A Bunch of Randomness and A Happy Halloween!

I know, it's been a long time since I put a post up, but you know, things in East Asia are busy these days! Today was Halloween and we had a party to celebrate together. David dressed as one of the Drill Guards that are really like doormen at each of our buildings, Matt was a pilgrim, Anna was a western girl, Beth was a rapper thug, Kelly was a Bama fan (she went to Auburn, but it was also to poke fun at a friend), and I was the Turkey Bowl. You might be thinking, "what? the Turkey Bowl?" Let me explain. Each year it is tradition here in our region to have a football game around Thanksgiving between the guys from SEC schools and the guys from ACC schools; a game we call the Turkey Bowl. Halloween is not celebrated here, so costumes are a little on the harder side to come up with, let alone put together and execute. So the other day, I woke up and thought, I'll be the Turkey Bowl. How in the world I gerry-rigged this costume, I still don't know. I spent an entire afternoon hunting down the things to make an attempt at a turkey costume and a bowl to put around me. It looked so easy in my head! It worked though and I gave all the people in our square a good laugh and got some good points and stares as I walked along in my turkey outfit as they kept calling me a chicken. (They don't have turkeys here). And as a result of everyone liking the costume so much, I've now been elected to be the Turkey Bowl SEC mascot this year! YAY! Hmm, let's see....I know there's more to tell you about....like how I went to the orphanage this past weekend and taught some of the kids there how to play musical chairs and the Hokey Pokey. You'd think it would be sad to go there, but it was such a fun time to love on them and just be with them. I could tell they had a great time too! Afterwards I went with a friend to the zoo finally. So you can't actually play with the pandas, that was a lie I believed from the internet. The day was a little cloudy, but when we got there, the sky cleared and the sun came out. It was perfect to just spend time enjoying some of Dad's creatures, although I've got mixed emotions about the whole thing. It's really sad to see a lion in a cage smaller than the size of my living room. It didn't make sense because the Pandas and Tigers got these huge habitats (well, huge in comparison)...anyhow, for the first time ever, I saw two Hippos also! We had some friendly encounters with two giraffes which was probably my favorite part besides the Orangutuan that pulled a piece of burlap around him like a cape, but over his head. looked like he was cold even though it was a warm day! I had some good conversations and a great trip to my city's first Wal-mart on that day as well. Don't be deceived though...it's VERY different than the Wal-mart's in the States. All this said, I've had some pretty good adventures to tack onto the last few days, with much certainty that many more will follow.

The Incident Pictures

So here are the "before" and "after" pictures as well as my free flying experience. Enjoy!

