Climbing in Bear Canyon

There’s no doubt that the best way to enjoy this place is to get outside, so once again I’ve decided to take advantage of my time and get out as much as possible. Last summer I spent most of my time hiking surrounding mountains, so this year I decided to spend more time rock climbing (though I did get to hike Livingston Peak again, one of my favorites). My roommate Sam is a very skilled climber, so I’ve gone out a few times with him to try and learn as much as I can and have a good time doing it. My friend Vanessa, a lindy hopper in Bozeman, is also an experienced climber and has joined for some climbs as well. While I have climbed in the past, I’ve never had so much time on real rock, and it’s opened up a whole new world for me. My first time on real rock was in Yangshuo, China, back in November 2010, and ever since I’ve been itching to climb more outside on the real thing. I also started learning how to lead and lead my first route (only a 5.7) just a couple weeks ago. I’m hoping to get to do a little more in the last few weeks here and then hopefully get to do some near Pittsburgh this fall.

View from Going to the Sun Road at dusk

The other great things about being in Montana is how close it is to some of the greatest national parks in the world. Last year I went through Yellowstone and Grand Teton, my first time in a national park. This year I decided to head to Glacier and Waterton National Park for my 24th birthday. Vanessa joined me for the trip and we decided we’d spend most of the time hiking some backcountry up in the Canadian side. We drove up from Bozeman on the 24th and fortunately were able to drive through the Going to the Sun Road at dusk (the road was just opened just 10 days prior having been closed due to snow before). That night we drove to a small camp site, cooked up some pasta, and rested for the morning.

View from the top of Lineham Ridge

The next day we drove up to Waterton in Canada and found a trail to hike in the backcountry for the next 2 days. The only multi-day hike listed was the Tamarack Trail, a 35 km stretch with a few different camp sites along the way. Most people do it in 3 days, be we decided we’d push hard and get to Lone Lake on day 1 (17.5 km in) so we could hike out on day 2. We got on the trail at about 11 am and started in, carrying all our gear (tent, food, sleeping bags). The first part was relatively easy, but after about 6 km it got significantly harder, with switch backs through the snow through a 2000 ft climb. Just as we hit the snowy part, a rain storm swept through with some pretty serious winds. It was about a 45 minute stretch of loose footings and cold rain, but as the storm past we crested the peak of Lineham Ridge and came upon this view:

From the top of Lineham Ridge

Descending into the forrest from Lineham Ridge

After a break at the top, we descended the other side of the ridge, back down another 2000 ft. or so, into a forrest in the valley. The forrest provided some refreshing shade and fresh glacier melt water at a stream, but after several hours of hiking back and forth up and down switch backs, we were getting pretty ready to get out of it. Eventually the trail brought us out of the valley and back up yet another huge climb of switch backs to another peak. At this point we were getting pretty exhausted, and just as we were getting ready to sit down and make camp anywhere, we saw Lone Lake just on the other side of the peak, the camp site we were shooting for. Down more switch backs and some snow and we finally made it to the camp site.

Hail

We set up the tent and decided to take a break for a bit and relax before dinner. About 30 minutes later, we heard thunder, and decided maybe we should have gotten on dinner right away. Sure enough, about half way through boiling some pasta, the storm hit, but what came was more than anything we could have anticipated – golf ball size hail! It started as little pellets, but sure and steadily grew to huge balls falling insanely fast. Fortunately the camp site had a wooden outhouse, so we sought refuge there and brought the pasta inside. Together we enjoyed a nice pasta meal over a plastic toilet seat to the sound of golf balls pulverizing everything. All I could think of was how our tent was holding up.

Lone Lake at Sunset

After dinner and the storm passed, we checked the tent and found that despite the hail, it held up rather well. We filled up on water by the lake, hung our food from the bears, and finally crashed. In the middle of the night, another storm hit, with lightening, thunder, and rain most of the night. We woke to more rain, and after waiting for an hour for it to pass, we just gave up and accepted that it was going to be a long, wet day. We packed up camp and headed on north towards the next camp site, Twin Lakes. The 8ish km between the two sites, while relatively flat, was the most snow-covered of the whole trail, and we were hiking in snow at least half the time. At a critical point where we totally lost the trail in the snow, we came across 3 people hiking in the opposite direction. Had we not ran into them right then, we probably would have wandered for a few hours searching our way back to the trail. After passing Twin Lakes, we ran into some park trail workers that were burning an old outhouse and enjoyed the warmth for a moment by the raging fire they had started.

