Saturday, June 19, 2010

USA!!! - by Chris Schave, CE Adviser in China

Got back to Guilin yesterday. It is nice to be back in civilization. I’m not ready to move out into the country and become a recluse. We’ll save that for later in life. Our new friend we met the first night in the rice terraces was on the same bus and sat next to me. His name is Thomas and he is from Ohio, but lives in San Luis Obispo, California. SLO is one of my favorite areas in California. He decided the stay in Guilin last night rather that go back to Yangshou. We went to dinner around 7, and after secretly getting everyone lost, I found my way to where we wanted to go. When we got to the restaurant, there were a couple of French girls that sat next to us. They sat in front of me on the bus from Yangshou to Guilin on Wednesday. I tried to explain this to them in French because they didn’t speak English. It ended up becoming a little awkward. They had no idea what I was trying to say. They had a guy with them on the bus that was also French and that is how I knew where they were from. They didn’t know that and I’m pretty sure I was just some strange American trying to speak broken French to them. For the World Cup game we went to an Irish bar. Things got a little crazy. The US game was second. We played Slovenia I think. It ended up being 2-2, but the US went into the second half with 0, so it was pretty sweet that they came back to draw. Two other Brits and a Dutchy from the hostel met with us and watched the games. They ended up being really cool and made a great addition to Chris, Amanda, Thomas, and me. After the US game, Amanda and I ventured out and tried to find some food. What we found was a group of 15, 40 something year olds that were having a sort of class reunion. Ken spoke the best English, and when we sat down, they ordered a crate of beer. They thought Amanda was my girlfriend and wanted to know how to get such beautiful girlfriends. I told them they had to come to Texas, or get a lot of money and buy them. It was actually a great experience. They all had their shirts off, and insisted that I do the same. I did… They had a bowl full of horse meat and I really wish I had been in the mood to try it. After missing out on the horse steak in Iceland, I have really wanted to try it. I think the horse is much better in Iceland though. Amanda and I eventually broke away from them and made our way back to the Irish pub. Upon our return we were greeted with popcorn because we had all ordered more than 24 beers. I guess that is pretty awesome, free stuff! At 2:30 AM, England play Algeria. Amanda and I ended up falling asleep on the booth cushions, only to be woken by random screaming from the Brits. After the game we took a taxi back to the hostel. On the way back I had to listen to them complain about why they should have won. They ended up drawing 0-0. Good stuff!

Chris- Adviser Abroad China

Cultural Embrace @ www.culturalembrace.com

www.flickr.com/photos/cschave

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