A blog entry that I will write at another time has to do with this statue. Part of the huge building that is going on in China is also the creation of these new historic parks. Basically, to help develop tourism internally, the local governments in China are basically developing these scenic parks in which they design new copies of old buildings and charge huge prices for the public to come and view them. This is a picture of one of the statues in such a park. I will send more pictures of this at another time. Its an interesting thing to watch out for in China--the land of imitation.


This little girl is from the school where I was an acting judge for a compitition. She was by far one of the cutest. They teach these kids how to speak English through action--so they learn songs and action moves to go along with them. Think Britney Spears on Star search.






Two of my favorite students. Natalee and Honey. I play badminton with them once a week. I have gotten to be quite good at badminton lately. It is a lot of fun.







Ahhhh, the Chenzhou bus. Lovely isnt it? This shot was taken just yeasterday as I went to the city to buy my bus ticket and as I suspected, there was a thief on the bus. He was caught trying to steal someones cell phone. Too bad I didn't get him in the picture!!




The school gate and Ms. Fiona, one of the people that works in the foreign affairs office at the University. We had lunch this afternoon and I took this picture of her outside of the gate.







The last week has been very busy with school work and trying to keep warm in this ever changing climate. Although it has not gone below freezing, I am constantly either too warm or too cold as the flat does not hold any heat for very long. This is the case over most of China-- I have a nice flat, but no insulation whatsoever.
The heaters are the air conditioners that now have the heat element hooked up, but they merely blow a little hot air into the room, circulating the cold air. It keeps the temp from just where you can see your breath, but not much higher.
I am off to Hainan for the week to soak up some sun and take a much needed break from all of this.

The time has come rather quickly for a vacation--even though the big one will be here in a month. This will serve as good time away to come back and refocus for the final half of my chinese experience. I can not believe that it is Christmas time already. It certainly does not feel anything like it, but next weekend is the merry time of the year. Unbelievable. Perhaps the beaches in Hainan will make me think more of the Christmas season-- driking coconut milk and sunning is just what the doctor ordered.

See you all in a week or so. Read more!