Wo mei yo pijou!

When I was in the middle of Cambodia 2 years ago I was able to blog every day, now that I'm in China one of the most modern cities in the world I can get to a computer once a week. It's not really a matter of available technology but the fact that we are on the run from 6am until about 9pm at night.

For the past week we've been learning Chinese in the classroom for 2 hours each morning followed by a lecture relevant to the afternoon activities. My Chinese is improving slightly, and while the language is grammatically simple, my mouth isn't used to making some of the sounds necessary to convey a message, and my ears aren't trained to pick up on on the sounds others are making. I can order a beer, say cheers, and tell people my name pretty well, and that's done me pretty good so far.

In the past week, we've been to a Buddhist temple where we prayed with monks, waited in a 90 minute line that was no less than 2 miles long to view the body of Chairman Mao, which was slightly eerie but carried a lot of weight as many Chinese see him as a god, met with a Communist policy maker, learned from a woman who works in an adoption clinic, created a new way to kill an afternoon in a foreign city (see "5 Hour Flow" below) met with a female entrepreneur in little Korea, had dinner with intellectuals that were stripped of their occupations during the Cultural Revolution, met with one of China's biggest critics of the Communist Party and it's environmental policy, learned secrets of the Olympic Games, ate on an organic farm that grows it's own food and makes New York style bagels and other delicious dishes, accidentally left a student at a bathroom on the side of the road, spent an afternoon learning to make dumplings from a Chinese librarian who tried to out drink me at lunch and invited me to live with her family if I'd like (we're making her dinner next week), got a massage from a blind masseuse, partied in some clubs on a lake, went out with our Chinese teacher, got caught in the rain, went on a romantic paddle boat ride, ate fish eyes, twisted my knee on a stripper pole (been limping for 4 days) went to a Chinese hospital, got sick for 2 days then got well, and now I'm going to call my mom for mothers day.

5 Hour Flow: We had an afternoon to ourselves where we were free to do whatever we wanted and since I was trying to receive acupuncture I missed some of the groups that went out to explore... never fear, I had an idea.

Grabbed a beer and walked to the bus stop and took the first bus I saw, took it to the end which was somewhere in downtown Beijing, hopped off and found a little news stand that sold the local firewater and some grapefruit to mix it with, headed down some back alley and got lunch for 45 cents which consisted of noodles, spices, tap water, and bacteria, headed into the slums with my iPod blasting, walked into some little shack of a store, bought a beer, the owner set up a table outside and came out and had a drink with me, one drink turned into two, one friend turned into a dozen, and there we were throwing back beer and munching on pickled garlic cloves while the locals laughed at the white boy that had wandered off of the beaten path and into their lives, an hour and a half later I was feeling pretty good, and between the music from my phone and the smiles on their faces which was the only communication we had, I began feeling generous for the experience I was enjoying and tried to pay 100 yuan for the 4 yuan worth of beer I had drank ($16 for $0.75), the owner chased me down and gave me all my change, they refused to accept anything more than what I owed, I thanked them and kept moving, hopped on another bus and ended up at the Beijing Zoo, walked in a back gate and met a tour guide named Joe leading around a group of Filipinos who spoke perfect English, he helped buy me a ticket, and took me on as co-tour guide, I led a family to the restrooms then split for the giant pandas, beer is sold everywhere and the zoo is no exception, took pictures of the giant pandas which is a bit misleading because they're not that giant, watched the little ones play on a jungle gym which pissed me off because there are no tire swings in nature, bought a panda key chain and moved on, saw some monkeys which seemed miserable, sat at a lake for a while where I later found out some friends saw me but I took off so fast they couldn't catch me, grabbed a beer and some giraffe food and satisfied them and myself, left the zoo, hopped in a cab because I had no idea where I was, two minutes later I was back on campus, I was just around the corner after all. 5 hours, no plan, no direction, no rules.

Wan an,
Josh

Please Keep Clea

It's 6 AM on Monday Morning in Beijing, China and in two hours I'll start my first lesson in Survival Chinese. I've been here 4 nights now, and if I don't start writing some things down they'll escape me forever.

The few days before I left were a blur. Pack up my room so Tyler could move in, pack up Tyler's room so he could move out, help move Tyler into my room, get ready for the stuntman to move into Tyler's room for the summer, finish up preparations for The 7 Books Project (more details on that later), pack a small backpack with clothes and supplies for 2 months (4 days longer than the last trip) which includes clothes for being in a city, working in an internship, hiking through the forest etc...

I made it to the airport on time where every TV was screaming about SWINE FLU!!! We flew over the top of the world via the North Pole, and successfully landed in Beijing 14 hours later where we were scanned by infrared cameras for any signs of disease. My teacher just told me that the plane that came in after us was quarantined for 3 hours, the passengers were kept out of the terminal and forced to go onto the tarmac where they were inspected before being let into the country. They sent a Mexican man home... after the SARS scare they are taking no chances with this shit, and I can totally see why.

