Mother Nature, Wo Ai Ni

If I could get paid for it, think I could blog solely about hiking, biking and trekking across China (and the rest of the world if you let me). There is something about breathing fresh air, sun shining on your skin and the serene silence of nature that gives me a high like I can’t describe. Today was one of those days. Our friend, Chen, asked me to go on a hike with her to see the spring trees (peaches and pears) in blossom. I couldn’t turn down the offer. As we headed towards a mountain park near our home that we often bike to, Jiu Feng Shan, I saw a sight like nothing I’ve seen at a mountain park before. Cars parked for 100’s of meters along the entrance and literally swarms of locals filing into the park. I guess we weren’t the only ones who thought we’d get out on this beautiful, sunny and clear day to see the blossoms!

Don’t get me wrong, I love the Chinese, but I wasn’t so excited about being elbow to elbow with a couple hundred of them as we hiked the paths “taking in the nature”. So I was thrilled when Chen suggested we head deeper into the mountains to another hiking path she knew. As we rode a bit further into the mountains, she showed me the small village where she was born, which was unfortunately being torn down (the whole thing) to make room for new development. Chen was born and raised in Beilun and has a lot of pride in local culture and sharing it with Erich and I often.

As we pulled onto a random street and parked the car, we walked through a little village and came to the entrance of another park with hardly anyone else there. So we hiked, or rather climbed, stair after stone stair, coming to an opening where people barbeque and pick tea. There was hill after hill of “cha shu” (tea trees), which aren’t quite ready for picking, but Chen assured that they would be soon. She grew up near these fields and would go to fields similar to this as a child to pick tea after school and during her free time in the spring and summer. As she told me more, she led me scrambling up the hill that had no path, only small tree after tree (more like bushes really) planted on a steep hill. At one point, we got stuck finding our way back down and had to slide a little ways between tea trees to another landing. Eventually we made it back to the trail and came to a fork. The few others we saw there went to the left, so we naturally opted to go left and see what no one else was.

Up we went, and then some more, and when we thought we had reached a peak, we went up more from there. It was a good steep climb made even better by the fact that we saw almost NO ONE the entire way up! Maybe this doesn’t seem like a big deal, but let me refer you back to paragraph #1 and the swarms of people entering the other park. Let me also remind you that we live in China. There is no such thing as being alone with 1.3 billion other people living in this country. So this made the journey upward even more enjoyable. Just me, Chen and the great outdoors. There weren’t any peach or pear blossoms on this hike at this park, but honestly, it didn’t matter. The peacefulness of it all was better than any flower on any tree.

After about 2 hours of working the ol’ legs and several false alarms of getting to the top, wo men dao le (we arrived)! I had to help Chen overcome her fear of heights to stand on the rocky peak and enjoy the view, but we could see for miles and miles. We walked along the peak for a bit, passing a few other people finally, and then found a path back down. Along the way, we came to a point where we could see the peak of the other mountain park (the one with all of the people). I should have taken a photo, but it looked like sprinkles on top of an ice cream cone. TONS of little dots of all colors scattered about the peak, poking out of the trees. Boy, was I glad to not be one of them.

We scrambled back down, discussing everything from the cost of tuition in universities across the world to how to walk down a steep incline so you don’t slip and fall to Chen’s proposed curriculum to make me learn Chinese characters faster. Before we knew it, we were back at the car, heading out of the park. Just another hike really, but on such a perfect day with just the right person.

West Capital

Erich and I traveled to Nanjing this weekend. The trip was initiated by a conference that I attended and we thought, why not Erich join and relax/explore somewhere new too? So we took the 5 hour train ride to China’s old, Western capital city andhere are a few things to share that we found fun and interesting (almost none of which you would find in a guidebook). Really, it’s the little things that entertain us.

1) On the train ride there, upon exploring the reading materials in the backs of the seats, we stumbled upon this image. Of course I get what they were trying to convey. However, the placement of that watering can is not well thought out. On top of that, it doesn’t help that on the average day walking around the streets of Beilun you will see your fair share of people relieving themselves in the middle of a busy public street in this exact position. It kept us amused for a good 10 minutes of the train ride…then we had to find other ways to entertain ourselves for the other 4 hours and 50 minutes.

