Vacay

So I know that this post is a little overdue. Sorry, things out here have been a little crazy. So over the past week and a half I have been out traveling a lot. I spent about four days down south on an island. Our hotel was right on the beach and had an amazing pool. It wasn't a total vacation (there were still some things I needed to do while I was there) but for the most part it was a great four days of relaxing on the beach. It was hot though. Really hot. I've gotten used to living in the mountains and summers being in the mid-70's and the jump to 95+ degrees is a little bit of a shock. After we left the beach we went to Hong Kong for about five days. I think I suffered from a little bit of culture shock. Everything there is ultra-modern and it would be like taking L.A., filling it with Chinese people and then making it really humid. It was a good break though. While we were there we took in a lot of the sights of Hong Kong (the bay and the peak), went to a few museums, Disneyland, saw a couple of movies, and ate A LOT of Western food. It is strange how when you live in a culture so different that doing things like going to the movies is a nice break and seems so normal. After Hong Kong we traveled up north and spent a couple of days with some friends from college that just arrived. It was good to get to see them again. We got a little carried away with walking, talking and eating lunch and ended up missing our flight out (three traffic accidents on the road there didn't help either). Because we missed our flight, we had to fly back to our city the next day and, instead of spending the $10 on a hotel room, we spent the night hanging out in a 24-hour McDonald's. So needless to say when we got back to town we were exhausted. It was great to be back. When we got home it was about 60-degrees, the sun was shinning and there were mountains and clean air. Vacation is not only good for getting to go somewhere but also to help with appreciating being home.

Before we left my friend's local roommate had her parents come to visit. They live about nine hours away up in the mountains and they are in town to see the doctor about some back-pain. For the three days before we left town my roommate, my friend and I spent the evening teaching them how to play a domino game and then sharing with them. The father, who had never seen a white guy before us, has gone back home but her mother is still in town for at least another week. We are planning on trying to spend some more times playing games and talking to her.

In other news school has started back this week. I have class four days a week. I'm glad that I've been here studying with a tutor for the past five months because, even with having a head start, the learning curve is pretty steep. Class has already been good for my language and I'm starting to finally put some things together.

Finally, I'll be traveling next week. Two friends, my roommate and I are going to be traveling out a couple of hours to climb a 17,300 ft. mountain. It'll be an adventure to say the least.