It has been a little while since my last post. I have gotten busy here! Amazing what a social life you can find in any place. So lets see what have I done…

1. Made lots of friends

We found a Reggae bar around the corner from our place and it is where all the foreigners hang out. There is a live band most nights and i’ve made friends with them too. it is fun to hang out with new people, play pool, chat, dance, whatever. I wonder why it is so easy to form connections here. Is it because there are so fewer people that we make concessions on personality and embrace all new friends? or is it because we all have similar outlooks on life and these outlooks have caused us to embark on similar journeys that lead us to the same place so it is easier to find compatible people once all the other personalities are weeded out. or maybe we have just become numb to communities in our homelands and we must try to be friendlier to strangers doing the same things we are. anyway

other fun things that have happened:

Yesterday was the best day I’ve had in a while. It was 65 degrees out so Adam and I skipped class (shhh) and went for a walk. We found a gazeebo where there was music playing and people dancing. We barely had time to register what was going on before a 70+ yr old man grabs my had and starts dancing with me. We danced for seriously 15 minutes it was so fun and he was a really good leader. Again- people being friendly to strangers for no reason other than they were in the same place at the same time.

after the dance we continued our walk, stopped at a tea house, enojyed west lake, and ended up at a restaurant for dinner. I had to run before our meal was finished though because I was meeting Elise, Lu, Jared, and Siva for an orchestra show at the concert hall. The orchestra was wonderful. They played chinese modern classical music for the first half and then some western pieces (classic and modern) in the second half. They were great but the best part was at the end for an encore. The conductor came out and played a simple well known piece and conducted the audience as well! We started clapping when he said and stopped when he gestured for us to stop. I really enjoyed the simple happiness the audience had for listening to the music. They weren’t pompous and hoity-toity about being at the orchestra like they are in the states some times.

When the show got out we missed the last bus back into town. It started raining and there were no cabs. Elise and I started doing the waltz in the rain in the middle of the road because it was warm and there were no cars. It was so fun, sining Disney songs and dancing with imaginary princes haha. Eventually Lu saved the day by asking the staff bus if we could hitch a ride back into the city center so we could get a cab home from there. They let us on!

This morning is the first day of our vacation. I am here until the 13th when I go to Shanghai for a few days. From the 16th to the 20th I’ll be visiting Amy in South Korea. It will be great to see her again. Stories soon…