Schools, Sadness, and Snake Liquor

Hey, all.  It's been a hectic and fun-filled* few days here in Yangshuo, enough for me to figure that I owe you lovely people an update!

First things first, I figure I should let those of you who aren't here at Buckland know about the people I'll be referring to - this is no dramatis personæ update, as that'd just be inconvenient for new readers, but it is an important bit of info for those of you who want to know who I'm referring to.  So, with that said, let's start with the roomies here in Yangshuo:  Stephen and Chris (no, not that Stephen and Chris) are, respectively, and Irishman and a Welshman.  They're both headed to Hunan, along with Michelle - one of our Kiwi contingent - and, originally me.  Unfortunately, my school in Longhui county is unable to get a Foreign Teacher just yet due to some paperwork issues, and I'm going to Tongzi town in Guizhou province, instead.  That's not a bad thing, mind you, as I'll be going with Jemma, Darren, and Josh, but the original was a sweet gig where I'd have been the only FT in the school.  Alas!  There will be no golden statue erected to my glory at the end of the year, as I will share it with my fellow teachers.  Such is life, though!

Next we have a bit of sadness; nothing bad, mind you, but still sad.  A couple nights ago, Chara, Bre, and I went to dinner with a local gentleman named Michael, who is from the northern part of the country.  He ordered before we arrived, and got a specality of his home town - fried dog.  Chara, perhaps wisely, declined, while Bre thought he was saying 'duck,' and didn't realize it was dog until much later.  I figured it couldn't be worse than hákarl, and I was right.  It wasn't bad at all - a bit rich, kind of gamey, and a little tough, but definitely edible.  Then I realized the bones were very small (they eat most of their meat on the bone here), which made me think of Kaylee, which made the meat taste of sadness.  And not the good kind of sadness, where the young animal's life is cut short tragically,** but rather man-sadness, and that is a terrible taste.

And now on to the snake liquor.  Last night was the last night we were all going to be together - Bre, Chara, Jonathan and Julie left at 9am today, and Sasha, Mckay, and Jenni left at noon - so we decided to go out and get...festive.  Which we did.  Potentially to a bit of excess, which I will blame entirely on the consumption of snake liquor.  Now, that's not liquor made from snakes, but rather liquor that has had a snake drowned in it.  It actually wasn't that bad - it tasted, for those of you who have had it, like Jólabrennivín, though a bit...snakier, I suppose.  Either way, though, not too terrible.  It was a fun night and a good way to unwind without doing anything too crazy.  Of course, the night had to end some time and, when Stephen, Ellen, Jemma, and I were asked to leave around...early in the morning, we found ourselvs picking our way down West Street in the pitch blackness of night.  Ordinarily, that wouldn't be too much of an issue, but it started raining.

Now, for those of you unaware of just how it rains here, I should explain something:  Back in Canada, and even in Iceland, rainstorms tend to come in lashings of raindrops, even at their worst.  Very rarely do you get sheets of water pouring from the sky and soaking you to the bone.  Well, let me tell you a little something about China: That sort of rain - the sheeting, bone-soaking, leave-you-feeling-like-you've-drowned kind - seems to be the most common.  And so when we did finally get home - after stopping for noodles, and me becoming a tourist attraction for a number of Chinese labourers who thought that a gigantic bearded guy was the coolest thing ever - I was completely and utterly soaked.  My wallet felt like it had gone through the wash.  It was...unpleasant.

Fortunately, the next day - yesterday - things were drying fairly well, so we went to have an English breakfast on West Street and, afterwards, took a boat tour along the Li river.  It was very Apocalypse Now, and as such, I took a good number of photos, and they are, as always, available for your viewing pleasured beneath the jump.


*For a given value of fun.
**This is what makes lamb and veal taste so delicious.  A true scientific fact.