It's Gonna Be A Happy New Year...

*2007*
Ever the restless travelers...Brian, Angelyn and I welcomed in the new year with a 24 hour trip to Yichang. I was informed that a New Year's spent in China could not be experienced elsewhere. The foreigners there have developed a tradition, so the Shiyan crew and our Wuhan buddies traveled the 6 hours to watch an apple drop on a chopstick. The night was a whirlwind: it began with a video/photo scavenger hunt that included reenacting the Titanic, creating a western, or grabbing a photo with the infamous Da Shan. Check out the photos for a little view on how our team laid it down. We followed it by a dinner at Pizza Hut, then back to the school for some more delectable treats, judging of the contest, and general merriment. We celebrated the turn of midnight in style, but I will let the video tell the story. Finally, we closed out the night with a group singing that was so incredible. I hadn't heard good 4-part harmony in 5 months and it was quiet literally music to my ears.
Photo Album: Dick Clark's Rockin New Years Eve!
Video: The Ball Drop

*Alliteration Months*
Perhaps you have detected some illusion of these in my past posts, but Angelyn and I, in an endless quest for self-improvement, have been practicing a serious of months aimed at better our selves. Others have jumped on the bandwagon and we feel this movement could spread like wildfire, perhaps even lead to a best seller in our names. So it all began with No-Shave November, at disgusting tradition to say the least, but an excellent discipline in focusing more on inner beauty! Destination December featured a variety of weekend excursions to combat cultural shock; including Wuhan, Chengdu and finally Yichang. Jovial January has been the most challenging exercise, but one we feel is crucial to our mission. No negative remarks about a person may pass our lips. If bitterness comes out, sweetness is not allowed in so failure to compile results in a sugar fast! In the future, Focused/Festive February will require intense dedication to our Chinese studies, followed by the final week spent celebrating random holidays. But we are most excited about what awaits us in two months: Meager March. After running across some disturbing research on the Internet, Angelyn issued a challenge to discover what it is like to really live under the restraints of a Chinese citizen. According to her research, the Chinese welfare system believes that a city resident should be able to survive on 169 rmb a month, roughly the equivalent of $23 American dollars. Even by Chinese standards, this is a ridiculous expectation! But there are many who live accordingly, and we will try to do the same. This will be a challenge for us, we do not pay for things like hot water, heat, or other amenities supplied by our university. But we will be budgeting out blessings like the internet or television. If you are as shocked as we are by these figures, and intrigued by such an idea, we would welcome partners across the ocean in such an endeavor. More information on this alliteration month to come in the future!

*Travel Plans*
The glorious thing about China is the importance of celebration - its practically the 6ht precept of Buddhism. Their equivalent to Christmas is Spring Festival, the 40 day celebration of the lunar new year/excuse for an extensive vacation! The Chinese all leave the city, traveling to the country to visit their hometowns, while the foreigners head off to explore exotic locations. Our university's supply us with travel stipends, as well as a salary despite our absence from work, for this exact purpose. I will be leaving Shiyan on Thursday night and taking a three day journey to the Nanning in the southern point of China. The other foreigners I am traveling with (Jessica and Graham) will meet me there, and we will cross into Vietnam! The three of us will spend about 10 days explore Vietnam while we wait for Sarah, our fourth, to meet us in Ho Chi Minh (Saigon). Then we will spend 2 weeks in Cambodia and Laos, filling our days with boat trips, elephant treks, and swims in volcanic craters! For the last leg of the trip we will meet Angelyn in Thailand (yeah!) and finish out the trip on the famous Thai beaches. We will end the trip in Bangkok, participating on a CPM conference which we are all looking forwarded to getting excellent insight and fellowship from!
I wanted to give you the run down for 3 reasons:
#1 - I will definitely be out of reach for the majority of that trip. I will try to check into a hostel weekly that will allow me to post on my blog to let you know I am still alive ;o)
#2 - I don't want my grandmothers panicking and my mother alerting embassies when I am suddenly unreachable and they have difficulty recalling why in the midst of their hyperventilation
#3 - Perhaps to make you feel small jabs of jealousy...

Here's hoping you are all well in the states, and breaking your New Year's Resolutions with a fervor!

GWG ~ Jessica