2) We love the subway. Any city we go to in China that has one, we ride it often and wish there were more around here. It makes getting around so easy and much faster/cheaper than taxis. Plus, you always make interesting conversations with locals who want to practice their English. We were offered a small gift (something that looked like a wooden ornament) this time, but kindly turned it down. Anyway, Nanjing had a subway system that was very small and less crowded compared to those of Beijing or Shanghai, but we took this video of a typical ride on the line. Trust me, this is not at all crowded compared to what we’ve experienced in the bigger cities. We’ll have to record video in Shanghai next time we go. Have you seen the YouTube videos of subway security literally packing crowds in like sardines? Kind of like that. Erich likes to play, “who showered this morning?” by sniffing out culprits.

3) After the conference, we did findtime one day to visit ZhongShan park. It was HUGE and very beautiful/peaceful by Chinese standards. It was the first time I saw tents and picnics set up like we’re used to in the States. This park is also the site of Sun Yat-Sen’s mausoleum as well as the burial site for several other famous Chinese leaders. Sun Yat-Sen is the “Father of the Nation” and was China’s first official President in 1912. I guess you could think of him as China’s George Washington? Anyway, there was a building on a large hill that you could climb up with several hundred other Chinese tourists to pay your respects. So up we went, step by step to the top. Along the way up, at the top and down, we must’ve been stopped by at least 10 groups who wanted photos with us. This is fairly common practice and we typically joke around with them that it’s 5 yuan per photo. After several peace signs, arms around each other and “qie zi”’s (sounds like “cheese” when you say it, but translates to mean “eggplant”), my cheeks hurt. Who knew we’d be the local celebrities of Sun Yat-Sen’s final place of rest? Also at the top, we saw these gnarly trees that were pretty cool looking. After a closer look, we concluded that the top of the tree was actually the root system of one tree turned upside down and grafted to the trunk of another tree. So essentially you had the two bottoms of two different trees grown together to create these new odd and fun looking trees.

In all, it was a fun and restful weekend away. Oh, and the conference was okay too J

Time of Your Life

Have you ever used this phrase? You’re at a point in your life where things can’t seem to be better, life is treating you well, and you are happy as a clam just to be living your life each day. Erich and I said this a lot in Colorado. It was the first time we had lived in the same state, let alone the same house. We both had jobs that we loved and worked with colleagues we called friends. The Rockies were outside our window and we took advantage of the great outdoors as much as we could…hiking, biking, snowshoeing, skiing, camping. We were surrounded by micro breweries, local foods, and live music…life was good.

Then we moved toChina. And before we did, I distinctly remember having a conversation with Erich that included thoughts like, “You know, it’s going to be hard for life to get better than this. We are at the peak of our lives here in Colorado. Why are we leaving again?” And we were right. In that moment in time, we felt like we had it all. So why were we leaving? I think we’re both “gut” people…when something feels like it needs to happen, don’t question or analyze. Do. We live with our instinct and our hearts, which isn’t always a good thing, but it has worked for us thus far in life. So we left Colorado because there was something inside both of us saying that there was more out there for us somewhere.

When the dotted line was signedto come to China, we both still thought…really, China? It was the last place we thought we’d end up, but we decided to go with it. Some of the best things in our lives have happened because we least expected or planned for them. Couldn't hurt to test that theory half way around the world.

And here we are now, amazed that we can have conversations about our life here and say…no THIS is the time of our lives. Colorado was outstanding, but this is a different kind of outstanding. Erich owns his own café and community center. I work with the most wonderful students on the planet. Our friends, we consider family. We can travel all over Southeast Asia and China. We have the opportunity to live in a place SO different from our home country and consistently question our own values and thoughts on life. We are staying a third year for many reasons, but I think one of them is because there’s nothing else that seems likeit could possibly be better for us right now.

So is it the place or the person that determines your state of satisfaction and overall contentment with life? Have Colorado and China been “the best times of our lives” because of the places we were, or is it because of our outlook and approach to life? Either way, we count ourselves lucky to be able to feel this way. I guess the true test will come when we decide to leave China and see if this pattern of good luck in life experiences follows us to the next place…