Alright, well... I recall that the last thing I wrote on this blog was that I would try to get back up and writing the blog again after returning to China in the Fall. I knew it would take awhile to get settled in, but I probably should have predicted that it would take a lot longer than I predicted (if that's possible). In any case, It's now the end of January and this is the first post I have made since returning.
To quickly update: the new job is going well and I'm pretty well settled in now. The new town is not as comfortable as the old one, of course, but that could change. Only time will tell. I like the increase in income that I've gotten from the move, but I'm missing my friends in Chenzhou terribly. Yueyang simply doesn't have anything here that interests me. But more on that later. Much later.
For now, I want to update everyone on what's happening. The end of January means that Spring Festival is at hand. That means vacation time for foreign teachers. Now I had planned before I left the United States to travel throughout Vietnam with friends during the Spring Festival but, as plans often do, these fell through. So in the last month or so I was left to decide where to spend the three weeks I would have for Spring Festival.
One of my favorite times in China has been the year I didn't leave, but instead spent the holiday with Chinese friends in Chenzhou, who I assume would have been happy to have me join them again this year. Chinese New Year begins the Spring Festival and it lasts about two weeks, ending the the Lantern Festival. Those two weeks are usually spent with family. In this sense, the Spring Festival is like Christmas. But it's also New Year's, complete with fireworks. But people travel home from long distances during this time, so it's also a bit like Thanksgiving. If there's any holiday or event that you look forward to all year (I'm thinking of you, burners), it's also like that, as this is definitely the holiday that gets the most attention in China. Probably more so than Christmas in the West. It's sort of like all our most important holidays rolled into one.
During the two weeks of Spring Festival, Chinese extended families have daily feasts where everyone comes around and spends the better part of the day hanging out, drinking and eating. If you go to grandma's house for Thanksgiving with all you're aunts and uncles, you can imagine everyone doing that every day for about two weeks and you'll have some idea of what goes on during the spring festival. Except one day everyone will meet at grandma's house, then the next day everyone will meet at your aunt's house, then you're cousin's house, then your house, and so on and so forth until pretty much everyone has hosted. And don't forget the fireworks. A wide assortment of fireworks are on offer at every shop in town and they're being shot off constantly all over town. Throughout the day and on into the night people are shooting off fireworks. And, of course, there's the travelling. Pretty much everyone who lives away from home returns home for the Spring Festival celebrations. You do not want to be travelling in China during the festival. All train stations, bus stations, and airports will be packed with unimaginable numbers of people. Getting a ticket on anything will be nearly impossible for the majority of the holiday. If you haven' t already booked something, you're probably out of luck. And then there's the fact that everyone is home for the holiday, so everything that can be closed is. Don't expect to get anything done during the holiday. Government offices are shut, as are stores and restaurants. If you're going to remain in China for the holiday, have a plan for survival as well as Chinese friends to spend the time with.
Which, of course, I want to do again some day in the future. However, since I no longer live in Chenzhou, and I don't really know anyone in Yueyang, I would have to get a room for the full two weeks in Chenzhou in order to remain there for the holiday. I would be away from the comforts of home, paying to stay in a place where there was nothing open, and none of the normal vacation distractions. I decided that staying in China for the holiday wasn't in the cards this year. Maybe not until I return to Chenzhou, in fact.
I was considering booking a short vacation in Japan or South Korea which would have cost considerably more that past vacations I've taken to Southeast Asia when the temperatures around here plunged to freezing highs during the day. Now, many of you reading this may not understand what the problem is with freezing temperatures. After all I lived for several years in Salt Lake City, Utah, which is a ski destination. Freezing is no big deal there. But in this part of China, decent insulation is a rarity. And the wall-mounted heating units that are the norm in apartments are insufficient to keep the temperature comfortable. That, combined with the fact that most businesses and other public buildings don't usually use the heaters anyway, mean that it's very difficult to every really get warm when temperatures drop.
With that as my backdrop, I took the advice of a close friend and booked a trip to the Philippines. I've never been before, so I'm excited to see a new place. The past year has been a little hectic, so I'm planning to do more relaxing and less touring on this trip, but I also plan to travel around a bit. I'll be stopping in Chenzhou for the night to see friends on my way to the airport, but only one night. The rest of the three weeks we have off will be spent in the Philippines and mostly on beaches. I'm really looking forward to the chance to relax and hope to return with a renewed attitude and ready to finish out the school year.
I won't be posting on this blog while I'm gone, as I've decided to reserve this speace for experiences in China, but if you're interested in what I do in the Philippines, you can always follow my travel blog, which I'm just getting started. Unlike this blog, in which I would like to post frequently and fail, my travel blog is one in which I only ever planned to make several posts while on vacation a couple of time a year. And fail.
In any case, as usual, I am going into this with the best of intentions to make posts and show something interesting on the trip so keep fingers crossed that I manage to put aside some time and do that. I'll actually be travelling alone, so hopefully I'll be looking for something to kill the time with while lying on the beach. Maybe this can be it.
Or just a nap.
