Last week ruth and I went on vacation to the Hawaii of china, (or so its called), to the island of Hainan, off the southern coast of China. the first couple days were warm and sunny. we got sun burns right off the bat, but who cares! we were in the sun and we didnt have to wear coats! We ate tons of tropical fruit, i learned how to open coconuts and get out the meat. i polished my bargaining skills, by necessity since all the taxi drivers and fruit ladies tried to rip us off.
The first night when we got there we slept right in the sand and watched fireworks that people were setting off right on the other side of the beach in celebration of spring festival. here in china you can buy any size of fireworks legally so people were setting off the ones that we americans only see during the fourth of july. they were beautiful and loud, they kept going off nonstop at different points on the beach and sometimes right behind us until 3-4 in the morning (that part kept happening all week long). the second day we were there, we woke up with bug bites all over us and went swimming first thing. then spent most of the day finding tents to buy and food so that we could go to another bay. my favorite part of that day was eating my first coconut for breakfast. we made our way to a place called yalong bay, which is full of resorts. it was a beautiful place. isolated, and with plenty of wood to make a fire. great too since we knew that its legal to sleep on the beach so they would be no cops to bother us, unlike in america. the third day we sent all day in the sun. fourth day we took a 4 hour bus ride to a place that was north-east, colder and rainy. thats the day that I and our friends Rachelle and Jesse got the much dreaded travelers dierrea and i spent the day in bed.
Next day we made our way to Wuzishan, feeling a little weak, with only Mike and Ruth feeling %100. That was another 4 hour bus ride with numerous of our bus mates puking, one memorable one was a mother with her 10? year old son, taking turns puking into the same bag. Poor Rachelle (our canadian friend) was sitting right next to them. In Wuzishan we couldnt find the minority people that are subposly there, so you might think that this was a bad day, BUT you cant get ruth a nd i down, we just found and nice place to sit and eat a little rice and vegetables, all washed down with a beer. Thats where we had our next big excursion. We found a puppy, which we just had to have, especially when the owners asked Rachelle how she wanted the puppy cooked. That was too much for her, so now, needless to say we had to rescue it and now have a puppy.
The last couple days, Ruth and Mike took turns getting really sick, (everyone is feeling better now) we ate more fruit, watched more fireworks and chinese lanterns float into the sky.
It was hard to come back. our apartment was cold and it rained yesterday but today coming back and seeing everyone was nice. We have a community here that will be difficult to replace once we leave.

Ruth email: coffey.ruth.m@gmail.com
Anna email: aok720@yahoo.com

our address for the next 6 months Nov.-April
Ruth Coffey or Anna Coffey
c/o
Yangshuo Zhuoyue English College
21 Baoquan Road
Yangshuo, Guilin, China

and low and behold our phone number:
0086 15577377663

Quick update: Anna and I have accepted a English teaching position in Yangshuo China. No contract has been signed yet but we have gotten paid and are looking for an apartment so looks like we'll be staying.
Yangshuo is beautiful and so very popular with all manner of tourists. People who live here say it's the best of East and West, I'm not convinced but I see what they're talking about.
Teaching is a new and interesting endeavour, all the students here are very interested in learning and making you their new best friend. Which is ideal for teaching.
We've been to Beijing, Lanzhou and about a month in Shanghai and we've seen amazing things, beautiful people and have had a wonderful time. China is fantastic minus the media restrictions so we're tentavily looking forward to 6 months plus and then heading down to south east asia.
Anyone wanting to visit China, now's the time to crash at our pad and check it out.

