Back from Jiangxi & Anhui Provinces this weekend.

Came back at 530am!

So this weekend gave me a good dose of China's other end of the economic spectrum. It was interesting to see how life is still like in the DEVELOPING/UNDEVELOPED parts of china.

The trip to Sanqingshan was breathtaking and blew my mind away. See the pics I uploaded to on facebook. After trekking the mountain for 6hrs, we went to a massage parlor (a legit one, not with the prostitutes) because the entire program wanted to get massages after our journey on the mountain.

So Jeff, Joe, and I were in one room since they had to split up the program since there was 15+ of us. This experience was the first time I was REALLY able to use my chinese for more than 5min with locals. During the conversation, we talked about/they mentioned that:

- one asked if I was black, but another guessed correctly that I was filipino
- one thought that Obama wasn't president because he was black and not white
- they all (3) assumed that Americans were white with blond hair and blue/green eyes
- they didnt realize that in America, there are alot of Asians, and non-white people as well
- they thought my Chinese was really standard (whatever that means)
- they asked me to translate for my other two friends since I could communicate pretty well

Speaking of being NOT lost in translation, I'm so glad that my Chinese is improving. On thursday, we had to give a presentation on Globalization IN CHINESE. My presentation, which ended up running close to 10min including Q&A, talked about:

- the financial crisis' effects on the american population,
- the increased risk in foreign investment overseas as a result of the crisis,
- the failing american auto industry,
- my thoughts that the obama stimulus plan is not enough to bailout the u.s. b/cuz japan has already tried this...

I should note that this whole presentation was conducted in Chinese! While I wasn't able to speak fluidly, the teacher as well as my classmates were able to understand what I was saying. I'm glad that my Chinese is improving (at least vocabulary and listening...speaking is getting there)

Also on the weekend trip, it was my first time using the squat toilet (for both 1 & 2). It was at the massage place.

Ok that was a lot, I go finish reviewing for tomorrow's quiz.

TML