Fire

From that point on, the rain slowly dissipated and the trail became very wide and flat. We hiked the last 8 km sopping wet, but in the sun, slowly beginning to dry. At the end, we came out of the trail head and ran into a crowd of tourists from all over the world, several asking how the trail was, and we shared our story of the past day. We started walking down the road looking to hitch hike back to the other side of the trail where we parked the car and fortunately ran into the same trail workers. They beat us back because they rode bikes, but they gave us a lift back into town. From there we hitched another ride up to Vanessa’s car and then got dinner at Subway.

View from Many Glacier Hotel

We only had one more night, and since all our gear was completely soaked, we decided to drive back into Glacier and just sleep in the car. We came into Many Glacier and washed up a bit at the hotel there, warmed up by the fire, and then slept in the car. Once again it rained all night, and in the morning we drove back down the Going to the Sun Road.

Going to the Sun Road at dawn

This time the sun was just breaking through the mountains, so the views were completely different. The clouds drifted through the valleys like a fog and made for some surreal scenery. A few hours and a few stops for road maintenance later and we came out the west side of the park and began our drive back to Bozeman. On the way back we stopped at a diner and had the biggest breakfast we could find. We got back at around 5 pm and had to shower and get ready for a dance class I had to teach at 7, though I wanted nothing more than to sleep! I got home late and completely wiped. In the end, the trip was a serious test of the elements and the shape we were both in, but the scenery and wonder brought by the time spent out alone with just the mountains and the snow is a memory that will last forever.

Hand Stand on Going to the Sun Road

Beijing

I spent 4 days in Beijing, and while I was originally not planning on making a stop there, one thing changed my mind: The Cangelosi Cards. One of my favorite jazz bands of all time, it just so happened that the Cards were in town that weekend and were getting ready to play two shows back to back in Beijing. Since the last time I saw them was in Virginia Beach back in 2007, I decided I couldn’t miss it.

Tianjin Eye

The first day in Beijing, I joined in the Rocky Horror Picture Show party being put on by Beijing Swing, which was a riot to say the least! The next day was the Cards’ first show, and as soon as I entered the venue I ran into Tamar, the singer, who instantly recognized me. I couldn’t believe it, but she remembered seeing me the last time in VA Beach, because at that time we had talked about how I had just started learning Chinese. Here I am 3 years later and we meet in Beijing! The rest of the night was incredible, dancing away to their music till late in the morning.

The following day we did it again, and this time even better! The Cards gave an epic performance, and some of the dancers performed some routines live to the music. It was two of the best nights of dancing in a row that I’d had in a long time! The next day I headed to Tianjin to visit for a day and met with some professors at Tianjin University who showed me around the city. At the time I was considering working with them come spring of 2011 (though I ended up working in Beijing where I am now). I found Tianjin to be an extremely beautiful city, one very different from others I’ve visited, and it seemed a lot less crowded. It seemed like a city I could enjoy living in for a while.

Guilin

Guilin

I left Beijing in the morning, but my flight to Guilin was booked from Shanghai, so I spent one more night in Shanghai surprising all my dancer friends when I showed up. I flew into Guilin airport on November 5th and took a bus to the middle of the city where I went to Guanxi Normal University to meet with my buddy Robert’s girlfriend who was letting me spend the night while he was out of town. Robert and his brother run a school there, the Chinese Language Institute, and showed me around. I have to say I am very impressed with the program they have set up, and if I had the time I would considering studying there myself. I explored a tiny bit then crashed and prepared to visit Yangshuo in the morning.

