Do you know the way to Tianshui?

Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood.

- Daniel H. Burnham

So we're back from Cheng Xian in Gansu province. To get to Cheng Xian from Chengdu is a 16 hour train ride and then another 2 hour car (or bus) ride after that. The train ride was long but tolerable. You see, most people in China travel by train rather than by plane. When riding the train in China you have a choice of 4 different accomodations: hard seat (the cheapest, an uncushioned seat,) soft seat (several hours in a train can be hard on the ol' caboose if you get my meaning,) hard sleeper (one of 6 beds crammed into a tiny area. Despite what the name implies, there is a mattress. Hard sleeper is the most common choice,) and soft sleeper (4 beds in a room with a closing door. For the fancy well-to-do clientele.) We rode hard sleeper as we are not fancy.

If you look at a map you'll see that the distance between the two cities isn't all that far. The problem is that there are so many mountains that there isn't a direct route. As it was, we went through several tunnels on our trip and yet we still wound around mountains all day long. Even so riding the train isn't the worst way to go. You can kick back and sleep or read or go to the dining car. The only problem is that it is time consuming.

Several of us went down to the dining car to play cards and maybe have some food. At the start, the waitress and staff seemed not to care for us very much. They refused to talk to us, serve us very much and they told us to go away. We ordered some food and started being friendly with the staff and they had a change of heart. By the end of our journey the waitress (who the rest of the staff referred to as "Little Fatty." She wasn't offended by it and even answered to it. Hey, that's China!) and the staff were playing cards with us and giving free advice and free food. Perhaps they came into contact with some other foreigners who weren't very kind. Either way, the wounds were healed. Score one for the Peace Corps!

Cheng Xian is pretty remote, but despite that it is a very nice town. I tried to get an estimate of the population. The closest that I could get was that the city and surrounding county have about 200,000 - 250,000 people. That is about the size of Boise, except the city has far fewer buildings and businesses. Most people who live outside of the city are farmers who go into town for business. Speaking of which, here is an interesting fact about China: with 1.3 billion people, it is the largest country in the world (as I'm sure you know.) The thing is that China manages to feed the entire population (very well too) using just the 17% of land that is arable. How? Well one very convenient solution is night soil.

We will be the first Americans to live in the city. There are a couple of VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas - the British Peace Corps in this case) volunteers and there are a couple of Amity Foundation (a Christian volunteer group) volunteers on the way as well.

The folks at Longnan Gaodong Shifan (Longnan Teachers College) have set us up with a very nice apartment and they have been very kind to us so far. We are on the 6th floor on campus, so work will only be a short walk. Many people in the U.S. would be envious of such a commute. I will teach several sections of Oral English to start. I may try to get a U.S. history or U.S. culture class next semester. We'll see how it goes.

Our week there was pleasant. We were able to see the town and relax on our own for a bit. I was able to read two books during the week. If you need a history fix check out The Devil in White City. I started reading it before I left but was never able to get too far into it. Now I wish I had. It is about the 1893 Columbian Exposition Fair. So much happened there to shape the U.S. It is astounding. For those of you out there with a more macabre curiosity (Ashley B.) there is a serial killer involved too. The best part about it (the book, not the killing) is that it is all true. The other book I read was A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby. It wasn't too shabby either.

All of the travel that we have gone through in the past two months really makes me think about the notion of what home is. Anyone who has travelled often in their lives can probably tell you home isn't as much about where the place happens to be as much as how you feel when you are there. In my opinion, if you live in an area where you feel that you are safe and also a part of the community, the feeling of home develops rather quickly. If you stay bottled up where you live, you are more likely to be homesick for the past and, therefore, miserable. If you have a change in your life, make the best of it. Don't dwell on the way it "used to be." Maintain your old connections but forge ahead and make new ones too. I just thought I'd share.

Peace out baby!

Photos: We are experiencing some technical difficulties. I'll add the photos as soon as I can.