This weekend we traveled to the Shangdong province to visit the home town of Confucius and Mencius. We stayed at a local hotel, which from the outside looked like Las Vegas. Outside of the hotel was a park where people danced, literally ALL day long. Like ball room dancing and a form of line dancing. I felt like as if I was in a fairy tale where the ghosts never slept and just continued to dance. Ghosts. The sun has yet to shine on the ground. However we did see some blue skies on Mount Tai.
Mount Tai is said to have over 6000 stairs (which we did not climb). They say that if you climb all 6000 you will live to be 100. We took the cable car instead. It was beautiful. I burned some incense as a prayer. There was a temple and nearly a whole village at the top of the mountain. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures. My camera battery died on Saturday but we climbed the mountain on Sunday.
Traveling through the country side for five hours to the province opened my eyes to the true state of China. They are rationing their gas sales which is a lot different than in the states. The country is really low on diesel, which is kind of bad. If you are from out of town, you can only get something like 2 litres at that gas station. That is no good when you are traveling from town to town or if you drive a truck for transporting goods.
Also, the country side is composed of old brick commune homes. In vast fields you find a cluster of broken brick homes which look like miniature prisons. They are now falling apart and have the appearance of abandonment. But if you look out into the fields, you see a few people out plowing. I assume they live in these homes.
The smaller towns show much more poverty. It may just be an appearance of poverty as those homes appeared abandoned.
There are some themes that we have been encountering on this trip. One of them is arrogance. Specifically our American Arrogance. Although we mainly bring it up as a joke, it is interesting to observe how set we are in our own ways. How set others are in their own ways. It brings up the question of reality. The existence of two worlds, multiple realities which we all share and live in, yet refuse to mold them together. Maybe arrogance is not the right word. Maybe it's more of an independence. Separate identities. Well anyway, it's a pretty funny joke, when used in the right context.
Well here are some pictures. I do not have too many this time of the places we've been to, but I will include some that regard my daily life of class and stuff.
This is at the home of Confucius. It is a pretty large estate. Nearly the size of an emperor's.
This is his burial site. Rest in Peace Confucius. I missed the man praying by a few seconds.
This is a street sweeper. 20 or 30 brooms attached to a spinning motor. It works!
This is our beginner Chinese class. Smiling faces. Starting from the top left, Spencer, Brett, Mike, James, Justin. In the front row from the left, Joseph and Meeeee.
This is Dr. Liu reading a sign. I do not know what it says. It looks like a menu. But it could be something more complex.
Our black board learning phonetics and basic vocabulary.
This is what the country side looked like near the mountains. As you can see, it's very hazy and gray. It is like this all throughout where we have been. Except on Mount Tai, where you are above the smog. (That is NOT mount tai).
This weekend we are going to the Forbidden City of Beijing to visit the great wall and other sites.
Also feel free to call me at 15002229194. The country number is 86, I think. So yeah. Call me!
This is at the home of Confucius. It is a pretty large estate. Nearly the size of an emperor's. 
This is his burial site. Rest in Peace Confucius. I missed the man praying by a few seconds.
This is a street sweeper. 20 or 30 brooms attached to a spinning motor. It works!
This is our beginner Chinese class. Smiling faces. Starting from the top left, Spencer, Brett, Mike, James, Justin. In the front row from the left, Joseph and Meeeee.
This is Dr. Liu reading a sign. I do not know what it says. It looks like a menu. But it could be something more complex.
Our black board learning phonetics and basic vocabulary.
This is what the country side looked like near the mountains. As you can see, it's very hazy and gray. It is like this all throughout where we have been. Except on Mount Tai, where you are above the smog. (That is NOT mount tai).
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