Yangshuo

On the Li River

In the morning I went down to Yangshuo along with some of the CLI students, accompanying them on a field trip. We rode motor boats down the Li River marveling at the Karsts, then hiked through the small town of Xiping on our way to Yangshuo. We arrived in the evening, dropped our bags, and headed to a grand theater built on a lake where we saw Zhang Yimou’s famous show “Impression” (刘三姐). It was quite a fantastic sight to see, as most of the performance was done on small boats on the water. The choreography was breathtakingly complex and timed to a perfection that can only be achieved in China.

Climbing the Wineglass

The next day we rented bikes and rode around all over town seeing the many beautiful sites Yangshuo had to offer, including a famous mud cave where half the students stripped to their bathing suits and jumped in the mud. I opted to chill in the hot springs myself instead of freezing mud! Later that day, the students all went back to Guilin, but I decided to stay for one more day so I could do some rock climbing. I found a small climbing store, “Black Rock Climbing,” and booked a day with a couple Norwegian girls also looking to climb. In the morning, our guide, Weihua, brought us out to a cliff face called Wineglass and showed us the ropes. We spent the whole morning climbing, and in only a few hours we were pretty beat. It was an incredible experience though, because as you climb higher and higher you can see a remarkable view of the hundreds of karsts surrounding you. I now understand why the whole world talks about Yangshuo as a mecca for climbers.

On top of Moon Hill

Moon Hill

In the evening I headed over to Moon Hill mountain, famous for the huge hole in the middle, which was also full of climbers. I hiked past the “warning don’t go here” signs and got all the way to to top, where I caught an unforgettable sunset amongst the karsts. Later that night, I went over to The Giggling Tree hostel, a place I had heard of the very first time I visited China and had been wanting to see for years. It is a small place owned and run by a Dutch couple who bought the land and converted 17 different farm houses into a hostel. It is on the outskirts of Yangshuo in the middle of farms, and by far one of the most unique hostels in the world. It was also one of the nicest places I’ve ever stayed at in China, and quite affordable for a dorm room (only 50 RMB a night!). A night at The Giggling Tree was the perfect end to my 2010 backpacking adventures in China.

The Giggling Tree

I headed back to Guilin and hopped on my 20 hour train back to Shanghai, and while everything started nicely, things took an unfortunate turn for the worse. About 10 hours in, I got horribly sick…vomiting sick. Throwing up on a Chinese train for 10 hours has got to be one of the worst physical challenges I’ve endured in my life…and things only got worse. When I arrived in Shanghai, I at least had a day to recover at Bruce and Julia’s before boarding my flight for Taipei in the morning. In the morning, with nearly no strength left in my body, I managed to make it to the airport, only to find my flight had been delayed 3 hours. We boarded the plane, and waited another 2 hours before even taking off. By the time I landed in Xiamen, my connection to Taipei had left, and I was stuck for the night, sick, weak, and frustrated. Luckily I still had one extra day on my visa, and the airport put me up in a nice hotel. All in all it took an entire 24 hours until I got back on a plane for Taipei. When I landed, I was extremely relieved to find JC and Mindy waiting on me in the airport, and my Taiwan adventure began.

While it was a rough last 2 days traveling from Shanghai to Taipei, the previous month was full of incredible experiences and moments I will cherish forever. I had danced for 9 days in Shanghai and visited Hangzhou, Huangshan, Nanjing, Beijing, Guilin, and Yangshuo. I experienced so much in such little time I had to write about it in 4 parts, and didn’t finish it until now, 4 months afterwards! When I look back at the time I spent, I realize how lucky I am to have been able to see so many amazing places in this world, and it makes me very thankful to have had these experiences.

1.  Taiwan is “nice”

…or maybe I should say, “nicer” than mainland China.  When I lived in China, nearly everyone I knew who had been to Taiwan always used the same phrasing to describe it.  It was always, “oh you’ll love it – it’s much nicer there.”  I never knew what they meant, but after one week it is quite clear.  In general, things seem a bit cleaner here and better kept, but it’s not the physical setting that makes it nicer–it’s the whole culture of the city.  Here are a few examples:

