Brookline High School in China

China 29: Springing into Summer

Food: "Yang Rou Pao Mo" a delicacy of Shaanxi province where before anything is served you break bread into bitty pieces and drop them into your bowl. They take your bowl away and put in some more effects including boiling water, noodles, and lamb. It's served steaming hot. We've had this soup whenever anyone takes us out for a dinner because its so "authentic", but to be honest there's much better food in Xi'an.
Temperature: Today must've hit 90

Yesterday, I got a call during lunch from my host mom. She told me that the plans for the weekend had been changed. Before the student who I hosted in the US, Leyang's, mom couldn't take us to see the peach blossoms on the mountain side on Saturday as planned. Instead, she wanted to take the whole group out that night! Well, this caused a lot of confusion during our afternoon English Lit. class as literally everyone was plugging an ear and ducking into a corner or out the window to ask their host parents if it was alright. Eventually everyone got official clearance except for Gaelen who seems like she has every single second of her day planned. I guess that's what it means to the only teacher on the trip.

So right after school we scuffled to my apartment complex where my mom and leyang's mom were waiting for us. We jammed all 8 of us into my mom's Kia and Leyang's mom's VW. Edna, Ian, Lauren, and I travelled w/ my mom. I think they've really taken a liking to my mom ever since we made dinner for here; truly she is a playful human being. She offered to take Lauren to go dress shopping, then offered to take us dancing together sometime, then invited Edna to go shopping for a teaset with her, and would later invite Lauren to come to the Buddhist temple w/ me and her. During our little trip to the mountains we asked to turn on the AC because it was HOT. Really hot. So we rolled up the window, and Edna flipped on the vents. Immediately a huge gust of cold wind spewed out a huge cloud of dust choked the air. My mom went hysterical w/ laughter and choking, and I have to admit that I was on the verge of tears. Whether it was from the laughter or the dust I don't really know. Eventually, Ian had the presence of mind to tell us to roll down the windows.

The amount of dust there is in Xi'an is incredible. It's absolutely amazing how quickly we've switched out winter. Yesterday was probably around 85 degress! It seems like we entirely missed out on spring. One day the trees were bare and the next they were green and flowers were beginning to bloom and beautify this the city which had been a little barren before. Yet, without spring rains and with the immediate entry into summer, dust is rampid. Everyday when I get home, I put my finger in my nose as is a common habit of mine, and discover the inside of my nostrils to be blackened.

But anyway, we made it to the mountain and saw rows of peach trees. Their branches were clustered with pink flowers. It was truly an amazing site to see the sun setting beside these giant mountains and over the peach trees which themselves were somewhat slanted into the mountains. We climbed and climbed until we got to a Buddhist temple. We climbed to the top of the deserted building and were presented with an amazing view. We were inbetween to towering mountain looking down on rows of pink and white. To the left the sun had begun to disappear casting a dark red light into the clouds of dust which revealed the each ray.

We concluded our trip with bowls of Yang Rou Pao Mo and meat on a stick (Kao Rou). Ian and I had a contest eating the Kao Rou (which can be pretty spicy). I won something like 30 to 25. Recently Ian has really been an amazing member of this group. He gets along with everyone. At the start I was unsure because he kept quiet, but that's just part of his low key attitude that everybody likes about him. And it's that attitude that makes his comments all the more funny. Lauren's dubbed him the "muffin man" because one day he randomly interupted the conversation to state that he had "Do you know the muffin man?" stuck in his head all day.What a card.

Anyway, I guess spring has come and gone in the period of day. I think spring went by as quickly as this trip has gone by. In less than two weeks I'll already be going to Hong Kong, and after that I'll get back and we'll go to Sichuan for a week, then we come back and have a week off of school, then go to Shanghai for a week, come back to Xi'an for three days and then we'll be on the way back!

i'm not sure how I feel about that

posted by dAVID @ 5:18 AM