Two Weekends Of Humble Pie: The REAL Update

Well you can be sure I'm learning a lot of humility because I'm about to share with you exactly how much my pride's been sucked right down the drain. I guess we'll work from last weekend. My team and I went to the mountain I'd talked about hiking in an earlier post for a little R&R and some planning time (also the fellowship and fun). Friday night we headed up to the top of Geleshan to the hotel. By the time we got there it was dark and to get to the hotel, you must cross this bridge that is hanging between one part of the mountain to another. Being as dark as it was, we had no idea how high up this bridge was. I've included a picture, but just to help you imagine, think of the bridge to the castle where Fiona is waiting to be rescued in the movie Shrek...this was just like that, all swaying, old, and rickety but minus the boiling fiery lava below. The next morning I realized it wasn't quite as high as I'd thought, and was secured by some pretty hefty cable wires, so nothing to fear.
So we played a card game called Dutch Blitz that night and awoke the next morning for some mountainside fun, or so I thought. Two things we really wanted to do: Forest Karts and Free Flying (both to be explained in a minute). We headed to the Forest Karts first. These are like dune buggies, much bigger than the average go-kart. You can see us in our pictures, we look like life-sized Lego Men with our yellow helmets. There were four of us: David, Matt, Anna, and I. The guys running the deal told Matt that women couldn't drive, and Matt quickly assured him that we had vehicles of our own in the States, and that in fact, we were definitely capable of driving these....and you can see where this is going. The fellas headed down the mountainside on their ride, while Anna and I eagerly anticipated our turn. When the guys came back around, we hopped into our two-seater buggy and took a quick picture, then hit the gas and went bumping down the trail. I should preface the rest (in my defense, though not to justify) in saying that it had rained the night before and the trail was wet and slippery. About a third of the way down, we rounded a corner and began to slide. Before I knew it, there was nothing I could do to keep us going straight and BAM! we nailed a tree and it won. It was the first actual vehicular collision I'd ever been in (apart from bike wrecks). Anna and I both had a day or two's worth of headache and whiplash and I swore at that moment that I'd never drive anything in this country again. The trees and underbrush prevented the guys from seeing what had happened, but they definitely heard it and got pictures of us as we stumbled back up the trail on our walk of shame. I had just confirmed anything these Asian men (and American men for that matter) had ever thought about women drivers. I'd just ruined the chances of any girls ever getting to drive the Forest Karts again. What an accomplishment! After I brushed the dirt off my shoulder and cowboyed up to my responsibility for the wreck, we headed back up the mountain to go free flying, which is really only a long-distance zip line...but oh-so-awesome. It extended from one mountaintop to another and is over three football fields long with a drop of about 100-something feet. There's a couple pictures of this in action as well. This was so much fun, though my head still throbbed from our bump into the tree; good thing for the helmets. (And glad I'm telling this after-the-fact so my mom won't worry.) So we returned home to crash (not literally this time) and rest from the adventures of the day. And I'll never stop hearing about what is now being referred to as "The Incident" for the rest of the year. At least my Dawgs won the next morning! Ok, so another slice of humble...THIS weekend. I was supposed to go out of town to Xi'an with all the girls for a weekend of just hanging out and getting to be tourists. Yesterday (Friday), Anna and I were going to meet Kelly and Beth at the airport. That morning I had sent Beth a message to remember her passport, to which her reply was that she'd forgotten and could I please get it for her? After lunch I came home and my sole responsibility for our trip was to make sure we had the address of our hotel printed off in characters so we could show the taxi driver how to get there. I was having some internet problems and it took 45 minutes to complete the task. (Did I mention I had approx. 1 hour to pack up and be at the travel agency?) So with 15 minutes left, I was frantically trying to stuff everything in a bag and take off. I remembered to get Beth's passport, but in my hurry, I saw hers sitting on my bed and shoved it in my bag thinking I had my own also. We got all the way to the airport (another 45 min. away) when I met Beth, gave her her passport, and then realized what had happened. I'd left mine back at our house. To make the story short, the airlines wouldn't allow me to fly, I couldn't go standby on another flight, the train to Xi'an had already left, and the flights the next day were too late and expensive to even attempt. So the girls are at this moment in Xi'an and I am here with the guys. Two weeks in a row I screwed up beyond belief and have no one to blame but myself. So, my head is obviously filled with marbles, but my language is getting better! And despite all this, it's been a great weekend thus far! I went with some friends to the orphanage this morning (I love little Asian kids...they're so CUTE!) and even though we didn't get to play with the kids due to some administrative confusion, we'll get to go next weekend, so I'm really looking forward to it. Spencer's mom is in town and is a professional massuese (sp?), so I'm about to head over to get a massage! Tonight the Dawgs play again, and so it's been, without a doubt, crazy yet wonderful. Plus I found out I get to be in two of my best friend's wedding and I got to talk to my dad on his birthday yesterday! YAY! Haha. I love this place. Come What May. I'm having photo difficulties, so I will get the Incident pics up soon.

Cooking Asian Style

I had some friends over yesterday because they offered to make me some Asian dishes for lunch. They cooked some of my favorite things like dan chao fan (fried rice), fried eggs and tomatoes, cucumber and garlic, soup, etc. They also made me some stuff I hadn't ever had before, like some leafy vegetable, and lotus root. I can't describe lotus root except that on the outside it looks like a potato and when you cut it open it looks like a bicycle wheel (circular with a bunch of spokes). It doesn't taste like anything I've ever had before, but they cooked it with ginger and garlic and some other stuff, so it was really good. They brought over a fruit too which is called Long Yian (Eye of Dragon), which I've decided I really like. Basically they're about the size of a grape or cherry, and they have a pit like cherries, but you have to peel the skin off the outside because it's tough. They look like brown crabapples. The fruit is a jell-o-y consistency and really sweet, and it's flesh is clear so you can see the dark pit in the middle, making it look like an eye (the name is pretty logical). We had an excellent time. I've made macaroni and cheese for a few of my friends too. The Asians love it! And I never knew how much I loved it until I got here! Well this was a quick post, but definitely notable.

An Update Before The REAL One

Just to let everyone know, I've updated the pictures on the webshots website for you to look at. If you need the website, it's http://community.webshots.com/user/kmfrancis. There will be an explanation for some of these in another post to come, but I'm waiting on some photos from a teammate so that you can more fully understand and enjoy my experiences from our team retreat this weekend. It was a great time and definitely noteworthy, so hold your breath and hang onto your hats, cause the most humiliating moment in Asia is yet to come! By the way....6-0....GO DAWGS! And, for the record, USC is the luckiest team in history...and therefore I can't stand them; they get away with too much, too often, and it's not because they're good at all. Anyhow, I just had to get that off my chest.