• Cars don’t continuously honk their horns (in fact, they rarely use them at all, like in the States).
• People are more polite.  They don’t shove in a crowd, and they actually cue up for things!!!  Getting on the metro is such a pleasure compared to China.  Here, they follow the international convention of standing aside while people get off the train, and then in single file fashion getting on, even during rush hour (proof that it can be done, so the whole “there’s too many people” argument in mainland just got ousted).  If someone does bump me, they often will politely say sorry, and if I ask for directions they will gladly help and sometimes even walk me there if it’s nearby!
• People smoke politely.  Yes, there is a polite and impolite way to smoke.  Polite is to actually obey the no smoking signs everywhere, and even if there is no sign to perhaps step outside if you are in a crowd or public area.  In mainland, people smoke wherever they are whenever they feel like, regardless of any signs, restrictions, or other people (I’ve seen students light up in the classroom before!).  It’s really nice to not have all my clothes smell like cigarette smoke all the time for a change.
• People say thank you.  In mainland, it took a long time to adjust to not saying thank you, and in many ways I never got used to it.  Often times, especially in service-related circumstances (such as waiter-to-customer in a restaurant), you never say thank you.  You just take your food, and then try and look for something to complain about.  I always felt so bad for waiters or people in any service job in mainland China because they get treated so poorly.  In Taiwan, it’s like the States – you say thanks, and it’s nice.

2. Language Adjustments

There is of course the obvious problem:  mainland uses simplified characters, Taiwan used traditional.  I didn’t think it would be too big a problem, and so far it really hasn’t been, but I can tell once classes get going it is going to be difficult to read and write at a normal pace.  I’ve been preparing by studying a dictionary, and it has helped a lot so far, so that will come with time.

The harder thing I’ve run into thus far is all the different vocabulary.  I find it to be remarkably like the differences between the States and England/Australia.  We say “trash can,” and they say “rubbish bin,” and if you studied English in one place and went to the other, you would sound funny to the locals (but they would still know what you meant).  It’s just like that here (in fact, both places use entirely different words for “trash can” as well).  Other completely different words: “subway” (like metro vs. underground), “bicycle,” and “landlord.”  Many common day nouns are called different names, so I am having to adjust a lot of vocabulary to sound more normal.

3. Weather

It rains. Everyday. Always. And not like Florida rain where it comes and goes in and hour – it’s been raining for one entire week now.

4. Kings of the City:

Transportation King:  Scooter.

Gas-powered scooters are everywhere in the city!  I’ve never seen anything like it.  At red lights, they all scoot (no pun intended) past cars to get to the front, and when it turns green a symphony of buzzing is released into the air like a thousand weed-wackers harmoniously cutting grass.  At times there are hundreds waiting at the lights, and the streets are lined as far as the eye can see with parked scooters.

Convenience Store King: 7-Eleven

7-Eleven: Taipei King of Convenience Stores

Go figure, 7-Eleven has conquered yet another territory in the name of “convenience,” but this time they truly stand by the word. Besides the fact that at any moment a 7-Eleven is probably within a half-kilometer radius, 7-Elevens here are literally your everything one-stop shop.  You buy your phone card there.  You get cash there.  You get food there.  You even pay your bills there!  You just hand them the bill with cash and they give you a receipt and boom!–bills paid.  I’m telling you, if someday I’m married and living here and my wife is pregnant, I know where I’m going when the baby is due.

I’m sure there is much more to the city, the people, and the culture here, but these observations and experiences will always remain my first impressions.  They’re quite different from those of mainland China (and much more positive), but perhaps that’s because I lived in mainland first.  I can’t help but wonder how people who’ve never been to mainland China experience Taiwan?

After arriving in Tunxi on the night of October 24, I scrambled a plan together and decided to get up at 5:30 am to catch a bus to the mountain. The weather was supposed to still be bad, but I decided to risk it and get on up the mountain. On the morning bus I met an English girl, Charlotte, and a Taiwanese girl, Mayling (高美齡), and we decided to hike up the mountain together since we were all staying at the same hotel that night, the “White Cloud Hotel,” a fitting name considering we were basically in a giant cloud for the whole hike. As we hiked, we passed multiple men carrying loads of goods on a stick across their back. Straight through the cold rain, these guys hiked with barely anything for shoes or clothes on, some of them carrying loads easily weighing 80-90 lbs straight to the top of the mountain. They were a great source of motivation for us to keep pushing though the weather just got wetter and colder, especially since we could not see more than 10 ft in front of us through the fog.