Have to speed this up as to not waste digital paper: landed in Beijing at 2pm, got our luggage, hopped on a bus that took us to the Minda University in downtown Beijing, it honestly feels like driving on a newly build 405 freeway and heading into a cleaner Los Angeles, settled into our dorms, went and had dinner, hung out with Chinese girls at a dance party on a soccer field, went to sleep, woke up at 4:30 AM, couldn't fall back asleep, went for a run on the track next to our school, watched the sun come up, Chinese breakfast, 1 hours bus to the Forbidden City, saw Tienanmen Square on the Chinese equivalent of Labor Day which is one of two major holidays here, hundreds of thousands of people everywhere, walked through the Forbidden City, lost the 2 Chinese people who came with us ironically, Chinese people kept taking pictures of us, they rarely see white people I guess, and the black kids we're with might as well be movie stars, I held a baby for a picture, Forbidden City is incredible and gigantic, and requires at least a week to see it all, went to some more temples, exercised my right to carry an open container everywhere, money is like Monopoly money and it goes pretty damn far,yesterday we woke up at 5 am again, went to the Great Wall of China yesterday, got all choked up on the drive looking out the window listening to the Beatles Love album, climbed the great wall, unbelievable, it's over 8000 miles long, that's like LA - New York - LA - Mississippi, they built a toboggan ride down from the top, it's like ancient wonder of the world meets Disneyland bobsled without snow, came home, went to dinner with Chinese ambassador students last night, went to bed, and here we are.

This place is incredible, I see why people fall in love with the country as it's unlike anything I've ever seen, can't wait to leave the city and see the countryside. All for now, updates soon.

- Josh

Quick Update

Lounging around, reading books, meeting norweigen/sweedish/belgian girls, hanging out with two Kiwi´s, amazing views, breathtaking drinking games (try saying ¨fuzzy duck¨ or ¨ducky fuzz¨ after a few beers) cooking our own food, bike trekks, coconuts, local sugar-cane rum, Imperial beer, sleeping in a hammock, torrential downpours, not spending money like I did in Bangkok.

Cheers,
Josh

Pura Vida

After leaving the capital city of San Jose yesterday afternoon, I hopped on a 5 hour bus ride headed for Puerto Viejo de Talamanca. It´s asmall little beach town in the southern part of the country on the Carribean side. It´s gorgeous here, and reminds me a lot of Tahiti. I´m sleeping on a hammock for $5 a night in a cool little place that reminds me of the Club Bali Hi.

I sat next to a kid named Josh on the bus, and we met some New Zealanders as well so we´ve just been hanging out lounging around. Tomorrow we might make a trip down to Panama to get another stamp on our passports. We´ve heard great things about a small island called Bocas del Toros, and feel the need to investigate further.

Costa Rica is beautiful, wish my stay could be longer, Imperial Beer is fantastic...blows Corona out of the water.

Mas Tarde,
Josh

TEXAS

6 hours in texas off to CR

Off to Costa Rica

A month or so ago, Camille sent me an email with cheap flights to Central and South America. Having been back in the country for about two months at that point I was clearly feeling stagnant, and dying for another stamp on my passport. So without much hesitation, I called Smith and asked if he's like to join me on this mini-adventure. Unfortunately, he has entered the life of a young professional, and he told me he wouldn't be able to accompany me.

So as Smith started his first day of work today, I just finished packing my bags, and am headed to South Station to hop on the Chinatown bus to NYC where I'll rage all night and head to JFK Airport at 5AM for my 7:50 flight to Dallas, Texas. I'll then sit around there for 6 hours until boarding my connecting flight from Texas to San Jose, Costa Rica where a man named Fernando will be picking me up in a green mini-van and taking me to a hostel.

That's about all I have planned for now. Future plans may or may not include surfing, exploring of rain forests, active volcanoes, coffee picking (similar to rice picking I believe), horseback riding, and of course sampling the local cuisine and imbibing upon the countries finest brews. (not coffee)

Adios,
Josh

7 Days

I have been back in the states for exactly one week now, and what a weeks it's been. Along with enjoying my time at The Tea Room, which is really just a reality TV show waiting to happen, I've been able to experience some of the comforts that aren't necessarily found elsewhere in the world; air conditioning, garbage disposals, washers AND dryers, free internet, and a couple of other things. However being home does have one downfall...I'm underage again.

I have had quite a bit of fun though, I never realized just how great Boston is in the summertime. Typically I get a taste of fall, a hint of spring, and six frigid months of winter. However this time I have the next two weeks to do anything and everything I could possibly want. Lately I've just wandered around the streets taking in the sights I've overlooked for the past year, while stopping every once in a while at some eatery a friend works at so I can sample the daily specials at deeply reduced prices...as long as the boss isn't around.

Two days ago, after finishing up a lovely brunch on Mass. Ave, I watched a couple struggling to get a mattress into the back of a UHAUL. I couldn't pass up a chance to help out my fellow man, and since I hadn't seen the inside of a gym in 2 months I offered them a hand. 2 Tons and 9 hours later, Jen and Alisha were all moved into their new home in Watertown, about 15 minutes outside the city, and we had a nice dinner at the Halfway Cafe. Finding a free meal doesn't seem to be a problem anymore, however I've decided to take that a step further and implement the 10-day fast that I've been meaning to do.

Introducing, THE MASTER CLEANSER (aka The Lemonade Diet). This 10 day intensive cleanse allows only the consumption of freshly squeezed organic lemons, grade B maple syrup, crushed organic cayenne pepper, and spring water. These ingredients are combined into a lemonade of sorts, and sipped on for 10 days straight. The health benefits are enormous and include weight loss, increased energy, relief from headaches and sinus problems, your skin clears up, and your body basically repairs and heals itself back to tip-tip shape.

This is only day one, but I'm pretty confident I'll make if the whole ten days, not to mention the 3 days where you slowly begin to introduce solid foods back into your system. I'll be sure to let everyone know how it's going, but I really recommend googling "Master Cleanser" and reading up on it...pretty facinating.

Until next time,
-Josh