I made it home in one piece, barely. I’m currently on an American high. Jet lag is kicking my butt and everyone and their brother wants to stop by and visit me. So, with that said, as soon as life gets something like normal again, I will continue with my explanation on why I decided to leave China. Sorry that I suck at posting, but life just hasn’t been normal lately.

Oh, and if ANYONE knows of ANY cool jobs out there for an English major – PLEASE LET ME KNOW! Thanks in advance!

I was flipping through the English Chinese newspaper – China Daily – when I came across an article entitled “4 Chinese Mugged in US County”. As I began reading, I half jokingly asked myself, “I wonder if this was in Columbia?” I didn’t really take myself seriously, but I had to read on to find out. Within the very first sentence, my question was answered. It read like this: “Four Chinese were mugged in similar fashion in the north west area of Richland County in South Carolina.” I had to read it twice to make sure that I had read it correctly. Apparently, the people who were mugged worked at Chinese restaurants and had been targeted by armed gangs that knew that they carried large amounts a cash on them. That wasn’t what surprised me though. This did . . . and I quote:

“It’s not unusual for Chinese to be robbed, raped or even murdered in some crime-ridden areas of the US, Chinese People’s Republic Security University Wang Dawei said, attributing their vulnerability to their traditional virtue of tolerance.”

No wonder so many people I talk to think that the US is dangerous. I mean, I would think so too if I read articles like this and had never been there. Richland county may not be Eden, but man, this article makes it out to be an awful place to live or visit and really exaggerates the crime rate. Raped? Murdered? Common? Geeze. That’s pretty harsh.

I guess it’s a good thing that I live in the less crime-ridden county – Lexington – which is right next door. 🙂 Phil is the one that should be afraid. He’s the one that actually lives there . . . in mini Los Angeles. 🙂

OK . . . this is completely off topic and has nothing to do with China, teaching, or anything else that has happened to me in the last 8 months, but I thought it was high time that I put in a word for an organization that I believe in and want the general public to know about(if they don’t know about it already.) If you know me, you know that I’m a HUGE animal lover and have been since before I can remember and will be right up until I’m evicted from Earth. Some people think I am eccentric because of the lengths I will go to to save creatures both big and small, but it’s just who I am. Thankfully, there are others out there like me that will go to even greater lengths to help the animals, specifically wildlife when they are sick, wounded, or abandoned.

The organization in which I’m speaking of is called Carolina Wildlife Care. It’s a registered nonprofit organization and receives no state or federal funding, but operates on private financial support through donations, fundraising, and grant assistance. CWC, its abbreviated name, is located in Columbia, South Carolina, USA, and has a few full time and part time staff, but has a large base of volunteers to keep in running smoothly.

CWC has been around since 1989 and with the ongoing education of the public, each year just keeps getting better and better, but that is because of the help from the community. Without the help from the community, it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible to keep CWC running. There are many different avenues to assist CWC and their goal to help the wildlife of South Carolina. Some people, like myself, put in a little time to feed the animals, clean and set up cages, prepare formulas and diets, clean the center, admit animals, and answer the phone, but there are a slew of other things you could do. There are constant projects in the works that could use a handy man or woman. Basically, any help is appreciated, whether physical or financial. No time is too little and no task too great. So, if you are interested in helping out in any way, you can click here to find out how.

And there is my little plug in. I urge you to at least go to the website, and read more about CWC and see if there is any way that you can participate and help. Working with CWC is not only fun and educational, but it’s rewarding as well.

Here are some more pictures of our little excursion down to Hong Kong.

Smoke Scene.

Now before I go any further, I want to say that the smoke in the above picture is not my smoke. The picture is not even mine. It all belongs to Tim, our fellow American friend, who taught with us in Fuyang and is now teaching in Jinhua. He didn’t mean for this effect to happen. He just happened to puffing away when he snapped the picture. When the smoke got in the way of the flash it was illuminated. I think it gave the picture artistic flare. The buildings in the background are of course just a few of the many giants Hong Kong has hovering over the bustling population.

Remind you of game? Think of red and black checker board full of holes and sits up right.

Here is another picture belonging to Tim. He always takes the coolest pictures; makes me jealous. My camera is hit and miss. Sometimes is takes a good picture and some time it doesn’t. My camera has a hard time dealing with light. A lot of the time my pictures come out to dark or too bright. I can’t seem to win in anything it seems. Picture taking or children games. Does this particular building make you think of an old game that maybe you used to play? As soon as we came across it in Hong Kong, the first thing that came into my mind was that checker game that came out a long time ago called Connect Four. It would have been really awesome if I could have climbed on top of that building and played a game with someone. Those checkers would have been freaking HUGE! But regardless of how big they would have been, I would have still lost. I don’t think I have ever won a game of Connect Four. After playing and losing a dozen games against the computer in the past few minutes, I know that this is still the case. Heh.