Nearing the hotel, Charlotte and I stopped at a smaller hotel to get something to eat. We ordered a bowl of fried rice, the cheapest thing on the menu (prices were outrageous on the mountain!). While the waiter motioned with her hands that the bowl might be just enough for the two of us, we ended up with a bowl big enough to feed a family of 10! We ate not even a third before packing the rest and pushing on another 1.5 hours to the hotel.

By the time we finally reached the hotel, we had hiked for about 4 hours straight up steps, and over the last hour it had gotten quite cold. I only brought a pair of pants, a t-shirt, and a light rain jacket, so needless to say I was pretty freezing for the last bit. We showered and warmed up in the rooms and then went back to the lobby where we waited and sipped horribly watered down, overpriced hot chocolate. It was 2:00 pm, and the weather only got worse. By night fall all we had left for food was the left over rice from lunch, so we ate a bit and then went back to our rooms.

I shared the dorm room that night with just one other Chinese guy, with whom I entered into the standard conversation I have now experienced dozens of times in China. If you are an American who speaks Chinese and you are in China, you will inevitably have a conversation with multiple Chinese people that goes something like this:

Chinese guy (c): “American is great! China is not good. America is much better.”
Me (m): “Yeah, but China is good too.”
c: “Yeah, but China is so far behind America, at least 50 years back.”
m: “Well, I don’t know about that, but China is developing very quickly.”
c: “Yeah, but not fast enough. Say, you Americans are pretty good friends with Japan, right?”
m: “Yeah, we have good relations with Japan.”
c: “Yeah, but we Chinese, we don’t like Japan. You know, they never apologized for the atrocities they committed against us in WWII.”
m: “Yeah, I know. It was really terrible”
c: “Even Germany apologized. But not Japan. Japan is really terrible. But you know, you USA dropped the bombs on Japan. It was a really good thing!”
m: “Well, many people died, so it was not all good, but it did pretty much end the war.”
c: “Yeah, but Japan is bad. You should have dropped more than just 2 bombs.”

And that’s usually where the conversation ends. I’m not really sure why this topic always comes up, but for some reason the Chinese always bring up Japan and the bombs when talking to an American. Over the past two years, I’ve had this exact same conversation (almost verbatim) countless times. I wonder if it’s because I’m younger and they want to make sure I know the history?

In the morning, we got up to see the sunrise, but the weather seemed even worse, and much colder. It had dropped below freezing overnight, and while it made for a very cool sight to see all the trees frozen with ice, I could barely feel my limbs, so we went back to bed. Unfortunately, Charlotte had to leave, but I decided to wait in hopes for better weather the next day. As I was booking another night, Will walked into the lobby, the guy I met in Hangzhou just two days prior! We explored a bit more that afternoon, but it was so cold that we ended up just staying in the rest of the day. That night we shared some ramen and beer that a Chinese guy gave us since we were starving and had nothing left to eat on the mountain.

It was definitely worth the wait, because in the morning we got up and saw the most incredible sunrise of my life. The clouds had lowered over night, and we watched as the brilliant orange off in the distance creeped its way up over a sea of cotton clouds below. Since there were (of course) hundreds of Chinese tourists blocking the view, I jumped over the fence and climbed my way around the outer ledge to watch. It was quite safe and I found a solid rock to sit on, but the Chinese behind me were terrified by the crazy foreigner going beyond the boundary. One man even offered to use his belt to tie me to the fence!

After the sunrise, Will and I got breakfast then headed out to the western steps, the area famous for its cantilevered stairs and walkways that hang out off of shear cliffs. The steps were exhausting, but the view over the next few hours was absolutely unreal. We both expected a pterodactyl to come flying overhead at any moment – it was seriously like land of the lost or something! Every turn just got better and better, and since it was such a difficult part to hike through, none of the Chinese tourists went there. We had the whole place to ourselves!

