元宵

Happy Hump Day, everybody! And, for those of you who don’t know, I am back in China! Grey, wet, polluted China… yay. No, but seriously folks, I am happy to be back for my last semester here at Hangzhou Normal University. This semester will definitely be full of (more) adventure, fun, mystery and excitement – all of which is going to fly by, I’m certain.

Look at that sky...
you can't even tell it's there.

I arrived in China on Friday afternoon (February 22) at the Shanghai airport. Once there, I went through customs, got my luggage, went through customs again, and found my way to the airport bus station where I bought a ticket back to Hangzhou – all on about four hours of sleep and with burning, bloodshot eyes (don’t you just love travel?) Three hours on a bus and one very full bladder later, I made it to the lovely city of Hangzhou. I caught a taxi (surprisingly quickly, thank goodness!) and had him take me all the way to the front of my apartment building. I then dropped off my luggage in the reception area and ran up to my apartment where I proceeded to have one of the best pees of my life (and I know you can relate to me on this one, guys… haven’t we all had those great, relieving, sometimes even spiritual moments on the toilet? What a great feeling.)


Bladder empty again, I lugged my luggage up to my sixth floor apartment (might I remind you, no elevators) and spent the rest of my evening attempting to defeat jet lag  I grabbed some dinner at a local noodle place, I hung out with one of my co-teachers, and I took a much-needed shower. Finally, I decided I had stayed up late enough (*cough*9pm*cough*) and proceeded to pass out.


The rest of the weekend was sort of a blur of activities that would keep me awake (jet lag is no joke, people). I’m not usually this adamant about fighting off the jet lag, but I had a full day of classes ahead of me on Monday and I did not want to fall asleep in the middle of teaching. So, I spent Saturday and Sunday riding my bike around the city (terrible idea, by the way – my body was way too tired for that), meeting with fellow teachers to talk about the upcoming semester, doing a little shopping, going to the gym to hit the treadmill, etc. By Sunday, I had only taken one nap and it was only for about an hour – which is an amazing feat, for those of you who haven’t experienced jet lag.

Lantern Festival Decorations!

The grand finale of my “stay awake” weekend was Sunday night (obviously) and, it was actually pretty grand! It turns out, Sunday was Lantern Festival – a festival that happens about 15 days after the new year and marks the end of the so-called Spring Festival. Some of my fellow foreign teachers invited me over to their place to set off some fireworks (sweet!). So I spend Sunday evening sitting on the banks of a canal, in surprisingly nice weather, and watching fireworks go off in all different directions (we weren’t the only ones setting them off – they were everywhere!) I will always be surprised by how much joy boys get from setting off fireworks (okay, technically, they’re men – but don’t all men turn to boys when they have fun toys like fireworks to play with?). Personally, I prefer to watch fireworks from a distance (I don’t play with fire… no. way.) And seeing so many fireworks in every direction I look is always a lovely (if not loud) experience.

One more thing about fireworks - their beauty is near-impossible to catch on camera (especially with photographic skills like mine) so I took a video instead! Enjoy the lovely colors, the crazy sparks, and, in one instance, the outrageous nearness of firework to building... only in China. (Also, I just learned that fireworks are actually illegal in China... yes, you heard me correctly: Fireworks are illegal in the country that invented them. What?!? The only time fireworks are allowed is during Spring Festival... figures).

Now it’s Wednesday, and I think I can safely say that I have defeated jet lag – I slept from 10pm last night to 8:30 this morning, which I’d say is normal enough (definitely better than waking up at 5am… and staying up). You haven’t got the best of me this time, evil jetlag… mwahahaha!


So, I think that’s all for now – but I’ll be sure to write again soon! I’ve still got to finish chronicling my summer saga, as well as fill you in on this last semester here at HNU. Until then, everyone – Zaijian!