This is what we have deemed "The Bat Cave". It is an underground bus station that houses the wonderfully Chinese 392 bus. No matter what day or what time, this bus will be packed. As you enter the station there is already a long line in wait for the next bus to arrive. Once it does it is complete chaos as to who gets on and who does not. On the 19th I was almost pushed into a section of the railing that I would have been stuck in until the bus pulled away. Luckily, being small does have its benefits and I wiggled myself back into the mass movement towards the door and found a tiny spot left for me to fit into on the bus. Getting off was just as difficult. I had to follow the path pushed open by a stranger who was also exiting at my stop and squeeze through any gaps that had already closed up in his wake. Without him I might still be stuck on the crazy 392.
Look at that thing! It doesn't seem as impressive in the picture but it was bigger than my hand. Andrew and I were climbing up a mountain and as we started up a path Andrew told me to stop. Right above our heads was an humongous spider web with the spider sitting in it. He was completely sprawled out when we first arrived, but then a leaf fell on his web and he dashed over and started attacking it. After I took the picture we decided it would be a fine time to turn around and go back down. On our way down we found another spider web that we had missed before with another spider almost as big.
Tracy, one of the English teachers at my school, invited Fuat and me on a dinner outing with all of the Senior 2 teachers. This was the restaurant. It was beautiful inside, set up like a tree house with vines hanging down everywhere from the ceiling. There were so many of us in the dinner party that the staff treated us to a live show during our meal. It included singing, story telling, and dancing. Towards the end, the main host of the festivities turned to Fuat and grabbed his hand to stand up. The man grabbed a few other teacher's hands as well. Then he commanded that they start dancing for us. I had moved around the tables so that I could get pictures of Fuat's performance, but I was quickly grabbed by the host as well and told to dance. We were asked to follow a woman dancer and then were provided with fans to wave around. The spectacle ended with us linked hand to hand together running in circles around all the dinner tables. Above is a video of one of the sections of the performance. It was a great time and I'm glad we decided to go.
Xili/Shenzhen is such a wondrous place. You believe that you have found all there is to find and then you make a slightly different turn and you are in a whole new world. This picture was taken one block from the Xili Rainbow Mall. Behind me was another row of tiny shops and cheap restaurants. I followed the road for a half hour and wound through apartment buildings, little tables with men playing cards, a strip of road that had every street food imaginable, and who knows what else.
This is my lovely bathroom. It does have a Western toilet (thank god) but also has my shower that ends up getting everything soaked each time I use it.
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