Happy Fourth of July!

Hi everyone,

Happy Independence Day! Today, I celebrated by having red, white, and blue silly string shot at our group by Chinese PC staff. I then skipped this carrot cake (not my favorite), and I finally had a burger, fries, and bottled water at Red Tomato, a Western-style restaurant near the hotel.

Some of the group went out together and will go clubbing later, but I'm still a bit jetlagged. I also had three shots today, and I'm supposed to stay hydrated and get to bed early. My shots were: first series Hep A/B, rabies, and Japanese encephalitis. My right arm is getting a little sore.

The big news of the day was finding out our training site and our host family. I'll spend the next nine weeks at Sichuan Normal University going to class everyday. My family is Lan Lin and his wife Zu Yunyan. Also living with them is Grandma and an eight year old daughter. From the age of the child, I'm guessing that my host couple might be approximately my age, but I think I might be expected to call them mama and baba. Not sure. They are teachers and live within walking distance of campus. Their hobbies are "reading, go outing, table tennis." I move in with them tomorrow, and I'm extremely nervous.

I think I'll commemorate this fourth of July by sharing some general facts/information about my Chinese experience here:

Chengdu has about 12 million people in it. Some of the city is very flashy with lots of neon lights. Some of it is very run down.

I haven't seen the sun since I've been to China. I knew the pollution would be bad, but I didn't quite understand that it would block direct sunlight. Maybe it's just overcast...I'll let you know as the weather changes.

There is a lot of honking on the streets. But my street's sweeping truck plays beautiful, relaxing, zen-like music as it drives by.

There is a huge rabies problem in China.

China has a dish of fried corn.

There is such thing as a Leather Engineering department on the Sichuan University campus.

A lot of women wear high heels walking around the streets of Chengdu, and many young women walk arm in arm with one another.

Men are often shirtless, even in restaurants.

Restaurants use rolls of toilet paper hanging on the wall to dry your hands on. They also put them on the table as napkins.

The Chinese say "bye bye" as an informal goodbye.

Babies in Chengdu do not wear diapers. Instead, they wear pants with the crotch cut open, and they are free to pee/poop whenever and wherever.

The people here are very friendly. They seem pretty enthusiastic to see foreigners and are always willing to try to help us.

Chengdu has mosquitos. I think I have about seven bites so far!

All in all, I'm having a fantastic time. I'm still tired, so hopefully I'll get a day to rest soon. Oh, I ate intestines and brains at "hot pot." I'll write more about food soon.

I hope everyone is doing well. I miss you all.

Jennifer