Hubei Countdown to Home

10 more days!
I have to admit, I'm SICK of the CHINESE FOOD! But just like you would be sick of anything you had over and over and over again! Been making friends with the Pizza Hut here (which btw is a BIG TO DO in China....who knew?)

I was out of commission for about a day and 1/2 with my "bug" A lot of us think we got it on the stupid boat...I don't doubt it...it was a YUCK! I can't even explain it. Let's just say it wasn't the typical boat that they put WESTERNERS on...it was the one that the CHINESE ride...God love the Chinese riding those stupid boats.....But it was certainly living the REAL life here in China...now that it is over...I'm glad we did it..at the time...Sheeesh.

I didn't eat for about 2.5 days. So all the sudden all that weight I WASN'T losing...was lost. I lost about 7 pounds. I'll probably lose some more before then. I've cut back my meals to just BREAKFAST and then wherever I go (usually something small and fast and western) for dinner. No lunch. The heat that was supposed to be so bad here in Wuhan, never really arrived. So we've been happy with that. It has been VERY humid, and warm...like at home...but not the FURNACE they told us it would be. Our room is VERY air conditioned...more so than I run it back home....haha. So that's been a relief from the humidity.

Can you tell this is an "end of the trip" posting...with small list of complaints about things? haha.
It is still AWESOME over here though. We went last night to the Yellow Crane Tower...the big symbol of Wuhan...it is pretty impressive. They have this HUGE bell that you can ring w/ this LOG hanging next to it....some of the women on our crew went and rang the bell...it was pretty dang cool...you could here the thing all around. I've skipped classes the past two days to recover, and to make the POWER POINT (haha) for our closing ceremony. (I was nominated by our leader Dr. Kung...and my roommate John is the speaker...again nominated by Dr. Kung)...I just have to sit there and hit the "enter" key for the power point and let it run...while John does all the talking. We've been great roommates...he is a very nice guy and very very funny. He keeps me in stitches. Speaking of that...the Chinese have NO IDEA what to make of my laugh...it scares them at first...and then they can't get enough of it...they want to hear it over and over...sheeeesh. (wait...is it like that in America too?) grrrrrr.

Anyway...it is very funny when we are in a crowded market and we are walking and talking and I start laughing out loud about something and the whole place stops (um..remember it is a country of 1.6 billion...so there are no small markets) and turns to see what that LOUD NOISE is...haha. Good stuff. It isn't like they don't all stare at us the whole time anyway. In Beijing and Shanghai we hardly got any looks being westerners...but in Xi'an and Wuhan, and the other smaller (and that is relative to the sizes of Shanghai and Beijing mind you...Wuhan has 7-8 million people in it) they just stare...and stare at us...and don't try to hide it...jaws drop many times too....haha. If there's a crowd of us being silly and loud or something...it doesn't take two minutes for a crowd of 50 to 100 to be all around us watching. CRAZY! Last night we saw this cute dog on the street with his master and he's one of those little fuzzy Chinese dogs...with a semi flat face...he looks like he's smiling at you...it ROCKS...anyway we were stopping and playing w/ him and laughing at him obeying his master...and taking pictures...then all the sudden 50 people are crowded around....INSANE! (I of course love it) I think it bothers some of the women in our group...they don't understand that they are just curious and I think they feel like it is an invasion of their personal space....etc...which btw DOESN'T EXIST IN CHINA!!!! (again 1.6 BILLION people...u have to say that like Dr. Evil!) People don't understand personal space at all. So they are "right up in your grill" for any and everything...haha. People are constantly bumping into you...etc....and they don't even notice...and here I am saying 'excuse me...pardon me...excuse me...move out of my fricken way please" ...doesn't matter they dont know or care what I'm saying...so saying whatever out loud here ROCKS!!!!!

The KIDS are the fricken cutest things you've ever seen. We've all fallen in love w/ the kids. We can understand why Amercians come all the way here to adopt...SO FRIGGIN CUTE!!!!!!Yesterday one of the women that works here at the university brought her TWIN girls over they were like maybe 6 to 8 months old...OMG....both dressed in little over all outfits with PANDA FACES on them...haha.

After the Yellow Crane Tower visit yesterday we went to a 500 year old Buddhist temple. VERY VERY COOL. We lit incense and the explained the prayer routine for Buddhist prayers and for Taoist prayers. After that, then you go to another part of the temple grounds that houses 500 Buddhas! You start on the right and count the Buddhas for each year of your life. Then there is a number over that Buddah, and you go outside and get a golden card that tells you what that means for you in the next year. My fortune said

When you are honest

No Evil Can Effect You

When your family is happy

You can have a lot of fortune

and luck around you

After achieving these things
You will have everything you need

The saying above is Nan wu e mi Tuo fo

Hope you have good luck

I liked that one. Of course I couldn't read any of it, I had to go by what our university student keepers told me it said...BUT just to make sure they were just giving me some mumbo jumbo...I asked three different ones away from each other...and hey...they all told me pretty much the same thing! Haha. We love those kids btw, they are so amazingly helpful and sweet!

After the Tower and the Temple...I had one of the University Students that are sort of our keepers (Kevin..the group mascot) go with me to a tailor shop (everyone else had made the tailor shop visit while I was out of commission with my stomach issues...buying custom made shirts, skirts, suits..etc), but I went and I'm having a vest custom made. Sort of a gray tweed and dark gray silk back. Should be swanky...and I talked them down to 280 yuan from 330....so that is going to be about $45 for a tailor made vest.....some of the guys got suits tailor made for about $60-70!!!! Sheeeesh. It was a fun experience. And who the heck knows what Kevin is saying to them 1/2 the time...he's ADD!!!!! I can't say much...they kept having to get me to come back over and get fitted...I was distracted playing with the kitten in the back of the shop...HE WAS AWESOME...and cross-eyed...so I was messing with him...he was a spaz....haha Oops...distracted again....ANYWAY...

Anyway...we have some sweet sweet people being our handlers at the University! Kevin, Minnie (the leader of it all...and AWESOME), Wendy, Cindy, Evelyn...etc. Wendy was the poor soul who had to interpret at the clinic all of my body functions to the doctor...sheeeesh. Needless to say...we are close! They are all so sweet and fun.
China knows how to show hospitality. For example, the calligraphy professor carved each of us stone stamps with our Chinese zodiac on top and our name in Chinese as the stamp! FOR 20 of US!!!! WHAT? They do that sorta stuff for us left and right! It is awesome!

So THIS little guy's owner told us that he could OPEN and SHUT the door by himself....of course he can he's CHINESE!!!!!

More images from Wuhan HERE