Hands Down, One Of The Best Days In Asia

After posting my updated about the Dawgs game, I hit the pillow hard...school to wake up for bright and early. So you know, I usually check my email when I wake up because it is usually during the hours that I am asleep that you are awake and have written me! Well, this morning besides checking my email, for some reason I decided to take a look at the blog, and there's really no reason, as I wasn't really planning an update. BUT, lo and behold, as I pulled up the blog, I discovered a couple comments, one of which was from my dear and awesome brother and the other from my beloved Yellowstone pals, Katie and Christopher with the news I've been Highly anticipating....their gonna do the aisle dance!!! The best thing I could have imagined reading this morning, for sure. Oh happiness! Can I tell you that I'm not sure I would even be this excited if it was ME!? (I guess that's to be foretold.) Anyhow, I was singin songs of joy to Dad all day today. Another great thing: I went to lunch with my friends and we had some really good food that they ordered for me, all my favorites, and I'd never even told them! Amazing. After lunch we headed over to a nearby part of town that is an old wharf area by the river. It's a historical area with a temple up top. The shops were full of antique Asian paintings, coins, teapots, clothes, carvings, jewelry, etc. The weather was great, such a good day for a visit there. I will return shortly to purchase some gifts for friends and family, but I saw all kinds of new things today that I was very interested in. Coins over 2 thousand years old, Asian magic tricks, candy shaped like dragons and birds and turtles, people playing some kind of card game and another game with domino-looking tiles, just all kinds of things. To top it off, I bought my friend that was with me a picture of her name in some painted style, and it was great because she couldn't stop smiling and looking at it the whole way home. I can't wait to go back with my camera so I can take pictures....awesome place. Tonight we will have a new kind of food and later spend time on the roof of another building to have tea and play spades! Here's to new adventures and news of love steaming from Old Faithful (because after all, that's where it all began for those two!).

My Narrative: A Volunteer To Face My Bulldog?

Many of you attend the UGA football games and the last thing you need is a recap of the latest game from the other side of the world, but guess what? I'm giving it anyways (plus, I need to add a post)....so sorry to those non-Dawg fans, but somehow I feel my absence gains me the privilege of sharing my support, as you know how die-hard I am for my alma mater. That said, GO DAWGS! This is how the night began (be prepared, it's full of pointless details!)... After dining on salad and beer bread with the other ladies I have frequent company with, we settled into our jammies and flipped on "Fever Pitch" -without the Asian subtitles- and downed some chocolate chip cookies I had baked earlier that afternoon. At some point during the movie, I popped my Tylenol PMs to knock me out hopefully sooner than later. Remember, I had a 3:30 AM game to prepare for! (Speaking of Tylenol PM, why do they call it that? Sure you take it in the PM, but don't you take it so you sleep through the wee hours of the AM, too? Just a thought.) So back to the game. Come 10:30, I had returned home and snuggled into a nice comatose state, and then the phone rang. It was none other than my brother calling to say, Gooooooo Dawgs!!!, at which point I was more than happy to receive the call. No need to mention that I haven't talked with him in a few weeks. We know what's important: Football. As I said my goodbye and hung up the phone, I quickly fell back into slumber until about 3:10 AM. And then: GAMETIME! My alarm beeped, I sprang from my bed, pulled on my UGA t-shirt, grabbed my UGA blanket, and was out the door in a flash. While the rest of the country (and my roomate, who went to a school that shall not be named) were unconscious, I headed over to the guy's place to watch my Bulldogs in action. Matt, Trum, and David already had breakfast on the counter when I arrived. I poured myself some coffee, grabbed my eggs and bacon, and plopped onto the couch, ready to cheer each and every play. Boy, what a game! Minimal penalties (a rarity if you know the Dawgs at all), amazing defense, stellar special teams, and another big W on the road again, not to mention the thrill of the heated look on Pumpkin Phil's face! Three cups of Starbucks Sumatra with French Vanilla Coffeemate later, my boys had rolled through Neyland Stadium for the third time in a row. Somewhere towards the beginning of the fourth quarter all I saw were an awful lot of Volunteers to leave and go home. What? No one wants to stick around and see the Dawgs set loose from the pound? The road-cone orange-clad were conquered by the barking Bulldog Nation -whom I've determined must surely be the Chosen People, and Athens, the Promised Land. Oh the passion. So, after swapping high-fives with all the guys, I shuffled back home, as the darkness gave way to morning light, with a silly smile on my face and my eyes barely open. I fell into my comfy warm bed and dreamt happy dreams of Red and Black for the rest of the morning; What a night! I don't care if you think I'm a nerd for writing this. Some call it obsession, I call it rock-solid commitment...which now brings to mind Ben from "Fever Pitch" and his beloved Red Sox (of whom I am also a fan, right after the Braves, of course). So it comes full circle, you see. Ok, I'm not that much of a fanatic. Or am I? All I know is that I was born to be a Georgia Bulldog, and yes, my friends, it's great to be one.
Aside: By the way, I didn't get to go to the zoo the other day due to rain, but will post that as soon as I get the chance to go play with the fuzzy cuddly Pandas.
Back to Gameday, I realize there's still over half the season to go, but I am confident and faithful that there's still a lot of good to come. Whoever said you have to be at every game to be a great fan? I'm waking up in the middle of the night to show my support. So, come on, don't be shy...who's with me??? Look at how cute Uga VI is!!! SIC' EM! Woof! Woof! Woof!

