Aubree in China, Part 2

After Aubree left for Yidu, the town in Hubei Province where she lived for two years from 2006-08, I stayed in Beijing to work for a few days and then followed her down on the train, so I could see her town and meet people.  I immediately noticed that Yichang, the larger city of about 4 million, and Yidu, her actual town of about 400,000 were smaller and quieter than Beijing, despite being sizeable metropoli themselves.  There was less honking, fewer people everywhere, and just less hurry.  Also less pollution, making it an enjoyable, breathable 3 days.

Yidu Foreign Language School

After arriving, we went to lunch with some of her former students who are now in high school in Yichang, then took the 1.5 hour bus back to Yidu.  We crossed the Yangtze River on a huge bridge, which apparently is named that on accident due to its being the name of a tiny section where British people just happened to ask the name.  Once there, I got a tour of the school where she taught and sat in on an English class taught by Shannille, whose couch I also borrowed for 2 nights.  

Aubree teaching about American money with Shannille

In a park singing Girl Scout songs

 I got to taste several local specialties, including 'trash can bread' (flat bread backed along the side of a huge metal can over charcoal), and 're gan mian' which means hot dry noodles that taste like peanut butter noodly goodness.  I thankfully did NOT have to try to '100 year old eggs' which is a literal translation of the Chinese name and does not inspire much confidence - but then neither does the appearance of the eggs!  We also went for a Chinese facial which is an hour and a half of a Chinese lady giving you various facial masks, as well as a head, neck, upper back, and arm massage.  Most of it felt nice, but the neck part got a bit painful by the end and I think my neck has felt a little too extensible since then!

Us with 're gan mian'

The facial salon with two of the massagists...i liked the purple!

100-year-old eggs...yuck!

The second day, we took some of her Chinese middle school students to a park.  We wandered around, talked, and sang some camp songs which have very pretty harmonies (and apparently made an impression as two of the students have already emailed me about it!)  Her students seemed very nice and attached to her, as well as very eager to learn English.  The morning before leaving for Beijing, Aubree and I went to a park by the river and walked around, got some great pictures, and managed to see a part of Yidu she hadn't ventured into while living there.  We had a farewell banquet from some of the teachers at her school and then headed back to the apartment to get my bags -- only to find that Shannille's lock was broken and her apartment wouldn't open!  With only an hour before we had to leave I began to get a bit stressed - but never fear, you can always climb through the window!  We managed to get everything out, and her lock was being changed as we left to catch our plane.

In the park by the river

Must get my stuff out of the locked apartment!