Cool, Cool Guiyang

Spring seems to have finally sprung in the land of precious sunlight.  The birds are swimming, the bees are singing and everywhere Chinese people are playing badminton and taking pictures of the blossoming flowers.  Guiyang is not what I would ever call a "clean" city, but it is certainly working on being properly beautiful now that the winter is fading away.

I remain a tad under the weather, a result - I imagine- primarily of working in a school, far from the familiar germs of the grown-up world in the U.S..  I thought I was pretty much ready to put my winter cough to bed, but last night I was treated to a vivid dream about suffocating, and I woke up to totally blocked sinuses.  I took a shot of Nyquil and a dash of "Chinese medicine" - a mysterious powder I'm supposed to mix with water and drink three times a day- and woke up coughing up all kinds of green goop.  Within about two hours, everything seemed more or less cleared up.  Bottom line- I have no idea what's been going on with my respiratory system since I got here, but I'm totally jazzed about being actually "healthy" at some point while I'm here.

I walked quite a bit today, including a short hike up a little mountain near the school.  While crossing through the intervening neighborhood, I saw a mother holding a little girl over an open sewer so the girl could relieve herself.  It was not the first time I saw something similar happening today.

On the way back, my hiking companion and I were stopped so we could be photographed with a Chinese gentleman.  His female companion (wife?  girlfriend?) spent a fair few moments pointing the lens of the camera towards her own eye, displaying it to us, the prospective photo subjects, via the lcd viewing screen.  It was a great example of the big Jinx on China.

I haven't yet figured out how to upload videos from my camera, but when I do, I have a great one involving me and a taxi and a somewhat irregular series of movements through traffic.

That surprise I alluded to several days ago?  Well, the situation has changed a little, but the news is still big.  and cool.  and amazing.  It involves a week-long holiday at the end of April.  Any guesses?