It’s Connect Four. Like the lottery in South Carolina – I can’t seem to win.

I tried taking pictures of the lit up buildings as I walked past them because some of them were pretty amazing. If my camera liked taking night pictures better and could deal with all of the flickering “Vegas” lights, more than this one would have come out. Like most of my China pictures, my little Kodak camera just doesn’t do the lights justice. I don’t think any camera or picture could. There is always so much more to the picture than it shows you. I just wish my memory could always stay as fresh as the day I experience something. I hate how memories fade.

Everyone needs a pet dragon. Wouldn’t you agree?

Once again, this is not my picture. It belongs to Tim. This has been one of the few dragon heads that I have seen since coming to China. I haven’t seen any of the dancing dragons that you see plastered all over the TV as a symbol of Asian culture. I wonder what part of China I have to go to see one? Maybe there is a festival where they have them. We found this dragon in the middle of Hong Kong Park. When we first came across it, there were a lot of people crowding around it and we couldn’t figure out why. Then we saw the drum sitting out beside the dragon. Everyone was waiting there turn in a unorganized line to beat on a few times. I waited my turn behind a little girl.

Random lit up street in Hong Kong.

I think the above picture is pretty much self-explanatory. It’s a street, it’s dark, and all of the lights are on. I took the picture because I liked all the neon and the Chinese characters. And I guess that’s that. We are still waiting to get Internet in our apartment. When we do, I’ll start posting about Shenyang. These just happened to be the only pictures I uploaded before we left Beijing – the city that would never let us go. I think I may rename the capital of China, Black Hole, for it sure as heck acted like one for several days. Sometimes I think I am still dreaming and that I will wake up to find myself still sleeping in my Er Wai(Beijing International Studies University) bed. Although, if this is a dream, this is one realistic dream.

I occasionally check the news back home to see what is going on. For the most part it’s normal. Car accident, shooting, stabbing, blah, blah and blah. But then there are days when I get to see headlines like these . . . I think these are all self explanatory. I at first thought they were all from South Carolina and thought “go figure” – but instead it is retarded news from all over the country. The last one in bold did happen in Columbia, South Carolina. It doesn’t surprise me at all.

• Body Found in McDonald’s Bathroom Died of Brain Hemmorhage
• Trooper Hit on the Job
• Man Attacked By Gator After Smoking Crack
• 7 Day Forecast Discussion
• Fairview Road Accident Kills Two
• Spurrier Accepts Contract Extension, Raise
• Dog Saves Family, Then Gets Put Up for Adoption
• Orangeburg Crash Leaves One Dead
• Grandma Sold Pot to Feed Bingo Addiction
• Deputies: Man Wanted for Intent to Sell $250,000 of Cocaine at Waffle House

If you think that is bad, I heard that some drunk rednecks bet $20 on the Carolina Clemson game. When the one that won didn’t get his money, he walked out to his truck(cause all rednecks have trucks) grabbed his gun and shot his best friend to death. Only in South Carolina, I say. Only in South Carolina.

My first attempt at getting this photo was a complete and utter failure. But because I cannot stand defeat(it eats me up inside), I more or less trained like a mad woman for 7 months. Of course, it did help that the working out coincided with my job. Next to boot camp, meter reading is probably the most grueling job a man or woman can have. I cannot express the pain that I endured during those long, often cold, hot, wet days. I had to walk 30 miles on many occasions, jump fences(big fences), and run from dogs that really wanted to eat me (and some times did) in all the weather that mother nature could conjure. In short, I would not suggest doing said job unless pain is one of your finest pleasures.

But anyway, back to the picture at hand. After seven months of dog bites, poison ivy, nails in the foot, and wasp stings that come to find out I am allergic to – I went back to the fearful mountains known to so many as Table Rock. I figured that if I couldn’t climb this beast now, I never would be able to. For those of you not familiar with the Table Rock trail – let me give you the low down. It’s about 4 miles up hill. It’s steep. It’s strenuous. And if you aren’t in reasonable good health, you probably won’t make it all the way up without having a heart attack or something like that. But if you do make it all the way to the tippy top, it’s a very beautiful sight to behold. The worst part of the climb is the steps. There are countless sections that forest rangers have turned into staircases. They consist of rocks, roots, and leveled off sections of ground. You actually have to put some effort into going from one step to the other because there is a large gap between each of the steps. (I imagine that is what the Great Wall is going to be like.) If you can make it through those, there are a few sections with slight inclines that allow you to prepare for the next set of what I like to call “high-steps”. Also, there are a few places that allow you to stop and rest and take in the scenery of the mountain side.

