I Wear Newspaper!

Despite the fact that two days ago we were told we wouldn't be teaching for a while, Shalina and I both had our first class today. Shalina, unfortunately, has been stuck with a class that has had a ton of teachers before her and are way behind-- they don't even know "sit" and "stand." It's a good thing that I don't have Shalina's kids because I would not be able to help them one bit. It was all I

Fireworks exploding in the distance

The second-to-last day of the Chinese New Year's celebrations, year of the pig. We kept hearing gunfire all day, then at night we realized it was fireworks going off-- all over the city. This was literally in our front yard, I was sort of worried one might come through our window. ALl day today you could hear them going to, but couldn't see them for the smog.

Fireworks exploding in the distance

No Trumpets Allowed

Day One

This will probably be the longest post, due to the descriptive nature of it. If descriptions bore you, skip through here to the interesting bits.

Good morning or good afternoon to you, depending on where you are and when as you read this. For me, it is 6:30 on a grey day in Wuhan, with some sort of Chinese sparrows flitting about outside my window. It is slowly setting in on me that

Broke Into the New Apartment

This is the good bathroom

As I write this it is 12:30 pm Pacific Standard Time and 4:30 pm Beijing Standard Time (it doesn't matter that I'm not in Beijing because the Chinese Communist Party, being the efficient folks that they are, decided to do away with time zones altogether and have everyone share one clock. I'm sure this is all well and good here in the west, but I can't imagine what it

Made in Taiwan

Location: Mitch Wong's apartment,Prince George, British Columbia
Time:0200 hours, Sunday February 18

Mitch: Well, you don't count 'cause you're F***ing going to China
Andrew: What?
Mitch: F*** China?
Andrew: So you're f***ing China? Why? Where will Happy Meal toys come from?
Mitch: Taiwan.

The Countdown Begins

So, in exactly one week and one day I will be on an (accursed) Air Canada plane, carry-on bag in hand, love of my life beside me no doubt telling me to stop freaking out, headed towards the city of Wuhan, China. It is seven million strong, and goes by the nickname furnace of China. That means it's hot. My sister is in Kenya now, and I will be somewhere with higher temperatures. I don't do heat

24 hours in Vancouver- Part One: Operation Exhaustion

My basic plan for taking the bus to Vancouver was to tire myself out as much as possible so I was overjoyed to sit on a bus for 18 hours over two days. Fortunately, the day preceding my Epic Trip I was at the Hills Health Ranch near 100 Mile House (Mile 108, actually), a facility designed to make you destroy your body.

On a sidenote, what exactly is 100 Mile House 100 miles from? What is so