People Everywhere!

This is just a quick post, but I got this picture from Matt that he took in our square the other day and had to put it on here, just so you can get a glimpse of how incredibly many people are here....remember 1/5 of the world's population! Amazing!!!

The Happy Song Mountain Hike

That's right, my first hike in Asia! And yes, the mountain is called Happy Song Mountain (Ge Le Shan). It was wet and muddy and completely exhausting, but amazingly fun. My friends and I were planning on this hike for the last week and as the rain came down, we opted to make it an adventure in light of the weather. It was a pretty steep hike, and only two rests the entire time left my out-of-shape body gasping for air, air so thick and humid you'd sweat just standing still, even though it was pretty cool outside. The mountain was thick with underbrush, bamboo and pine trees. Very pretty despite the fact that once on top, I could only see ten feet in front of me. Supposedly there's a cable-car type deal somewhere up top that will bring you back down to the bottom, however; we never found that. We spent four and half hours almost continuously walking. Nowhere to sit during rests because it was so muddy and wet. When we came back down the mountain, we were on some roads that were being repaired, so we were constantly dodging busses and motorcycles as we walked through the streets. I was hopeful during the trip to find a wild panda bear, but those are few and far between, especially right next to a city of thirty-something million people. So I will get my Asian animal experience at the city zoo tomorrow with a friend. It rained almost all day, so returning home was a sigh of relief just to have a warm shower, a meal of soup and salad, and then a relaxing night on the couch watching Batman Begins. What a fun day though....bring on the bamboo adventures!

Kunming: The Asian Asheville, NC

I just got back from visiting Kunming, a city in the southwest. I call it the Asian Asheville for a reason (and no offense to those Asheville folks, either). The reason is that there are so many foreigners (by this I mean caucasians, both American and European) with dredlocks, backpacks, and Chacos riding around on their mountain bikes and chilling out at the French internet cafes, sipping their iced cappucinos and listening to Phish and the Grateful Dead on their iPods. Ok, so that was a generalization about people in Asheville, probably unfair, but hey, I'm aware I'm not politically correct. It's really beautiful there: blue skies, fluffly white clouds, temperatures that make you want to spend every waking (and sleeping) minute outside. No wonder there are so many hippies...it's a great place to be! I got a picture of one of the internet cafes (and yes, I went there and ordered an iced cappucino...guess I've gone "granola" too!)

We didn't get to do much sight-seeing, but soon I will head to Xi'an to see the Terracotta soldiers and other touristy (and for the Y-stone folks "tour-on") places. On the way to the airport I saw this sign that I took a picture of, too. Made me think of home, though obviously not the same.

I didn't get a chance to get pictures of these road signs, but this is what a few have said: "Don't Drinking With Driving," the fast lane is called the "Overtaking Lane," and one of my favorites for driving too fast "Overspeeding Prohibition." Hope those make you smile! Later this week I get to go to the zoo with a friend. YAY! I love animals...can't wait to see some Asian ones like Panda bears! No school this week- it's our equivalent to Fall Break. Hopefully some fun is in store. I just learned how to play spades so I'm ready to take on the others during our free time. Perhaps some more exploration will be possible. Meanwhile, I've got to get some Dead music downloaded to my iPod and start twisting my hair to get the dreds started...ya mon. Have a nice day!