Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Zebra Music Festival and Hong Kong

This last weekend was Labor Day weekend in China. As far as I could see it's celebrated in about the same way as the U.S. No school, no work, jut some time off. So I decided to labor my way to Chengdu for the Zebra music Festival. A few of us (foreign teachers) rented tents and slept at the festival campground. I shared a tent with a local Peace Corp volunteer, Natasha. We were cozy and snuggled in her hot pink tent, ready to slumber the night away. The skies had a different plan for us. Around 4 in the morning it began to rain. This would have been no big deal if 1. We weren't using crappy Chinese tents and 2. We had remembered to put the rain fly over the tent. So at first the sprinkles were merely annoying but then it started to downpour.....straight through the mesh canopy known to the Chinese as a tent. We were drenched in seconds and I said "ok, grab your bag, find a dry tent and I"ll see you in the morning. " 1, 2, 3 go! into the eye of the storm. I ran for my friends American made tent: a 2 person North Face. Were there already two people in there? Yes, but it was dry! So the three of us sandwiched ourselves in and watched the lightning show. I didn't really sleep but I was drying off, which at that time was more comfortable than catching zzz's. Things dried off the next morning and we managed to successfully evade the security/ticket checkers and hung around for most of the day. Until the rain started again....that'll be enough camping thanks, off to a hostel! All in all we had a blast enjoying the music, the food, the company and of course the Jagermeister booth.

A few weeks ago I took a plane down south to visit Hong Kong! Hong Kong is a very metropolitan city, half Chinese/half Western. It was soooooo nice to be back in a place that actually functions. The cars do what the road signs say. People dont' honk. No one is spitting or blowing their nose on you. They have Egyptian, Irish, Mexican, French, Australian, American, Italian food....everything and anything you could want exists in Hong Kong. It's fantastic.
Mostly we did a lot of shopping and eating (I got an awesome gift for you Wendy!) But I also made a trip to Hong Kong Disneyland! It's only 5 years old, but everything at all the Disney parks always looks fresh so you couldn't really tell. The castle is very small and there aren't many rides but I could still feel the magic. There's tons to do in Hong Kong and we only made a dent so I hope I can return someday soon!

My time here in China has flown by and I'm almost at the one month countdown to head home. My classes are all going well, this week we're discussing/debating controversial statements and the right way to express your opinion. The weather is very hot and humid, but at least the sun is out. Hope all is well with you! Zai jian!

p.s. The internet has not been working well since the recent events in the Middle East so I apologize for the delay in posts!