Your welcome Yangshou! - by Chris Schave, CE Adviser in China

This weekend was kind of a break from technology for me. I went to the city of Yangshou, and it proved to be quite a great weekend. Upon arriving I ran into Hannah and Hughie, along with two others that are in the same program that I am. I had thought that Hannah had already gone to Africa, so it was a wonderful surprise to see her again. The four of us that are staying in the village all went into the city on Friday. It was suppose to be a one night trip, but Chris and I got talked into staying an extra night. We ate a lot of great food and enjoyed the gangs company. We went a club on Friday night, and some how I got on a stage and was dancing and getting the crowd amped up. It apparently worked because a lot more people started dancing. Saturday the two girls staying in the village with us headed back, so Chris and I saw them off and went to get another hotel. We found one for 40 Yuan, or a little under $6. Everything is so cheap. Somehow I got pen ink on one of the two shirts that I took with me, so Chris and I bartered and got a couple of knock off Lacoste shirts for around $8 each. They look very real though. Saturday night we kept it much more tame. Chris and I went to an Aussie bar and met a kid from Wales. Eventually, we met up with the others and went to another Aussie bar and then back to the night club that we were at the previous night. A Michael Jackson impersonator performed an almost good impersonation. It was pretty cheesy though. The DJ at this club is a dorky Chinese guy with big white 80’s style seeing glasses and a wicked sweet bowl cut. Every time I saw him it just made me laugh. Hannah and I went upstairs which overlooks the rest of the bar, so we could see the MJ performance better. Chris and the Welsh kid came up and sat next to us. The next thing that happened was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. They both grabbed two ¾ full beers that were sitting there and chugged them. Then the Welshy looked behind and saw a half drank beer on a table. He went over and chugged that. Then they both spotted a couple of untouched shots. Down the hatch those went. This was all without saying hi to us, and took place within one minute. Hannah and I ended up leaving to get some food, but Chris told me today that they found an almost full bottle of red wine and drank that. Crazy kids from the UK! The very cheap hotel we stayed at ended up being a horrible idea. We could have spent a little more and got the same room we had Friday. The new place had AC, but no remote to work it. I’m pretty sure there were bed bugs, and an endless supply of mosquitoes. Needless to say, I am not happy with the ridiculous amount of bites I got last night. Adding to that, I shut the window to keep out the bugs, and then it got to around 85 degrees in the room. That would have to be one of the most uncomfortable nights of sleep that I have every had… Ever! It’s all good because the whole weekend was great fun and I will not remember the bad stuff in the long run. Tomorrow I am teaching two English classes so I am headed to bed… Until next time…

Chris- Adviser Abroad China

Cultural Embrace www.culturalembrace.com

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