Wentang

Friday: As soon as my classes were over, I made my way to the train station, bag in hand to buy my ticket and catch the earliest train possible to Nanchang. Somehow, even though I arrived twenty minutes before the train was to leave, I missed the one I was hoping to catch and thus had to catch the next one and wait at the train station for an hour.
Fine.
The train ended up being standing room only and quite packed. No sitting for the hour and a half journey for me, although a creep-o did offer me a chance to come sit next to him. No thanks.
I arrived in Nanchang around 3:45 and met Nathan and Liz (who had arrived before me) at the McDonalds near the station. We sat around for awhile 'shooting the shit' and waited for Nik to arrive. After he joined us we headed back to the train station to meet Cici who had our train tickets and whose apartment we would be staying at.
The train was fantastic, it was the express, and so clean! We arrived in Yichun about an one and a half hours after departing Nanchang. We quickly caught a taxi outside the station and headed on to Wentang where we would be staying.
First things first, it was dinner time. After an interesting meal, which included such delicacies as a vegetable which tasted like grass and dirt, and another which had the taste and consitancy of pork fat, we headed on to Cici's apartment.
We decided that some hot springs were in order, so after mixing a few drinks to take with us, we headed out to the springs. It was already dark outside, and we headed to a close place first. Unfortunately it would be closing only about an hour after we had arrived, so we decided to move on to the posh springs instead. We eventually found the place and headed in.
The springs were very nice and we had a lot of fun trying the different pools, enjoying our drinks, and hanging out. Soon it was closing time, so we headed back to Cici's place where we played a few drinking games with Nathan's snapping alligator, then headed to bed.

Saturday: I was feeling pretty unwell, most likely from the combination of drinking and Chinese food. (Maybe I'm allergic to msg?). We went for lunch at a nice restaurant just up the street where Cici ordered a giant stone bowl full of fish and a few other dishes. We then caught a mianbaoche to take us to the mountain. The ride was a bit uncomfortable for me and my volatile stomach, but the company was pleasant and the views were nice. On our way to the mountain our driver managed to run over a chicken.
Immediately an old woman came running to the van yelling at the driver who then had to stop and pay her off for the chicken. We still don't even know if it was actually her chicken, but she made somethine like 40 yuan off of it's untimely death.
We finally arrived at the mountain which was gorgeous. However, once we had wandered inside and seen how expensive it was, we changed our minds. Almost 200 yuan to climb this stinking thing? Pshhh. No way. We took a few pictures on our way out, and grabbed another mianbaoche to take us back to Wentang.
We decided our money would be better spent at the posh hot springs, so we donned our bathing suits and headed back. We spent most of our time skipping from pool to pool and enjoyed a game of Marco Polo.
Eventually it was time to go home so we headed back to Cici's to pack our bags and catch a mianbaoche to the train station. I only wish it could have lasted longer.
We arrived back in Nanchang quite late in the evening, bid Cici farewell, and headed to Nathan and Nik's apartment complex. We were all exhausted from the hot springs so we headed to bed pretty much as soon as we got home.

Sunday: My stomach was still a bit achy. Nathan, Liz, and I headed to the Muslim noodle restaurant for lunch (I swear, everytime we go there I'm sick and can't eat the entire bowl, so now I'm pretty sure the owner thinks I don't like his restaurant.) It was then time to head back to the train station so Liz could catch her train back to Wuhan and I could get my ticket and head back to Jiujiang. Liz left around 1:30 so Nathan and I headed to McDonald's to hang out before my train at 2-ish.
It was another train with standing only room, but I met some nice kids from Jiujiang University who I had a good chat with on the way home. They even let me practice my Chinese! Not too shabby.
When I arrived home I found this fantastic e-mail:

Hi Jessica,

I am delighted to let you know that your submitted photo has been selected for inclusion in the newly released sixth edition of our Schmap San Francisco Guide:

Japanese Tea Garden


****

Neat, huh?
I also had an email from Real World Chinese asking me to send a copy of my visa and a letter from my employer saying I was allowed to study in Beijing for the summer. Ridiculous. I let Hamlin know, so hopefully he's taking care of that. I'll re-emphasize how important it is to him on Wednesday if I haven't heard anything.

Today I taught my kids about going to the doctor and all that related vocab. They really don't know many body parts, so we went over that, and I taught them the different words for 'butt'.
Tomorrow I have plans to meet a student to hang out/ have a Chinese lesson/ shop.
Now I'm off to cook dinner and maybe do some yoga.

You can see pictures from Wentag here.