A funny thing happend on the way to China...

It's getting worse. Wanderlust. Travel Bug. World's most expensive solution to boredom? Whatever you call it, I've always had it. I remember skipping high school to travel around north Georgia or spend the day in the bohemian neighborhood in Atlanta. I remember getting off work early at a third shift job and driving from Atlanta to New Orleans for the day just because I hadn't been anywhere in a while, as well as a road trip from Atlanta to Key West (15 hr drive) to be able to go somewhere.

I have had the good fortune to be able to travel more than a lot of people. I've traveled a bit around the US, Europe, South America, and even China. And it was that last one that snagged me. I and a former partner were able to go to China for a two week vacation about five years ago. And it was an amazing trip. But I felt like our feeble two week vacation was barely an introduction to that amazing and vast country. Using my superior vacation planning skills, we were able to spend time in Shanghai, inland to Xi'an, and over to Beijing. We saw the top tourist sites in the country, and traveled by train right alongside locals. We only saw tourists and other westerners infrequently. The right way to travel, in my opinion. And yet, it also seemed like we were invited to have dinner at someone's house and never made it past the foyer. Of all the places I've been, I wanted most to return to China. I wanted to see if I could fill in those gaps and see the rest, the bit beyond the foyer.

And then that opportunity arose. I heard of a program the connects people from Utah (where I was living) to schools who need English teachers in Hunan Province, China. I signed up for the program and within a month of hearing of the program I was stepping off the plane in Changsha, capital of the province. The next morning David (say it with a French accent, he studies French, not English) came to pick me up at my hotel and whisk me off to the super fast high speed trains China has become famous for. It turned a four hour car ride into an hour and five minutes on the train.

From the very beginning, I knew that things weren't going to be the same in China as at home, or as my previous experience in China. Even as we pulled away from the hotel on our way to the train station, we were winding through six lanes of fairly high speed traffic. All the cars were moving in one direction, but the mopeds and scooters were not taking the directional suggestions of traffic laws terribly seriously. And then there were the business ladies. That's not a euphemism. There were about a dozen ladies who looked as if they were dressed for a day at the office, complete with high heels, relatively modest mini skirts and briefcases who were walking the street. Not the sidewalk. The street. Down the middle of the street. Towards the even busier intersection ahead. Cars were whizzing around them, themselves not terribly well ordered or observing the lanes, which seemed to be an idea someone thought up long ago that didn't quite work out. And David navigated around it all, intent on getting us to the station in time.

It was at that moment that I knew I would have to be ready at a moment's notice to take pictures of the craziness and excitement around me. I have a crappy phone for pictures, but I intend to get a decent camera for this. In any case, I will endeavor to show everything I can't describe in words, which I expect to be quite a lot. Questions are encouraged, though I don't expect I'll be able to answer them all. I'm here for the next ten months, so wish me luck and stay tuned!