Some key advice on making it through: if on your way up Table Rock you start to have a hard time breathing or you begin to lose faith in your ability to reach the top – just take a 5 minute break, catch your breath, and try to picture the view that you will see when you finally reach the top. There are no roads that take you to the top for cheaters who want the reward but not the hard work. So either take it like a man(or a woman) or just dream about what could have been your accomplishment by looking at my photograph. It is worth every agonizing moment though, I promise.

Here is the video of Morgan that I promised. If you have ever had to travel somewhere for any period of time- even a week – and you have animals – I am sure that you can relate. No animal likes their Mommy or Daddy to leave them. If you listen closely, you can hear her growling at me. I was lucky to get away unscathed for she was a bit unhappy. I was tempted to close up the suitcase and see how far I could get her through airport security, but figured that that wouldn’t be such a great idea. I can just see her tearing the living crap out of a TSA agent. Enjoy the video.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlDZdEfSq4Q[/youtube]

I think my kitty(Morgan Rose Ireland Yvette DeWitter) knows that I am leaving for China in 7 days. She’s been laying in my lap a lot more and following me around the house. I can’t even go to the bathroom without her trying to bust in on me. She has even seemed a little sad lately – not really being herself. So, when I walked into my bedroom today, I was only half shocked to find her sitting in my suitcase. I think she was trying to figure out a way to hide herself in one of the side pockets. I wish that I could bring her with me, but I can’t. For one, I am not allowed because the school won’t let me and secondly, Phil won’t let me either. He is allergic. Or at least he says that he is.

I actually have video of me trying to get her out of my suitcase and I will post that as soon as I can. I think it is pretty funny, but I am a little biased. You’ll have to be the judge, I guess.

I stood next to my brother’s window and held the lens of my camera in between the slats of the blinds and waited. It wasn’t long until a female hummingbird flew down. My camouflage didn’t seem to work all that well, though, because she noticed me almost immediately and buzzed off in disgust. But I waited some more. It wasn’t long until either A) she came back or B) another female decided she was thirsty. Either way her action was the same as the first. She buzzed off. I was determined to get a picture of one eating, so I waited a little longer.

A good while later a male decided to come down and visit the feeder. He saw that I was there and was curious as to my reason for standing there but he didn’t seem to care all that much. He ate while hovering for a second or two and then decided to land. I am glad that he did, or I would have never been able to get the quality picture that I did. If you look, you can see that there are no little perches on the feeder. The hummingbird is clasping his tiny feet over the edge. And before I knew it, he too buzzed off. I must have taken 10 pictures of him sitting there, but only two turned out good enough for blog material. I guess I might have to buy a better camera for close ups like this one.

I have actually had the opportunity to feed hummingbirds by hand. Now that I think about it, I don’t know why I didn’t take a picture of them when I had the chance. But, anyways, when I volunteered at Carolina Wildlife Care last summer, people would sometimes bring in hurt or young hummingbirds along with all kinds of wildlife. . . ie squirrels, opossums, all kinds of birds, snakes, turtles and all sorts of other types of wild animals you can find in South Carolina. You don’t realize how small hummingbirds are until you hold one. They are probably my favorite bird. Although, Gnatcatchers are pretty cool too, but they don’t know how to fly backwards. Heh.

If I ever had any doubts at all about reincarnation, the picture of the Muscovy duck to your right has pushed them all aside. With a single glance, you may just have to agree with me. For those of you unaware of the resemblance, the Muscovy duck looks eerily like the villain from the movie Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Yes, I am sure you can see it now. Before you stands Darth Maul, the Duck.

I’ve heard it a thousand times, and I am sure some of you are thinking the same thing right now. Muscovy ducks must be the ugliest of the duck species. It is arguably the truest statement that I have ever heard. So how did these creatures come about? That’s a very good question because I can’t think why God would make these birds so scary looking. And if you think they look weird, you should hear them quack/hiss. That sound is enough to make the hairs on your back stand up. If I were to come up with a theory though, it would sound something like this . . .One night a drunk Turkey and a Goose under the influence of an illegal drug got their groove on. And the rest is history.

For those of you still scratching your heads about the resemblance between this poor creature and the villain Darth Maul – let me show you a picture.

It is a toss up. I am not sure which one scares me more.