China-tinerary

NOTE: At the time of this post, I have 26 days left in the US. About 12 left in Boston, and the rest in Ridgewood. I want to make the most of each and every day, so I'll be coming up with a bucket list of sorts - not just of things to do but also of people to see. It's not a lot of time, but I'll do my best to see all you people I love and care about dearly. 

I've been reciting my Summer itinerary to everyone recently, and thought I might be able to nip some inquiries in the bud by writing out my plans here... even though I know almost everyone who is going to ask me about my summer doesn't even know I have a blog. Whatever. This is just for me then.

Date of departure: June 8th. If anyone wants to see us off (kidding!) Eunice and I be flying out from JFK around 1pm. It'll be a whole year after that until we touch US soil again. We're flying into Hong Kong the evening of June 9th, sleeping there a day, then travelling to Guangzhou the next day. There's a ferry that leaves from a port in Guangzhou, and we'll be taking that ferry to Haikou, the capital of Hainan province. Our hosts, Guo Zhi Zhong and Niu Gui Ping, will meet us at the port, and we'll travel west of Haikou to get to their farm. There we will be picking mangos and burning in the sun for a month, until about July 15th. Then, it's on to Lijiang in Yunnan province.

In Lijiang, we'll be staying with an ex-pat from New Zealand who guides tours around the area. He describes himself as a beer and cheese maker, and it's not exactly clear what we'll be doing for him. One month there, then we're taking a train from Lijiang to Guilin, which is where we'll be spending September through next June. Eunice and I will be teaching English at Guilin University of Electronic Technology.

Planes, trains and ferries. Gonna be covering a lot of distance this summer. This is probably the most ambitious plan I've ever had, and seeing it all out in front of me like this elicits a pretty wide range of emotions. Maybe it's just that I'm listening to The Tough Alliance right now, but I'm feeling more optimistic than anything else. Anyways, this post isn't about feelings; it's about letting you guys know what I'm doing. So there it is.

I'll be posting more in the coming weeks about other China-trip related things: successes, failures, epiphanies, recommendations, parties, existential dilemmas/trilemmas, etc. I might get a little redundant at times, but I'll do my best not to be! I might get a little redundant at times, but I'll do my best not to be!

Much love,

Deniel