Hope everyone is doing well, hope to hear from you
Ruth and Anna

Hello friends/family/whoever is interested in this blog, Anna and I are in the beginning of month 3 in China and in China we are unable to access our blog, facebook, myspace or youtube. This is why there have been no updates and no responses to facebook messages (including all the birthday wishes, Thank you so so much, they were fantastic). And until we leave China or find a way to get around this there will be no new posts.
But we'd really like to give updates to those who would like them and have people get hold of us if they like so here is our information. (I'm thinking of putting out update emails once every couple of weeks and if you are interested in receiving them please let me know, I'd rather not assume interest or overstimulate your inbox

Shanghai

We have spent the last 10 days getting as acquainted with Shanghai as we started to do with Tokyo. Though here I feel more like a foreigner I also think I've gained more insight and understanding into this place than any of the others I've been.
This is partially to do with being able to walk around with people who speak Chinese and are able to show us the ropes and explain things to us so that we are better able to function here. Also partially to do with the fact that so much is out in the open. The food you eat is being cooked on the street in front of you. The places you are thinking of going into are wide open or have windows across the front and it seems a rarity for a Chinese person not to express exactly how they are thinking or feeling whenever they feel like it. The reserve of Japan is gone.

The first day it was more overwhelming than it has been in the past to leave the house. The noise, the traffic, the dirt, everything was full of energy and we had to timidly navigate through to fulfill little errands like getting money from the bank and finding food. But just three days in everything normalized or became natural or at least largely understood. Life here is still covered every which way with absurdity and confusion but we can cross the street, which had provoked mini anxiety attacks initially, without too much concern. We eat food from street vendors, drink milk tea, Anna had a dress made for her, I bought fake Bose headphones and have made Chinese flash cards. We, superficially, are well on our way.
Monday we leave for Beijing and the great wall and Xian where the Terracotta soldiers are and possibly some other northwestern towns. From there it's still up in the air but it seems possible we might be back in Shanghai for a couple of weeks... why not?
Semi entertaining stories:
Anna has been reprimanding me the last few days and i laugh alot.

She also ate super spicy hot food and her reaction brought me to tears. i got this dish with hot peppers in it but I'm not eating them b/c china food is more spicy than at home and those things are spicy at home. the rest of the dish though is really mild. so when she asked if it was spicy i told her no. and then she went right for the hot pepper, or she had too because there were so many on the plate since i hadn't been eating them... anyways her mouth was on fire and she swallowed and was dieing and went to get a drink and when she came back she was angry at me because i said it wasn't spicy. and the way she said it "you said it wasn't spicy" all crinkled faced and angry and red faced, i just died laughing and she did too. possibly you had to be there... really so funny.

Anna is also with me all day long every day.
She is there when I'm happy and when I am sad.
She is there when I'm lost and hungry and when I'm tired and cranky.
She is like Jesus.

Yesterday after getting fruit salad fixings we were walking through the parking lot of our friends place and there was curve and two mopeds came around all of a sudden right at Anna. and it's normal for us to get nervous and act surprised and jump out of the way and laugh at our selves. but this time we witnessed our first startled moped driver. Anna gasped and jumped and he swerved and yelled and the guy behind him started laughing. fantastic.

We've also been enjoying bargaining. Usually we don't really want to spend any money and aren't convinced we really need anything so are great at bargaining. We look non committed and disinterested and start walking away and the price is lowered and we're still not convinced and it's lowered further and on and on, ideally. but we've also started bantering with the sales people, laughing at their prices and low balling them absurdly which they laugh at and exchanging looks of dread and concern coupled with the face of knowing we're all just putting on a show. pretty enjoyable.

I don't know what else can be conveyed, there are constant little moments of only being able to point at what we want for lunch or otherwise, of wandering the city and the vehicles overflowing with things or people, or the way people drive or the way people try to sell you things constantly and follow behind you calling you Cinderella and snow white... little things.

I'm going to put up some pictures if I can and hopefully that will convey a little better and/or a little more.

Last night in Japan, sweet Osaka hotel, ferry time and arriving in Shanghai

Moving onto Kyoto, our Japanese cooking, the day I was Muslim all day, Dance Extravaganza, Nara w/ giant Buddha

Nikko continued, Kiso Valley, Hiroshima and over to Miyajima