“No need to see 100 mountains after Huangshan.”  Of all the places I’ve traveled to in China, Huangshan just took one of the top seats, up there with the Tiger Leaping Gorge. The fact that I had to suffer through freezing raining with barely any clothes and nothing good to eat for 2 days made the whole experience that much better in the end. By noon we were back at the hotel. Exhausted, we rode the cable car down and took a bus back to Tunxi where I took the best shower of my life and slept for 12 hours straight. In the morning, I took a 5-hour bus to Nanjing, where Part III of my trip begins.

I landed in Shanghai on October 13, 2010, around 1:30 pm Beijing time and proceeded to have the absolute smoothest travel experience of my life. I honestly couldn’t believe how well things went – my bad even came up just as I walked up to the baggage pick up. I got through customs with almost no wait, picked up a SIM card in the airport, called my friends Bruce and Julia who were hosting me in Shanghai, and hopped on the metro to their place. Everything seemed so familiar this time, and despite a year of living in the States, I immediately jumped back into Chinese. Bruce and Julia were a big part of that smooth transition too, because in addition to providing a very comfortable setting to get over the jet lag, they were great company and overwhelmingly helpful in every way. 5 stars to L’hotel Julia!

The very next night, I went dancing at the Melting Pot, and there is simply no better way to get over jet lag than to stay up late dancing with old friends who I haven’t seen in over a year! It was a huge reunion for me, and it began an unforgettable 9-day dancing streak. The next night (Friday) officially began “Swing Out Shanghai,” the city’s first ever international swing dancing event. Two years before in a bar in Hong Kong, the idea for the event was first hatched, and two years later it finally came to fruition.  For the next two days, it was non-stop dancing in Shanghai.  The opening dance was at C’est La Vie restaurant, followed by Saturday afternoon at Hengshan Park in the French Concession, then later that day at the Music Hall Court, then that night at the House of Blues and Jazz, and then finally the last dance at the Melting Pot Sunday night.  Friends from Beijing, Singapore, and Taiwan all came to the event which doubled our numbers and really made it a full blown lindy exchange.

As the chief DJ and music coordinator for the event, I was in charge of keeping the dance floor full, and my team of DJs really pulled through throughout the whole weekend (huge thanks to Akiko, Sam, Brian, and Chad).  The event ended, but then Monday night we were dancing again at the usual Monday night dances in Shanghai, so it sort of just kept going…and going, and going, and going, and…

…and then the Shanghai Expo performances began, called “Swing For All”featuring the Hong Kong Big Band.  It was Hong Kong week atthe Bao Steel stage, so the week was dedicated to a multitude of Hong Kong performers, which included the band and us, the dancers.  The band gave two performances on both Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons.  Throughout the show, the dancers social danced down in front of the stage to the music, and a select few gave a few special choreographed performances as well.  At the very end, we did a jam to “Sing Sing Sing,” and the very last performance the crowd rushed the stage and cheered and clapped along with us.  It was by far the most fun I’ve ever had during a dance performance, and one of the most unique dance performances of my life as well.  I was so proud of all of the dancers and musicians there and so happy to share a small piece of the happiness we all experience when we are dancing with the local Chinese people.  Photos and videos of both SOS and Swing for All can be seen here.

So then it was Thursday, and once again we danced at the weekly Thursday night dances (day #8 of dancing if you’ve been counting).  And then it was Friday, and a few Shanghai dancer friends and I decided to visit the Shanghai World Expo.  After all, we all had our VIP “performer” passes that were still good, so we figured we should make use of them and try and get into as many country pavilions as we could.  In order, we went into USA, Peru, Columbia, Brazil, Canada, Venezuela, Argentina, Germany, and finally Spain.  The whole thing was quite arbitrary – we just started walking and asking who would let us in as VIP (only Chile denied us…freakin stiff Chilean door guard).  Over all, I was so glad we did not have to wait to get into any of the pavilion, because none of them were worth more than 30 minutes.  Some were better than others (Germany, Canada, Spain), but in general there wasn’t much to see or do that was truly amazing.  It was kind of like a lousier version of Epcot without rides.  The most fun we had was when Akiko and I crashed the Argentina pavilion by totally faking some Argentine Tango (see video below).  Right in the middle there was a large open space, so when they started playing tango music we started doing really smooth swing, and kind of pulled off a tango-esque feel.  By the end, hundreds of Chinese had circled us, snapping photos right and left.  They all seemed to think we were part of the show (in fact one of the actual Argentina workers asked us afterwards what style of tango it was because had never seen it before!).  We finished the night by crashing an outdoor concert at the Australian pavilion as well where we danced right up in front of the stage.

