02, 2006

Lanzhou was the way to go!




This week is a holiday in China that celebrates National Day. ND is officially October 1, but the holiday is three days long. Many colleges, including ours, give the students the entire week off so that they can go home and visit family. We are lucky because we get the week off and don't have to do make-up classes. At some universities, the students and teachers have to make up their Thursday and Friday classes because officially the holiday is only three days long. Make-ups are usually held on weekends, so it is nice we didn't have to do that! Since it is a holiday, we decided to go into Lanzhou and visit everyone there! It is reunion time!! :) (Well, and there is the draw of the cheese alley that pulled us that way! More on that later...)

On Friday, we taught our classes and then headed to the bus station. The bus was an hour late leavning town, but we were eventually off on what turned out to be an eight hour trip to Lanzhou. Our students all told us to expect six hours, but it took eight. The bus made a lot of mini-stops along the way to let people out. There are many small villages that are off of the highway, so people buy a ticket on a bus that goes on that highway and then just ask the driver to stop when we pass their home. The drivers seem to not have a problem with it at all. It does mean that the trip takes longer because the people are always getting off. (People along the side of the road at these villages also flag the bus down and get on. Sometimes they just ride to the next village and sometimes they ride to the end.) We got into Lanzhou two hours later than we thought, so the people who were supposed to meet and pick us up had left. ( I don't blame them a bit-- I would have too!) So, we started making phone calls, but all the PCVs were at a special dinner for foreign teachers, so no one was home. After an hour of calls and hanging out, we finally got a hold of someone and they came down to meet us. That night we all went to Pierce's apartment and played cards and just hung out with nearly the entire group. We were staying at Angie's house, so around 3AM we took a cab back there. (The busses in Lanzhou stop really early, so anything after 11 means cab, which is crappy because they are more expensive, but it is the way of the city.) Angie's place was nice and she has a steaming hot shower, so that was fabulous!! :)

On Saturday, no one got moving too early since we were all out together until 3AM. We met some of the group for lunch at a KFC downtown. (KFC is the only western food in many cities here. I am not sure how they got the bid, but they are common in large cities.) We did some random wandering and shopping (didn't really buy anything) and then we met the entire group for pizza for dinner! Yeah for pizza! Lanzhou folks have access to western stuff often, but they don't go because it is so expensive. We all decided to splurge as some of us never see that stuff! Pizza was good...not as great as in the States, but it was a nice change. Then, we went back to Pierce's for poker again. Getting back to his place was an adventure. There is a bit of foreigner prejudice in town. We had the hardest time getting a cab. They wouldn't stop for us, but then they would stop 50 yards up the road and let a Chinese person in! Ack! We ended up catching a bus (I think the last of the night). The bus was really a mini-bus that had well over 50 people on it! Thad had a seat and I sat on his lap and then Derek sat on mine! The entire bus was that crowded!! The picture shows us all cramped on the bus. Derek moved so we could take it, but add him to my lap and you have a much more accurate view of the ride we took. We left about 3AM again, but I guess the poker game went on until 7AM! Needless to say, none of them were up early on Sunday!
On Sunday we made a trek to the blackmarket cheese alley. The PCVs in Lanzhou have found this little place in a back alley in the middle of town that sells cheese! The thing is, they sell cheese in GIANT quantities, so you need to take people to split it with! We think maybe the place is a supplier for a restaurant or something, but it is hard to tell. They don't seem to have enough inventory to acutally supply much to a hotel/restaurant type-set-up, but we also can't come up with why else it would be there. Not that it matters, it means cheese for us! We brought home a nice big chunk of mozzarella and some cheddar. We froze it overnight and it seems to have made the all day bus trip back in good condition. After the cheese run we went out to dinner as a giant group again and then to Kristin's apartment for Coke floats and we watched a terrible movie called Snakes on a Plane. This has got to be the worst cinemaphotography ever produced! Luckily is cost less than a dollar! The idea is that a bunch of poisonous snakes are put on a plane by terrorists and they kill people, except that there is a scene where a guy peeing in the bathroom gets chomped right on the wang and a woman having sex in a bathroom gets bit right on the boob! The group consensus was if she had gone the Hollywood route and had implants, she would have survived. There is a good argument for implants: in case your plane is ever filled with deadly snakes and you are running around without a shirt one, they could save your life. We were laughing hysterically about those! Good times....bad movie, but good times!
On Monday morning we met a few people for lunch and then headed out. The bus left Lanzhou at 1:15 PM and we got into Chengxian about 10 PM. We had to switch buses in TianShui. That bus was supposed to leave at six, but the bus driver decided to have dinner first, so it didn't leave until closer to 7. hehe...Nice! The first bus was roasting hot...no air circulating, but we survived and are now home.
The weekend was a lot of fun and it was nice to see everyone again. We all wished we could have stayed longer, but PC has a policy against traveling within your first three months at site, which I can understand, except that it sucks to have a holiday and not be able to go anywhere! I think we won't see Lanzhou again until Thanksgiving, but the plan is to try to go up for the weekend and have a big dinner with everyone.

Pics- Me and a cute puppy on the bus! (Lanzhou has quite the animal market going on. There are these under-road walkways for the major intersections that have all sorts of puppies and kittens for sale in them. When we went through them I just kep walking--I don' t need the temptation of getting a pet in China! They are cute though...)

Everyone who was in town went out for pizza at Pizza Mira. We made quite a group. The restaurant actually moved people who where sitting at the end table so we could add it to ours for more room!

Me and Angie waiting for the rest of the group in downtown Lanzhou. Angie is the wonderful PCV who put us up for the weekend! Thanks Angie!!

Me and Thad on the VERY crowded bus!
Michelle, 9:21 PM

2 Comments:

The puppy is so cute!! Dad used that pic as wallpaper for our computer screen! love, mom
Mom, at 8:33 AM  
Keegan says "dowg, dowg"!

Kels says "he's cute...I like his collar!"
Kelsey Rose, at 4:20 PM  

Add a comment

Blog of a Peace Corps China volunteer serving as a TEFL teacher in Cheng Xian, Gansu, China.

About Me

My Photo
Name: Michelle Ross
Location: Chengxian, Gansu, CN

In America, I teach 8th grade English and reading and really enjoy spending time with middle school students. Some people think I am crazy for it, but Marsing has a great group of kids and I love being a part of their lives as they grow up! Right now I live in China and teach English and teaching methods to students who want to be teachers. I am here through Peace Corps, which I think is a fabulous experience and something that more people should look into doing! The application process can be a bit of a pain, but it is well worth the time and effort. Check out Peace Corps and give something back to the world that has given you so much!! Teaching runs in the family, as just about everyone is involved in education in one way or another. My dad is retired, but he was a teacher, counselor and principal for 30+ years, my mom is an elementary counselor, my sister and husband are both teachers and my brother will finish his teaching degree this next spring! "Those who can, do; those who can do magic, teach!"

View my complete profile

Archive

My links

Blogger