Pics from Malaysia

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In the South

We are out of China for a few weeks as students are on break and are enjoying it so much. We always forget how blue the sky can be until we arrive in Malaysia! Although we love China, we do not love the drabness of everything... It's like a constantly gray world.

We are in Malaysia this week. Today, we enjoyed hiking in the rainforest and were able to see a very rare flower that can grow up to 96cm when in full bloom. To get to the forest housing this flower was quite an adventure in itself. Forty-five minutes on the highway, followed by 20 ridiculously crazy minutes in the Land Rover going up a mountain on a mud path. It was the first off-road experience for all of us; and aside form one moment of fear when the back door flew open, we had a great time laughing and bumping around. We had an awesome driver and tour guide, who somehow avoided getting stuck despite the fact that all the other land rovers kept spinning in the mud. The hike was beautiful, and we are thoroughly exhausted now!

Tomorrow we take a bus from this place to another city further north and with a beach. It will be nice to just relax, drink Malaysian coffee, and read books for a few days.

Can't post photos from this location, but we hope to be able to do so soon.

Heading South

Our city has emptied out, as the last university finished exams yesterday. For the first time in months, we rode a very empty bus into the city this morning. Tonight, though, we will join the others in leaving. We fly to Malaysia at 11:30 this evening and arrive tomorrow morning around 5:30am. We are looking forward to time with friends, warm weather, and cheap Indian food!

We'll update when we have Internet access.

We only thought we knew cold...

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We're back from Harbin and enjoyed our trip there. We both really liked St. Sofia Church (a beautiful old Russian Orthodox church from around 1900); of course, the Harbin Ice Festival; and I even learned how to ski (only $10 and still a deal though it was quite a small slope!). It was all very much like a Winter Wonderland.

Thankfully, it was not nearly as cold as it can get this time of year in Harbin. That being said, it was still really cold. I'm not one to layer up or wear long underwear; but this week, I rarely left the hotel without wearing four layers of pants, five layers on top, and multiple pairs of socks, gloves and mittens. But, aside from our hands (which never could get warm), we stayed toasty with all those layers and enjoyed walking around the city. We have posted pictures here (many of which are not our own pictures since our camera is on the fritz).

Here are a few funny things we saw and learned on our first (and probably only trip) to such a cold place:
1. In extremely cold weather, Matt gets little icicles on his eyelashes.
2. And my nose hairs freeze (a very strange sensation and a bit disgusting, but true).
3. Street vendors use refrigeration to keep drinks from freezing. One Coke we bought froze within 10 minutes.
4. Ice cream is still popular at sub-zero temps. No freezers needed.
5. Car exhaust instantly freezes and makes very slick, little ice circles at traffic lights.
6. At those temps, even rivers freeze solid so that you can walk from one side to the other.

We had a great time seeing a new city and hanging out with our friends. But we are glad to be back in the relatively warm temps of Hangzhou!

Dashing through the Snow

The end of this semester is in sight. Senior students have already left school. But most of our students will begin their journey home either next week or the following week, with a few others sticking around for a week of internships before going home. Either way, the campus is already feeling a bit empty, as those who are not already gone, spend their days in the library cramming for exams.

As for us, Matt's last exam is on Monday, with my final exam being on Jan. 14. On the day after that, we are taking off to a city in the northern part of China called Harbin. It is a cold, cold place near the Russian border, and they have an awesome Ice and Snow Festival every year for about a month. I've wanted to visit the festival since before we even thought of coming to China; and being our final winter here, it's my last chance. Matt was not too keen on the idea at first (the high temperature in this place rarely gets above zero degrees Fahrenheit), but it's grown on him. Now we are both looking forward to it, along with our friends with whom we will travel, and some students that we will meet up with while there. Should be pretty cool! (haha)

Click on the photo below to see a slideshow of the Ice Festival on msnbc.com.

Thoughts on Speaking Exams

It may well be possible that teachers hate exam time even more than the students--at least when the exams are speaking exams. You see, students have a 5-minute time of torture on one day of the week in which they have to speak English for a grade. We teachers, however, sit and listen for several hours everyday as student after student talks about the same things, making the same grammar mistakes in, sometimes, incomprehensible speech. And it is cold in those classrooms when you are sitting still for hours on end. If only I'd been as clever as Matt; he is doing his speaking exams at the nice, warm apartment.

OK... Enough complaining. :-)