After it all, I headed back to Bruce and Julia’s then caught a train to Hangzhou first thing Saturday morning and began my 3-week trip backpacking through China, which I am just now finishing up.  It has been quite an adventure, and there will be a massive amount of writing, photos, and videos to come soon.  I leave for Shanghai tonight and then fly to Taipei Thursday to begin my studies there for the winter.  Still, it is only just now hitting me how significant the whole first week of dancing in Shanghai was historically.  It was the first of its kind, and hopefully the beginning of much more to come.  Maybe fifty years from now people will look back at the origins of swing dancing in China and write about us!  Heck, we even made the LOCAL NEWS!

WARRIOR DASH! That’s right – getting ready to spend this weekend in Quarryville, PN, racing in the most ridiculous race I’ve ever seen. It’s basically a big tailgate with a 5k obstacle course in the middle. I’ve been training all summer as I usually do, but I’m hoping it will pay off at the race. I even made a training video over the past weekend which you can view at my videos page or on Facebook. I fly out Friday and the race starts Saturday morning – so excited!

On a completely different note, song writing has been a rather recent hobby of mine. With every new life experience I encounter, I find myself reflecting upon them through music, and constantly come up with instrumentals that express certain feelings. I’ve come up with several full songs, but am always struggling to find matching lyrics for them. I was recently inspired, however, by fellow lindy hopper and singer-song writer Carsie Blanton (visit her website or her myspace). I briefly met Carsie at Hot Mess in Philadelphia this past July, but only as a dancer, and I had no idea how talented she is as a musician. However, I recently listened to her performance at Mountain Stage on NPR and was totally blown away by her fantastically witty lyrics and soft, gentle, and pure voice. Such a refreshing combination of poetry and music really inspired me to continue exploring songs I have written over the years. So thanks Carsie for really helping me with a fresh, new, inspiring sound, and hopefully someday I will finish these tunes and write them down as works of art.

Next Tuesday, October 12, I fly to Shanghai, China, where I will once again begin another adventure in Asia. This time, since I’ve graduated, I have more freedom to do whatever comes across my plate, so I’m pretty excited to see what I can find. I’m hoping to do some traveling in mainland China first (Nanjin, Three Gorges Dam, Xian, Guilin, Yangshuo) and then I’ll be at National Taiwan University for the winter studying mandarin. After that, who knows. I will be looking for work opportunities the whole time I am there, so if something comes up I will probably take it. Plans are pretty flexible for now. Next time I post something, I’ll probably be in China!

I’m back! Wow what an amazing trip! I returned from my Montreal road trip about a month ago and only just now have had the time to write about it. My last post was right at the beginning of my trip in DC after dancing at Jam Cellar.  From there the plan changed quite a bit – here’s the rundown:

• June 1-3: DC – Jam Cellar Tuesday night (June 1) and stayed with Soo Clark until June 3. Left for NYC in the afternoon June 3.
• June 3: NYC – Arrived in NYC at around 12:15 am and went straight to Frim Fram. Danced for about 45 minutes then ended up staying with Big George in the city. Had to park on the street, so I took a 3 hour nap then got up at 6:30 am, got in my car, and started the drive to Montreal.
• June 4 – 9: Montreal – Arrived in Montreal Friday night. Met up with Amanda and went straight to the dance at Cat’s Corner. Went to a club the next night, then explored the city with Amanda on Sunday. Monday I explored more hanging out with Jason Zwolak, then stayed for the dance Tuesday night at Le Petite Medley. Left Montreal for Rochester the next morning, June 9th.
• June 9 – 12: Rochester – Arrived in Rochester on the evening of June 9 and went to the Wed. night dance after meeting up with Joy at her blues lesson.  Went to Niagara Falls the next day, then came back and went blues dancing that night back in Rochester.  Explored some of the city on Friday then stayed for the opening of the Rochester International Jazz Festival.  Stayed with Lindsay then left for DC June 12th.
• June 10: Niagara Falls – Stopped by Niagara Falls with Joy Arico.  Unbelievable place and a major highlight of the trip.
• June 12 – 14: DC – Arrived in DC on June 12th and stayed with Amber Smith for a couple nights. Got to visit friends and spend Saturday and Sunday night in DC before heading home on June 14th. Flew back to MT the next morning, June 15th.

Map of my roadtrip

During those 2 weeks, I visited DC, NYC, Montreal, Rochester, and Niagara Falls…and went dancing in every city (often more than once!). As awesome as it was to visit and dance in such amazing cities, gettingto meet and spend time with so many wonderful people truly made the trip an unforgettable experience.  I also wanted to especially thank the following friends for opening their homes to me along the way, without whom the trip would have never happened:

Soo Clark
Big George Henrik
Amanda Fong
Putra Manggala (Angga)
Joy Arico
Lindsay Crawford
Amber Smith

Thank you all so much for being part of my road trip and for all the memories!

Road Trip.
The way my job works is I fly out to Montana and drive hummers for about 3 weeks and then get a week off to refresh and take a break.  My first break, however, is from June 1-14 and a little longer, so I decided to take a road trip to Canada during the time.  I am writing from DC, the first stop on the road trip, where I caught the Tuesday night dance at  Jam Cellar last night.  I am headed to NYC tomorrow to catch the Frim Fram dance on Thursday nights.  Friday I’ll be going up to Montreal to visit a friend and catch the Friday night dance there then explore the city for the weekend.  After that, it’s looking like I’ll visit Quebec for a couple days and then perhaps head to Toronto, Niagra Falls, then Cleveland to do a little Balboa at Cleveland All Bal Weekend.  That’s the current plan at least.  I’d like to be home on the 13th and that’s really my only contraint.  Other than that, I’m pretty much going where dancers are and staying with dancer friends.  I’ll make a post at the end of the trip with pics and details.

July 25:  Went to the Tiger Park in Harbin – got some great photos of tigers that I’ll post soon.
August 4:  Final exam in Chinese classes, closing ceremonies that afternoon/evening (I somehow got all A’s!).
August 5:  Took a train all day to Beijing, arrive at 7:30 pm and meet up with Josh (swing dancer in Beijing). Hung out with Josh and other dancers, spent the night at Josh’s.
August 6:  Flight to Seoul at 1:45 pm, arrive at 4:45 pm. Took a bus to Hapjeong station and was met by my friend Miyeoung. Stay at her place that night.
August 7:  Train to Pusan, dance in Pusan that night.
August 7 – 9:  Pusan swing festival! Dancing all night, all day.
August 9:  Train back to Seoul, dance that night in Seoul.

Now I’m back in Seoul. Even though I have been in Korea for about 4 days, today is really my first chance to go out and explore the city on my own, and I am about to go do that. So far my first impressions of Korea are that it is incredibly clean, nice, and fancy. The roads are kept in perfect shape and people actually drive inside the lanes. Seoul is one of the cleanest cities I’ve ever been to (for a city of this size). There is not one piece of trash on the road and all the buildings are spotless.
My biggest impression is simply that Korea is fancy. It’s become a running joke with my friends here that whenever I see something that surprises me they always say, “Yeah I know. It’s Korea. It’s fancy.” For example, McDonald’s uses hard plastic cups and washes them to reduce waste – it’s fancy. You can pick up a wireless internet signal just about anywhere – it’s fancy. There was a giant Starcraft gaming competition on the beach in Pusan – it’s fancy. Well, that last one maybe was not “fancy,” but I did witness it. A crowd of at least 2,000 people all sat in chairs watching two computer geeks battle it out in a Starcraft match on the beach. Two huge jumbo-trans projected the game while two announcers called the game play-by-play. It was like a football match but with computer games instead of athletes. Anyway, those are my first impressions of Korea. Now I’m going to go exploring and see what else I can find.